In this episode of Financial Freestyle, Mansafund founder Lee Moulton speaks with Ross Mack about the three secrets to scaling a business. Ross highlights the key elements to success: “Vision, capital, and [right] people.”
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This post was written by Neil Mulcahy
Video Transcript
The most important thing is to have a big vision, because people are not going to invest in small things because they want a return.
So I think first of all it’s important to really believe and have a grand vision.
Number two, you need capital. You need capital.
And I think as African-Americans, we’re always undercapitalized.
It might cost $5 million.
We say, “OK, we can work it out with five people because we might need $20 million each, because we had to look at a lot of stuff on the plantation.”
They gave us ham hocks and chitlins and we always had to figure out for ourselves how to make Thanksgiving dinner.
So, um, I think if you have a grand vision, you almost have to have wealth, like, weird, you want abundance.
It requires ample funding.
Ask for three or even four times what you need, because that capital will help you scale, because you might fail.
There will be cases of defective products, and people who have been hired and paid a contract only to end up with a terrible outcome.
There will be mistakes.
We cannot have a thin capital structure where one mistake could mean the end of the business.
So when it comes to fundraising, I think having an abundance mindset is number one.
If you have a grand vision, you can get funding.
The key now is to hire the right people and get experts in the field.
Poaching people with proven track records and proven track records.
Never, ever hire anyone who hasn’t done this before.
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Find someone who is an expert, who is doing their job well and is willing to take a pay cut, but still take your equity because they want to do something great.
If you do, hire professionals and place them everywhere.
And now the rocket ship is firmly planted.
It’s, it’s, all the hatches are closed.
now.
Now you can hyperscale, but you need vision, capital and talent.