I'm thinking of giving a Branding/Marketing firm equity over cash??

Paper_Chase said:
Some people in this thread keep saying to hold onto your equity, but I don't mind giving some up to partner with people that are experts in something I know I am not that good at.
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When I started my first company somebody advised me not to take on a partner to do work that I could hire someone to do.

I didn't listen, because I was willing to part with equity in exchange for unlimited access to a particular skill set.

I figure that playing loose with my equity cost me at least $400k over three years.

Might not be a lot of money to some people, but I'd rather have it than not.
 


IceToEskimos said:
When I started my first company somebody advised me not to take on a partner to do work that I could hire someone to do.

I didn't listen, because I was willing to part with equity in exchange for unlimited access to a particular skill set.

I figure that playing loose with my equity cost me at least $400k over three years.

Might not be a lot of money to some people, but I'd rather have it than not.
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Yea, I definitely see what you are saying.

But at the time did having the partner make scaling the business easier?

Sure it may have cost you 400k, but do you think the company would have been just as successful if you have hired someone? Do you feel like after giving equity the person worked harder and did better work? Just curious!
 
Paper_Chase said:
Yea, I definitely see what you are saying.

But at the time did having the partner make scaling the business easier?

Sure it may have cost you 400k, but do you think the company would have been just as successful if you have hired someone? Do you feel like after giving equity the person worked harder and did better work? Just curious!
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It may have made scaling easier at the time, but not any easier than working with an employee or contractor would have.

In my situation, I know I could have gotten the same results out of employees or contractors.

I actually gave up equity twice, once was a total disaster, and the other worked out well enough, but still not well enough to justify having a piece of the bottom line.

It's an attractive proposition at the time, mostly because you are deferring costs, but looking back on it, I can see how shortsighted it was.
 
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IceToEskimos said:
When I started my first company somebody advised me not to take on a partner to do work that I could hire someone to do.

I didn't listen, because I was willing to part with equity in exchange for unlimited access to a particular skill set.

I figure that playing loose with my equity cost me at least $400k over three years.

Might not be a lot of money to some people, but I'd rather have it than not.
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Give away equity, lose $400,000. Start on page optimization service on WF, winning.
 
I would go with pay for the branding then pay per use after that. Send me a message and I will send you some of there work. We used them for our coffee company. Also intruded in what product your bringing to market. Been talking about doing something like that (not the same as yours) with a friend of mine.
 
I think enlisting the services of a full-service branding/design firm may be out of reach for me right now. I have however been able to track down the personal websites/portfolio's of the designers that work for some of the really good local firms.

Should I reach out and try to get them to do it freelance on the side? Anybody have luck doing that before?
 
OP: as an attorney I can tell you that our firm has made hundreds of thousands of dollars off of lawsuits between two former partners. Don't do it. One thing to consider is giving a profit sharing interest instead of equity (if they Branding/Marketing firm will take it). You keep 100% ownership but have a contractual obligation to pay xx% to the firm from the profits of the company.

The only ship that won't sail is a partnership.

Good luck...
 
chimp said:
Give away equity, lose $400,000. Start on page optimization service on WF, winning.
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What does him having a service on WF have to do with anything? Real hustlers take opportunities to make more money when they see them. Even if I were pulling in mid to high xx,xxx profit per month, why not diversify and make an extra $10k on the side?
 
HigherPR is a great designer. No idea about the branding and what not, but I think he's somewhere in Canada. If he's in your area give him a shout.
 
Look, if it's a new supplement, branding is VERY low on the totem pole. It's important. But not nearly as important as direct marketing.

The way you structure your funnel, target your demographic, position your product and maximize the LTV of your leads is key.

Don't get hung up on finding the perfect "brand" when you should be focusing on front-end acquisition and retention.

How are you going to get leads into the funnel?

How are you going to get them to spend the maximum money possible with you? I'll tell you how...

Email marketing, demographics, positioning, direct mail followup, creating a solid funnel, THAT is what matters with a new product.

I'm not saying to ignore branding.

But focusing on design/labels/ad agencies with awards that are tied to "creativity" and not "ROI" will be a mistake.

On a new product launch in the supplement niche "branding" is the least of your worries. Get it selling. Get retention. Then worry about the brand.

You may be considering putting your assets into building a brand before you build a customer base, could be a big mistake.

Something to think about.
 
^^^Wow, great post bro. Thank you. You gave me alot to think about.

I am a very detail oriented person so I think I've been getting too hung up on making the labels perfect, and making sure the website looks great. I still have a week left before I start shipping so I will go over my notes and finalize my marketing plan.
 
scottspfd82 said:
Look, if it's a new supplement, branding is VERY low on the totem pole. It's important. But not nearly as important as direct marketing.

The way you structure your funnel, target your demographic, position your product and maximize the LTV of your leads is key.

Don't get hung up on finding the perfect "brand" when you should be focusing on front-end acquisition and retention.

How are you going to get leads into the funnel?

How are you going to get them to spend the maximum money possible with you? I'll tell you how...

Email marketing, demographics, positioning, direct mail followup, creating a solid funnel, THAT is what matters with a new product.

I'm not saying to ignore branding.

But focusing on design/labels/ad agencies with awards that are tied to "creativity" and not "ROI" will be a mistake.

On a new product launch in the supplement niche "branding" is the least of your worries. Get it selling. Get retention. Then worry about the brand.

You may be considering putting your assets into building a brand before you build a customer base, could be a big mistake.

Something to think about.
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Myprotein.co.uk is the perfect example of this.

They did shit all branding wise originally, but slowly over time have worked on building it up and establishing it. The dude that started it originally is a millionaire.

Don't give equity away unless you have to, anyway. I certainly wouldn't give equity away to a designer unless I had a large ongoing need for design work.

Most legit agencies won't take you seriously if you offer straight equity for a piece of work anyway. They're not investors, they're designers.
 
99designs.

You will get exactly what you need there.
Put a nice prize pool on there and you will attract hundreds of designers.
You can then pick which design you like best.
 
scottspfd82 said:
Look, if it's a new supplement, branding is VERY low on the totem pole. It's important. But not nearly as important as direct marketing.

The way you structure your funnel, target your demographic, position your product and maximize the LTV of your leads is key.

Don't get hung up on finding the perfect "brand" when you should be focusing on front-end acquisition and retention.

How are you going to get leads into the funnel?

How are you going to get them to spend the maximum money possible with you? I'll tell you how...

Email marketing, demographics, positioning, direct mail followup, creating a solid funnel, THAT is what matters with a new product.

I'm not saying to ignore branding.

But focusing on design/labels/ad agencies with awards that are tied to "creativity" and not "ROI" will be a mistake.

On a new product launch in the supplement niche "branding" is the least of your worries. Get it selling. Get retention. Then worry about the brand.

You may be considering putting your assets into building a brand before you build a customer base, could be a big mistake.

Something to think about.
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That's what we did as well. Once others started entering our market, we slowly started changing our brand up to be very nice. Now, after Penguin, branding has saved us from having to close shop.

It was important that we did it, but not at the beginning.
 
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