The first question owners need to ask — and challenge themselves on — is how much money they really need. My experience is that most entrepreneurs think they need much more money than they really do. There is almost always a cheaper way to get things done.
Every month that they are on the hunt for money instead of developing and marketing their product or service, they are wasting valuable time.
Q.What were your start-up costs?A.We started this business with less than $35,000.Q.Did you get any loans or take any equity from anyone?A.No, we took no equity partners and the start-up capital for the business was contributed by the three owners.
Q.How long did it take before you were generating cash flow?A.Because we’re a contract brewery we were able to be cash-flow positive in a very short amount of time minus the initial outlay for packaging and ingredient costs, which were obviously funded by the start-up capital that we put in. We were able to really be cash-flow positive within the first six to eight weeks of operation and have been profitable on paper since our second or third batch of beer.