LOS ANGELES — From adult entertainment to online gambling, medical marijuana, commercial cannabis and more, entrepreneurs launching controversial businesses often find themselves cut off from the traditional financial channels that they need to start and grow a successful company.
Portland TV’s Programming Director Anna Kieran looked at the problem in an article for GrowthBusiness on “How I scaled my adult streaming service without external funding,” in which she noted that she and husband Chris Ratcliffe launched their newest site, Zaucey.com, with no outside financing.
“Scaling-up a business always comes with a certain degree of risk. Scaling-up a business in uncertain political and economic times without any external funding, even more so,” Kieran wrote. “Scaling-up a business when you’re in the business of helping people come together, literally, well, that’s another story.”
Kieran confided that running a business that makes people blush is always entertaining, at times hard to explain, and occasionally, downright frustrating — such trying to nurture growth without outside capital to ease the way. She notes that since the couple acquired Portland TV, it’s been a self-funded business.
“We’re neither the first nor the last business to go it alone,” Kieran explained. “The most important thing to consider is how your product or service can reinvent your sector… Is it new? Is it exciting? Is it a game-changer?”
Kieran underscored the need for creativity in identifying and filling market gaps and the value of good timing when planning a business strategy in the current economic and political climate, noting it is a wise move to test markets and scale progressively.
“Ultimately, each sector has its particularities, and every business is different. But some things ring true whatever your line of activity is,” Kieran explained, outlining a quartet of tasks for entrepreneurs to embrace: don’t sink all your assets in too deep; plan, plan and plan some more; protect the main aspects of your business from excessive risk and develop a contingency plan for potential loss of income and initial outlay.
“The bottom line is that when you have the chance to innovate, to reinvent and to do something that’s never before been done, you can’t let the opportunity pass you by,” Kieran concluded. “If the rules of the business financing game don’t apply to you, then make your own.”
The full article is available here.