The Beverage Standards Association brings you Peter’s Monday 15th November 2021 Weekly Briefing every Tuesday morning.
Monday, 15th November 2021 Weekly Report
Things are tight
You are running a restaurant and things are tight. You need some money to shore up the balance sheet and provide a bit more working capital. The bank says: “We really value your custom but because your business is slower to build up than you indicated in your business plan, we’ll lend you some money just as soon as you are profitable”.
International Player
But what happens if you have “tech” somewhere in your portfolio? And you are an international player? And you are making huge losses? Then the funding rules seem very different.
Take Amazon
Take Amazon. Set up in 1994 to sell books online at a tiny margin and making no profits. Seven years later, it marks a milestone: that’s the arrival of the first quarter in which profits are made. Two years later, accumulated losses are $149 million, and then, after another five years – 12 years after starting – the company makes its first annual profit. Phew! Investment in that book business was justified. Except that the profits didn’t come from selling books.
Amazon Web Services
Instead they were coming from a new business that is a million miles away from bookselling – Amazon Web Services – created, to run the cloud, only three years before Amazon started to turn a profit.
Thank you for reading part of the Monday 15th November 2021 Weekly Briefing. A full edition can be found here.
Peters Monthly Report for September 2021 is now available here.
Peters Quarterly Report for July to August 2021 is available here.
Peter provides consultancy on the eating out market and opens eyes to brand new ways of thinking about the sector and its multiple opportunities for success.
(E) peter@peterbackmanfs.com (w) www.peterbackmanfs.com
