Maven Business Network

On August 14, 2003, the northeastern U.S., midwest, and Ontario went dark after a massive, cascading power outage. I remember going for a walk with my father around our darkened Toronto neighbourhood. Candles and lanterns lit up porches as neighbours said hello to just about anyone walking by. The garish lights of Yonge Street stores finally took a break, and we walked around for some time, enjoying each other’s company and a sense that others were doing the same.

In my romanticized memory of the blackout, I forget that this was a real emergency. One of my friends had to walk up 24 flights of stairs to her apartment. Elderly residents slept on undignified cots in the lobby. Those lit candles led to a number of fires throughout the affected area, and fatalities were reported. It was a hot August night: not the time to be sick, aged, or far from home.

I consider myself an informed person, but I’m obviously ignorant when it comes to emergency preparedness — as evidenced by my penchant for thinking of candles as mood lighting rather than fire hazards. These facts combined probably help explain the apparent inconsistencies in the following statistic:

In 2008, an Allstate Canada-commissioned survey found that while 86 percent of Canadians feel it’s important to be ready for emergencies, 42 percent admit to not being prepared. Says Saskia Matheson, director of Risk Management at Allstate Insurance Canada, “This is alarming considering that here in Ontario, 62 percent of residents believe that an emergency is likely to happen within 10 years.”

Because we live in such a large, geographically diverse country, “Canadians are vulnerable to a wide range of perils, including flooding, winter storms, wildfire, earthquakes, tornadoes, and hurricanes,” says Paul Kovacs, executive director of the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction (ICLR).

In an effort to educate Canadians, and help avoid crisis upon crisis, Allstate got involved in Emergency Preparedness Week. Taking place every year in May, the week sees government, police, fire services, independent companies, and other non-governmental organizations come together to plan activities to raise awareness. Recently, Allstate Canada partnered with ICLR to spearhead education efforts, including the creation of the website www.bereadytoday.ca.

“The three key steps in emergency preparedness are first, know the risks in your area; second, make a plan; and third, get a kit,” says Matheson.

I take his advice and go to www.bereadytoday.ca. Figuring I might as well see what I’m up against, I decide to take the online quiz and choose the “I am absolutely prepared for anything. Bring it on.” option.
True or false: In the event of a power outage, candles are the best source of emergency lighting.

I’ll go with false. Unless by “best” they mean the most flattering lighting concept, I’m going to guess that a fire hazard isn’t the safest bet. Correct.

Next question: In the case of an earthquake, the safest place to be is under a doorway.
Absolutely true; that’s where they go in the movies.

False! Says Allstate: “The entire weight of the building could come crashing down on you. The safest place to be is under protective cover, like a sturdy desk, with your head covered.”

I also learn how much water I should stockpile (18 two-litre bottles or equivalent, to last a family of three 72 hours) and what kind of food I need (canned and dried). I could have guessed that, but might not have remembered the manual can opener and to stockpile Fido’s kibble.

I’ll certainly never be the paranoid person who builds a bunker in the backyard and stocks it with army-grade gas masks (nor is this on Allstate’s list of to-dos). But as Kovacs reminds me, it wouldn’t hurt me to spend a few hours thinking about the what-ifs. “Preparedeness is a powerful means to build peace of mind.” After all, says Matheson, “emergencies, by definition, happen without warning.”

Justine Connelly is currently looking for some decent canned goods. Please comment with your suggestions.

Originally posted at: http://womenspost.ca/articles/business/be-prepared

Justine Connelly is currently looking for some decent canned goods. Please comment with your suggestions.

Shawna Page has been a believer in organics and natural supplements for over 20 years. She buys milk in glass bottles, eats organic food, and uses natural beauty products, right down to her deodorant.

“I was into organics before it was fashionable … I was taking vitamins when people thought people who took vitamins wore Birkenstocks and were into [going] naked,” says Shawna, founder and CEO of femMED, a line of all-natural supplements that treat women’s most common health concerns.

When it comes to feeding her kids, Shawna’s rule is that if they can’t pronounce the ingredients, they can’t eat it. “I’ve done the test. I’ve taken them grocery shopping with me and I say, ‘okay you want that, you read me what’s on the ingredient list.’ And they can’t. I can’t even pronounce it.”

Shawna is a wife, mother of three, and worked in the investment banking industry for 20 years prior to founding femMED. When I meet her, the petite, fit brunette is looking chic in her black leather jacket and Prada shades — a far cry from nudity and Birkenstocks.

When Shawna turned 40, she began experiencing harsher PMS symptoms, erratic cycles, and because she isn’t fond of dairy, was constantly worrying about osteoporosis. She found she was taking more and more vitamins to alleviate her concerns.

Before April, 2008, the natural products in Canadian drugstores that treated feminine health issues specifically “were one-offs,” says Shawna. “There wasn’t a complete line dedicated to the needs of women.” Sure, it was possible to put together a regimen, but even with her bachelors degree in science, Shawna felt slightly lost.

She took this oversight personally. Shawna is the eldest of 14 granddaughters, has three sisters, and her son was the first boy born into the family in 46 years. She decided to fill the void herself by creating femMED.

Shawna assembled a team of doctors, naturopaths, herbalists, pharmacists, and formulators to develop the first five formulas. They picked common female issues like PMS and menopausal symptoms, bone and breast health, and weight management, and created formulas that include all necessary ingredients to treat each issue. “We’re not about single ingredients because to figure out what to take requires a lot of thought and a lot of education,” says Shawna. “It’s the idea that a woman who is having trouble sleeping can walk into a drug store to find a product called ‘sleep.’”

In November, 2007, Shawna and her partners pitched their idea to Shoppers Drug Mart.

Shawna was used to her former profession, where she created the presentations but never gave them. “On the day of the pitch, I was so nervous I could barely breathe,” she says. But the Shoppers Drug Mart category buyer was a woman in her mid-40s. She recognized the need and offered femMED an exclusive contract. After celebratory high-fives in the parking lot, Shawna and her partners went straight home to start planning for their new role as experts in natural women’s supplements.

Next, they pitched their idea to investors to help fund the launch, including the actual manufacturing of the products and an advertising awareness campaign. “With that passion for the concept we were able to raise the funding inside of a week or two. It was that fast,” says Shawna.

By April, 2008, the first five formulas were available at Shoppers Drug Mart. Over the first year, femMED launched eight more formulas. At the end of femMED’s exclusivity deal with Shoppers, they successfully pitched to Walmart, Zellers, Metro chains, The Katz Group (Rexall and Pharmaplus), and several independents in Canada. In April 2009, femMED made its debut at Duane Reade stores in New York.

Even as her business expands, Shawna is still the front woman of femMED. She answers all customer email inquiries about the products personally (it helps that she takes six out of the 13 products).

“All I had was an idea and the passion to drive that idea forward, [plus] an unbelievable fan club of supporters cheering me on,” says Shawna. “I’ve really had a huge belief in this from years back. And so when we went to create this line, it had me at the heart of it, literally.”

“Do you know how many business owners stand in this room and 15 minutes into the meeting, I still don’t know who the customer would be or what the product would do for them?” says Michael Della Fortuna, an investor in private companies.

“What’s the problem?” I ask.

“The lack of a big, driving goal. Imagine if General Montgomery spent all his time discussing how war ships and planes were built — and their fire power — instead of getting on with the big picture for D-Day.”

Michael takes a breath and continues: “It’s never the technology alone that gets money out of the customer’s wallet. Ask Beta, 8 track tapes, Lotus Notes, all those companies with the way-cool technology that overshot the customer’s need. If you spend your 20 minutes telling me about your technology ... it means you’re just not CEO material.”

Crikey. No wonder owners get intimidated when pitching to investors. But Michael has at least confirmed my own line, which has been to tell company owners who are about to raise capital that pitching to the fund managers is 15 minutes under a hot, hot spotlight. You may have been invited for an hour, but in reality you have just 15 minutes to break through and get the deep pockets wanting to know more. Silver-tongued owners will attract the finance partners to take their company to the next level. Lesser mortals might want to take a cue from Andy Warhol when prepping for pitching: 15 minutes and it’s over.

The pitch is indeed a short time to explain your value and, quite frankly, this process annoys the heck out of owners who know their companies are solid performers. I’ve seen them bristle: “Can’t these guys just read the business plan? We’ll email the PowerPoint...”

Er, no. Private equity investors put their money (often their own cash) into management. The pitch is their first opportunity to assess the team. Put yourself in their place: How would you make your decision? Would you choose the owner who froths at the mouth about his fabulous technology that the University of Waterloo admires? Or the owner who talks in broad brush strokes about the technology, but then about how it will translate into cash for you? Personally, the entrepreneur who can communicate that he or she is thinking about my investment gets my vote.

Many owners I know are surprised at what I’ve surmised over the years: Most fund managers have told me that they would put their money into the great management team with a B product over the less-than-stellar team with the A product. Leadership leads to results. And results, in the end, mean the investor gets his or her cash back and then some.

One of my clients, Angella Hughes of Xogen, swept me up in her enthusiasm because she was able to communicate her business value. Angella said: “Water is a scarce resource, not here in Canada but across the world, and it is dwindling every year. We have a cheap way of purifying water.” Ok, got it. And I know fund managers in the green sector who would agree. She pitched a thesis in a few words that I could grasp. She understood that there would be time to get to her technology and complex business model in the second half of the meeting, once the value had been established.

I don’t want to suggest that pitching is like pushing a Staples Easy Button. Simple is never easy. Deep preparation is needed. The investment community is globally small and, by golly, if you treat the visit to any investor with the same forethought as a chat with a friend in the school parking lot who you’re trying to impress with your new wheels — well, put it this way, you don’t deserve the money.

Jacoline Loewen is an expert at raising capital, and is managing partner of Loewen & Partners.

Originally posted at: http://womenspost.ca/articles/careerentrepreneurship/the-first-step-rais...