Starting up questions in the beverage industry

[Kit]

Hi my name is Kit and i'm 20 from the UK, i'm currently studying at uni but i've always had an idea for a new type of non-alchaholic beveridge (although it could be adapted) and I don't like working for other people, i'm a competitive sportsman, agressive and a perfectionist to the extent of arogance and I love money and sucess! This particular drink that doesn't have a compeitior as such... since there is nothing quite like it. It is a very simple/cheap idea that tastes great and it can be adapted for application to other sectors of the hot and cold drink market although it would need the expertise of someone with a little more knowlage on the subject to prepare it for the open market since I have no idea how to stabilise it for extended periods on the shelf!

Should I contact an established producer of similar goods and "sell" the idea to them, if so how much do companies pay for new ideas?

If I take the giant leap and try to establish my own business, how would I go about licenceing products so the concepts couldn't be stolen by competitors?

At the age of 20, how would I go about getting the type of capital required to start up an operation such as this in the UK?

Who can I go to for techical advice, such as machinery and chemical R&D?

Thanks!

[akula]

Hi my name is Kit and i'm 20 from the UK, i'm currently studying at uni but i've always had an idea for a new type of non-alchaholic beveridge (although it could be adapted) and I don't like working for other people, i'm a competitive sportsman, agressive and a perfectionist to the extent of arogance and I love money and sucess! This particular drink that doesn't have a compeitior as such... since there is nothing quite like it. It is a very simple/cheap idea that tastes great and it can be adapted for application to other sectors of the hot and cold drink market although it would need the expertise of someone with a little more knowlage on the subject to prepare it for the open market since I have no idea how to stabilise it for extended periods on the shelf!

Should I contact an established producer of similar goods and "sell" the idea to them, if so how much do companies pay for new ideas?

If I take the giant leap and try to establish my own business, how would I go about licenceing products so the concepts couldn't be stolen by competitors?

At the age of 20, how would I go about getting the type of capital required to start up an operation such as this in the UK?

Who can I go to for techical advice, such as machinery and chemical R&D?

Thanks!

Ok...me and you and have the same objective. You want to start this venture and be wildly successful and I want you to be wildly successful (although it might not mean that I would like to see you do this particular venture). Anyways, here's some feedback to help you move forward and be successful.

The bad news: With your concept (selling drinks to consumers), and with your background (young person from outside the industry), you are already fighting a very steep, uphill battle. As a rule of thumb, your proposed scenario is doomed to fate worse than failure - it's never going to live to see the light of day and even have a chance to fail.

Why the doom and gloom? For a lot of reasons based on empirical evidence, which have accumulated with the collective business consciousness and academia- and which are too long to list here (that's why it's a rule of thumb).

Worse news Starting with fact that it would only be a less-than-prudent company director who would pay to hear about your "super idea" (i.e. companies don't pay for ideas, they pay for assets), your questions about licensing, financing and intellectual property protection are premature (to use a euphemism).

Good news Judging from your confidence, people have probably always assumed that you will be successful and have given you support. Here is your opportunity to actually live up to everyone's expectation and really prove what you are made of.

Direct answer to your question: Set up a lemonade stand. That's your best option to move forward with your venture and your career in entrepreneurship.

All your other options are either risk inefficient, unrealistic day dreams or worse- college wet dreams.

As always, pardon the coarse language. It's the least of obstacles that you have to overcome. My advice, is to stuff all this "be my own boss" bullshit and go work for an i-bank, like a normal person.

Please do not hesitate to ask about the basics of how to organise your lemonade stand. It will be your launching pad for future endeavors.

Good Luck.

[Kit]

Ok...me and you and have the same objective. You want to start this venture and be wildly successful and I want you to be wildly successful (although it might not mean that I would like to see you do this particular venture). Anyways, here's some feedback to help you move forward and be successful.

The bad news: With your concept (selling drinks to consumers), and with your background (young person from outside the industry), you are already fighting a very steep, uphill battle. As a rule of thumb, your proposed scenario is doomed to fate worse than failure - it's never going to live to see the light of day and even have a chance to fail.

I think that struggle is the one faced by every man or woman that ever started a business, but i've emailed a few major brands to ask for advice as well.

Why the doom and gloom? For a lot of reasons based on empirical evidence, which have accumulated with the collective business consciousness and academia- and which are too long to list here (that's why it's a rule of thumb).

Yes I would tend to agree. From my research so far it appears as if the beveridge industry is one of the hardest to break into due to the amount of capital required to begin and sustain a business.

Worse news Starting with fact that it would only be a less-than-prudent company director who would pay to hear about your "super idea" (i.e. companies don't pay for ideas, they pay for assets), your questions about licensing, financing and intellectual property protection are premature (to use a euphemism).

Intangable assets?

Good news Judging from your confidence, people have probably always assumed that you will be successful and have given you support. Here is your opportunity to actually live up to everyone's expectation and really prove what you are made of.

That isn't exactly news to me j/k

Direct answer to your question: Set up a lemonade stand. That's your best option to move forward with your venture and your career in entrepreneurship.

All your other options are either risk inefficient, unrealistic day dreams or worse- college wet dreams.

As always, pardon the coarse language. It's the least of obstacles that you have to overcome. My advice, is to stuff all this "be my own boss" bullshit and go work for an i-bank, like a normal person.

Please do not hesitate to ask about the basics of how to organise your lemonade stand. It will be your launching pad for future endeavors.

Good Luck.

I find it extremely hard to start at the very beginning at the very beginning because I can always visualise exactly what I want... but prehaps you are right. I need more time to injest and process your advice to judge how to better apply it to the grand scheme.

Thanks for your time.

[akula]

yeah, I mean look. It's sort of like this.

you know sports? entrepreneurship is kinda similar.

for your football team (or whatever), you're always training to live up to the expectations of other people: your coach, team mates, fans, the head cheerleader etc, 'caus if you don't, someone's gonna cut ya.

it's the same with startups.

if you're gonna hope to run large businesses, you're never gonna be in control.

perhaps you'll be a 20-30% shareholder in your venture (pretty much the max majority ownership), and chairman of the board, but that means 70-80% of the firm is owned by other people, and if you don't perform - you'll get booted out faster than you can say severance package.

so you need to train up, and learn the basics of selling, administration and management by going out and putting together the best fucken lemonade stand the world has ever seen.

[iGROWyourBiz]

Join the nightclub and bar association (even though its mostly US businesses)

www.nightclub.com


This will allow you to network and bounce ideas from the people you need to work with.

THen go to the industry forum, look up a group called "Shotskis" they may be of assistance.

http://www.nightclub-business.com/forum/index.php

hope this helps