SFA: What's the Answer?
Startup Advice
Alex Kennedy
10 words of advice for a startup company?
Paul Evangelista
No freebies or favours. Take pictures. Get everything in writing.
Adriane Gardner
Don't let people ruin you. Take the initiative. Don't give up.
Christopher Calhoun
Get the right people in the right places.
Rudy Cervantes
Set expectations for your employees. Develop operations processes. Pay generously.
Miles Crowe
Learn how to delegate authority.
Wellington Evelyn Goulart
Stay hungry.
Spiros Petrovits
Don’t start unless you have a cushion in the bank for replacement/refund of the job you are doing.
Cory Zimmerman
Less seams = less reworks, less customer crying, less chance of falling behind in the schedule.
Allison Person
Establish systems and structure from the very beginning!
Jeremy Clark
Grow very slow, never buy what you can’t pay for.
Ryan McKean
Don’t mess up, they are expensive. Other than that, hire a good shop manager.
Chris Keller
Just give what you got and enjoy yourself.
Louis Seville
Make money on every job you take and put 10% of every job away for a rainy day or your future building.
Tony Phillip
Have your structure in place.
Salvador Gonzalez
Don’t be afraid to say no!
James Donaire
Baby steps.
1st Class Countertop Company
Hire people that know how to read a tape measure! 🏆
Jeff Courtright
Be conservative and look at the economy that is coming.
Jonathan Hart
Find you a great CPA and insurance agent! They'll make your life easier.
Kris Wolfe
Frankie Martinez
Value your work, don’t charge cheap just to get it ....
Gina Hall Roberts
Customers suck, they want everything for free. Stand your ground.
Vincent Moreau
When the going get weird the weird get weirder.
Gino Scolari
You will be a ‘business’ man; learn business. You already know how to fabricate. If you're fabricating and installing all the time you can't grow your biz.
Al Douma
You should be on the lookout for larger shops that are secretly for sale by the owners. Get a real jump start.
Morgan Thomson
Don’t borrow any money. Most startups only have a 5-year life span.
Mark Lauzon
Come visit out little facility in Portland. We fab 8-10 slabs a day with a total of 3 people
William Suarez
1. You need way more money than you think my friend.
Cameron DeMille
Don't take business startup advice from strangers on the internet.
Anthony Cheney
Pay your BILLS. Charge adequately. Keep good people around you.
Rick Brown
Quality not quantity. If you won't put it in your house don't bring it to mine.
Alec Arends
Find freedom in work, love to work, help others learn.
George Saul
Take care of your employees and they will take care of you.
Colby Orr
Underpromise and overdeliver.
John Nicholas Craig
Decide what market you want to cater to and stick with that choice.
Simon Bradbury
Well, you already found the SFA so that’s my suggestion moot.
Shawna Warner
Spend the $ for automation and make sure you are prepared and capable of keeping up your production without any additional labor.
Paulo R Lopes
Manager, lawyer, contract, skilled labor, Spanish , quality, more money ,and patience.
Ismail Fersat
Keep your promises.
Israel Reynolds
Make sure you start a business, don’t start a job.
Jacob Robbins
Join the contractor fight before you get started
Tiffany Garcia
Get a loan & workers immediately lol.
Crystal Russo
The customer isn't always right. Profit isn't a dirty word.
Tim Zeng
Get to a workshop, ask questions, listen. We've all been there.