Comments on: are you ready to own a company?

By: Steve (Brip Blap)

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 11:00:37 +0000

@Lucky: No, no, you misunderstood – I liked Intellivision, too. I meant Atari was the perfect toy, except for maybe the Intellivision. The Atari’s graphics were much worse but the games were cooler. I loved the Star Wars game with the Walkers.

And I never got into “Lost”, but you’ve described the problem with about 99% of the dramas on TV – most of them would make excellent miniseries or long movies. “Lost” sounds like it would have made a great 1 or 2 season show, then end it – but of course that advertising money is going to keep it dribbling on to a dull and unsatisfying conclusion (like “Angel”, for example).

By: Lucky

Lucky — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 07:48:55 +0000

One more thing… what you said about tv vs. movies is why I got tired of the show “Lost”. It would have made a great movie but after a few hours, you just want an ending and to go on with your life. The show sucks the life out of you.

By: Lucky

Lucky — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 07:47:06 +0000

I disagree! Intellivision was great… when i was a kid, i couldn’t get enough of Burger Time and Lock and Chase.
Good article though… I’m a regular reader. Keep it up.

By: Writer's Coin

Writer's Coin — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 17:10:49 +0000

Well done. Not letting on that you were talking about investing from the start is a great way to get readers into thinking of investing as owning a business and not gambling.

By: t h rive

t h rive — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 16:53:38 +0000

i watched “The Thin Red Line” again last night. Travolta plays a pretty cool part in that flick. Practically a cameo. Good movie.

By: Prosper Roundup — AmSher is a New Collection Agency Edition

Prosper Roundup — AmSher is a New Collection Agency Edition — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 16:51:23 +0000

[...] bripblap asks are you ready to own a company? [...]

By: Sunday Money Roundup - Another Superbowl Edition? | My Two Dollars

Sunday Money Roundup - Another Superbowl Edition? | My Two Dollars — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 15:02:59 +0000

[...] Blap asks an important question for you budding entrepreneuers out there – “are you ready to own a company?” I know I [...]

By: Steve (Brip Blap)

Steve (Brip Blap) — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 02:07:19 +0000

@Shawn: Well, I was right there with you until you said that if a company’s product is desirable the audience will expand and grow and profits will do the same. It is not an automatic correlation. You can mismanage a great product – prices can be set too low/high, marketing can be bad, etc. I have seen awesome products that just couldn’t be sold profitably… now, maybe just awesome to me, but still the great product = profitability equation isn’t automatic. Seth is awesome, but I disagree sometimes with his “if it is truly great, people will come.” iPods were cool, but let’s face it, there was a LOT of kick-ass marketing going on there.

I would also say that the goal is profit, but some companies mistake short-term profit for “good” profit. I won’t get too long-winded in comments, but I worked for a marketing-intensive cosmetics company at one point. They were VERY careful which products were named after the company and which were called by generic names. Even though the $1.99 cologne sold at Wal-Mart would sell much, much better with the “big name” attached, they didn’t want to damage their other brands. So they took some short-term loss of profit to enhance their long-term prospects. A lot of companies miss this point and churn out junk that makes money in the short term, but hurt the company long term. That’s a major distinction, if you ask me…

@FFB: Right! What Jobs did – in my opinion – is come up with great products but more importantly he made them profitable through marketing and demand. A Zune is practically the same as an iPod, but the marketing and presentation and ‘mystique’ weren’t even close.

And yes, sorry, your dream of wrestling with Andre the Giant (May 19, 1946 – January 27, 1993) is not going to happen.

By: Free From Broke

Free From Broke — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 22:24:06 +0000

Interesting you use Apple as an example. Didn’t they start to build up again once Steve Jobs came back on board? So, no, the product can’t be all you look at. You have to look at who is managing the company as one of the important factors.

Oh, thanks for reminding me that my dream of playing with the Electric Mayhem or wrestling Andre the Giant will never come to fruition!

By: Shawn@MoneyBrick

Shawn@MoneyBrick — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 19:41:00 +0000

I thought you were going to start talking about really owning a company for a moment there! But, your post went in a nice direction. I feel that what you said has Buffett written all over it. According to those who let out his secrets, he basically looks at companies in the same way you mentioned (you were very brief, of course) and it’s all about the bottom line for him. Companies like Coke that don’t spend much on capital machinery and aren’t so glamorous are great for him – as opposed to companies that appear in the sky like fireworks and then just as quickly disappear.

However, I’d like to say that the basic goal of any company is profit. Maybe the goal is not profit for the investors, but profit for the entrepreneurs, managers and board-of-directors, surely. It’s only when things go awry that a company is putting out goods or services at a loss. The ideal situation for any company is to give the customer what he or she needs/wants, and to make a healthy net profit. So basically, no company really aims for that negative situation you mentioned.

I say this because you said that great products mean nothing to you as an owner. However, as a follower of Seth Godin, I feel that a great product equals a great company! If a company’s product is desirable to its audience, that audience will expand and grow and thus profits will do the same. Companies do, of course, have to make sure that people will buy their products/services for more than it cost them to develop, produce and market.