‘Business Report’: For startups to see the light, everything must click

When Raising Cane’s co-founder Todd Graves speaks to fledgling entrepreneurs, he gives them fair warning. “I tell them, ‘Imagine how hard it’s going to be for you to start this business, and how hard it’s going to be to make it a success, and then multiply that by infinity,’ ” Graves says. He was one of four “sharks” at a November “High Stakes Pitch Night” event in Baton Rouge, at which five startups came looking for a slice of $125,000 in funding that Graves and his fellow judges had committed to invest. One of the entrepreneurs pitching that night was Speed Bancroft, founder of The Outdoor Shopper. Though his presentation didn’t go as smoothly as he hoped, Bancroft managed to land a tentative $25,000 commitment from Graves—and has also raised $150,000 aside from that. Still, as anyone who knows anything about startups can tell you, there are no guarantees, and Bancroft likely has some rough sailing ahead. Just ask Aaron Dirks, president of the Louisiana chapter of the international Entrepreneur Organization, and owner or part-owner of several businesses. He had to sell his first company in 2002 to save his marriage, and in 2010 overwork and stress from the near-failure of multiple businesses almost killed him. “Don’t expect your life to be beautiful and perfect,” Dirks advises entrepreneurs. Bancroft doesn’t appear to be under any such illusion. He passed up a secure job with his father at Bancroft Enterprises, and his startup has survived in large part due to his own $220,000 investment in it. “I made a promise to myself: Whatever it takes, just keep going,” Bancroft says. Read more about the trials and tribulations facing budding entrepreneurs in the new cover story of Business Report by David Jacobs here.