“What is Waterloo? A victory? No. The winning number in the lottery.”
— from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
I recently started reading Les Misérables. There’s been a ton of hoopla about the new movie coming out and it reminded me of seeing the stage production way back in college but I don’t remember the story. I’m not about to torture myself with a musical version again – not even one with Hugh Jackman – so thought I’d go directly to the source. I always like “the book” better than “the movie” anyway.
I’m now about a quarter of the way through the 1,500+ page tome and happy for the effort. Just finished the rather detailed description of the Battle of Waterloo which contains myriad references to people and places whose names might have been familiar to the French reader of 1862 (when the book was published) but are meaningless to me here in 21st century Vermont. Nonetheless, it was fascinating to learn the intricacies of the battle which ended Napoleon’s reign as Emperor of France…and is surprisingly metaphorical to my experience with TrueBody.
What struck me about the ultimate outcome of Waterloo was this: despite Napoleon’s renowned military prowess and with no disrespect to the Duke of Wellington and his allies, a critical factor in the Battle of Waterloo was…rain. The night before the main battle (June 18, 1815) there were heavy rains which soaked the ground and hindered the deployment of Napoleon’s cavalry and artillery, thus delaying the start of battle until late in the morning. By many accounts, if the battle had started sooner it would have been over before the Prussian army finally showed up late in the day as reinforcement to Wellington’s beleaguered forces. So the “rain delay” actually worked in favor of the British and Prussians, and Napoleon was sent packing into exile.
Ok, so how is the Battle of Waterloo a metaphor for my experience with TrueBody? A big reason why I’m writing this book is to really delve deep and figure out what happened? I mean, how could a company whose product:
- Has a loyal and passionate consumer following
- Posted double/triple digit sales growth for four years running
- Gained distribution in over 350 stores across the country – including Whole Foods and a division of Kroger, the largest grocery chain in the country
- Is led by someone who has over 15 years experience launching successful consumer brands with big-name companies like P&G, Welch’s and Seventh Generation
- Raised nearly $1 million of investment capital over five years (in the midst of the Great Recession, no less)
…not survive? Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not comparing myself to Napoleon (yikes!). Reading about the Battle of Waterloo just underscored something that I’ve been thinking for quite awhile: sometimes – despite good planning and execution, expertise, creativity and momentum – something happens that’s completely out of your control and that you just can’t overcome.
I’ll be the first to say that “things out of your control” happen all the time in start-up businesses and to survive you’ve got to be resilient, creative and fast-acting or they’ll shut you down so quick your head will spin. I survived several such curve-balls that could have been the end of TrueBody, many of which I’m exploring further in the full version of my writing. Things like:
- Launching TrueBody and my first significant capital raise two months before the Great Recession hit, sending angel investors into hiding
- Finally finding one lonely investor for this first major round and then hearing that he’d just ripped up a check for $50K and was pulling out (he later became my biggest and most supportive investor, not to mention a good friend)
- Having $75K worth of inventory declared obsolete and potentially un-sellable by my manufacturing partner a week before presenting to Whole Foods’ National New Item Review (which only takes place once a year)
- Being told by an investor two days before the scheduled closing of my second (and much bigger) round of financing that he was only putting in half the amount that he’d pledged, and then having to scramble to find that “other half” in two days so I wouldn’t lose the whole deal and all the other money I’d raised. See a trend here? This happens a lot….
These are just a few of the curve-balls, but I overcame them and kept the company growing for 4 years. But like Napoleon at Waterloo, there came a time when I had a major rain delay (a.k.a. Kroger re-scheduling soap category review by 18 months). And when I called for reinforcements, they didn’t show up.
So was the Kroger delay my Waterloo, or is this a cop out? Was my business model ultimately not viable, or did my luck just run out? I hope you’ll read my full analysis and conclusions once the book is published and let me know what you think.
The True Story 