Case 1
Big Bottom Market
How can a small restaurant and specialty food store cope with highly seasonal sales?
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Related chapters:
14 Creating a Solid Financial Plan
15 Managing Cash Flow
9 Building a Bootstrap Marketing Plan
Questions
1. What steps do you recommend that the owners of Big Bottom Market take to
manage cash flow in their seasonal business?
Students should be able to grasp the seasonality of this type of business. Cutting costs in
the off season is key, where the business runs lean with fewer employees and a hyper-
focus on costs. They might also evaluate the viability of the food truck mentioned in the
case – however, students should understand that this will add to their costs
significantly. They must evaluate the potential sales of the food truck versus not doing it
at all. In addition, much of it comes down to marketing. Students should be able to
develop several ideas for bootstrap marketing.
2. Identify the advantages and the disadvantages of each of the ideas that the owners
and their employees came up with to help Big Bottom Market survive the slow off-
season. Based on your analysis, do you recommend that they pursue any of these
options? Explain your reasoning.
The ideas generated included closing on Mondays and Tuesdays, trimming the staff,
introducing a food truck, adding a catering service, opening for dinner, focusing on local
marketing during the off-season, and selling their gourmet biscuits through a
wholesaler. Students should be able to evaluate the viability of each of these actions.
Ensure that the get a handle on the costs versus sales potential of each one.
,3. Identify at least two other options that the owners should consider to get through
the slow off-season and the advantages and disadvantages of each one.
Students may come up with a variety of responses. As with question 2, ensure that they
evaluate the costs of each idea and the sales potential of that idea.
4. Develop a two-page marketing strategy for Big Bottom Market. Which social
media tools should the owners use? How, specifically should they put them to
work?
Students may come up with a variety of responses. As for social media, very likely they’ll
mention sites that they are most familiar with – encourage them to think beyond those
they use on a regular basis and include sites that would be ideal for a business such as
this one.
,Case 2
MyBizHomepage
Can an online company that provides easy-to-use financial metrics for small companies recover
from a devastating cyberattack?
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Related chapters:
1 Entrepreneurs: The Driving Force Behind Small Business
2 Ethics and Social Responsibility: Doing the Right Thing
13 E-commerce and Entrepreneurship
Questions
1. Is the way that Peter Justen spotted this business opportunity typical of the way
that entrepreneurs come up with creative ideas for the businesses they start?
Yes. He took something he was familiar with – the problem of knowing how your small
business is performing financially – and developed a company around the idea of
helping other small businesses with a similar problem.
2. What steps can online companies such as MyBizHomepage take to minimize the
effects of cyberattacks.
Students should be able to grasp the importance of privacy and security for users of the
website. Putting into place safeguards is important, but in this case, additional
individuals reviewing the coding of the software would have been helpful in finding
“back doors” to the website that the former CTO built in.
3. Why did Justen and his board decline the offer from the larger business to
purchase MyBizHomepage? Do you think that they made the right decision at the
time? Explain.
Though hindsight is always crystal clear, Justen exhibited behavior that many
entrepreneurs have in that he had yet to see the real growth of the company he was
building. Some students might look at this as greed, but many entrepreneurs are often
most interested in seeing something they create become successful. This means that
though he could have taken a sizeable offer, he would have missed out on the
entrepreneurial journey that was potentially ahead.
, 4. If Justen decides to rebuild his company’s software and start a new company,
what sources of financing do you recommend that he use? What steps should he
take to attract either debt or equity capital? Which sources of financing do you
recommend that he avoid? Explain.
Students may be split on equity versus debt financing. The key for the students lies in
making certain they have justified their stance. For equity financing, Justen might look
at his own available capital, that of his friends, or he may look at sources such as
accelerators, angels, or venture capitalists. One source to avoid might be public sale of
stock as the reputation of the company may be tainted by the general public. However,
attempting to convince one of these other sources of equity financing might be easier.
As for debt financing, he would have a multitude of sources such as banks and credit
unions, but he might also seek assistance through trade credit or from his suppliers.
One source of debt financing that he is unlikely to get is through the Small Business
Administration as they would be unlikely to back lending for a venture such as this.
5. MyBizHomepage’s selection process was obviously flawed. What steps should
entrepreneurs take to avoid hiring dishonest employees who have the potential
to damage or destroy their companies?
Background checks would have been ideal. These could have included not only
personal references, but former employers and criminal background checks. In general
background checks are helpful in identifying any red flags associated with a person’s
work history. Credit checks and drug screens are also common.
Big Bottom Market
How can a small restaurant and specialty food store cope with highly seasonal sales?
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Related chapters:
14 Creating a Solid Financial Plan
15 Managing Cash Flow
9 Building a Bootstrap Marketing Plan
Questions
1. What steps do you recommend that the owners of Big Bottom Market take to
manage cash flow in their seasonal business?
Students should be able to grasp the seasonality of this type of business. Cutting costs in
the off season is key, where the business runs lean with fewer employees and a hyper-
focus on costs. They might also evaluate the viability of the food truck mentioned in the
case – however, students should understand that this will add to their costs
significantly. They must evaluate the potential sales of the food truck versus not doing it
at all. In addition, much of it comes down to marketing. Students should be able to
develop several ideas for bootstrap marketing.
2. Identify the advantages and the disadvantages of each of the ideas that the owners
and their employees came up with to help Big Bottom Market survive the slow off-
season. Based on your analysis, do you recommend that they pursue any of these
options? Explain your reasoning.
The ideas generated included closing on Mondays and Tuesdays, trimming the staff,
introducing a food truck, adding a catering service, opening for dinner, focusing on local
marketing during the off-season, and selling their gourmet biscuits through a
wholesaler. Students should be able to evaluate the viability of each of these actions.
Ensure that the get a handle on the costs versus sales potential of each one.
,3. Identify at least two other options that the owners should consider to get through
the slow off-season and the advantages and disadvantages of each one.
Students may come up with a variety of responses. As with question 2, ensure that they
evaluate the costs of each idea and the sales potential of that idea.
4. Develop a two-page marketing strategy for Big Bottom Market. Which social
media tools should the owners use? How, specifically should they put them to
work?
Students may come up with a variety of responses. As for social media, very likely they’ll
mention sites that they are most familiar with – encourage them to think beyond those
they use on a regular basis and include sites that would be ideal for a business such as
this one.
,Case 2
MyBizHomepage
Can an online company that provides easy-to-use financial metrics for small companies recover
from a devastating cyberattack?
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Related chapters:
1 Entrepreneurs: The Driving Force Behind Small Business
2 Ethics and Social Responsibility: Doing the Right Thing
13 E-commerce and Entrepreneurship
Questions
1. Is the way that Peter Justen spotted this business opportunity typical of the way
that entrepreneurs come up with creative ideas for the businesses they start?
Yes. He took something he was familiar with – the problem of knowing how your small
business is performing financially – and developed a company around the idea of
helping other small businesses with a similar problem.
2. What steps can online companies such as MyBizHomepage take to minimize the
effects of cyberattacks.
Students should be able to grasp the importance of privacy and security for users of the
website. Putting into place safeguards is important, but in this case, additional
individuals reviewing the coding of the software would have been helpful in finding
“back doors” to the website that the former CTO built in.
3. Why did Justen and his board decline the offer from the larger business to
purchase MyBizHomepage? Do you think that they made the right decision at the
time? Explain.
Though hindsight is always crystal clear, Justen exhibited behavior that many
entrepreneurs have in that he had yet to see the real growth of the company he was
building. Some students might look at this as greed, but many entrepreneurs are often
most interested in seeing something they create become successful. This means that
though he could have taken a sizeable offer, he would have missed out on the
entrepreneurial journey that was potentially ahead.
, 4. If Justen decides to rebuild his company’s software and start a new company,
what sources of financing do you recommend that he use? What steps should he
take to attract either debt or equity capital? Which sources of financing do you
recommend that he avoid? Explain.
Students may be split on equity versus debt financing. The key for the students lies in
making certain they have justified their stance. For equity financing, Justen might look
at his own available capital, that of his friends, or he may look at sources such as
accelerators, angels, or venture capitalists. One source to avoid might be public sale of
stock as the reputation of the company may be tainted by the general public. However,
attempting to convince one of these other sources of equity financing might be easier.
As for debt financing, he would have a multitude of sources such as banks and credit
unions, but he might also seek assistance through trade credit or from his suppliers.
One source of debt financing that he is unlikely to get is through the Small Business
Administration as they would be unlikely to back lending for a venture such as this.
5. MyBizHomepage’s selection process was obviously flawed. What steps should
entrepreneurs take to avoid hiring dishonest employees who have the potential
to damage or destroy their companies?
Background checks would have been ideal. These could have included not only
personal references, but former employers and criminal background checks. In general
background checks are helpful in identifying any red flags associated with a person’s
work history. Credit checks and drug screens are also common.
