Loaded Bow

Donna Fenn

We are so excited to have had the opportunity to interview entrepreneurship and small business expert, Donna Fenn.  She has gained a wealth of knowledge and experience writing about trends in these areas for over two decades.  Donna is a contributing editor at Inc. magazine (check out her Inc. blog, The Entrepreneurial Generation) and a community leader at Work.com.  In 2001, she was a co-recipient of the Women’s Economic Round Table Entrepreneurship Prize.                       

 Inc. Magazine – June 2008 

As the author of Alpha Dogs: How Your Small Business Can Become a Leader of the Pack, Donna introduces us to 8 exceptional small company entrepreneurs who have excelled in ordinary industries.  Their passion for their businesses is palpable in Alpha Dogs.  Of particular interest to LOADED BOW, women are prominently featured in the book.  We are looking forwards to the publication of Donna’s next book which features and examines highly successful entrepreneurs under the age of 30!

Here, Donna offers insight on branding, women in business, Gen Y entrepreneurs, and launching a business in today’s economy.

Loaded Bow:  This month Loaded Bow is focusing on Identity and Branding. In your work with entrepreneurs, what are some of the most important lessons you have learned about the significance of branding?

Donna Fenn:  The two most important lessons I’ve learned about branding is that great branding absolutely must be both consistent and authentic. That’s not always easy, and it’s not always painless. But it’s essential in today’s marketplace, where if you don’t walk your talk, someone (probably a blogger!) is going to take you to task. I’ll give you both a positive and a negative example of this. I own a luxury car, made by a company that goes to great lengths in its advertising and marketing campaigns to tell me how special I am because I own this car. But every time I took this car back to the dealer for repairs, which I felt compelled to do when it was still on warranty, they made me feel like a second class citizen. I wasn’t expecting the red carpet or a manicure and a latte, but I thought I had a right to be treated like a customer who mattered. Instead, I felt like I was wearing Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak! It wasn’t just the shoddy treatment that struck me, but the inconsistency of my experience with the company’s brand identity. And guess what? I tell that story every time I do public speaking and I’m not shy about using the company’s name. So there, BWM! You know that middle aged woman in the yoga pants and the jean jacket who needed her back bumper replaced last year? That was me. Oh, right, I forgot; you didn’t see me because I was wearing my invisibility cloak.

On a positive note, let me tell you a story from Alpha Dogs about Trish Karter, the CEO of Dancing Deer Baking Co. in Roxbury, MA. When the company was still young and small, Williams & Sonoma came to Trish and said they wanted to put Dancing Deer’s molasses clove cookies in every store. It would have doubled her sales, but there was just one problem. Dancing Deer’s products don’t contain preservatives and that’s always how Trish branded her products – all natural, no preservatives. Williams and Sonoma needed those cookies to stay fresh in their warehouse for months. Trish could have compromised “just this once” in order to grow the company, but she stood firm and said “thanks but no thanks.” Williams & Sonoma, impressed by Dancing Deer’s brand integrity, worked with Trish and her staff to come up with a product that didn’t have shelf life issues. The solution: a gingerbread mix. Today, Williams & Sonoma remains a very important customer and I can’t help but think that the relationship was solidified when Trish showed them how serious she was about staying true to her brand identity.

Alpha Dogs by Donna Fenn

LB:  That’s amazing!  In Alpha Dogs, Trish is not the only woman that you feature. Do you think that women approach their businesses differently than men? What challenges do female entrepreneurs face today?

DF:  I think we’re reaching a point where there are fewer differences between male and female owned businesses. I know people say that women are more nurturing, particularly with their employees, but I can say the same about plenty of male entrepreneurs that I know. However, it’s definitely true that women still have more problems accessing capital and, as we all know, adequate capital is essential to growth. Maybe that’s why only about 3% of women-owned companies have sales over $1 million (the percentage is about 6% for male-owned businesses). But there are also some encouraging statistics. According the Center for Women’s Business Research, women are starting businesses at twice the rate of men and they now own 41% of all privately-held firms. I do believe that as this community of women entrepreneurs grows and becomes more sophisticated, they will help one another do great things. I already see it in programs like Count-Me-In’s Make Mine a Million Dollar Business Program which helps women reach that magic number by awarding them money, mentoring, marketing and technology. When companies like American Express, AIG, and Cisco sponsor programs like that, you know it’s not just for the warm fuzzies – they understand that women-owned businesses are a formidable market for them.

By the way, half of the chapters in Alpha Dogs are about women, but I honestly didn’t choose them for that reason. I wrote about them because they’re fabulous businesses!

LB:  What advice would you give to entrepreneurs who are launching their business, but are concerned about doing so in today’s economy?

DF: If you’re passionate about launching a business that will serve a true, growing market need, then go for it. That SUV dealership you’ve been thinking about? Uh, no. A new real estate company? Better re-think. No business is entirely recession-proof, but some industries are less vulnerable than others to economic downturns: IT services; health care; education; and temporary services are just a few sectors that can grow during a recession. And remember that plenty of big, successful companies were founded during hard economic times: Sun Microsystems; Lotus Development, Disney; and Hewlett Packard were all founded when the economy was less than robust.

It may seem like a stretch to suggest this, but starting a company in an economic downturn can actually be a good thing. Because money is tight, you’ll probably be compelled to bootstrap and I always think that gives start ups the kind of fiscal discipline that will serve them well as they grow. It’s also a wonderful time to hire employees because large companies are downsizing and there are lots of great people out there treading water in the talent pool. Lastly, you’ll need to be extremely creative as you develop, market, and sell your new product or service and that will force you to foster an innovative culture from the get go.

LB:  You have recently received a contract from McGraw-Hill to write a new book about young entrepreneurs. This is very exciting! What are you learning about these entrepreneurs?

DF:  In the book, I’ll talk about eight to ten very distinctive entrepreneurial characteristics of this generation and while I don’t want to give them all away here, I’m happy to give you a little sneak peak. First of all, I felt very strongly about writing this book. We hear so much about how the members of Generation Y (born after 1977) are self-absorbed, entitled, impatient, etc. I think that may be true of a highly visible segment of this generation – the children of wealthy baby boomers whose “helicopter parents” micromanaged everything from their kindergarten class placement to their first job. But because I’ve been writing about entrepreneurship for so long and because start-up trends are always on my radar screen, I was seeing an entirely different segment of Gen Y: the 25 year-old serial entrepreneur who started his first company when he was 12; the 29-year old woman who transformed her family-owned business; the 21-year old who launched his second company at TED. There are thousands of people like this in Gen Y and I wanted to tell their stories because I truly believe they provide a glimpse into our country’s entrepreneurial future. They’re highly collaborative, they all know how to use technology to their competitive advantage; they have little interest in traditional business models; they’re global; and many honestly believe they can change the world.

LB:  When can we expect to see you new book?

DF:  If the muse is cooperative, it should be in bookstores by next spring!

LB:  We can’t wait for it.  We will be sure to catch up with you again, then.  Thanks so much, Donna!

Do you know any amazing entrepreneurs under 30?  How do you think Gen Y entrepreneurs are different from those who have come before us?  We would love to hear from you!

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