自籌資金

????曾做過美國國際開發(fā)署（the U.S. Agency for International Development）業(yè)務(wù)發(fā)展顧問的瑞特?鮑爾和合作伙伴彼得?嘉斯卡的創(chuàng)業(yè)路并非一帆風(fēng)順。他們曾向銀行貸款，發(fā)展他們位于南卡羅來納州美特爾海灘的益智玩具公司W(wǎng)ild Creation，但卻遭到拒絕。據(jù)悉，這家公司成立于2007年晚些時候。為了籌措資金，他們各自賣掉了第二套房子，抵押現(xiàn)有房屋以獲取房屋凈值貸款，提取自己的退休儲蓄金，最終共籌集到35萬美元資金——很顯然，他們當(dāng)時承受了巨大風(fēng)險?！爱?dāng)年，我們倆都還有幼小的孩子要照顧，”鮑爾說。

????對于玩具行業(yè)，他們曾是外行。在從零開始研究此行業(yè)的同時，他們也在尋找那些為人所忽視的玩具發(fā)明家。這些發(fā)明家往往需要他人的幫助，才能將想法變成具有市場價值的實物。最終他們通過努力生產(chǎn)并發(fā)布了自己的產(chǎn)品，包括為他們贏得殊榮的生態(tài)水族館以及自給生態(tài)系統(tǒng)等玩具，里面還配有公司自主研發(fā)的“侏儒蛙”。這家盈利能力出眾的公司在2009年實現(xiàn)了85萬美元的銷售額，而到2010年這一數(shù)字迅速攀升至530萬美元。目前，這對搭檔經(jīng)營的公司資金充裕，而且還成功地將產(chǎn)品打入了玩具反斗店（Toys `R Us）和美國圖書零售商巴諾（Barnes & Noble）的門店。

Don't wait around for the banks

????Rhett Power and partner Peter Gasca, former business development consultants with the U.S. Agency for International Development, couldn't get a bank loan to grow Wild Creations, their Myrtle Beach, S.C. toy company, founded in late 2007. So they each sold their second homes, borrowed against their home equity and cashed out their 401ks to raise $350,000 -- a substantial risk. "We had very small kids at the time," says Power.

????Learning the toy business from the ground up, they looked for undiscovered toy inventors who needed help in getting their ideas to market, eventually releasing products such as the award-winning EcoAquarium, self-contained ecosystems complete with their own dwarf frogs. Sales at the profitable company grew from $850,000 in 2009 to $5.3 million in 2010. The duo have managed to get their toys on the shelves of Toys `R Us and Barnes & Noble while running the business on cash flow.