If you’re thinking if you should start franchising or not Then listen in. Last night was like being on Shark Tank, but for franchising, and one of the most fun panels I’ve been on. 5 minutes per pitch for 5 brands…pitching their businesses to me, @franchisewolf , @besartcopa, Ashish Pareek, @ImJacobCohen, and Alicia Miller. Going into it, I thought each brand was at that point in their business where franchising makes sense But I got to see in real time brands getting advice on where they’re ACTUALLY at vs where they SHOULD be if they want to franchise. So here’s some of my takeaways: 🌾Pinky Cole from @SluttyVeganATL started off strong in my opinion – the most popular vegan brand in the country but what she embodies is the biggest thing I value in a brand… Community. If you want to franchise, I highly recommend becoming one with your brand – I say this because she IS the brand. Aside from how big she’s gotten, her presentation was just her and her social media presence has stayed as authentic as it can be. I’m not surprised she raised $25M and has built @SluttyVeganATL to $100M in sales. Definitely one to watch and take notes from. Then came a field/industry I personally am not very familiar with – @robotfoundry Jenny Young teaches engineering to kids through hands-on robot building – bringing the ability to build robots to kids. This is where my biggest regret of the night came… 🤖 Calling all people in the world of robots: Since I’m not familiar with it, I wonder what retention looks like in a model that, to me, seems one style. An incredible concept for an interest I’m sure many kids have – I just wish I knew a little bit more about how it all works. 🧮Then came a company that hit home – Marigold Academy Unlike their competitors like Kinder care or lightbridge, Jay Shah is changing a child’s curriculum. They’re taking a more education focused approach earlier on in a child’s development – focusing on math, science, and reading at age 4 instead of waiting till 6/7 For all my fellow traumatized Kumon folks – take it as Kumon but in school, at the age of 4. This is a concept I’m intrigued in seeing how it pans out and how one would franchise it Especially given it’s not a daycare, it’s a space where kids come to learn, so seeing how they overcome what I think will be the biggest challenge – keeping that consistency, proper care, and education for every location, and for every child. I was super excited just from the name of this next company – @PizzaKarmaMN Rajesh Selvaraj is disrupting the pizza industry, using healthy and clean ingredients & cooking their pizza in a tandoor oven Like how naan is cooked – but it’s not naan – it’s pizza dough. While I love the concept, this is what I would do if I created this business: Really dive into social media – create short form TikToks of people trying pizza like blind taste tests of their pizza vs oven cooked pizza to see if people taste and feel a difference. Create a bank of social proof and buy into the concept on a mass level before franchising. Last, but not least, a household name for the last 20 years – @thealliwebb's @theDrybar IYKYK – but if you don’t know, they don’t do cuts, no color – just blowouts. Their biggest USP is the experience though – and that’s what peaks my curiosity. Biggest question here – franchising is basically copying and pasting your business from here to there, but often, franchise owners can stray and try to cut corners where they can. So if the experience isn’t good, how do you keep consistency? The main takeaway from this incredible night is something @FranchizeGuy helped point out during the Q&A sessions… He asked how revenue for the core/corporate locations were doing for one of the companies and challenged the reasoning on when and why to expand into franchise. But this is a question every brand looking into franchising should ask themselves. It may be obvious, but you shouldn't franchise out till you’ve proven product market fit. Pause – reevaluate – there’s nothing wrong with not being ready yet. Make sure your core locations are doing significant revenue and then ask yourself if this is the right time. Thank you to @AntlerGlobal, @zhaosaurus, and @ugwigr @wefranch for hosting an insanely valuable panel.