Normally, we'd post our weekly Q&A feature this morning. But since this is Brass Tacks' week one, I'm soliciting them.
Have a question related to business planning? Send it in. Starting next week, we'll post our response to your questions.
| [comments (4)] | 
|
High-costs are obviously associated with a green mandate, why else would it cost $35 million per year to sustain business.
Here's the sad part: Their vision was not only strong and well heard, but it essentially defined their identity. Unfortunately a vision and clear identity won't necessarily save your business.
—earndt
13:40, May 15th, 2008
Agreed, Ellen. Nau had already wrangled $35 million in start-up capital - and was looking for more after just one year of operations. Nau says the problem was a risk averse market, but I say it's that no investor wants to throw more money at a company that blows through $35 mill in one year. However, I do think their green mandate was part of the problem. The fabrics they were using were incredibly expensive (which translated into overly pricey clothing) and apparenly their website didn't work fluidly. Given that their business was operated via "Webfronts" intead of traditional retail stores and that they were flush with start-up cash, they should've had the slickest, most effective site around.
—brittschaeffer
13:31, May 15th, 2008
That's funny that you should write that Max. I actually wrote a posting for the pre-launch of our business blog about Nau's "flawed" business plan. I did some more research, and found that it was really due to the financials of their corporation. Surprisingly, not so much their strict green mandate, or lack of inventory (that may have certainly been a factor), but their initial start-up costs were staggering, millions and millions of dollars. In the end, I don't think they were able to catch up.
I think your points are all factors that have led to their demise. Also, I think their branding was a large factor. If anyone ever visited their site, there was a confusion as to what exactly their product WAS. The marketing plan might have been flawed as well.
—earndt
13:19, May 15th, 2008
What are your thoughts on the recent collapse of Nau, a local outdoor clothing company near and dear to the hearts of Portland residents? Do you feel a flawed business plan (tons of overhead, top-heavy management, high prices, overreaching expansion of stores) had anything to do with it? I may have shown my hand on this one, so if you can convince me otherwise, I'd love to hear the arguments.
—maxted8
13:10, May 15th, 2008
You must be registered
and signed in to leave comments.