3 big decisions before you start

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Welcome to Issue #7 👋 

I met Bonnie Chung a lifetime ago. I was behind the podcast mic at Monocle and Bonnie was launching her food brand Miso Tasty. Both of us were new in our journeys. In the 10+ years since, Bonnie’s built an incredible company, which was acquired in 2023, published 2 cookbooks, and is now a ‘recovering entrepreneur’.

Below, Bonnie shares the first in a 3-part For Starters series on the big decisions you need to make before you actually start your company. I think you’ll love it.

And speaking of podcasts, I was on one yesterday talking all things For Starters…

Ben Dietz invited me on his great pod [SIC] Talks to dig into the starter renaissance. We also talked insurgent food brands, Scotland’s dark skies, suit tailoring, London’s media upstarts, and fonts. Have a listen here! And subscribe to his excellent newsletter [SIC] Weekly, where he also had nice things to say about For Starters.

Thanks for reading. Tell me the best piece of biz advice you’ve ever received → [email protected]

In this week’s issue…

• INSPO ↣ The olive oil king

• TIPS ↣ 3 big decisions

• IDEAS ↣ Granny hobbies

• TOOLS ↣ Freelancer help

• TOWN HALL ↣ FS shoutouts

On a quiet backstreet in London there’s an unassuming electrical supply store that sells spools of cables, fuses, lightbulbs, and some of the best olive oil I’ve ever tasted.

“Here, try this,” Murat Mehmet, also known as Mo, says as he hands me a small plastic shot glass full of the golden stuff. Holy crap…

Mo runs Embassy Electrical Supplies with his father (charmingly and a bit confusingly named Mehmet Murat), aka Mr Olive Oil. Born in Cyprus, Mr Olive Oil moved with his parents to the UK when he was five. He became an electrician, bought the shop in 1979, and after his father died in 2002, he started importing cold-pressed olive oil from the family’s groves outside the village of Louroujina in central Cyprus. His parents, who planted the trees in 1950, now adorn the labels.

The olive oil, Murat Du Carta, soon started grabbing the attention of those in the know. In 2006, New York Magazine called it “England’s best olive oil”. (And, for real, I really think it might be.) The business has been growing and growing ever since – supplying local restaurants, delighting famous chefs, and getting sent to customers everywhere.

“We’ve shipped oil to almost every country in the world from this shop,” Mr Olive Oil once told Olive Oil Times (a real and glorious publication).

“We sell a lot to people in Texas, believe it or not,” Mo said on my visit with my friend Jono, a regular customer.

When I point out that there’s a Netflix show called Mo about a guy named Mo who sells olive oil in Texas, our Mo lights up. “Really?! I gotta watch that!”

Other inspiring stuff…

Youssouf Fofana is the founder of the hugely influential African-inspired French brand Maison Chateau Rouge. Now he’s opened up a huge new concept store in Paris called Union de la Jeunesse Internationale: a clothing shop, photography gallery space, cafe, workshop and bookstore.

Speaking of Paris, the founder of French fashion brand Agnès b. got a NYT profile:

Thingtesting talked to Anna Sullivan, founder of newly launched brand Littlefoot Matcha. Great approach: “I wanted to show people that, yes, you can build a brand, even on a small budget, and still offer a high-quality product. I’m building this out loud. I share the highs and lows, like, here’s how much I’m spending on marketing, branding, and websites, because I want people to see that it’s possible to create something you're passionate about while building a community around it.”

I’ve just been made aware that some crazy Italians are converting old-school, gas-guzzling Vespas into electric scooters. Excellent. 🛵

And in another life, I’d like to do what couple Bert Pieters and Yves Drieghe have done. After building and running a branding agency in Belgium, they left it all behind in 2020, sold the agency, and then moved to the Canary Islands to open a gorgeous farm stay called Hektor – roaming rescued farm animals included, naturally.

You’re subscribed to For Starters, a weekly briefing for the next-gen of small business owners. It’s written by Danny Giacopelli, a New York-born, London-based journalist (ex Monocle/Courier), photographer and starter. Thanks so much for being here.

3 decisions to make before starting your business: Part 1

This is a special 3-part advice column written by Bonnie Chung, a ‘recovering entrepreneur’, mentor, cookbook author & founder of Miso Tasty.

I don’t want to be a mood killer. I know the thrill of starting something new. Your imagination is in overdrive. It’s intoxicating! You’re about to embark on one of the most exciting journeys of your life. But I’m going to ask you to pause for just a minute. 

Because one of the biggest mistakes I see entrepreneurs make in the pre-launch phase is to focus entirely on what other people want. Things like:

• What customer needs are being met?

• What are investors looking for?

• How much are customers willing to pay?

And while these are all very important questions, let’s park them for now. Because the first decisions you need to make relate to what YOU want.

Too often entrepreneurs throw themselves into their big idea with little thought for the lifestyle they want, the level of decision-making power they need to remain motivated, or where they want their business journey to end up. The answers to these questions lie internally, not externally. It’s you who’s leaving that stable job behind. It’s you who will make countless sacrifices to bring your dream to life.

Putting your needs behind those of your business, team and investors (if you have any) becomes quite difficult to unwind later on, so it pays to think about all this stuff right now so you can avoid painful and expensive U-turns down the line.

So, let’s think about it!

For the next 3 weeks in For Starters, right here, I’ll be sharing 3 key decisions you need to make before you start. 

Here’s number 1…

Decision #1: How important is OWNERSHIP to you?

The first question you need to consider is how much you’re willing to be diluted in your business – i.e. how much ownership are you comfortable sharing?

In an ideal world, you would have all the money and skills to start and grow your idea. You’d enjoy maximum ownership and autonomy and if you sell up, you’d get all the rewards too. But the reality is usually far from this.

Most of us can’t afford to do it all on our own. You might need (and want) a business partner to share in the responsibilities. You may need investment to pay for the first prototypes and initial runway. You might have to incentivise key staff you can’t yet afford. Each of these scenarios can lead you to offer equity in your company which would dilute your ownership. 

Any drama around ownership typically stems from decision-making autonomy and exit goals. The more you own, the more power you have, and the more you will be rewarded in a sale of the business. So any squeezing of your ownership can have both short and long term consequences. 

If being the main decision-maker is super important to you and your happiness as a starter, then make sure you bootstrap for as long as you can to avoid dilution. Look for loans and grants instead of equity options. When creating your shareholders' agreement (SHA), make sure you find ways to protect your decision-making powers, such as setting a high bar for decisions that can be made without you. 

At the other extreme, if ownership isn’t as important to you, you might consider building a business that prioritises the broader goals of the business and empowering the people behind it. In this case, sharing ownership and decision-making is a necessary compromise for the bigger business vision. One example of this is SUMA, a food co-operative in the UK which is fully employee-owned; all staff have an equal share in the company and they’re even paid equally!

Giving serious thought to where you sit on this ownership-decision-making-happiness spectrum will guide you in how you set up and structure your business. Will you seek a co-founder? Will you look for investment – and when? Will you need an employee-share scheme in place? 

Being clear on how important decision-making is to you will also help you define and protect your rights under the shareholders' agreements agreed at the time of incorporating your business. 

Ownership can be an emotional question too. For many starters, losing control can be a very difficult experience. So tread carefully and get clear on where you sit on this topic before you begin to build your business.

—

This was part 1 of a 3-part series on decisions to make before starting a business. Until next week…

🍺 Who invented beer? “There’s a popular adage that goes whoever invented beer is a wise man. What’s most interesting about this is, a man didn’t invent it at all. Women did. In fact, Black women are responsible. Despite Mesopotamians (modern-day Iraq) being widely credited, ancient Africans brewed beer throughout the African continent well before any European or Asian settlers developed their own technique, or introduced their tactics to Africa in the 15th and 16th centuries. Historians cite the Bantu-speaking tribes for inventing the brewing practice sorghum, with women being the traditional brewers of African beers; men were the traditional consumers.”

🐶 Travel experiences for dogs. “A growing number of Americans are traveling with pets, and many are staying in places that offer their dogs amenities like robes, fresh meals and wilderness hikes.”

📚️ Personalized book covers. Have you seen this? LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman has got a new book called Superagency, and if you order directly they’ll send a copy personalized to you. As in, your photo and text customized with your personal info is on the front and back cover. Clever and terrifying. Like everything these days.

👵 Granny hobbies. “Once the domain of grandmothers in their tatami-matted living rooms, ‘granny hobbies’ have been picking up steam with Japanese youth. The latest victim of the trend? Yarn shortages. Gosho, a yarn manufacturer, took to its X account on Feb. 19 to warn customers it couldn’t guarantee product quality if bought from online resellers – because teens and 20-somethings are out here buying up yarn like it’s the new Bitcoin.”

Resources 🛠️

↣ Typo/graphic posters: A beautiful collection of typographical and graphical posters.

↣ Freelancing Support: “Self-employment has a steep learning curve. We're here to help you navigate freelancing.”

↣ Eyecandy: A filmmaking platform that allows creators to exhibit their work, exchange ideas, and find inspiration.

Reads 📚️

↣ “Can a Finnish Sauna Improve Society?” / NYT

↣ “Becoming a Beer Sommelier is Almost Impossible. Explaining It Is Harder.” / WSJ

↣ “The Orchid Maker” / Bitter Southerner

↣ “Meet LA’s small businesses that depend on the Oscars” / LA Times

↣ “Inside Casa do Povo: a rare (and brave) public forum for creativity” / It’s Nice That

↣ “How Trump’s Proposed Tariffs Could Raise Food Costs” / Eater

↣ “At Thailand’s Real White Lotus Hotel, Where the Ultrarich Get Coddled” / NYMag

For fun 🙃

↣ Obsessed: The hardest working font in Manhattan, via [SIC] Weekly

↣ Delightful: Bicycle

📩 Share your juicy links: [email protected]

Shoutouts to the For Starters subscriber community

↣ I recently connected with a FS subscriber who radiates energy and good vibes. Shunsuke Miyatake, a photographer and creative guy, lives in Phnom Penh, Cambodia and works at the global social behaviour change lab 17Triggers. He’s now starting something on the side called Mgntd (read as magnitude). Super cool idea:

↣ Shoutout to the team at Switchyards, a collection of ‘neighborhood work clubs’. FS subscribers Michael Tavani, Switchyard's founder, and Brandon Hinman, the company’s creative director, have nailed the vibe and small details that make or break these sorts of places. Which is why they keep expanding. 20+ clubs in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and (just announced!) Denver and Kansas City. Come to London? 🎉 

↣ Big congrats to Sonya Barber for her new book An Opinionated Guide to London Markets, published by Hoxton Mini Press! Pick up a copy here.

Some upcoming London events thrown by For Starters subscribers…

↣ Breje and Zoe have started a monthly Vietnamese-Filipino supper club in their home. Check out their IG and join their next event, a “Kapwa Boodle Fight” – ”a blend of Vietnamese and Filipino dishes served on banana leaves, meant to be enjoyed together in a hands-on”.

↣ And Alex Tran, a Vietnamese-American starter living in London, is building Harvey’s Breakfast Club, a breakfast pop-up featuring “a regularly changing menu of American-inspired breakfast classics incorporating flavors from around the globe”. Saigon Coffee Bun? Baja Brekkie Burrito? Say no more. RSVP to Harvey’s launch event here (also on the 23rd, but in the morning!). Also check out his IG where he shares lessons about building the business.

↣ Last but def not least, Chris O'Leary of FatBoy Zine ("a greedy attempt to document Asian food and Identity") is throwing his first supper club on April 10th: The menu: “classic Pinoy comfort dishes, juicy, tangy and rich, the kind of food I love cooking that I’m super proud to serve.” Only 20 spots, so move fast. (I’ll be there with Kim!)

📩 Share your news & updates: [email protected]

Enjoyed this edition? Forward it to someone starting something new.