They Work Hard For The Money
Tuesday, April 13, 2010 at 9:38AM by Annie Vieira
For any young, fledgling entrepreneur, there is no greater movie than 1999’s made for T.V. Pirates of Silicon Valley. The film––which documents the creation of the personal computer and the inception of Apple and Microsoft––depicts how, according to an Apollo Guide review, “over less than 30 years, a band of shaggy nerds rose to become the richest people on earth.” Who can forget the scene in which a long-haired, bearded Steve Jobs, dressed in a rumpled t-shirt and threadbare cutoff jeans, presents his business plan to a doughy, bald, suit-wearing Monument Bank executive who stares back at him managing to look incredulous, bored, and constipated all at once? As The Guess Who’s rousing 1970 kiss-off anthem, “No Time,” plays in the background, the bank montage then cuts to a retrospective interview with Steve Wozniak who laments, “Whenever Steve went to a bank to get a loan, it was like they were Eskimos and we had a refrigerator to sell them.” Finally, after a demoralized Jobs leaves District Savings & Loans once again empty handed, the audience sees him emerge from a contemplative bathroom moment subsequently sporting no more than a mustache to keep him warm.
“Where is your beard?” a younger Wozniak asks him with disbelief.
“In the bathroom. I shaved it off,” Jobs deadpans.
“Well, how come?”
“‘Cause banks don’t like beards.”
It is a piece of cinematic poetry––the ultimate sell-out moment. One can just imagine that with each stroke of his razor, Jobs not only pares down his hair but is simultaneously shaving off tiny pieces of his soul. And, as much as we would like to believe otherwise, a similar moment of clarity is likely experienced by every idealistic entrepreneur at some point in their budding careers. Remaining loyal to ones individuality and vision is unquestionably a significant part of cultivating a new business; however, in reality there are times when playing the game can be equally as crucial. According to the Small Business Administration, half of all small businesses fail within the first five years––as such, it is foreseeable that a certain amount of compromise will become necessary in order to achieve enduring success.
For Double Decker PDX, this compromise did not involve a physical transformation, yet, their quest for financing nonetheless taught them a similar lesson in flexibility. In the last year, SBA loans hit a failure rate of 12%, making bank lending to small businesses extremely risky and––consequently––infrequent. Furthermore (like Steve Jobs before them), Brooks and Kent faced understandable prejudice regarding their age, making an already inauspicious fiscal climate increasingly inhospitable. Although their initial funds came from leftover T.M. Endeavors revenue, by the time Brooks and Kent took possession of their bus in December 2009, the money well had run dry while the laundry list of expenses merely continued to grow.
“Kent had gray hair for like a month and a half,” Brooks joked, when we sat down to discuss this phase in their company. “It’s true,” Kent laughed, “I had to dye it back.” Although they reminisced on those not-so-long-past days with good humor––with a payroll including mechanics, a lawyer, a P.R. firm, painters, window installers, upholsterers, an electronics vendor, and a website developer––the pressure to obtain financing weighed heavily on Brooks and Kent. Despite their efforts to make light of the experience, the stress of watching their financing resolve itself then fall apart again on multiple occasions was difficult to endure.
For months, even while still looking to simply purchase a bus, Brooks and Kent labored diligently on perfecting the Double Decker PDX business plan. When it was finally complete they started by shopping it around to the big banks. They suited up and headed out to Bank of America, Umpqua, Key Bank, and West Coast Bank looking professional and prepared, but were sent away each time with the same response: “We’re not lending right now,” they were told; Or sometimes even, “We like you guys, but you’re young and have almost no credit history––I’m just not sure there is much we can do for you right now.” Refusing to be discouraged, Kent took to the phone book and made calls to every credit union in the city of Portland until they eventually caught a much needed break.
After being refered to one of the executives at Wells Fargo, who all but promised them an SBA Express Line of Credit, they waited diligently by the phone for details or directions toward the next step. When no reply ever came, they began making daily calls only to be told, “Oh, Ms. So-and-So is in a meeting, she will have to get back to you,” or, “I’m sorry, she just stepped out of the office.” Whether they merely experienced a stream of bad luck or it was their age that made the quest for financing difficult, Brooks and Kent realized that in order to reach their ultimate goal they might have to become more flexible in their vision of how to get there.
Ultimately, after exploring nearly every financial recourse imaginable, and what felt like a life-time’s worth of false hopes and disappointments––like most things in life––the funding for Double Decker PDX seems to have worked out the way it was meant to. Eventually, Brooks and Kent found two personal lenders who saw their youth as a virtue rather than a liability. These unnamed benefactors have chosen to lend to Double Decker PDX for reasons that go beyond the aim of economic turnaround, but because they support the cause and were able to see the potential in Brooks and Kent as individuals.
For two guys fresh out of college with no credit history to speak of, it is no small feat that Double Decker PDX was able to secure adequate funding. Despite the overwhelming stress of financing their business, Brooks and Kent learned an invaluable lesson in compromise and the notion that––if you can let go of how you think things should be or how you thought they would be––sometimes, if you’re really lucky, things will work out better than you initially imagined.
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