I have just enjoyed a great weekend in Raleigh Durham with Claire and Bec – the Saltire IBMers. What a lovely part of the US this corner of North Carolina is – it helped that the weather was warm and sunny, which allowed for two games of golf in shorts, and a swim in the pool in mid February. We also tookin a College Basketball game, at the University of North Carolina – the famous “Tarheels”, where the best basketball player who ever played the game, Michael Jordan was a college player. We joined a fanatical sell-out crowd of 18,000 to watch the Tarheels narrowly beat the Boston College Eagles – great atmosphere and entertainment.

On Friday night we paid a visit to the Roth Microbrewery which opened about 18 months ago, and has quickly established a great reputation in North Carolina. As well as trying their various “brews”, we had a tour in the company of one of the three founders and young entrepreneurs just fresh out of College. The three friends had brewed their own beer at college, and had decided to start a business together. His passion for the business and products was infectious, and if the success of that business is built on that, it is sure to flourish.

However in the course of the tour, he revealed that the three founders had originally approached a local bank to secure funding of $1.5m, but the bank came back and offered them  a percent of the funds they had applied for – they thought the bank meant a percentage, but in fact the offer was just that – 1% i.e. $15,000 as oppose to $1.5m.

Their reaction was “Ok, it’s a start, let’s take it, and we will see what other funds we can find.” They then set up a series of investors’ evenings, where potential funders tried the product, and were given the chance to invest. Via some suitably lubricated funders they raised a further $150k.

Effectively they still only had just over 10% of the funds identified in their business plan, and so they had to become very resourceful in the use of those funds to set up the brewery with much more labour-intensive brewing equipment; some second-hand equipment, and some which they built themselves. They now have a well functioning microbrewery, and the one area they do not scrimp on is the ingredients of the beer, and they source the best grain, yeast and hops they can to ensure their product is top quality, which we can attest to.

However the founder explained with real openness and honesty that they are a much leaner and successful business than if they had received the $1.5m at the start, and he thought they may not have survived had they been given all that money at the start. They had a great sign on the wall, which read:

“BETTER TO DIE QUICK, FIGHTING ON YOUR FEET

THAN TO DIE SLOWLY, BEGGING ON YOUR KNEES.”

We talked a lot at Babson College about the ability of entrepreneurs to make an enterprise successful when starved of resource, through being highly creative and resourceful and bringing huge commitment and passion to that enterprise. It was great to see this first hand – the three founders at Roth Brewery have certainly done that, adopted the mantra above, and I am sure they will go from strength to strength.

Interestingly five of our cohort are currently working on a Social Media Strategy project for another microbrewery, this time in Glasgow - the burgeoning West Brewery beside Glasgow Green.

I have now returned to Houston for the final 5 weeks of my time at Shaw Pipeline Services, and I am delighted that I got to enjoy one of the nicest parts of the US I have visited.