Little Spoon Co-Founder and CEO Ben Lewis explains how a single "yes" at a trade show sparked an investor FOMO domino effect to raise the company's first $1 million.
At what point do you say we need to raise capital?
So we raised capital relatively early, you know, in the journey.
What's early?
I mean, it was it was I mean, it was actually
And how much, if you don't mind detail?
in the in the beginning, it was it was like, maybe a million dollars.
The hardest part is getting the first money in.
Right?
So, um it was getting, you know, one person initially who was interested in investing.
These were not, by the way, institutional investors. These were just
Family, friends?
people. They weren't even family friends actually. They were, they were just like like one guy I met in the um in the food industry. I met him at a trade show.
Got it.
He had, you know, invested personally out of his own pocket in in a handful of other companies. He really liked what we were doing. He said, I'll put money in if if if, you know, my buddy so and so puts money in. He introduced me to his friend, we talked to him.
Domino effect.
One thing yeah, and then and then that led to something else and it was sort of all of a sudden you have this kind of critical mass of people, you know, writing
Excited about something.
you know, there's excitement, right? And then there's FOMO and they're telling their friends. And so, um so really, I mean it was um I you know, definitely getting that, getting that first, um that that very first yes was was by far the hardest. a lot of no's to get to the one yes, but then once you get the one yes, you get a few more yess. Um and leads you down a positive path.
It leads you down a positive path.
It leads you down a positive path.
Okay, this is important. When you gain capital, you lose control.
Is that what you're going to say?
I'm asking. Um, yeah, I mean, look, I think you, I think that can be true in many cases. That was not true for us, but, but you, but, you know, you're taking on, you have all of a sudden now,
other people, right?
you have other people. Um, and these are, you know, these are people with, you know, these are, these are not, you know, faceless institutions. These are people,
These are individuals.
individuals really putting their money in. Totally, and believing, believing in you, believing in us.
What kind of pressure does that create for you and your partner? What kind of pressure did it create both in your personal relationship and your professional relationship with your partner?
It had had a massive impact. I think it's hard to trace back exactly how every single you know, micro detail,
Right, of course.
the impact it had, but um but I mean, yeah, we we we felt an enormous responsibility to make this business successful. to, you know, and actually, I had a previous business that was unsuccessful and that taught me, that taught me a lot. And that, you know, going into this the second time around, I think there was a sort of heightened level of anxiety and pressure
Right.
to ensure that this was going to be successful. And of course, we had no idea whether it was going to be.
You can't read a crystal ball.
You cannot read a crystal ball. We've tried.
