Michael Davis raised so much venture capital for his candle company Illuminations that investors took 51% control. He now runs POP Granopolis under a different model: no venture partners allowed. The contrast shows what he learned from giving away his company.
michaelne-now.com (spelled O N E-N O W dot com).
Illuminations.
From four stores and a catalog to 80 stores.
51% of the company.
POP Granopolis.
Hi, my name is Michael Davis. The website you can reach me at is michaelne-now.com. that's O N E-N O W dot com. The biggest mistake I've made in business. A few years ago, we started a company called Illuminations, which was everything related to candlelight. And it was successful from day one. It grew from four stores and a catalog to 80 stores. And along the way, what we did is we took a lot of money from venture partners. We took so much money that eventually they had 51% of the company. And it was a mistake to do that, because when we lost control of the majority of the stock, it became somebody else's game. And that was corrected in the next company that we were part of, which we are involved in right now, which is called POP Granopolis. And in that company, there are no venture partners allowed.
