Articles &
Resources
Carol Frank has been a columnist for many pet industry publications over the years including APPA, Pet Business, Pet Age, and Pet Product News. This page contains many of the articles she has written in date order as well as articles from guest contributors.
Looking to Raise Growth Capital?
Top 10 Questions Asked by Investors Growing your pet products business takes money, and unless you have a rich uncle, significant cash flow, or a very progressive bank, chances are you may need to raise capital of some form or fashion over the life of your business. As an investment banker, I’ve...
Exit Strategies for Baby Boomer’ Owned Business – Part II
An Interview with Dr. Pamela Dennis, author of “Exit Signs” I ended my last column with these three burning questions: If you are a Boomer who owns a pet company, what can you do to increase your chance of selling your business for optimum value? Should you get a jump on the plethora of Boomer...
Exit Strategies for Baby Boomer’ Owned Businesses: Part I
You’ve been hearing the rumors for years about the huge bubble of people born after WWII through the mid 60’s quickly approaching retirement. The Baby Boomers. You’ve probably heard the numbers: Over 78 million people closing in on retirement in the next 10 to 15 years. Boomers own over 65% of...
Pet Industry Outlook 2016: The News Just Keeps Getting Better!
The economy may be so-so; the stock market may be shaky; retail sales may be sluggish, at best. The $60 billion-plus pet industry, however, is expected to continue its long, strong, growth streak this year. Brian Beaulieu, an economist, recently told the Pet Industry Leadership Conference that...
A “Frank” discussion with Cat Expert Jackson Galaxy
The Journey from Passionate Cat Lover to TV Star and Celebrity Licensor Jackson Galaxy is the Host & Executive Director of Animal Planet's hit show My Cat From Hell, New York Times best-selling author, and has over 20 years of experience as “The Cat Daddy”. He first found his calling while...
5 Key Elements of a Successful Pet Products Company Sale
By Carol Frank and Craig Lawson As many of you know who have been reading my APPA columns over the years, it’s a great time to sell a high quality pet business. However, selling your company will require about six to nine months of intense effort, so it's vital to have your house in order...
Article Categories
2013 Pet Industry Valuation and Deal Activity
The first four months of 2013 saw increased transaction activity in the pet industry, resulting in 10 announced transactions: 8 M&A deals and 2 private placements. Pet Transactions are on pace to exceed the total of 29 announced transactions in 2012. The pet industry continues to experience premium valuations compared to consumer products; strong, growing brands tend to sell for 1.0x to 2.0x...
The State of the Pet Bird Segment
The first twenty years of my career in the pet industry were focused on the pet bird segment. When I opened my pet store in Dallas in 1987, the bird craze was in its infancy. Many of the birds I sold in my store were wild caught. Thankfully, the Wild Bird Conservation Act passed in 1992, outlawing the sale of wild-caught birds and opening the flood-gates for the multitudes of hand fed baby...
The New Pet Industry Sustainability Coalition
AN INTERVIEW WITH FOUNDER CHRIS BENTLEY As a fellow Boulder resident, I know Chris Bentley through his many community activities, including serving with me on the University of Colorado Deming Center for Entrepreneurship Board of Directors. Chris heads up Deming’s Sustainability Council, a topic that is also near and dear to my heart. Chris has been working on increasing the focus on...
Top 5 Things Entrepreneurs and Business Owners Should Never Do
It’s a Slippery Business World! In business, even highly successful entrepreneurs make mistakes. Smart business owners are able to learn from their mistakes. Really smart business owners learn how to profit from the mistakes of others. You can learn from them too. The trouble is, though, that many people are tight-lipped about their failures. Recently, I was able to talk twenty-nine highly...
Pet Industry M&A 2012… and beyond
M&A Pet Transactions slowed after the first quarter of 2012, resulting in a total of 29 announced transactions in comparison to 41 announced transactions in 2011. The pet industry also continues to experience premium valuations compared to its consumer products brethren. Strong, growing brands have been selling for 1.0x to 2.0x revenue or 6.0x to 12.0x EBITDA. In other consumer products...
Leading the Troops into 2013
The beginning of a new year is always a great time to take a step back and look at your business from 30,000 feet. Since you can’t grow without good staff, I thought it would be an opportune time to write about leadership skills. As Jim Collins talks about in his first blockbuster business book “Built To Last”, it’s really all about “who is on the bus.” As someone who hired dozens of people over...
Top 10 Tips for Email Negotiation
While face-to-face negotiations are always better for closing business deals, email negotiations are on the rise. Researchers have found (and common sense tells us) that email negotiations lead to less satisfying agreements and an even greater rate of failure to reach agreement. The only thing I can think of that would be even worse then negotiation through e-mail would be negotiating through...
Three Benefits of an M&A Advisor When Selling or Refinancing Your Business
When it comes to selling or refinancing your company, many pet industry owners have questions about the benefits of using an M&A advisor, also known as an investment banker (assuming they have the appropriate FINRA designation). The reasons are simple. An advisor can dramatically improve success in securing the right type of financing for the business and will make a sale process far more...
Getting the MOST out of your Insurance Program
Carol Frank with guest Pam Adams Business liability insurance saved my company from bankruptcy. Several years ago a competitor sued me for the sole purpose of putting my company, Avian Adventures, out of business. The charges had been trumped up and falsified; yet I still had to spend the money on legal fees to fight the lawsuit. The first month after the suit, my legal bill was $17,000. ...
Please feel free to post articles on your website or in print as long as you: include all authorship, copyright information, link to our website, and email your contact information as well as where and how the articles will be used to birdseye@bidseyeadvisory.com.