The entrepreneur’s bravado/insight/ignorance

A new restaurant has opened in Portland.

Shit—there’s already 34 on the list I haven’t tried.

How often does this sort of thing happen—starting up restaurants?

How many bars and cocktail-slinging, wing-frying places can this town support?

What does it take to think you can do it better than the other guys? Better than Clyde Commons. Better than Sapphire Hotel. Better than Toro Bravo. Better than Ned Ludd. Better than…

How many restauranteurs believe that?

Probably all of them.

Just like me.

The next site I start up I’m thinking to myself: I’ll do it better than the other guys in this space.

But it’s a crowded space with established names and some big guns. I’ll have a stronger brand, man. Better insights. More ME less fluff and tumble.

That’s the entrepreneur’s bravado/insight/ignorance/simplicity. We’re selling ourselves a bill of goods that won’t get shipped. Maybe. At least it’s likely.

Because for every successful restaurant there’s 25 failed attempts.

But NOBODY’s doing wings like this, man. Out of business.

Yea, we’re kind of like the previous restaurant that closed months ago in the same location, but this gonna be different—it’s ME behind the wheel of THIS one. Rent’s up. Payroll’s up. People just ain’t coming.

And yet there’s plenty of room in this town. There’s plenty of room on internet. Remember, we only need 1,000 true fans.

So maybe the right way to think of it is: this is a decent location, this is a hungry neighborhood, there are lots of families here. I’ll put in a play station.

Serve your audience. Your brand won’t save you. Either you offer value or you don’t.