BEFORE:

AFTER:

In (i think) 1990 the first picture shows my enthusiasm for accepting a $15,000 bank loan from my friendly bankers at Key Bank. Mind you, that was a $15K unsecured loan to a 21 year old – quite a feat back when entrepreneurs weren’t the heroes they are today and banks/credit card companies weren’t tripping over themselves to lend to them.

I was using the funds to turn Campus Rags into 30 stores by the time I was 30 years old. Well, that didn’t quite work out as planned. But I did open up a jamming store off the campus of SUNY Albany and pay the loan back to Key Bank. More on this in another post…

Fast forward to Wednesday, November 5th, 2008 and here’s me with co-founder Tracy (sitting), and again, with our new smilin’ bankers, Julie (at left) and Laurie (at right) from Silicon Valley Bank. Some things never change. Except my hairline and a few extra pounds which I’m sure you don’t notice!

It was a great day. While we weren’t there to pick up a check for, say, one MILLION dollars (or better yet, pay one million dollars back!), it did bring back a flood of positive memories about opening up my first business. The pride I felt that my bankers believed enough in a kid to lend me $15k. Building out the store, opening day…

But most importantly Wednesday was one of those moments where your dream feels so much more real than everything that came before. Like “I’m sitting here giving another go at it, twenty years later. We’re incorporated. These forms are opening an account. Hearing about how to manage the account…”

feels right.

Except this time, the odds are more in our favor. For starters, there’s so much more support as I’ve been sharing. Just in this session, Laurie gave us a wealth of excellent advice on how to improve our business case and presentation. And part of SVB’s offerings are its value-added advice and network that Laurie and Julie bring to the table.

I’m also much more aware of my weaknesses and how to shore them up by utilizing others’ talents. I’m much savvier about business thanks to twenty more years at it. So I feel more prepared – and more anxious with the stakes so much higher (another good post for another day.)