Look for the second business inside your start-up

It won’t surprise you to know that the Taskmaster is a regular Gordon Gecko. Every morning, I get up and study my share portfolio, celebrating each rise and shaking my fist at every minor loss.

One thing I’ve noticed when studying the market is the sudden love of the spin-off. This occurs when a big business spins off a division into a separate company in a bid to “unlock” the value of the said division.

Foster’s Group did it recently with its wine business and Tabcorp is doing it now with its casino business.

Which got me thinking – why is this a big company thing? Why couldn’t a start-up seek to spin off a division to unlock some extra value?

Say you are selling home theatre systems. You’ve got a great showroom and a team full of experts. But you’ve also got a home theatre installation team, with electricians and audio experts.

Sure, the installations are part of your regular service. But could this be a business on its own? Could you perform installations for other home theatre companies? Or home automation companies?

It’s another way to look at the structure of your business.

Get it done – today!