Jerry Lasco takes Lasco Enterprises LLC to the next level

Jerry Lasco, CEO, Lasco Enterprises LLC

After losing his job as an airplane pilot following the Sept. 11 attacks, Jerry Lasco turned to his hobby of food and wine for answers. With a desire to start his own business, Lasco brainstormed for a business idea that solved a problem people were experiencing.
“The problem that we wanted to solve was fear,” says Lasco, CEO of Lasco Enterprises LLC, the management company of The Tasting Room, Max’s Wine Dive and The Black Door. “The fear of not knowing how to navigate a wine store and not knowing how to navigate a wine list was a big fear that we wanted to solve.”
Helping average consumers understand a vast wine selection and taste the wine before they buy proved to be a good solution to the problem. Today, Lasco operates seven wine locations in three cities and had revenue of $12.5 million in 2010.
Smart Business spoke to Lasco about what it takes to get an entrepreneurial company off the ground.
Solve a problem. The question that I think is important for entrepreneurs is, ‘What’s the void in the market or what problem can you solve?’ Whether it’s starting a new company or a business initiative, what problem is it solving? You need to ask yourself a lot of questions and you need to do a very thorough analysis. Everybody has to go through some sort of due diligence process and gain a confidence level that their idea has legs. Then you take a leap of faith and put everything on the line to test whether or not you’re right. Due diligence is critical, and it’s specific to whatever industry or idea you have.
Prepare for growth. You don’t want to grow before you’ve got everything taken care of in your own backyard on your first business. You’ve got to have that down pat and you have to feel very confident in your initial business because that becomes your backbone. Secondly, the skill set that made you a successful entrepreneur — the risk taking, the idea, the strategic thinking — isn’t necessarily the skill set you need to be a growth company, which has a lot more to do with strong management abilities, organizational abilities, systems abilities, and visionary and motivational leadership. I think of entrepreneurs as inventors, but that doesn’t mean you can manage a complex organization and a complex system. You have to look in the mirror and figure out whether or not you personally have those skill sets or you need to bring those skill sets into your company. You have to make sure that you’ve got a complementary skill set or tool kit.
Manage your cash flow. There is a mindset that you have to have if growth is your goal. That means you’re going to have to reinvest and you’re going to have to hire more brainpower and manpower to allow you to grow. You have to have really good cash flow management. Running out of capital or running into financial troubles can devastate everything. There are countless stories about businesses that have had great ideas and probably would have succeeded except for a small mismanagement of cash flow. You never know when something unforeseen could come about. It’s challenging for small businesses because you don’t want to invest in accounting, a controller or a CFO because most small businesses can’t afford that. Whatever you do you have to know what’s going on in your books and in your cash flow situation, even if that means you’re staying up at night and doing it yourself.
Hire the right people. As you grow, it becomes much less about the entrepreneur and much more about the leader of the company. I think a great leader’s strongest asset is having the wherewithal to bring great people into the company. Get people that you can trust that have complementary skills. The greatest variable that is going to affect your growth positively or negatively is that you have the wrong people on board, a bunch of yes-people or people that aren’t contributing or aren’t complementary in strengths. If you put the right group together and you have a good idea, you have an excellent opportunity to get to where you are going. To be a good leader you really have to understand yourself and know what your motivations are and know what your strengths are. You have to hire people that have strengths in areas that you don’t have strengths in. Once you decide to grow, that’s when you have to specialize. You have to bring people in that are really good in those specialty areas.
How to reach: Lasco Enterprises LLC, www.lascoenterprises.com