自籌資金

????曾做過美國國際開發署（the U.S. Agency for International Development）業務發展顧問的瑞特?鮑爾和合作伙伴彼得?嘉斯卡的創業路并非一帆風順。他們曾向銀行貸款，發展他們位于南卡羅來納州美特爾海灘的益智玩具公司Wild Creation，但卻遭到拒絕。據悉，這家公司成立于2007年晚些時候。為了籌措資金，他們各自賣掉了第二套房子，抵押現有房屋以獲取房屋凈值貸款，提取自己的退休儲蓄金，最終共籌集到35萬美元資金——很顯然，他們當時承受了巨大風險?！爱斈辏覀儌z都還有幼小的孩子要照顧，”鮑爾說。

????對于玩具行業，他們曾是外行。在從零開始研究此行業的同時，他們也在尋找那些為人所忽視的玩具發明家。這些發明家往往需要他人的幫助，才能將想法變成具有市場價值的實物。最終他們通過努力生產并發布了自己的產品，包括為他們贏得殊榮的生態水族館以及自給生態系統等玩具，里面還配有公司自主研發的“侏儒蛙”。這家盈利能力出眾的公司在2009年實現了85萬美元的銷售額，而到2010年這一數字迅速攀升至530萬美元。目前，這對搭檔經營的公司資金充裕，而且還成功地將產品打入了玩具反斗店（Toys `R Us）和美國圖書零售商巴諾（Barnes & Noble）的門店。

Don't wait around for the banks

????Rhett Power and partner Peter Gasca, former business development consultants with the U.S. Agency for International Development, couldn't get a bank loan to grow Wild Creations, their Myrtle Beach, S.C. toy company, founded in late 2007. So they each sold their second homes, borrowed against their home equity and cashed out their 401ks to raise $350,000 -- a substantial risk. "We had very small kids at the time," says Power.

????Learning the toy business from the ground up, they looked for undiscovered toy inventors who needed help in getting their ideas to market, eventually releasing products such as the award-winning EcoAquarium, self-contained ecosystems complete with their own dwarf frogs. Sales at the profitable company grew from $850,000 in 2009 to $5.3 million in 2010. The duo have managed to get their toys on the shelves of Toys `R Us and Barnes & Noble while running the business on cash flow.