It's Time to Fire Some of Your Customers

As we move into volatile times (again), business leaders more than ever need to maniacally focus on the few customers that matter most to them — and spend much less time on the rest. The customer may always be right, but not every customer is right for you.

Some years ago, when our venture firm was starting one of its first retail ventures, I met with a highly successful CEO in the retail services industry to better understand how he did so well across all of his stores (he had some mind-blowing numbers). It was abundantly clear when you walked into any of his stores that his customers were genuinely delighted. I asked him for his secret. His response surprised me and has therefore stuck with me: "When we open a new location we quickly grow to a database of 8,000 customer names — and then work hard to get it down to 1,500 names."

At first I was taken aback, as it seems counter-intuitive to shrink rather than build your customer base. Upon a little reflection, however, it made absolute sense: ultimately, business is not about growing revenue, but about growing profitable revenue with the right target customer. To get that right customer, you sometimes need to start by casting a wider net, figuring out which customers are the most attractive, and then temporarily shrinking the business before you grow it again. With each iteration, you get smarter and more targeted towards the ideal customer profile.

By focusing on customers with the highest potential in terms of repeat purchases and larger average transactions, one is able to create a more successful business because marketing and customer service efforts (and costs) can be allocated where they matter most. But for many CEOs and founders, the mandate for growth creates a bias for quantity of revenue over quality of revenue. At our venture firm, when we evaluate a business model we think very differently about a dollar of revenue with a high probability of recurrence (i.e. a customer who will buy again, making it high quality revenue) versus dollars of revenue that need to be constantly be replaced with new customers. We believe the threshold for a high-quality-of-revenue business is a revenue recurrence rate of over 85%, meaning losing no more than 15% of a customer base each year.

Such businesses have higher predictability in their business model and greater leverage in their sales, marketing, and customer service. A higher quality of revenue means a better long-term business.

If you look hard at who is buying your wares, you can quickly get a sense of where the money is coming from and where your money is being spent. Some businesses exhibit the classic 80/20 rule, with their top 20 percent of customers making up 80 percent of the revenue. We have also seen a good number of firms with even more skewed revenue distributions that are closer to 90/10. Yet organizational efforts and resources are often poorly mapped to, or unaligned with, that revenue distribution pattern. In fact, it is often the opposite. That is, the bottom customer quartiles take disproportionately from a company's sales, marketing, and customer service resources. Some of the most challenging customers are those who in the "low-middle" bucket, buying relatively little, but needing very high touch and maintenance.

Why do so many of us fall into the trap of spreading our efforts evenly across our customer base, or even skewing them towards the lowest-potential customers? It is tempting to embrace every customer equally — and we naturally want to understand why the lower customer deciles are not behaving like the higher deciles.

We want to believe that we can nurture and develop all customers to reach high potential levels over time. However, in the companies in which we have been involved, the data do not support that thesis. It is always tougher to change customer behavior than to find new customers similar to your existing top-buyer profiles.

The top priority for a business that wants high quality of revenues starts with understanding everything possible about the top customers. Drill deep to understand their demographics, psychographic, and purchase behavior preferences of your "super loyalists." Where do they come from? What is their attitudinal profile and what bundles of goods do they like best and at what price? Getting an intimate clustering of your top customer base is the foundation for a high-quality-of-revenue business.

By directing more customer acquisition and loyalty costs towards that top cohort, you will be implicitly de-focusing or "firing in advance" the less valuable customer segments. Yes, the term "fire" is a little melodramatic, but it is a clear reminder that limited resources need to be carefully allocated — and that just because you sell something to someone it does not necessarily mean it is a good thing.

Firing your customer does not mean to literally bar the door, but to set conditions whereby lower- priority customers self-select out and higher-potential ones self-select in. For example, for many businesses, first purchase order size is a good leading indicator of future purchases. If you knew that $50 was the average of your top loyalists and $30 was the average of lower tiers, you could simply raise minimum price on an opening order, or only offer free shipping on orders of $50 or above. As another example, for current customers who spend little but cost dearly in terms of customer support or other costs, consider a new pricing structure where higher support services are only free for accounts of a certain size. In effect, you can offer customers the choice to become profitable cohorts or to leave.

Your top-cohort customers are super fans who have voted with their wallets. They are the ones who will recommend you more often than other customers and would miss you most if you no longer existed. Find more people like them, and spend less time trying to turn others into people like them. Thank your best customers to death for their great patronage and worry less about — or simple "fire" — the others.

Anthony Tjan is CEO, Managing Partner and Founder of the venture capital firm Cue Ball. An entrepreneur, investor, and senior advisor, Tjan has become a recognized business builder.

Flexing Your "No Thanks" Muscle

(Thanks to Peter Bregman for reminding me to focus today on the things that matter!  I was going to waste some time shopping online for car insurance rates to try and save $10/month.  I now can mark through that task and move on to the real work that will earn me $10/month a hundred times over.)

"Would you like to save 10% on your purchase by signing up for a Bloomingdales' credit card?" asked the sales person who had helped me pick out several new suits. "It will only take a few minutes."

"Why not?" I thought to myself; the savings would amount to more than a hundred dollars.

Well, here's why not: an hour later, after speaking with the Bloomingdales credit department twice, we still hadn't finished. When, finally, I was approved, they hadn't extended enough credit for the entire purchase, so I had to split the cost between my new Bloomingdales' card and my regular credit card, which gave me more accounting to do as well as an additional bill to pay at the end of the month. Total cost to me? At least two hours of my time and a whole lot of aggravation and stress.

When you catch yourself thinking "why not?" consider it a warning sign. "Why not?" means it's probably not that important to you, but there's a reward and the cost seems small so, well, why not?

But if you say "why not?" to the Bloomingdales' card, you'll also say "why not?" when CVS offers you a free $10 gas gift card when you purchase $30 worth of select products. And when you realize that you need to be an ExtraRewards member to get the savings, you figure, well, "I've gone this far, I might as well sign up for that too," which, of course, takes more time and ushers in more offers, promotions, and distractions.

Then where do you stop? Every deal seems like a good deal. And any one of them probably won't take that much time. But if you take one deal, you'll probably take the others (why not?) and all together the time and attention it steals becomes a costly distraction from your one, most valuable possession — your focus.

The most important skill we possess in this world of infinite distractions is focus. Anything that distracts us — even saving a hundred dollars — is just mind clutter.

We need to clear out our mind clutter and place our attention where it matters most, which requires three steps:

1. Know your focus. This is critical and rarely done well. Knowing exactly where to place your attention is a challenge, especially given the barrage of nonstop offers, opportunities, requests, and needs that compete against each other.

2. Sustain your focus. Knowing where you want to place your attention is one thing. Actually placing and keeping it there day after day is another.

3. Protect your focus. Defending yourself from being distracted by mind clutter is a moment-by-moment discipline. You need to become a master at choosing when to say, "no thanks," even when it seems like there's no downside to saying, "why not?" Because there's almost always a downside.

In my upcoming book, 18 Minutes: Find Your Focus, Master Distraction, and Get the Right Things Done, I explore ways to know, sustain, and protect our focus as we cut through the noise to get our most important priorities accomplished.

One thing we can do is recognize that we have a limited amount of space in our minds and each time we say "why not?" to something — or even consider saying "why not?" to something — it takes up room. If we learn to automatically say, "no thanks," to things that seem like a good deal, but don't fit into our main areas of focus, we'll simplify our lives and free our minds to focus.

How do we do that? By exercising our, "no thanks," muscle in the face of temptation. No thanks, I'll skip your rewards program. No thanks, I won't take that savings. No thanks, I'm not going to increase my order size in order to get free shipping.

Then we can practice with the bigger things. No thanks, I'm not going to join that committee. No thanks, I won't be able to make that dinner. No thanks, I won't take on that project.

Of course, the reason we're saying, "no thanks," is so that we can say, "yes please," to the right things. The reason I didn't join the committee is so I can focus on my book. The reason I passed on the dinner is so I can focus on my family. The reason I didn't take on that project is so I can focus on this other one instead.

"No thanks," paves the road for "yes please," and it simplifies your decisions and your life. It helps you do fewer unimportant things.

Over dinner with friends one night, we developed a No Thanks List, consisting of 27 examples when, in our opinion "no thanks" was the best response to eliminate distraction and help us maintain our focus. Feel free to add to the list on my website.

Recently, Bloomingdales sent me an additional 15% off coupon to use with my new Bloomingdales' credit card within a specified time frame. I was tempted. I actually thought, "Why not?"

But I know better. I threw out the coupon and called to cancel the card. When I spoke with the representative, she offered me an additional $25 coupon to keep the card. This time, I wasn't even tempted.

"No thanks," I said, and got back to my writing.

Peter Bregman is a strategic advisor to CEOs and their leadership teams. His latest book, 18 Minutes: Find Your Focus, Master Distraction, and Get the Right Things Done, is available for pre-order and will be published in September.

Why Some People Have All the Luck

Anthony Tjan

Anthony Tjan is CEO, Managing Partner and Founder of the venture capital firm Cue Ball. An entrepreneur, investor, and senior advisor, Tjan has become a recognized business builder.


Some business builders just seem to have more luck than others. In fact, many of the entrepreneurs and business builders I know say luck is a driving factor in their success.

But luck in business isn't entirely, well, luck. There's a popular saying that "you make your own luck." This "make your own luck" principle has become a central chapter of a book I am co-authoring for Harvard Business Review Press. Luck, alongside Heart, Smarts, and Guts — turns out to be a critical factor in entrepreneurial DNA and successful business-building.

Over the course of now hundreds of interviews, collaborations and interactions with entrepreneurs, my co-authors Richard Harrington and Tsun-yan Hsieh and I found that, while there are certain types of luck which you cannot affect (deterministic or probabilistic or elements such as where you were born, or which card you draw from a deck of 52), there is absolutely a lot of luck that you can meaningfully influence.

Arguably, most of "business luck" can be influenced — i.e. you can increase your propensity to be lucky in business if you understand how.

How? Being "luckier" in business is fundamentally about having the right LUCKY ATTITUDE. As it turns out, luck is as much about attitude as it is about probability.

We have found in our research that people who self-describe themselves as lucky in their entrepreneurial profile with us tend to be luckier because they have the right attitude. Their secret towards a lucky attitude — whether consciously or unconsciously- stems from three traits:

1. At the foundation of a lucky attitude is humility. Jim Collins, author of Good to Great, helped identify humility as one of the key traits of the high performing leader. Having a lucky attitude begins with humility and open vulnerability towards your own limitations. You need enough self-confidence to command the respect of others, but that needs to be counter-balanced with knowing that there is much you simply don't know. Humility is the path towards earning respect while self-confidence is the path towards commanding it. But it is humility that humanizes leaders and allows them to be luckier. It is at the root of self-awareness, and creates the openness for one to take on our next lucky attitude trait — intellectual curiosity.

2. Intellectual curiosity is an active response to humility. Humility gives people the capacity to be intellectually curious. Conversely, people who are fully confident or arrogant are less likely to question their personal assumptions and outlook of the world. Business builders who are intellectually curious hold a voracious appetite to learn more about just about anything. They devour reading, listen to suggestions, and explore new ideas at a much higher rate than others. They are more frequently asking questions than trying to answer them. Ultimately they become luckier because they are more willing to meet new people, ask new questions, and go to new places.

3. Optimism is the energy source to allow for positive change. If humility is the foundation for intellectual curiosity, then an optimistic disposition gives one the belief and energy that more, better, faster is always possible. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy: more luck tends to come to those who believe in possibility — to those who see the good in something before they see the bad. Optimists are givers of energy rather than takers of it. By having a positive disposition, such individuals are more likely to have a greater number of seemingly "surprise" encounters with good fortune. They are also more likely to act on what they find through their intellectually curious pursuits because they believe — always believe — in the potential for better.

The basic equation of developing the right lucky attitude therefore is quite simple. It starts with having the humility to be self- aware, followed by the intellectual curiosity to ask the right questions, and concluding with the belief and courage that something better is always possible (optimism). The luckiest people in the business world are those who hold all three elements of this lucky attitude equation of humility, intellectual curiosity, and optimism. They are the people who say to themselves: I am humble enough to say I don't know how to make better/perfect happen on my own; I am curious and courageous enough to ask questions that might help make something closer to perfect; and finally I embrace the "glass half-full" optimism that the end result can always be improved, so let me act towards that objective. That is the mindset of the lucky business builder. It is one that most people can have if they are just willing to believe.

Except from "Declaring Independence in the Workplace"

Thanks to Teresa Amabile and Steve Kramer for this sage insight into management boundaries and balance!

To be truly intrinsically motivated and to gain a sense of achievement when they do make progress, people need to have some say in their own work. What's more, when employees have freedom in how to do the work, they are more creative. Two key aspects of autonomy are having the ability to make meaningful decisions in work and then feeling confident that — barring serious errors or dramatic shifts in conditions — those decisions will hold. If they often get overridden by management, people quickly lose the motivation to make any decision, which severely inhibits progress. Work gets delayed because people feel like they have to wait and "check in" before they can begin or change anything.

In our research across industries as diverse as consumer products, chemicals, and high tech, we found many knowledge workers whose extensive expertise went untapped and whose initial excitement about tackling challenging projects got deflated. Too often, the culprits were managers who believed that to do a good job, they had to direct the work — tell people exactly what to do and how to do it, making changes as they alone saw fit. These managers failed to realize three things:

1. Managers themselves almost never have the specific knowledge that well-trained, experienced professionals have about the work they are doing. Failing to draw on that knowledge is a lamentable waste of resources.
2. Professionals become demoralized, disgusted, and apathetic if they lack the autonomy to at least co-direct the work they are doing.
3. Organizations lose out in a big way if their professionals become disengaged. Even if those professionals don't decamp for greener pastures, they're not doing their best work.

The Challenge of Change

Watching client companies fight their way out of the recession recently has made me think about the difficulties associated with inventing and reinventing ourselves. Whether it's a personal reinvention, a corporate overhaul, or a professional transformation, change can be very tough. Adding to the complexity is the fact that you can never roll the clock backwards and revert to a 'pre-change' state once the evolution has begun.

My clients are companies in the start-up, growth or turnaround phases, and they face the challenges of change everyday. Although the industries, products, services and faces vary with each case, most of my clients struggle with the same core issues. Last week I spoke with a potential client who asked me if I see the same problems recur over and over again. My response was that, yes, 8 out of 10 clients were usually coping with a handful of issues that seem to crop up in almost every transformation situation. That conversation prompted me to take a moment and delineate exactly what those few key hangups are, and how I advise clients who are working through them. It's a short list of tips that we can all use.

Embrace change and uncertainty. Most of us naturally live our lives trying to eliminate uncertainty, but when you are in the midst of a mandatory shift - you can't do that. During periods of change and transformation, uncertainty is your friend and it offers you an open window into a bright future that you can design consciously today.

Live an examined life. We're on autopilot 90% of the time. Evolutionary times present an opportunity to reassess every area of your life and your business - and change long-held habits. When change is thrust upon you, take the time to do a double take on the cards in your hand. If you can get past your initial knee-jerk reaction, you will probably see opportunities you never knew existed.

Commit yourself to operating in the present moment. 'Now' is a very loaded word. For most of us, how we view 'now' is all wrapped up in the past we've experienced and the future we expect. That understanding of 'now' doesn't work so well during periods of uncertainty and change, so commit yourself to living each day to it's fullest capacity.... no strings attached. Sometimes when people stop resisting change they discover their true path for the first time in their life.

Set your intentions on a positive outcome. Just because you have no clear vision of what's ahead - of how you or your company will end up - doesn't mean you can't control your personal intentions. Change doesn't happen to you. It happens with you, and you are a key part of the equation. Even if the path is unclear, focus your mind on the particular outcome you seek. Visualize the feelings of accomplishment, success and peace when the change is done.

Let go of what you are losing. We all have baggage: emotional baggage, professional baggage, relational baggage... it doesn't really matter. External things that aren't as important as we think they are. Change can't be all about acquisition. There is a strong element of letting go as well. You can free yourself to live your best life by surrendering what's going away and aligning yourself with the new state of affairs that is coming into focus before you.

Never give up! This is the secret to mastering the art of transformation and the psychology of uncertainty: do not underestimate the power of your spirit. Everyday, all around the world, people are tested. And it is in these moments that they discover their fortitude, courage, raw strength, kindness and heroism. Whether you are revamping your business model, changing locations, dumping a bad partner or reinventing yourself - your ability to believe in yourself and restore your faith will determine how your future unfolds.

So my advice all of you out there who are facing big changes, is to make a commitment to stay positive, be proactive, let go of the past and embrace the future. We live in an ever-evolving world. Remaining the same is not an option.

Good luck as you discover the next iteration of your life and build a new world!

The Scoop on Angel Investors

Lots of businesses think that angel investors may be a good way to get money (doesn't 'angel' sound sweet?).  Sometimes they are, but... (the old BUT!)  Working with angels and VCs has its challenges, and hopefully this article will give you some insight into whether or not that fund raising route is right for you.

Angel investors are individuals who invest in businesses looking for a higher return than they would see from more traditional investments. Many are successful entrepreneurs who want to help other entrepreneurs get their business off the ground or to the next level. Usually they are the bridge from the self-funded stage of the business to the point that the business needs the level of funding that a venture capitalist would offer. Funding estimates for angels vary, but usually range from $10,000 to $1 million.

The term 'angel' comes from the practice in the early 1900's of wealthy businessmen investing in Broadway productions. Today "angels" typically offer expertise, experience and contacts in addition to money. Less is known about angel investing than venture capital because of the individuality and privacy of the investments, but the Small Business Administration estimates that there are at least 250,000 angels active in the country, funding about 30,000 small companies a year. The total investment from angels is estimated to be far higher than the $3 to $5 billion per year that the formal venture capital community invests. In fact, the potential pool of angel investors is substantially larger. There are about two million people in the United States with the discretionary net worth to make angel investments.

The Center for Venture Research at the University of New Hampshire, which does research on angel investments, has developed the following profile of angel investors:

• The "average" private investor is 47 years old with an annual income of $90,000, a net worth of $750,000, is college educated, has been self employed and invests $37,000 per venture.
• Most angels invest close to home and rarely put in more than a few hundred thousand dollars.
• Informal investment appears to be the largest source of external equity capital for small businesses. Nine out of 10 investments are devoted to small, mostly start-up firms with fewer than 20 employees.
• Nine out of 10 investors provide personal loans or loan guarantees to the firms they invest in. On average, this increases the available capital by 57%.
• Informal investors are older, have higher incomes, and are better educated than the average citizen, yet they are not often millionaires. They are a diverse group, displaying a wide range of personal characteristics and investment behavior.
• Seven out of 10 investments are made within 50 miles of the investor's home or office.
• Investors expect an average 26% annual return at the time they invest, and they believe that about one-third of their investments are likely to result in a substantial capital loss.
• Investors accept an average of 3 deals for every 10 considered. The most common reasons given for rejecting a deal are insufficient growth potential, overpriced equity, lack of sufficient talent of the management, or lack of information about the entrepreneur or key personnel.
• Investors included in the study would have invested almost 35% more than they did if acceptable opportunities had been available.

For the business seeking funding, the right angel investor can be the perfect first step in formal funding. It usually takes less time to meet with an angel and to receive funds, due diligence is less involved and angels usually expect a lower rate of return than a venture capitalist. The downside is finding the right balance of expert help without the angel totally taking charge of the business. Structuring the relationship carefully is an important step in the process.

What Does an Angel Investor Expect?

There are almost as many answers to what angels expect as there are angels. Each has their own criteria and foibles because they are individuals. Almost all want a board position and possibly a consulting role. All want good communication although for some that means quarterly reports, while for others that means weekly updates. Return objectives range from a projected internal rate of return of 30% over five years to sales projections of $20 million in the first five years to the potential return of five times investment in the first five years. Most are looking for anything from a five to 25 percent stake in the business. Some want securities - either common stock or preferred stock with certain rights and liquidation preferences over common stock. Some even ask for convertible debt, or redeemable preferred stock, which provides a clearer exit strategy for the investor, but also places the company at the risk of repaying the investment plus interest. Additionally, the repayment may imperil future financing since those sources will not likely want to use their investment to bail out prior investors.

Some angels ask for the right of first refusal to participate in the next round of financing. While this sounds eminently reasonable, some venture capitalists will want their own players only or certain investment minimums so this strategy may limit who future participants might be.

Future representation of the board of directors also needs to be clarified. When a new round of financing occurs, do they lose their board right? Or should that could be based on a percentage ownership - when their ownership level drops below a certain level, they no longer have board representation.

In order to protect their investment, angels often ask the business to agree to not take certain actions without the angel investors approval. These include selling all or substantially all of the company's assets, issuing additional stock to existing management, selling stock below prices paid by the investors or creating classes of stock with liquidation preferences or other rights senior to the angel's class of security. Angels also ask for price protection, that is anti-dilution provisions that will result in their receiving more stock should the business issue stock at a lower price than that paid by the angels.

To prepare to solicit an angel, several critical factors will aid in making the approach successful. First, assemble an advisory board that includes a securities accountant and an attorney. Two important functions of the board are to recommend angels to contact and to work with the management team to develop a business plan to present to the angel. The business plan itself should define the reason for financing, how the capital will be spent and the timetable for going public or seeking venture capital funding. It should include: an executive summary (description of the business, opportunity and strategy, target market, projections and competitive advantages); the industry, the company and its products and services (including entry and growth strategies); market research and analysis (customers, market size and trends, competition, estimated market share and sales); the economics of the business (including gross and operating margins and break-even analysis); marketing plan (overall strategy, pricing, advertising, promotion, and distribution); design and development plans (product/service improvement and new products/services); manufacturing and operations plans (geographic location, facilities and capacity improvements); management team (organization overview, biographies and compensation plans for key employees); financial plan (tax returns, profit and loss forecasts, pro forma cash flow analysis and balance sheets, 5-year projections); and proposed company offering (desired financing, securities offering, capitalization, timetable).

Most of all, take your time in forming a relationship with an angel. You are going to be spending a number of years together at a critical time in your business' life. Take the time to assure yourself that this is a person who you are comfortable with through both the ups and downs the future will bring.

Money is NOT the Problem

Many thanks to Richard Male and Associates for this insightful take on the ever-pervasive nonprofit poverty mentality!

Our nonprofit consulting work often involves a snapshot assessment of an organization's current status. How are the board, staff, and programs functioning? What sorts of fundraising strategy and tactics are in place? Do internal operations and external communications seem appropriate and healthy? In addition to conducting personal interviews, reviewing documents, and observing meetings, we frequently use electronic surveys to gather peoples' opinions on what is--and is not--working.

Not surprisingly, when we ask about an organization's weaknesses, popular answers from board and staff include "We need money," "Lack of funds," "Not enough money," and so on.

You know the old saying, "There are no wrong answers"? Well, this is the exception.

Nonprofit leaders often think that their lack of funds is their primary challenge.

They're wrong.

A lack of money is not the problem. It is a symptom. The problem is always something else.

Without exception, we have seen over and over that "the problem" is actually one or a disastrous combination of the following:

1. The board is too small. This invariably means that the board does not contain the range of skills and perspectives needed for sustainable success.

2. The board governance is weak. Attendance, participation, understanding, trust, accountability, engagement: entire books are written on this subject. If this were an easy issue, we'd all be wealthy. Sadly, too many well-meaning people have never experienced a nonprofit board functioning properly, so they don't even know what they're missing.

3. The mission is unclear or poorly defined. There must be a vision of why you exist and where you are trying to go. This statement of purpose needs to be concise, clear, repeatable, and memorable.

4. There is no road map, i.e., how that mission will actually be accomplished. Nonprofits that are struggling are often trying to do too much on too many projects.

5. Leaders, both paid and unpaid, fail to recognize the critical distinction between leadership and management. You need both on your team, and these people need to know when to demonstrate each as situations dictate.

6. Planning is unrealistic or nonexistent. Operating by crisis and hand-to-mouth feels like the way the game is played, as if being frantic and operating on the thinnest shoestring keeps you credible and authentic.

7. There is no strategy to fundraising. There is a rich tapestry of ways that nonprofits can tell their story to those who would be inclined to support them, but weak organizations get stuck trying the same ineffective tactic over and over.

8. Relationships have not been cultivated with the "other two" sectors (private and public). Yes, these things take time. Start before you're broke. You won't have a harvest of food for tomorrow if you don't plant something today.

9. Media or community relations are weak. See explanation for #8.

10. The impact of the organization is not being measured or evaluated properly. The funding world, from individual donors to international foundations, doesn't essentially care how small you are or how lean your budget is. They want to see that you make a demonstrated, credible difference.

Every one of these factors contributes directly to whether dollars are coming in. The next time you find yourself thinking or saying, "We just need more money," consider that your energy is better spent on something besides staring wishfully at your balance sheet. Remember that nonprofits do not close their doors because they "...have no money." They end up closing their doors because they failed in some other respect - which ultimately resulted in no money.