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 I'm
really fed up and annoyed with our Bank. Our latest request for
an actual business loan has once again been denied, and for me,
this is the last straw. We've been excellent customers for more
than a decade, we have a thriving business which is oozing with
potential, yet to them, we are nothing but numbers on a piece
of paper. So, I want to take our banking business elsewhere.
Does anyone have a good recommendation? Where's a banker like
Mr. Drysdale when you need him?
It was understandable the first couple of times we asked.
I'm sure our very first loan request (back when we were still
Icehouse Games)
was laughable. Even just a few years ago, when Looney
Labs first asked our bank for a loan, I can see why they
might have said no to our request. The sales numbers just weren't
there, and we had not yet proven ourselves, the way we have now.
But we've been in business for almost 7 years at this point,
and we are clearly succeeding. We have a
bonafide hit and a strong catalog of other
fun game titles that are gaining popular and critical acclaim.
You can find our games in stores
all over! At trade shows, retailers who've caught on to our products
constantly praise them for how well they sell. Using only our
own savings and personal credit, Kristin and I have built up
a business that generated over a quarter of a million dollars
in sales last year, and is still just beginning to find its place
in the game industry.
We quit
our day jobs more than 4 years ago, and not only have we
been supporting ourselves throughout that time, but we've even
been steadily paying down the credit card debt that we racked
up during our early years. Our sales are more than double what
they were a few years ago when we last asked our bank for a loan
and we've moved hundreds of thousands of dollars through
our account with them, without ever bouncing a check or being
late on a payment.
We need more money now because we're succeeding, not failing.
There's so much
more we want to do, but we just don't have the money for
everything yet! We're being held back by our lack of adequate
growth funding. I want a bank who'll look at us for our potential,
not simply for our "cashflow rating". Our Bank didn't
even bother to send someone out to look at our business, to see
how we're doing for ourselves -- they just looked at our numbers
and judged us inadequate. Don't they care about the long-term
value of the intellectual property we're developing? We just
licensed the rights for our biggest hit game to a company
in Germany, who'll be publishing a German edition and paying
us a handsome royalty. Does any of this matter to our big impersonal
Bank? Apparently not.
Anyway, Kristin was really counting on getting this loan.
With Zendo being
more expensive to produce than we'd planned, and with the summer
trade shows still a ways off, we are not going to have enough
money to pay all the bills for Zendo when they start coming in
next month, unless we take a credit card (with a very unfriendly
interest rate) which Kristin had just paid off, and run it back
up to its platinum level limit. This has left me with a very
cranky unhappy Kristin this week. And when Kristin's unhappy,
I'm unhappy.
So, we could really use some cash right now. So much so, that
I have decided to declare it pledge week here at Wunderland.Com.
OK, so we're not giving away Director's Chairs. But I do have
a special deal for you, if you buy something this week from our
on-line store...
How about sending a Fluxx
deck to a far-away friend you haven't seen in awhile? (You could
even send 'em a whole purple
bag!) Or perhaps you need something for yourself... do you
own our newest card game Nanofictionary
yet? Have you been considering upgrading to Fluxx version 3.0
but just haven't gotten around to it? Have you been tempted by
any of the cool
stuff we found at Toy Fair this year? (We've put up a new
one this week, the Super
Nitro Ball.) And did you hear we recently lowered our shipping
rates?
Here's the special deal I mentioned: NanoBlanks
arrived this week, but we won't be taking orders at the web site
for it until May 22nd, in order to allow time for it to reach
our stores. But I'll send you a free copy early if you buy something
in our gift shop this week. (Offer expires as soon as this text
is no longer on the top page at Wunderland.com). Just write in
the comments field, "Andy says I can have a free pre-release
copy of NanoBlanks."
Oh, and if you happen to have any heaps of Extra Cash lying
around that you might be thinking about loaning to a small game
company in need we updated our Investors
page again.
Sorry to get all PBS-pledge-weeky on you... I'm really looking
forward to a day when we are not living quite so close to the
edge as far as money is concerned.
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