Revolutionizing the Limousine Service: Limos.com CEO T.J. Clark (Part 7)

Sramana: What other international destinations are you serving besides India and Europe?

T.J. Clark: South America, China, and the south of Africa, which includes Nigeria and South Africa.

Sramana: I was not expecting you to say Africa. Is there anything in particular driving that market?

T.J. Clark: There is demand and successful commerce. Nigeria is one of the true up-and-coming economies in the world.

Sramana: What advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs?

T.J. Clark: There is no mandate to do it right after college. You want to do your homework excessively. When you do decide to go forward, don’t let your friends discourage you. A lot of my close friends told me not to go into limos. They told me the market was too small.

Sramana: The 1M/1M methodology we teach is focused on doing your homework and due diligence. We have a precise methodology of TAM analysis and comparative positioning. On the one hand you should never let people discourage you, but on the other hand if a methodical analysis does not support it, then you should listen to that analysis. You provided a very clear analysis of your TAM. If you do that due diligence, you can prove the market exists. What people think or feel is of no consequence.

T.J. Clark: I’m glad you bring that point out. You have to do that to increase your chances. There are companies like Twitter that would never fit into that pattern, but they just work. I don’t want to talk someone out of doing that, but chances of success are a lot lower.

Sramana: We discourage that because it is a very high-risk game, and you can’t sustain yourself without gobs of outside financing. That is another thing that we do not support very much. We want you to become sustainable based on clear business principles, not speculation.

T.J. Clark: I agree. Twitter is an oddity because they did it on the cheap. There is something to be said for being able to build a company on a server that could be under your bed.

Sramana: Twitter is a company that has still not found a business model.

T.J. Clark: That’s a good point.

Sramana: I get comments from entrepreneurs who come and pitch to me. They tell me that their business model is to get acquired for a specific amount of dollars. That is not a business model!

T.J. Clark: We are rational people. Companies are ones that can make money. I’m not a fan of crazy ideas.

Sramana: I’m glad that Twitter happened, and I am glad that there are people who play those games. Some of them have been successful, but it is a very slippery slope. We can’t lead millions of entrepreneurs down that speculative path.

T.J. Clark: I recently saw some videos on TechCrunch.com where Mayor Bloomberg gave advice to aspiring entrepreneurs. He talked about how he started Bloomberg, and it was an amazing philosophy. He started at Sullivan Brothers but got fired, which inspired him to go start Bloomberg. He started it because he saw some opportunities for banks while working at Sullivan Brothers. It just worked.

Sramana: The best innovations come out of some level of personal experience and problems you have experienced in person. Your story has really illustrated great business foundations. I look forward to following your continued success.

Editor’s note: The videos referred to are:

TechCrunch Video 1

TechCrunch Video 2

This segment is part 7 in the series : Revolutionizing the Limousine Service: Limos.com CEO T.J. Clark
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