One of the shortest lived companies in the USA was the Pony Express.
Started in 1860, it was designed to carry mail as quickly as possible from St Joseph in Missouri to Sacramento in California – a distance of two thousand miles. Riders rode in relays, each averaging about 30 miles; so for 75 riders it would take 10 days – a remarkable achievement but economic folly.
Setting up and maintaining riders, horses and way stations was an exceedingly costly business. The company’s investors sank $700,000 into the operation and despite charging a whopping $5 an ounce for letters, they were only recovering a fraction of their costs.
After a year, the company ran out of money and ceased to trade.
If the owners had discussed their strategic plan with the then equivalent of a JFP, do you think they would have started the operation? We don’t think so !
But history tends to repeat itself and too often JFP comes across companies that could have saved themselves a lot of money and time by taking professional advice at the outset.
Being the next “Pony Express” can easily be avoided – give JFP a call on 01344 872230.
A version of this post appeared on JFP Strategic Planning's website earlier.
