Four Questions to Ask Before Beginning a New Venture

Sam Frank knows a thing or two about starting a business. After several years in the world of finance, he wanted to try something new. Not long after, Sam met Shea Frederick, and soon the two became business partners and Four Twelve Roofing came into existence.

With around $4.5 million in revenue last year, Four Twelve has grown immensely since Sam and Shea decided to start a roofing company. Today, Four Twelve Roofing is ranked number 122 on Inc. magazine’s list of 5,000 fastest-growing private companies in America — and first among roofing contractors.

During our recent podcast, we asked Sam what his advice would be to anyone looking to start their own business. Below are some questions Sam says you should ask — and answer — to prepare yourself before starting a new venture.

What do you want to sell?

The first step toward creating a successful business is defining your product. Before you can figure out how to sell your product, you have to know what it is you want to sell.

Sometimes your initial idea is too broad or too narrow. You may have to fine-tune your business’s focus to ensure that you can create a viable product.

When Sam and Shea decided to go into business together, at first they wanted to focus on historical restoration and do full remodels for houses. They renovated six houses together before Sam convinced his partner Shea to work solely on roofing.

It was a tough decision, but Sam says the end result was worth it: “There’s a little bit less stress being a subcontractor as opposed to being the general contractor. I think it allows you to specialize in a craft and get really good at it, and then you can really do projects where all the details are done in a way that you can really have pride in it.”

Will you be able to make your product with excellence, or does your idea need to be tweaked? Determine what you want to sell, and then make sure your business has the capability to fulfill that vision.

How does your business fill a need in the marketplace?

Your next step is to evaluate the market that your business will be a part of. The state of the market you are trying to break into can affect your business’s location, how you market your product, and the rate at which your company grows.

When the pandemic hit, Four Twelve’s business shot through the roof, and by August they were contracted for four times the amount of work they had been doing the month before.

Throughout this uptick in work, Four Twelve’s business decisions have all focused on maintaining what Sam calls “smart growth.” Instead of expanding outward to Washington, D.C., Sam and Shea have focused on building up their reputation within the Baltimore community, which Sam says is a part of their company’s identity.

Sam sees their focus on the Baltimore area as a way to keep their business’s growth sustainable: “We’re trying to do smart growth with what we’re doing. In terms of every move that we make, we want to evaluate all of our options and then try to make what we think is the best move for us.”

What does smart growth look like for your company? How might the market change that trajectory?

What are your customers’ expectations?

As you are building your company’s brand and values, take into account the expectations and desires of your potential customers. How you present your company to the world influences what kinds of customers you will attract.

As they’ve grown, Sam says Four Twelve’s values and services have continually been defined by what their employees and customers want and expect them to be.

Even from the beginning, Four Twelve has ascribed to two main values: following through with their promises, and making sure their customers feel taken care of. These values are the foundation upon which their company has built its reputation.

For Sam, Four Twelve’s reputation is vital to the health of the company: “I think that being able to do the right thing and be a stand-up group of men and women at our company that can shake people’s hands and do that, it just goes a long way in terms of building your customer base and your reputation. And it’s amazing how far that alone has taken this company and what we’re doing here.”

What are your values as a business?

Company values are individual to each business. Your values extend beyond the financial — they are a true marker of who your business is and what it stands for.

Because Baltimore was such a core part of Four Twelve’s identity, Sam and Shea knew that they wanted to prioritize giving back to their community: “Me and my business partner, we said to each other, ‘Hey, if this business goes anywhere, we want to make sure that in our wake, we do our part to take care of our constituents and, and be charitable, be equitable, and make that a piece of our mission.’ And I think definitely we have been able to do that.”

To give back to the community that supports them, Four Twelve has hosted food drives and built roofs for families in need. Sam believes that their values as a company are what have allowed them to do good business in Baltimore.

Before you start your new business, determine your company’s values and what kind of impact you want to have on your community. Maybe you want to prioritize employee wellbeing, community involvement, or relationships with your customers.

Your values, whatever they may be, are an intrinsic part of your company and its brand. Prioritizing your business’s values will keep both you and your company grounded.

Ask, Answer, Apply

If you know your product, your market, your customers, and your values, you can use that knowledge to establish your new business.

You don’t need to have every detail of your business set in stone before you start it, but it is important to determine the basics of your business before moving forward. These four questions will help you develop a framework so that you can create a lasting company.