The Entrepreneur Forum | Financial Freedom | Starting a Business | Motivation | Money | Success

Welcome to the only entrepreneur forum dedicated to building life-changing wealth.

Build a Fastlane business. Earn real financial freedom. Join free.

Join over 80,000 entrepreneurs who have rejected the paradigm of mediocrity and said "NO!" to underpaid jobs, ascetic frugality, and suffocating savings rituals— learn how to build a Fastlane business that pays both freedom and lifestyle affluence.

Free registration at the forum removes this block.

What "The Founder" can teach all of us

Andy Daniels

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
206%
May 29, 2017
205
423
Oregon
I just finished watching The Founder for the 3rd time, and WOW talk about a great film! Michael Keaton delivers an awesome performance as Ray Kroc.

Kroc's simple method for success was just one word: Persistence

I think this is absolutely brilliant, given that so many would-be entrepreneurs give up so quickly hoping to skip the process and go straight to the event. Nothing worth having in this life comes easy, and this movie illustrates that perfectly.

It's certainly something to watch to give you a slap of inspiration and reality.

If you want something, if you REALLY want something, you must be persistent, and whatever roadblocks come up, you gotta keep climbing.

 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

SparksCW

Silver Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
327%
Dec 14, 2015
256
838
38
South, UK
I saw that too, thought it'd be a bit bland but it ended up being one of my favourite films.

Persistence for sure, but that's not the biggest take away from the film.

The biggest take away for me is to focus on what will actually make the money.

He was persistent but wasn't making money, then once enlightened to how the property would make the real money, coupled with more persistence, then the results came..

I'm not saying money is in the property, I'm saying find the thing that will make the money, and be persistent with that. Guess it's the same as the 80/20 rule!
 

JasonR

Maverick
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
544%
May 29, 2012
2,102
11,425
Las Vegas
I just finished watching The Founder for the 3rd time, and WOW talk about a great film! Michael Keaton delivers an awesome performance as Ray Kroc.

Kroc's simple method for success was just one word: Persistence

I got something completely different out of the movie: don't make bad deals. In the movie Kroc completely screwed over the McDonald's brothers. However, the movie isn't quite true to real life as it seems (google).

My major takeaway is: don't make bad deals and watch out for guys like Kroc.
 

Inuc

Contributor
Read Fastlane!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
89%
Jul 14, 2014
45
40
Nigeria
Be Persistence
Have the right network ( until Kroc and the brother connected, they seem to be struggling in their various business).
Have the right team (Kroc was good in some aspect, the brother in their kitchen while the accountant brought in the best advise)
Lastly, it is all about the money (seem harsh on the brothers, but look at today's business world and you will business that are rigis to change being swallowed up by technological advancement)
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

biophase

Legendary Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
474%
Jul 25, 2007
9,120
43,260
Scottsdale, AZ
I got something completely different out of the movie: don't make bad deals. In the movie Kroc completely screwed over the McDonald's brothers. However, the movie isn't quite true to real life as it seems (google).

My major takeaway is: don't make bad deals and watch out for guys like Kroc.

Where would the McDonald's brothers be without Ray Kroc? Would they have made $1,000,000 each? Or would they have had a single restaurant and we would never have heard of them? Because of Ray, we know who they are years after their deaths and their names will forever be remembered.

I didn't see any good or bad guys in this movie. The 2 brothers built a great system but obviously could not expand it and would have never done so if Ray did not come along. I doubt they would have gone anywhere.

The brothers made him head of franchising but then did not care about the franchisers making money. They should make decisions that allow the franchisers to thrive instead of shooting down good ideas. That's where Ray helped them the most.

I also think Ray's purchasing the land under was fine. It's not like the brothers would have ever come up with that idea.

Basically two different types of people. The 2 brothers were fine running a single restaurant and getting by. Ray wanted a huge empire. Both had different goals. And we all knew that the handshake deal was never going to happen. Would have been out of character for Ray.
 

luniac

Platinum Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
158%
Dec 7, 2012
1,781
2,811
33
brooklyn
I saw that too, thought it'd be a bit bland but it ended up being one of my favourite films.

Persistence for sure, but that's not the biggest take away from the film.

The biggest take away for me is to focus on what will actually make the money.

He was persistent but wasn't making money, then once enlightened to how the property would make the real money, coupled with more persistence, then the results came..

I'm not saying money is in the property, I'm saying find the thing that will make the money, and be persistent with that. Guess it's the same as the 80/20 rule!

basically what MJ said, the "fastlane to nowhere"
 

lewj24

Gold Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
369%
May 12, 2016
432
1,593
28
St. Louis, MO
Where would the McDonald's brothers be without Ray Kroc? Would they have made $1,000,000 each?
That is equivalent to $8 million after taxes for each McDonald brother if you adjust for inflation.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

TheRegalMachine

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
153%
Jul 27, 2017
87
133
38
Moon Base
Kroc completely screwed over the McDonald's brothers.
The McDonald brothers screwed The McDonald brothers.
Ray Kroc not making good on a hand shake deal that may or may not have even happened has made many people see him as the quintessential evil rich guy.
Give "Grinding It Out" a read.
The McDonald brothers were no saints. They were pair of apprehensive, hands off, nitpickery ""businessmen" who sabotaged Ray Kroc's efforts constantly.
 

TheRegalMachine

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
153%
Jul 27, 2017
87
133
38
Moon Base
Basically two different types of people. The 2 brothers were fine running a single restaurant and getting by. Ray wanted a huge empire. Both had different goals.
In my opinion that's the makings of a nightmarish business partnership.
One partner wants to go all in and make shit happen, the other two want to play it safe and aren't interested if the business advances or stagnates.
Ray Kroc was doing the real foot work while the brother sat back home calling the shots and adding jack shit to the partnership while reaping the bulk of the reward.
I have very little sympathy of the McDonald brothers. I feel Ray Kroc was just in his usurping control of the company.
 

carlos_

Not at the table Carlos
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
464%
Aug 18, 2017
25
116
34
Orange County, CA
The biggest take away for me is to focus on what will actually make the money.

Same for me - It shows a good idea isn't enough.

Ray Crock knew he had a winning idea that delivered value to the public and to the franchisees. He persisted with a growth mentality thinking if we just get to x stores, everything will work out.

One problem was he gave too much control to the franchisees (from a starting point of low control being under the thumb of the brother's strict contract). Franchisees could violate the execution plan without fear of repercussions - hurting the brand.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.
G

Guest06196

Guest
Where would the McDonald's brothers be without Ray Kroc? Would they have made $1,000,000 each? Or would they have had a single restaurant and we would never have heard of them? Because of Ray, we know who they are years after their deaths and their names will forever be remembered.

True. A lot of people only think Ray took something from the brothers (I initially did too), but he also created and gave back a lot.

My take is, always think what other people want and see if their interests align with yours in any deal. When he first partnered with wealthy retirees the restaurants didn't do well because these people only wanted the return instead of putting in real effort. It's when Ray found younger, aspiring people that the franchise took off.
 

100k

Gold Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
149%
Oct 20, 2012
1,529
2,284
Saw it last night.

Quite a few good lessons from it; many of them are taught by our great teacher M.J.

1) Stop chasing money and trying to make a quick buck. Provide REAL value (Kroc was struggling selling shitty products and had a negative reputation with the banks because of it).

2) 80/20 rule; find out what is selling, find out what's not. And focus your energy on whats selling and cut the rest.

3) Being great at sales doesn't matter if all you have to offer are shitty products. Seems to be great at selling, the problem was that the products he was selling didn't provide any real value to people and that was the reason why he couldn't go anywhere for a long time.

4) Systems, Systems, Systems. They make all the difference. 3 Words: Standard Operating Procedure. That's what allowed McDonald's to deliver food in 30 seconds compared to the 30 min. every other restaurant was delivering food at.

5) Branding is key. What makes YOU different. What value is stored in your brand; what do you promise to deliver? The McDonalds brand promises to give you the same decent tasting burger, fries and shakes at their location in less than 3 min. in a family friendly and clean environment. Make sure your brand stands for something and ALWAYS deliver what you promise.

6) Fix problems. The McDonalds brothers set out to fix some of the most common problems they found at drive-in restaurants.
Things like slow delivery of food; they created a system for that and now can deliver food in less than 60 seconds. Costly utensils... they scrapped that all together; no glasses, no plates, no forks... everything comes in wrapping or plastic that is used once and then scrapped; that saved them money by not needing to waste money on washers. Waiters - got rid of them, and now you pick up your own food. Juke Boxes that played music and attracted bad-a$$ teenagers that don't spend a lot of money and just waste time; got rid of the juke boxes and made the place a family friendly environment. etc.

7) Disrupt the industry! Why the heck do you need waiters, washers, juke boxes, plates & utensils? Get rid of it and get lean. Create systems to cut down delivery speed and improve efficiency.

8) You need a council of advisers. Without them you can't protect yourself from sharks, being sued, new laws/requirements etc.

Without the chance meeting of mister Harry Sonneborn, Mr. Kroc would never have solved his money problem and been able to turn his little franchise business into a giant corporation that operated on a global level. Have a council of smart people; lawyers, board members, accountants, consultants and financial experts.

9) The business world is ruthless. And you need to be prepared to go toe to toe with the sharks and the tigers or you need to step out of the battle arena.

10) Contracts should be air tight. The McDonalds brothers were f*cked out of $100 mil+ in annual royalties because they believed that a hand shake meant something.

11) If you want to really take off, you need to learn how to raise capital.

TL;DR Over-all, a decent movie with a lot of lessons to teach.
 

PetePreneur

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
106%
Jan 28, 2017
187
198
33
UK
I took away 2 key lessons from it all:

1. Focus purely on where the money is. This was brought up when the McDonald's brothers said that they focussed on hamburgers only because they were making 87% of their sales from them. This allowed them to be more efficient and make it a fast food restaurant.

2. The business model is extremely important. This was brought up when they changed it from taking a percentage of each burger sale, to changing it to a retail/leasing structure that allowed him to start making a profit.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

JasonR

Maverick
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
544%
May 29, 2012
2,102
11,425
Las Vegas
Where would the McDonald's brothers be without Ray Kroc? Would they have made $1,000,000 each? Or would they have had a single restaurant and we would never have heard of them? Because of Ray, we know who they are years after their deaths and their names will forever be remembered.

Good point, and you're probably right.

From my point of view I would have never made the deal they made in the movie (I have doubts as to how true to life the movie was), and I think that's why I was upset about what Ray Kroc did. Perhaps it's Hollywood simply vilifying Ray Kroc for the movie.

I'm going to give this one a rewatch, after all I was in and out of sleep on an overseas flight.
 

MJ DeMarco

I followed the science; all I found was money.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
445%
Jul 23, 2007
38,076
169,489
Utah
Perhaps it's Hollywood simply vilifying Ray Kroc for the movie.

Ya mean Hollywood casting the entrepreneur/business owner as an evil rich guy? Nawwwww....
 

McFirewavesJr

Silver Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
263%
Sep 27, 2015
216
567
Las Vegas, NV
That is equivalent to $8 million after taxes for each McDonald brother if you adjust for inflation.
If they had invested it in the S&P they would be retiring rich in 2018
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

McFirewavesJr

Silver Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
263%
Sep 27, 2015
216
567
Las Vegas, NV
Ya mean Hollywood casting the entrepreneur/business owner as an evil rich guy? Nawwwww....

I don't remember if it's from Unscripted , but I can't unsee that virtually all business men in movies are evil LOL.

Edit: Nope it's not, but it's from one of your suggestions: "Thou Shall Prosper by Rabbi Daniel Lapin! Thanks for that @MJ DeMarco
 

biophase

Legendary Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
474%
Jul 25, 2007
9,120
43,260
Scottsdale, AZ
Don't believe everything you see in movies...

In real life the MacDonald brothers had 8 restaurants and had sold 20 franchises before Ray Kroc came along.

Would they have been as big without Kroc? Probably not. But, to say that they would have been a single restaurant without a legacy is unlikely true as well.

Yes, they did mention that in the movie. But they also said that they weren't successful and consistent in their offerings. So I guess depends on how those franchises really did.

If what the movie showed was true of the McDonalds brothers first franchises and also how Kroc's first franchises went, they would have all failed or went back to the drive in style restaurant.
 

TheRegalMachine

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
153%
Jul 27, 2017
87
133
38
Moon Base
I have doubts as to how true to life the movie was
All movies based on real events are spiced up, have things omitted, and/or out right lie.
The Founder is no different. It doesn't even acknowledge that Ray Kroc had children and was married multiple times before Joan his last wife. They wanted to play up the long suffering wife gimmick so all of that was left out. (The attempt failed imo because the character Ethel came off as un-supportive and selfish. But was a great example of the spouse who doesn't understand their ambitious entrepreneur partner.)

I really suggest reading "Grinding It Out" along with watching "The Founder" because you can kind of see the truth between the two accounts.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

ZF Lee

Legendary Contributor
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
180%
Jul 27, 2016
2,840
5,113
25
Malaysia
One major lesson I took was that 'Don't F*cking reinvent the wheel'.
I'm going to say that McD's execution strategies such as a duel cashflow strategy (real estate leasing and sales of fast food combined) and SOPs for speedy prep of food have had its basis long ago.

Real estate transactions have been practised since time immortal.
Production of food can be likened to an Industrial Revolution style of manufacturing physical products.
Many of McDonald's concepts were there long before Ray Kroc came along.

Thus, I think we may need less creativity than we fear it might take...we just need to know our aims and challenges and use available methods or strategies to solve them. As I understand, true creativity as hyped by traditional SCRIPT media is in reality hard to nurture...thus we can't hope for it to be a bread and butter kind of thing.

Another lesson is 'Work on the business, not in it.'
Although Ray did work with the McDonald brothers, he didn't need to be a worker there at the burger friers. But he was involved in financing and prospecting for franchisees. Had he been tied to the actual running in the day-to-day operations, he wouldn't be able to have time or energy to solve its external problems.

Finally, the last lesson is simple. 'Monogamy'
There's a lot of talk on how Ray Kroc screwed people by putting up powdered milk instead of fresher but more expensive milk.
While its a legitimate claim, this is the fast food industry. The USP here is fast and convenience.
McDonald's excelled best not just because of the financing techniques, but also because they stayed true to their USP, when they could have swayed away to something else.
And when you stay true to your USP, the promise you give to your customer, they will honour your dedication by coming back.

On a separate note, I think the refusal of Ray Kroc to give royalties to the brothers might be justified.
They were not going to be part of McDonald's operations to provide value. It was a cash out.
If you don't play the game, you don't win it.
The money could have dedicated to perfecting more products and upgrading infrastructure rather than throwing it at some people who chose not to have anything more to do with the project.

And of course, their refusal to have everything black and white and demand for rent in terms of royalty (MJ spoke a lot of it in UNSCRIPTED ) shows that their work traction must have fell to pieces. Jeez I hope I don't end up like that...gives me the chills!

But of course, I wouldn't encourage screwing people with such tactics. But in this case, Ray Kroc needed to eliminate the last barriers to satisfy the commandment of Control; the founders. Founders will criticise you like crazy at times if you were in Kroc's shoes. And if you can eliminate them legally, cost efficiently, why not? And they still got paid millions, and in those days, it was quite a bounty considering the purchasing power of that time.

Reminds me of Colonel Sanders from KFC, who at least held onto Canadian franchises and appearance payments, which were quite lucrative too. Last word on founders or first-comers: Pioneers get shot, settlers get rich lol.
 

TheRegalMachine

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
153%
Jul 27, 2017
87
133
38
Moon Base
he didn't need to be a worker there at the burger friers.
Here's the great part about Ray Kroc, He knew the Speedy System and recipes by heart. He was very hands on, as a matter of fact he had to train the franchisees who then trained the employees. There are many moments in Grinding It Out where hes in the stores doing things. In chapter 6 he tires to show someone the McDonald brother blanching process and it kept producing mushy fries. Even the Brothers couldn't help him over the phone. He literally had to figure it out on his own and changed the recipe/process. This was a violation of the McDonald bros contract that stated everything had to be the same and nothing can change unless they say.
I feel this is why Ray Kroc didn't give them residuals. Ray was always on the battlefront. Even when he became CEO he would stop into locations and get to know the people there.
The McDonald brothers had no idea who any of the franchisees were and they didn't know them.
They didn't bring anything to the table.
This is another lesson the story of the McDonald brothers can lend: Never be come the faceless master in an ivory tower.
Ray knew the employee's needs, their wants, their struggles because he took the initiative to experience what they do. On top of that he was making deals across the board.
On a separate note, I think the refusal of Ray Kroc to give royalties to the brothers might be justified.
In his book, by his account, the brothers changed the deal which might have lead to him not honoring the hand shake deal *if it existed*.
In the original deal they both would split $2.7 million, hand over all the rights, and all stores (at the time they still had control of many of the stores before Ray started buying the land before building restaurants.). They changed the deal asking for the original store, Ray complied, then they asked for .5% of gross sales. McDonald's Corp was still borrowing money so to give them anymore than would have pissed off the host of people funding the company. Plus Ray Kroc wasn't too fond of the brothers as it were. They were pushing it.
 

luniac

Platinum Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
158%
Dec 7, 2012
1,781
2,811
33
brooklyn
just saw the movie.

based on the movie alone, ray croc is a bastard. I was on his side until the one crucial scene, the instamix scene.
It was the very moment he took a sip of the bullshit powder instamix and said "tasted like a damn good milkshake to me" or whatever his line was.
That right there was him saying that he is OK with sacrificing quality for profit.
It was all downhill from there like his comment to the brother over the phone, "if I see a fellow competitor drowning ill stick the water hose in his mouth".

And what Ray Kroks legacy? a restaurant chain universally known to be low quality "food" that'll slowly kill you.

Was it worth it Ray? was it?

and what's all the attention to the name McDonalds, yea its a great name but I think the real winner is the speedee system, the fast service that revolutionized what a restaurant could be.

And yes of course I respect "the hustle" at 50+.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.
Last edited:

TheCj

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
191%
Jan 3, 2017
223
425
Ontario, Canada
Interesting movie, I think the brothers dropped the ball when Kroc wanted to renegotiate his deal. Can't remember exactly but i think it was before he had started with the land company. At the end he treated them how they had treated him in terms of negotiating. Is hard to believe they would only agree with a handshake on the royalty. Especially since the one brother is a stickler for details.

Of course this is just based on the movie and a little bit of googling.
 

lewj24

Gold Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
369%
May 12, 2016
432
1,593
28
St. Louis, MO
The main thing I learned was how important it is to own the real estate. Kroc basically owned McDonalds and could do whatever he wanted because he owned all of the land underneath almost every one, leaving the brothers with one option, sell Kroc's business to Kroc.

I had never thought about this situation before this movie and later read Sam Walton got kicked out of his first Ben Franklin store because his lease was up and they didn't want him back. (He went on later to buy stores with 99 year leases)

I still don't understand this. Yes someone else owns the land so they can evict you. Makes sense. But don't you own the building? Everything inside? How can they just 'kick you out'?

What am I not understanding here?
 

masterneme

Silver Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
256%
Apr 13, 2015
320
819
41
HAHAHA I also thought that Ray was a bastard screwing the brothers up, at the same time, they were acting stupid with all the silly demands and making Ray's life hard.

This is the great thing about business movies, we can choose our own paths and behaviours as long as we honor the productocracy and provide value.

We can choose to not be evil (lol it looks funny) and to not be an egotistical nitpicker.

Great movie, I added it to my "motivational business movies".
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

TheRegalMachine

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
153%
Jul 27, 2017
87
133
38
Moon Base
based on the movie alone, ray croc is a bastard.

I also thought that Ray was a bastard

Careful not to fall for the SCRIPTED mentality that all business people are suppose to be perfect saints.
They are people too, with temperaments and personality flaws and mistakes.
And of course in the story of McDonald's Ray Kroc is the victor and when you're the winner, the losers will take a pick to your mountain of accomplishments to make themselves feel better.
I'm a strong believer that no one who becomes wealthy or builds a business isn't going to step on someone toes. Even if you try super hard not to, someone will still say ouch.
People love to tout "Steve Jobs was a dick!" and from his own mouth he admits he was. He stepped on many toes on purpose to make his dream reality. Does that mean his legacy is less than because of his human flaws? Does it justify people who legit hold a grudge against a dead man they've never met?
Even people who are known as being very kind mild manner individuals have their detractors who swear they've done them wrong and the world should hate them for it.
You're not going to enter the business world and not have your name cursed by someone out in the open or be accused of wrong doing. It just doesn't happen.
The McDonald's handshake deal is the quintessential he said/we said situation. Ray Kroc and the financial backers at the time have their account and the Brothers have their own account. We can picks sides, sure, but we can't forget that all this stuff happened behind closed doors which is okay.

It was the very moment he took a sip of the bullshit powder instamix and said "tasted like a damn good milkshake to me" or whatever his line was.
That right there was him saying that he is OK with sacrificing quality for profit.
The reason why Ray had to switch to the powder mix was not to make a profit, it was to help his franchisees who were getting F*cked by electric bills and waste because they had walk ins freezers full of ice cream that were running 24/7. I believe there is a scene where one of the franchisees mentions a freezer breaking and they lose all their inventory of ice cream. There were other situation too where keeping a load of ice cream just didn't work. These franchisees were normal people who couldn't keep up with the high bills and inventory loss. The change wasn't a selfish one for sure. Was it a drop in quality, maybe, did it get the job done, sells didn't plummet due to the instamix. Sometimes you have to do what has to be done in order to keep things running. If it means a drop in quality of one of your products then take the hit and hope for the best.

(Is it just me or do my replies read like some Ray Kroc fan boy apologist.)
 

masterneme

Silver Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
256%
Apr 13, 2015
320
819
41
People love to tout "Steve Jobs was a dick!" and from his own mouth he admits he was. He stepped on many toes on purpose to make his dream reality. Does that mean his legacy is less than because of his human flaws?
For me the answer is yes his legacy is less because he was a major douchebag, the same way people dislike Facebook or Monsanto.

This leaves me with 3 lessons:

1st - For some people integrity and ethics matter and those people may be your customers...
2nd - You can be a total dick and succeed in despite of that just because your business is fully submited to productocracy and provides massive value.
3rd - Having haters and detractors is unavoidable, actively f*cking people up is not (because it comes directly from your decissions).

P.S.: I'd say that rich people being evil assholes goes more in tune with the SCRIPTED mentality.
 

BlindSide

Bronze Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
204%
Mar 16, 2017
193
394
30
Los Angeles
Watched it last night because of this thread. I was hooked, pretty good movie.

My biggest lessons (all of which have already been mentioned):

1. Cutting out the fat: Before Ray even came into the picture, the brothers had already created something remarkable. They had the guts to cut out all of the selections, and focus on the 3 main things that accounted for 87% of sales... then found a at to cut down delivery time to ~30 seconds! When you can save people time, it's a powerful selling factor.

2. Systems: the way they even organized the kitchen and trained the staff to operate as a unit reminds me of professional sports. Every player knows exactly what their role is, and they all gel together to create a masterful play (system in this case).

3. Momentum: This was pretty big for me, because this show really displayed what MJ talks about in terms of process. Obviously it was sped up, but you could still see how Ray was struggling for a while, even when he had this behemoth of a business forming. But once he discovered how to maximize profits and expansion.. he had tunnel vision. He tripled down and went nuts with expansion (and power hungry!)

---

Side bar: Probably my favorite part of the whole show was that my girlfriend was REALLY into it. I was approaching it from a viewpoint of business lessons, while she was just enjoying a good movie.

But, since she isn't really interested in owning a business or anything like that (wants to be a Physical Therapist), I think it was cool to see how into it she was. To me, it seemed that she enjoyed it because she was seeing a story of how such a successful franchise today was started. And, she was
seeing how Ray was experiencing so much success because he was creating so much value, and capitalizing on it.

I'll need to ask her more, to see if my opinions were correct. But if so, it would be cool to show her how that type of process and value is still possible today (maybe I'll show her Liqwid's massive progress thread!).
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

ljean

Silver Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
169%
Jan 22, 2017
506
857
USA
The main thing I learned was how important it is to own the real estate. Kroc basically owned McDonalds and could do whatever he wanted because he owned all of the land underneath almost every one, leaving the brothers with one option, sell Kroc's business to Kroc.

I had never thought about this situation before this movie and later read Sam Walton got kicked out of his first Ben Franklin store because his lease was up and they didn't want him back. (He went on later to buy stores with 99 year leases)

I still don't understand this. Yes someone else owns the land so they can evict you. Makes sense. But don't you own the building? Everything inside? How can they just 'kick you out'?

What am I not understanding here?
When a land lease is up, typically one of following things happens:

1. You renegotiate the lease. (the landlord has you over a barrel if you want to stay)
2. You buy the site. (again, over a barrel)
3. The landlord gets the land back with the building on it and you get the boot.

If you have to lease land you want a looooong lease term.
 

Post New Topic

Please SEARCH before posting.
Please select the BEST category.

Post new topic

Guest post submissions offered HERE.

Latest Posts

New Topics

Fastlane Insiders

View the forum AD FREE.
Private, unindexed content
Detailed process/execution threads
Ideas needing execution, more!

Join Fastlane Insiders.

Top