Rule No.1 – don’t run out of cash

Jonathan Straight is quite an unforgettable character which served him well as the founder of Straight Plc (1993-2014) which for much of its time was a ‘darling of the stock market’, as a market leader in the manufacture and distribution of ‘recycling containers’.?Otherwise known as bins!

A former wannabe popstar, he drifted into the rather less glamourous world of sales and marketing where he discovered he was a natural. Starting off in fitted bedroom furniture he gravitated towards recycling - before it was ‘a thing’.

Inspired by a quote he read in a green directory which said that "we pay to bury our waste in holes in the ground - yet the waste we bury has a value - so we pay for it twice", he began to research the sector and realised the commercial, as well as the social potential.

Describe your journey as an entrepreneur and some of the challenges you faced along the way

I would say that the sector I found myself in, being recycling, was almost irrelevant, other than the fact I wanted to do something purposeful.

My skill sets lay in my ability to bring the circumstances of a situation together to get myself from one side of a problem to another.?In the early days I took every opportunity to learn not only about the recycling sector but also the businesses I worked in and get as much experience as I could. Save Waste & Prosper (an early recycling consultancy I worked for), being one.

Initially, the management team of Save Waster & Prosper told me that it wanted me but couldn’t pay me, but I went anyway. However, when the management team put me in charge of the accounts, almost immediately I became important to them. So, the business had to start paying me.?I absorbed everything that was going on.

Further down the line, a plastics company called Paxton got in touch requiring a salesperson. Impressed by my knowledge of recycling, the management team asked me to be an environmental product manager which I declined. Instead, I wanted to be a retained consultant receiving a commission on what I sold. In the end they said yes.

I was very organised about constructing a database of contacts i.e. people I could sell to.?The next two years seemingly went well so, when I approached them to renegotiate terms - thinking I could ask my price – it came as a bit of a shock when the company announced it was letting me go.

Unperturbed, I offered instead to continue to sell its products as an agent - I would find customers to sell to and it would make the products for me and invoice the customers directly.?Somewhat reluctantly, the company agreed.?

I had a small office, a car and now I had a basic infrastructure to work within.?After attending a European exhibition in Germany, the size of the prize was becoming increasing apparent. I took a chance and set myself up a ‘specialist’, pioneering containers for waste which was separated into its component parts at source for recycling. I assembled a range, produced a catalogue, and let people know about my offering via a newsletter.?I learned from other people. For example, Richard Branson’s Virgin brand was very much in the public eye at the time, and I took inspiration from it creating a caricature of myself which went on all my marketing materials.

It worked and the business took off turning over ￡1 million by my second year.?Gradually I needed people to help me and so I started to build a team around me, moving to a bigger office.?People were now ringing me to give their orders!?

All was going well but, I was still just a distributer and by now some of the suppliers couldn’t keep up with demand.?All my products were ultimately owned by other people.?I needed to own the product moulds and that was going to cost me about ￡1 million.?The options – I was told- were to borrow from the bank or take some sort of VC investment.?But I wanted to float on the stock market.?Of course, everyone laughed at the idea, but this just drove me harder, and I set about making connections with the right people. Once again, chance combined with sheer meddling and networking resulted in me being introduced to Jeremy Porter who it turned out had previously run a very valuable public company that sadly had become ‘unstuck’.?Since then, he survived by connecting people which is exactly what he did for me putting me in front of the likes of Seymour Pierce and Durlacher, the latter ultimately becoming our nominated adviser and broker.

In November 2003 Straight Plc floated on the Alternative Investment Market netting ￡1.25m (￡0.25 million going in costs).?At the ripe old age of 38, still owning 70% of the shares, I was pretty happy with myself.?

Although, as I pointed out to my new FD, “that was the easy bit. Now we have to deliver on everything we promised…”. ?And that is exactly what happened.

An opportunity arose to buy our biggest competitor, so we set about raising another ￡5 million -which we did. Straight Plc became the dominant operator in the market with 150 staff, a 55-seat call centre with orders coming in from Government agencies and local authorities as well as the waste management industry.?The share price rose and rose.?A water drought in 2006 was especially fortuitous for us as we produced the only water butts people could get their hands on.?By 2010, we had started buying suppliers and became a manufacturer.

We had created a brand in a sea of commodity.

Ultimately, a buyer approached us in 2013 - an ally turned competitor - the time felt right to step away and in after a year of negotiations we completed the transaction.

?What were some of highs and the lows?

Certainly, the flotation itself was a real high.?Buying our biggest rival came a close second.

And the lows…

After the floatation itself, my motivation changed.

Previously, the constant firefighting and problem solving had fuelled my desire to succeed. That didn’t stop but the fear of everything evaporating that had once driven me had suddenly turned to a sense of responsibility – to my staff, my customers and of course to my share price.?

?What disciplines would you say you have mastered?

1.??????In hindsight, my journey was less about being an expert in recycling (which I happened to be) but more about mastering the art of entrepreneurship and negotiation; being able to turn my hand to different opportunities and taking a step back to solve a problem is what counted.

2.??????Let the people that are helping you do what they are best at.?For example, let salespeople be salespeople and the operational people do the operations and don’t mix the two.

3.??????Always get the best advice you can afford – you cannot put a price on this.

?What advice would you give other entrepreneurs starting out today?

As my dear friend Colin Glass (initially my FD but later a non-exec) told me, “Just don’t run out of cash!” – this was probably the best piece of advice anyone ever gave me and if I were to meet my 25-year-old self it is the same advice I would give to him.?As the saying goes, “Turnover is vanity, profit is sanity, but cash is king for your business.”