Given Ryan Kratz’s motivation to start new companies and his educational background in entrepreneurship and finance, I believe he should remain in the real estate business for at least one year, then focus on building his collection of businesses at various life-cycle stages. Ryan should use that year to work on maintaining the business relationship he has with Gary Wells and his father David Kratz, continue to build the backlog of SuperCat sales and concentrate on marketing, and work in real estate to build financial equity and professional relationships within the real estate industry.
Ryan’s father is a serial entrepreneur and has the unique experience of vetting start-ups and building them to a particular exit strategy. In working
With the worldwide market for all powerboats being approximately $20.5 billion at the time this case study was written, he is sitting in his ideal market. He also prefers growth of 10% or more per year, but Ryan’s research shows this market is currently growing at 2.5% to 3% annually. The specific breakdown of powerboats similar to what he will be selling does not have enough market information to report fragmented growth rates, so SuperCat will be relying on Gary’s previous customers to maintain market share, and will apply a multi-pronged marketing strategy to increase their footprint in the market.
Preferring a fragmented competitive structure, Ryan foresees SuperCat carving itself into a niche area. In the Business Opportunity Plan presented, Ryan lists Skater, Marine Technologies, Inc., and NOR-TECH as competitors who also build 42 foot custom catamarans. Lending to a competitive advantage, none of them blend performance boating with recreational boating by specifically building a bow in the cabin of each boat. This may allow for SuperCat to carve out the perfect competitive niche and Ryan to maintain growth of the market share he is looking for. Ryan wants to create margins that are over 15% net profit because that provides enough cushion if mistakes are made in the company. I agree with using net profit margin as a metric to determine how healthy and profitable the company is, but I disagree with his percentage. I would suggest