Startup pathways

1.1Takeaways¶

1. Business plan. Develop a clear business plan with a vision, achievable objectives, scalable expansion, and brief but accurate finance plan.

2. Networking. Network across professional in the field to see their approaches, how they’ve solved problems, and develop and possible partnerships.

3. Compliance. Start and CEQA/NEPA compliance early and budget properly for the documents and permits you need to get that first spade in the ground.

4. Feedstock agreements. Make sure to secure long-term feedstock agreements from the landowner where your wood is sourced. It can be exceptionally difficult to arrange terms longer than three years with public agencies, so the earlier you start, the better. For more detail on this topic and potential solutions, see Russell (2025).

5. Funding. This is the big one, and the most challenging. However, if you organize your plans, your pitch deck, and your business idea is good and fills a key need, the funding will come. Don’t confuse funding and finance, they’re two very different things, but you need to do both. There are many options for collaborative finance in the forestry and water worlds Russell & Odefey, 2024.

1.2Challenges¶

We often go straight to funding when it comes to challenges and one of the biggest challenges can be unreasonable requests for RFPs from funding agencies (Figure 1.1). Yes, you do have something that is going to change the world. So why isn’t everyone funding it? Maybe you don’t have a theory of change!

Other challenges include the following:

1. Lean funding & finance opportunities. Many grant opportunities are geared towards nonprofits. CAL FIRE’s Business and Workforce Development Grants and USFS’s Wood Innovations Grants are some of the few that offer busineses the opportunity to apply for public funds.

2. Lack of infrastructure.

3. Inability to facilitate long-term feedstock agreements.

4. Lack of resources bespoke to wood products businesses.

5. Sparse networking and partner opportunities.

1.3Simple solutions¶

There are some solutions that seem obvious and are simple, but many businesses don’t take them seriously. The first example is writing a clear, compelling, and readable business plan. Don’t use ChatGPT to write this. This isn’t a joke, FBA has reviewed some business plans that were probably written by ChatGPT. Let’s run through these in the following sections

1.3.1Theory of change¶

1.3.2Business plan¶

1.3.3Pitch deck¶

1.3.4Measuring success¶

1.4Hard(er) solutions¶

Then there are solutions that will be more difficult to attain, but are worth the effort. These could include things like an equitable staffing structure, ramping up finance rounds beyond startup stage, and realistically costing out how your business is going to scale.

1.4.1Staffing¶

1.4.2Finance 202¶

1.4.3Scaling¶

1.5Lessons¶

1.6Resources¶