What you need to grow your business, from investors to inexperience

In 2018, while Kate Boyle was working in LA as a writer and a Creative Executive, she started sending letters to her friends’ children back in the UK. She was blown away by their reaction to the mail, and she loved all the sweet and funny responses she received in return.

Inspired by that experience, and by the letters her father wrote to her when she was a child, Kate came up with the idea for her startup, Banjo Robinson. Banjo is a magical, traveling cat who sends real, personalised mail to children from all his journeys to amazing places like the Taj Mahal, the Great Wall of China and Iceland.

Created to help make reading, writing and learning about the world fun, Banjo Robinson is a subscription-based business that’s quickly become a hit with kids around the world. As part of our MOO Meets series, we sat down with Kate to talk about her startup success, what it takes to build a company, the people you need in your corner, and how inexperience makes a better entrepreneur. 

Read on for five of her tips and insights.

1. Find the right investors

A big part of growing a startup is finding the right people to invest in your business. Kate’s worked hard to raise money and get Banjo Robinson off the ground, and she’s focused on investors who she knows support her mission and believe in the company. 

“Having a solid relationship with your investors is absolutely critical,” says Kate. “We have many investors who are unbelievably supportive. They have faith in our product and service, and they also believe in the commercial ambition of the company.”

Kate says she’s always been wary of working with investors who aren’t on the same page as her. Having a good idea and being a good founder usually means you’ll be able to find investments from the right people who will stand behind you..

“It really is like a job interview,” she says. “You’re grateful and humbly accepting of any financial help that an investor can give you, but also you’re checking them out to see if they’ll add value, they’ll be good collaborators and partners, and if they’re going to support the company as you grow up.”

2. Meet (and experience things) in person

Kate is a big advocate for meeting people in person whenever she can, and she’s found it’s much easier to learn from people and make an impact when you’re in the same room.  

“I made the effort to go and spend afternoons learning about things like how to make a personalised print product,” she explains. “I got a lot more time and information, and people understood my company better. And in many, many, many instances, they invested in us, either as a partner, as a traditional investor, or as a supplier.”

It’s a two-way street, and not only has she been able to show off her own passion and resilience during in-person meetings, but she’s also had an easier time recognising those qualities in potential partners.

3. A good idea isn’t enough

Having an amazing idea is of course a great place to start, but it won’t be enough to create business longevity. You need to understand your market, understand how your product will be perceived, and have a plan for growth.

“If you glance at our website, you think it’s a cat writing letters,” Kate says of Banjo Robinson. “But it’s much more broad than that. It’s powerful as a different way to get children to associate reading and writing with fun.”

That’s part of what’s made Banjo Robinson successful – thinking beyond the foundational idea and considering how to differentiate it from other children’s literature, make it accessible, and give it longevity.

“You can’t be a good founder if you aren’t passionate about what you’re doing.”

The other part is Kate’s passion for the company and the product. “You can’t be a good founder if you aren’t passionate about what you’re doing. You need to be prepared to go the extra mile,” says Kate. 

She devotes most of her evenings and weekends to Banjo Robinson, so she needed to start with a viable, sustainable product that was worthy of her time and commitment.

4. Inexperience is a strength

Along with being passionate about your business, you always need to be willing to learn, and Kate says inexperience is a big part of that. It makes you ask questions, test the answers you find, and ultimately, you’ll be less afraid of getting it wrong. 

“I can’t imagine running this company from a position of thinking I know exactly what I’m doing,” says Kate. “I know a lot about our product. I know a lot about our customers. But the day I think I understand everything will be the day I stop asking questions.”

That push towards exploring different things and being curious is a huge asset when it comes to starting a business, and constantly examining where the value of your product or idea lies. You’re forced to always be curious, which will set you up to better understand your business and your customers.

5. Culture eats strategy for breakfast

Of course, the people you surround yourself with inside your business are also important to its success. Creating a great work environment that fosters their talent and makes people feel valued is essential, too. 

“They say culture eats strategy for breakfast, and I think it’s really true,” says Kate. “I’ve seen it do that, where the company fails because people don’t have the drive and the passion, and they’re not being looked after. They get better offers and you can’t retain them.”

The culture at Banjo Robinson is super important to Kate, and she says it would be hypocritical to have a company based on letters filled with optimism and compassion and then not value those things internally.

Growing Banjo Robinson into a thriving edtech company has taught Kate a lot about what it means to be a good founder, and what fosters sustainable growth. Building relationships, both internally and externally, finding the right investors, and finding an idea you’re passionate about will get you there. And one last thought from Kate? 

“There’s no ‘one way’ of doing anything,” she says. “As soon as I realised it was different for everyone, I felt a lot of pressure come off my shoulders, and it was quite liberating.”

Kate Boyle is the Founder and CEO of Banjo Robinson, a subscription-based company that aims to make reading and learning more fun for children around the world.