We recently connected with Keith Pinder and have shared our conversation below.

Keith , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s start on the operational side – do you spend more of your time/focus/energy on growing revenue or cutting costs?

I spend most of my time in my business trying to generate revenue. This is the most important part of your business. You cannot pay for any expenses without money. Most business owners shy away from sales because they feel they are not good at it, or they are afraid of getting no for an answer. Sales are the only way a small company can grow into a bigger company. To make selling easy for me I work more on building relationships. Relationships are the backbone to building a business that no one really talks about. While building these relationships, I am also selling myself and my business. No one wants to say no to a friend with a good idea. That is what I spend most of my time doing.

Keith , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I started in the finance industry over 12 years ago. I answered a Craigslist Ad that offered high commissions on selling stocks. I was working in law at the time and decided to see what this was about. I went to the interview on a Friday and met with the President of the company. I had a tremendous amount of confidence in myself. He asked me if I could do the job. I said to him that there is no one in these offices that was better or could be better than me. I started the next Monday making $10 an hour making three hundred calls per day to investors. I worked harder than anyone in the firm. I worked over the required hours and time. I took notes every chance that I got. After 7 years of working with the firm, I rose to become VP of Operations in the firm. At that point, I identified an area for small capitalization companies listed on the senior exchanges such as the NYSE and NASDAQ. These companies have a hard time finding access to capital and when they do it is mostly done by predatory investment banks that create toxic financing deals that essentially keep these companies’ stock suppressed. I then left this firm that I so very much loved and started Landon Capital. Landon Capital bridges the company and the investor to create sustainability. We help companies gain sell-side support via credible analyst. We provide buy-side support in the open market that would prevent any mass shorting and mass selling of these companies’ stock. We also provide PR, media, and marketing to expand the company’s brand awareness and presence in their market. To date we have served over seventy-five companies, with over 90% of these companies gaining and sustaining a higher valuation since joining our firm.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn everything that I was previously taught about how to run a business. Especially working with publicly traded companies. I took business administration while attending Morgan State University. While this was a good school, nothing could prepare me for what I was about to learn. The first thing in running a business is that there is no work life balance. If anyone believes that there’s work life balance while running a business, their business is not thriving. I also learned that cash flow is king. While most coaches and advisors influence people on how to get a loan and leverage business credit, that is how most business dig themselves into a hole. As I stated earlier, I spend most of my time building relationships and finding ways to generate revenue to build my business. Work never stops as a business owner. Most CEOs of the small cap companies that my firm represent do not know how to run a public company. I must know more than they do. So, after I finish work every day, I have to work on my knowledge.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

As I mentioned earlier, raising capital is very hard when starting out. Most would suggest that you choose friends or family to do so when starting a business. However, if you do not have friends or family where do you go? Right, it is hard to get a business loan when you do not have the credit or sales to support the debt. What I did was unorthodox, I did extra work for TV shows for two months to fund my business. It was fun and I got to know people. This worked out for me because it was the only job that had the most down time while you work. I had my laptop while on the set of these TV shows, and because the time in between scenes was very long. This allowed me to gain access to the cash I needed while not compromising my balance sheet.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.landoncapital.net
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/landoncapital
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Landon-Capital
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/landoncapital
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/LandonCapital

Image Credits
Photos by Elvis Piedra Studios www.elvispiedra.com