#383 Todd Graves and his $10 Billion Chicken Finger Dream

Podcast Notes Playlist: Business

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Key Takeaways

• “Do one thing and do it better than anyone else.” – Todd Graves
• A winning idea can work for decades: Don’t think that you need to have a new idea every six months to be successful
• Combine extreme patience with an extreme intolerance for slowness
• If you love what you are doing, then you will never stop doing it – and therefore, you will never interrupt the compounding effects of your efforts
• Make mistakes fast, but fix them even faster
• Make your people feel appreciated; constantly communicate your appreciation for them
• Corporate America makes financial decisions, not personal ones; this creates an opportunity for founder-led businesses that have more skin in the game
• You should be in a rush to get to your last business: “I’m not really interested in your first business. I’m interested in your last business.” – David Senra
• Lock in with a singular focus and do that thing better than anybody else; if you try to be all things for all people, then you are not anything to anybody
• Do not listen to “experts”; listen to your gut and intuition
• Limit the amount of details to perfect, then make every detail perfect
• “Never ever give up, and be fanatical. You’ve got to be fanatical. Nothing ever happens unless someone pursues a vision fanatically.” – Todd Graves

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Todd Graves is one of my favorite living entrepreneurs. He's a great example of Charlie Munger's maxim: Find a simple idea and take it seriously. Todd wanted to create a quick service restaurant that only focused on quality chicken finger meals and nothing else. Everyone told him that couldn't possibly work. The college paper that described the idea that would turn into Raising Canes got the lowest grade in the class. Banks wouldn't loan him any money —but nothing could stop Todd from living out his "chicken finger dream." He worked 95 hour weeks as a boilermaker, risked his life on a commercial fishing boat off the coast of Alaska, and scrounged up startup money from his bookie and a guy named Wild Bill. Todd made every mistake in the book, over leveraged himself, almost lost everything and yet he refused to give up or sell out. Today he has over 800 locations, 50,000 employees, and owns 90% of a business that's worth at least $10 billion. Todd's maxim is "Do one thing and do it better than anyone else."

Sources:

Trading Secrets: Raising Cane’s founder Todd Graves reveals his path to building the wildly popular restaurant

Theo Von: Raising Cane’s Founder Todd Graves

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