Green-broke Oct 24
Hello friends of equible,
Yes, equible with a lowercase ‘e’ so it’s more bay gelding, less chestnut mare. This month has made me feel like I’m dealing with the latter.
Welcome to the second issue of Green-broke. A monthly update for you and a routine check point for me, keeping you informed (or more likely entertained by the ups and downs) and me accountable.
Saddle up for this one.
Branding baby!
Let’s start with the fun stuff! equible has a face, thanks to the enormously talented, hard-working, and brainy lady from the North West – Rachelle from Shell Creative Co.
I am stoked with it, but it’s not about me. So what do you think it’s giving? A few hints…
🟰
🐎
🥕
Changing leads, turns, and rollbacks
Normally these are performed by our four-legged friends but after attempting to prove my concept, learning about the thoroughbred racing industry, and doing financial re-forecasting, I too feel like I have been spinning on my hinds.
Mastering the flying change
Last month I was cautiously excited after proving the buyer-led marketplace for horses concept was possible. However, possible doesn’t equal feasible or viable, which is what was uncovered early in October when attempting to engineer the concept.
Concept one: marketplace for horses 🛑
I didn’t know whether to celebrate because I saved myself from building an infeasible product or cry because it had taken me three months to figure it out. Deep down I knew it was a good thing, so I let it sting for a day and then put my big girl pants on, reviewed research and insights, and made a flying change.
Concept two: marketplace for horse services 🧡
A services marketplace was on my radar, however the trade-off is ability to start creating quality performance, genetic, and treatment information on horses. But sometimes a girl’s gotta take the long way around, like the The Chicks said.
Turning at the right time
This month I spent a few hours chatting with Tom Seymour from Breedr. Breedr is a services marketplace for thoroughbred breeding, so similar product, solving a slightly different problem in an adjacent market, with much more established product and business. Thankfully Tom shares the view that teamwork will make the dream work and graciously shared his experience and insights.
Although a lot of equible conversations inevitably cover thoroughbred racing it’s far from my area of expertise. It will come as no surprise that I’ve been to a few country race days, but what you might not expect is I’ve rarely gotten into racing and certainly haven’t punted. So explaining equible’s other target markets can be tricky because racing is basically an Australian institution and, well 💰 – we are in the spring carnival season after all!
Luckily, my takeaways from Tom’s experience is several industry factors that counteract the size and immediacy of the opportunity we tend to see initially. So while thoroughbred racing is ultimately the most lucrative market for equible, it won’t be the first. I'll make that turn at the right time, with a lot more information, and perhaps some bets under my belt.
A sneaky suck back
At the end of September I’d been solopreneur-ing for three months, time for a quarterly review (🫣). It was brutally humbling, like when you slide up alongside a fence on your best horse for a neat warm up rollback and they suck back feeling a bit fresh, spitting you straight over the front for everyone in the arena to see. The process highlighted both my privilege and sacrifice, and objectively where my planning had been a bit optimistic.
So I’ve cinched up my girth:
Downsized my car – way more economical, but now I am a solidified city chick.
Thrifty transport – no more toll roads and a lot more $0.50 bus rides!
And put my head down:
Product consulting 1 day/week – income and a healthy change of context.
Brought deadline forward — equible needs legs by end March 25.
Re-prioritised to be ready for funds — grants or capital ASAP.
This rollback-come-suck back was a bit of a shock to the system, but to continue the analogy — I dusted myself off and got back on the horse.
We’ve reached the tail end of the second issue. Thank you for all the feedback and support, I hope you’ll keep joining me for the ride. I look forward to the next eight seconds.
Best,
Emily