Would love some help with a startup :)

[JamesBrankin]

Hello guys and gals, I believe this is my first post, but have been following for a number of weeks now.

 I’m hoping some of you may be willing to help me with some budgeting and selecting equipment and tools for a startup. This post is solely for that purpose. I am probably going to add other posts for different questions over the next few days for other areas I’d like to find out more about. I’ve also added a bit of a background at the end of this just to give you an idea of the lucky position I am in and why I’m asking you guys. 

The one thing I have been asked to do by Stewart (private sector guy) Is to compile a list of all tools and equipment I will need plus prices. Under his advice, I’ve to aim sort of middle of the road and up in terms of quality and price for reliability and the option of selling later.

I have a budget of £25,000 for the whole business, but let’s say I’ll throw £15,000 at tools and equipment, and naturally doesn’t include consumables such as thread, glue, finishes, leather etc. I can be flexible on the £15,000 to perhaps £17.5k.

Tools would include cutting tools, edgers, groovers etc. What tools and brands would you fill your toolbox with? I need reliability.

Equipment, which is what I really need some help selecting, would include a clicker press, skiver, splitter (Or two-in-one?), hand press, imprinter, etc. But the most difficult one is the laser engraver. I’m also going with a MacBook Pro and iPad Pro for designing, and because they live longer than any Windows PC or laptop I’ve ever had, so some software suggestions would be greatly appreciated. What reliable brands would you recommend? I’d also be looking for those that aren’t a pain in the neck to repair or maintain.

 

So here’s the background. I’d been living abroad for ten years where I had a business, but got stranded at home in the UK due to covid and subsequently lost my business. During the quarantine, I approached a government-funded organisation whose purpose is to help the average Joe start their own businesses from taking an idea and turning it into a viable business plan that you can use to the apply for grants and loans. My initial business plan was for £4,000 to start out really small as a hobby business. I contacted the funding guys to ask some questions who then informed me that I ticked all the boxes for funding and to return with a watertight business plan and I will be given the cash. It was really that simple. To cut a long story short, because it really is long... the advisors must’ve realised that because a lot of the government was in shutdown, they couldn’t help me, because because they brought in a guy from the private sector who, at our first meeting, said that I should start bigger, employ some people etc. I would qualify for a grant of £25,000 ($37,000-ish), he’d be attached to me for the next three years and would  help me apply for all grants that the government is throwing at businesses in the town in which I live, and I tick all of their boxes. He even told me to give him all my notes and my business plan so that he can write it and present it to the funding organisation. The private sector guy, Stewart, who also happens to be a Scot, works for one of the top consultancies in the UK and has told me the government is paying his company and any bonuses are dependent on my success - so it’s free, I’ve signed nothing and the guy has an interest in the company’s success. I’ve basically landed in shite and come out smelling of roses. Other organisations that I’ve been in contact with over the months have never heard of anything like it before and are even chipping in some help too. It’s almost like Dragon’s Den/Shark Tank and I didn’t really have to do much at all. The hard part for me is yet to come.
 

That’s the background, and I know a lot of experienced crafters and businesses would always advise on starting out small, and will almost definitely have a lot of criticism to add without knowing anything of my own background and experience, not to mention the contacts I have in various places all over Europe and Asia - I was an English Language Teacher to high-profile people, sports people and celebrities, and when potentially hundreds of thousands of pounds over the next three years, and full support from the government in an area of economic regeneration and multi-million pound investment, not to mention my very own Dragon/Shark, what would you do? It’s a no-brainer. 

[JamesBrankin]

Someone has kindly helped with this. Thank you! But I’d still be interested in seeing how you’d use your budget.

[battlemunky]

I'd go to a one-stop shop like Weaver and load up your cart and print that off for your bill of materials. Weaver has good tools, not top tier in all cases but good, reliable stuff. By the time you wear that out it'll be time for replacing it with the top tier items onesy-twosy as needed.

I'd do one cart with tools and one for supplies.

If I found myself in your position, this is what I'd do.

[chrisash]

The hardware is by far the easiest part of starting any company, the hard part is making the goods and marketing the company

You do not say what your experience in leather-work is also design both far more important than any tool

What market have you identified, who will be your main competitors and will you and your team be able to match both their skills and marketing budget

Its rather alarming that you are placing all your eggs in the basket with a third party who is going to get the funding for you, but at what cost and with no doubt your personal guarantees to the lenders

For a start up company you could easily spend £25000 on marketing over the first two years and without marketing budget you will not get known and get items sold and end up a hobby guy with a few sales a month not covering the interest on the loans

Hermes goods are not just wanted because they are well made but because the company has spent millions on marketing making the items wanted by the rich to show off they can spend £4000 to £10,000 on a Berkin handbag that many people on this forum could make duplicates of for a couple of hundred pounds, but what film star want to be seen with a Fred Smith handbag

 

[JamesBrankin]

Well, as I mentioned, this post is solely for the purposes of what was asked - how would you fill your workshop, kind of thing.
Your comment isn’t really in the spirit of what was asked, I’m afraid. 

[JamesBrankin]

2 hours ago, battlemunky said:

I'd go to a one-stop shop like Weaver and load up your cart and print that off for your bill of materials. Weaver has good tools, not top tier in all cases but good, reliable stuff. By the time you wear that out it'll be time for replacing it with the top tier items onesy-twosy as needed.

I'd do one cart with tools and one for supplies.

If I found myself in your position, this is what I'd do.

There aren’t really any in the UK that have as wide of a range of products that Weaver has. I’m quite envious of what you guys have over there.  But I sure wish I had a Weaver nearby. 

[Constabulary]

maybe buying machinery in Germany is an option f.i. from Frank Brunnet - he has Hightex / Cowboy machines:

https://hightex-germany.de/

or from Sieck:

www.sieck.de

[Arturomex]

What I'd buy depends on what I was planning to make. I'm not clear on what you're planning to produce.

[Retswerb]

3 hours ago, Fukovskiy said:

Well, as I mentioned, this post is solely for the purposes of what was asked - how would you fill your workshop, kind of thing.
Your comment isn’t really in the spirit of what was asked, I’m afraid. 

@chrisash’s reply may not have answered the question you asked but was probably what many were thinking. What tools to buy depends entirely on the goods you’re looking to produce and the market you’ve identified to buy those goods.

Give us some more info, and show that you’ve done your legwork. You will find multiple lifetimes’ worth of wisdom here from plenty who are happy to share.

[fredk]

I support the others in saying what you plan to make will guide what you want to buy.

I've developed my leather work over 20 plus years. I've bought tools as and when the need arises. Last year I came into some money so I splashed out on buying a load of 'wish list' tools. At present I don't need them and they sit in their boxes.

To give a list of what I'd buy is just filling a 'Christmas Shopping List' and may have absolutely no relevance to the OP's needs

I don't need a heavy duty sewing machine, I have 5 lightweight duty ones. But I expect a harness maker would need a good sewing machine. Someone making watchbands needs lighter, finer tools than a harness or saddle maker.

With no disrespect to the OP I've come across this sort of idea before. Just because you can buy all the tools or hardware for a profession doesn't mean you have the knowledge to use them. 

 eg

1. In my town a good number of years ago a chap took a very nice photo of a ship passing the town. The praise went to his head. He bought a load of more expensive camera equipment and even bought a shop and fitted out as a studio. He even got backing from investment authorities. But he closed up shop after 9 months with a load of debts and lawsuits because he did not have the necessary skills to take professional photographs and do the required marketing. When I was a professional photographer I used the bare minimum of camera equipment and even hired items for jobs, My 'studio' was an old converted cow shed in the country. I only replaced equipment when it was worn out. I made living at it for 26 years and I developed my skills as I went.

2. A friend of mine picked up a car servicing garage for a song because a guy who had fixed a few cars for mates thought he was a car mechanic. The guy thought he could make a business at it but he wasn't trained as a mechanic, nor was he good at business. He fitted out an old service garage with the latest of tools and car lifts then went bust. He lost his home and family as he had borrowed to invest in the service garage. My #1 son has a car parts/servicing place. He too has added tools and lifts as and when he needs them

I find that a lot of people outside of leather working do not realise there are so many varied disciplines within the one general heading of leatherwork. There are; watch strap makers, bag makers, holster makers, saddlers, harness makers, shoe makers . . . . and so many more. Sometimes we cross over the divides but often we mainly in the one division

Top of the OP's shopping list should be a set of courses on leather work, if he is not proficient in that yet and a set of business courses designed to be devoted to his new business and not general purpose ones

[RockyAussie]

@Fukovskiy to answer your questions properly one would need to get a better understanding of the type of product you expect to produce. I realise that you have mentioned "Specialty:Wallets, belts and bags  Interested in learning about:Machinery " Unfortunately the machinery required for this can be quite different depending on the style (carved and stamped with burnished edges using veg tan leathers?) I manufacture very little of that but a look at my profile in the about me section would show a very wide range of products and some of the machinery used to make it. The best I can can offer at this stage is to not buy any machinery until you know exactly what that machinery can do for you and how it compares against other similar machines. I would try and stick with reliable brand names like Adler,Pfaff, Comoga, Fortuna but also take into account the local people that would be available to service any of these if needed. If it were not for the Covid restrictions I would say come over and spend a week or so here but I would urge you to find any local manufactures that would be willing to help you make good decisions with this. I would offer to pay them to show you how the machinery works, how to do the adjustments etc. I have wasted many thousands of dollars over the years getting machinery that is not really ideal for the required work and I could have saved a lot by paying the right people for advice before I started off if I could have found them then. You will see in my profile where I make use of a laser and 3D printer a lot these days and I would make sure I had those on my shopping list early. They save me huge amounts of time and money compared to how I had to do things some years ago.

Brian