Image Café was founded by Clarence Wooten in 1998.

Prior to that he was also a founded

of Envision Designs while he was an undergraduate in 1991 and Metamorphosis Studios
in 1994 with co-founder Andre Forde. However, the three company did not really last
long. In 1998, Metamorphosis Studios had sold to Medisolv, Inc and Image Café was
acquired by Network Solution after sever months of market launch (Clarence Wooten, Jr.,
2005).

About Clarence Wooten, Jr.

Clarence Wooten had a big dream since childhood. His dream is to get rich someday. His
childhood hobby was playing with computer games. He was so obsessed with computer
that his parents banned him at the age of 14 (Kathryn F, Spinelli, 2004: 33-40).

At the age of 18, he attended college to study architecture in Catonsville Community

College. During that time he believes that by taking up architecture courses can satisfy his
creative instincts. In the early 1990s, many professional architects went back to school to
upgrade themselves due to the recession. At that point of time, he manages to learn from
the senior architects. After the first two failure of his business, he realised that he did not
really understand anything about finance after he read the stories from Fred Smith,
Reginald Lewis and Bill Gates. This had inspired him to upgrade himself with a business
administration and finance. In 1998, he was graduated with B.S. in Business Administration
from Johns Hopkins University (Kathryn F, Spinelli, 2004: 33-40).

Clarence Wooten, Jr. Venture Spirit

Clarence Wooten started Envision Design which was his first business while he enrolled
for Catonsville Community College. The type of service he was offering was using form
and cardboard to model out a proposed building. The company did not perform well
during that time and eventually closed down (Kathryn F, Spinelli, 2004: 33-40).

In 1994, Clarence Wooten started his second company Metamorphosis Studios with his
co-founded Andre Forde by focusing on special effects and multimedia presentations.
Their first customer is Bingwa, an educational software company. However, Bingwa
require Metamorphosis Studios to relocate to Princeton, New Jersey and worked for
Bingwa. After a thought Clarence Wooten and Andre Forde turned down the offer as they
know they are heading for something big (Kathryn F, Spinelli, 2004: 33-40).
Metamorphosis Studios was not a successful project too, in 1998 Metamorphosis Studios
was acquired by MediSolv, Inc (Clarence Wooten, Jr., 2005).
In early 1998, Clarence Wooten started his third company Image Café. Back in 1995,
internet service began to grow. Many companies had started to create their own
companies website in order to promote their products and services over the World Wide
Web. However, during that time, many companies do not have their own expertise to
create a website. Clarence Wooten knew that this is an opportunity and started Image
Café to help companies by design their website to promote their products and services
over the web (Kathryn F, Spinelli, 2004: 33-40).

At the start of Image Café, Clarence Wooten went around to search for capital in order to
start his business. What Clarence Wooten wants was $300,000 capital based on $3 million
valuation. In total he received $110,000 from 10 different investors. Image Café website
was ready to launch after four month of preparation. However, at that point of time,
Clarence Wooten had utilised the cash during the launch. He went back to the existing
investors to ask for additional $150,000 in form of bridge loan. This time, Clarence Wooten
expects to raise $3million at $10 million valuation (Kathryn F, Spinelli, 2004: 33-40).

In June 1999, Image Café once again runs out of cash. He approaches three major
investors who are keen on investing, two venture capital firms and Network Solution. This
time he asked for $1 million from each investor on a $10 million valuation. Out of three,
one investor felt that $10 million valuation is too high. Clarence Wooten remembered
Mid-Atlantic Venture Association was interested to invest in Image Café. After
negotiation, Mid-Atlantic Venture Association will not invest till Clarence Wooten perform
the required due diligence. However, Mid-Atlantic Venture understands that Clarence
Wooten needs immediate cash so they refer him to two new investors who willing to give
him the loan at $300,000 bridge loan on $6 million valuation. At this point of time,
Clarence Wooten need to make a final decision to look for more investor or continues to
fight as all a long Clarence Wooten wanted a $10 million valuation (Kathryn F, Spinelli,
2004: 33-40).

A Business Plan to Manage Clarence Wooten Business

The author felt that Clarence Wooten cannot sustain his business is because his venture
spirit lacks of a proper business plan. Every business he does he only based on his feeling,
“he thinks he believes or the investor might” all these are base on what he feels. Before
starting a business, he should draft a business plan outline. By doing that, he will have a
better view on what he is doing. Business plan outline consist of an Executive Summary
on the entire business plan. Second, Company Description is about his products and
services, ownership, partnerships etc. Third, Industry Analysis base on industry trends, size,
growth rate and sales projection. Fourth, Market Analysis on buyer behaviour, competitor
analysis, market segmentation and target market selection. Fifth, Marketing Plan focuses
on how Clarence Wooten should market his services. Sixth, Management Team and
Company Structure consist of the founder and key personnel. Seventh, Operations Plan is
about how the company will run and how do Clarence Wooten produce his work. Eighth,
Product (or Service) Design and Development Plan on development status and tasks,
challenges and risks, and Intellectual Property. Finally, Financial Projections is a very
important factor for entrepreneur. Clarence Wooten should layout how much money his
firm needs before the start of his business and how he is going to raise the money and
how he is going to use the money. He should not source for investor when he feels that
money is not enough (Bruce R. Barringer & R. Duane Ireland, 2010: 144-154).

Conclusion
Clarence Wooten is daring, creative and smart guy. To start a business, the founder or
founders should have a proper business plan. From the business plan the founder or
founders will be able to have a better view on what are their strength and weakness is
there any opportunity or threat to start or with the business. Fire fighting is not advisable,
the founder and founders should prevent fire from burning.