Today Billboards for Education Founder Matt Richman talks about bootstrapping his out of home advertising company.

How did you fund your company?

I got a loan from a family member for my first billboard and was paying her back every month. I got lucky because that one was 100% full.  It was a digital.  It threw off some cash and I kept reinvesting it and reinvesting it.  I didn’t really make much for 5-6 years but then it really started to payoff.

Friends and Family Funding

I would go to family members if I needed to put a new sign up and say can I get a loan from you for $50,000 for the downpayment.  I’ll pay you 10-12% interest.  I definitely borrowed money but I didn’t have any investors.  I didn’t give away any equity.

How did you handle construction and what did you learn.

I was super lucky.  Gene Bishop who constructs almost all the signs in our region was a great support.  G&K Signs.  Gene has been installing signs for a long time.  He’s willing to answer anyone’s questions.  He handled all my construction and my maintenance.

Structure Costs

My signs cost $30,000-50,000.  Most of my signs were smaller signs.  12 by 24’s.  I didn’t build any 14 by 48’s.  I had some 10 by 36’s that were my largest signs.

Digital costs.

My digital costs were around $200,000 per location for two faces.

Matt’s previous posts were on Billboard Leasing, Getting Close to Your Community and Digital Billboards.

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