Our elevator pitch: we’ll travel through deserts, embarrass ourselves on video, and jump off boulders to get to you (just watch the video).

Nate Tower December 6, 2024

Recently, Ben and I created a video to pitch ourselves to business owners, and, to be honest… it’s a little unhinged. I mean, we did name ourselves Infinite Cake, so we were barely hinged to begin with, but lately we’ve been trying to dial up the authenticity even more. Unsure if we’d gone too far (I try to take over at least two businesses in the video), we shared it with a few friends, investors, and advisors for feedback.

One piece of feedback we heard threw us for a loop, sending us down a rabbit hole that eventually brought clarity to our “Ideal Seller Profile.” The bad news is: our ideal seller is a fictional character. 😅 The good news? We know there are real business owners like him.

🦈 Sharks or fishermen?

The feedback in question came from a business owner, who said (in so many words) “I’m surprised you guys are trying so hard to sell yourselves. Plenty of people would sell their business to you.”

This comment echoed in our heads for days, like an ear worm you can’t shake. We thought of ourselves like Hemingway’s fisherman, trying to catch that one extraordinary marlin. But in this business owner’s mind, we were like the sharks on Shark Tank. A total inversion.

How could there be such a disconnect? And why were we selling ourselves so hard? And then, a chain of reasoning made the lightbulb go off like a Rube Goldberg machine:

• We want to buy an extraordinary business.
• Extraordinary businesses are built by extraordinary leaders.
• Extraordinary leaders are passionate and detail-obsessed because they care.
• Because extraordinary leaders care, they’ll choose a successor with the same rigor and values they put into building the business.

So no, we’re not the sharks in Shark Tank waiting for a good investment to present itself. We have to make it perfectly clear to the pickiest business owners that we care, that we share their values, and that we sweat the details as much as they do. We have to show that we’re willing to run the gauntlet to prove that we’re worthy.

And that’s when it hit us like a giant blueberry… We’re looking for Willy Wonka.

🍫 Into the Wonka-verse

We realized that we don’t want to buy just any business. We want to buy a truly exceptional business built by a passionate creator—a pioneer who has conjured something dazzling and impossible, and would never surrender their legacy to a faceless corporation or a ruthless profiteer. A creator like Willy Wonka (specifically the 1971 Gene Wilder version).

As we often do when we try out ideas, we turned to ChatGPT, to ask about Wonka’s motives in choosing a successor. Here’s what it came up with:

Wonka wasn’t looking for a corporate suit to manage his factory; he was looking for someone who shared his spirit—a kindred soul to continue his creative legacy. The factory wasn’t just a business to him; it was art, invention, and possibility. He sought someone who could honor its magic and eccentricity.

Bingo, Chatty G! We got so excited we fell into a chocolate river of detailed questions—asking ChatGPT why Wonka was looking for successor (“Wonka is at a point in his life where he understands that he can’t go on running the factory forever”), how long he would stay involved during the transition (1–2 years, then dialing down to part-time “Dreamer Emeritus”), and even what he might do afterward (“his travels would likely not be about leisure, but about satisfying his insatiable curiosity about the world”).

🎫 Printing our own ticket

As silly as it sounds, stumbling into the Wonka analogy was clarifying. If we were Charlie, we wouldn’t wait around for a golden ticket. We wouldn’t leave anything to chance. We’d do absolutely everything in our power to get in front of Wonka and make an impression.

So this video is one small part of our effort to get in front of that ideal business owner. You’ll notice it’s not perfectly tuned to go viral on TikTok. It’s not high-production. After all, we’re not Veruca Salt (or even Veruca Salt).

But hopefully the video shows a little about who we are and what our values are. It’s where we first came up with our framework of Technology, Design & Fun! Regardless, we hope you get a kick out of it.

And to our future Wonka: Consider this our elevator pitch.