Zoots--Financing Growth (A)

Traces the genesis and founding of Zoots, the largest chain of dry cleaning establishments in the U.S. Founded by some of the founders of the very successful Staples chain, the company raises a very large amount of capital without fully proving its business model, and by 2006 is in need of yet more funding. Pushes students to dissect the business model and current operations--and their financial performance--and figure out what went wrong initially, if the business model and operations are now on solid footing, and, assuming capital can be raised, whether it is better to take the "bird in the hand" of significant capital at an admittedly disappointing valuation, or wait for a strategic investor who would pay a higher price but will need significantly more time to complete due diligence.