Entrepreneur journal: Sean O'Connor, co-founder Batter Blaster

(Reuters) - Sean O'Connor has already tasted success from a can and is now cooking up a retro TV ad campaign to expand his reach, and profits. O'Connor's Batter Blaster - the consumer face of his pancake-in-a-can concept - was conceived nearly a decade ago, but the process of getting the science and the taste to come together took years. The following is a five-day journal written by O'Connor exclusively for Reuters.com:

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By Sean O'Connor

Day 1 - Monday, October 26

The day started early, as it usually does in the grocery business. The phone rings while I'm still at home, and it's my father, who is our CFO and on our board of directors. He's in Scottsdale, Arizona so he's up really early. We talk about fundraising issues; we recently re-did our fundraising presentation and we're still tweaking wording here and there for a document you wonder if anyone's going to read.

I've been talking to a lot of institutional investors - these private equity funds that invest in growing businesses - and I'm coming to the conclusion that many of them are just more comfortable with a truly developed category, like potato chips. Batter Blaster is in a category of its own, one of the few new, innovative food products on the shelf that doesn't easily slip into another category, like dry mixes? Nope, we're refrigerated, prepared batter. Frozen? Nope, different section, different product. Investors, I think, like more of a rear-view approach - it's easier to understand the levers that drive a new kind of potato chip, as the research is already done and the historicals are easy to find. It's not easy to predict the seasonal ebb and flow, or the growth of a product for which there is no historical record, especially when the product is barely 2 years old, and has been at a significant number of retail chains for a year.

So it leaves me with the question: Do investors really want innovation, or do they want tried and true? Regardless, we continue to do what we know how to do, and the story gets better every day.

Day 2 - Tuesday, October 27

It's an exciting day at the Batter Blaster Austin office; we started a Facebook and Twitter campaign yesterday, and it really seems to be taking off. We've found early on that users who try Batter Blaster - and in the early stages it was the typical "early adopter" types, which probably explains a lot of the blog coverage we've gotten - really get into it. They make shapes with batter, take pictures, post stories, pictures and videos to their blogs, Facebook pages and Twitter accounts. So we decided to reward these "super users" with free Batter Blaster and in turn, they can help us spread the word about the product. We're a small food company, after all, so advertising in a national, competitive manner is cost- prohibitive for us.

We enlisted the help of some friends of the company to "seed" the campaign, and already we're seeing hundreds of users signing up for the contest, and not only that, they're also posting about it to their social networks. That's over 1000 Twitter followers, hundreds of new mailing list members, organic mom coupon blogs posting about us, and a mailbox filling up with emails about Batter Blaster from enthusiastic fans. It's fun to see people get excited about what we're doing; it makes the challenges of the day less bothersome. The contest is running at <here>

Day 3 - Wednesday, October 28

We get a lot of calls from websites and magazines and radio stations and TV stations - every media outlet it seems - and they all want us to advertise. It's not surprising, of course, we've had a good year for press, and the word is getting out about Batter Blaster, so naturally the sales people start calling. And we've done a lot of varied advertising ourselves, from radio spots tied into events to TV ads that pitch the product, to print ads and retail "FSIs" (free standing inserts) - those inserts you see in the Sunday newspaper. We're easy to find, because we like getting the word out about our product. But that doesn't mean we're easy.

I'm tempted to note a few things that might help the conversation move faster, and toward a better resolution. The following are some points for advertisers to keep in mind when you're bringing us even your first whack at an ad spend:

1. Remember who you're selling to: Batter Blaster has one product, and we're a small company. Don't over-inflate, don't take needless commissions, and give us a good deal (if you treat us right, we'll keep advertising with you.)

2. Look at who we target: no matter how good you think the opportunity is, make sure it's in line with our marketing objectives.

3. We shop around. If you're trying to get tricky with the numbers, we'll know it, and we won't be working with you again.

This may seem like common sense, but you'd be amazed. There's an old saying, and it rings true for us: "We throw our nickels around like they're manhole covers."

Day 4 - Thursday, October 29

We're seeing a good amount of press coming in from Canada, where we recently started selling the product. I have a DVD on my desk with clips from "City TV" and "Salut Bonjour," there are nice pieces in the Toronto Sun and Toronto Star, and other blog clips coming in. Early sales indications are great. And the Canadian press who are writing about it seem very open to innovative food products like ours.

One blog writer <here says, "I normally don't buy prepackaged foods at all, and would normally steer clear of something so 'packaged' but when you have one child to make pancakes for...then trying to make a single serving of pancakes, or Aunt Jemina mix in half...it's a chore and too much leftover batter. I wasn't expecting much from this product but was pleasantly surprised. It is a very light fluffy batter, almost so light that my thicker spatula couldn't turn the first pancake without mashing it... It is "organic" batter, but that isn't important to me. My child said it tasted good, and I did a taste test myself and would agree."

Rita Demontis <here> from the Toronto Sun writes, "What a blast we had with the Batter Blaster! It's basically pancake and waffle batter in a can -- fast, convenient and incredibly tasty." It's great to see the product getting a fresh introduction to a new market. Some writers can be quite jaded - we've seen more than a few pieces that compare the product to spray cheese, and most times the writer doesn't A. recognize the product is, in fact, certified organic, in a recyclable can, and B. hasn't even tried it. This new territory launch seems free of those preconceived notions, and that's incredibly refreshing.

Day 5 - Friday, October 30

It's the last day of my Entrepreneur's blog and it seems like business as usual today at Batter Blaster HQ. We're working on forecasting sales, dealing with vendors sourcing raw ingredients, and reconciling past promotions and off-invoice deducts with the finance department. One of our logistics people is out with the flu and our VP of sales is out on the road, so it's a little quiet around the office. But that's when you deal with the less fun side of running a business - the minutiae.

The CEO can't micromanage, of course, but there's a difference between micro-management, and understanding where the money is going (or where it's coming from). I like to get my hands dirty when it comes to understanding why our billing looks the way it does - I've seen double billing, off invoice mystery charges, all sorts of funny business that needs to be fixed. And you have to know where the business is heading; forecasting can be a mind-numbing grind, but it's crucial to ordering and other future activities, especially when you're dealing with commodity pricing.

It's times like these when you roll up your sleeves and dig in. Meanwhile, it's Halloween weekend, and we're dressing up my 18-month-year-old girl as a ladybug. It's pretty cute; she doesn't even know she's wearing a costume.