We will have people that want it. But starting an ethanol plant isn't for everyone, he advises. The risks should be taken seriously, he said. Sershen applies his investment banking background rigorously. The goal, Sershen pointed out, is to make the best possible business.
Every aspect is subjected to close financial scrutiny.
The best location, for example, might not even be where the planners live and first imagined the plant to be. He also studies the production process like a banker. The bunkers of cracked corn used by some of the plants, he says, don't have the same value on paper as a bunker of whole-kernel corn. Sershen said he and the other Tall Corn planners work hard on questions like these to make sure the plant will be profitable.