I just saw another business plan with a mission statement, and I thought, "How '90s!" Mission statements can be useful, but they really have become passe.
A good business plan should focus on answering the questions investors, creditors and strategic allies ask most often. And "What is your mission statement?" is not one of those. Better to spend your time writing about your value proposition, your management team, your relevant market, your business model (how you'll make money!) and your exit strategy.
A credo or mission statement can be a good way to express your goal for your business and how you'll conduct your business. It can go hand-in-hand with your vision for what your business will become. It can be like a rock that you return to in a storm. But it really doesn't have to be in your plan at the outset.
Showing posts with label Business Plan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Business Plan. Show all posts
Friday, July 31, 2009
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Pitching to Angels
The New York Times ran an excellent small business column on June 11 on how to pitch to angels. It confirmed what I have learned over the past 10 years of working with entrepreneurs on their business plans and attending angel and VC pitching sessions. Being well prepared is far more important that enthusiasm that verges on hyperbole. I've pasted a synopsis of the article below and a link. If you want to be successful, do your homework and get a great management team together. You also really need to hone your elevator pitch.
Feel free to contact me, if you have any questions about how to pitch to angels. upstartwyn@gmail.com. www.upstartbusinessplanning.com.
http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/11/in-pitching-to-angel-investors-readiness-tops-zeal/
Feel free to contact me, if you have any questions about how to pitch to angels. upstartwyn@gmail.com. www.upstartbusinessplanning.com.
DealBook: In Pitching to Angel Investors, Readiness Tops Zeal
For entrepreneurs hoping to land start-up capital, some advice from the experts: Don't get carried away when you pitch your product.
http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/11/in-pitching-to-angel-investors-readiness-tops-zeal/
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Nonprofits Need Business Plans
Two days ago I attended a presentation in White Plains, NY, by lawyers in the Pro Bono Partnership on the "Myths and Realities of Starting a Nonprofit." It was eye opening. You need to file incorporation papers with your state. You need an EIN number from the IRS. Then you need to fill out form 990 with the IRS to apply for tax exempt status. And you need to send regular reports to your state attorney general and the IRS. But that's not all.
These lawyers made it very clear that you need a business plan to start a nonprofit. You need to know how you'll generate income. A nonprofit is a business, but it's a business that simply must plow all its income back into the business, rather than distributing it to share holders. A nonprofit's purpose must be to support the public good in a unique way.
Feel free to contact me with questions. If you need a business plan for your nonprofit, email me at: upstartwyn@gmail.com.
These lawyers made it very clear that you need a business plan to start a nonprofit. You need to know how you'll generate income. A nonprofit is a business, but it's a business that simply must plow all its income back into the business, rather than distributing it to share holders. A nonprofit's purpose must be to support the public good in a unique way.
Feel free to contact me with questions. If you need a business plan for your nonprofit, email me at: upstartwyn@gmail.com.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Builders Looking for New Opportunities
Fascinating... I know that two observations don't necessarily show a trend, but in the past two weeks, two sets of builders have approached me with ideas for new businesses. They've told me that they have lots of building projects on hold. Banks aren't lending. Everything is stuck. That's why they're looking for ways to start alternate businesses. They're taking their business expertise and their observations of societal trends and creating new businesses.
This is what I mean by entrepreneurs and small business owners getting us out of the recession. Congress is just fighting and grandstanding. The mobs are staging a revolution against the guys pulling in the big bucks. But the entrepreneur is looking for needs to fill and clever ways to do it.
The builders in question came to me to help them develop their plans. (Don't ask me what they're doing. I signed NDAs (Non-Disclosure Agreements).) They're smart enough to see the needs and to get help in areas where they lack expertise. Builders understand hiring sub-contractors, while they take care of the vision and pulling everything together. They understand the value of building a team to get things done.
That is the essence of what builds our country and will continue to create new jobs and new opportunities.
This is what I mean by entrepreneurs and small business owners getting us out of the recession. Congress is just fighting and grandstanding. The mobs are staging a revolution against the guys pulling in the big bucks. But the entrepreneur is looking for needs to fill and clever ways to do it.
The builders in question came to me to help them develop their plans. (Don't ask me what they're doing. I signed NDAs (Non-Disclosure Agreements).) They're smart enough to see the needs and to get help in areas where they lack expertise. Builders understand hiring sub-contractors, while they take care of the vision and pulling everything together. They understand the value of building a team to get things done.
That is the essence of what builds our country and will continue to create new jobs and new opportunities.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Do You Really Need a Business Plan?
Kelly Spors wrote in the Sunday Wall Street Journal (syndicated to The Stamford Advocate) that you really don't need the 100-page start-up plan. Ironically, I couldn't agree with her more. Here I am, a business plan writer, agreeing that you don't need a big plan. The focus is on the word, big.
Ms. Spors doesn't say that you don't need a plan. Rather, she says that you shouldn't spend too much time writing a huge plan. As Ms. Spors's small business column points out, entrepreneurs need to put their time into getting going. They need to create prototypes and figure out if they can manufacture a product or deliver the service at a profit. If they spend too much time planning, they can lose their window of opportunity.
At the same time, she says that you need to do some planning, as the planning process makes you think through your business model. She also allows that the time you do need a written plan is when you're going to be pitching to investors. Still, you really need to spend most of the time crystalizing your idea, getting your management team in place and figuring out your costs and burn rate so that you know how much money to ask for. If you've gone through the planning process, you then have a roadmap -- Ms. Spors calls it a compass -- which can help you dodge roadblocks, while you head toward your goal. That's why when I work with clients, I usually write an executive summary which covers all the key topics investors ask about, plus financial projections with documentation of key assumptions. I have never crafted a 100 page plan, and have not written a 25-page plan since 2002. Yet, I have clients who have launched successful businesses and raised millions of dollars. The ones who accomplished these things used their brief plans as guides as they focused on executing.
To read all of the WSJ article, "The 100-Page Start-Up Plan -- Don't Bother", see my sidebar under shared items. If you want to explore your own business plan, please visit my website: www.upstartbusinessplanning.com or email me at: upstartwyn@gmail.com.
Ms. Spors doesn't say that you don't need a plan. Rather, she says that you shouldn't spend too much time writing a huge plan. As Ms. Spors's small business column points out, entrepreneurs need to put their time into getting going. They need to create prototypes and figure out if they can manufacture a product or deliver the service at a profit. If they spend too much time planning, they can lose their window of opportunity.
At the same time, she says that you need to do some planning, as the planning process makes you think through your business model. She also allows that the time you do need a written plan is when you're going to be pitching to investors. Still, you really need to spend most of the time crystalizing your idea, getting your management team in place and figuring out your costs and burn rate so that you know how much money to ask for. If you've gone through the planning process, you then have a roadmap -- Ms. Spors calls it a compass -- which can help you dodge roadblocks, while you head toward your goal. That's why when I work with clients, I usually write an executive summary which covers all the key topics investors ask about, plus financial projections with documentation of key assumptions. I have never crafted a 100 page plan, and have not written a 25-page plan since 2002. Yet, I have clients who have launched successful businesses and raised millions of dollars. The ones who accomplished these things used their brief plans as guides as they focused on executing.
To read all of the WSJ article, "The 100-Page Start-Up Plan -- Don't Bother", see my sidebar under shared items. If you want to explore your own business plan, please visit my website: www.upstartbusinessplanning.com or email me at: upstartwyn@gmail.com.
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