Up and Running

MAY 28, 2015

We recently had Tim Berry, Palo Alto Software founder and business planning expert, present our Bplans audience with his latest advice on lean business planning. It’s all about making your business life easier, doing what works best, getting the best results by tracking what works and always improving.

Lean 60

Lean Business Plan Video Software Review 60

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 15, 2016

Most people think of the business plan as a one-time event, something used to accomplish a specific goal—getting funded, usually. The business plan, in its many different formats, can be used for a variety of purposes, including validating an idea, getting funded, and managing a business successfully.

Business Plan 60

Business Plan Lean Forecast Balance Sheet 60

Up and Running

MAY 30, 2022

One of the most important things you can do to increase your chances of success is to have a business plan. From attracting potential investors to keeping your business on track—a business plan helps you to achieve important milestones and grow in the right direction. And it’s not just for startups.

Business Plan 150

Business Plan Balance Sheet Revenue Metrics 150

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 23, 2023

Every business owner and entrepreneur like you I work with wishes they could better predict product demand and sales, for managing inventory and long-term business planning. We all have our favorite metric and our passion, but keeping up with real-world changes and trends seems to be always just out of reach.

Metrics 204

Metrics Demand Analytics Leadership 204

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2022

By definition, second-stage ventures generally have 10 to 99 employees and/or $750,000 to $50 million in revenue, and see that as just the beginning. According to one study a decade ago, only 45% of founders plan to exit after stage one, and my guess is that less than half the remainder survive the next stage in their own company.

Mezzanine 368

Mezzanine Private Equity Bandwidth Metrics 368

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 10, 2020

Over the past 20+ years, as an angel investor, former venture capitalist and private equity investor, and serial entrepreneur, I have seen and written, a wide variety of pitch decks and business plans. Beyond discussing facing adversity and overcoming obstacles, many of them have shared their business plans with me.

Business Plan 124

Business Plan Elevator Pitch Equity Private Equity 124

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2012

People ask me if they really need ANY business plan, unless they are looking for an outside investor. In fact, a business plan is needed more by you than investors, as the blueprint for your company, team communication, and progress metrics. Explain the business model. Marketing, sales, and partners.

Business Plan 283

Business Plan Sweat Equity Exit Strategy Intellectual Property 283

Gust

APRIL 27, 2014

Use a simple accounting tool like QuickBooks, get away from co-mingled funds, and you have the first business process you need. Develop your business plan. Write down the key elements of your business plan very early, and keep it current as things evolve. Billing and revenue collection. Funding process.

Startup 187

Startup Institutional Investors Angel Investor Bootstrapping 187

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 14, 2012

What I’m talking about here is a level of discipline and skill necessary to collect and analyze the relevant business data, known as metrics. Here is my selection of ten key metrics that every six-sigma joint like GE tracks without thinking, but too many small businesses only monitor haphazardly, if at all: Sales revenue.

Metrics 266

Metrics Retention Acquisition Salary 266

Up and Running

FEBRUARY 12, 2022

Learn why the traditional way of writing a five-year business plan is often a waste of time and how to use a Lean Plan instead for smarter, easier strategic planning to establish your long-term vision. But, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t plan for the long term. What is a long-term plan?

Business Plan 83

Business Plan Lean Forecast Exit Strategy 83

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 13, 2011

People ask me if they really need ANY business plan, unless they are looking for an outside investor. In fact, a business plan is needed more by you than investors, as the blueprint for your company, team communication, and progress metrics. Explain the business model. Marketing, sales, and partners.

Business Plan 290

Business Plan Sweat Equity Exit Strategy Intellectual Property 290

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 10, 2023

Entrepreneurs need to document a process of responding to a market need, sizing opportunity, assigning a specific business model, and planning for marketing, sales, and customer satisfaction. Even if you are not requesting outside funding, I would expect a clear process for sourcing and managing the investment you plan to apply.

Exit Strategy 288

Exit Strategy Metrics Operations Cost 288

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 29, 2022

Just be sure that you have a backup plan if your business idea fails to gain traction. This could be something simple like being prepared to seek out short-term employment or reexamining your business structure and trying again. Prepare a business plan. Recommended Reading: How to Write a Business Plan in 7 Steps.

Forecast 154

Forecast Software Review Bootstrapping Finance 154

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 28, 2013

Many startups see initial revenue from customers, and love the fast growth, but fail to anticipate the cost of early vendor payments, monthly overhead costs, and later taxes. A required metric is average days to payment compared to expectations. business entrepreneur mistakes profits startup' Not having a budget. Marty Zwilling.

Technical Review 251

Technical Review Entrepreneur Salary Finance 251

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 24, 2015

3 One-page business plan. Develop a one-page business plan. This should include what you will sell, who your customers will be, how much you will charge, how you’ll market your business, what determines success, and how objections will be managed. This spanned the following areas: #1 Generate Higher Revenue.

Technical Review 100

Technical Review Software Review South Carolina Startup 100

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 20, 2012

Many startups see initial revenue from customers, and love the fast growth, but fail to anticipate the cost of early vendor payments, monthly overhead costs, and later taxes. A required metric is average days to payment compared to expected. Considering the job done once a client has been invoiced. Not having a budget.

Technical Review 273

Technical Review Startup Finance Cost 273

Cracking the Code

JANUARY 22, 2009

Building Your SaaS Sales Compensation Plan. Compensating the sales force is a difficult task and the key is usually to keep things simple, so that each sales rep knows what he needs to optimize to make more money at the end of the quarter. 1 of MRR generates $12 of annual revenue, so $1 commission equals 1/12=8.3%

Software Review 91

Software Review Clawback Sales Salary 91

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 9, 2012

Modern investors love to first read a two-page summary of your business plan, formatted like a glossy marketing collateral sheet, with text well laid out in columns and sidebars, and a couple of relevant graphics. Outline your sales and marketing strategy (direct marketing, sales channel, viral marketing, and lead generation).

Business Plan 244

Business Plan Elevator Pitch Viral Lead Generation 244

Gust

AUGUST 5, 2012

People ask me if they really need ANY business plan, unless they are looking for an outside investor. In fact, a business plan is needed more by you than investors, as the blueprint for your company, team communication, and progress metrics. Explain the business model. Marketing, sales, and partners.

Business Plan 182

Business Plan Sweat Equity Exit Strategy Intellectual Property 182

Up and Running

AUGUST 24, 2020

While AI helps businesses make sense of their data, the Internet of Things (IoT) helps capture and deliver data from a plethora of interconnected devices. Simply put, IoT is a combination of sensor and data analytics systems, helping businesses aggregate metrics to make more accurate decisions. Invest in analytics.

Technical Review 131

Technical Review Analytics Forecast Artificial Inteligence 131

Up and Running

MAY 1, 2014

You’ve reviewed what a business plan is , and why you need one to start and grow your business. It’s time to dig into the process of actually writing a business plan. In this step-by-step guide, I’ll take you through every stage of writing a business plan that will actually help you achieve your goals.

Business Plan 163

Business Plan Forecast Balance Sheet Distribution 163

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 7, 2020

Entrepreneurs need to document a process of responding to a market need, sizing opportunity, assigning a specific business model, and planning for marketing, sales, and customer satisfaction. Even if you are not requesting outside funding, I would expect a clear process for sourcing and managing the investment you plan to apply.

Entrepreneur 328

Entrepreneur Exit Strategy Metrics Operations 328

Up and Running

OCTOBER 23, 2020

But to truly understand the benefit of plan vs actual comparison, we should look at an example. Start with your plan. The illustration below shows a view of the sales forecast for a bicycle store. She forecasts sales by forecasting units, the average price per unit, and sales as the product of unit times price.

Management 117

Management Forecast Software Review Balance Sheet 117

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2010

People ask me if they really need ANY business plan, unless they are looking for an outside investor. In fact, a business plan is needed more by you than investors, as the blueprint for your company, team communication, and progress metrics. Explain the business model. Marketing, sales, and partners.

Business Plan 186

Business Plan Exit Strategy Sweat Equity Intellectual Property 186

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 21, 2014

And importantly we’ve had revenue. Consumers buying through smart phones, travelers using the new, shared economy and businesses replacing old software with modern cloud-based solutions. When I start to see revenue figures I always want to know the details behind the revenue: Who championed the project?

Marketing 354

Marketing Incubator Turkey Metrics 354

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 1, 2019

By definition, second-stage ventures generally have 10 to 99 employees and/or $750,000 to $50 million in revenue, and see that as just the beginning. According to one study a while back, only 45% of founders plan to exit after stage one, and my guess is that less than half the remainder survive the next stage in their own company.

Mezzanine 244

Mezzanine Private Equity Startup Bandwidth 244

Steve Blank

MARCH 4, 2014

But now, as the business model is repeatable and scalable, most employees take the business model as a given, and instead focus on the execution of the model – what is it they are supposed to do every day when they come to work. They measure their success on metrics that reflect success in execution, and they reward execution.

IRR 335

IRR Startup Business Model Agile 335

Up and Running

JANUARY 23, 2018

Many professionals place emphasis on having a business plan, and this is a good thing. However, if your business is going to be selling tangible goods, a smart sales plan is equally important. What are the best strategies for a working sales plan? Every business exists to achieve a specific objective.

Sales 82

Sales Metrics Business Plan Networking 82

NZ Entrepreneur

APRIL 25, 2024

Squarespace currently offers four main pricing plans, each with different features and capabilities. When billed annually, their personal plan starts at $NZ27 a month and basic business plans at $US38 a month.

eCommerce 52

eCommerce Hosting Analytics Bandwidth 52

Up and Running

AUGUST 21, 2014

In this webinar, we take time to discuss the different metrics that startups—and established businesses—should be tracking. You need to track pre-purchase, post-purchase, and then overall business analytics. In terms of pre-purchase, traffic and content metrics. There’s tools to do all of that.

Metrics 84

Metrics Startup Churn Rate Forecast 84

Up and Running

NOVEMBER 12, 2018

The subscription box industry is growing rapidly thanks to a steady revenue model and tapping into people’s love for surprises. But with so many people trying to get their share of the growth, many subscription box businesses fold within a year or two. There are several different types of business plans that can help you stay on track.

Business Plan 63

Business Plan Curation Balance Sheet Intellectual Property 63

Up and Running

JUNE 18, 2013

(We’ll be using LivePlan to display these metrics. Begin with the sales and expenses first: are you ahead or behind on your monthly goal? Compare your Month-to-Date sales and expenses to your End-of-Month goals to see if you’re on track. Finance accounting entrepreneurship metrics projections startup'

Metrics 79

Metrics Burn Rate .Net Finance 79

www.forentrepreneurs.com

FEBRUARY 2, 2010

Business model viability, in the majority of startups, will come down to balancing two variables: Cost to Acquire Customers (CAC) The ability to monetize those customers, or LTV (which stands for Lifetime Value of a Customer) Successful web businesses have long understood these metrics as they have such an easy way to measure them.

Acquisition 103

Acquisition Cost Customer Entrepreneur 103

Steve Blank

MAY 14, 2012

Traditionally, engineering, sales, and marketing have all focused on the immovable launch date. Therefore, focusing on execution and delivering a product or service based on those initial, untested hypotheses is a going-out-of-business strategy. Writing a business plan that doesn’t allow for trial and error.

Balance Sheet 335

Balance Sheet Business Model Customer Development Metrics 335

Women Entrepreneurs Can

JULY 17, 2019

Indeed, an industry in which customers are likely to ask for a chargeback or a merchant who has experienced high sales value with poor credit history needs a dedicated account manager who can give you a fair shot at success. Happy customers are the best metric of success in a company. Deliver Exceptional Customer Care Services.

Technical Review 40

Technical Review Software Review Demand eCommerce 40

Up and Running

JULY 31, 2014

What is it about your business that made you think you’re going to make it this much in sales and yet somehow you didn’t achieve that. This means you need to set goals in sales and expenses. We really encourage you to think about your sales lines in terms of those big major categories. So think about sales goals.

Software Review 74

Software Review Sales Acquisition Small Business 74

Up and Running

OCTOBER 3, 2017

This article is part of our “Business Planning Guide” —a curated list of our articles that will help you with the planning process! Start from the very beginning understanding that your business plan ought to be specific to your business needs and objectives. Build your plan, then organize it.

Business Plan 134

Business Plan Balance Sheet Forecast Lean 134