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Business Plan Financial Forecasts Test Your Savvy

Startup Professionals Musings

Using your data, here are the basic elements of the projection process, which are measurable by milestones, and can be tracked to show when a re-forecast is required: Start with sizing per-unit profitability. This forecast is really their commitment. The holy grail is break-even, when revenues first catch up with the outflow.

Forecast 238
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10 Strategies To Avoid Bad Risks In Your New Venture

Startup Professionals Musings

As a long-time mentor to entrepreneurs, here is my collection of smart risks that investors and I look for in new startups: Focus on a tough customer problem rather than a fun technology. Even non-profits need revenue to cover their costs, and continue to provide services. Don’t rely on conservative forecasts to reduce risk.

Forecast 304
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Building Your Startup’s 2022 Revenue Model

Austin Startup

It’s that time of year when Startup CEOs are building their 2022 Revenue Plan. If they are optimists like me, they can forecast growth rates and get motivated about how big the startup can become. If they fall behind on their sales recruiting numbers, they understand how that will impact revenue targets two quarters out.

Revenue 72
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How to Forecast Sales

Up and Running

Sales forecasting is much easier than you think, and much more useful than you imagine. You review and revise your forecast regularly. Since sales are intimate with costs and expenses, the forecast helps you budget and manage. Since sales are intimate with costs and expenses, the forecast helps you budget and manage.

Forecast 119
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Startup Benchmarks

VC Cafe

Forecasting is sometimes done by dragging the mouse based on many assumptions, because it’s hard to predict the future. While there isn’t a single magic number or set formula, understanding industry benchmarks can be really helpful to keep a finger on the pulse to measure the health of the company and make more informed forecasts.

B2C 141
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Is the Lean Startup Dead?

Steve Blank

Reading the NY Times article “ Jeffrey Katzenberg Raises $1 Billion for Short-Form Video Venture, ” I realized it was time for a new startup heuristic: the amount of customer discovery and product-market fit you need to find is inversely proportional to the amount and availability of risk capital. It’s the antithesis of the Lean Startup.

Lean 335
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10 Manageable Risks That An Entrepreneur Should Take

Startup Professionals Musings

As a long-time mentor to entrepreneurs, here is my collection of smart risks that investors and I look for in new startups: Focus on a tough customer problem rather than a fun technology. Even non-profits need revenue to cover their costs, and continue to provide services. Don’t rely on conservative forecasts to reduce risk.