Up and Running

JANUARY 29, 2019

Though you may be tempted to immediately throw yourself into your new small business, don’t forget a crucial element: creating a business plan. Yes, the words “business plan” might trigger some dread about epic documents that take a ton of time to produce—but that’s not necessarily what a business plan needs to be.

Lean 64

Lean Business Plan Revenue Forecast 64

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 9, 2012

Projecting the financials should be the last step of your business plan preparation, since it assumes you already know the opportunity size, customer buying habits, pricing, costs, and competition. Next comes sales volume by channel. This forecast is really their commitment. Plan to re-forecast every quarter.

Forecast 238

Forecast Burn Rate .Net Business Model 238

Up and Running

NOVEMBER 12, 2020

Leveraging the power of ML or Machine Learning, AI can help channelize your marketing spending in proper directions leading to a higher return on investment (ROI). Marketing is an investment where the money is spent to acquire more customers for your business, leading to higher profits and more revenue. Pitch to investors.

Artificial Inteligence 142

Artificial Inteligence Marketing Channel Campaign 142

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 5, 2018

Tech IPO prices exploded and subsequent trading prices rose to dizzying heights as the stock prices became disconnected from the traditional metrics of revenue and profits. Startups wrote business plans, generated expansive 5-year forecasts and executed (hired, spent and built) to the plan.

Lean 335

Lean Burn Rate Startup IPO 335

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 22, 2011

Projecting the financials should be the last step of your business plan preparation, since it assumes you already know the opportunity size, customer buying habits, pricing, costs, and competition. Next comes sales volume by channel. This forecast is really their commitment. Plan to re-forecast every quarter.

Forecast 230

Forecast Burn Rate Startup .Net 230

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 4, 2015

Most aspiring entrepreneurs understand that you can’t build a business if you won’t commit to delivering a product or service, but many are hesitant or refuse to commit to any financial forecasts. Yet every business requires revenue and volumes, as certainly as it requires a product to sell. Quantify overhead costs.

Forecast 120

Forecast Entrepreneur Burn Rate Widget 120

Gust

JUNE 19, 2012

One of my earliest excursions into market research was working for a research firm doing a 1979 forecast on ATMs. But in the real world, when you get to business numbers, sales are not accounts receivable and revenue isn’t income and people who read financial projections need to know that an apple is an apple, and not an orange. .

Startup 180

Startup Forecast Angel Investor Software 180

Up and Running

JUNE 25, 2020

If your sales have recently hit a plateau, check out these 10 proven methods to continue growing your business. You went through the process of identifying a target market when developing your business plan. But now you have an active customer base that you need to engage with and in the process improve your business.

Small Business 180

Small Business Hosting Social Media Community 180

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. Financial forecast and metrics.

Business Plan 283

Business Plan Sweat Equity Exit Strategy Intellectual Property 283

Up and Running

MAY 23, 2016

In fact, SaaS industry revenue is projected to grow from $49 billion in 2015 to $67 billion in 2018, a compound annual growth rate of approximately eight percent. Step 1: Start with a lean plan. Instead of sitting down to write a 40-page business plan, start with a one-page pitch. How to Write a Traditional Business Plan.

Software Review 74

Software Review Software Delaware Forecast 74

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. Financial forecast and metrics.

Business Plan 290

Business Plan Sweat Equity Exit Strategy Intellectual Property 290

Up and Running

DECEMBER 5, 2017

If you’ve been procrastinating when it comes to putting together your business plan, there are a few easy ways to jumpstart the process. Second, skip everything else you’ve heard people talk about and jump right into your sales forecast. A quick caveat: The process for creating this sales forecast was for just one product.

Forecast 84

Forecast Sales Advertising Social Media 84

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 25, 2010

In reality, you need to set these projections as goals for your own use, to convince employees as well as investors that you have a business which is challenging, but achievable. Next comes sales volume by channel. This forecast is really their commitment. That should be true even if your customer is really a distributor.

Forecast 151

Forecast Startup Burn Rate .Net 151

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 1, 2010

With an out-of-this-world business plan. When it was spun out as a a separate company, Iridium’s 1990 business plan had assumptions about potential customers, their problems and the product needed to solve that problem. A Business Plan Frozen in Time. No Business Plan Survives First Contact With A Customer.

Business Plan 335

Business Plan Customer Business Model Customer Development 335

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. Financial forecast and metrics.

Business Plan 182

Business Plan Sweat Equity Exit Strategy Intellectual Property 182

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. Financial forecast and metrics.

Business Plan 186

Business Plan Exit Strategy Sweat Equity Intellectual Property 186

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 11, 2017

Based on your market size and penetration expectations, size how many units you will sell, at what price, in every channel. You need 5 percent or more of revenue for marketing, more for new development, and people costs will double as you add benefits, insurance, training, IT and processes. Quantify overhead and growth costs.

Burn Rate 144

Burn Rate Forecast Angel Investor Revenue 144

OnlyOnce

JULY 9, 2013

Chapter 2: Defining and Testing the Story…Start Out By Admitting You’re Wrong, A Lean Business Plan Template, Problem, Solution, Key Metrics, Unique Value Proposition and Unfair Advantages, Channels, Customer Segments, Cost Structure and Revenue Streams. Budgeting in a Context of Uncertainty, Forecast, Early and Often.

Startup 95

Startup Advisory Board Elevator Pitch Forecast 95

Up and Running

JUNE 23, 2016

You’ll find information on sales and housing prices, forecasts, major trends, issues, and much more. BiggerPockets YouTube Channel. If you prefer to listen your way to additional revenue, start here. Be sure to keep an eye out for their annual report— “Home Buyers and Sellers Profile” —as well.

Technical Review 69

Technical Review Forecast Database Video 69

Up and Running

JUNE 7, 2016

You have to be flexible about a business plan, so take what you can from what we say here and make sure it applies to your business. In general, a standard business plan includes three parts of the sales and marketing section. Those are the market analysis, the marketing plan, and the sales plan.

Business Plan 60

Business Plan Sales Marketing Social Media 60

YoungUpstarts

MAY 26, 2017

Your pitch deck is the most important assets your business will have, arguably more than the business plan itself. Based off the “Pitch then Plan” template originated by Silicon Valley venture capitalist Guy Kawasaki, I believe in creating a strong pitch first and then building a business plan based on it.

Cofounder 185

Cofounder Silicon Valley Forecast Business Plan 185

YoungUpstarts

FEBRUARY 13, 2014

Despite its strategic importance and the resources devoted , both in the design phase of the plan and its subsequent execution, the fact is that about 60% of the business development plans do not meet the initial objectives, and many of them are still invalid even if approved annually by the managing director.

Developer 182

Developer Cofounder Channel Business Plan 182

Business Plan Blog

OCTOBER 8, 2013

Ten Deadly Business Plan Writing Sins for Raising Capital. Another key factor is how these business concepts are portrayed in the startup’s business plan. All good business plans put considerable attention on the competition for several reasons. Practicing Top-Down Sales Forecasting.

Business Plan 67

Business Plan NDA Exit Strategy Valuation 67

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 13, 2016

As a startup advisor and investor, I recommend a pitch deck with about 10 slides backed up with a written business plan of approximately 20 pages, both containing quantified answers to the following key questions. What is the business problem you are solving? What are your specific marketing and sales plans?

Sweat Equity 120

Sweat Equity Advisory Board Liquidity Event Startup 120

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 7, 2010

Many entrepreneurship courses focus on teaching students “how to write a business plan.” If you’ve read any of my previous posts, you know I believe that: 1) a product is just a part of a startup, but understanding customers, channel, pricing, etc. This class is not about how to write a business plan.

Wiki 311

Wiki Lean Management Business Model 311

Up and Running

MARCH 27, 2017

Nurture forecasting. Seasonality makes forecasting more important than ever. A good cash flow forecast will help with analysis of funds available and costs throughout the year. Develop monthly sales, spending, and cash flow forecasts. Maintain your forecasts with monthly review and revisions.

Forecast 60

Forecast Small Business Administration SBA Curation 60

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2010

In business, one important measure is the value of the company. That’s because a company’s value is a composite of all of the quantitative and qualitative factors that comprise a company: revenues, expenses, risks, growth prospects, quality of the management team, competitive advantages, strength of the intellectual property, and so forth.

Intellectual Property 223

Intellectual Property .Net Valuation Distribution 223

Up and Running

APRIL 23, 2018

Your goal can be as big or small as you want, but while having a big goal is good for the distant future, you should also create some shorter-term, realistic goal for your business plan. Next up, you need to work out how you plan to sell your clothing. As you get started, put together a business plan. Conclusion.

eCommerce 90

eCommerce Design Social Media Cost 90

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 5, 2009

She has a separate team, with its own culture and office, and a mandate straight from top management to innovate without regard to the company’s historic products, channels, or supply chain. And so the spreadsheet is built with conservative assumptions, including a final revenue target. So far, so good.

San Francisco 102

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment Startup 102

Steve Blank

AUGUST 27, 2009

Yet we used the product development model not only to manage product development, but as a road map for finding customers and to time our marketing launch and sales revenue plan. The model became a catchall tool for all schedules, plans, and budgets. We had no clue what our market was when we first started.

Silicon Valley 260

Silicon Valley Product Startup Product Development 260