Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 3, 2016

The best entrepreneurs know what they don’t know, aren’t afraid to ask for business help, and always offer something in return. Some people pretend to have answers for everything, and are only looking for followers, rather than partners. Sets goals and milestones, with metrics to track progress.

Entrepreneur 266

Entrepreneur Technical Review Metrics Restful 266

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

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 12, 2020

Develop a Business Plan. It’s been proven that planning makes you more successful. Beyond writing a business plan to acquire funding (if that’s what you need), a business plan can help keep you on track to meet your milestones and goals. Determine what type of business plan is right for you .

Software Review 153

Software Review Exit Strategy Technical Review Business Plan 153

Up and Running

JULY 31, 2015

This week Peter and Jonathan talk to Tim Berry, founder of Palo Alto Software, about lean business planning, strategy, tactics, specifics (milestones), and the forecast. Lean Business Planning by Tim Berry – (31:21). Preorder on Amazon.com – Lean Business Planning: Get What You Want From Your Business.

Lean 60

Lean Business Plan Forecast Software Review 60

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 19, 2019

Now, with his business Wellness Works Management Partners, Brandon manages multiple private practices and consults with entrepreneurs and health practitioners worldwide. Describe your professional background and how it led you to create Wellness Works Management Partners. What does Wellness Works Management Partners do?

Wisconsin 214

Wisconsin Partner Management United States 214

Up and Running

AUGUST 17, 2021

A business plan is an essential part of any company. It serves as the launch pad where you can flesh out your vision and mission statements, house enterprising ideas, and lay the plans for short- and long-term growth. Your audience includes those reading your business plan. Who will you be showing the plan to?

Business Plan 150

Business Plan Audience Non-Compete eCommerce 150

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

I recommend a ten-slide pitch to start, reviewed by friends and advisors, to be expanded to a ten-to-twenty-page business plan with opportunity sizing, cost and price details, competitors, marketing and sales strategy, financial projections, and resources required. Make sure your solution is defensible and unique.

Intellectual Property 235

Intellectual Property Elevator Pitch Harvest Technical Review 235

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

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. Marketing, sales, and partners. Financial forecast and metrics.

Business Plan 283

Business Plan Sweat Equity Exit Strategy Intellectual Property 283

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

The best way to get your company laser-focused on the bottom line, though, is to have a clear, actionable metric for your entire company and ensure everyone and everything works in alignment with it. Even if it’s just you initially, get in the routine of planning out as much of your day — and the following months — as you can.

DC 182

DC PHP Metrics Technical Review 182

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 5, 2018

Since NewTV won’t be making the content, they will be licensing from and partnering with traditional entertainment producers. NewTV will depend on partners like telcos to distribute the content. 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

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. Marketing, sales, and partners. Financial forecast and metrics.

Business Plan 290

Business Plan Sweat Equity Exit Strategy Intellectual Property 290

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

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 20, 2019

by Lu Zhang, founder and managing partner of Fusion Fund. Competition from other startups and established incumbents, constraints on time and capital, and limited access to talent and technology resources are just a few of the hurdles nearly every first-time founder faces while trying to build a business. Tailor your pitch deck.

Technical Review 140

Technical Review Due Diligence Early Stage Differentiation 140

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 25, 2023

Do a written business plan to validate your thinking. Even if your plan seems simple and intuitively obvious to you, writing it down and having it reviewed by experienced friends will moderate your passion and assure you that all key elements are addressed. Network extensively for partners, investors, and suppliers.

Intellectual Property 245

Intellectual Property Social Media Angel Investor Metrics 245

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 18, 2016

Let’s take a hard look at the key potential weaknesses of a visionary, and the value of an execution-oriented partner, which the authors call an integrator : Staying focused and following through. When the team is at odds or confused, they need this steady force to keep them on track with the business plan.

Cofounder 120

Cofounder Founder Entrepreneur Startup 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 30, 2017

Formulate and adopt a specific and detailed business plan. A successful business requires focus – define the customer need with a specific solution for a specific price and cost. Customers and partners won’t find you or buy from you if you can’t tell them why, how, and what they need, and what you offer.

Bootstrapping 120

Bootstrapping Metrics Technical Review Entrepreneur 120

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 14, 2012

Many, however, don’t know how to take their small business to the next level. 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. In any growing business, these can creep up and out of control if not tracked carefully.

Metrics 266

Metrics Retention Acquisition Salary 266

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2023

Document and communicate a solid business plan. The days are gone when you could just declare your plan with such passion that qualified team members and investors will line up to jump in with both feet. You may start a business alone, but you need an employee team plus investors, vendors, and partners to scale the business.

Startup 237

Startup Angel Investor Matching Metrics 237

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 23, 2016

Things change so fast these days in business that your first priority as an entrepreneur is to stay current, by talking to customers, peers, and experts. The days are gone when growing a business meant putting repeatable processes in place, settling into a groove, and simply cranking up volume. No change means falling behind.

Social Media 120

Social Media Technical Review Metrics Channel 120

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 4, 2016

He nails the current key startup parameters, including the following: Crafting a lean business plan as your road map. The days of lengthy, text-heavy, business plan documents prepared by expensive experts are behind us. Incorporating a business entity early through online services.

Intellectual Property 120

Intellectual Property Startup Angel Groups Social Media 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 17, 2015

Let’s take a hard look at the key potential weaknesses of a visionary, and the value of an execution-oriented partner, which the authors call an integrator : Staying focused and following through. When the team is at odds or confused, they need this steady force to keep them on track with the business plan.

Cofounder 120

Cofounder Bandwidth Matching Leadership 120

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

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. Marketing, sales, and partners. Financial forecast and metrics.

Business Plan 182

Business Plan Sweat Equity Exit Strategy Intellectual Property 182

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 22, 2022

Yet, as a business consultant, I still find many of you business leaders relying primarily on your technology, word-of-mouth , or location to attract necessary customers. I also look for a commensurate portion of the plan describing the specific innovative marketing deliverables, beyond the traditional marketing items.

Marketing 333

Marketing Revenue Matching Viral 333

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 9, 2009

What are your key Startup Metrics ? Yes, a lot of these questions are partially answered in a business plan / presentation deck / marketing plan. Where’s the mystery (see Matching Algorithm )? Who are the other stakeholders involved? Other types of users? Administrators? How will you be taking this to market?

Software Developers 292

Software Developers Software Development Developer Software 292

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. Marketing, sales, and partners. Financial forecast and metrics.

Business Plan 186

Business Plan Exit Strategy Sweat Equity Intellectual Property 186

Up and Running

OCTOBER 30, 2017

If you will be seeking outside financing, a business plan is a necessity. But, even if you are going to finance the venture yourself, a business plan will help you figure out how much money you will need to get started, what it will take to make your business profitable, what needs to get done when, and where you are headed.

Venture Capital 166

Venture Capital Business Plan Limited Liability Company Finance 166

YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 14, 2017

After several hours of brainstorming and heated discussion, the group had developed four distinct alternatives for how to proceed, which varied in terms of the partners they would enlist, the way they would engage the HVAC services companies, and how the company would manage logistics to supply each local market.

Agile 113

Agile Malaysia Technical Review Metrics 113

Up and Running

JULY 12, 2016

Company history in a business plan? Yes, it’s a good addition to some business plans, but not all. For this article, I want to look at how to decide whether or not you include company history, and if you do, what to include and where to put it in the plan. The purpose of the business plan.

Business Plan 60

Business Plan Intellectual Property Elevator Pitch Lean 60

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2019

Image via Pixabay As a mentor to many small business owners, I always caution them that you can never relax completely, just because your initial solution or product set appears to be getting traction, and the market buzz is positive. Document processes and metrics for economies of scale.

Silicon Valley 215

Silicon Valley Bankruptcy Metrics Valuation 215

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

VCs in seed clothing: Chris Dixon, Mark Suster, and Naval Ravikant interviewed - Venture Hacks , May 5, 2010 I recently got on the phone for a cross-continent conference call with Chris Dixon from Founder Collective , Mark Suster from GRP Partners , and our own Naval Ravikant. At best I think business plan competitions are a waste of time.

Fractional CTO 248

Fractional CTO Startup Venture Capital Cofounder 248

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 2, 2020

Then, he'll need to patent it and create a plan to show opportunity, competition, and financial projections. In addition, creating a business requires leading and interacting with other people, including partners, investors, and customers. Create a written plan, with target milestones and metrics.

Elevator Pitch 315

Elevator Pitch Cofounder Dividend Leadership 315

VC Cafe

JULY 29, 2012

Goleman added a new facet to how humans measure intelligence, which was previously generally viewed as a person’s IQ – a narrow metric revolving around linguistic and math skills. 3) Motivate yourself and your team – no one is going to lay out your strategy and plan for you.

Engineer 145

Engineer Technical Review Software Review Startup 145

Steve Blank

JULY 13, 2021

By the end of the 20th century, case studies and business plans had reached an evolutionary dead-end for entrepreneurs. The Rise of Business Schools – Management as an Occupation. The business school was invented in the first decade of the 20th century in response to a massive economic transformation in the U.S.

Lean 436

Lean Agile Business Model Business Plan 436

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 8, 2016

Plan for success. It’s been proven that planning makes you more successful. Beyond writing a business plan to acquire funding (if that’s what you need), a business plan can help keep you on track to meet your milestones and goals. To begin with, determine what type of business plan is right for you.

Software Review 60

Software Review Technical Review Intellectual Property Guerilla 60