The Art of the Start and Business Planning

My project this week is to write a business plan for an upcoming venture. First off it goes completely against my nature to do any planning whatsoever, I much rather run blindly into the void until I hit an impervious brick wall, then come back and do some planning; but I’m trying to change!

Diligently I began with a standard outline and started to fill in the appropriate blanks. Then yesterday I thought I’d have a peak at the local bookstore and spotted a copy of Guy Kawasaki’s The Art of the Start [aff].

He basically trashes the whole concept of a business plan and suggests that entrepreneurs need to implement first and then plan after they have a working prototype. I think that plan is geared towards the analysis paralysis types, of which I am not one, but there are a lot of really cool ideas in the book.

Some Highlights

Saying your willing to do something doesn’t mean that you will do it….On the other hand, realizing that you have doubt and trepidation doesn’t mean you won’t build a great organization.

The fundamental shortcoming of most mission statements is that everyone expects them to be highfalutin and all-encompassing. The result is a long, boring, commonplace, and pointless joke.

 

You can download the first chapter of Art of the Start for free.

Key Principles

• Think Big: Don’t waste time with an idea that doesn’t scale to something that is huge and/or can change the world in some way.
• Find Soulmates: Most great companies are founded by two or more soulmates working together.
• Polarize People: You want to create a product or idea that people either love or hate. Getting any reaction is good: think of ugly cars that become successful.
• Use Prototypes as Market Research: there is no focus group that can provide feedback for a product that you can barely describe. Create a prototype and get in front of potential customers.

My Favorite Part

Define your business model by asking two questions:

1.) Who has your money in their pockets?

2.) How are you going to get it into your pocket?

That about sums up everything that a business plan is designed to communicate, the rest is details. Overall the book is very refreshing and brings a nice dose of sanity to an often stale process of crafting a new business concept.

Guy also goes on to suggest that the pitch should come before the business plan, because it is more important and helps to refine what should go into the business plan. While I may not be completely sold on the implement before planning concept, I really think working on the pitch, and actually presenting it to a couple people is a great thing to do before completing the more formal business plan.

Jon Symons
Avoiding writing boring business plans, so you can invest in my company and enjoy doing it.

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