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The Various "Kinds" of Business Plans Start-Up Business Success |
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By Terry Collison, Blue Rock Capital. Used by permission
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Until exposed to the actual choices, many companies incorrectly believe that there is just one type of Business Plan that is "ideal". As a practical matter, however, a given plan should reflect the characteristics and the specific situation of the individual company - both currently and also in terms of the changes that can be reasonably anticipated in the period covered by the Plan. There are, for example, the following types of Business Plan to consider:
Because the situation surrounding a company changes over time ... and because the fundamental nature of the company itself also changes over time ... the company must be prepared to develop successive Business Plans. The planning process should reflect this awareness. The Business Plan document should itself be set up so that it can be adjusted easily. The least effective approach is often one that makes the planning process and the Business Plan document overly formal and expensive. "Quick-and-dirty" is usually both more economical and more directly useful as a basis for guiding the company's critical day-to-day operations and the decisions it should be making within an established, overall strategic framework. Inspirational Business Plans: Successful Innovation Values Being Created: "The best way to predict the future is to invent it." – Alan Kay...Operational Plan: "We don’t have a traditional strategy process, planning process like you’d find in traditional technical companies. It allows Google to innovate very, very quickly, which I think is a real strength of the company." – Eric Schmidt... Development Risks: "The things we fear most in organizations – fluctuations, disturbances, imbalances – are the primary sources of creativity." – Margaret Wheatley... More Financial SuccessValues being created: "Money can't buy happiness; it can, however, rent it." – Unknown...Money management skills: "Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination." – Oscar Wilde...Funds required and uses: "I just need enough to tide me over until I need more." – Bill Hoest... More |
TERRY COLLISON is a co-founder of BLUE ROCK CAPITAL. Previously, through 11 years of work as an advisor to entrepreneurs, young companies, and investors, Terry helped a wide variety of companies develop commercialization strategies, management teams, marketing programs, formal business plans, and new financing. BLUE ROCK CAPITAL makes venture capital investments in high-growth seed-stage and early-stage companies from New England to the Carolinas.
