Business Plan Development

As I finish up my mobile app business plan, I wanted to take a look back at the resources I found and wrote about in my previous post.  I’m finding that the advice given by the individuals is very relevant, and I will be able to incorporate it into my mobile app plan and any business plans in the future.

Tim Berry gave the advice that you need to be able to adapt, and as I do more and more research I am finding this to be true.  The mobile app market is strong now, but will this trend continue?  And what about the poor performance of Facebook’s stock?  I think finding projected statistics compiled by professionals would be one way to help my plan, and then devising contingency plans would help to show that I’m ready for things to not go the way they are expected to.  As for the mobile app market, all signs point to continued growth, but I feel like the bubble with burst at some point.

Ellen Rohr advised selling your product before your pitch to demonstrate salability.  I agree with her advice, but it might be difficult to incorporate into my business plan for a mobile app.  I could possibly have a free version of the app out first, track the downloads, and then present those stats to investors for the paid version.  Or I could create a landing page with a submission form on the website as a means of measuring interest.

Bryan Howe mentioned Kickstarter as a means of funding projects through peer-to-peer networks.  I looked at Kickstarter to see what they had for mobile apps, and there are quite a few projects that are raising funds for apps or mobile device related projects.  This could possibly be tied to demonstrating salability as well – if we have a successful Kickstarter campaign, we can show that people are interested enough in what we have to offer that they will donate money to see it happen.  Peer-to-peer funding wasn’t as organized in years past, but I think the advent of social media networks has changed that.  I also think donation site like Kickstarter are helpful because if you do get a project funded, you will have an initial and eager fan base ready for you once you get your project off the ground.

Business Plan Ideas

As I work on a business plan for a mobile app, I’m turning toward experts in developing business plans for inspiration. I haven’t done previous research into creating a business plan, so I’m new to who are the leading figures in the field. Here are a few individuals I found. 


The first business plan expert I found is Tim Berry. Tim is the founder and chairman of Palo Alto Software and bplans.com, and is co-founder of Borland International. He has written a number of books on business planning, and has also created software. 


Tim says that while planning is vital, a plan as a document is obsolete as soon as it is finished. I agree with this in the sense that a business needs to be adaptable to survive. You can have a great plan, but you can’t expect to make it past the first year if you aren’t prepared for the inevitable problems your business will face. Two more great points I took from Tim are that persistence doesn’t make a business succeed – it’s what’s left over after getting past all the other causes of failure, and value and giving customers value is the single most important factor. 


The next expert I found is Ellen Rohr of Bare Bones Biz. Ellen started out as a plumber’s wife, and got involved with her husband’s business when his partner died. She learned a lot from the ups and downs of her first business adventure, and went on to start the consulting company Bare Bones Biz in 1995. She writes as a columnist for numerous publications, and has an extensive network of companies to which she has contributed. 


Ellen suggests selling your product prior to presenting to venture capitalists if possible. That way you can show evidence that your product has sales potential because you have actual documented sales on the books. She also strongly recommends knowing how much money you will need from potential investors on the front end of a project. It’s better to ask for a lot and explain what you plan to do with it than to try to get more funds if the run out amidst the duration of the project. 


The last resource I found is MasterPlans, a company started by Bryan Howe. According to Bryan: 


“When I started the business as a sole proprietorship in 2002, I never really set out for it to be what it's become. I thought I could help some people, make some money, and work when I wanted. That was my original business plan. When the workload reached a point I couldn't do it all I started thinking about breaking the plan into pieces and have someone focus on each particular section so I could just sell and do financial modeling. In 2004 the team plan model was developed. Since then we have worked with over 10,000 clients and counting.” 


One interesting thing I took from MasterPlans was in an article about being both a borrower and a lender. They mention Lending Club, which can offer small business owners loans at lower rates than most banks, and is all powered by peer-to-peer lending. I think sites like Kickstarter could potentially be incorporated into a business plan, though that presents some difficulty since there is no way to be certain whether or not your project will receive the complete funding. Still, I do think online resources, especially a creative social media campaign, could be incorporated into a plan shown to potential investors that demonstrates how money received through the Internet could be a significant source of funding.