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Tim says that while planning is vital, a plan as a document is obsolete as soon as it is finished.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.
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