Ultimately, the function of a business venture is to satisfy customer needs, wants, and desires by transforming their problems into solutions (products, services, processes, value ...) and capturing a bit of profit along the way.
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Easier Way to Create a Venture Plan
A good approach to creating a business plan to present to prospective investors and collaborators is to start with a PowerPoint or Google Slides presentation.
Creating individual slides for each topic tends to force clarity in thinking.
One interesting "trick" ... use the "speaker notes" in a PowerPoint business plan slide deck to transform the slides into a more formal written business plan.
It is very common for prospective investors to ask for a copy of the slides before, during, and after a presentation. The down-side is that not all of the pertinent information is on the slides. The speaker for each slide is providing that information. However, there is a easy and fairly elegant solution. Instead of just printing the slide deck, print the slide deck with the accompanying speaker notes. But not just any ordinary speaker notes ...
Use the "Speaker Notes" feature of PowerPoint to write sentences and paragraphs as needed to help the reader understand what is on the slide (since the actual speaker is not there to tell them in person). Just like writing a "formal" document except with the added benefit here of coordinating with the venture plan slide deck and graphics.
There are typically 10 to 20 slides in a business venture plan slide deck (a suggested base outline is below).
From the PowerPoint slide deck with the sentences and paragraphs, the slides with "speaker notes" can be printed one or two slides per page. The results is a "written" business plan that coordinates perfectly with the slide presentation, and has more details than simply printing the slides alone.
Base (but likely not all elements) of an outline for a business plan/presentation ...
1] Title ... name of your venture, logo, tag line, contact information ... a billboard executive summary of the venture
2] Problem/Opportunity ... pain your alleviating or the pleasure you're providing
3] Value Proposition ... benefits versus price
4] Underlying "Magic" ... your solution, marketing brochure, the "secret sauce" behind your venture ... photos, pictures, diagrams,
actual prototype?
5] Business Model ... how you make money ... business model canvas is a good graphic
6] Go-to-Market Plan ... customer NWD profile and how you will fill the holes ... buyer, decision maker, influencer, user, et al
7] Competitive Analysis ... key competitors and perhaps a SWOT(T)
8] Management Team ... you, key advisors
9] Financial Objectives ... first week, month, quarter, year ... how you will meet these objectives ... key metrics
10] Timeline and Status ... Past 6 months, status now, next 6 months ...
While these 10 slides are fundamental, 10 slides alone are often not enough for some base business venture plan presentations. Add as needed but resist the urge to have more than about 18 slides for a 10 to 15 minute presentation.
One interesting "trick" ... use the "speaker notes" in a PowerPoint business plan slide deck to transform the slides into a more formal written business plan.
It is very common for prospective investors to ask for a copy of the slides before, during, and after a presentation. The down-side is that not all of the pertinent information is on the slides. The speaker for each slide is providing that information. However, there is a easy and fairly elegant solution. Instead of just printing the slide deck, print the slide deck with the accompanying speaker notes. But not just any ordinary speaker notes ...
Use the "Speaker Notes" feature of PowerPoint to write sentences and paragraphs as needed to help the reader understand what is on the slide (since the actual speaker is not there to tell them in person). Just like writing a "formal" document except with the added benefit here of coordinating with the venture plan slide deck and graphics.
There are typically 10 to 20 slides in a business venture plan slide deck (a suggested base outline is below).
From the PowerPoint slide deck with the sentences and paragraphs, the slides with "speaker notes" can be printed one or two slides per page. The results is a "written" business plan that coordinates perfectly with the slide presentation, and has more details than simply printing the slides alone.
Base (but likely not all elements) of an outline for a business plan/presentation ...
1] Title ... name of your venture, logo, tag line, contact information ... a billboard executive summary of the venture
2] Problem/Opportunity ... pain your alleviating or the pleasure you're providing
3] Value Proposition ... benefits versus price
4] Underlying "Magic" ... your solution, marketing brochure, the "secret sauce" behind your venture ... photos, pictures, diagrams,
actual prototype?
5] Business Model ... how you make money ... business model canvas is a good graphic
6] Go-to-Market Plan ... customer NWD profile and how you will fill the holes ... buyer, decision maker, influencer, user, et al
7] Competitive Analysis ... key competitors and perhaps a SWOT(T)
8] Management Team ... you, key advisors
9] Financial Objectives ... first week, month, quarter, year ... how you will meet these objectives ... key metrics
10] Timeline and Status ... Past 6 months, status now, next 6 months ...
While these 10 slides are fundamental, 10 slides alone are often not enough for some base business venture plan presentations. Add as needed but resist the urge to have more than about 18 slides for a 10 to 15 minute presentation.
Venture Scorecard
Just as people have periodic health checkups where a physician examines a variety of elements to determine the overall condition of the individual, so too can a venture, company, business go through a similar process. Here are 30 categories to determine the strengths and weaknesses of a business venture. This is also a good checklist for early venture planning and validation research.
Glossary
- A
- A/B Testing
- See: Split Testing
- Accounting
- Accounting: the action or process of keeping financial accounts
- Additional Value
- See: Alternative Value
- Addressable Market
- Addressable Market: the total potential market for a product or service, measured in dollars of revenue per year
- Adventure
- Adventure: daring and exciting activity calling for enterprise and enthusiasm
Stages of Venture Evolution
Successful business ventures typically move from a] problem/solution ideation to b] planning to c] startup to d] stable to e] sustainable to f] scalable.
Another perspective ...
1. Opportunity ... gap in market, new technology ... maybe, just maybe, we can do something here
2. Idea ... clear problems, viable solutions ... hmmm, looks like there is something here
3. Concept ... viable strategies for earning a profit solving customer problems better than the competition
4. Venture ... viable innovation concept (product, service, process, position, method); viable team (innovator, entrepreneur, money manager); viable resources (people, places, things, time, money)
5. Organization ... team, roles, clear strategies,
6. Company ... legal entity (corporation, LLC, et alia), pre-sales, unstable financials (raising funds)
7. Business ... low-hanging fruit, sales, customers, stable, positive EBITDA, viable business model
8. Enterprise ... scale, scope, markets, growth, significant EBITDA, defined task and assignments, employees
9. Institution ... significant market share, significant industry position, re-invention, continual innovation
10. Tombstone ... the cows have run out of milk
Another perspective ...
1. Opportunity ... gap in market, new technology ... maybe, just maybe, we can do something here
2. Idea ... clear problems, viable solutions ... hmmm, looks like there is something here
3. Concept ... viable strategies for earning a profit solving customer problems better than the competition
4. Venture ... viable innovation concept (product, service, process, position, method); viable team (innovator, entrepreneur, money manager); viable resources (people, places, things, time, money)
5. Organization ... team, roles, clear strategies,
6. Company ... legal entity (corporation, LLC, et alia), pre-sales, unstable financials (raising funds)
7. Business ... low-hanging fruit, sales, customers, stable, positive EBITDA, viable business model
8. Enterprise ... scale, scope, markets, growth, significant EBITDA, defined task and assignments, employees
9. Institution ... significant market share, significant industry position, re-invention, continual innovation
10. Tombstone ... the cows have run out of milk
Technology Readiness Levels (TRL)
Most every new innovative idea has a fuzzy front-end. The idea may have potential, at least in someone's mind, but it also likely has "holes" in it. Will it really work? What about this, what about that?
If we were to score this new idea, from 0 to 9, where would it be? Turns out, NASA and the European Commission created a well-vetted method for scoring new ideas based on the stage of technological progress ... 0 being conceptual, 9 meaning the idea is out there and doing well in the world.
If we were to score this new idea, from 0 to 9, where would it be? Turns out, NASA and the European Commission created a well-vetted method for scoring new ideas based on the stage of technological progress ... 0 being conceptual, 9 meaning the idea is out there and doing well in the world.
Rules of Some for Innovators and Entrepreneurs
Here's a collection of more tips, tools, and rules of some for innovators and entrepreneurs: RulesOfSome.com
Live and learn (hopefully!) ...
News Release Implementation Plan
Phase 1
- Outline base story
- Identify key individuals in the story
- Establish time frame for activities
- Identify target media
Phase 2
- Interview story makers
- Write a short story (3 pages) as a follow-up to requests for more information from the media or readers/viewers
- Write a focused news release(s)
- Send news release(s) to media
Phase 3
- Field inquiries from media regarding the release
- Track response to release
- Follow-up as needed
Phase 4
- Summarize activities ... package the story, news release(s), tracking info, results, suggestions for follow-up
Venture Hypothesis Outline
- Title slide or page ... venture concept name, team members, 3-word concept summary
- Opportunity ... the problem, market research and analysis, first customer(s) beachhead
- Solution and venture concept ... products and services, competitive advantage
- Business model ... how the venture will earn money (or self-sustain)
- Marketing and sales strategies ... how the venture will attract and retain customers, tactical marketing
- Product development and operations strategies ... how the venture will develop and deliver solutions to customers
- Team and organization ... the current team and what do they do, advisors, team members to be added
- Risks and variations ... downside and upside risks, timeline, and tolerances
- Financial model ... estimate of units sold, average selling price, revenue, expenses, and EBITDA for first 5 years; key assumptions; significant startup expenses
- Validation plan ... how the hypothesis will be validated
2.03
Red Flags ...
I have worked (in varying degrees, from light to heavy) with literally hundreds of new venture planning and startup teams, through my 20+ years at the University of Arizona, as a private consultant, and as a startup team member.
I have a personal mental checklist that I use to evaluate the success probability of a new venture: can it move from the planning stage to a financially stable self-supporting business. Some science here, some "gut feel", some "told you so" experience coming through ... but here are some of my "red flags": things startup team members say and what I really "hear".
They say: "We don't have any competition!" ... I hear: "We haven't done our homework to see what else is really out there."
They say: "We the first to ever do this!" ... I hear: "So who cares? If it's never been done before, maybe that's because there's really no need to do it."
They say: "Everyone is going to want one of our new gizmogadgets!" ... I hear: "Our family and close friends think our gizmogadget is really neat!"
They say: "We're going to build a much, much better gizmogadget and sell it for half as much as the competition!" ... I hear: "We have no idea how much it will really cost to make our gizmogadget or how much it will really cost to market it."
I have a personal mental checklist that I use to evaluate the success probability of a new venture: can it move from the planning stage to a financially stable self-supporting business. Some science here, some "gut feel", some "told you so" experience coming through ... but here are some of my "red flags": things startup team members say and what I really "hear".
They say: "We don't have any competition!" ... I hear: "We haven't done our homework to see what else is really out there."
They say: "We the first to ever do this!" ... I hear: "So who cares? If it's never been done before, maybe that's because there's really no need to do it."
They say: "Everyone is going to want one of our new gizmogadgets!" ... I hear: "Our family and close friends think our gizmogadget is really neat!"
They say: "We're going to build a much, much better gizmogadget and sell it for half as much as the competition!" ... I hear: "We have no idea how much it will really cost to make our gizmogadget or how much it will really cost to market it."
... and there are more! Check back every now and then, and I'll update this post.
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