Series: Bootstrapping your tech startup to success – Part III
November 3, 2020
Series: Tech startup success – Part III: Mastering marketing and sales
January 3, 2021Series: Business plans – Part IV: Lessons from the pros
Welcome to our latest entrepreneurial series. This one covers business plans, with tips and advice on the best way to get your company moving with a solid outline in front of you. In this final instalment, we’re going to look at what we can learn from the pros.
And if you missed it, you can still read our earlier instalments here on our blog.
Okay, let’s dive in:
- Tips from Apple: Perhaps fittingly for Apple, one of the key take-aways from their original business plan from all those decades ago is simplicity. In just two paragraphs of writing and four simple charts, the executive summary manages to explain Apple’s unique value in a way that clearly shows the value of their offering and the gap it fills. Keep it simple and direct.
- Tips from Shopify: Shopify is the multinational e-commerce company that last year boasted revenue of USD 1.5bn. Their tip, quite simply, is to use a template. Their argument is that a template cuts down on those hours of just staring at an intimidating blank page, guides you in your thinking, and ensures you don’t miss an important section.
- Tips from Tim Berry: Tim Berry is an entrepreneur and business plan expert, the founder of Palo Alto Software and bplans.com. His tip is this: “Good business planning is nine parts execution for every one part strategy.” In other words, you need to plan carefully but you need to be even more careful in how you put that plan into action.
- Tips from Warren Buffett: With a net worth of USD 79bn Warren Buffett knows a couple of things about business. When it comes to planning, he’s philosophical – understanding that sometimes it’s about planning for the long-term: “Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.”
- Tips from the Harvard Business Review: What we get from Harvard is advice to avoid getting too wrapped up in talking about how amazing your product/service is, and to emphasise “the market demand for your product or service and the financial benefits investors can reap from putting money into your venture.” It’s more about them, and less about you.
This wraps up our final business plan series. We hope you found it useful in creating a solid outline for your company’s future. Talking of your company, if you missed our previous series on bootstrapping your startup or pitching to investors, you can catch up anytime by visiting our blog here.
