Barry Moltz has founded and run small businesses with a great deal of success and failure for more than 15 years. He’s also the author of “Bounce! Failure, Resiliency and the Confidence to Achieve Your Next Great Success”. He is an enthusiastic speaker and teacher on entrepreneurship.

The 11 things that matter in a Business Plan

What problem exists that your business is trying to solve. Where is the pain?

What does it cost to solve that problem now? How deep and compelling is the pain?

What solutions does your business have that solve this problem?

What will the customer pay you to solve this problem?

How will solving this problem will make the company a lot of money?

What alliances can you leverage with other companies to help your company?

How big can this business get if given the right capital?

How much cash do you need to find a path to profitability?

How will the skills of your management team, their domain knowledge, and track record of execution will make this happen?

What is the investors’ exit strategy?

Please remember, the business plan is basically an “argument” where you need to state the problem and pain, then provide your solution with supporting data and analogies.

Barry Moltz

www.barrymoltz.com
Twitter: barrymoltz

Tags: Barry Moltz, business plan, planning, tips
Posted on February 22nd, 2009 | No Comments »

Let me begin by saying that I never thought I’d be quoting Tyra Banks. On anything. But she recently wrote a piece in Newsweek about her life and her thoughts on, of all things, entrepreneurship. She compared starting a new business to having a new baby – you lose sleep, work 24/7, and look for only the best people to take care of your wonderful creation.

It’s a good analogy. No matter your child’s, or your business’s, stage in life, you have to have a plan. As a new father, I can attest to that. From the time you find out you’re going to be a parent (maybe even before!), you start planning for the future. How we will divide childcare duties? What’s the nursery going to look like? How will we afford to send him to college? Then the baby arrives, and there’s even more planning – you can’t leave the house for the afternoon without a plan!

A business is no different. Every business starts with a plan, maybe not a formal bank-approved business plan, but a plan to make your idea reality. But being up and running doesn’t mean you can stop planning. What are you sales goals in five years? How will you achieve them? How will you market your company to take it to the next level? Once you’re there, what’s the next step?

What would happen to your child if you didn’t take the time to plan ahead? What do you think would happen to your business?

Jay Snider
Palo Alto Software

Tags: business plans, entrepreneurship, planning, Tyra
Posted on October 13th, 2008 | No Comments »