In
anticipation the completion of my Entertainment Business Masters degree, I am
currently attempting to complete my companies’ business plan. We’ve all heard
the statement “if you don’t plan, then you plan to fail.” Therefore, I choose
to explore the validity of this declaration within this post?
Planning is
an essential element of success. When one has a vision they must set strategic
goals to achieve success. Carl Schramm is an economist & entrepreneurial
expert and is the former President and CEO of Ewing, Marion, and Kauffman
Foundation. Through research I discovered that Schramm is not a huge advocate
of the typical business plan model. He
believes that it rarely makes sense to write a business plan in the current day
and time. Schramm even revealed that he doesn’t base his investment decision on
the plan rather the person. “Personal
Character is most important,” states Schramm.
What most important to Schramm when deciding to invest is the integrity
of the person he invests in.
Most start
up entrepreneurs have some of the same characteristics; many are considers to
be outsiders because they view business opportunities differently. These
individuals are multi competent in a diverse numbers of fields, and have a
wealth of knowledge because they are not afraid to ask the hard questions.
The final
element of importance I received from my Carl Schramm research is that a
business plan is not always accurate. What most attempt to do is create a
formal plan that maps out everything you plan to do and accomplish. But in
reality that is never the path a business typically takes. The plan becomes out of date as soon as it is
completed, therefore Schramm suggests that we stick to the minimum; answer the
essential questions of who, what, why, and where of the business to achieve
success. Schramm summed it up simply as
‘focus on making the business and not the plan.’
Bob Dorf is
a serial entrepreneur, author, and columnist, who has invested in over 20
start-ups companies. Dorf is also sometimes known as the ‘Midwife of Customer
Development.’ Dorf suggest that we ‘throw out the business plan all together, because
it’s all fiction.’ Alternatively, Dorf suggests that company founders should
get aggressive with customer feedback. Find out if the product or service will
even sell and determine a way to develop significant excitement for
customers.
The final
piece of knowledge that I gained from Dorf is that ‘failure is an option.’ Dorf
starts “when building a start-up wrong turns should be expected and embraced.”
Therefore its imperative to know the essential elements of your business; the
who, what, why, where and how you can best serve your clientele’s desires.
For more information on business plan development please
take a look at the following links.
http://www.carlschramm.com
http://steinvox.com/blog/2012/04/17/carl-schramm-straight-talk-on-entrepreneurship-why-we-need-it/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/nyuentrepreneurschallenge/2012/09/30/throw-out-the-business-plan-bob-dorf/
