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The Business Plan
Should you be seeking outside financing for your
startup or early stage business, a business plan is mandatory. (We don't make up the
rules, we just learn them.)
Nowhere else is the Golden Rule: "They who have the gold, rule." more
prevalent than in the financial community investing or lending to new entrepreneurs.
Business plans are universally required by virtually all banks, venture capitalists, angel
investors, seed fund and grant administrators, etc. Fair enough, it's their money.
"Business plan building" is a big business,
as demonstrated by the hundreds of books, tapes, videos and courses sold today. Even your
friendly, neighborhood, tax-subsidized, small business development center will be happy to
sell you numerous courses on the topic, with such enticing titles as "Roadmap to
Success" or "How to get a Loan."
The requirement for the business plan has been
forwarded by those with the deep pockets and propagated by academic institutions, filled
with those who can't "do" so they "teach." These are same people who
have minimum capacity to understand and operate at risk.
Four things to know about business plans:
- Even the most perfect plan ever written will not necessarily get
funded.
- Even the most perfectly written business plan perfectly executed will
not necessarily produce a successful business.
- The struggle in composing the business plan has caused more than one
potentially great entrepreneur to never launch a wonderful idea.
- There are literally thousands upon thousands of successful businesses
in operation that were started without a business plan, a college degree or deep pockets.
(The next time you're hob-nobbing with Bill Gates or Michael Dell, ask about their
business plan?)
Now, if your heart is set on a business plan or you
have to have one for funding, we'll be delighted to guide you though it. Just be aware
that there are alternatives and we'll be equally delighted to share those with you, too.
"Throughout history, men have walked down unknown roads to
success armed with nothing more than their own vision." - Ayn Rand
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