Every time I had some idea that I thought would click for a business, I sat and made(or tried to make) a business plan. I did that for 3-4 times till I gave it up totally(ie…..thinking about my own start up).
So I want to ask you guys, whats a better idea: Going ahead with your start up and then making the business plan as it happens or making a business plan first and then starting up?
Jack John
Even i had same thing’s going in my mind some months back, I used to read biography’s of successful start ups owners joined several start up guide portals
Some of the things which i learnt
1] I cleared many ideas.,Idea need not be new It can be old just need to have enough muzzle to provide services or product with utmost quality and it should be competitive and cheaper,Because people are always looking for it
2] Should concentrate on profit from day 1 instead of concentrating on building the brand because as profit comes you can reuse the profit for building the brand Instead of first building the brand from your own money
Aji (Digital Marketing)
do read paulgraham.com essays it will help you get more dimensions.
Writing is a good thing, it helps you play with your thoughts.I don’t know about business plan but for our company I must have written few 100 MBs of content so far .. from company’s blue book to what is working and what is not. Time to time I go back and implement it to improve the company.
Here is what I do:
1) Create a dropbox account
2) Arrange the folders (on the go)
3) Write the thoughts (it is not reports, it is your thoughts, so it is unorganized, it is easy to arrange it on doc than inside your mind)
4) Share some part of it with some people (I hate sending emails and then it throws back different versions of docs)
Starting a company needs 3 things, https://community.tiekolkata.com/profiles/blogs/sabeer-bhatia-3-questions-to-ask-for-any-product
Abey John
It depends.
If you believe in it deeply enough screw the BP and jump in. Always be ready to fail and exit if you realize that the premise of your business is flawed. That’s the only thing holding you back. The fear of failure. BUT there is a law of life which says: if you are fixed in your purpose and bring your mind and heart to bear on it. The universe will conspire to help you. Your only limitation is how high you look and how much you want to reach that height.
But you need the BP if you want VC funding. For angel funding you should be passionate enough about your idea to convince the angels. In between all that you need to watch out that they don’t screw you over and make you their bonded milking cow.
What you absolutely need to kick in the teeth is fear. The rest of it will fall into place whatever path you decide.
Ashish Sharma
I guess your last point is absolutely spot on. The biggest thing is the fear. Fear of failing at 40yrs age after quitting a good paying job. Need to overcome that first.
Whenever something came to my mind, I put in days on it, spent sleepless nights thinking, researching, planning……. but have not been able to come up with the guts to take the plunge.
Abey John
Well at 40 you need to be careful. Taking the plunge at this stage in your life is never easy. You’ll need a plan B. I think Alok mentioned this in one of his posts. Minimize the risk.
Arjuman Amjad
When you are looking for a mentor, a business plan is essential… It helps you to clearly think through the business… When you get super busy during execution, you will find it handy for reference.
Haardik Joshi
Hi Ashish,
I am a self start entrepreneur – started my business around 4 years back w/o any plans or designs or teams whatsoever – if you need my frank suggestion!! here it is :
1) if u have some cushion before starting up your business ( like a job or a rich dad etc !!), then better plan & start..
2) if the above doesn’t exist & you have a strong calling to start you own business – just go ahead & do it !! – but a suggestion is that some prep before launching wont hurt !!
Otherwise as they as among my community ( am a gujju!!) – you are either born a businessman or you cant be !
Cheers !!
HJ
Suresh Jayanthi
Hi:
Classic question. and it has two questions in one.
1. Should I start off on my own?
2. How much will I earn, spend – revenues, profits, costs etc…
The answer to the first question is YES if you constantly are going back to the idea of starting up, and one particular idea is just not letting you sleep….Numbers and b plans do not matter.
Making a business plan is optional. It is a good idea if you know enough about the business – if you have been in that line for some time and know the know the numbers. If you do not know the business well enough, start small and experiment.
Business plan is a doc that tells you how will you make money and how you will spend it. Thats all it is.
If you are 40 with a family to feed, put aside 6 months or 12 months of expenses and start off. You owe it to yourself. Thats what I did. I told myself that I cannot die without having tried. Worst case, you will go back to your job, wiser and poorer. Best Case, you get rich beyond your wildest dreams and extremely satisfied.
At 40, I am sure you have been intimated of your mortality. All the best,
Suresh Jayanthi, http://www.artjini.com is the online presence of my venture.
Jayesh Gopalan
for me business plan is all the steps to delay the decision of starting.
Just start and take the plunge and welcome to the amazing journey 🙂
amit sharma
hehe 🙂 its always like egg or chicken u know am the total reflection here, I just never prepare a biz plan and jump into it straight, but I think its always good to have a plan in place as its said” Bring method into madness”.
Sanchita Dutta
hehe million dollar question. i though have a simple piece of advice. if u dont have an idea, better not to try to find one and try to make a facebook out of it. most of times it wont work
http://www.gizmobhai.com, http://www.travelblog360.com
Manoj Awasthi
As Abey John put it:
Screw BP, Jump In. Especially if you are doing it for the first time I think there is so much to learn (and unlearn) that it does not really make sense to do the calculations on paper before stepping ahead.
Ashish Tulsani
replace your fear of the unknown with curiosity
Venkatesh Thallam
I wonder many would have this doubt,since i too have!!
but in reality as many above have pointed out,better to jump in and then plan things 😀
i always believe in the incremental model which would help start things first and then append things which come on to your mind..
i am going to do for my next venture 😀
Avinash Saurabh
Trust me, (If you don’t then you will find for yourself; which I guess will be more insightful!) there is no business plans for a startup. Enterprises have business plans(and execute it), not startups. Startups are designed to explore for a business model and validate any assumptions that they make.
My understanding (which has resulted from personal experience and relevant literature) is: All that a startup must do is to orient itself to validate or invalidate the assumptions made and find a replicatable success model. Once done with that, can we really think of doing some business and a business plan.
Sanchita Dutta
Someone once said, if you are starting a business only to sell it later, it will not work.
Also Novelty of business idea has been highly overrated. one can ALWAYS COPY AN IDEA, Better it and perform better.
Keeping Costs Low cant be emphasized any further. if there is an AC in ur Start up office, a Mac instead of a core 2 Duo Vostro or Godrej Furniture instead of second hand functional wooden ones, i guess ur going to be in the business for much shorter time if you are competing in cut throat sector such as that of E-commerce!