There is also this fear that the meetings involved in following up on a plan are a horrible ordeal. The big reason entrepreneurs come up with is that no one will follow the plan. Why is there such pervasive resistance to business planning? It is a projection of what you think you're going to do, after which it becomes a tool for comparing, month by month, what you did to what you thought you were going to do. They use it once and stick it away in a drawer.īusiness planning should be a process that allows for regular review. But many businesses may not need to raise capital, so they think business plans are a waste of time. That's the way much of the world looks at business plans-like a painful experience to solve some specific problem.įor instance, there is a myth that a business plan is about starting a business, getting a loan or attracting capital. If you've ever needed a root canal, it's because you have a terrible toothache. We don't mean to be flip, but doesn't everybody know this stuff? You host seminars on the importance of business planning. Lastly, project, as best you can, the future cash flows of the business.Ī long-winded document may be necessary for a bank. Third, lay out what the company sells: Is it a product or service? Fourth, present a market analysis: Who needs the product and why? Fifth, discuss the operations of the business: How specifically will you implement your strategy? Sixth, sketch the management team and organizational structure. Second, describe the company: who owns it, when it started, etc. What are the elements of a business plan?īerry: In basic form, it's a document in seven elements. In mid-September, Berry spoke with Forbes about small-business missteps, bootstrapping, management consultants and other matters.įorbes: Let's start slow.
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Sell his boxes (the software goes for $100 to $200 a copy, depending on the features). Now 57, the bearded, soft-spoken Berry has five kids and a $10 million (sales) business. It did, in 1994, when he released the first version of Business Plan Pro. Along the way he convinced some hungry programmers to pitch in, offering them a percentage of future revenue, if it ever came. One pet project: helping to launch Borland International, creator of the Turbo Pascal programming language.īy 1984 Berry knew his long-term mission: "I wanted to sell boxes, not hours." For the next decade he burned the midnight oil developing software based on business plan templates he honed while consulting during the day. but dabbled in writing software on the side. After graduation, Berry hung out his consultant's shingle-creating business plans for such clients as He then he piled a chunk of the largesse into tuition at Stanford's business school, where he worked on the side as market research consultant. The peso did tank, and though he never built that house, he sold the lot in 1979 for $22,000. His bet: The peso would soon be devalued, thus making his contract payments (his salary was in U.S. Back in 1976, while scraping by as a business journalist in Mexico City, Berry put up $1,000 and borrowed $4,000 for a quarter-acre lot on which he planned to build a house for his wife and two kids.