-
Business Plan Series: Part 4 – Products and Services
Last time we discussed what you should put in the company overview section and the different formats it may take depending on the stage of your company. In this part, Part 4, we will get at the heart of your company – its products and services. This section covers what you provide to customers and…
-
Business Plan Series: Part 3 – Corporate Overview
Last time we discussed the importance of analyzing the market and setting up the problem(s) that exist so you can address. Some cases you will want to answer in a shorter format what your company does and the problems it is fixing. This also the time to discuss vision and overall goals. This is what…
-
Business Plan Series: Part 2 – Market Analysis
In my previous post I discussed the basics of framing your plan and how to set it up. Moving forward, I would like to take more of the startup/entrepreneur/VC type of plan approach and start with the market analysis. This is because if you started with the corporate overview there wouldn’t be a whole lot…
-
Business Plan Series: Part 1 – Framing your plan
First, let me start by saying that by the time you are done with your business plan your first draft will look completely different than the one you share with everyone. There are a few different forms that your business plan will take: Business Plan Type #1 – Business Plan for You Essentially a data…
-
Leadership Lessons: When the CEO is synonymous with the brand
There are different types of CEO’s out there. Some are the operational types who crunch the numbers, those who are sales people at heart, those who are visionaries who guide a company in new directions and many more variations of these major archetypes. Then there are what I call “luminaries”. Luminaries are those leaders that…
-
Welcome to Thunderdome: Bill Gates and Steve Jobs on stage at the D Conference
When I read that Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were going to be on stage together doing joint appearance at D:All Things Digital, the Mad Max movie came to mind. My mind kept echoing….”Two men enter. One man leaves. Two men enter. One man leaves.” Unrehearsed and unscripted? This is rare and should be a…
-
Dealing with Founderitis
I found this interesting definition of Founderitis on Wikipedia: “The term “founderitis” or “founder’s syndrome” refers to the unhealthy condition that afflicts many companies whose founders maintain a stranglehold on organizational leadership. While many companies owe their success “” and in fact their very existence “” to their founders, those same individuals can create chaos…