Have you found the idea that makes you want to get started? Perfect. To move forward, you must now structure your social project. For this, many entrepreneurs swear by the business plan, this formal document that allows you to present your company and its financial objectives. Others, on the contrary, are absolutely not in favor. This artificial and time-consuming exercise would slow down the agility of project leaders. With the right ad you can look for buyer in Indonesia now.
So, to do or not to make a business plan?
The answer undoubtedly depends on the personality of each one. Anyway, the business plan will be essential to find financing. “It allows you to have a clear vision of your project to convince a banker, a business angel or a future partner”, suggests expert, “serial entrepreneur” and founder of La Cuisine du Web. For him, it is first and foremost a job for oneself in order to refine his strategic vision. If he agrees to rub shoulders with the numbers, an entrepreneur can set financial goals and choose the right indicators to monitor his activity.
One founder of the Startup Maker accelerator is a little more skeptical. “The business plan is an exercise that does not necessarily add a lot of value to the project, but you have to know how to deal with it, because you cannot escape it today.” And to write it with confidence, here are some common sense tips collected from entrepreneurs and those who support them.
Don’t make a big deal out of it
“In the collective unconscious, the business plan is a big boring document crammed with figures”, remarks the CEO. In reality, it is above all a matter of writing down on paper elements that are already in your head: your product, your customers, your competitors, your business strategy and your forecast income statement. So much for the substance it is. As for the form, it is quite loose, but it is better to aim for about fifteen pages or PowerPoint slides. Choose an efficient approach, as investors read dozens of business plans every week. When it comes to outcome assumptions, no one expects you to actually achieve what you wrote three years ago. “The business plan is a collective lie”, asserts one founder. For business for sales this is important.
Don’t waste all your energy
The biggest complaint traditionally made with a business plan is that it can be very time consuming. Especially if you write it down before you start your activity. “The worst thing is spending six months writing it to ensure the feasibility of your project, warns the CEO. If, at the top of the ski slope, we think of all the ways in which we can break my leg, we don’t risk getting it down. “At the start of the entrepreneurial adventure, it is better to devote a good part of your energy to meeting your future clients. It is the ground which validates or not a market, and which makes it possible to develop a coherent commercial offer. An effective way to fight against garage syndrome where “an entrepreneur spends two years developing a revolutionary product in his corner by consuming all his financial resources only to realize that there is no market “, according to the founder’s description. Finally, it is better to do back and forth between the field and the business plan, between action and formalization.