In discussing business plans with “experts” that have been successful in the creation of businesses, I wanted to highlight two contrasting opinions that could serve a young entrepreneur well for future planning.
The
Experts
 |
| Source: www.siferyerson.com |
· 1st place prizewinner
of the 3E Learning Award for his workshop Investment Negotiation
· Professor in Entrepreneurship
and Strategy at Ted Rogers School of Management
· Expert in business plans – both
writer and reviewer
·
Motivational
Speaker and Coach
· Venture Capitalist
· MS and PhD from Massachusetts
Institute of Technology
I
could have continued with his list, but for the sake of time, you can just
visit his accomplishments at his educator’s page.
 |
| Source: si0,twimg.com |
· Internationally acclaimed
business speaker
· Featured in Entrepreneur
Magazine, CNNMoney.com, NYTimes.com, and various other business blogs and
online magazines
· Founded and owns the Crankset
Group, which works with businesses owners
· Started and built seven
successful businesses in 25 years in U.S. and internationally
 |
| Source: http://www.betadaily.com |
Dr.
Steve Gedeon and Chuck Blakeman differ tremendously, which is why I chose to
spotlight what each considers in a business plan to be the most critical
component. Their accomplishments, businesses and education already demonstrate
their different outlooks on what makes a business successful.
Dr. Steve Gedeon
In
an interview with Dr. Steve Gedeon, he mentions that
some businesses really don’t need to write a business plan, they can just go
out there and do it.
That
aside, he is clearly an advocate for business plans (FYI: that’s what he
teaches); they play a key role for specific reasons, especially for raising
finance. A business plan provides credibility to potential investors and shows
them you understand your market and product or service.
Now,
the critical component that Dr. Gedeon says is key is the Executive Summary. “Most
people won’t go beyond the Executive Summary, so that needs to be the main
catcher.”
In
writing the business plan, he believes the actual writing is not as important
as the thought process of what makes a successful business. Once people have
that down, he believes the business plan will write itself.
Chuck Blakeman
On
the flipside, Chuck Blakeman is not a fan of planning, much less business
plans. In an article on his website, How, the worst,
most asked planning question, Chuck mentions that,
“A
Harvard researcher found that 97% of all businesses leave their prime objective
in order to be objective. The world’s greatest past and present businesses
(Apple, Google, Facebook, HP, 37signals, etc.) all started out to do something
other than what they ended up doing. And none of them did much pre-planning, if
any.”
He goes on to say that even those that “wasted
time pre-planning” ended up going a different direction in their business (i.e.
Ben & Jerry).
Blakeman’s key point is to focus on
short-term planning and consistently asking the “how” question throughout the
lifespan of the business.
One of my favorite quotes from his
article is when he says, “Life and business are too fluid to ask long-term “how”.
Keep “how” for the short-term.”
He’s not against planning, he just
doesn’t believe in long-term planning.
Personally, I’m a fan of Chuck
Blakeman, his concepts on business and his outlook. He’s great at social media;
he’s a wonderful and enthusiastic speaker, and he tells it straight.
Follow
To keep up with these two entrepreneur
experts, follow
them on Twitter here:
- Dr. Steve Gedeon – Oops he doesn’t have one.
- Chuck Blakeman
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