Business Plan Contests Grow Up and Mean Business

By Tim Berry

It’s time to note a major change. Just a few years ago business plan contests were an academic oddity, a dress-up exercise at a few business grad schools. Suddenly, or so it seems, they’re pretty much for real. Some very powerful new businesses are appearing at business plan contests, winning significant money, attracting investors, getting... Read More »

Big Mistake: Huge Unbelievable Sales Numbers

By Tim Berry

Jeffrey Moskovitz added an important comment to my big mistake post from last week: I read an blog yesterday, written by someone I respect, who asserted that investors know and even EXPECT that projected sales and profits will be overstated. Aware of this expectation, the entrepreneur plays the game by inflating the numbers, fully aware... Read More »

No, You Can't Just Pull Numbers Out of The Air

By Tim Berry

Question: I’m in the process of writing an Internet startup business plan to present to prospective investors. The site isn’t live so I don’t even have a basis for speculation with respect to the financials. I would essentially be pulling numbers out of the air. Being that the Internet business as it pertains to advertising... Read More »

Big Mistake: Business Plans And Investor Returns

By Tim Berry

Another problem that comes up a lot as I read on with my business plan marathon: too many business plans are taking too much time and effort telling supposed investors what their supposed return on investment will be. This is usually a waste of time, energy, and space. It’s certainly a mismatch between what the... Read More »

Big Mistake: On Business Plans, Cash, Investment, and Whose Peace of Mind Matters

By Tim Berry

This seems so strange to me. My business plan marathon has turned up several plans calling for way more money than the plan itself says it needs. How can that happen? For example, a plan calls for $3 million investment for 2010 and its projected cash balance at the end of 2010, and again at... Read More »

10 Requests From Your Business Plan Reader

By Tim Berry

I’ve started my business plan marathon season again. Between now and the end of May, I’ll read several hundred business plans: some for my angel investment group (Willamette Angel Conference), and others for judging business plan contests at the Universities of Oregon, Texas, Rice, Princeton, and Notre Dame. I’d like to use the famous T.S.... Read More »

Apples, Oranges, and Making Startups Pay to Pitch.

By Tim Berry

I hate it when people push issues way too far, diluting their points by overextending them. Stretch your generalization net too far and you catch a lot of innocent fish along with the sharks. Do that and you kill your own argument. For a great example of that, Jason Calacanis’ rant against startups having to... Read More »

Interesting Points, But Winning a Business Plan Competition is Still Better Than Losing One

By Tim Berry

This morning I can’t resist writing about Vivek Wadhwa’s Winner’s Curse post on TechCrunch last weekend. Odd combination: it’s interesting, thoughtful, well-written, about a subject near and dear to my heart, and, at least in the title, wrong. In the full title of his fascinating post, he says losing a business school business plan competition... Read More »