8 Successful Companies That Had to Pivot (Infographic)

By Tim Berry

My thanks to Paula Andruss for this infographic on Entrepreneur.com: Read More »

Can School Make You a Better Entrepreneur?

By Tim Berry

I stumbled over Antonio Neves’ post Can School Make You a Better Entrepreneur? on Entrepreneur.com. Antonio does a good job giving a balanced view of that very interesting  question, and he asks bonified smart person Chris Guillebeau too, which is always a good idea.  Chris gets the best quote in the piece: ‘You might as well learn... Read More »

Isn’t it Creepy to Walk Into a Startup with Fancy Offices?

By Tim Berry

Funded or not, ambitious or not, I just don’t see the sense of startups having fancy offices. In the old days, as a consultant to startups and investors both, I hated walking into an interview with a startup when it was a nice office, beautiful windows, carpets, and lots of space. In the middle days,... Read More »

What is the most important thing to have when you are just starting your company?

By Tim Berry

Entrepreneur.com asked What is the most important thing to have when you are just starting your company?  on LinkedIn and here are the results: While I really like the answer business plan — I’m a business planner — I don’t completely agree. If I weren’t biased down to my bones, I’d answer “something else” and clarify that what you... Read More »

Marketing Plans vs. Business Plans: What’s The Difference, and Why Do You Care?

By Tim Berry

What’s the difference between a marketing plan and a business plan? Doesn’t a business plan include a marketing plan? Why would anybody do one without the other? Good questions, and since I get them a lot, I decided to answer them here: A business plan covers the entire business, including overall strategy, financial plans, target... Read More »

3 Financial Statements and 3 Angel Investment questions

By Tim Berry

I’ve been busy elsewhere this week, but managed to post two things I’d like to make available to you on this blog, because this is my main blog: My monthly column on entrepreneur.com came out today, summarizing the three financial guestimates every business plan needs. That one gives you a quick summary of the income... Read More »

Let's All Change the Word Entrepreneur To Empresario

By Tim Berry

On Monday my friend Robert Jones of Penpoint Group posted 5 reasons we need a new word for entrepreneurs. They were: It’s French It’s ridiculously hard to type It’s not Twitter friendly It’s been thoroughly bastardized. (mompreneur, solopreneur, and intrapreneur, etc.) It’s begging for a lawsuit. (from Entrepreneur Magazine) The first four are enough for... Read More »

3 Business Planning Posts in Different Places

By Tim Berry

I’ve been busy this week, with posts about business planning appearing on my column at entrepreneur.com, my post on Industry Word, and a post on Amex OPEN Forum. Meanwhile, I had one of those travel disasters — boring, you know the drill — getting out of San Francisco. Well, not getting out of San Francisco,... Read More »

Are You the Entrepreneur of 2011? If So, Act Fast.

By Tim Berry

Are you the winner who will be announced next January? If you want to be, get going, because the deadline for entering is June 15. Picture a large hotel banquet room, something like 50 yards long and 25 yards wide, with a big well-lit stage, two huge video screens, and a podium. It’s set up... Read More »

Closing the Loop: How Planning Is Management

By Tim Berry

A couple of weeks ago the editor of my entrepreneur.com column poked me sideways a bit with the suggestion that I explain how planning is management. He said (I’m paraphrasing): What do you really mean when you say planning is management? It’s not immediately obvious. Can you explain how a business plan becomes better business... Read More »