Planning Startups Stories

President and founder of Palo Alto Software. Founder of bplans.com. Most recent book is The Plan-As-You-Go Business Plan.
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• 10 Lessons Learned in 22 Years of Bootstrapping
• Zen and Business Planning
• Business Plans are Always Wrong
• Plan-as-you-go Business Planning
• Ideas vs. Opportunities
• My Worst-ever Consulting Engagement
• Passion or Ability
• The Fish Bowl Lesson
• Planning vs. Accounting
• 18-Point Twitter Primer

• The best things in life aren't free, but they aren't for sale either. You have to work for them.
• Business ideas have no value.
• Time is the scarcest resource.
• You can only be one person at a time.
• An authentic original is better than a good copy.
• It's the planning, not just the plan, that makes business planning work.
• Truth reflects off mirrored surfaces and splits into specks, rays, and particles. William Blake wrote "anything possible to be believed is an image of truth" (in Proverbs of Heaven and Hell.)
• Writing skills, even -- unfashionable as this may be -- spelling and grammar, matter.
• Good writing is always easy to read.
• There are problems you can make worse, but not better.
• Successful business planning is nine parts implementation for every one part strategy.
• Angry words are not always biodegradable.

• Up and Running
• Huffington Post
• Small Business Trends
• USNews.com
• Planning Demystified

The Plan-As-You-
Go Business Plan

This fresh take on the planning process is my first book for Entrepreneur Press.

• Amazon page »

Three Weeks to Startup

My step-by-step guide to starting a new business fast.

• Amazon page »

• The SBTV series
• Basic Business Numbers
• SBA Course: Develop Your Business Plan
• "Just Big Enough" Business Plan
• See more videos

• Forbes.com
• Guy Kawasaki
• SBTV
• WebProNews

Business Plan Pro

My business plan software has been the #1 best-seller for nearly a decade.

Marketing Plan Pro

Use the Duct Tape Marketing method to create a marketing action plan and grow your business.

Email Center Pro

Manage incoming customer email easily with our low-cost Web email management tool.

• Email Center Pro
• Palo Alto Software
• Bplans
• Palo Alto Software UK
• Bplans UK
• Hurdle Book
• Timberry.com

• I'm employed by Palo Alto Software, but opinions expressed on this blog are mine alone.
• Shutterstock.com gives me a free account for stock photos. I use them to illustrate this blog.
• I have an affiliate account with amazon.com. That means I get a percentage of sales from links out of this site to amazon.com.
• I occasionally accept free review copies of books I review on this blog.