Avoid these 5 Critical Mistakes in Startup Financials
By Tim Berry
What are the critical mistakes in startup financial projections? Here is my list of five critical mistakes. It comes from reviewing more than a hundred possible startups with either detailed projections or pitches and, of course, business plans. Good news at the bottom: these are much easier to fix than some more common startup problems... Read More »
How to Know a Good Business Plan
By Tim Berry
What’s a good business plan? A business plan is as good or bad as its results. The decisions it causes. Divide this into two parts: First, how can you tell a good business plan after the fact, after time, after the business has been running with it. Second, how can you tell a good business... Read More »
Somebody Stole My Idea
By Tim Berry
How do you feel when somebody steals your idea? It’s a frequently asked question. Here’s my answer. That happened to me once. A business associate listened to my idea that I shouldn’t have shared in a cocktail party setting, and he went quietly off and executed. I was annoyed because he didn’t invite me to... Read More »
How Do I Start my Business With No Money?
By Tim Berry
(Note: consider this one a guest post from Paul O’Brien, CEO of MediaTech Ventures. It’s his answer to a Quora question “how much money do I need to start.” It’s adopted from his post What is the minimum capital required to start up a new tech company? | SEO’Brien) How much do you need to... Read More »
How Investors Look at Startup Forecasts
By Tim Berry
Investors look at startup forecasts for concepts, not accuracy. When investors look at your projections, they are looking not for just the numbers, but essential insight into the knowledge, experience, and goals of the founders. Important: you need to forecast to manage your business. Hard as it is to forecast, it’s much harder to run... Read More »
Where Can I Sell My Business Ideas?
By Tim Berry
I get it. What a nice dream … just sell the business idea, and let somebody else take the risk, find the money, and do the work. Except that the work, the risk, and the money is what gives the business idea value. So nowhere. The answer to your question about where is: nowhere. Business... Read More »
Some Posts on Managing During a Crisis
By Tim Berry
I've been posting on the main bplans blog during the pandemic crisis. Here are six recent posts. Several focus on the economic crisis. Read More »
Do those summaries, sure. Use those frameworks. But don’t think they replace business planning.
By Tim Berry
There is some bad advice floating around in the startup world. Useful as the Lean Canvas is, and despite some well-intentioned suggestions of summaries, those are not business plans. They don’t deal with the drivers and components of cash flow. They don’t set milestones, metrics, and tracking. You can’t run a business with them. And... Read More »
