Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Run,
& Grow
Introduction
It was less than three years ago, in April of 2007, DISCLOSURE
—Tim Berry
Contents
START 4 Questions to Ask Before Starting a Business 5
Can You Really Start a Business in 3 Weeks? 11
Don’t Underestimate Beachhead Strategy 13
Three Steps to the Startup Sweet Spot 15
True Story: Business Plan Addict 18
Second Mover Advantage 21
The Best Startup Funding is Initial Sales 25
IN THIS SECTION...
4 Questions to Ask Before Starting a Business 5
Can You Really Start a Business in 3 Weeks? 11
Don’t Underestimate Beachhead Strategy 13
Three Steps to the Startup Sweet Spot 15
True Story: Business Plan Addict 18
Second Mover Advantage 21
The Best Startup Funding is Initial Sales 25
Don’t Underestimate
Beachhead Strategy
I like beachhead strategies. The term comes from
military strategy, meaning that as you invade en-
emy territory, you need to focus your strength and
concentrate on winning a small border area (the
beachhead) that becomes the stronghold from
which you’ll advance into the rest of the territory.
That’s what the allies did, successfully, in
the D-Day invasion of Normandy in 1944. That
military success was planned and led by Dwight
D. Eisenhower, author of my favorite business
planning quote (“The plan is useless, but planning
“The beachhead
is essential.”) It’s what you see in the opening
scenes of Saving Private Ryan. It’s also something I strategy is about
learned mostly by playing war strategy games. focusing your
And it’s good business. In business, particularly resources on one
startups, the beachhead strategy is about focusing key area ... and
your resources on one key area, usually a smaller winning that market
market segment or product category, and winning first.”
that market first, even dominating that market,
before moving into larger markets.
Beachhead strategies are often critical for
bootstrapping new businesses. And franchisor
businesses should think of the beachhead strategy
as making sure the initial locations are strong and
successful and good models for future locations.
Sadly, people don’t always communicate
beachhead strategies well. As an angel investor and
Three Steps to
The Startup Sweet Spot
Every startup has its own natural level of startup
costs. It’s built into the circumstances, like
strategy, location, and resources. Call it the natural
startup level; or maybe the sweet spot.
1. THE PLAN
For example, Mabel’s Thai restaurant in San
BUSINESS
Francisco is going to need about $950,000, while
PLAN
Ralph’s new catering business needs only about
$50,000. The level is determined by factors like
strategy, scope, founders’ objectives, location,
STARTUP REVISE
and so forth. Let’s call it its natural level. That COSTS THE PLAN
natural startup level is built into the nature of the
business, something like DNA.
Startup cost estimates have three parts: a list of
FUNDING?
expenses, a list of assets needed, and an initial cash
number calculated to cover the company through
the early months when most startups are still too
LAUNCH
young to generate sufficient revenue to cover their
monthly costs.
It’s not just a matter of industry type or best
practices; strategy, resources, and location make
huge differences. The fact that it’s a Vietnamese
restaurant or a graphic arts business or a retail
shoe store doesn’t determine the natural startup
level, by itself. A lot depends on where, by whom,
with what strategy, and what resources.
3. LAUNCH OR REVISE
Somewhere in this process is a sense of scale and
reality. If the natural startup cost is $2 million but
you don’t have a proven team and a strong plan,
then you don’t just raise less money, and you don’t
just make do with less. No — and this is important
— at that point, you have to revise your plan. You
don’t just go blindly on spending money (and
probably dumping it down the drain) if the money
raised, or the money raisable, doesn’t match the
amount the plan requires.
LAUNCH
FUNDING?
REVISE
THE PLAN
True Story:
Business Plan Addict
Recently I posted my slog-
ging it out theory, how busi-
ness is sometimes a matter
of doing the work, getting
the store open, returning
the phone calls. That post
reminded me of someone
I worked with who did just
the opposite.
I haven’t seen Ralph (not
his real name) for several
years now. Rumor has it that
he finally did get a company
going, sales of a few million
a year, and then fought with
the programmer whose
work got them started, and
fell from grace.
Ralph was a serial non-
entrepreneur. We worked
together off and on for It might seem like a
successful business
about six years and during
“took off” overnight,
that time he was never but the reality is
not working on a business that the owner took
hundreds of small
plan. He was going to get steps to get where
financed. they are today.
Seth makes the point that Netflix’ model tracks The Toyota Prius wasn’t
the first hybrid car, or
back easily to the nature of the DVD business, even the tenth, but part of
where being the “Netflix of purses or watches” its success is attributable
doesn’t generate immediately obvious images. to the lessons Toyota
learned from the first-to-
However, there is something to coming into market failure.
the inflection point of the markets, when people
understand what it is. Amazon.com was not the
first website selling books, Google wasn’t the
IN THIS SECTION...
Business Focus vs. Peripheral Vision vs. Growth 27
No, 37signals, Planning is NOT What You Think 29
Plan-as-you-go Business Planning 31
Are You a Good Manager? How Can You Tell? 37
Proper Care and Feeding of People Who Cry Wolf 41
Business Truth Even When It’s Painful 43
Three Simple But Powerful Rules For Negotiation 45
Plan-as-you-go Business
Planning
As we finish up 2007 and roll into 2008 I am certain
it is time to adapt a new kind of business planning,
which I want to call “plan-as-you-go” business
planning. This is intended to bring the idea of the
business plan up to date with the kind of flexibility
and power we have in the tools we use in business
everywhere, while focusing on the real power of
planning, meaning management and tracking and
accountability, and easing up on the form to make
sure that form follows function. For convenience,
let’s call it PAYG. The plan-as-you-go business
plan is PAYG planning.
And I’m very happy to share, with this column,
that I’ve started on a book called “The Plan-As-
You-Go Business Plan,” due out later this year, to
be published by Entrepreneur Press.
How is the PAYG plan different from the stan-
dard business plan? Good question. Let’s get into
some specifics:
4. ACCOUNTABILITY
Plan-as-you-go planning develops accountability
in the process, as a matter of metrics, and tracking.
It is important that accountability be a matter of
collaboration, and not the crystal ball and chain.
WHAT’S ESSENTIAL
4. EVERY PLAN HAS A HEART AND FLESH AND “Just get started.
BONES Don’t wait until your
The heart is strategy, market need, differentiation,
plan is finished, get
and focus. This is as true with PAYG planning as
going. Start today
with traditional plans. The flesh and bones are just
and start using it
as important, and in PAYG planning that’s metrics,
milestones, tasks, dates, deadlines, and responsi- tomorrow.”
bility assignments, and, most important, cash flow
planning.
Consider this: what’s the harm of a false alarm “People who sound
in a business setting? How many false alarms are alarms are sticking
worth it if just one of them turns out to be real? their necks out,
False alarms are part of a good process in business. risking the comfort
So, do you want to be a good manager? When
of saying nothing, to
somebody in your business cries wolf, note it,
suggest something’s
make sure that person knows you’re glad they did,
wrong.”
especially when there’s no wolf. Because you want
them to cry wolf, again, the next time. And if you
say nothing, they’re going to feel foolish, and not
do it again.
And if you want to know you’re a bad manager,
consider this: are there people in your organization
not telling you when they think something
is wrong? Why wouldn’t they tell you? What
happened the last time they did?
IN THIS SECTION...
Gather Your Team 48
Kick-start the Planning Process 50
For Great ROI, Remember Existing Customers 52
The Free Prize and the Fishbowl 54
Growing a Business 57
The Fresh Look 59
Kick-start the
Planning Process
Last week I met with two smart people looking to
kick-start a better planning process for an existing
organization. The question at hand was what to do
first. My answer was:
Here’s a quote:
“Simple example: It’s way more profitable to
encourage each of your existing customers to spend
$3 than it is to get a stranger to spend $300. It’s also
more effective to get the 80% of your customer service
people that are average to be a little better than it is to
get the amazing ones to be better still.”
Yes. And, particularly in a recession, it’s really
good business.
Growing a Business
I realize it’s a bit out of date, a 1987 book, but Paul
Hawken’s Growing a Business is still my favorite
business book. It’s the first one I recommend.
Hawken tells real stories of real businesses
wrapped around people doing what they like
because they like doing it, they think it should
be done, and the doing of it flows simply into the
logic of filling needs and offering value. Two guys Ben and Jerry were
in Vermont get involved with their ice cream. They once just two hippies
in Vermont, making ice
start selling it. It ends up being Ben and Jerry’s Ice cream flavors they loved
Cream. It’s a great story. to eat.
BPLANS
Action-oriented advice on
planning and running a
business.