If you landed Research and Analysis page first, consider starting at the Prologue: Ehh?
Planning for the Future
There is no way to predict the future, zero, none.. Name a single company that listed COVID-19 as a threat in their 2020 strategic plan… The beauty is that once you realize everyone else is just as lost as you, you level the playing field! There is no way to predict the future, but with a few tools you can analyze it and make some informed guesses. Start with laying out the business model as you see it. What are you selling? Who needs it? How much does it cost? How much will they pay? Who else is doing it? How many people need it?
Remember this is Business Plan Number One (BP1), when you actually start selling, and testing, and hiring, and building culture, vision, and mission in later business plans you’ll have more data to work with, for now keep it simple so that you can go out and collect valuable experience from success and failures as soon as possible. Don’t go into analysis paralysis, some things you just need to test to see if they work.
Why How What
Why are you starting a business? How will you make money? What will you do? Read Simon Sinek’s Start With Why and sell why something is important to the consumer not what it does.
Vision Mission Core Values
Paint a lofty vision of the future that can be achieved if your business is successful. Then describe what mission you are on for your customers, and what are your core values? Initially these will help you recruit like minded people, later they will help you sell your products to like minded clients or consumers. I’ll go into more detail and how to write these when we get into strategic planning.
Business Model
Once you’ve determined how you plan to sell stuff to people for more than the stuff cost you to make. And you think that there is a market for said stuff, you’ll need to articulate what exactly your business model might be, basically: how do you plan to make money?
Eventually you’ll be able to say I’m planning to sell MY STUFF to THIS GROUP for $100. There are one million of THIS GROUP in my target market. There are FIVE competitors doing this as well, but I am (CHEEPER, FASTER, BETTER or DISRUPTIVE). With the right team, execution, marketing and sales, I plan to capture 20% of the market in 5 years. $10*1M*20% = $20M in revenues.
Remember just because there is a gap in the market does not mean there is necessarily a market in the gap. This is where it pays to have experience in the market, or to start selling small amounts of your product or services to test the market. Both of these will add credibility to your plan.
SWOT
Now let’s put your business model to a few tests.. The first is a SWOT analysis of your ideas Strengths and Weaknesses, and the Opportunities and Threats it faces in the market. You want to exploit your strengths, sure up your weaknesses, spend money on Opportunities and make a plan to mitigate the Threats.
Blue Ocean Strategy
Next is a Blue Ocean Strategy canvas where you list your competition, decide on the values of your product or service, then rank yourself and your competitors against those values. When a graph is produced you will see where you differ from the competition. This becomes your competitive advantage (Secret Sauce) and tests the Strengths and Weaknesses of your organization.
PESTEL
If you happen to be selling to the government, internationally or in complex regulatory environments you could also do a PESTEL analysis where you look hard at the Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental and Legal factors that may offer Threats or Opportunities to your plan.
Again there are many different tools and methods out there that help you make an informed Wild Ass Guess (WAG) about how you will fit and perform in the market as well as how you will structure and conduct your business. The next step is to take all the information and planning and start filling in the key sections of a business plan or pitch deck!
Closing
At the end of this thought process, research and analysis we are ready to write Business Plan Number 1! Stay tuned for the next post where we put the plan together!
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About Me
Hi, I’m a founder-CEO with 20 years of experience growing companies, building relationships, imagining the future, and creating new things. I started my entrepreneurial journey in 2002 when I founded my first company, creating visual effects for Hollywood TV shows, where I won an Emmy for ‘Lost’ and received four nominations.
In 2010, I founded an aerospace and defense technology startup and led the company through unbridled naivety, survival, bootstrap, dogged resilience, and scaling. Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to sit on numerous boards and round tables comprising diverse companies, communities, people, and points of view. I’ve successfully sold to Hollywood giants like SyFy, Fox, ABC, and Disney, to aerospace leaders such as Boeing, Lockheed, and Babcock, as well as the Canadian government, securing multi-year multi-million dollar contracts.
Now, my mission is to help fellow founder-CEOs by bringing proven strategies and customizable playbooks into their businesses. I coach them on building a solid team and executing their plans while focusing on what they love to do, ensuring their business thrives. My coaching expertise lies in strategy, business development, B2B & B2G, marketing, sales, and creative problem-solving. I’m here to help you get your business working for you, not the other way around!
Awards
1 Emmy, 4 Nominations, News Maker of the Year, Young Entrepreneur of the Year, Team of the Year, Tech Company of the Year, Top 5 Moments in Television History (Lost – Pilot), 4 Time Top 75 Defence Company
Achievements
TEDx Talk, FuckUp Night Talk, Host of Western Innovation Forum, Trade Show Panelist, and Speaker.
Boards
Victoria Innovation, Advanced Technology & Entrepreneurship Council (VIATEC) Western Canadian Defence Industry Association (WCDIA), The Alternative Board (TAB), Vancouver Island Aviation Association (VIAA)
Hobbies
Painting, Running, Sailing, Hiking, Camping, Traveling, Reading, Cooking.
Great Books
Scaling Up, Unfuck Yourself, Good to Great, Everything is Fucked, The Untethered Soul. How to Sell an Elephant