Waterboarding or Business Plan Reading
I "retired" from my Marketing Director post at Atlantic BT last week to start my fifth company. Yes that's right the Shuffle Board World Championships will have to wait a few more years as we try to build a new tool to help B2C and B2B content marketers tap a rich new vein of User Generated Content gold - "enterprise crowdfunding".
Yes we realize "enterprise crowdfunding" sound like an oxymoron, but we think crowdfunding will become a new marketing channel for e-retailers and B2B content marketers. Our plan is due Monday. If you would like to be a "reader" and pass up the waterboarding let us know and we will make sure you get a copy of the Crowdfunde business plan.
All ides, comments and suggestions are much appreciated no matter how much we disagree (lol). Marty
The business plan creation process can be very time consuming and the benefit of this exercise can be invaluable. I am at FAU in a session right now about how to develop the financial models needed for the business plans. We're talking about the assumptions we are making and justifying where we are getting our numbers and amazing things such as going out into the marketplace and doing the research about what people are willing to pay for. There's an upcoming business plan competition and a room full of people who intend to compete in this huge event at FAU. I recently met several business plan competition winners who have used this money to help them launch their businesses-there can be a huge benefit in creating excellent business plans. Too many businesses go out of business because they don't have the money to stay in business. Many companies that don't make it are gone because they didn't have plans and they weren't prepared for the challenges they actually faced.
Good article about steps to cover when seeking investment dollars for start ups. A solid management team and understanding where your business fits in the marketplace a essential.