One expert on business plans is a company called Growthink,
which specializes in the building of successful business plans. The founders of Growthink are Dave Lavinsky
and Jay Turo.
Dave has lectured at many universities over the years and
has written many articles on the development of effective business plans. He is a successful entrepreneur, having
started many businesses over the years, and has sat on the board of the Los
Angeles Regional Technology Alliance. He
has an MBA from UCLA and a BA from the University of Virginia. He resides with his wife and two children in
New York.
Jay has helped lead Growthink into one of the top companies
in the country in the areas of strategic and financial advising for
entrepreneurs. He has worked with a
large number of new companies, and has been an active investor – as well as a
writer and speaker – in entrepreneurial endeavors. Jay also earned his MBA at UCLA’s Anderson
School of Management, and his BA was earned at Stanford University. He is
married, with two children, and lives in Los Angeles.
On a Growthink video, Dave explains about their five key
attributes of a successful business plan:
- · The right value proposition – offering customers what they truly want
- · The right marketing and sales strategy – well-thought out/comprehensive plans
- · The right business model – think through all possibilities; this model is more important than the industry
- · Using reverse engineering to develop action plans – look ahead 5 years, then work backwards from there
- · Communicating “brilliantly” – business plans are marketing documents; think about who you are marketing to (lenders, employees, partners/distributors, management)
Dr. William A. Cohen is an author and founder of Institute
of Leader Arts, and has penned more than 52 books and provided guidance for
over a thousand businesses and marketing plans.
He is a former Major General, graduated from West Point and flew 174 combat
missions in Vietnam, and earned numerous military awards. Dr. Cohen has a Ph.D. in business management
from the Peter F. Drucker School of Management at Claremont Graduate
University. Dr. Cohen also has his own
website, www.stuffofheroes.com.
On Videojug.com, Dr. Cohen offers his advice on what a
business plan is, and what the most important parts of such a plan are. He references the importance of a plan when
he referred to a statement one often hears, “Until you have it in writing, you
don’t have it.” (Videojug.com)
Dr. Cohen says the most important parts of a business plan
are the executive summary and the table of contents. He explains that the executive summary is
very short, but it is so important because when you are looking for money, all
investors will read that first – the summation of what you are going to
do. This is very practical matter for
investors who may be reviewing hundreds of business plans each year; they want
a brief overview – and if it “hits them” it will go in one pile, otherwise it
goes in another pile and is rejected.
The table of contents is important, because it provides the
potential investors with a direct guide to find the information they want to
read. Dr. Cohen clarifies that if an
investor, for example, has a background or expertise in finances, he will want
to focus in on the financial segment of your business plan and not have to
search for that data.
According to Dr. Cohen, the key to a successful business plan
is to “Adopt a structure that you’re comfortable with.” He comments that he feels a business plan is
your story, and it should be fun, and if it isn’t, there is something wrong
with it.
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