The *business* of software
Business Plans - not worth the paper they're written on?
What are people's experiences of using business plans?
Do people just create them if they want outside funding?
Are they generally useful to give the business a sense of direction as we've found? How detailed do other people make them in this case?
Are they a rod for your own back? (Cautionary tale - a company I heard of had a £150k launch event 1 year into its lifetime because the business plan, on which VC funding was based, said so - but product was 1 year off delivery and they could really have used that £150k later...). Do they somehow make you less 'agile'? Is this a bad thing?
What are the essential elements of a business plan and what can you leave out?
Do people just create them if they want outside funding?
Are they generally useful to give the business a sense of direction as we've found? How detailed do other people make them in this case?
Are they a rod for your own back? (Cautionary tale - a company I heard of had a £150k launch event 1 year into its lifetime because the business plan, on which VC funding was based, said so - but product was 1 year off delivery and they could really have used that £150k later...). Do they somehow make you less 'agile'? Is this a bad thing?
What are the essential elements of a business plan and what can you leave out?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Neil Davidson on -
Here's something I wrote about the topic a while ago:
http://blog.businessofsoftware.org/2008/04/why-you-should.html
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Permalink Reply by mark stephens on -
The process of creating it is usually more valuable than the actual document itself....
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Permalink Reply by Matt Richards on -
I agree with Neil and Mark S. It is the quality of thinking that matters and a business plan can facilitate this. I saw a situation with a very detailed plan that was simply wrong. I guess it's a matter of accuracy and precision not being the same thing.
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Permalink Reply by Chris Herbert on -
An interesting video from Ted that talks about how "coordinating" replaces the act of "planning". Would this apply to business planning?
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