All Techniques: Business Solutions

Sunday, November 22, 2015

How can be a Good Manager

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Common-Sense Rules for Leaders</div>
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Management is all about connecting with the people on your team. So how 
do you effectively manage a team? With common knowledge, of course. 
These are a few back-to-basics rules that will help you develop 
management skills that really matter.</div>
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Body Language</div>
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Like it or not, your body speaks volumes, even when you are silent. 
Here's how to express an attitude that's appropriate for a leader.
 
 1. Stand tall. Keeping your shoulders back and holding yourself up to your full height will give you an air of confidence.
 2. Take your hands out of your pockets. Putting your hands in your pockets is often seen as a sign that you have something to hide.
 3. Stand with your arms crossed behind your back. This will help you adjust your posture, and it leaves your hands in a position that is open and not intimidating.
 4. Make eye contact. Always look directly into the 
eyes of the people you are speaking with. This shows you're interested 
and also gives you a sense of confidence.
 5. Sit up straight. Even if you're at an 8 a.m. 
meeting and feeling tired, it's important to sit up straight in your 
chair. Slouching makes you look disinterested and can give off an 
unwanted air of laziness.
 6. Face the person you're talking to. This shows you are interested and engaged in the conversation.
 7. Shake hands firmly. For many, a handshake is a 
reflection of the person you're shaking hands with. You don't want to 
come across as unsure or overbearing, so make sure yours is professional
 and confident.
 8. Always smile. Smiles are contagious and will make others feel positive when you're around.
 9. Look your best. You don't have to be model perfect 
every day, but you should dress appropriately and neatly. Clothes can 
have a big impact on the way you're perceived.
 10. Walk confidently. Keep your head up and take even strides.</div>
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Meeting Deadlines</div>
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No one will be happy if your team has to rush around at the last 
minute to complete a project. Follow these tips to make deadlines less 
stressful for everyone. 
 
 11. Only promise what you can realistically deliver. Don't
 create deadlines that you know you can't meet. By only promising what 
you know you can do, you'll be able to finish on time. 
 12. Set clear goals. Once you know what you need to 
accomplish, it helps to know how and when you want to do it. Put your 
goals down on paper and make sure everyone on your team gets a copy. 
 13. Organize a team. Many of your employees will have 
unique strengths and training that can make them great assets to certain
 projects. Pick a team that has the right skills to carry out the job. 
 14. Delegate tasks. Spread work among your employees in a way that doesn't leave anyone overburdened while also allowing the project work smoothly. 
 15. Create milestones. Creating milestones for you and
 your team will help you keep track of your progress and also give you a
 sense of accomplishment as you reach each milestone. 
 16. Keep communication open. Keeping everyone in touch with the status of the project is key to making sure it's completed on time. 
 17. Do it right the first time. Planning ahead will 
help prevent you from delivering a substandard product. Having to redo 
something for a client costs money, and, more than likely, future 
business opportunities. 
 18. Stay organized. Staying organized will help keep you from wasting time chasing down important documents and information. 
 19. Make sure expectations are clear. Be sure that 
each member of your team knows what their specific responsibilities are.
 This will save time and prevent tasks from being overlooked.</div>
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 20. Create a plan. Compile your goals and milestones 
into a comprehensive plan for attacking any project you are given. This 
way, you can make sure you're staying on schedule and that all of your 
employees will be clear about how and when things should be done. 
 
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Getting Along with Employees</div>
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 A happy office is a productive one. Everyone will be more cheerful if you follow these simple rules. 
 
21. Don't make your employees come in on days they're normally not scheduled to work or call them while they're on vacation.
 A surefire way to make employees resent you is to invade their personal
 time for nonpressing work. Unless you have something that absolutely 
has to be done, let time away from work stay that way. 
22. Don't play favorites. Playing favorites can bias your judgment and impair your leadership abilities. Treat your employees equally. 
23. Give credit when it's due. Don't take credit for 
your employees' ideas or hog their limelight. This action not only 
fosters resentment but also makes you seem untrustworthy. 
24. Don't micromanage. While it's fine to keep up with what your employees are working on, don't constantly look over their shoulders. 
25. Never discuss employee matters with their co-workers. This kind of gossip always gets back to the person and will make you look unprofessional. 
26. Don't interfere with employees' work. If your 
employees are getting work done, don't stress about how it gets done. 
Even if it's not being done the way you'd do it, it's best to let 
employees use their best judgment. 
27. Don't push unreasonable deadlines. You don't want to spend all of your time at the office, and neither do your employees. 
28. Keep your promises. Barring some catastrophic event, you should always keep promises you make to employees, especially about pay and benefits. 
29. Keep work about work. Don't require employees to run your personal errands. Take care of your own personal business or hire an assistant. 
30. Reward hard work. Make sure your employees feel 
valued for the work that they do. Employees will be more willing to put 
in extra effort if they know it's noted and appreciated. 
31. Provide motivation. Sometimes employees need a morale boost. Provide them with encouragement to get a project rolling.</div>
 
Manage Yourself 
 
Being a good manager isn't just about what you can encourage other people to do, it's also about managing your own performance. 
 
32. Be accessible. Don't hole up in your office all 
day — come out and visit with your employees. Let them know that they 
can always come to you with problems and concerns. 
33. Be open to constructive criticism. It may not 
always be what you want to hear, but listening to constructive criticism
 gives you the chance to learn and grow from your mistakes. 
34. Accept responsibility. Part of being the boss is accepting responsibility for the mistakes of all that you manage, not just your own. 
35. Know there's always room for improvement. No matter how good you think you are, your job can always be done better. Always be willing to learn. 
36. Improve your skills. Learning is a lifelong process. You're never too old to take a class or ask a co-worker to help you improve your knowledge. 
37. Explain things simply. Don't use big words or 
technical jargon just to sound smart and impress others. Your employees 
will understand and perform better if you explain simply and clearly 
what you need. 
38. Instruct rather than order. You may be the boss, but you don't have to be bossy. You'll have more success if your requests are more tactfully delivered. 
39. Include your staff in your plans. Don't make your work top secret; let your employees know what's going on and how they are expected to contribute. 
40. Know your subordinates' jobs. You don't want to be caught with inferior job knowledge. 
41. Be flexible. It's fine to be firm in what you expect, but allow for flexibility in how it gets done. 
42. Get regular feedback. Your employees and superiors can give you valuable feedback on how to improve your performance. Use this to your advantage. 
43. Know your limitations. You can't be everywhere 
doing everything all at once. Know the limits of your time and abilities
 and say no to things you know you can't do. 
 
Boosting Productivity 
 
 
Getting the most out of your day can be difficult with a busy schedule,
 but you can use these tips to help you maximize your time in order to 
be better available to employees. 
 
44. Get the most out of meetings. Be organized and prepared for meetings to increase effectiveness and time savings. 
45. Focus your energy on things that matter. Don't let trivial tasks take time away from things that are really important. 
46. Identify your time-stealers. Everyone has little 
things that detract their attention and make them lose focus. Figure out
 what these are and work to eliminate them, if only for a few hours a 
day. 
47. Be punctual. Being on time is a big deal. Never keep people waiting for appointments or meetings if you can help it. 
48. Respond to your correspondence within a reasonable amount of time. You don't have to be chained to your inbox, but make sure you respond to emails within a few hours whenever possible. 
49. Do only what is necessary. There are times when 
going above and beyond works, but doing so on a daily basis can derail 
your progress on more important issues. Get the key things done first, 
then see if you have time for additional things. 
50. Stick to schedules and routines. While they may not be the most exciting things, schedules and routines can help streamline and improve your productivity. 
51. Organize and manage your schedule. Use any tools and utilities you have at your disposal to prioritize your day and keep track of what you need to get done. 
52. Plan more than you think you can do. While this 
may sound stressful, it can actually be a great motivator. If you manage
 to get everything done, you'll enjoy a great sense of achievement. 
53. Get to work early on occasion. Sometimes an 
uninterrupted half hour in an unoccupied office can help you get key 
things done or allow you to plan your day before there are any 
distractions to slow you down. 
54. Know that sometimes stress is good. While too much
 of anything, especially stress, can be bad, sometimes a little stress 
can be the motivation to get you moving, allowing you to get more done. 
55. Do your least favorite tasks first. Get your most 
tedious and least desirable tasks out of the way earlier in the day. 
After that, everything else will be a breeze. 
 
Managing Finances and Resources 
 
 
Whether you're a business owner or a manager, staying on top of 
tangible items is vital to success. These tips can help you keep track. 
 
56. Set up a realistic budget. While it's good to be 
optimistic, don't plan for more spending than you know you can afford. 
Make sure you plan for emergencies and contingencies as well. 
57. Save costs where they matter the most. Don't just 
pinch pennies for the present. Make sure your savings will pay off in 
the long run. Compromising on quality might cost you later on in repairs
 and replacements. 
58. Spend only when it's necessary. Don't spend if you don't need to. Every bit you save goes toward your profit. 
59. Find alternative sources of finance. Sometimes even successful businesses need a little help. Business loans and investors can help you through leaner times. 
60. Stay true to your contracts. Not only will you gain the respect of your clients, you'll also avoid legal battles that can be a serious financial drain. 
61. Make sure employees are well compensated. Employees
 deserve to be rewarded for hard work. Make sure yours are well 
compensated for their time and they'll be more productive and happier to
 come to work. 
62. Learn to do more with less. Quality is much more important than quantity, so make what you have count. 
63. Assign equipment wisely. While it might be nice 
for every employee to have a PDA, budgets often don't allow for such 
conveniences. Make sure the employees that need tools the most have 
access to them. 
64. Invest in solid technology. This doesn't always mean the latest technology, but what your office needs to do work effectively. 
65. Update when necessary. Using obsolete equipment 
and programs can really slow you down. Update when it makes sense so you
 won't get left behind by competitors. 
66. Don't be wasteful. Every sheet of paper, paper 
clip and pen is a cost on your budget. Use materials wisely and don't 
waste them out of haste or carelessness. 
 
Communicating with Clients 
 
Whether you're a business owner or a manager carrying out a project, 
one thing is always the same: The client is dominant voice in 
decision-making. Learn to communicate with them effectively and you'll 
set a good example for the people you supervise. 
 
67. Remember that the customer is the boss. At the end of the day, your job is to make the customer happy. Act accordingly. 
68. Differentiate your products. Don't get lost in a sea of products and services like yours. Make sure you stand out from your competitors. 
69. Retain customers as much as you recruit new ones. While you always want to bring in new business, it's very important to maintain relationships with loyal customers. 
70. Provide effective channels of communication. Make 
sure your clients can contact you easily and quickly if they have a 
problem, concern or question. They can also provide a valuable source of
 feedback. 
71. Maintain customer data. Use this data to make your
 customers feel special by remembering occasions like birthdays and 
anniversaries. It's also helpful for keeping track of purchasing 
preferences. 
72. Segment your customers. Not all customers are 
alike. Divide your customers into groups that allow you to provide 
attention and services that meet each customer's unique needs. 
73. Provide effective after-sales services. Don't let contact fall off after the work is complete. Make sure your client stays happy. 
74. Listen attentively. Pay attention to exactly what clients are asking for to help you better meet their needs. 
75. Don't be afraid to say you don't know. It's OK not
 to know the answer to every question. It's better to say you don't know
 and get back to a customer than to try to bluff your way through a 
conversation and have to backtrack later. 
 
Keep Up with Change 
 
There is no way to stop the world from changing, so follow these tips to keep up and ahead of the game. 
 
76. Don't fight change. You can't stop markets, trends and technology from changing, so learn to go with the flow. 
77. Adopt a predictive managerial style. Don't wait for things to happen to make a move. Anticipate problems and provide contingency plans. 
78. Test your contingency plans. Waiting for disaster 
to strike is a dangerous way to find out if your emergency plans will 
hold. Test them out from time to time to fine-tune them and make sure 
they're still relevant. 
79. Identify the positives. Even the most negative 
changes can have positive aspects to them. Being able to identify and 
maximize them can help make adapting less painful. 
80. Be quick to adapt. Learn to adapt to changing 
situations quickly and be able to change plans on the spur of the moment
 if the situation requires it. 
81. Stay tuned to external factors. Your business is 
affected in many ways by outside factors. Keep abreast of these so you 
can anticipate any sudden market changes that would affect how you need 
to manage. 
82. Put in place a Research and Development plan. Encourage innovation and creativity to stay ahead of the demand for newer and better products and services. 
83. Keep an eye on the competition. Don't let the 
competition get the best of you. Keep up-to-date with what they're doing
 and use it to your advantage in managing your business. 
 
Resolving Problems 
 
Whether problems are internal or external, they can make your 
management duties a nightmare if you don't handle them correctly. Here's
 how to stay on top of them. 
 
84. Stand up for employees. If other departments or managers are bearing down hard on your employees, stand up for them. 
85. Fix what's broken. Don't waste time placing blame. Take care of fixing the problem before dealing with any possible repercussions. 
86. Manage and control your emotions. Don't let anger 
or frustration affect your problem resolution. If you are emotionally 
invested in a situation, cool down before discussing it or bring in an 
outside mediator. 
87. Learn when to step in. Some problems might resolve
 themselves if you just let them be, but you need to be aware of times 
where you'll need to step in and take control of a situation. 
88. Take the blame. If you've made a mistake, fess up.
 It'll give you more time to work on fixing the problem instead of 
talking your way out of taking the rap. 
89. Get the facts first. Before you pass judgment on a
 situation, make sure you have the whole story. Listen to employees and 
refrain from questioning anyone's integrity without first ensuring that 
you've gathered all the data. 
90. Rise above the crisis. Learn to separate yourself 
from the problem and rise above the fray. You'll be able to think more 
clearly and make a better decision on how to rectify the issue. 
91. Don't ignore problems. A small problem can easily snowball and become something much more difficult to fix. 
92. Try to depersonalize problems. Let employees know that the problem isn't with them but with their actions. Don't make it personal. 
 
Go Above and Beyond 
 
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Managing people isn't just about getting the job done. To truly be a 
great leader, sometimes you need to go above and beyond what the job 
calls for. 
 
93. Lead by example. You can talk until you're blue in
 the face, but the best way to get a point across is to be the model to 
emulate. Let employees follow your lead. 
94. Get your hands dirty. Sometimes you need to show your employees that no one's above doing unattractive tasks. 
95. Make a difference to your employees. Don't just be a generic manager — stand out as a leader and role model for your employees. 
96. Gain your employees' trust and respect. You'll have a much easier time managing employees when they respect your rules and boundaries and trust your leadership. 
97. Be empathetic to personal problems. Whether it 
should or not, what happens outside of work can have a big affect on the
 quality of work produced. Be sensitive if employees have personal 
issues that keep them from concentrating on work. 
98. Be unique as a manager. Every position demands 
something different and you should be proud to be adept at your 
particular role rather than trying to emulate other managers. 
99. Remember that ethics matter above all. Be honest and reliable in all of your business and personal relationships. 
100. Be on the lookout for new ideas. You never know where your next great inspiration will come from. 
101. Get to know your employees. Learn more than just 
their names. Get to know your employees' family backgrounds, likes and 
dislikes. Doing so will make you more personable. </div>
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How can be a Good Manager

Common-Sense Rules for Leaders Management is all about connecting with the people on your team. So how do you effectively manage a te...

Friday, November 21, 2014

Tips of Effective Marketing on Startup

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Effective Marketing</div>
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The Burning Platform </div>
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There are 3 steps you need to solve to effectively sell your 
products.</div>
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<li>Why buy anything?</li>
<li>Why buy mine?</li>
<li>Why buy now?</li>
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This is part of my ongoing series Startup Advice. 
 Many entrepreneurs who start technology companies are product people, 
technologists or savvy business people who worked previously for a 
larger company.  Most start-up entrepreneurs have little or no sales 
experience.  I know I didn’t.  But through nearly a decade of startups I
 learned that sales comes down to three essential elements:</div>
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Why Buy Anything? 
 
This is the easiest one for 
most entrepreneurs.  If you sell a product direct to a customer – in 
person or on the phone – you need to understand what their pain points 
are and position your product benefits against those pain points.  I’ll 
do a full post on this another day.  But most good entrepreneurs do this
 naturally.

Even businesses that attempt to sign up customers directly on a 
website need to answer this question for people albeit programmatically 
and through good website copy.  Many, many tech companies I meet start 
with a set of “awesome features” and present them to me (and I suspect 
also to customers).  They end up building what is called a FNAC 
(feature, not a company) as most people won’t pay for them.  I first 
heard this term from the guys at First Round Capital.

Why Buy Mine? 
 
This one is a little harder but 
still quite straightforward.  Not only do I need to understand a 
customer pain point that my solution solves but I also need to convince 
them that my product does it better or most cost effectively than others
 on the market.

Many entrepreneurs think naively that it’s not good to have 
competitors.  To the contrary.  Customers seldom like to buy unless they
 perceive they have options.  They like to feel like they compared your 
solution to something else on the market.  If nobody else does what you 
do then maybe it isn’t really such a big market after all. 
 (Incidentally, VC’s hate when they hear companies pitching who say, “<a href="http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2009/06/23/pitching-a-vc-dealing-with-competition/">I don’t have real competitors</a>” as I outlined point three in the linked post).

I’ll cover “Why Buy Mine” in a later post, but my quick answer is 
that referenceability is the most critical tool to solving this 
problem.  By having reputable people from reputable businesses listed in
 case studies, on the website with quotes and/or willing to take phone 
calls makes all the difference in the purchasing decision. 
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Why Buy Now? </div>
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The real test of sales and the topic of
 my post is “why buy now.”  It’s what kills most sales cycles including 
raising venture capital.
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Great sales leaders know that you can only sell effectively when your
 sales cycle matches the customers buying cycle.  That is why they 
qualify customers really hard and ask the sort of questions that would 
make us non-sales-trained people squeamish.  Asking customers directly 
whether they have budget this quarter for a program like your company 
offers takes nerve.  Great sales people are also direct about asking 
whether the individual that they’re speaking with controls the budget.

When you qualify a customer, if the customer has shown interest in 
your product but isn’t ready to buy then they get sent over to 
marketing.  Great sales companies manage this very effectively and have 
sales prospects put into 3 buckets: those ready to buy this quarter (A),
 those ready to buy soon (B) and those not likely to buy in the next 12 
months but still interested (C).

Most companies are not good at managing 
integrated sales & marketing departments – particularly startups.  
My old employer, Sales force.com (they bought my company Koral), were 
masters at this.  They generated an enormous amount of inbound leads 
through PR, email blasts and heavy efforts with analysts such as Garner
 Group, IDC, Aberdeen Group, etc.

Initially the leads need to be qualified.  If you’re not ready to buy
 then you go into an email database.  Their goal is to get you to appear
 in person at city roadshows that they run or to come to their annual Dream force conference.  Here they surround you with sales professionals,
 product people and, of course, lots of reference able customers!  If you
 appear then they’ve increased the probability that you’re closer to 
becoming an A or a B buyer.

In products designed to sell directly on the web the process is no 
different.  Your goal as a website is to elicit my email address out of 
me with as little else required as possible.  With this email address 
you can continue to market to me even if I don’t buy today.  That’s why 
websites offer newsletters.

Websites are also getting much more sophisticated using techniques 
such as re-marketing to find a way to drive you back to their website. 
 If you spent time at a site you might not be aware but they’ve possibly
 dropped a cookie on your computer and use pixel tracking to follow you 
around the web.  If you were at a ladies online retail store don’t be 
surprised if you start seeing advertisements for that same store next 
time you’re reading the Washington Post or on Yahoo!.  Companies such as
 <a href="http://www.undertone.com/products/retargeting.php" target="_blank">Undertone Networks</a> or <a href="http://www.seewhy.com/aboutus" target="_blank">SeeWhy</a>
 (run by my friend Charles Nicolls who’s a BI expert formerly from 
Business Objects) offer these products to websites.  If I didn’t get you
 to buy when you came to my site I know you were at least interested.  I
 just need to get your back and find a more compelling reason for you to
 BUY NOW!

Note that the “why buy now” problem exists with VCs also even though 
nobody will ever tell you this.  If you meet a partner who really seems 
to like you buy he/she is in the process of closing another deal it may 
be a good 2-3 months until he’s ready to look seriously at another 
deal.  I like to say that if a partner has recently done a deal he is 
often in the penalty box for a while.  Not always, but it’s your job to 
politely find out.  You need to qualify VCs the same way you qualify 
sales leads. 
 
So is there nothing you can do to accelerate sales?  
 
 Actually within a certain margin you can bring sales forward slightly. 
 In sales we do this by creating a “compelling event” or as some people 
call it “a burning platform” (in case the reference isn’t obvious, when 
you’re on a oil platform that’s burning you have no choice but to jump.
 
It’s the reason that vendors create limited time period sales or exclusive offers only available until they run out.

If you work in enterprise sales you need to be able to not only 
identify the pain of “why buy anything” but why buying now is going to 
be a significant economic benefit.  As an example, if you’re a network 
monitoring tool such as Gomez and you can demonstrate that your 
customers performance is slow and for every second of latency they’re 
losing 8% of sales to abandonment resulting in $20,000 / day – you’ve 
got a burning platform.

There are many techniques but all involve proving that the customer 
will have more benefit by acting now (lose weight before Summer!), will 
have more pain if they don’t act (your customers are abandoning your 
shopping cart) or that they’re behind the competitor.

Can you express your proposition to customers in terms of a 
compelling event?  If so, I suspect your sales will grow more quickly. 
 
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Tips of Effective Marketing on Startup

Effective Marketing The Burning Platform There are 3 steps you need to solve to effectively sell your products. Why buy anyth...

Friday, November 21, 2014

Create a Killer Business Plan

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Creating a Killer Business Plan</div>
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You've got the idea, now package it well! The way you present
 your company and vision will determine whether you get the right 
financial partners and the right deal. 
 
Marketing Your Idea 
 Life
 is marketing. We're constantly being pitched to as consumers, yet we 
also market our products, our ideas, and ourselves personally and 
professionally. But where do so many early-stage entrepreneurs go wrong?
 They fail to sell their start-up effectively. The business plan, 
executive summary, and financing pitch are the ultimate marketing tools.
 Marketing your start-up well results in getting optimal investors, more
 favorable financing terms, outstanding executives, committed customers 
and more -- in other words, a shot at success in today's extremely 
competitive market. 
As a former entrepreneur and a start-up 
consultant today, I've certainly seen more business plans than I care to
 remember. Of the more than 30,000 high-tech business plans submitted to
 venture capitalists last year, less than 3 percent were funded. Why? 
The plans were either for products or services no one truly needed, or 
the plans were for great ideas that were not presented well. I see far 
too many of the latter. What a shame to have a brilliant idea, and the 
right process of execution, only to poorly communicate that idea. 
Make your business plan shine with the three "Cs" to success: 
 
Be Concise 
 A
 concise plan provides a simple explanation for why the business is a 
great idea, as well as how it will be executed. The optimal length is 20
 pages, but 30 is acceptable. This includes the three to five pages for 
the executive summary, but does not include the appendices (only include
 relevant info here to support claims made in the plan). Few investors 
will read the plan in its entirety. Remember, the goal of the business 
plan is for the entrepreneur to explain the company they want to build 
so they will a) be able to condense it and render an executive summary 
(that the investors will read) and b) have a basic execution plan for 
the company. 
 
Be Compelling 
 The
 goal is to make your company appear to be deeply compelling. A 
compelling opportunity is optimized by the right deal, with the right 
price, at the right time, with the right product or service, and the 
right team. Compelling deals always get financed with favorable terms. 
 
Be Complete 
 You
 must have a trusted third party review your plan to ensure it addresses
 all possible issues an investor may have. An incomplete plan, such as 
one that lacks three years' worth of financials, a marketing or sales 
strategy, or a section describing the first few releases of a product 
and the high-level technology strategy, makes it look like the 
entrepreneur hasn't thoroughly thought out their business. This makes 
them look either unprofessional, fly-by-night, or both. Be complete -- 
it will help you gain the trust of all who read your plan. 
 
A Lesson to Remember 
 Here's a sample paragraph from an executive summary I read a while ago: Freight trucks in America travel
 30 billion miles empty each year. This inefficiency costs distributors 
hundreds of millions of dollars in unnecessary freight-handling costs, 
such as scheduling one-way trips and paying for last-minute loads. Our 
browser-based software matches empty containers
 with loads that need to be moved nationwide. By using our software, 
distributors and manufacturers can save millions of dollars in the first
 year of use alone. The distributors and manufacturers are under extreme
 pressure from their executive management to reduce
 their inefficient freight costs by 10 percent annually for the next 
three years. Our team of seasoned freight, distribution, and 
manufacturing executives think we can capture a minimum of 1 percent of 
the market over the next three years. This would result in profitability
 six months into year two, growth of over 100 percent per year, and, 
based on industry-standard P/E ratios, a valuation of over $200 million 
at the end of year three." 
Wow! Huge pain, customers empowered to 
remove it, the right team to make it happen, and the potential for a 
glorious exit. Concise? Yes! Compelling? Yes! What's not to like? The 
entrepreneurs missed the "complete" part. The plan that backed up this 
fantastic opportunity lacked execution detail and thus has yet to be 
funded after two years of seeking capital. If you keep the three Cs in 
mind, you'll avoid falling into this trap. 
 
Getting a Successful Start: Must-Dos and Mistakes 
 So
 now you're ready to create a killer business plan, which will yield a 
killer executive summary and financing pitch. You'll want to leverage 
your plan by using the content later for sales presentations, marketing 
collateral and white papers, recruiting pitches, and website content. 
Here's
 how to do it: Do not use a business plan package. These render "fill in
 the blanks" business plans that make the entrepreneur look 
inexperienced, unsavvy, and basically out to lunch.
 Don't let yourself be branded this way. The key risks investors worry 
about are people, technology, market, and financial. Financial risk is 
hard to remove, so focus on showing how solid your people are, how 
robust and extensible your technology is, and how huge the market you're
 going after is. You must explain the barriers to entry, too, in honest,
 realistic terms. 
You'll also need a financial model. Be sure to 
make it interactive, and not static. An interactive model is 
formula-based and takes longer to create than a basic static model. 
Trust me: You will definitely change your financial projections, so 
provide for flexibility from the get-go. An interactive model will also 
enable "what if" scenarios. Chances are good potential investors will 
slash your first-year revenue projections in half. What repercussions 
will this have? Run it through the model and find out. 
Remember, 
marketing your start-up properly will result in a wild ride with 
life-enhancing results. Go for it! And whether you're just embarking on 
your business plan or have already successfully completed one, be sure 
to share your questions and lessons learned with other dreamers and 
doers on our message board. 
 
 
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Create a Killer Business Plan

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