1679: How to Create a Killer Business Plan by Christine Comaford of Smart Tribes Institute

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[00:00:57] This is Optimal Work Daily. How to Create a Killer Business Plan by Christine Comerford of SmartTribesInstitute.com Life is marketing. Marketing ourselves personally and professionally. Marketing our products. Marketing our ideas. Every day we are constantly marketing or being marketed to.

[00:01:21] What constantly amazes me is that knowing this, so few early stage entrepreneurs market their startup effectively. The business plan, executive summary, and financing pitch are the ultimate marketing tools. Marketing your startup successfully results in getting optimal investors, more favorable financing terms, outstanding executives, committed customers, basically a shot at success in today's extremely competitive market.

[00:01:46] Let's start with the love-hate relationship we have with business plans. As a former entrepreneur and startup consultant today, I've certainly seen more business plans than I care to remember. Of the 30,000-plus high-tech business plans submitted to venture capitalists last year, less than 3% 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.

[00:02:14] I see far too many of the latter. What a shame to have a brilliant idea and the right process of executing it, only to communicate the idea without being concise, compelling, and complete. 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.

[00:02:34] The optimal length is 20 pages, but 30 is acceptable. This includes the 3-5 pages for the executive summary, but does not include the appendices. Only include relevant info here to support claims made in the plan. Few of the investors will read the plan in its entirety. The goal of the business plan is for the entrepreneur to explain the company they want to build,

[00:02:56] 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. A compelling opportunity is optimized by the right deal with the right price at the right time, with the right product, service, and the right team. Compelling deals always get financed with favorable terms. The goal is to make your company appear to be deeply compelling. More on this in a moment.

[00:03:26] 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, or lacks 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.

[00:03:54] Be complete. It will help you gain the trust of all who read your plan. A Lesson Here's a sample paragraph from an executive summary I read a while ago.

[00:04:33] Quote,

[00:05:00] End quote. 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. I hate stories like this.

[00:05:30] How to do it. So now you're ready to create a killer business plan which will yield a killer executive summary and a killer 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. Using the sample business plan outline, begin to fill in each section. Do not use a business plan package.

[00:05:56] These render fill-in-the-blanks business plans that make the entrepreneur look experienced, 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. 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,

[00:06:24] 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. But 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?

[00:06:53] Run it through the model and find out. Life is marketing. Marketing your startup properly will result in a wild ride with life-enhancing results. You just listened to the post titled How to Create a Killer Business Plan by Christine Comerford of SmartTribesInstitute.com Tag, Herr Jauch. Herr Ulmen, was haben Sie diesmal wieder nicht verstanden?

[00:07:21] Ja, Herr Jauch, können Sie mir das mit dem E-Rezept nochmal erklären? Es ist doch nun wirklich einfach. Also, Shop-Apotheke-App öffnen. Krankenkassenkarte dranhalten. Rezepte auswählen, bestellen, fertig. Ja, Sie wissen doch, wie es geht. Ja, aber einfach nur dranhalten ist das ... Ich dachte, meine Frau wollte mich verarschen. Diesmal ausnahmsweise nicht. Ha. E-Rezept Shop-Apotheke. Hältst du schon dran? Thank you to Christine for letting us share her work.

[00:07:48] She is sought after for providing proven strategies to shift executive behavior to create more positive outcomes, enroll and align teams in times of change, and profoundly increase sales, product offerings, and company value. Her coaching, consulting, and strategies have created hundreds of billions of dollars in new revenue and company value for her clients. The potent neuroscience techniques she teaches are easy to learn and immediately applicable

[00:08:14] to help leaders see into their blind spots, expand their vision, and more effectively influence outcomes. She's been thanked by Bill Clinton, and Bill Gates even called her super high bandwidth. Plus, she's got some great books worth checking out. A couple of New York Times bestsellers. The first one we recommend is Smart Tribes, which should be easy to remember since her website is smarttribesinstitute.com. And that one's all about how teams become brilliant together. Important for everyone, but especially if you're an entrepreneur.

[00:08:44] You can also check out Power Your Tribe and Rules for Renegades, and all of her books are available on Amazon or through her site, which also has a ton of resources, by the way, including assessments, webinars, courses, infographics, the blog, of course, and so much more. So come on by smarttribesinstitute.com to show your support. I've got that linked in this episode's description for you and at oldpodcast.com. And thank you again to Christine for letting us share her work. And I think that's going to do it for today.

[00:09:13] Hope you are having a good one. And thanks so much for being here with me as always. And I'll see you right back here tomorrow, where your optimal life awaits.