

Ask HN: Where can I find some really good business plans? - pjharrin

Hello everyone, I'm using a business plan format as a way to document my knowledge and findings while performing some due diligence on a business idea. I was wondering if anyone had, or knew where I could find, some really good examples that I could take a loot at.<p>Thanks,
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argonaut
I know this doesn't answer your question, but I have to ask: why are you even
writing up a business plan?

I don't mean to be harsh, but in Silicon Valley writing up a business plan is
seen by many as a _negative_ signal. Lots of people (myself included) see it
as something a business student with no real-world experience would do as
their first step.

The reason for this is simple: you can't _really_ know if users will actually
like or use or pay for your product. A business plan is only going to be a
bunch of guesses, the vast majority of which will turn out to be unfounded. If
you think you can predict what users will like before users themselves tell
you, then you should change your first name to Steve and your last name to
Jobs. So instead of spending time on a business plan, the recommended route is
to build a quick prototype and see how users respond to that.

An exception to this might be if the product you're building is something
_you_ need, in which case it might be excusable to build something that's more
than just a prototype. Nonetheless, the same problem applies: you don't really
know if _other_ people will find what you build useful until you get it in
front of them.

~~~
chris_dcosta
I can answer the point from a different perspective. You are right in what you
say, except in the UK for example you won't raise any money at all without a
business plan. It answers questions like "what are you going to spend our
money on?" and provides background to the founder(s).

Perhaps in the USA it is different and money is thrown at any company that has
an "idea" even if they are not able to put it on paper... but I'm not
convinced and never have been that this is really the case.

I seem to recall I had a similar discussion with someone else along these
lines, and the bottom line was they they had not raised money, and so it was
just an impression they had of what goes down in the Valley.

~~~
argonaut
You completely missed my point. Read what I said here: "So instead of spending
time on a business plan, the recommended route is to build a quick prototype
and see how users respond to that."

A business plan is nothing more than an idea wrapped up in some estimates and
guesses. Sure, you can do "market research," but those are nothing more than
guesses and they usually turn out to be wrong. So in a sense, when you
criticize money being thrown at an idea, you are criticizing the notion of
business plans. My point was that business plans are a negative signal because
all it indicates is that you have an idea and that you haven't built anything
to test your idea.

It is not a point of whether or not you can put your idea on paper. It's a
point of wasting your time over-analyzing things you cannot know - and then
putting all that useless analysis on a multi-page business plan or a 15 slide
presentation, etc.

No, it is not the case that Silicon Valley just throws money at ideas (alone),
and you're arguing against a straw man if you think I ever made that point. In
fact, the process of building a prototype and validating your product by
testing it in the real world is the quickest way to get huge multi-million
dollar valuations in Silicon Valley. The exception would be having a very
strong team with experienced founders.

~~~
chris_dcosta
I totally agree that actions speak louder than words, and a app or site with
traction certainly demonstrates that an idea works, but the point you missed
is the money point.

If you have money coming in, why do you need to raise more money?

If you plan to raise more money on the back of traction how much do you need,
why do you need it and how will you spend it?

What does your balance sheet look like?

What is your cash flow?

All these questions are answered by a business plan, and you cannot avoid
answering them just because you have traction, no matter what you say.

~~~
argonaut
> the point you missed is the money point. Explain how I missed the point.
> Nothing you said indicates anything about how I missed the point.

You don't need a 5 page business plan or a 15 slide presentation to answer
those questions. You can answer all of those questions in 5 minutes of
questioning from investors.

And yes, you CAN avoid answering those questions if you have traction. If you
have MASSIVE traction, your cash flow and balance sheet is pretty much
irrelevant since the assumption is you can monetize later (see: Facebook,
Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, many other social companies). Even in Silicon
Valley this is the exception, make no mistake, and generally doesn't apply to
B2B or B2D(eveloper) companies, but it is one possibility.

------
acesubido
May I suggest you opt at creating a business canvas. Less verbose and more
direct than a x-page doc file. Easier to on-board people with it as well. Once
you have the canvas its going to be easier drilling down on the details.

<http://www.businessmodelgeneration.com/canvas>

<http://leancanvas.com/>

