

Ask HN: Releasing your business plan into the public? - domdelimar

I'm currently taking a part in a student business plan contest where the best 3 plans chosen by a jury will get a symbolic funding and I have a doubt I need you to help me with.<p>I was asked to give a version (even though it can be the version the jury will get) of my plan for release to the public. At that moment it occurred to me I was so obsessed with development of my idea that I missed to notice that jury apparently won't be signing any NDAs so that's got me a little bit worried.<p>Probably the only good thing here is that I'm at least aware that my business plan contains a non-revolutionary idea that isn't worth much. In a sense that if somebody had all the ingredients to pull of the plan they wouldn't really need me all that much me at that point. And from a point of view of somebody looking for an investor I get it that I shouldn't expect a big stake in the business if I come up with just this idea.<p>But talking with private investors is one thing. 
What are your thoughts about giving your business plan to the public?
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mjfern
Many entrepreneurs have a fear of sharing their new venture ideas with others
and I think this is a big mistake. First, it's very unlikely that someone will
take your idea and implement. Other people rarely share the same passion for
the idea as the originator of the idea. Second, even if someone does take the
idea and runs with it (which is very unlikely) they will implement the concept
in a fundamentally different way, given all the changes that usually take
place from formulating a venture idea to commercializing. Third, the more
people you share the venture idea with (a) the more constructive feedback you
will get to make improvements to your idea, (b) the more you can practice and
tweak your pitch, (c) the greater chance you will find great people to work
with, etc.

In short, I suggest sharing your venture idea with as many people as possible.
Build a quick prototype and get it into the hands of users for user feedback.
If you do have a secret sauce, which affords you a competitive advantage
(e.g., Google's PageRank algorithm before it was patented), then you might
want to keep this small piece of the plan secret until you can erect other
barriers to imitation.

Good luck with your venture!

~~~
domdelimar
Thanks. That makes a lot of sense. And I knew about that fear but didn't know
I still have it. Apparently jury and friends are only the first step towards
getting rid of it.

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mixmax
Let me tell you an interesting true story.

Last weekend I was at a friends place, and there were a few people there. One
of them asked me what I did, and I told him about an idea I had for a new way
of doing business online. It's pretty revolutionary, I've thought long and
hard about it for a long time, and it can probably be easily copied by someone
else. I told him about it anyway. Pretty detailed too.

It just happened that he was finishing up a PHD thesis on a subject very close
to what I was thinking about, and we started talking. This conversation gave
me some great insights I didn't have before, access to his large network, a
serious ambassador and maybe a friend.

Will he steal the idea? I don't think so. Empirically it is very very rare.
Did I gain something from it? Absolutely.

Answer enough?

~~~
domdelimar
Definitely. That's pretty reassuring story. Encouraging me even more to act
differently from now on. Thanks.

And good luck with the realization of your idea!

~~~
mixmax
Thanks :-)

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webwright
If I described Google to you before they launched, could you have built it?
Would you have? How about Digg? The iPhone? WordPress? Facebook? Amazon? Name
10 amazing startups and try to imagine how it could have hurt them if their
biz plans were public.

Almost anyone who could possibly be a threat to you if they had your idea
ALREADY HAS THEIR OWN IDEAS. Even if they don't, presumably you have dozens of
competitors-- 1 or 2 more isn't going to change your shot at success. If you
don't think you have ANY competitors, you are either stupid about your market
or you truly have an invention on your hands and you should keep quiet.

Talking about your idea a LOT will make you smarter about your market and
increase you shot at success. Do it, and do it a lot.

~~~
domdelimar
Thanks for your input. Actually, reading
[http://www.userscape.com/blog/index.php/site/comments/starti...](http://www.userscape.com/blog/index.php/site/comments/starting_a_micro_isv_in_the_beginning_there_was_nothing/)
made me decide to start blogging again, and to blog mainly about my project,
even before I startup.

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stuff4ben
If anything, exposing your business plan will allow others to give you
feedback on it. You'll get to hear wonderful things like "your plan sucks, you
need to x and y or you'll never succeed, etc...". Hope you have a tough skin
and can take criticism.

Seriously though, unless it is a really innovative idea that will
revolutionize the world, then it's probably best to let others in on it. Who
knows, maybe you'll get some positive feedback too. It may also prevent you
from wasting time on something that won't work or just isn't feasible or may
have already been done exactly how you want to do it.

~~~
domdelimar
Thanks for your input. I know one should expose a business plan for feedback
from others and I was about to do that, mainly to friends who I trust could
give me as objective opinion as possible. It's just that I never thought of
releasing it to the whole public, nor have I heard anyone do that before but
then again, I don't have any experience with that kind of stuff, so it might
as well be an ordinary thing.

~~~
vaksel
You honestly think friends would give you an objective opinion? Giving it to
friends is a pretty much guaranteed way to get biased results

~~~
domdelimar
Not completely objective, no. Some I think would try really hard but I
wouldn't expect them to be completely objective. I will definitely choose
carefully the ones who I believe can give me the _most_ objective opinion. And
I said friends but these wouldn't necessarily have to be the closest friends,
even mere acquaintances could suffice.

Can you suggest to whom I should then give my plan for an objective opinion,
prior to talking with investors? Would giving it to someone who isn't a
'friend' guarantee a non-biased opinion? I'm not so sure. I'm thinking even
complete strangers could have a biased opinion. That just depends from a
person to person. I was thus hoping I could be able to choose the right people
from the ones I know. And let me assure you, I'm not looking for somebody to
tell me how good my plan is. Thank you for you input.

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medianama
I don't think you should participate in a business plan contest if you are
really serious about that start up.

The whole process is a distraction and doesn't bring any value. The downside
is that you'll waste a lot of time filling templates and doing stuff that
doesn't matter at this stage. You may also get demoralized if jury/public
doesn't get it and thinks its trash. For all you know, they might not be the
segment you plan to target..

If you are serious - Move forward and build the product and show it to real
customers that you plan to target. That's probably the only way to know if
it'll work or not.

~~~
domdelimar
I actually thought about that before. I mean, if you're really serious about a
project, do you really need some jury that, as you say, may just distract you?
If you're really serious you'll find a way. BTW, same goes for that talent
reality shows: if you really have talent and really want to sing for example,
it's pretty sad that you waited until a show appeared. If it's really
something you _always_ wanted to do, how come you weren't actually doing it
seriously?

But I applied for different reasons. Not only was I awaken from my no-idea-
where-I'm-going state but I benefited also from various people coming to
workshops to talk about different business subjects and how to write a
business plan for investors. Some of this stuff was very beneficial to me at
this point.

Now I know I will continue pursuing my plan no matter what happens on this
contest (although the prize would be nice to get me started on my plan so I
have something more than an idea to show to the investors).

~~~
medianama
At this stage - building the first version of the product is more important
than writing a business plan. You don't want to change priorities because of
some contest. Successful start up is more important than wining a beauty
contest.

If you can build something that a few people find valuable then you can start
thinking about business plan to scale it further... Without the basic product,
there is no business and there is no need for a plan.

Of course, all this is based on the assumption that the first version can be
built very fast without incurring any significant cost.

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vaksel
Don't worry about it. Most #s in the business plan are usually made up so
noone really takes them that seriously.

The business plan is mostly there for you, to think through things

~~~
domdelimar
Yea, from a talk with a local business angel I found out the business plan
intended for investors does not have to be as detailed as I would think it
should. For example, you don't really have to write how you'd solve a problem,
just acknowledge you know it exists and you know how to deal with it. I have
to be honest and say I was a bit surprised and somewhat relieved with that
realization.

