

Should a startup write a business plan? - whitegloveapps
http://www.whitegloveapps.com/2010/12/20/startup-write-business-plan/

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kondro
I guess it depends on how you define business plan.

Business plans are important because they force you to think about things you
need to accomplish to have a successful business. Potential market,
competitors, goals, cashflow, etc are all very important to starting a company
and founders need to all agree on the these things to progress.

However, I don't think a formalised 50-page business plan with research, etc
is really all that necessary. It's much more important to have actually
thought about all the things that affect the success or failure of your
company than to have documented them.

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whitegloveapps
I think you're right. Planning is worthwhile; the business plan becomes a time
sink when people focus on making it long and perfectly formatted, and have
financial projections out for many years. The reality is, a startup is still
looking for its business model; all the things that flow from that will change
if the model changes.

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jms928
I have my own business and don't have a business plan. I think that it's hard
to come up with a realistic plan when you're just starting out; you just don't
know much about how things really work in your market. I've learned a lot,
mostly about what doesn't work, in my 2+ years of being in business. Maybe I
could use that knowledge to write a plan for the next year.

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whitegloveapps
There's definitely value in re-evaluating once you've been in business for a
while: some things you have to learn things by experience, so after you've
learned them you can plan better.

