344. I hate business plans

Business plans are a great way to get an understanding of what the business wants to do. They are a terrible way of judging a business.

Business plans are an “ideal world” scenario. But the world is far from ideal and more often than not the business plan is never looked at again the say after it’s published.

People spend so much time, effort and money on producing high quality, well researched business plans that almost nobody will read. On a plan that will instantly change the moment you start engaging with customers.

And don’t even get me started on financial projections for businesses! If all financial projections were accurate no business would ever fail. They are worth about as much as the paper they’re printed on.

Business plans are great for getting the ideas out of your head and into a more structured format. But that’s it. They should be a starting point for you to then explore and adapt, not the instructions you follow religiously. And if this is the case then you don’t need to waste time writing a 50-page document in word — scribble a few things down on the back of a beermat and then get started. The faster you hit the market the faster you’ll learn.