What Should You Do If You Don’t Want to Write a Business Plan?
There’s a clear distinction between “business planning” and “business plan”.
A business plan is a detailed document that aims at describing how your business is going to operate for the next 3–5 years.
It gives you a feeling of control. It’s like writing a fiction. You can say whatever you want. You can experience 1,000% growth over year. You can get 95% of paying customers with a freemium model — Evernote only has 5.6% after 2 years of using the product. You can get bought by Facebook in two years. You can take over the world…
It’s a map for a space that has no shape.
Business planning, on the other hand, is the process of thinking about what your business is going to look like.
It doesn’t require you to draw a detailed map. But doing it forces you to focus on what you’re going to sell, how you’re going to serve your customers, and how you’re going to make money.
The business plan is not the only tool available for business planning. You can also answer a set of questions or visualise your business model with the Lean Canvas or the Business Model Canvas.
What matters is the process of thinking about the future of your business, not writing a plan or filling a canvas.
You don’t succeed because you did your homework. You succeed because you found a remarkable way to build a business in order to deliver something people want.
If you’re still at the idea stage, here’s what you should focus on.
