The importance of having a plan

by mathoda • 17 years ago

19 12 17 years ago

All the old business advice books I read talked about the importance of having a plan. In the interviews I do with successful entrepreneurs, I don't see clear, detailed plans. I wonder what this means?

mahmud• 17 years ago

The new entrepreneurs you're meeting are probably working in markets that aren't established; you can't plan for what you don't understand. The best you can do is make something that's good NOW, but be prepared to change your product if not your mission as the circumstances dictate.

Tangurena• 17 years ago

Most successful people don't know how they got to be successful. They'll attribute it to whatever they think got them there.

Luck is being prepared for an opportunity

Those who are not prepared, are unlucky. They let life push them in whatever random direction life pushes them in.

http://sithsigma.wordpress.com/2009/03/18/luck-is-being-prep...

padmanabhan01• 17 years ago

Obviously a lot of ingredients go into being successful, and invariable few of them get highlighted more and few less in any advice or suggestion given by anyone.

A great plan will not take one anywhere without good execution. and a great plan executed well can fail if timing is not right or for thousand other reasons.

The bottomline is - there is no single silver bullet.

MichaelApproved• 17 years ago

There is a difference between not having a plan and having one that allows for experimenting. Just because you're trying different things doesn't mean you don't have a plan.

A plan is a good thing. It keeps you from losing focus, lets you set goals and helps you know if you're on track.

Create a plan, you'd be a fool not to, but make sure it allows you to experiment.

run4yourlives• 17 years ago

This is all you need to know about planning, from two of the greatest military minds of the last century:

In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable. - Dwight D. Eisenhower

A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week. - George S. Patton

wlievens• 17 years ago

  No battle plan survives contact with the enemy.

- Helmuth von Moltke

markessien• 17 years ago

There is always a famous quote that supports your point of view, no matter how wrong you are.

adsyoung• 17 years ago

Absolutely, although I'm struggling to find a good famous quote to support this point of view.

Harkins• 17 years ago

  Some for renown, on scraps of learning dote,
  And think they grow immortal as they quote.

webwright• 17 years ago

I've written a few business plans in my life (3 started companies, 2 sold, current one is Series A funded FWIW).

Every single time, the plans sat on the shelf. Every single time, I looked back at those plans and laughed/cringed at the assumptions I made in them and was amazed at how little my business resembled the picture I painted in those plans.

I think it's a great exercise to run through the sections that are common in biz plans (marketing, etc). Think about 'em, talk about 'em, maybe even through together a spreadsheet or two.

But don't make it formal and don't spend too much time on it-- the more you invest in it, the more it'll feel like a blueprint rather than an exercise.

The importance of having a plan

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