Hosted by Jay Adelson.
Entrepreneur, CEO, and business owner Jay Adelson (Equinix, Digg, Revision3, SimpleGeo) demystifies the start-up process by providing advice, tips, and answering questions. Ask Jay how to turn any business idea into reality: askjay@revision3.com, @jayadelson, or http://youtube.com/askjayadelson Read More
Successful entrepreneur and CEO, Jay Adelson, demystifies the start-up process by providing advice, tips, and answering questions. Today he discusses whether or not you need a business plan to launch your company and raise money.
Jay's Chalkboard Notes:
1. You don't need a detailed business plan to raise money or to launch
2. Investors only read summary pages
3. If they're interested they build their own plan
4. Writing a plan is a great exercise, as it can uncover problems and evolve your idea
Your takeaway assignment based on today's question is to create an executive summary. Just a few pages long, your executive summary should answer the following: What market is your company serving, how much revenue is currently being spent in that market (research other companies in your market to find out this information), who is your customer, and what are their pain points. Your executive summary should also define what the problem statement is, and include a description of a business solving that problem - make sure to use concrete example/case studies!
You should also include thoughts about how much money you think you will need for the next round, what that money will be used for, and why that is the correct amount. Then you should share this document with friends and family for critique. Allow them to poke holes in it and amend from there.
Have a question about launching a business that you want answered? Submit them to askjay@revision3.com, or upload a video question on our YouTube page. And make sure and follow Jay via Twitter.
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