By Rolfe Larson on September 21, 2012
The drive to create a business plan in the least amount of time has reached a new high … or low. Last week, Inc. 5000 published an article suggesting you can and should be able to present your entire business model on paper in (gulp) just 20 minutes. The idea is from a recent book, […]
By Rolfe Larson on February 8, 2012
There’s been a fair amount of interest lately in how to write your business plan quickly, say in a weekend. The most well-known is called Startup Weekend, which promises to turn strangers into teams with a completed business plan in an intensive 54-hour weekend marathon. Is this a good idea? There’s also a new book, […]
By Rolfe Larson on October 17, 2011
There are now many choices in legal structure for a new business. That’s both a good thing and bad thing. It’s great to have options, but sometimes the details can become overwhelming. For a business with a social as well as financial purpose, there are different ways to set things up, depending on your motivations, […]
By Rolfe Larson on October 3, 2011
Social media has not been around that long; Facebook is barely seven years old, for example. But in today’s business and social environment, for many companies that sell directly to the public, having a social media strategy is no longer an option. You gotta have one.
By Rolfe Larson on August 18, 2011
Ultimately, success in business depends on finding your competitive advantage, which is to say that which makes you superior to your competitors and is perceived as valuable by your customers. One approach for figuring that out is through value chain analysis, as developed by Michael Porter. The value chain is a sequence of activities that […]
By Rolfe Larson on July 28, 2011
My previous blog identified the five competitive forces developed by Harvard professor Michael Porter, which should be addressed in every business plan. This blog profiles each of these forces.
By Rolfe Larson on June 29, 2011
Every business has competitors for its customers, who, after all, get to choose. Most business plans only focus on existing competitors. While that’s necessary, it’s not sufficient. You also need to look at the underlying structure of your industry, and assess the extended rivalry that exists within that structure. One way to do that is […]
By Rolfe Larson on June 8, 2011
Not everyone who starts a small business is an entrepreneur, nor should they be. Figuring out whether you’re an innovator, an entrepreneur or a manager can save you headaches down the road.
By Rolfe Larson on March 24, 2011
You’ve gone through the steps. Your business plan is reasonably thorough. So there’s not much to worry about, right? Wrong. If it’s good, it will get you started. But it’s only a plan. The rest you’ll have to figure out as you go. Reality has an annoying way of interfering with plans.
By Rolfe Larson on March 16, 2011
There’s nothing magical about business planning. At its core, it involves thinking through who your target customers are, how your proposed venture will profitably address their needs better than the competition, how you will communicate with these customers, and where you plan to get the funds to start it all up.
Rolfe Larson provides consulting and training in areas such as strategic planning, market research, feasibility analysis, business planning, marketing, and implementation strategies.