Startup Business

Last week saw the thrust and parry of dueling keyboards as [a mainstream media consortium] took umbrage with the blogosphere, and bloggers’ frequent quotations from the [mmc]’s posted stories. There were demands for the take-down of various blog pages, and attempts to collect fees-per-word of quotes, as well as rapier-like witty ripostes. You can read about this on the TechCrunch blog, Post 1, and and Post 2.

While this issue seems, on the surface, to be about copyright, fair use, and possibly expansion of new revenue streams, it also deals with attribution and citing of sources. This is not just for journalists. It is just as important to entrepreneurs.

When you write your business plan, especially if you are using the plan to secure funding, you must cite your sources. Your plan will have topics and statistics covering your target market, population demographics, spending habits, market trends, market growth, and the like. The banks or investors or VCs are savvy business people. They know how to double check your assumptions, and will have no qualms about calling your bluff…and quashing your funding if they don’t credit your stats.

If your business is going to provide day care services, you’d better be able to show an increase in young dual-income families in your area. Investors are unlikely to support the construction of high-end mansions in a community that has been losing all of its industry. If you forecast skyrocketing sales, you’d better be able to document how a similar product or service did the same, and why yours will follow suit, and not crash and burn in a saturated market niche.

In other words you can’t pull your projections out of your … that is, out of thin air! Do your research! Develop your forecasts using that information. Document your sources in your plan. Take a look at this blog post by Alan Gleeson, Managing Director of Palo Alto Software Ltd, in the UK. The post quotes several people, businesses and news sources, and includes links and footnotes. Your business plan should do the same, giving the proper attribution to your sources.

As a raconteur I can make it up as I go along. As a business owner you don’t have that luxury.

Steve Lange
Senior Editor
Palo Alto Software

Tags: attribution, business plan, citing sources, document forecasts, quotes, research
Posted on June 25th, 2008 | No Comments »

While some people associate business planning narrowly with sales forecasting, or as a means to obtaining investment, it can also be used by companies to assess the impact of changes to the environmental context. This analysis of the future can help inform strategies and tactics in the present, which help to minimise the likelihood of certain outcomes, particularly negative ones happening in the future.

I spotted an advert in a recent edition of Newsweek which resonated strongly with me. The advert was placed by a company that clearly had one eye on the future, had identified a significant threat to a key supplier and had begun to put in place a number of clever activities in an attempt to protect this key supplier.

Who was the key supplier?

It is the humble honey bee, and the company in question is Haagen-Dazs.

Recognising that the ingredients it uses in its ice cream rely heavily on pollination by honey bees, Haagen-Dazs has set up a website which strives to raise awareness of the alarming decline in honey bees. The advert in Newsweek went one step further, consisting of an advert alongside a printed recyclable sheet embedded with wild flower seeds. The instructions suggested you ‘save a bee‘ by planting the page and watering it.

Not only is this a clever campaign that both engages and drives action, but also one that essentially carries no cost for the consumer. In economic terms it is a great solution to a real growing strategic problem, and also a very effective marketing ploy. For ice cream lovers the world over, it is also a very worthy cause!

Alan Gleeson
Palo Alto Software Ltd (U.K.)

Tags: business plan, business planning, ice cream, Marketing, Strategy, suppliers
Posted on June 17th, 2008 | No Comments »

I found the following story on several Internet sites.

At New York’s Kennedy airport today, an individual, later discovered to be a public school teacher, was arrested trying to board a flight while in possession of a ruler, a protractor, a set square, and a calculator.

The Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security believe the man is a member of the notorious Al-Gebra movement. He is being charged with carrying weapons of math instruction.

Al-Gebra is a very fearsome cult, indeed. They desire average solutions by means and extremes, and sometimes go off on a tangent in a search of absolute value.

They consist of quite shadowy figures, with names like “x” and “y”, and, although they are frequently referred to as “unknowns”, we know they really belong to a common denominator and are part of the axis of medieval with coordinates in every country.

As the great Greek mathematician Isosceles used to say, there are 3 sides to every triangle, and if God had wanted us to have better weapons of math instruction, He would have given us more fingers and toes.

Therefore, I’m extremely grateful that our government has given us a sine that it is intent on protracting us from these math-dogs who are so willing to disintegrate us with calculus disregard.

These statistic scumbags love to inflict plane on every sphere of influence.

Under the circumferences, it’s time we differentiated their root, made our point, and drew the line. These weapons of math instruction have the potential to decimate everything in their math on a scalene never before seen unless we become exponents of a Higher Power and begin to factor-in random facts of vertex.

As our Great Leader would say, “Read my ellipse.”

Here is one principle he knows with certainty, they continue to multiply, their days are numbered and the hypotenuse will tighten around their necks.

Funny, yes? I think so.

Mark Twain said, “The difference between the right word and the almost-right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning-bug.”

The story above is also a cautionary tale about spell checker software, and the almost-right word. Everything in that story is spelled correctly, but many words are very incorrect in the context of Homeland Security. My spell checker just breezed right on by those.

If you make similar mistakes in the business plan you submit, the bank, the investors, the venture competition judges, or your MBA professors will also get a good laugh … and keep right on chuckling as they send your plan to the Out box.

Proofread your plan. Have someone who wasn’t involved in writing the plan read it over. Implement the edit suggestions you receive.

Steve Lange
Palo Alto Software

Tags: , business plan, edit, funding, investment, proof read, spell checker, spelling, venture, words
Posted on June 17th, 2008 | No Comments »

The negative relationship between property investment and entrepreneurship is not immediately obvious. However, the recent property booms in Ireland and the U.K. (amongst others) helps to demonstrate this relationship. In recent years, both countries have experienced phenomenal growth in house prices. That is, until everything came grinding to a halt at the end of last year. [1]

The net effect of this boom has been one where the incentive to become truly entrepreneurial was significantly reduced – why try and create a new product or service if there was a guaranteed high return from property development? Similarly, from an investment point of view, why consider any other investment opportunity if there was a perceived guaranteed high return from property development?

In Ireland, the short-term results of the boom were a huge increase in people ‘getting into property’ and in the U.K. every second TV show on Channel 4 seemed to focus on property, e.g. Location Location Location, Property Ladder, A Place in the Sun and Grand Designs. Now all manner of problems are coming home to roost as the market collapses and the scale of consumer debt is becoming obvious. [2]

The Irish Government was happy to continue to fuel the boom, rezoning land for development, and cosying up to property developers [3], given how the huge property related taxes were contributing to their coffers. As David McWilliams, a leading Irish economist points out, a national focus on property is damaging as a ‘country which experiences a property boom turns in on itself. The reason for this is very simple, property cannot be traded. Bricks and mortar are tied to the land and the land is fixed and can’t be exported. Therefore, the discipline of international competition is lost.’

I would go further than this, it also destroys enterprise – there have been countless examples of successful businesses in Ireland shutting down because there is a greater return to be had from selling the property for redevelopment than continuing the business as a going concern. [4]

As someone passionate about entrepreneurship however, I take the view that every cloud has a silver lining, and that the property collapse could prove to be an excellent stimulus for entrepreneurship.

As Michael O’Leary, M.D of low cost European airline Ryanair recently claimed, “I love recessions,” he says. “Recessions are much more fun. Good times are a pain in the bum. Good times, any idiot can make money. In recessions, the good get up off their backsides and start doing the kind of sensible things that they should do all of the time. It’s good for business”. [5]

Now that ‘property development’ is no longer a safe bet, and the Irish and U.K Governments realise that the boom is over, it is likely that entrepreneurship, in its purist form, should take off once again. Those who stretched themselves with high mortgages will face stark options: sell up at a loss, or try to make ends meet. For some, second jobbing will be their only option and this will also help to fuel the passions of entrepreneurship in people. It is also hoped that the respective Governments will play their role, after all their taxation policies and planning policies have helped to fuel the boom in the first place.

Alan Gleeson
Palo Alto Software

[1] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7445864.stm

[2] http://www.grant-thornton.co.uk/press_room/amount_of_uk_consumer_debt_exc.aspx

[3] http://www.independent.ie/national-news/bertie-makes-his-own-pitch-for-the-banished-galway-races-tent-1393773.html

[4] http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0523/mcnamarab.html

[5] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7438315.stm

Tags: business plan, entrepreneurship, Ireland
Posted on June 12th, 2008 | 1 Comment »

I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Guy Kawasaki on a couple of occasions. Not that he’d remember, but they were pretty special moments for me. He’s a fantastic speaker and, as my 4-year-old niece said to me just last weekend about a story I read to her, “he writes good.”

For those of you who don’t know, Guy is an entrepreneur, venture capitalist, blogger, author and columnist. His book, Art of the Start, is included when you purchase our Business Plan Pro software.

On Wednesday, Guy wrote an article for the Sun Microsystem’s blog about “How to Pickup a VC“, basically 10 ways NOT to start a conversation with a venture capitalist. (Don’t worry, he gives you a clue on the right way to do it.)

Many entrepreneurs ask me what is the best way to open a pitch to potential investors. I’ll answer that question at the end of this posting, but first let me tell you the ten worst opening lines that you can use:

   1.     You say: “I’m bright and ambitious.” Investor thinks: “That’s a relief because I usually invest in stupid and lazy people.”

Enjoy the article and have a great weekend!

‘Chelle Parmele
Social Media Marketing Manager
Palo Alto Software

Posted on May 30th, 2008 | No Comments »

Yesterday I attended an Advisory Committee Meeting for the local Business Development Center office (also known to many as the SBDC office), and although I have been working with them for the last 20 months, I gained a deeper appreciation and respect for what they do day in and day out.

In the last 9 months, the Lane Community College Business Development Center has helped spawn over 10 new businesses, create 218 new jobs, and retain 91 jobs in Lane County. They did all of this while juggling budget cuts and employee lay-offs in a slowing Oregon economy. I was impressed. And these numbers might be low (due to variances in reporting, varying definitions of “new business”, etc) which is even more impressive. I just wonder if those in the community truly realize what their Business Development Center (BDC) can offer them.

Clearly, with numbers like the above, many entrepreneurs take advantage of the resources the BDC provides, but just think of how many more new businesses or jobs we could have in Lane County if more people took advantage of their services and resources. I won’t do the BDC justice with listing all the resources and services they offer, but with free counseling services, workshops and training on business planning, financial plans, marketing, etc, and an abundant library of books, software and brochures, how can a local business, especially an early-stage entrepreneur or a start-up, not utilize the BDC?

I would highly recommend that any entrepreneur who is looking for advice, assistance, resources and success check out what his/her local BDC office has to offer. Take advantage of what you may not even know is right in your backyard!

Kristen Langham
Marketing Manager
Palo Alto Software, Inc.

Posted on May 9th, 2008 | No Comments »

An article running on the US News and World Report today quoted our own Tim Berry about partnering with family and friends in their article.

The mom and pop business is the stereotypical image of a small business, and the trust that comes with working with someone you know on a personal level seems comforting. But new risks come up when you take a personal relationship and make it business. “There are many cases where trying to build a business relationship on top of a personal relationship can ruin both,” says Tim Berry, an entrepreneur who founded Palo Alto Software and speaks and teaches on small-business issues. Berry recently named one of his daughters CEO of his company. He says that partnering with family members can work as long as you carefully delineate the business relationship and personal relationship and make it clear that the way you interact with them in the first will be different from in the second.

‘Chelle Parmele
Social Media Marketing Manager
Palo Alto Software

Posted on May 6th, 2008 | No Comments »

I recently read John Jantsch’s post, Coach vs. Consultant, and one of his statements caught my attention:

“Whatever you call it, there is no doubt that having a trusted adviser, one that calls BS when it needs calling, is one of the most valuable assets an entrepreneur can obtain.”

It is interesting to read the comments John received and the different ways people define a coach vs. a consultant (vs. a mentor or a navigator). Regardless of the differing definitions, no one seemed to comment on or disagree with the statement above.

I have been meaning to blog about consulting services for the last few weeks, and after reading John’s post, I figured now was a good time. When people think of Palo Alto Software, they generally associate us with Business Plan Pro. They generally do not associate us with, or possibly even know about, the various other products and resources we offer. There is a lot more to us than what meets the eye; for example, we offer consulting and coaching (or mentoring or navigation) services through our Plan Consultants network. This group of people can be a great resource to use while starting your business, and it seems like a logical fit when purchasing and using business-planning software as well.

So regardless of what type of coach, consultant, mentor or navigator you want or need, if you are a budding entrepreneur, take John’s advice and obtain one of these trusted advisors.

Kristen Langham
Marketing Manager
Palo Alto Software, Inc.

Posted on May 2nd, 2008 | No Comments »

Launch: Silicon Valley is a product launch platform for cash strapped startups in the information technology, mobility, security, digital media, next generation Internet, life sciences and clean energy fields.

They are currently accepting executive summaries from new companies that are ready for launch, but are not yet well known.

Companies that are interested in presenting their products at Launch: Silicon Valley 2008 should send an Executive Summary of no more than 2 pages to Launchsv@svase.org by latest  May 9, 2008

‘Chelle Parmele
Palo Alto Software

Posted on April 29th, 2008 | No Comments »

This morning our team that handles all of our incoming customer service, sales, and technical support requests started buzzing with activity as soon as they arrived in the office. We had hundreds of emails from customers over the weekend asking for help with everything from upgrading their software to our new version of Business Plan Pro to teams of executives using our online business plan storage and collaboration service, SecurePlan.

It’s noon on Monday now, and all of our hundreds of emails have been answered from over the weekend. I am seeing thank you messages flying into the shared inboxes confirming that once again, our team has done an amazing job handling these inquiries very quickly and still with excellent customer service and accurate answers.

There are three key factors at work here that allow us to manage incoming communications so effectively with a small, dedicated team:

1. Email Center Pro: We developed this solution in-house to overcome very obvious challenges with shared email.

For years we were burning tons of our managers’ time distributing email messages all morning, just to get them ready for answers and follow up. We all know that the time between a lead coming in and being engaged can mean the difference between a high and low close ratio. Let leads sit untouched, and your prospects either lose interest or build frustration based on your lack of communication. Has a prospect ever told you that they felt like their business may not have been important to you as a company, because they did not get a timely response?

Managers checking addresses like sales@, customerservice@, and info@ used to spend their mornings forwarding messages into personal email boxes, only to lose any visibility and quality control or end up with a pile of second-round responses that needed to go to the right person quickly (and too often did not).

These challenges have been completely overcome. With Email Center Pro, we work through email as a team, assigning messages to the person with the right expertise, engaging in internal conversations about how best to answer, and re-using, fine-tuning, and creating new answers to questions. The velocity of customer service has steadily increased, and the amazing thing is that accuracy, quality, and personal service have improved at the same time.

2. Internal Instant Messaging (any flavor works - the key is that everyone is available).

Our Customer Care Team answers telephone calls, responds to emails, makes outbound calls, and chats live with our customers via our web site. With all of these simultaneous communication lines constantly open, how do we work with one another to share best practices, collaborate on answers, and provide accurate answers quickly? We instant message team mates, other departments, managers, directors, and even our c-level executives for answers. Live communication and real-time collaboration means the right answer goes to the right customer without hold times, call escalation, and any kind of run-around.

3. Empowerment.

I saved this for last because of importance. Empowerment is the key to all of the normal, everyday people that make up our customer-facing team shining as superstars in the work environment. Without empowering our people to make decisions based purely on helping achieve our customers’ goals, we could spend huge budgets, major engineering resources, and endless time training employees to use infrastructure and tools that would just end up losing business and frustrating our existing customers. The ability for our customer-facing team members to make a decision and know that they are supported all the way up the chain is the difference between you being on hold, talking to multiple levels and departments, and generally receiving poor service versus getting the right answer, right away, the first time.

Find your balance and find it fast, because good tools in the hands of empowered employees equals real success.

Jake Weatherly
Director of Customer Experience
Palo Alto Software

Posted on April 21st, 2008 | 1 Comment »