THINKING – Sprint 18
Starting to Plan the Future of Your Startup
The reason for this sprint
Many things can go wrong for an entrepreneur as he or she works to make their idea a reality, no matter how good the idea. Thoughtful planning is a classic way to reduce the risks of something going wrong. But most all entrepreneurs either over plan or do not plan at all.
It is hard to know what level of planning yields the greatest risk reduction for a reasonable amount of time and effort and the answer changes as the startup matures through its four stages as we discussed in sprint 15.
In this sprint we describe specifically what level of planning and anticipation of the future makes most sense for an entrepreneur once they feel their idea has potential.
As the entrepreneur now wants to invest some time and money in working out how to turn the idea into an actual product or service a customer is gladly willing to pay for, they need to make sure the needed money, time and people will be there when needed.
This is simple to do if you set up two simple spreadsheets or tables to estimate your needs and also keep track of where you are on your spending. Doing this simple planning also sets up a minimum level of accountability for anyone and everyone involved. It is an excellent use of time.
Sprint exercises
Read or listen to the blog titled, “Starting to Plan the Future of Your Startup.” When you are done, we strongly suggest you set up the tables or spreadsheets described. When you do, you should be able to answer these critical questions:
How much money have you set aside for reaching your next goal?
How many weeks or months will the money you have set aside last?
How many person-hours of work do you think will be required to test your idea with a prototype? How many people will be working with you?
How many contractors will be helping you with your project? How will you track their progress?
What resource is you bottleneck?
What worries you the most? What is you plan for minimizing these worries?
You are now a thoughtful entrepreneur, and if you keep your plans updated, your risks of accidentally running out of your key resources will remain low.
Of course, if things are not going according to plan, then it is time to think about why that is so, and then to revise your plans accordingly.