Planning for success By Peter Baskerville 3/11/2019

Typical design failures Falling in love with an idea that is not your opportunity Align your head with your heart. Test, analyze, learn. Uniquely qualified? Designed too small Not a sustainable business. No capacity. Not designed to the laws of business success Business is a law like gravity. Ignore its laws at your peril. Built to fly, Sales>all costs, cashflow, ROI. Incomplete design – missing bits. Must be comprehensive and cohesive. 3/11/2019

Love it, but it will never fly

Lots of effort, but no fly.

Spent plenty but ……

Working hard for wages Failure in business model. Too expensive to sell – to costly to keep. Need paid wages + 40% ROI

Failures in design Laboring Planing Need your business plane = less drag and engine labouring = 30% more efficient

Failure - Take your pick Poor execution – no experience No viable market – bad location Too much leverage – spend too much Undercapitalised – working capital No competitive advantage Competing with leaders – unfavourable industries Niche too small – wrong market Founding team breakup – wrong partner Poor pricing – maths don’t work Planning Failure 3/11/2019

Why all the pre-planning? Founders vision Proof of concept Launch Company

Why all the pre-planning? “We need to make changes to our business plans as early as possible while we can still afford to do so. It’s too ineffective and too costly once we launch.” Founders vision Proof of concept Launch Company

How to succeed? Selling a solution matched perfectly to a clearly defined problem experienced by a financially sustainable market Having a proven business model with appropriate resources executed by a capable team. 3/11/2019

Goal = Profitable business Exceptional Customer Experience Revenue Sustain Profitable Proven Scalable Business Model Secure Repeating Referring Customers Uniquely qualified to Exploit Risks Costs Leverage your unique advantages to develop a scalable business model, capable of delivering a growing and satisfied customer base.

Customer development process SEARCH EXECUTE Vision Business model Discovery Test Minimum Viable Product Validation Build users Marketing Plan Creation Valid model Company management Building Overarching Goal – To turn a set of founding hypotheses (guesses) into a moneymaking venture.

Proof of Concept Affordable Loss Learning Zone Commitment Zone IMPACT CHANCE Insignificant Minor Moderate Major Catastrophic Almost certain Commercial Risk/return Skilled Operators Only Experts Only Avoid Likely Possible No markets No learning Unlikely Rare Affordable Loss Learning Zone Commitment Zone

Foundations of success Have you found a problem that enough people want you to solve? Does your solution (product) solve the problem in a compelling way? Does your value proposition match the expectations of the customer segment you plan to target?

Give Value! Worthless Priceless

Startup business planning Convince you Customer discovery, validation, creation and building Business Model - exploit Path – now to sustainability Convince others Your enthusiasm - belief Your commitment – time/$ Your story Words = Language of people Numbers = Language of business 3/11/2019

Helicopter or magnifying glass? Both views required for successful planning – move between the two Need both overview and detailed views

3 planning horizons Achievements Time H3 – Fully developed opportunities Achievements H2 – Short Term Milestone H1 – Now – Getting Traction Time

Beer Coaster Plan

Initial Business Scan SYOB - 2016 Convenience Store CAFE Personal Trainer Affiliate marketing – Electronic Accessories