BC Thaker - 25 th January, 2014

“IT IS THE EXECUTION, DUH !”

 What goes into an Execution Plan?  MAT  The art of execution.

“Genius is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration.” By: Thomas Alva Edison

BigIdea Big Idea

 Entrepreneur spends way too much time & energy on the big idea.  The idea without execution is useless.  The critical element is to convert the “imagination to impact”. * Source: Govindarajan V, Trimble K, HBR

 99% perspiration equates to impeccable execution.  You need to do & execute the basic fundamentals of business, day in day out. * Source: Govindarajan V, Trimble K, HBR

Execution Plan – “how to” of your business. It is the tool you will use regularly to manage the business, communicate your goals with a strict timeline.

“ Mat – a heavy woven net of rope or wire cable placed over a blasting site to keep debris from scattering.”

M – Milestone A – Assumptions T – Tasks Sources: KAWASAKI, G – The Art of the Start.

M – Milestone A – Assumptions T – Tasks

 Helps you to understand the scope of your work.  Test your assumptions & provide the mechanism to identify & rectify your short comings.  The business has several goals.

 You have to prioritize these goals.  These are the milestones. They identify the important progress on the way to achieving success.

7 Key Milestones:  Prove your concept (both technical & business model).  Complete design specification.  Finish a prototype.  Raise capital.  Ship a testable version to customer.  Ship the final version to customer.  Achieve break-even.

Take your mission statement & replace it with time bound list for completion of the seven key milestones !

 You miss one of the above & your organization will die.  There can be more than 7 but these seven are the most critical.  The timing of the 7 milestone will drive the timing of everything else.

 For each milestone we have to decide the resources required.  These resources will be the founding stone of your financial plan.

M – Milestone A – Assumptions T – Tasks

Every new business works with certain assumptions. These could be;  Product or service standards  Market size  Sales Data  Return of investment  Technical support  Payment cycle

 Monitor these assumptions continuously and when proven false react quickly.  Try to link these assumptions to the seven milestones.  As you reach the milestones test your assumptions.

M – Milestone A – Assumptions T – Tasks

Major tasks that are necessary to build an organization.  Nitty gritty of business  Nuts & bolts of business.

 Major task which are necessary to design, manufacture, transport, market & support the product & service.  Administrative tasks like renting space, accounting & hr systems.  Legal task like registration, insurance, patents, copy rights.  Financial like banking.

 The devil is in the detail.  Entrepreneurs must understand every aspect of their business.  For each task allocate resources.

 Set & communicate goals  Measure progress  Establish a single point of accountability  Reward the achievers  Follow up, follow up, follow up.  Don’t ignore Morpheus  Establish a culture of execution.