In this chapter, we have illustrated a model for quickly crafting a business plan. The key points are the following:
- The Ten–Ten planning process is very brief yet dynamic and adaptable to a variety of situations.
- It draws on the major strategic planning approaches as well as the FAD template discussed in Conceptualizing Products/Services Using FAD.
- It consists of completing two templates and developing an executive summary.
- The first task consists of collecting internal and external information completing the Organizational and Industry Analysis template. This template also uses information from the FAD template.
- The second task uses the Organizational and Industry Analysis template along with the FAD template to complete a Business Plan Overview template.
- The information gathered using the FAD template, the Organizational and Industry Analysis template, and the Business Plan Overview template are then used to write an executive summary.
- The goal is to communicate with partners, confidants, and funding sources.
Strategic planning is often criticized as taking too long, being too complex, and even being counterproductive. The Ten–Ten approach alleviates many of these criticisms by its conciseness and the way it focuses on learning-by-doing. It is still hard work. However, the author has actually had groups of people complete a Ten–Ten plan in one night. This includes conceptualizing a new business model up through the completion of the business templates. The feedback was generally positive from the experience, although the participants were exhausted.
The business plan serves many purposes. But the primary goal is to foster communication with the business founders, partners, confidants, and funding sources. The Ten–Ten business plan presents a succinct overview of the what, how, when, and why of the business. It provides a concise overview of what the business is about and how money can be made. In many ways, the Ten–Ten documents are a prototype of the business model. This is in essence a scaled-down business model that describes how the business will function and serve as a platform for the business founders to communicate with each other and identify strengths and weaknesses of the emerging firm. In Developing a Business Plan, we will present the infrastructure for a full-blown business plan that can be used as a blueprint for operating the business the first year.
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