I like this Plan B idea. Consider this, from Discover Your Plan B, a write up on the Business Standard (from India) on co-author John Mullins’ visit to India:
If you ask investors, how did they make money, they’ll tell you they didn’t make it on the original plan, but on the second or third when the entrepreneur adapted the original plan and found a better plan. Rarely do initial plans with which entrepreneurs begin work the way they have been planned. Almost always there are twists and turns on the road.
This is about a new book, Getting to Plan B. I haven’t read this book, but I like what its authors are saying.
The challenge is not to make a better Plan A, the challenge is to recognize that however good your Plan A is, it is probably not very accurate. So your mind-set, as you enter a process, should be to work out the best plan and at the same time, to get beyond that initial plan. Get it into the market and see if the market can tell which parts of that plan are correct, and which are off base, so that you can quickly adapt to the reality. Plan As are mostly partly correct, but not completely correct.
That sounds right to me.
 Amazon.com: Getting to Plan BISBN: 1422126692ISBN-13: 9781422126691 |
I have to admit that I like how much this sounds like The Plan-As-You-Go Business Plan, my book from 2008. All business plans are wrong, but vital. It’s about change, course corrections and management.
Tim Berry is the founder and chairman of Palo Alto Software and Bplans.com. Follow him on Twitter @Timberry.
