Category: RFSYB
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Validate Your Concept Without Spending A Fortune
Many studies show that businesses fail because they do not take the time to validate “vet” their business idea by building a minimum viable product and gathering feedback from potential customers. To expand on this thought, business failures happen not because the founder didn’t have money in the bank to invest or because they didn’t…
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Why Do Many Startups Fail?
For over four decades of starting and building businesses, and the last decade mentoring dozens of startup founders and CEOs, I have observed that there seems to be a set of reasons that startups struggle and fail. The US Department of Commerce has found that about 49% fail within the first 5 years. D&B found…
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What Is Your Business Exit Strategy?
Whether retirement is 30 years away, just over the horizon or not in your game plan at all, a succession plan is vital to ensuring the continued success of your business. A good succession plan can help with the following: Transfer ownership when the time comes Maintain your lifestyle in retirement Provide for your heirs…
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A Simple Business Plan Format
Almost always successfully starting a new business requires a written business plan. In the past, I have been asked for my business plan format I used to start and manage my companies. The following format helped me focus on the implementation of action plans that supported my business concepts. To start, the business plan should…
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Product Development Roadmap
The product roadmap can be broken down into three distinct phases, each one containing its own set of milestones and goals. From the bare-bones proof of concept models to first off the line finished products, the prototyping process represents a progression from idea to reality. PHASE ONE: CONCEPT This phase represents the first iteration of…
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Business Startup Steps
There are no limits on who can become a great entrepreneur…I am a good example. You don’t necessarily need a college degree, a bunch of money in the bank or even business experience to start something that could become the next major success. However, you do need a strong plan and the drive to see…
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SMART Goal Setting
Many managers and leaders set out to improve without clearly defining how or what they hope to achieve. SMART goals, attributed to Peter Drucker’s management by objectives concept, are a time-tested way to measure a business objective. Before you start, you must decide what you want to accomplish and think about how you can apply…
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Business Values
In past workshops and blogs, I have discussed a real-time strategic business planning process. It starts with a business concept vision that is overlaid upon SWOT analysis and typical business areas like values, goals and constraints to arrive at a unified plan. Today, I would like to expand on that tough-to-define word…values. Instead of asking…
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SWOT Analysis: Industry Profile
Doing SWOT analysis once each year provides a systematic look at the trends in each of the six components that affect your industry. It helps you anticipate and adjust your expectations and pressure points that may affect your company, i.e. new government policies might: encourage more regulation may cause barriers to innovation; raise taxes that…
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What Is A Business Concept Model
A business model is a conceptual structure that supports the viability of the business & explains who the business serves to, what it offers, how it offers it, and how it achieves its goals…Peter Drucker said that the business model is supposed to answer: The business model acts as the blueprint of the business and…
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Building Your Marketing Plan
A marketing plan is part of your business plan and is the foundation for identifying your market, attracting prospects, converting them into customers, and retaining them as customers. Usually a market plan operates at two levels, strategic and tactical. Strategic to identify the overall market play and tactical to execute on the marketing plan. It…
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Sales Forecast – Backbone of the Business Plan
The sales forecast is the backbone of your business plan. People measure a business and its growth by sales, and your sales forecast sets the standard for expenses, profits and growth. Usually, sales forecasts are based on past sales data, industry-wide comparisons, and current economic trends. It is easier to come up with a sales…
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Finding Financing – The Elevator Pitch
An elevator pitch needs to be distilled down to a single nugget of truth.
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Understanding SWOT Analysis
SWOT analysis key purpose is to identify the strategies that will create a firm specific business model that will best align an organization’s resources and capabilities to the requirements of the environment in which the firm operates.
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Conducting Market Research
You may have a great idea for a product or service, but before you go any further, first make sure there’s a market for it. So you have a great idea for a product. Or perhaps you have stumbled on a service that isn’t being offered by anyone else but one that you think is…
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Startup Business Concept Refinement
Refine your business concept by researching available information/knowledge to see what works … try to duplicate those things that don’t affect your unique concept. Validate your product/service value proposition by customer testing using the least costly modeling method (minimal viable product) to find product-market fit & gather feedback from potential customers. SIMPLIFY your “vetting” research…
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Business Startup Checklist
Register & Maintain a New Business Register your business with the Colorado Secretary of State’s office by filing online. Subscribe to email notifications to receive important reminders related to your new business. The Secretary’s office sends all business reminders electronically, so it’s important to keep an active email address on file. Maintain your record at…