Eric Eikrem’s Blog

The business plan has been treated in an endless number of publications. So why do I? Because I believe there is a lack of focus in a lot of what is written about business plans. The important things are often lost in the details. In fact, a business plan can be very brief.

I have seen compelling business plans in the form of a few PowerPoint slides, a couple of scribbled pages, and a brief video. What matters is having all the required ingredients (or a road map for getting them), not the exact form of communication. William A. Sahlman [1]

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I have been working as an entrepreneur with a technology-based project for the last 4 years, and have, during this period, also worked or cooperated with other entrepreneurs that were developing technology-based projects. In retrospect, it is clear that all of these projects had a lot of characteristics in common, including similar hurdles that had to be overcome.

Most tech start-ups have a product focus, including a good product development process, normally involving agile methods. On the other hand, a clear-cut business model based on proper market know-how is missing in the majority of start-up projects. Admittedly, some projects are so innovative that it is difficult to establish a market need, but in that case it is paramount to establish a process to obtain market intelligence as early as possible. Moreover, marketing, sales and distribution strategies are not prioritized early on. Typically, they come into focus at a much later stage, often too late.

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