24 Hour Business Plan Template
How to Validate Your Startup Ideas and Plan Your Business Venture
by Steven Fies
This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.
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Pub Date Jun 29 2016 | Archive Date Mar 08 2022
Description
Writing a business plan should be simple, dynamic, and straightforward.
More importantly, it must be a FUNCTIONAL tool that advances you forward towards your goals -- rather than holding you back due to endless tinkering and perfecting of your plan without taking action.
Enter the 24 Hour Business Plan Template, your functional tool to get you there as efficiently as possible. This is a complete guide that includes a downloadable pre-formatted business plan template and cash flow spreadsheet to help you get started.
In the book, I lay out the method I personally used to plan my own business - and in doing so, leave my full-time job and start my business on a full-time basis within seven months. My plan itself was constructed in under 24 hours on January 1, 2015 as my new years resolution; the remainder of the time spent was executing this plan over time. In the book you'll learn how to do the same, or close to it at the very least - and you'll begin to understand why this efficiency in the beginning is so important.
To reiterate, it's important to get to the action-taking phase as soon as possible. This cannot be overstated enough. Successful entrepreneurs and authors like Eric Ries, Gabriel Weinberg, and Justin Mares tout this very principle in their books The Lean Startup and Traction -- the simple fact is, it's much easier to make progress by taking action and adapting over time vs. trying to get everything perfect the first time around.
Too much time can be spent getting stuck in your head due to information paralysis or perfectionism, only to wake up one day realizing you've actually done nothing concrete at all to advance your goals. Don't be this person! Get up out of your chair and take action to make your goals happen.
Realize that it may take several iterations of creating a business plan, or cycling through various ideas, before you feel confident in moving forward with one in particular. This is okay -- and in fact, it's the exact reason why you need to be efficient during the initial planning and evaluation stage. Much better to spent one or two weeks cycling through 5-10 ideas than an entire year getting nowhere.
In this book, we'll cover the following topics:
-The importance of validation, and how to validate your business idea.
-The key elements of designing an amazing cover page for your business plan.
-How to write an executive summary, and why it must be written last after everything else.
-The proper elements that make up your Company Objectives section.
-The right approach to laying out your Products & Services section.
-How to setup a target customer profile including the right questions to ask.
-Websites and tables that will greatly simplify your industry and competitor analyses.
-Several possibilities for getting started with sales and marketing, and the difference between each.
-The key elements that will comprise your operational plan and any business logistics.
-What roles need to be defined in your Management section.
-The preferred formats and metrics to use in your business capitalization (initial funding) section.
-How to lay out your financial plan, both for your business and your personal finances.
Please know fat was trimmed from every section of this book to ensure you can get through it and understand the key principles quickly and move on to actually creating your own plan. Only the critical elements were left in, with additional explanation added at key junctions to ensure comprehension.
Whether you're venturing out for your first time as an entrepreneur, or you're a seasoned veteran looking for a no-nonsense way to manage the planning process for your next venture, 24 Hour Business Plan Template belongs on your tool belt.
A Note From the Publisher
Currently available in paperback and ebook formats.
Advance Praise
"...great quick guide...to tackle startup ideas and to bring it to the execution level." -Bilal Abdul Kader, Concordia University Finance Department Lecturer
"This is a book written for smart people by a smart author." -Tim H, Amazon Reader
"This book really provided me the framework to understand and execute a business plan." -frank, Amazon Reader
"This book had great practical advice for validating a business idea." Alexander Jelev, Amazon Reader
"...extremely helpful guide in getting started. It brought to light several issues and ideas I would have never thought of before." -Rebecca C, Amazon Reader
"...a really great read." -Mihir Patel, Amazon Reader
Marketing Plan
Promotions, advertisements, email newsletters, partnerships.
Available Editions
| EDITION | Paperback |
| ISBN | 9781517210991 |
| PRICE | $7.14 (USD) |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Reviewer 282220
The subject matter is comprehensively covered. A very helpful and informative book.
Carsten H, Media/Journalist
When I first started this book, I had some preconceived notions about the value of this book, primarily that a book of only 94 pages had to be somewhat lightweight and possibly only a tripwire kind of product toward a more expensive and extensive product.
While you can still make an argument for that, I was profoundly surprised by the amount of value and insight this book provided, making think of this as more or less required reading for the sales person I have reporting to me. Additionally for small business owners and first-time entrepreneurs, this book will make a phenomenal tool to get yourself prepared for and situated in the market you're aiming for.
You can take on expensive coaching and read tons of much heavier books to help guide you through this subject, but this book does it exceptionally well.
The 24-hour concept does not mean that you will have your business plan completed in one day, but it is an indication how many hours over a number of days you should put into constructing your business plan and prepare yourself for success.
I highly recommend this book.
[An ARC of this book for the purpose of this review was generously provided by the publisher through Netgalley]
Librarian 221287
I liked that the author actually provided a template that I did not have to try to create myself. The handouts provided were very useful especially the checklist. I will work with this information to make sure that my business is on track.
Renwick M, Reviewer
Without doubt, this is a useful guide for anyone starting out to set up their own business. Although it is a short book, the pages are full of advice and templates for someone who has not been through the process and wants to learn from others who can share their experience.
Tritia P, Media/Journalist
Do you have a great idea?
The “24 Hour Business Plan Template” by Steven Fies, provides a thorough framework to solidify your vision into a functional business plan. This book is an excellent tool to bring an enterprise to market or an efficient way to neatly record all your great ideas.
Packed with resources the "24 Hour Business Plan Template" offers a quick, informative read teaching us how to format an idea into a business model ready for prototyping and launch. Even as a seasoned entrepreneur this book will help you fine-tune what you already know and which start-up topics you'd benefit learning about.
Steve Fies' 24hr approach is based on the philosophy that no matter how detailed our business projections are; reality confirms plans are a glorified guess. To achieve our destined success, Mr. Fies argues, time and energy are best spent in the implementation of our plans learning from real world experiences and adjusting our projections accordingly.
I absolutely recommend the “24 Hour Business Plan Template” to people who are new entrepreneurs or the seasoned innovator looking to get a crash-course in writing a quick functional business plan.
M. W, Reviewer
I received this book from Netgalley for an honest review.
I have been studying business plans and part of the assignment was to write one. After searching online for the different versions of business plan, I found this book. The information and breakdown of the actual business plan allowed me to not only complete the assignment but it allowed me to do complete business plan for my on business launch. I found the information clear, understandable and very concise. I am going to recommend this book to my classmates as well.
Daniela R, Reviewer
An interesting take on building your business for success. Quick, insightful, and a great resource for the aspiring entrepreneur
Davide F, Reviewer
Steve provides a step by step guide to write a sound business plan and he do it in very simple words that can be understood by novice, too.
He provides also a downloadable bundle that contains:
- Pre-formatted Business Plan Template
- Cash-Flow Spreadsheet
- Quick Reference Action Plan
- Pre-Launch Checklist
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