Tim Berry's Recent Blog Posts

Get what you want from your business

Lean business planning simple but powerful way to get what you want from your business. Get focused, grow faster, and adjust to change. A lean business plan is an easy and practical way to align strategy, tactics, milestones, assumptions, and essential cash flow without the fuss of a full business plan.

Buy it today at amazon.com, iBooks store, Barnes and Noble, Chapters, Indigo, or your local bookstore. Or click here for the free LivePlan version.

leanplan.com

Take Real Steps to Fight Sexism in Tech

Harassment in the workplace. Sexism. Genderism. Bigotry and prejudice. Brogramming. Not just everywhere, but also in high tech, which – you’d think – should have been advanced past that backwardness. Silicon Valley too. Blue city, blue industry, in a blue state. If you’ve been off the grid for a while, read this from the New...

The post Take Real Steps to Fight Sexism in Tech appeared first on Planning, Startups, Stories.

timberry.bplans.com

4 Startup Truths You Won’t Learn in Business School

Becoming an entrepreneur is one of the most rewarding—and terrifying—things you'll ever do. Click to continue...

www.sofi.com

Using Simplifying Assumptions to Help Keep Business Projections Real | OPEN Forum

Business projections don't need detailed modeling to project tax rates and depreciation. You can estimate by using simple percentage assumptions... (click to continue)

www.americanexpress.com

How to Protect Your Business Idea While You Build The Business

You can't build a business without sharing your idea. Here's how to protect your business idea and still share it, carefully, as needed.

The post How to Protect Your Business Idea While You Build The Business appeared first on Planning, Startups, Stories.

timberry.bplans.com

Video: Lean Business Planning

I was pleased to join Dustin Luther of D&B B2B for this Facebook Live video on lean business planning.

The post Video: Lean Business Planning appeared first on Planning, Startups, Stories.

timberry.bplans.com

Don’t Want to Plan? Just Do a Sales Forecast

Not interested in writing a business plan? Do a sales forecast instead. With regular review, a sales forecast will prove an invaluable tool to help you manage and grow your business easily.

articles.bplans.com

Online Course

The Economist Group is hosting my new online course on lean business planning.

learning.ly

Do You Believe the Legendary Startup Failure Statistics. I Don’t.

This recent piece on startup failure statistics caught me eye on Twitter first, and I followed the links to discover Startups: Conventional Wisdom Says 90% Fail. Data Says Otherwise. | Fortune.com. Here’s a direct quote from author Erin Griffith: “I recently found myself carelessly repeating a statistic that I’d heard dozens of times in private conversations...

The post Do You Believe the Legendary Startup Failure Statistics. I Don’t. appeared first on Planning, Startups, Stories.

timberry.bplans.com

Service for Equity Formula

Say you are a service provider – consultant, designer, coder – and somebody offers you startup equity in exchange for professional service. I pondered this question after seeing it on Quora. I turned back to decades as a consultant, and decades dealing with startups, to come up with this sure-proof service for equity formula. Try...

The post Service for Equity Formula appeared first on Planning, Startups, Stories.

timberry.bplans.com

Forget Business Networking. It’s a Hoax

Forget business networking. “Networking” as a business activity is a hoax. Business relationships that you build as business assets are meaningless. As soon as you use this vocabulary, it’s self serving, superficial, and ineffective. The people being used as assets know it, and are not fooled by it. So “Business Networking” doesn’t work. Friendship vs....

The post Forget Business Networking. It’s a Hoax appeared first on Planning, Startups, Stories.

timberry.bplans.com

Angel Investment Red Flags

Last week at an angel investment meeting one of our group members asked whether anybody had a list of red flag problems that would immediately eliminate a startup from consideration by angel investors. That seemed like a good idea to me then. And over the weekend somebody asked a similar question in Quora: what are...

The post Angel Investment Red Flags appeared first on Planning, Startups, Stories.

timberry.bplans.com

A Good Resolution: Schedule Regular Management Meetings

Each year, as you get ready to publish the next year's plan, schedule the plan review meetings. Use some regular meeting schedule such as the third or fourth Thursday of every month. All the managers committed to the plan will...

The post A Good Resolution: Schedule Regular Management Meetings appeared first on Planning, Startups, Stories.

timberry.bplans.com

Do We All Undervalue Bootstrapping?

In business schools, in popular blogs, in business publications, and in general discussion of starting a business, we undervalue bootstrapping. We teach starting a business as if every new business requires sophisticated venture capital. I understand how this can be...

The post Do We All Undervalue Bootstrapping? appeared first on Planning, Startups, Stories.

timberry.bplans.com

Understanding Uncertainty is Vital to an Entrepreneur

Pop quiz: what relationship factor is the single most common trait in the successful entrepreneur? My answer: understanding uncertainty. Living with uncertainty Why? First let me say that I’m not sure. Second, that I might change my mind tomorrow. (Irony intended.) Third, that I know there are seemingly endless lists of traits of the entrepreneur, and...

The post Understanding Uncertainty is Vital to an Entrepreneur appeared first on Planning, Startups, Stories.

timberry.bplans.com

The More You Use Facebook, the Worse You Feel

New research shows that the more you use Facebook, the worse you feel. This worries me because the more I use Facebook, the more I connect with friends and family, the better I feel. What's wrong with me? Now I'm worried. So now they are right. Dammit.

The post The More You Use Facebook, the Worse You Feel appeared first on Planning, Startups, Stories.

timberry.bplans.com

Startup Vision: Paradox of Consistency vs. Opportunity

The world is full of paradox, like this one. Here’s research on startup vision that shows “The tech landscape is lush with entrepreneurs whose success blossomed only after the founders had modified or even abandoned their original vision.” That makes sense when you see examples and details. But wait – what about the idea that the...

The post Startup Vision: Paradox of Consistency vs. Opportunity appeared first on Planning, Startups, Stories.

timberry.bplans.com

Going Into Consulting? Prepare for Scope Creep

Are you new to consulting? Planning to start soon? Beware of scope creep. It’s a real problem in a lot of professional services. I ran into it in my years of consulting related to high-end planning and market research. Scope creep is what happens when you’ve done the consulting (or programming, design, engineering, etc.) you promised but...

The post Going Into Consulting? Prepare for Scope Creep appeared first on Planning, Startups, Stories.

timberry.bplans.com

How to Raise Money and Succeed Long Term (Video)

Jess Lee (Partner at Sequoia Capital) and Aaron Harris (Partner at YC) discuss raising money as an early stage company, and how to think about the fundraising process. Ali Rowghani (CEO of YC Continuity, previously CFO, COO @ Twitter, CFO @ Pixar) shares his thoughts on how to be a great leader and succeed long-term....

The post How to Raise Money and Succeed Long Term (Video) appeared first on Planning, Startups, Stories.

timberry.bplans.com

3 Strategies to Consider for Strategic Cost Cutting | OPEN Forum

Is your business in need of cost cutting to ride out a tough time? Consider using these tips to help you make necessary cuts without hurting your company.