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Business Plans

Simplicity

Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!  I feel like I'm beating a dead horse to death, but there's so much complexity still out there I feel it's my mission to keep breakin' it down like a fraction.

Executive Summary

If you do decide to go the VC roadshow route (and that's a post for another time), they do NOT want yet another 80-page plan to slog through.  Try boiling everything down to 10 slides, and better yet, into one page.  Below is a great example of an easy to use one-pager, in web app form.  It's called plancruncher and was created by a division of Lunatech Ventures.
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Ten Slides Maximum

Courtesy of the man Dave McClure (@DaveMcClure), an early investor in Twitter among other famous startups you've heard of, here's what should be in your ten slides:
  1. Elevator Pitch
  2. The Problem
  3. Your Solution
  4. Market Size
  5. Business Model
  6. Proprietary Technology
  7. Competition
  8. Marketing Plan
  9. Team/Hires
  10. Money Milestones
Here's his famous "How To Pitch A VC" slide deck if you want more details. You should follow @seanMeverett on Twitter here.

Integration

The Problem

My problem with the various to-do and project management apps out there (read: Basecamp), is that they don't move as fast as your brain or the real world. They quickly become an administrative burden requiring you to constantly log into the app (whether web or mobile) in order to update status, comment, or crossing things off. So how do you fix this? I think I may have a solution...and it has to do with integration.

The Idea

First, consider the things most people are plugged into all day. In descending order of prevalence, it's likely the following web apps:
  • Gmail
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
Next, instead of having people logging into your own native app constantly, why not leverage those technologies that people are already using.  If they don't have to leave these places to interact with your solution, then it's more likely your rate of usage (and therefore value in the customer's mind) will be higher.  It all comes down to integration.

The Solution

If I was to build a simple web app to track my to-do list, I would do the following:
  1. Build the simple web app (something like Teux Deux)
  2. Next, integrate Twitter's O-Auth and API
  3. Develop a Twitter syntax to allowing the user to send tweets to add and cross things off the list
  4. Finally, and this is key, provide daily DM (direct message), showing the status of the current and most pressing to-do list items
One company that does integrate with Twitter using 3 of the 4 techniques is  Evernote. Note:  I realize that Basecamp and some others have integrated email replies to post comments, but you can't send or reply to an email to add an item or cross something off. You should follow @seanMeverett on Twitter here.

Selling Online

Selling products or services online is difficult.  There's a LOT of competition.  However, here's a few best practices from the master Frank Kern himself (you may have never heard of him, but he's made a killing and focuses on building customer email lists, then how to exploit them into sales). You can check out a few of his how-to videos here.  Or get the synopsis below: 1.  Know your customer's desired outcome (so you can figure out a way to help them) 2.  Overcome skepticism by providing some valuable aspect of your product or service for free up front 3.  Demonstrate that the customer can achieve their desired outcome (get past their own self-doubt) by showing successes of others using your service/product 4.  Give the potential customer the tools and show these people how to use them 5.  Give them a reason to take action and sign up now Here's a link to his how-to use the proper email structure in PDF format for the 4 Day Cash Machine. You should follow @seanMeverett on Twitter here.

Drawing & Websites

Sometimes you just need a break and need to get a little creative.  I made the picture below using the latest web markup language in about 2 minutes so don't judge me, I'm no artist (I just like to play with my etch-a-sketch from time-to-time). It was built with an HTML5 drawing tool called Harmony.  Check it out, it's completely user friendly. HTML is the code that tells websites what to do and how to work (CSS code, on the other hand, tells websites what to look like, and sometimes how to create movement). The current web is built on HTML4 and the evolution to version 5 is poised to make Flash irrelevant.  Flash, by the way, is that thing where you go to view a video or website on your iPhone and it gives you that little blue box error.  Mr. Steve Jobs hates flash, but I'm sure he's okay with HTML5.
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You should follow @seanMeverett on Twitter here.

Thank You

From the bottom of my heart.  Thank you.  It's you that make the 18 hour days fly by. In one month, you visited my brand new site over 1,600 times and stayed almost a minute.  I added a blog only 6 days ago, representing 20% of visits, and already 8 of you have subscribed to my RSS feed. I performed no SEO (search engine optimization), no SEM (search engine marketing, read: did not advertise) and never planned for this to be anything more than a "diary" of my life and thoughts that my kids could someday read and get to know me.  I only tweeted out new blog posts. I would rather help others than help myself.  To that end, if I can repay you and help you in some way, I'm only a tweet away @seanMeverett. As an entrepreneur myself for many years, I understand the struggle of maintaining your vision in the face of adversity, whether that represents bold-faced rejection or simply someone ignoring you.  I want to pass along a bit of the love for someone who "gets it".

Life In Perpetual Beta

Melissa Pierce is a Chicago native who I stumbled upon (no pun intended) today.  She is creating a documentary on Entrepreneurs  and she needs your support. I donated $30 dollars, check out her trailer video in the link below and donate any amount, if you're able. Thanks Melissa for "getting it".
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You should follow @seanMeverett on Twitter here.

Storytelling

The Story

You stumble upon a dark cave lit only by faint, flickering torch light.  As your eyes start to adjust, you notice a group of people shackled to the wall, and discover they've been here their entire lives, never experiencing natural sunlight. You feel it's your duty to unshackle these men and women so they can escape the confines of the darkness.  You move towards the man closest to you as he's the only one making eye contact and furiously try to unshackle him from the wall while excitedly telling the group about the "outside".  He, as well as the group, is a bit startled by your strange, confusing descriptions. After much struggling, you're finally able to un-cuff the man and start beckoning him to follow you out of the dimly lit, dank cave.  He says no one's ever been away from this wall and would rather just stay.  Not one to give up easily, you continue telling him about the beautiful landscape, the sunrises and sunsets, and the fields of green.  You realize fairly quickly that something's being lost in translation and think, "How do I explain something so majestic and awe-inspiring to someone who's never even seen a sunset before?". Luckily this man is a bit more fearless than the rest, you discover he has always taken a few more risks than the others (or so he tells you).  You've found your man.  As you woo him about the benefits of the "outside", he asks curious questions like, "What will people think of me if I go to this "outside" world?", and "Why should I go when I'm perfectly comfortable here?".  You stumble through a few answers but manage to bring him to the mouth of the cave as you talk. As the man rounds the corner to the exterior of the cave, he shrieks "My eyes, they're burning from this fire!".  You tell him soothingly to calm his nerves and let his eyes adjust to the light.  He rubs his eyes and begins to blink.  Then something magical happens.  You witness him begin to experience the "outside" and can tell he's in absolute shock.  "I can't believe I've been in that cave my entire life and have never seen this!".  You want to give him the I-told-you-so bit, but remain silent.  "We need to tell everyone about this and get them out here!", he proclaims.  You think to yourself that this isn't going to be easy, remembering the struggle it to just to get the most fearless of the bunch "outside". Just then, the man races back inside to where his friends are, but he hasn't had time to let his eyes re-adjust to the darkness, so he's stumbling, frantically feeling the walls to lead him back.  As he enters, talking excitedly and appearing blind, the group wonders what horrible things could have happened "outside" to make him like this.  The man prods them to join us "outside" as we furiously unbind the rest of the group's shackles.  They are now more skeptical, however, due to this curious behavior.  Most are reluctant to join us, but a few of the braver souls begin to creep towards the "outside"...

The Analogy

As an entrepreneur, the most difficult job you have is leading people satisfied with the status quo into the light, explaining something as beautiful as a sunset to a blind person, and getting them to do the same. A wise man once said, "There are only two functions in a business: manufacturing and marketing".  They both never end, and adults learn through stories.  You don't think the Odyssey and Illiad were just for entertainment, do you? You should follow @seanMeverett on Twitter here.

Simplicity + Achievements = Powerful

Simplicity

Simplicity you get, so I'm not going to over-complicate a simple subject.

+ Achievements

Achievements, however, are a somewhat recent development in the web app space, most of the recent press being thrust on Foursquare.  You didn't think it blew up because people wanted to just "check in", did you?  And with a few other features being released in the next week or so, they may fix some of my gripes (a post for  a different day). However, the latest inspiration came by way of a small development shop, Panic, that spits out some of the best web design coding software out there.  They said it best in their blog post today, The Panic Status Board, referencing the internal and visually simplistic app they just streamed to a TV mounted to their office wall: Les, one of our support guys, said it best after a week: “That board is like magic.” Our support turnaround time is faster than it’s ever been. Just the simple act of “publicizing” those numbers — not in a cruel way, but a “where are we at as a group?” way — has kept the support process on-task and, I think, made it a bit more like a video game. (It helps that when all the boxes are at “zero”, a virtual bottle of champagne appears on-screen, and a physical one is likely removed from the fridge.)

= Powerful

Stop and read those last two sentences again.  Powerful.  Then study this pic again.  Then click through to their blog and read the post in it's entirety (it's short).
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You should follow @seanMeverett on Twitter here. UPDATE: if you want to hack one of these achievement boards together yourself, you can find a tutorial on Dashboard Confessional.

Data Visualization

PowerPoint often adds complexity rather than taking it away.  Similarly, the charts and graphs most "practitioners" produce require a PhD to decipher. Why not make it easy on the reader and add a "call out" box detailing exactly what you want him or her to take away from the chart.  A few examples are shown below for inspiration.

Compare Variables Across Different Categories

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Compare Amount of Change in Variable Over Time

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You should follow @seanMeverett on Twitter here.