Timing Is Everything
Is it ever too early to plan? Give your startup an edge by mapping the next 10 years now.
If you're in the startup phase of your business, it can be
hard to see all the way to the end of this week, much less the end
of a decade. But since we're all about business plans and
making maps for success, we at Entrepreneur wondered if it
was possible to make a 10-year plan for your startup business.
According to Thomas Kinnear, executive director of the Samuel Zell &
Robert H. Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies at the
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, it is not only possible, but
it's also a good idea. "I think it's a good
discipline," he says. "But the further you get out, the
less you should think of it as an operational plan and the more you
should think of it as a process to drive thinking." Therefore,
a 10-year plan is going to look more like a compass than a road
map, in that its purpose is to point you in the right
direction.
When creating the 10-year plan for your business, try to engage
your mind to think of possible contingencies. How will a technology
change affect your product or service offering? For example, if
type A technology gives way to type C technology, how will your
company adapt? What's the value chain structure? Who are your
initial customers? Who will they be in five years? In 10?
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Though Kinnear notes advisors and investors won't
necessarily believe that your 10-year plan will serve as gospel,
the act of thinking about your business goals and vision with an
eye toward the future is good for entrepreneurs.
"You have to think that way from Day One," says
Kinnear. "If you don't get that straight . . . right away,
you could really get off course, burn through [money] and end up
basically nowhere."