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16 • Business Plans that Work
energy to be truly successful. So before starting the business planning
process, dig deep and find what motivates you, what fulfills you. In other
words, define your passion and make sure that your proposed business
incorporates that passion. The points on the star represent a way of life
for the successful entrepreneur. We urge you to consider and incorporate
those points into your life.
The Nature of Opportunity
Once you understand your career and entrepreneurial goals, as well as
your passion, it is often easy to generate a list of several business ideas.
However, not every idea is a viable opportunity; in fact, most are not.
By opportunity, we mean a business that can generate profits and pro-
vide attractive returns to the entrepreneurial team and investors. Many
failures can be attributed to great enthusiasm for ideas that don’t have
opportunity potential. Therefore, it is imperative to assess the potential
characteristics of the opportunity before launching into the business plan
or starting the business. The simplest, most robust means of understand-
ing your opportunity is the Timmons Model. 18
Timmons Model Basics
Success in creating a new venture is driven by a few central themes that
dominate this highly dynamic entrepreneurial process.
• It is opportunity driven.
• It is driven by a lead entrepreneur and an entrepreneurial team.
• It is resource parsimonious and creative.
• It depends on the fit and balance among these.
• It is integrated and holistic.
• It is sustainable.
These are the controllable components of the en trepreneurial process
that can be assessed, influ enced, and altered. Founders and investors fo-
cus on these forces during their careful due diligence process to analyze
18 For a fuller discussion, please refer to J. Timmons and S. Spinelli, New Venture
Creation, 8th ed., Boston: Irwin McGraw-Hill, 2009.