Page 26 - Business Plans that Work A Guide for Small Business

Entrepreneurs Create the Future • 17

the risks and determine what changes can be made to improve a venture’s
chances of success, its capital requirements, the pace of growth, and other
start-up strategies.

Change the Odds: Fix It, Shape It, Mold It, Make It

The process starts with opportunity, not money, strategy, networks, team,
or the business plan. Most genuine opportunities are much bigger than
either the talent or the capacity of the team or the initial resources available
to the team. The role of the lead entrepreneur and the team is to juggle all
of these key elements in a changing environ ment. Think of a juggler bounc-
ing up and down on a trampoline that is moving on a conveyor belt at
unpredictable speeds and directions, while trying to keep all three balls in
the air. That is the dynamic nature of an early-stage start-up. The business
plan provides the language and code for communicating the quality of the
three driving forces, of the Timmons Model, and of their fit and balance.
The driving forces underlying successful new venture creation are il-
lustrated in Figure 1.1.
Figure 1.1 shows the desired balance. The shape, size, and depth
of the opportunity establish the required shape, size, and depth of both
the resources and the team. We have found that many people are a bit

Figure 1.1 The Timmons Model
The Classically Balanced Venture
Communication

Opportunity Resources
Business plan
Fits and gaps
How large and pro table
Ambiguity can we become? Exogenous forces

Leadership Creativity

Team

Uncertainty Capital market context

Founder
Sustainability: For environment, community, and society