Building a Business
How to Estimate Startup Costs
Get an idea of how much money you'll need by creating three quick lists and making a few educated guesses.
Tim Berry is the chairman of Eugene, Ore.-Palo Alto Software, which produces business-planning software. He founded Bplans.com and wrote The Plan-As-You-Go Business Plan, published by Entrepreneur Press. Berry is also a co-founder of HavePresence.com, a leader in a local angel-investment group and a judge of international business-plan competitions.
More From Tim Berry
Building a Business
Five Critical Questions Your Business Plan Should Answer
Answering these questions periodically can help keep long-term goals in mind while you adjust your immediate steps and actions.
Business Accounting
Seven Cringe-Worthy Business-Plan Mistakes
Follow these tips to dodge some of the most common planning pitfalls.
Business Plan
A Better Business Plan Can Lead to New Customers
These four steps can help get you on your way to enhancing and expanding your client base.
Thought Leaders
How Business Planning Leads to Better Management
Here are three steps to help get you planning better, and putting those plans in motion.
Human Resources
Better Management: A Business Planning Test
Having a simple plan for internal management can be key to business success. Do you have one?
Building a Business
Let Your ‘Story’ Frame Your Business Plan
Don't think of it as a formal document but as a collection of your stories, combined with concrete goals.
Building a Business
The Two Worst Pitching Mistakes
Understanding the medium and the context is key to making a compelling pitch.
Business Plan
Business Planning for the ‘Lean Startup’
This next-generation strategy calls for planning--and revising--as you go.
Building a Business
5 Easy Ways to Kick-start Your Business Planning
Don't know where to start with your plan? Here are some tips to get you going--today.
Business Plan
In Business Planning, Form Follows Function
Your plan should be functional and be a tool for managing your business growth.
Building a Business
Business Plans for Bootstrappers
Whether seeking investors or not, every business needs a plan.
Thought Leaders
Is Your Business Plan On Track?
Tips to help track and tweak your business plan beyond the startup phase
Building a Business
Five Harmful Myths About Business Plans
Believing these lies could be hazardous to your business.
Marketing
10 Ways to Validate a Sales Forecast
Even without data, there are other ways to test your projections.
Building a Business
A Good Year for Business Planning
3 reasons businesses will benefit from better planning in 2010.
Business News
My Planning’s Off. What Now?
Here are 3 steps to take when your business plan doesn't match the actual.
Building a Business
Testing Your Values, Living Your Brand
Build your business plan around core values and never forget what those values are.
Business Plan
6 Business Plan Fundamentals
A downturn is a good time to make sure you've got the fundamentals covered.
Building a Business
6 Components of a Bootstrap Business Plan
A business plan for a self-funded startup can be stripped down, but that makes it no less important.
Building a Business
A Case Study: Real-Life Business Planning
A planning meeting should set the foundation for real strategy, not set forth the strategy itself. Find out how one company made the most of its two-day session.
Building a Business
Measure Your Business Plan Results
No plan is ever right on, but having no plan is never right. Here's how to analyze the actual results compared to the plan.
Business Plan
4 Big Fat Business Plan Lies
Get past these 4 myths and learn what a business plan is at its simplest.
Marketing
Get Back to Business Planning Fundamentals
In a recession, it's important to know what adjustments to make to your business plan. Here are three fundamentals to remember.
Marketing
Economic Crises Call for Better Marketing Plans
Waiting for the next crisis to hit means you will have waited too long to revise your business plan.
Building a Business
Budget Strategically to Stay on Course
These 9 tips will help you manage your budget, steer straight and control your destiny.
Building a Business
It’s Time to Rethink the Business Plan Outline
Use these tips as a guide to help you make the most of your time when creating a business plan.
Business Plan
Use Your Leadership Style to Make Your Best Business Plan Yet
Find out what kind of a thinker--and business owner--you are by asking these strategic questions.
Building a Business
For Real Planning, Start With the Review Schedule
Stop letting all your management plans slip through your fingers with efficient meetings that track progress.
Business Plan
The Plan-as-You-Go Business Plan
This year, consider a new approach that could change how you plan--and manage--your business.
