William A. Sahlman – författare

Judging by all the hoopla surrounding business plans, you'd think the only things standing between would-be entrepreneurs and spectacular success are glossy five-color charts, bundles of meticulous-looking spreadsheets, and decades of month-by-month financial projections. Yet nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, often the more elaborately crafted a business plan, the more likely the venture is to flop. Why? Most plans waste too much ink on numbers and devote too little to information that really matters to investors. The result? Investors discount them. In How to Write a Great Business Plan, William A.Sahlman shows how to avoid this all-too-common mistake by ensuring that your plan assesses the factors critical to every new venture: * The people--the individuals launching and leading the venture and outside parties providing key services or important resources * The opportunity--what the business will sell and to whom, and whether the venture can grow and how fast * The context--the regulatory environment, interest rates, demographic trends, and other forces shaping the venture's fate * Risk and reward--what can go wrong and right, and how the entrepreneurial team will respond Timely in this age of innovation, How to Write a Great Business Plan helps you give your new venture the best possible chances for success.

Judging by all the hoopla surrounding business plans, you''d think the only things standing between would-be entrepreneurs and spectacular success are glossy five-color charts, bundles of meticulous-looking spreadsheets, and decades of month-by-month financial projections. Yet nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, often the more elaborately crafted a business plan, the more likely the venture is to flop.

Why? Most plans waste too much ink on numbers and devote too little to information that really matters to investors. The result? Investors discount them.

In How to Write a Great Business Plan, William A. Sahlman shows how to avoid this all-too-common mistake by ensuring that your plan assesses the factors critical to every new venture:

The people—the individuals launching and leading the venture and outside parties providing key services or important resourcesThe opportunity—what the business will sell and to whom, and whether the venture can grow and how fastThe context—the regulatory environment, interest rates, demographic trends, and other forces shaping the venture''s fateRisk and reward—what can go wrong and right, and how the entrepreneurial team will respond

Timely in this age of innovation, How to Write a Great Business Plan helps you give your new venture the best possible chances for success.

The best entrepreneurs balance brilliant business ideas with a rigorous commitment to serving their customers' needs.If you read nothing else on entrepreneurship and startups, read these 10 articles by experts in the field. We've combed through hundreds of articles in the Harvard Business Review archive and selected the most important ones to help you build your company for enduring success.Leading experts and practitioners such as Clayton Christensen, Marc Andreessen, and Reid Hoffman provide the insights and advice that will inspire you to:Understand what makes entrepreneurial leaders tickKnow what matters in a great business planAdopt lean startup practices such as business model experimentationBe prepared for the race for scale in Silicon ValleyBetter understand the world of venture capital--and know what you'll get along with VC fundingTake an alternative approach to entrepreneurship: buy an existing business and run it as CEOThis collection of articles includes "Hiring an Entrepreneurial Leader," by Timothy Butler; "How to Write a Great Business Plan," by William A. Sahlman; "Why the Lean Start-Up Changes Everything," by Steve Blank; "The President of SRI Ventures on Bringing Siri to Life," by Norman Winarsky; "In Search of the Next Big Thing," an interview with Marc Andreessen by Adi Ignatius; "Six Myths About Venture Capitalists," by Diane Mulcahy; "Chobani's Founder on Growing a Start-Up Without Outside Investors," by Hamdi Ulukaya; "Network Effects Aren’t Enough," by Andrei Hagiu and Simon Rothman; "Blitzscaling," an interview with Reid Hoffman by Tim Sullivan; "Buying Your Way into Entrepreneurship," by Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff; and "The Founder's Dilemma," by Noam Wasserman.

The best entrepreneurs balance brilliant business ideas with a rigorous commitment to serving their customers'' needs.

If you read nothing else on entrepreneurship and startups, read these 10 articles by experts in the field. We''ve combed through hundreds of articles in the Harvard Business Review archive and selected the most important ones to help you build your company for enduring success.

Leading experts and practitioners such as Clayton Christensen, Marc Andreessen, and Reid Hoffman provide the insights and advice that will inspire you to:

Understand what makes entrepreneurial leaders tickKnow what matters in a great business planAdopt lean startup practices such as business model experimentationBe prepared for the race for scale in Silicon ValleyBetter understand the world of venture capital--and know what you''ll get along with VC fundingTake an alternative approach to entrepreneurship: buy an existing business and run it as CEO

This collection of articles includes "Hiring an Entrepreneurial Leader," by Timothy Butler; "How to Write a Great Business Plan," by William A. Sahlman; "Why the Lean Start-Up Changes Everything," by Steve Blank; "The President of SRI Ventures on Bringing Siri to Life," by Norman Winarsky; "In Search of the Next Big Thing," an interview with Marc Andreessen by Adi Ignatius; "Six Myths About Venture Capitalists," by Diane Mulcahy; "Chobani''s Founder on Growing a Start-Up Without Outside Investors," by Hamdi Ulukaya; "Network Effects Aren’t Enough," by Andrei Hagiu and Simon Rothman; "Blitzscaling," an interview with Reid Hoffman by Tim Sullivan; "Buying Your Way into Entrepreneurship," by Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff; and "The Founder''s Dilemma," by Noam Wasserman.