Unless you have tested the assumptions in your business model first, outside the building, your business plan is just creative writing.
Business plans are the tool existing companies use for execution. They are the wrong tool to search for a business model.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Business plans are useful for executing a company's strategy but not for finding a viable business model.
Steve Blank emphasizes that while business plans serve as an important operational tool for established companies, they fall short when it comes to developing the foundational ideas and strategies that form a successful business model. Entrepreneurs should focus on exploring and testing their concepts rather than relying solely on traditional business plans, which may not adequately capture the uncertainties and dynamics of starting a business.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a presentation about entrepreneurship, one could use this quote to illustrate the difference between execution and discovery in developing a business.
More from Steve Blank
All quotes →People talk about getting lucky breaks in their careers. I’m living proof that the “lucky breaks” theory is simply wrong. You get to make your own luck... The world is run by those who show up…not those who wait to be asked.
You need to ask yourself, ‘Where do you want to work: startups, mid-size or large companies?’ If you find yourself debating the ‘startup versus large company’ choice you’ve already chosen the big company. Entrepreneurship isn’t a career choice it’s a passion and obsession.
We now know that something between 85 and 90 percent of most software product features are unwanted and unneeded by customers. That is an enourmous ammount of waste of time and money that ends up on the floor.
Greatest risk is not development of new product, but development of customers and markets
Build and they will come’ is not a strategy, it’s a prayer.
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