No need for a business plan because “these things always go wrong”
Over the past two decades, Musk has helped build a series of successful companies, from PayPal to Tesla and SpaceX – making him the richest person in the world with a net worth of $258 billion, according to Bloomberg. And he did it while going directly “against” conventional business knowledge.
Musk admitted to dropping the idea of developing a written roadmap defining the company’s goals and operating strategy at the 2018 South by Southwest conference. “I had a business plan when I started Zip2.” “But these things are always wrong, so then I don’t bother with business plans anymore,” he said.
Zip2 was Musk’s first major startup: He co-founded the company that helps newspapers design city guides with his brother Kimbal in 1995. It wasn’t exactly a failure – after four years, two brothers sold Zip2 to Compaq for 307 million USD in cash.
Those four years, however, have led Musk to believe that things rarely go according to plan in the startup world. So before launching his next company, X.com — which eventually merged with its competitor, Confinity, to become PayPay — Musk decided to scrap the blueprints altogether. .
Musk and his partners went on to sell PayPal to eBay in 2002 in a $1.5 billion stock deal.
Many famous pundits and startup icons disagree with Musk’s strategy: Failing to make a business plan is often cited as one of the most common mistakes an entrepreneur can make, especially with those who do not have a business plan. Entrepreneurs looking to raise capital for investment.
Still, billionaire Mark Cuban said he believes in business plans – often doing extensive research before starting or investing in a business. For him, the business plan will be the key “to change,” so you can adapt when your original plan starts to go wrong.
Richard Branson, another billionaire, is also known as a big supporter of writing business plans. Branson once wrote in a blog post: “A business plan doesn’t have to be a lengthy and well thought out proposal.” It can be as simple as some notes in a notebook, or a scribble on the back of an envelope.”
Branson adds that you don’t have to wait for a full, formal plan to get started – maybe it’s just an idea in the same way that other billionaire entrepreneurs like Meta co-founders Mark Zuckerberg and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman used it to start his business.
Instead of writing a business plan, Musk said, aspiring entrepreneurs should ask themselves some simple questions before getting started. “You really have to ask if something is true,” he says, and whether your business idea is “legitimate.”
(According to CNBC)
Following Economic Life
at Blogtuan.info – Source: cafebiz.vn – Read the original article here
