{"id":5503,"date":"2015-03-17T18:11:35","date_gmt":"2015-03-17T18:11:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.investintech.com\/resources\/blog\/?p=5503"},"modified":"2019-08-26T10:11:49","modified_gmt":"2019-08-26T10:11:49","slug":"alternatives-business-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.investintech.com\/resources\/blog\/archives\/5503-alternatives-business-plan.html","title":{"rendered":"6 Innovative Alternatives To The Traditional Business Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Business
\nGot an idea you think the masses will love? Thinking of starting up your own business? You\u2019re not the only one.<\/p>\n

Competition is fierce and many ambitious individuals have the same vision of success as you do. And the best place to start beating the competition (after coming up with a killer idea) is with a well laid out business plan.<\/p>\n

Now if you\u2019ve looked into the topic, then you know that there\u2019s a lot of debate on whether or not the traditional business plan is still effective. For budding entrepreneurs today, the business plan is outdated, overly complex and unnecessary<\/a>. This leads us to ask the obvious question: If you still need to map out your business idea for others, where does this leave you?<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re looking to create a business plan that can impress investors, here are some modern ideas and innovative services you should consider.<\/p>\n

Use A PowerPoint Slide Deck For Effective Pitch Meetings<\/strong><\/h2>\n

PowerPoint has always been the tool of choice for presenting ideas. Why not use it for pitching your business?<\/p>\n

Walking potential investors through a PowerPoint presentation on your iPad can be very effective. Take Tim Young, founder of Socialcast, for example. He used 5 slides for a business pitch<\/a>\u00a0in 2010 and managed to raise over 10 million in investment funds for 2 startups.<\/p>\n

From his experience, he found that a presentation can help your pitch because \u201cby sharing a screen and sitting in close proximity to each other, the environment naturally becomes more comfortable and relaxed.\u201d\u00a0Certainly an idea worth considering if you get nervous while presenting.<\/p>\n

Create A Successful Business Model With\u00a0<\/strong>LaunchBoard<\/strong><\/h2>\n

With LaunchBoard<\/a>, you can create, both simple or complex business models in no time. The tool is a perfect solution when you need to define your business and understand your customers. With several important features, such as analyzing data and deciding the best way to move forward, the tool has all the necessary options for any companies to succeed.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Business<\/p>\n

Image Source: LaunchBoard.io<\/a><\/p>\n

You can track your team\u2019s progress with an easy access to members KPI\u2019s and the ability to get involved in every decision-making process. Discover and develop new market opportunities, brainstorm and test ideas, organize files quickly and make all information understandable to everyone.<\/span><\/p>\n

Use A Lean Canvas For Concise Business Plans<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Just because your business plan is short doesn\u2019t mean it isn\u2019t well thought out. When you create one with Lean Stack<\/a>, you can boil down the essentials down to a one page blue print for quick at-a-glance reading.<\/p>\n

\"One<\/p>\n

Using a Lean Canvas is best for those situations where you\u2019re making a pitch to investors who \u00a0have very little time and can\u2019t go through all the nitty-gritty details. This is a paid service, but offers \u00a0free 30-day trials for both individual and team plans.<\/p>\n

Grow Your Busines With Strategyzer<\/strong>\"Business<\/h2>\n

Image Source: Strategyzer.com<\/a><\/p>\n

With Strategyzer\u2019s business model canvas, you are getting a platform and services that\u00a0 understand their customers. The numbers speak for themselves \u2014 over 5 million active users. With Strategyzer<\/a> you can easily create better products and quickly grow your business. Moreover, with this app, you can analyze any business idea and identify its market potential. It offers training options for the entire companies or simply one person. <\/span><\/p>\n

Create\u00a0 A Visual Business Plan With Pinterest<\/strong><\/h2>\n

This idea may go against what you know about best business plan practices, but using Pinterest can be a creative way of visualizing your idea for others. In fact, Tim Berry, angel investor, business planner and entrepreneur, stands behind the idea.<\/p>\n

According to him, a \u00a0business plan created with Pinterest<\/a> is more accessible than a slide deck and is helpful in steering your business in the right direction. This method doesn\u2019t describe your business; it focuses on the output of the plan.<\/p>\n

As Tim Berry points out, \u201ca business plan is worthwhile because of the decisions that result from it. If the Pinterest plan helps you organize a team and set the main points so you can move forward logically, why not?\u201d I think that sums it up exactly.<\/p>\n

Use Live Plan For Easy To Read Business Plans<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Like the other suggested ideas, Live Plan<\/a> tries to combine the serious nature of business plans with easy to read formats. It offers everything needed to keep your financials, business pitch and plan in check with an admin dashboard and support for team collaboration.<\/p>\n