161–170 of 346 posts
I’m surprised the YC application hasn’t been more of a focus in this discussion. The following questions are pulled from the application (perhaps an older version): What is your company going to make? Why did you pick this idea to work on? Do you have domain expertise in this area? How do you know people need what you're making? What's new about what you're making? What substitutes do people resort to because it does…
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As for business plans, the saying goes that "plans are useless, but planning is indispensable."
Business plans are a particularly poor tool for having funding conversations; they're both less persuasive than a pitch deck and less helpful in helping funders decide whether to invest than simply interviewing the founders.
But just because PG won't read your plan doesn't mean your startup shouldn't have/make a plan!
A) I call BS on "never". It's one thing to not consider them, but another to say never ever. And what does that say if he's truly never even read one? B) This isn't something to be proud of, and certainly not something others should emulate. Ignorance isn't what makes you successful. (likewise, neither is millions of data points). c) Business plans and balance sheets are still very useful and applicable, and fair to…
A) I call BS on "never". It's one thing to not consider them, but another to say never ever. And what does that say if he's truly never even read one? B) This isn't something to be proud of, and certainly not something others should emulate. Ignorance isn't what makes you successful. (likewise, neither is millions of data points). c) Business plans and balance sheets are still very useful and applicable, and fair to…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I love the man's essays and he is clearly a genius, but he's getting carried away a bit on Twitter.
Clearly very smart, but I haven't heard or read anything from him that would classify as genius.
This tweet is saying that YC interviewers don't read balance sheets; he's not saying that all balance sheets are useless. (You need a balance sheet to file your taxes, for one thing!) As for business plans, the saying goes that "plans are useless, but planning is indispensable." Business plans are a particularly poor tool for having funding conversations; they're both less persuasive than a pitch deck and less helpfu…
This is true not just for startups and its great advice for life in general. However, I believe YC would actively discourage founders from writing a traditional business plan. They would rather have their startups talk to users and building products.
To put it another way, I think YC would say that you cannot possibly write a realistic business plan without a solid customer base and a good product. Anything else and you're just making things up. By the time you have customers and a good product, you don't need a business plan to raise funding.
* This is what I've gathered from their startup school materials without having raised a dime from YC or talked to any of the partners, so take this with a big dash of salt.
This tweet is saying that YC interviewers don't read balance sheets; he's not saying that all balance sheets are useless. (You need a balance sheet to file your taxes, for one thing!) As for business plans, the saying goes that "plans are useless, but planning is indispensable." Business plans are a particularly poor tool for having funding conversations; they're both less persuasive than a pitch deck and less helpfu…
Plans in war (and in business) tend not to survive first contact with the enemy, but planning is still useful.
I’m surprised the YC application hasn’t been more of a focus in this discussion. The following questions are pulled from the application (perhaps an older version): What is your company going to make? Why did you pick this idea to work on? Do you have domain expertise in this area? How do you know people need what you're making? What's new about what you're making? What substitutes do people resort to because it does…
These questions cover product description, value prop, market analysis, financial projections and more, all of which are the core of a “business plan”. There is a key difference though - none of the YC questions are about the planning bit of a business plan. None of them are about what you're going to do in the near term future. It's all about what you've done so far and where you believe you could be when you exit.…
There's a famous Eisenhower quote that goes something like, "Plans are useless, but planning is indispensable."
The point being that any single plan is likely not to pan out because of unknowns and surprises, but by going through the process of planning, you have "cached" knowledge about your domain like what the opportunities and threats are and you can use that knowledge to adapt when the specific plan falls through.