Sounds to me like this is pretty much the YC investment strategy: Fund good teams, and ignore the business plan because that's almost certainly going to change anyway.
See, there's one thing I don't really understand about the "fund good teams, ignore the business plan" strategy: can you ever consider a team to be "good" if they can't present you with at least a plausible business plan? Yes, the business plan will likely change, and being adaptable enough is important, but can a team be "good" without demonstrating the most basic ability to plan ahead?
Perhaps if they have a good track record, e.g. past exits.
Sounds to me like this is pretty much the YC investment strategy: Fund good teams, and ignore the business plan because that's almost certainly going to change anyway.
See, there's one thing I don't really understand about the "fund good teams, ignore the business plan" strategy: can you ever consider a team to be "good" if they can't present you with at least a plausible business plan? Yes, the business plan will likely change, and being adaptable enough is important, but can a team be "good" without demonstrating the most basic ability to plan ahead?
I think he does not mean don't build a business plan. The process of building a business plan is a great exercise for any startup. It helps them figure out a lot of holes in their plan or lack thereof.
In a startup things are constantly changing so having a good team means they will do anything to overcome any obstacle. It is a quality that far exceeds any business plan.
Well, this sucks for all the shy guys here. Guess we'll have to go to Diana King for our funding.
Nice doesn't exclude shy. I know lots of shy people that are really nice. Usually you just have to get them one-on-one and spend five minutes talking about something they find interesting and poof the shyness is gone.
Absolutely true! Great companies are a result of smart and hard-working entrepreneurs who form great teams.
I believe being nice does not exclude neither the confident nor the shy types. But being confident should not mean cocky or arrogant. In a start-up you should be willing to learn everyday and sometimes you won't hear nice things. Those who learn and adapt fast, and are also nice thrive and build great companies.
See, there's one thing I don't really understand about the "fund good teams, ignore the business plan" strategy: can you ever consider a team to be "good" if they can't present you with at least a plausible business plan? Yes, the business plan will likely change, and being adaptable enough is important, but can a team be "good" without demonstrating the most basic ability to plan ahead?
I think he does not mean don't build a business plan. The process of building a business plan is a great exercise for any startup. It helps them figure out a lot of holes in their plan or lack thereof. In a startup things are constantly changing so having a good team means they will do anything to overcome any obstacle. It is a quality that far exceeds any business plan.
Seems like "build one to throw away" doesn't apply only to programs.
See, there's one thing I don't really understand about the "fund good teams, ignore the business plan" strategy: can you ever consider a team to be "good" if they can't present you with at least a plausible business plan? Yes, the business plan will likely change, and being adaptable enough is important, but can a team be "good" without demonstrating the most basic ability to plan ahead?
I think he does not mean don't build a business plan. The process of building a business plan is a great exercise for any startup. It helps them figure out a lot of holes in their plan or lack thereof. In a startup things are constantly changing so having a good team means they will do anything to overcome any obstacle. It is a quality that far exceeds any business plan.
I'll second that writing the business plan is extremely helpful for the business itself. Like almost anything else, when we applied high standards to what we wrote, we uncovered a lot of unchecked assumptions, and good ideas, and manner of argument for your business. In the process of writing the plan, we also created it. We managed to nail down many of the engineering milestones we'll want to hit before our next round, went through a half dozen design iterations, including the introduction of two technologies that may be significant breakthroughs, created a multi-physics computer model of our engine and drivetrain, located automotive design and CAD contractors who've been providing us great schematics and visual concepts, and have clarified the entire development, procurement and hiring schedule.