Entrepreneur 1.0 - The Ultimate Business Bootcamp (Session One)
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This past Tuesday, October 6th, The Richard Ivey School of Business hosted Entrepreneur 1.0: The Ultimate Business Bootcamp. Entrepreneur 1.0: The Ultimate Business Boot Camp (E1.0) is presented by TechAlliance Venture Services in partnership with the Pierre L. Morrissette Institute for Entrepreneurship at the Richard Ivey School of Business.
E 1.0 educates participants on key issues surrounding planning for the success of a start-up or early stage knowledge-based company. In the 10-week intensive course, participants will acquire the practical tools and knowledge to manage business challenges, and develop the support network that every entrepreneur needs (http://www.techalliance.ca/entrepreneur-10).
TechAlliance (www.TechAlliance.ca) is a London, Ontario-based company which empowers the London and Southwestern Ontario technology sector. They prepare entrepreneurs to launch new ventures, and provide education and networking opportunities to accelerate business growth for small-to-medium enterprises. The first session at Ivey, entitled “The Evolution of a Business and Your Plan,” was hosted by Stewart Thornhill, the Executive Director of the Pierre L. Morrissette Institute for Entrepreneurship.
Thornhill spoke to a diverse group of students, entrepreneurs, lawyers, and representatives of government agencies on Tuesday, emphasizing the value of a business plan. “A business plan doesn’t have to be a written document,” said Thornhill, “It’s YOUR plan for how you’re going to make money.” Thornhill emphasized that a plan starts with a very clear description of the business – if you lose a reader/listener at this point, nothing else matters.
Thornhill touched on a number of key points regarding plans:
1. In the words of Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Ivey, Ron Close, “When looking for a business idea, look for a bleeding neck wound.” The bigger the pain, the bigger the problem, the bigger the opportunity for the entrepreneur.
2. A startup is always going to take twice as much money and three times as long to start than you originally anticipate.
3. In an income statement, you only get one chance to make money (revenue), after that, everything else takes away money from you (expenses) – make sure you know how you’re going to make that revenue.
4. Your operations plan (i.e. where to produce, make in house vs. outsource, etc.) is what will SAVE you in expenses; NOT what is going to MAKE YOU MONEY!
5. Make sure you address potential risks. If you don’t, you’re telling a potential investor you’re either DUMB because you don’t know about them, or a LIAR because you do and didn’t tell them.
Thornhill also offered some advice for the financial side of plans: use three different colors on your financial statements. Blue = Facts (Write a note for what the fact is and where you got it), Green = Decisions (Pricing, How much you’re going to sell something for), Red = Assumptions (Guesses, Unsubstantiated facts, Gut feel). Once you have these numbers, run a lot of scenarios: What happens if prices go up – can you survive a price war? What if sales get cut in half? What if sales double?
The night was capped off by a chat with local entrepreneur Dr. Wayne Danter, President & CSO of Critical Outcome Technologies, Inc – a local company that helps the pharmaceutical industry get novel treatments to market faster.
Dr. Danter told the story of his startup and offered some great pointers to new entrepreneurs:
1. Build a strong support network with at least one non-family believer (preferably with money).
2. Always seek constructive criticism: identifying real potential problems leads to real solutions.
3. Endurance is key – most people give up just before their first success – success is often defined as moving from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.
4. You need the right people working with you, and they all need to be on the same page – they can all have the same vision for what you’re doing but may have a different vision for how to get there.
5. Don’t work with a group of people who only tell you what you want to hear.
Dr. Danter and his team most recently took Critical Outcome Technologies Inc. public on the Toronto Venture Exchange and are now nearing their first major contract.
Session two of Entrepreneur 1.0 focused on team building and management takes place this Tuesday, October 13th at Ivey. Look for live Twitter updates and a new upcoming blog post on the event.
Comments
Matt
I like the idea of using different colors on the financial statements. I haven’t heard that before. I strongly agree with not working with a group of people who tell you what you want to hear. Entrepreneurs need to be very open to constructive criticism. It will increase our efficiency and reduce our chance of error. I look forward to the blog posting on session two!
October 13, 2009