6 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Write A Business Plan

In recent months, I’ve taken an active role in the startup community. I’ve joined the board of numerous startups as consultants/advisers with hopes of guiding them to a more successful path.

The first thing almost every entrepreneur brings me is a business plan. These business plans have ranged from 1 to 85 pages. Some business plans did projections for 3 to 30 years while I even got a business plan that predicted an acquisition by Facebook.

I only look through these business plans for fun, but I never make a decision based off of the business plan. In fact, I tell entrepreneurs to throw their business plans away because you simply can’t build a startup based off of a document.

I used to write business plans when I first got started in business, but I quickly found out that they were a waste of time and have never written one since. In this article, I’m going to share 6 reasons why you shouldn’t write a business plan:

1. Investors Buy Into You & The Business

Investors could care less about a paper that claims how many millions you will make. I’ve had tons of friends who have raised funding, but I don’t know a single one who ever used their business plan once throughout the whole process.

They made presentations with important figures and executive summaries, but the business plan was never included. Investors could care less about what your papers say, they’re interested in seeing what your business can do.

2. Adapt or Die

Business plans make it very tough on entrepreneurs to adapt. Once you have a plan in writing, many startup founders argue about the direction that a business should take.

In business, you can adapt to what your customers or market demands otherwise you will die. It’s sad, but it’s the truth. Business plans can never predict what your customers or market will want in the future.

3. Spend That Time Doing Something More Valuable

On average, entrepreneurs have told me that they have spent around 40-50 man hours creating a business plan. To me, that is an EPIC waste of time!

Instead of spending all that time creating a business plan, you can utilize that time trying to prove your concept or doing something that will help your business now.

4. Business Plans Don’t Account For Emotions

Creating a successful business requires a team of individuals who are on the same page. Often times, startups struggle to have their team agree and believe in a common vision.

Emotions and attitudes play a huge role in whether or not you will be successful. The situations of people vary from time to time and this is something no business plan in the world can predict.

5. They Set Limitations For You Before You Begin

Often times, business plans dictate the success you have planned for yourself. If your projections are to make $1 million in 3 years, then your fixated on meeting that goal.

When you create a business, you shouldn’t have any limitations on how far and how fast you can grow. Instead of creating a quota that you have to meet, try to achieve as much as possible.

6. Speed To Market Is Essential 

If 2 people have the same startup idea and decide to launch a business, who will win? Is it the guy who writes his ideas down on paper or the guy who goes out and launches something to the market?

Most likely the guy who goes out and launches something to the market. From launching his startup, he will be quicker to market and will learn far more about his industry, customers, and idea than the guy who spends his time writing it all out.

Conclusion 

From my personal experiences, business plans haven’t been as important as they have been portrayed in the business world. Work on a business plan only when there’s a reason to do so!

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