Expert Opinion

               A name synonymous with technology and internet marketing is Dr. Guy Kawasaki. Former Apple employee, writer, and business owner, Kawasaki went his own route after his tenure with the computer company and birthed the company Garage. Garage connects angel investors with entrepreneurs and is Kawasaki’s attempt to help fund budding business ventures. In fact, Kawasaki popularized the term “evangelism” as it relates to marketing. He is also considered an expert in social media and technological marketing.

               According to Kawasaki, a successful business plan relies on three major factors: the executive summary, the length of the document, and the design. In Kawasaki’s eyes, the most important part of a business plan is the executive summary. It is the first thing that potential investors will look at; it is the very first impression of a company’s integrity and will likely be the deciding factor in whether or not investors trust a company enough to fund the venture. Essentially, the executive summary needs to grab and hold potential investors’ interest long enough to continue reading the business plan and possibly take it under consideration. On that note, Kawasaki suggests to keep a business plan within thirty pages, as anything more than that will likely turn off investors. No matter how thrilling the concept, few will bother reading a business plan that is fifty pages long. Finally, presentation is everything. If investors are remotely put off by the way your business plan looks, that sentiment will carry over to your concept. Too much fluff and decoration will demean your plan. To summarize, Kawasaki’s main mantra is to keep things simple.

               Conversely, entrepreneur, speaker, and business mentor Chuck Blakeman, preaches a different doctrine. With a clientele list that includes Apple, Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, and many more Fortune 5000s, Blakeman has led some of the most successful businesses in the world, including his own.

               Blakeman doesn’t believe in business plans. He doesn’t feel that it an adequate or productive use of an entrepreneur’s time. Instead, he advises that the time put into creating a business plan could be better spent actually doing business. Rather than spending time on devising a flawless business plan, Blakeman suggests entrepreneurs “Implement now, perfect as you go”. In his mind, for investors to take a business seriously, they need to see a company’s time is put into actually doing business, rather than merely theorizing it.

               While Blakeman’s philosophy is definitely bold and proactive, Kawasaki’s suggestion regarding a business plan’s executive summary. As with scriptwriting and social media marketing, hooking in the audience happens in the first line. To get investors to read a business plan, it is vital to grab their attention the instant they pick up the document.