There has been a lot of literature on the latest management fads (all principles apply, a SWOT analysis will always work) and about the speed of change, the need to be different and the unpredictability of the future. The only thing you can control in that context is being different.

Before you go to market, make sure you have done your ‘go-to-market’ map. This becomes your key management tool to align, co-ordinate and manage all tasks that are needed to ultimately ‘make the sale’.

Kathleen M. Eisenhardt Eisenhardt describes the key elements associated with successful fundraising. She discusses the importance of asking for the correct amount of money at the right time from the appropriate people. She stresses the importance of researching VCs and understanding the true motives behind their interests.

You need to be able to translate your plans and targets into the resource implications for your business. Use this template and translate your planned actions into time, money and people.

This spreadsheet will help you to prepare a projected profit and loss account as part of your Operating Budget, in a format suitable for inclusion in your Business Plan.

Target the right benefit message to address the most important (to the customer) needs

If you are in a growth phase, please be aware of some of the traps:

You will need different mixes of marketing communication tools as your business evolves through the growth path and as products go through the lifecycle.

This spreadsheet will help you to analyse the overheads your business is likely to incur, in a format suitable for inclusion in your Business Plan.

In the early stages of a new venture and a new product the imperative is to secure sales and get revenues flowing. Savvy entrepreneurs know that the best chance for sales of a new product, from a new business, lies with the innovator and early adopter market segments – reckoned to be about 10% of any given market place.

Use this checklist to do an almost instant analysis of your company. This format is based on researching hundreds of assessment models. Research shows that a quick, intuitive assessment is almost always very near to a long review by consultants.

Download Quick Analysis Company

There are important differences between B2B and B2C marketing communications in terms of the communication context (the former being formal and the latter being informal), decision makers (many versus a few) and the primary communication tools used – personal selling versus advertising and sales promotion.

Rather than focussing on writing a business plan, try to develop a story board, using the following headings. The first 3 are also you elevator pitch, the eleven slides is your presentation. Focus on telling the story of the excitement of the business opportunity.

Complete the following four statements and use them as the basis for creating your company’s brand name, logo and tag-line.

This spreadsheet will help you to prepare a projected cashflow for your business, in a format suitable for inclusion in your Business Plan.

In the early stages of the venture, markets are typically segmented by entrepreneurs on geographic (locations), industry classification (telecommunications) or demographic (particular gender, age cohorts) segmentation bases. These are called ‘identity bases’ for segmentation.

Long-term structural transformation has four characteristics: scale (the change affects all or most of the organization), magnitude (it involves significant alterations of the status quo), duration (it lasts for months, if not years), and strategic importance.

This spreadsheet will help you to estimate your business' likely sales and gross profit, in a format suitable for inclusion in your Business Plan.

To Leave The World a Little Better "To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a little better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is the meaning of success."

Brand and Exit are two of the most difficult challenges the entrepreneur faces in creating and then subsequently realising value in the business venture.