Gerard Moran of the Entrepreneurial Boot Camp has provided the following content.
His Entrepreneurial Boot Camp’s sole purpose is to take a hard look at your business plan with a detailed review of your business and the likelihood of the success of the plan. It’s also a chance to address the shortcomings and develop answers to tough questions before it is too late.
Entrepreneurial Qualities
Vision, creativity, persuasiveness, risk tolerance, motivation, flexibility, and decisiveness are the qualities that set you apart from the average person. Your business at all times will need to keep a careful eye on your persuasiveness and risk tolerance ability as here lies the potential for failure. The people around you can often be afraid to challenge you due to your energy levels and creativity. The environment should be such that it admires the creativity and helps it flourish while at the same not ignoring reality. Be prepared to have it challenged within a Boot Camp environment or in a one to one environment or within a small group where the moderator or group will offer possible differing views.
Business Plan
A business plan has two primary purposes. First, and foremost, it should be used to help run your company with a more cohesive vision. Secondly, it should be the tool to guide you through the year.
You should be prepared to have your employees contribute to the plan within their areas of responsibility and the delivery of same. As CEO you should be providing them with your vision and in return have them provide the deliverables to support that vision and be held accountable on a weekly basis if you are truly serious about your business and the desire for it to be successful.
Boot Camp
The Boot Camp will take place over a six-week period (one day per week). By providing a framework where gaps and risks prevail and how to close these gaps, to learn about running a business in line with your business plan, a boot camp can make you accountable for tasks you should be doing anyway. It is an ideal handbook for your financial advisors to be equipped with the means to monitor the areas of risk independently.
A traffic light system will be developed for your business plan (Green/Amber/Red) where it will clearly identify the “Risks” that require immediate attention. More often than not the “Big Hole” is clearly understanding “The Market”. It is here that problems really begin, and the money hole gets bigger and bigger – the vision and the dream is becoming more difficult. You may well ask yourself what am I doing to do to de-risk.
Boot camps provide in-depth training, but attendees must be committed to getting the most out of them, “You have to bring passion and a great idea–we can’t supply those”.
Key Benefits
- Learn how strategic leadership influences your organisation.
- Discover how to evaluate business ideas, diagnose and solve business problems, and determine strategic growth opportunities.
- Gain a deeper understanding of market forces and competition, and how to think beyond market constraints.
- Develop the ability to scale up further, faster, and more effectively.
- Acquire the leadership skills necessary for managing an innovative organisation
- Identify the right questions to ask.
- Build confidence as an entrepreneur with your business plan
Market Problem /Current Solution
Big Market Problem? Big Un-met Need?
You can’t create demand (only market leaders can)
Current Solutions = Current Problems?
Biggest competition = Status quo, changing customers behavior, even if old systems are inferior, they exist everywhere, you don’t.
Clearly, show the pain of the problem or convey the strong desire that is being unfilled.
“Solve your clients’ number-one problem “, Not their 4th or 10th problem. What keeps them
up at night or really bothers them?
The market has evolved, and the current solutions don’t fulfill/solve the client’s current BIG needs/problems. There is a BIG opportunity here!
- Show how you fit into the market landscape
- Indirect competitors vs. direct competitors?
- Your biggest competitor is the status quo! Why will customers switch to you vs the incumbent?
- Are you changing customer behaviour?
Where to Next
- Have what you perceive is a good business plan.
- Ensure your plan has a minimum 3-year horizon
- Are you confident year one of your business plan is 100% attainable?
- Do you want to have it made as bulletproof as possible?
- Are you prepared to live by it day by day, if not why not?
- Are you prepared to take on board differing opinions to yours?
- Are you prepared to have your content challenged and provide evidence to support claims?
- Do you want to fly by the seat of your pants or by instrument?
Questions to Ask Yourself
- Do I have the market opportunity clearly defined with 100% confidence to meet the company’s needs? Any error here will have a ripple effect on your overall profitability.
- Is your sales strategy clearly defined to ensure delivery to meet market needs?
- Why will I fail? Biggest challenges?
- Why will I succeed? Unfair/sustainable advantages?
- Am I a starter or finisher?
Who Should Attend
This program is designed for
- entrepreneurs to work with other entrepreneurs, or with an experienced moderator, to share experiences, learn from one another’s mistakes, share life experiences on the road to success.
- entrepreneurs who choose to run their own business rather than work as employees, who have created a business from scratch, with all the risks and rewards it implies.
For further information please contact Gerard at gerard.moran@csis.ie or 087 2301290