New venture outsourcing blog

I’ve recently had the pleasure on serving on a panel of judges evaluating business plans. This time the presenters were all social enterprises - business ventures with a double bottom line (societal and financial returns). Their ‘products’ ranged from new web portals to architectural goods and often subsidized or supported important causes like vocational training, reduction of disease, or caring for the environment.
Below are some of the common questions and feedback the presenters received:

-Who, exactly, in your customer?

-How much money are you asking for?

-What would you use this capital for?

-How does this money turn your enterprise into something lasting/sustainable?

-Who is missing on your team?

-Are you charging the right amount for your product/service (would customers pay more? do competitors charge less?)

-Who are your competitors?

-What keeps others from doing this / what is your intellectual property?

-Would it make sense to scale back operations to build a stronger business?

-How would you scale this business: geographically? number of offerings? franchise?

-How hard is it for someone else to do this?

-What is keeping you from getting started: funding? team? R&D?

-Have you talked to customers? What do you know about your customers?

-What is the minimum amount of funding you need to prove your concept or make your first sale?

-Who are potential partners?

-So what part of the supply chain / distribution network do you fit into?

-Are you selling to businesses or consumers?

-What is your exit strategy / plan for sustainability / way to repay investors?

-Are you looking for a loan, a grant, an investment for equity, or a set of donations?

-What are your next steps / milestones?

-How do you measure success? How do you know if what you are doing is making a difference?

Send us an e-mail or leave a comment with questions you’ve heard as you have pitched your venture.

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Three ‘L’s have defined common wisdom on real estate…’Location, location, location’ is the mantra which almost defines valuation of property (although anecdotal, it is time-tested and widely practiced). If I had my way, everyone would know the three ‘E’s of business: Execution, execution, execution. The accomplishment of tasks (with or without a business plan - see this entry ) is by far the most important aspect of building a successful business. I’ve seen entrepreneurs fall into the trap of over-planning and under-executing – something that doesn’t add much value to a new company or a new venture. To stack the odds of success in your favor, start strong. Have the best team on board early (you can reduce costs by bringing onboard a flexible outsourcing service) to get work done – after all it is refining your businesses processes to create meaningful, valuable output that define successful, growing businesses.

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Kivi Leroux Miller at www.writing911.com is hosting the Carnival of Nonprofit Consultants. This issue is a great collection of how nonprofit managers and employees can increase their productivity in some pretty simple ways!This carnival is a collection of the best advice and resources that consultants and other support organizations are offering to nonprofits through their blogs each week. It’s a pretty good collection to read, even if you’re not in the nonprofit business. If you are however, it’s definitely worth a look at this and previous issues!

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