Discussion: View Thread

  • 1.  End of Business Plans in B Schools?

    Posted 06-29-2016 06:31
    I suspect this topic has been covered here before although I haven’t seen it recently. I do recall some asking about how they do business plans in their programs but my question relates to the extent to which we have shifted away from business plans in entrepreneurship programs towards design thinking and lean startup.

    I ask because I am at a private business school in Barcelona (EADA) where all our students are masters (MBA, EMBA, IMBA, etc) and every program uses a roughly standardized business plan project as the capstone to the Master’s. This is my first year at EADA and I have grown increasingly frustrated advising teams on business plans (I have 4 teams where I am their primary tutor) because I no longer believe in the value of business plans at the concept stage of a startup.

    Has anyone done any research (does not have to be peer reviewed) on the shift away from business planning in entrepreneurship programs? Do any of you have any anecdotal or other supporting evidence I can use at EADA to help convince the administration that it is time to shift to design thinking and lean startup? My personal research interests are in areas related to sustainable entrepreneurship, sharing economy, etc. so I am only advising students in those areas but I still find it frustrating that we are doing everything in the hypothetical world instead of executing MVPs and learning from real users.

    Thanks in advance for any of your thoughts.

    Boyd
    **************************************
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    Ventures HO!


  • 2.  [ENTREP] End of Business Plans in B Schools?

    Posted 06-29-2016 09:23
    Hi Boyd:
    I happen to be in precisely the same situation, and it all seems to stem from an extreme case of unconscious incompetence. In addition to the program issues you mention, I have local and national organizations asking for my support, and advice on how to improve their "business plan" competitions -- and their "business plan" formats are from MANY years past. In addition, my administrators (most have an MBA), deans, chairs, and colleagues (from within the biz school and across campus) carry a very strong and outdated perspective of "business plans," and are completely unfamiliar with canvases, design school, etc.. Again, these decision makers or power-holding influencers suffer from illusory superiority (Dunning-Kruger). They are entirely unaware that this is no longer our father's entrepreneurship. Would you please share any "offline" feedback you receive/collect.
    Thanks,
    -Michael Meeks

    -----Original Message-----
    From: Entrepreneurship Division Listserv [mailto:ENTREP@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU] On Behalf Of Boyd Cohen
    Sent: Wednesday, June 29, 2016 5:31 AM
    To: ENTREP@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    Subject: [ENTREP] End of Business Plans in B Schools?

    I suspect this topic has been covered here before although I haven’t seen it recently. I do recall some asking about how they do business plans in their programs but my question relates to the extent to which we have shifted away from business plans in entrepreneurship programs towards design thinking and lean startup.

    I ask because I am at a private business school in Barcelona (EADA) where all our students are masters (MBA, EMBA, IMBA, etc) and every program uses a roughly standardized business plan project as the capstone to the Master’s. This is my first year at EADA and I have grown increasingly frustrated advising teams on business plans (I have 4 teams where I am their primary tutor) because I no longer believe in the value of business plans at the concept stage of a startup.

    Has anyone done any research (does not have to be peer reviewed) on the shift away from business planning in entrepreneurship programs? Do any of you have any anecdotal or other supporting evidence I can use at EADA to help convince the administration that it is time to shift to design thinking and lean startup? My personal research interests are in areas related to sustainable entrepreneurship, sharing economy, etc. so I am only advising students in those areas but I still find it frustrating that we are doing everything in the hypothetical world instead of executing MVPs and learning from real users.

    Thanks in advance for any of your thoughts.

    Boyd
    **************************************
    This message is from ENTREP which is sponsored by the Entrepreneurship Division of the Academy of Management.

    Please do not post messages with attached files. Commercial messages or spammed messages are not allowed on the list. The use of auto-responder "out-of-office" messages may also lead to your removal from the list.

    You can manage your subscription options, including joining or leaving the list here:
    http://aomlists.pace.edu/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=entrep&A=1

    If you have questions or need help, please contact Jeff Pollack (jeff_pollack@ncsu.edu) or Kevin Cox (kcox24@my.fau.edu).

    Ventures HO!

    **************************************
    This message is from ENTREP which is sponsored by the Entrepreneurship Division of the Academy of Management.

    Please do not post messages with attached files. Commercial messages or spammed messages are not allowed on the list. The use of auto-responder "out-of-office" messages may also lead to your removal from the list.

    You can manage your subscription options, including joining or leaving the list here:
    http://aomlists.pace.edu/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=entrep&A=1

    If you have questions or need help, please contact Jeff Pollack (jeff_pollack@ncsu.edu) or Kevin Cox (kcox24@my.fau.edu).

    Ventures HO!


  • 3.  [ENTREP] End of Business Plans in B Schools?

    Posted 06-29-2016 11:47
    Hi everyone,
    I have started teaching two different levels of Entrepreneurship again after being away from teaching it for more than 10 years. I find this thread very appropriate because I have been asking the very same questions to myself and others who have taught Entrepreneurship here at my University. I used "business plans" in the past and this past year I used the "business model canvas". I'm not sure though if bankers and others within the entrepreneurial ecosystem have all caught up to the canvas model yet and thus impede today's entrepreneurs from being as effective in their start up procedures as if they used the classic "business plan" model.
    I too would be interested for any other feedback others may be able to contribute to this thread.
    Thanks,

    Dannie Brown, DBA
    Associate Professor, Organizational Management
    Shannon School of Business
    Office SB125
    902-563-1645
    @dannieDBA

    -----Original Message-----
    From: Entrepreneurship Division Listserv [mailto:ENTREP@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU] On Behalf Of Dr. Michael D. Meeks
    Sent: June-29-16 10:23 AM
    To: ENTREP@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    Subject: [ENTREP] FW: [ENTREP] End of Business Plans in B Schools?

    Hi Boyd:
    I happen to be in precisely the same situation, and it all seems to stem from an extreme case of unconscious incompetence. In addition to the program issues you mention, I have local and national organizations asking for my support, and advice on how to improve their "business plan" competitions -- and their "business plan" formats are from MANY years past. In addition, my administrators (most have an MBA), deans, chairs, and colleagues (from within the biz school and across campus) carry a very strong and outdated perspective of "business plans," and are completely unfamiliar with canvases, design school, etc.. Again, these decision makers or power-holding influencers suffer from illusory superiority (Dunning-Kruger). They are entirely unaware that this is no longer our father's entrepreneurship. Would you please share any "offline" feedback you receive/collect.
    Thanks,
    -Michael Meeks

    -----Original Message-----
    From: Entrepreneurship Division Listserv [mailto:ENTREP@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU] On Behalf Of Boyd Cohen
    Sent: Wednesday, June 29, 2016 5:31 AM
    To: ENTREP@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    Subject: [ENTREP] End of Business Plans in B Schools?

    I suspect this topic has been covered here before although I haven’t seen it recently. I do recall some asking about how they do business plans in their programs but my question relates to the extent to which we have shifted away from business plans in entrepreneurship programs towards design thinking and lean startup.

    I ask because I am at a private business school in Barcelona (EADA) where all our students are masters (MBA, EMBA, IMBA, etc) and every program uses a roughly standardized business plan project as the capstone to the Master’s. This is my first year at EADA and I have grown increasingly frustrated advising teams on business plans (I have 4 teams where I am their primary tutor) because I no longer believe in the value of business plans at the concept stage of a startup.

    Has anyone done any research (does not have to be peer reviewed) on the shift away from business planning in entrepreneurship programs? Do any of you have any anecdotal or other supporting evidence I can use at EADA to help convince the administration that it is time to shift to design thinking and lean startup? My personal research interests are in areas related to sustainable entrepreneurship, sharing economy, etc. so I am only advising students in those areas but I still find it frustrating that we are doing everything in the hypothetical world instead of executing MVPs and learning from real users.

    Thanks in advance for any of your thoughts.

    Boyd
    **************************************
    This message is from ENTREP which is sponsored by the Entrepreneurship Division of the Academy of Management.

    Please do not post messages with attached files. Commercial messages or spammed messages are not allowed on the list. The use of auto-responder "out-of-office" messages may also lead to your removal from the list.

    You can manage your subscription options, including joining or leaving the list here:
    http://aomlists.pace.edu/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=entrep&A=1

    If you have questions or need help, please contact Jeff Pollack (jeff_pollack@ncsu.edu) or Kevin Cox (kcox24@my.fau.edu).

    Ventures HO!

    **************************************
    This message is from ENTREP which is sponsored by the Entrepreneurship Division of the Academy of Management.

    Please do not post messages with attached files. Commercial messages or spammed messages are not allowed on the list. The use of auto-responder "out-of-office" messages may also lead to your removal from the list.

    You can manage your subscription options, including joining or leaving the list here:
    http://aomlists.pace.edu/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=entrep&A=1

    If you have questions or need help, please contact Jeff Pollack (jeff_pollack@ncsu.edu) or Kevin Cox (kcox24@my.fau.edu).

    Ventures HO!

    **************************************
    This message is from ENTREP which is sponsored by the Entrepreneurship Division of the Academy of Management.

    Please do not post messages with attached files. Commercial messages or spammed messages are not allowed on the list. The use of auto-responder "out-of-office" messages may also lead to your removal from the list.

    You can manage your subscription options, including joining or leaving the list here:
    http://aomlists.pace.edu/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=entrep&A=1

    If you have questions or need help, please contact Jeff Pollack (jeff_pollack@ncsu.edu) or Kevin Cox (kcox24@my.fau.edu).

    Ventures HO!


  • 4.  [ENTREP] End of Business Plans in B Schools?

    Posted 06-29-2016 18:01
    All,

    Let me add my two cents to this discussion, which may not be worth even
    that much. First, Jerry Katz asked me to write an article on the "Evolution
    of Business Plans in National & International Business Plan Competitions",
    which will appear in the Advances in Entrepreneurship: Firm Emergence and
    Growth 2017 annual text that he edits with Andrew Corbett. In this article,
    I describe the changes that have occurred in the business plans submitted
    to such competitions and the major reasons for these changes. One of the
    key points of the article is that the required maximum lengths for such
    plans have decreased from 40 pages to 18 pages primarily because of pressure
    from VCs who are the major judges used in such competitions. Another of
    the key points is that plans that are based primarily on "academic" research
    NEVER get to these competitions anymore. Put differently, one MUST go out
    and talk to real potential customers, real suppliers, etc in order to develop
    plans that will qualify for such competitions, which was the basis for Gary
    Cadenhead's book "No Longer Moot." There were a number of other important
    points and conclusions of my paper, but out of respect for Andrew & Jerry,
    I cannot cover them here.

    My second point is that I am also the founder and organizer of one of these
    competitions, specifically, the Georgia Bowl, which is the first U.S. based
    competition in each competition season. One of the key aspects of the Georgia
    Bowl is its "Evaluation Criteria." Most Venture Labs Feeder competitions used
    the Venture Labs Evaluation Criteria, which placed about 75% of a team's score
    on the "Quality & Effectiveness of its Plan & Presentation. By contrast, the
    Georgia Bowl placed 80% of the "Evaluation" on the Startup Feasibility, Long-
    term Potential, Launch Team Capabilities, and Investor Reward-Risk Attractiveness"
    of the proposed venture and only 20% on the "Quality & Effectiveness of the
    team's Plan & Presentation". One further point here. For 2017, the Georgia Bowl
    will replace the 18 Page Business Plans that it has used historically with a
    10 page Executive Summary with 6-to-7 pages of text and 3-to-4 pages of Exhibits
    - mostly pro-forma Financial Exhibits. [Note; Rice is the other competition that
    does not use the Venture Labs Evaluation criteria. Rice typically has 20-to-25
    Judges in most of it brackets almost all of whom are VCs. It has these VCs rate
    the six ventures in each bracket from 1 (for First) to 6 (for last) asking these
    VC judges to vote in accordance with where they would place their money. Rice
    then just totals these scores and advances the two teams with the lowest scores
    in each bracket to the next round.]

    Sincerely,
    Dr. Chuck Hofer
    Georgia Bowl Founder & Organizer
    770-455-4280 Cell 1
    770-757-3575 Cell 2

    ----- Original Message -----
    From: "MeeksPhD" <MeeksPhD@GMAIL.COM>
    To: "ENTREP" <ENTREP@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU>
    Sent: Wednesday, June 29, 2016 9:23:08 AM
    Subject: [ENTREP] FW: [ENTREP] End of Business Plans in B Schools?

    Hi Boyd:
    I happen to be in precisely the same situation, and it all seems to stem from an extreme case of unconscious incompetence. In addition to the program issues you mention, I have local and national organizations asking for my support, and advice on how to improve their "business plan" competitions -- and their "business plan" formats are from MANY years past. In addition, my administrators (most have an MBA), deans, chairs, and colleagues (from within the biz school and across campus) carry a very strong and outdated perspective of "business plans," and are completely unfamiliar with canvases, design school, etc.. Again, these decision makers or power-holding influencers suffer from illusory superiority (Dunning-Kruger). They are entirely unaware that this is no longer our father's entrepreneurship. Would you please share any "offline" feedback you receive/collect.
    Thanks,
    -Michael Meeks

    -----Original Message-----
    From: Entrepreneurship Division Listserv [mailto:ENTREP@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU] On Behalf Of Boyd Cohen
    Sent: Wednesday, June 29, 2016 5:31 AM
    To: ENTREP@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    Subject: [ENTREP] End of Business Plans in B Schools?

    I suspect this topic has been covered here before although I haven’t seen it recently. I do recall some asking about how they do business plans in their programs but my question relates to the extent to which we have shifted away from business plans in entrepreneurship programs towards design thinking and lean startup.

    I ask because I am at a private business school in Barcelona (EADA) where all our students are masters (MBA, EMBA, IMBA, etc) and every program uses a roughly standardized business plan project as the capstone to the Master’s. This is my first year at EADA and I have grown increasingly frustrated advising teams on business plans (I have 4 teams where I am their primary tutor) because I no longer believe in the value of business plans at the concept stage of a startup.

    Has anyone done any research (does not have to be peer reviewed) on the shift away from business planning in entrepreneurship programs? Do any of you have any anecdotal or other supporting evidence I can use at EADA to help convince the administration that it is time to shift to design thinking and lean startup? My personal research interests are in areas related to sustainable entrepreneurship, sharing economy, etc. so I am only advising students in those areas but I still find it frustrating that we are doing everything in the hypothetical world instead of executing MVPs and learning from real users.

    Thanks in advance for any of your thoughts.

    Boyd
    **************************************
    This message is from ENTREP which is sponsored by the Entrepreneurship Division of the Academy of Management.

    Please do not post messages with attached files. Commercial messages or spammed messages are not allowed on the list. The use of auto-responder "out-of-office" messages may also lead to your removal from the list.

    You can manage your subscription options, including joining or leaving the list here:
    http://aomlists.pace.edu/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=entrep&A=1

    If you have questions or need help, please contact Jeff Pollack (jeff_pollack@ncsu.edu) or Kevin Cox (kcox24@my.fau.edu).

    Ventures HO!

    **************************************
    This message is from ENTREP which is sponsored by the Entrepreneurship Division of the Academy of Management.

    Please do not post messages with attached files. Commercial messages or spammed messages are not allowed on the list. The use of auto-responder "out-of-office" messages may also lead to your removal from the list.

    You can manage your subscription options, including joining or leaving the list here:
    http://aomlists.pace.edu/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=entrep&A=1

    If you have questions or need help, please contact Jeff Pollack (jeff_pollack@ncsu.edu) or Kevin Cox (kcox24@my.fau.edu).

    Ventures HO!

    **************************************
    This message is from ENTREP which is sponsored by the Entrepreneurship Division of the Academy of Management.

    Please do not post messages with attached files. Commercial messages or spammed messages are not allowed on the list. The use of auto-responder "out-of-office" messages may also lead to your removal from the list.

    You can manage your subscription options, including joining or leaving the list here:
    http://aomlists.pace.edu/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=entrep&A=1

    If you have questions or need help, please contact Jeff Pollack (jeff_pollack@ncsu.edu) or Kevin Cox (kcox24@my.fau.edu).

    Ventures HO!


  • 5.  End of Business Plans in B Schools?

    Posted 06-29-2016 10:19
    Morning,

    At Ryerson we have shifted from business plans to canvases.  This become an issue (aka an opportunity) for our business plan competition to evolve.  

    In the end, we pivoted our $50,000 Business Plan Competition to the $50,000 New Venture Competition.  The business plans were replaced with lean canvases and traction summaries.  

    In the end, our applicant pool increased in quality, as founders were more focused on traction and obtaining customer based objective evidence and less focused on the font in the business plan. 

    As for p2p articles on the topic, try these:
    • Jones, C., & Penaluna, A. (2013). Moving beyond the business plan in enterprise education. Education+ Training, 55(8/9), 5-5
    • Jones, C., Penaluna, A., Matlay, H., & Penaluna, K. (2013). The student business plan: useful or not?. Industry and Higher Education, 27(6), 491-498
    • Blank, S. (2013). Why the lean start-up changes everything. Harvard Business Review, 91(5), 63-72
    You may also be interested in these trade articles:
    We also published a conference paper on the topic of business plans in business schools. 

    Teaching the Business Plan Within the Entrepreneurship Program
    Kenneth A. Grant, Steven A. Gedeon, Sean Wise & Phillip Kim

    Hope that helps, onward and upward,

    Sean 


    Dr. Sean Wise | BA LLB MBA PhD
    Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship, Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University
        
    Chair, Ryerson Angel Network | Chair, $50,000 Slaight Business Plan Competition | Member, Digital Media Zone, Steering Committee | General Partner, Ryerson Futures | Director, Startup School | Host of the Naked Entrepreneur, on the Oprah Winfrey Network & itunes apple.co/1HdPlWD

    Order my latest book on Entrepreneurship (co-authored with legendary investor Brad Feld) now: Startup Opportunities: Know When to Quit Your Day Job amzn.com/1941018009
    ᐧ

    On Wed, Jun 29, 2016 at 6:31 AM, Boyd Cohen <bcohen@eada.edu> wrote:
    I suspect this topic has been covered here before although I haven't seen it recently. I do recall some asking about how they do business plans in their programs but my question relates to the extent to which we have shifted away from business plans in entrepreneurship programs towards design thinking and lean startup.

    I ask because I am at a private business school in Barcelona (EADA) where all our students are masters (MBA, EMBA, IMBA, etc) and every program uses a roughly standardized business plan project as the capstone to the Master's. This is my first year at EADA and I have grown increasingly frustrated advising teams on business plans (I have 4 teams where I am their primary tutor) because I no longer believe in the value of business plans at the concept stage of a startup.

    Has anyone done any research (does not have to be peer reviewed) on the shift away from business planning in entrepreneurship programs?  Do any of you have any anecdotal or other supporting evidence I can use at EADA to help convince the administration that it is time to shift to design thinking and lean startup?  My personal research interests are in areas related to sustainable entrepreneurship, sharing economy, etc. so I am only advising students in those areas but I still find it frustrating that we are doing everything in the hypothetical world instead of executing MVPs and learning from real users.

    Thanks in advance for any of your thoughts.

    Boyd
    **************************************
    This message is from ENTREP which is sponsored by the Entrepreneurship Division of the Academy of Management.

    Please do not post messages with attached files. Commercial messages or spammed messages are not allowed on the list.  The use of auto-responder "out-of-office" messages may also lead to your removal from the list.

    You can manage your subscription options, including joining or leaving the list here:
    http://aomlists.pace.edu/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=entrep&A=1

    If you have questions or need help, please contact Jeff Pollack (jeff_pollack@ncsu.edu) or Kevin Cox (kcox24@my.fau.edu).

    Ventures HO!

    ************************************** This message is from ENTREP which is sponsored by the Entrepreneurship Division of the Academy of Management. Please do not post messages with attached files. Commercial messages or spammed messages are not allowed on the list. The use of auto-responder "out-of-office" messages may also lead to your removal from the list. You can manage your subscription options, including joining or leaving the list here: http://aomlists.pace.edu/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=entrep&A=1 If you have questions or need help, please contact Jeff Pollack (jeff_pollack@ncsu.edu) or Kevin Cox (kcox24@my.fau.edu). Ventures HO!


  • 6.  End of Business Plans in B Schools?

    Posted 06-29-2016 10:58

    I find this to be a straw man argument. To me it is silly to ask the question "business plan or business model"?.  Both are important and both play critical roles.  At the stage of an idea or concept, the model (either the canvas or the other and often better frameworks available for the business model) can be quite useful. For students and teams that are moving to the point of taking a concept to a viable business that operates 365 days of the year, has employees, makes payroll, does real marketing and selling, and is actually dealing with suppliers and producing a product or delivering a service through a real-time operating model, they need the discipline of a business plan---and it imposes far more discipline than does the business model. As a colleague of mine liked to explain, the plan is the blast furnace in which the metal is formed  and shaped into a viable shape with regard to a wide range of issues not addressed in the business model.  The business plan is not a straightjacket---it is a platform for adaptation, experimentation and innovation.  And it has a short shelf life, as encounters with reality then force ongoing adaptation and continued learning --- as the actual opportunity and a workable and sustainable business model emerge once the venture is launched.

     

    At UF, our business plan competition produces about 300 entries from across the campus each year.  We provide support to all of these teams that seek it, and a large number of decent plans are produced. The learning that occurs, the real progress the teams make in moving their ideas forward, and the number of actual ventures that get launched is greater than would be the case if we only had them construct the business model.  Certainly the business model would also enable them to make progress.  At the end of the day, both of these tools matter, both play a vital role, and neither should be castigated.  The bigger issue is the extent to which the entrepreneurship program connects the dots.  That is, how one connect the business model, the business plan, your student incubator, competitions, coursework and curriculum, entrepreneurial mentors, guest speakers, open sessions on pricing, QuickBooks and many other topics that support venture creation, the tech commercialization office, prototyping facilities, your community engagement intiatives, or whatever else you are doing in entrepreneurship at your college or university (in short, your internal entrepreneurial ecosystem) is the key to moving student ventures forward and actually seeing a lot more start ups come out of your university.

     

    Mike

    Michael H. Morris, Ph.D.

    George and Lisa Etheridge Professor of Entrepreneurship

    Academic Director, Program in Entrepreneurship

    Warrington College of Business Administration

    University of Florida

    Ph:  352-273-0329; Fax: 352-846-2170

    Website:  www.cei.ufl.edu

    From: Entrepreneurship Division Listserv <ENTREP@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU> on behalf of Sean Wise <sean.wise@RYERSON.CA>
    Sent: Wednesday, June 29, 2016 10:19 AM
    To: ENTREP@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    Subject: Re: [ENTREP] End of Business Plans in B Schools?
     
    Morning,

    At Ryerson we have shifted from business plans to canvases.  This become an issue (aka an opportunity) for our business plan competition to evolve.  

    In the end, we pivoted our $50,000 Business Plan Competition to the $50,000 New Venture Competition.  The business plans were replaced with lean canvases and traction summaries.  

    In the end, our applicant pool increased in quality, as founders were more focused on traction and obtaining customer based objective evidence and less focused on the font in the business plan. 

    As for p2p articles on the topic, try these:
    • Jones, C., & Penaluna, A. (2013). Moving beyond the business plan in enterprise education. Education+ Training, 55(8/9), 5-5
    • Jones, C., Penaluna, A., Matlay, H., & Penaluna, K. (2013). The student business plan: useful or not?. Industry and Higher Education, 27(6), 491-498
    • Blank, S. (2013). Why the lean start-up changes everything. Harvard Business Review, 91(5), 63-72
    You may also be interested in these trade articles:
    We also published a conference paper on the topic of business plans in business schools. 

    Teaching the Business Plan Within the Entrepreneurship Program
    Kenneth A. Grant, Steven A. Gedeon, Sean Wise & Phillip Kim

    Hope that helps, onward and upward,

    Sean 


    Dr. Sean Wise | BA LLB MBA PhD
    Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship, Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University
        
    Chair, Ryerson Angel Network | Chair, $50,000 Slaight Business Plan Competition | Member, Digital Media Zone, Steering Committee | General Partner, Ryerson Futures | Director, Startup School | Host of the Naked Entrepreneur, on the Oprah Winfrey Network & itunes apple.co/1HdPlWD

    Order my latest book on Entrepreneurship (co-authored with legendary investor Brad Feld) now: Startup Opportunities: Know When to Quit Your Day Job amzn.com/1941018009
    ᐧ

    On Wed, Jun 29, 2016 at 6:31 AM, Boyd Cohen <bcohen@eada.edu> wrote:
    I suspect this topic has been covered here before although I haven't seen it recently. I do recall some asking about how they do business plans in their programs but my question relates to the extent to which we have shifted away from business plans in entrepreneurship programs towards design thinking and lean startup.

    I ask because I am at a private business school in Barcelona (EADA) where all our students are masters (MBA, EMBA, IMBA, etc) and every program uses a roughly standardized business plan project as the capstone to the Master's. This is my first year at EADA and I have grown increasingly frustrated advising teams on business plans (I have 4 teams where I am their primary tutor) because I no longer believe in the value of business plans at the concept stage of a startup.

    Has anyone done any research (does not have to be peer reviewed) on the shift away from business planning in entrepreneurship programs?  Do any of you have any anecdotal or other supporting evidence I can use at EADA to help convince the administration that it is time to shift to design thinking and lean startup?  My personal research interests are in areas related to sustainable entrepreneurship, sharing economy, etc. so I am only advising students in those areas but I still find it frustrating that we are doing everything in the hypothetical world instead of executing MVPs and learning from real users.

    Thanks in advance for any of your thoughts.

    Boyd
    **************************************
    This message is from ENTREP which is sponsored by the Entrepreneurship Division of the Academy of Management.

    Please do not post messages with attached files. Commercial messages or spammed messages are not allowed on the list.  The use of auto-responder "out-of-office" messages may also lead to your removal from the list.

    You can manage your subscription options, including joining or leaving the list here:
    http://aomlists.pace.edu/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=entrep&A=1

    If you have questions or need help, please contact Jeff Pollack (jeff_pollack@ncsu.edu) or Kevin Cox (kcox24@my.fau.edu).

    Ventures HO!

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  • 7.  End of Business Plans in B Schools?

    Posted 06-29-2016 13:26
    Thanks for your thoughtful response.  I am not suggesting there is no time for the use of the business plan for an existing company or for a startup. My personal belief which I do not think strays too far from yours either is that writing a business plan before any company has been formed, before the idea has been validated, and before real engagement with potential users is mostly just an academic exercise whereby students are pulling things out of the air in order to fulfill the requirements of conducting robust financial and sensitivity analysis, pricing strategies, expansion plans and the rest.

    It is my belief, and I know I am not along amongst other entrepreneurship scholars and faculty, that the business plan at the concept stage of a startup is nothing more than an academic exercise.  There can be a time and a place for the utility of a business plan, but that, at least in my opinion, is only once a startup has validated they have found a way to create real value for a target population.  

    The way EADA uses the business plan, which I suspect is how most schools that still use them do, is as a concept stage document prior to, and without regards for, any meaningful validation of a prototype which emerged from applying design thinking.

    Cheers,

    Boyd


    El 29-06-2016, a las 16:58, Morris,Michael H <michael.morris@WARRINGTON.UFL.EDU> escribió:

    I find this to be a straw man argument. To me it is silly to ask the question "business plan or business model"?.  Both are important and both play critical roles.  At the stage of an idea or concept, the model (either the canvas or the other and often better frameworks available for the business model) can be quite useful. For students and teams that are moving to the point of taking a concept to a viable business that operates 365 days of the year, has employees, makes payroll, does real marketing and selling, and is actually dealing with suppliers and producing a product or delivering a service through a real-time operating model, they need the discipline of a business plan---and it imposes far more discipline than does the business model. As a colleague of mine liked to explain, the plan is the blast furnace in which the metal is formed  and shaped into a viable shape with regard to a wide range of issues not addressed in the business model.  The business plan is not a straightjacket---it is a platform for adaptation, experimentation and innovation.  And it has a short shelf life, as encounters with reality then force ongoing adaptation and continued learning --- as the actual opportunity and a workable and sustainable business model emerge once the venture is launched.

     

    At UF, our business plan competition produces about 300 entries from across the campus each year.  We provide support to all of these teams that seek it, and a large number of decent plans are produced. The learning that occurs, the real progress the teams make in moving their ideas forward, and the number of actual ventures that get launched is greater than would be the case if we only had them construct the business model.  Certainly the business model would also enable them to make progress.  At the end of the day, both of these tools matter, both play a vital role, and neither should be castigated.  The bigger issue is the extent to which the entrepreneurship program connects the dots.  That is, how one connect the business model, the business plan, your student incubator, competitions, coursework and curriculum, entrepreneurial mentors, guest speakers, open sessions on pricing, QuickBooks and many other topics that support venture creation, the tech commercialization office, prototyping facilities, your community engagement intiatives, or whatever else you are doing in entrepreneurship at your college or university (in short, your internal entrepreneurial ecosystem) is the key to moving student ventures forward and actually seeing a lot more start ups come out of your university.

     

    Mike

    Michael H. Morris, Ph.D.
    George and Lisa Etheridge Professor of Entrepreneurship
    Academic Director, Program in Entrepreneurship
    Warrington College of Business Administration
    University of Florida
    Ph:  352-273-0329; Fax: 352-846-2170
    Website:  www.cei.ufl.edu
    From: Entrepreneurship Division Listserv <ENTREP@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU> on behalf of Sean Wise <sean.wise@RYERSON.CA>
    Sent: Wednesday, June 29, 2016 10:19 AM
    To: ENTREP@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    Subject: Re: [ENTREP] End of Business Plans in B Schools?
     
    Morning,

    At Ryerson we have shifted from business plans to canvases.  This become an issue (aka an opportunity) for our business plan competition to evolve.  

    In the end, we pivoted our $50,000 Business Plan Competition to the $50,000 New Venture Competition.  The business plans were replaced with lean canvases and traction summaries.  

    In the end, our applicant pool increased in quality, as founders were more focused on traction and obtaining customer based objective evidence and less focused on the font in the business plan. 

    As for p2p articles on the topic, try these:
    • Jones, C., & Penaluna, A. (2013). Moving beyond the business plan in enterprise education. Education+ Training, 55(8/9), 5-5
    • Jones, C., Penaluna, A., Matlay, H., & Penaluna, K. (2013). The student business plan: useful or not?. Industry and Higher Education, 27(6), 491-498
    • Blank, S. (2013). Why the lean start-up changes everything. Harvard Business Review, 91(5), 63-72
    You may also be interested in these trade articles:
    We also published a conference paper on the topic of business plans in business schools. 

    Teaching the Business Plan Within the Entrepreneurship Program
    Kenneth A. Grant, Steven A. Gedeon, Sean Wise & Phillip Kim

    Hope that helps, onward and upward,

    Sean 


     
    Dr. Sean Wise | BA LLB MBA PhD
    Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship, Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University
        
    Chair, Ryerson Angel Network | Chair, $50,000 Slaight Business Plan Competition | Member, Digital Media Zone, Steering Committee | General Partner, Ryerson Futures | Director, Startup School | Host of the Naked Entrepreneur, on the Oprah Winfrey Network & itunes apple.co/1HdPlWD 

    Order my latest book on Entrepreneurship (co-authored with legendary investor Brad Feld) now: Startup Opportunities: Know When to Quit Your Day Job amzn.com/1941018009
    ᐧ

    On Wed, Jun 29, 2016 at 6:31 AM, Boyd Cohen <bcohen@eada.edu> wrote:
    I suspect this topic has been covered here before although I haven't seen it recently. I do recall some asking about how they do business plans in their programs but my question relates to the extent to which we have shifted away from business plans in entrepreneurship programs towards design thinking and lean startup.

    I ask because I am at a private business school in Barcelona (EADA) where all our students are masters (MBA, EMBA, IMBA, etc) and every program uses a roughly standardized business plan project as the capstone to the Master's. This is my first year at EADA and I have grown increasingly frustrated advising teams on business plans (I have 4 teams where I am their primary tutor) because I no longer believe in the value of business plans at the concept stage of a startup.

    Has anyone done any research (does not have to be peer reviewed) on the shift away from business planning in entrepreneurship programs?  Do any of you have any anecdotal or other supporting evidence I can use at EADA to help convince the administration that it is time to shift to design thinking and lean startup?  My personal research interests are in areas related to sustainable entrepreneurship, sharing economy, etc. so I am only advising students in those areas but I still find it frustrating that we are doing everything in the hypothetical world instead of executing MVPs and learning from real users.

    Thanks in advance for any of your thoughts.

    Boyd
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    ************************************** This message is from ENTREP which is sponsored by the Entrepreneurship Division of the Academy of Management. Please do not post messages with attached files. Commercial messages or spammed messages are not allowed on the list. The use of auto-responder "out-of-office" messages may also lead to your removal from the list. You can manage your subscription options, including joining or leaving the list here: http://aomlists.pace.edu/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=entrep&A=1 If you have questions or need help, please contact Jeff Pollack (jeff_pollack@ncsu.edu) or Kevin Cox (kcox24@my.fau.edu). Ventures HO!