New business ideas should be scrutinized for their business potential. Both as a basis for decision making and as a management tool, an action-oriented business plan is recommended.
Look at the basic business potential. Is the business easily scalable or is there only limited business potential? To do this, describe the relevant market as precisely as possible. Try to open the view for possible applications to reach a larger market with your idea. If necessary, it may be advisable to sharpen the product idea again.
Also, look carefully at the possibilities of actually implementing the business potential. How do you prepare for implementation? Do you have the relationships you need? Do you have the resources and reserves you need? To do this, break your business plan down into specific actions, with milestones and responsible parties, and develop your business plan with your team to make it viable.
The most important thing about a business plan is the assumptions on which everything is built. Try to challenge all assumptions from all perspectives to make them as realistic as possible. To do this, involve people with different backgrounds and roles in refining the assumptions. Involve customers and suppliers as well, if possible.
The next important thing is to deal with risks. Think about what risks exist and try to quantify how likely they are to occur. Now imagine what impact it would have on your business if these risks were to occur. Above all, consider as a team how you can and would like to deal with the occurrence of these risks. What can you do as a precaution to limit the impact, and what can you do to limit the impact if it occurs?
These preparations regarding assumptions and risks are often neglected when preparing business plans because euphoria prevails.
Another recommendation from the field: if you want to implement a new business idea, separate this project organizationally from your existing business if possible. A business becomes successful when it has to prove itself. Financed start-ups have better chances of success than ventures embedded in organizations.
Example: A small, highly profitable supplier of heat-sealed block bottom bags was run for many years in a separate limited liability company by a group of companies in the Rhineland that produced glued block bottom bags. Basically, the companies differed only marginally, but the specialty of heat-sealed block bottom bags would never have been able to prove itself if it had been managed in a joint company. The smaller company was dependent on success with this product group and had to focus on it. After the group of companies was sold to a competitor, the small company’s business was integrated into the larger company’s site. Initially, the overall company enjoyed the higher average returns. But since then, there has been no focus on this specialty …
There is another reason to keep a new business approach separate and to make a commitment to it: The new business initially costs a lot of attention, and investment is needed. However, the commitment usually flows to where the most money is currently being earned. The new business therefore hardly gets a chance to develop well.
In order to relieve you of manual work, you will find here prepared, formulated business plan applications, which you can adapt to your needs.