Looking to create a ‘customer persona’ to inform your marketing and promotion and wondering how? This post may be helpful as it provides an example. It then lists some questions to consider as you formulate a description of your Bullseye customer. What is the purpose of creating a customer persona? According to Seth Godin the…
I have just finished reading Disciplined Entrepreneurship by Bill Aulet, Managing Director, Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship. Published in 2013, it is a superb book (Book available in Ireland via Easons). This review does not seek to summarise the book – for that I suggest you read this excellent post ‘A book in 5…
At the beginning of 2014, I wrote an article reviewing 2013 and setting out my business ambitions for the year. I wrote it firstly as a planning and review mechanism for myself; secondly, on basis that it might be useful for anyone in the same boat; and finally, to highlight issues that have to be…
This blogpost will focus on writing your business plan so that it proves valuable to you during your first year in business – we don’t want it to just gather dust, that is never be read again. In essence, your business plan should concisely detail what your business is about, who your customers are, and why they buy from you. It will also set out how you plan to grow the business. You should write your business plan with the objective of copying and pasting the words, descriptions, images and graphs into other communications during your first year. You can refer to your business plan to explain to suppliers such as website and graphic designers and your accountant what your business is about. You can also use it with agents, partners, and your bank manager to set out the vision for your business. Finally, you can also use it for yourself and your team to record ideas for the future and most critically to track the progress of your business.
I volunteered to speak at BizCamp Galway tomorrow (Saturday 10th September) on the topic of ‘Ten challenges to help your business plan succeed’. We have been allocated a 30 minute slot to include Q&A. My talk and this blogpost focuses on my experience of working with hundreds of startups to present the key issues that…
Chapter 12 of ‘What You See Is What You Get: My Autobiography’ by Alan Sugar (2010) is fascinating. It tells how Amstrad reinvented itself by helping Rupert Murdoch to launch Sky. I love stories. This particular story is fascinating as it shows superb lateral thinking by Alan Sugar and his team. Around 1988, satellite dishes and receivers were on the market for approximately £5,000. In June of that year, Alan Sugar agreed that Amstrad would develop satellite receiving equipment which would sell in the shops for £199.