The New Business Road Test

ROAD TEST YOUR IDEA BEFORE YOU LAUNCH YOUR LEAN START-UP Thinking about starting a new business? Stop! Is there a genuine market for your idea? Do you really want to compete in that industry? Are you the right person to pursue it? No matter how talented you are or how much capital you have, if you’re pursuing a fundamentally flawed opportunity then you’re heading for failure. So before you launch your lean start-up, take your idea for a test drive and make sure it has a fighting chance of working. Now in its 4th Edition, The New Business Road Test is the essential handbook for anyone wanting to launch a start-up. The new and fully updated case studies – Ella's Kitchen, Whole Foods, eBay and more – and ‘seven domains’ framework will help you avoid impending disaster and enhance your chances of achieving your entrepreneurial dreams. This book will help you answer the live-or-die questions: Are the market and industry attractive? Does the opportunity offer both customer benefits as well as competitive and economic sustainability? Can you deliver the results you seek? The full text downloaded to your computer With eBooks you can: search for key concepts, words and phrases make highlights and notes as you study share your notes with friends eBooks are downloaded to your computer and accessible either offline through the Bookshelf (available as a free download), available online and also via the iPad and Android apps. Upon purchase, you'll gain instant access to this eBook. Time limit The eBooks products do not have an expiry date. You will continue to access your digital ebook products whilst you have your Bookshelf installed.

Starting your own business is a daunting task. No matter how talented you are, no matter how much capital you have, no matter how good your business plan is, if you're pursuing a fundamentally flawed opportunity you're heading for failure. So before spending time and money on a new enterprise it's vital to know if your idea is actually going to work in practice. The New Business Road Test shows you how to avoid the obvious mistakes that everyone else makes. The new edition of this best-selling book features: * A new version of the 7 domains model. * Updated case studies that reflect the changes that have happened in the last four years. * Chapter 13 has been rewritten to make the Industry Analysis Checklist more understandable. * A new author run companion website for readers to access extra information.

Building on lessons learned by studying numerous entrepreneurs, this book details the author's seven domains model for assessing new business ideas. The model is comprised of four market and industry domains and three related to the entrepreneurial team.

ROAD TEST YOUR IDEA BEFORE YOU WRITE YOUR LEAN START-UP Thinking about starting a new business? Stop! Is there a genuine market for your idea? Do you really want to compete in that industry? Are you the right person to pursue it? No matter how talented you are or how much capital you have, if you’re pursuing a fundamentally flawed opportunity then you’re heading for failure. So before you launch your lean start-up, take your idea for a test drive and make sure it has a fighting chance of working. With an accompanying app, available on iTunes and Android, that will enable readers to easily capture their road test data - notes, interviews, photos or videos - while they are on the go. www.newbusinessroadtest.com

'You may have capital and a talented management team, but if you are fundamentally in a lousy business, you won't get the kind of results you would in a good business. All businesses aren't created equal.' "William P. Egan II, veteran US venture capitalist" No matter how talented you are, no matter how much capital you have, no matter how good your business plan is, if you're pursuing a lousy business' i.e. a fundamentally flawed opportunity you're on the fast-track to failure. "The New Business Road Test "shows you how to avoid the obvious mistakes that everyone else makes. It shows you how.

You have a new venture in mind. And you've crafted a business plan so detailed it's a work of art. Don't get too attached to it. As John Mullins and Randy Komisar explain in Getting to Plan B, new businesses are fraught with uncertainty. To succeed, you must change the plan in real time as the inevitable challenges arise. In fact, studies show that entrepreneurs who stick slavishly to their Plan A stand a greater chance of failing-and that many successful businesses barely resemble their founders' original idea. The authors provide a rigorous process for stress testing your Plan A and determining how to alter it so your business makes money, solves customers' needs, and endures. You'll discover strategies for: -Identifying the leap-of-faith assumptions hidden in your plan -Testing those assumptions and unearthing why the plan might not work -Reconfiguring the five components of your business model-revenue model, gross margin model, operating model, working capital model, and investment model-to create a sounder Plan B. Filled with success stories and cautionary tales, this book offers real cases illustrating the authors' unique process. Whether your idea is for a start-up or a new business unit within your organization, Getting to Plan B contains the road map you need to reach success.

Who needs investors? More than two generations ago, the venture capital community – VCs, business angels, incubators and others – convinced the entrepreneurial world that writing business plans and raising venture capital constituted the twin centerpieces of entrepreneurial endeavor. They did so for good reasons: the sometimes astonishing returns they've delivered to their investors and the astonishingly large companies that their ecosystem has created. But the vast majority of fast-growing companies never take any venture capital. So where does the money come from to start and grow their companies? From a much more agreeable and hospitable source, their customers. That's exactly what Michael Dell, Bill Gates and Banana Republic's Mel and Patricia Ziegler did to get their companies up and running and turn them into iconic brands. In The Customer Funded Business, best-selling author John Mullins uncovers five novel approaches that scrappy and innovative 21st century entrepreneurs working in companies large and small have ingeniously adapted from their predecessors like Dell, Gates, and the Zieglers: Matchmaker models (Airbnb) Pay-in-advance models (Threadless) Subscription models (TutorVista) Scarcity models (Vente Privee) Service-to-product models (GoViral) Through the captivating stories of these and other inspiring companies from around the world, Mullins brings to life the five models and identifies the questions that angel or other investors will – and should! – ask of entrepreneurs or corporate innovators seeking to apply them. Drawing on in-depth interviews with entrepreneurs and investors who have actually put these models to use, Mullins goes on to address the key implementation issues that characterize each of the models: when to apply them, how best to apply them, and the pitfalls to watch out for. Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur lacking the start-up capital you need, an early-stage entrepreneur trying to get your cash-starved venture into take-off mode, an intrapreneur seeking funding within an established company, or an angel investor or mentor who supports high-potential ventures, this book offers the most sure-footed path to starting, financing, or growing your venture. John Mullins is the author of The New Business Road Test and, with Randy Komisar, the widely acclaimed Getting to Plan B.

Give your business the chance to be one of those that make it.";Mullins has hit the nail on the head. The New Business Road Test for the first time successfully defines the starting point for a business. He delivers a clear and concise road map for anyone wondering whether they have a good business idea and what to do about it. I wish it had been given to every entrepreneur who appeared before me on Dragon's Den.";Doug Richard, Dragon on Dragon's Den ";Mullins' New Business Road Test provides the entrepreneurial equivalent to the proverbial 'sleeping policeman' on the Sunday drive: the necessary jolt of reality for those hanging on to the belief that value is created on a computer spreadsheet or a fancy PowerPoint presentation. The business plan is the road map between idea and sustainable business, and John offers the most valuable journey planner available.";Benoit Leleux, Professor of Entrepreneurship & Finance, IMD, Lausanne, Switzerland ";We work with hundreds of CEOs reviewing their investor pitches. The truth is that all businesses, even those already funded, can improve their business models and their road show presentation to investors or strategic partners. Good entrepreneurs understand that their emerging business remains 'work in progress'. Even on the road, they work the map. We recommend that all new entrepreneurs look at John's excellent new business road maps before hitting the ground.";William Stevens, E-Unlimited Got an idea for a new business? Take it for a road test to make sure it works before you invest valuable time and money in it. Most new businesses fail. Why? Because no matter how talented you are, no matter how much capital you have, no matter how good your business plan is, if you're pursuing a 'lousy business' -- a fundamentally flawed opportunity -- you're on the fast-track to failure. The new edition of this best-selling book will help you to road test your idea, making sure that the business you build is based on a winning concept. It will enable you to invest your time and money wisely and pitch to investors and customers with confidence. No budding entrepreneur should leave the day job or face an investor without having read this book.