Tim Berry

Tim Berry is co-founder of Have Presence, founder and Chairman of Palo Alto Software, founder of bplans.com, and a co-founder of Borland International. He is author of books and software including LivePlan and Business Plan Pro, The Plan-As-You-Go Business Plan, and Lean Business Planning, published by Motivational Press in 2015. He has a Stanford MBA degree and degrees with honors from the University of Oregon and the University of Notre Dame. He taught starting a business at the University of Oregon for 11 years.

Latest

A Horror Story of Small Business Fraud

If you’re a business owner, and especially if you’re in the expert business, you should know this small business fraud story. It involves a very sophisticated scheme, including a fraudulent cashier’s check, and a very…

This is The Best Place to Start Your Business

The best place to start your business… …is where you are. Sure, there are exceptions. Maybe you’re young, and have no roots. Or maybe you just want to move to somewhere else. But, barring special…

Where Can I Sell My Business Ideas?

I get it. What a nice dream … just sell the business idea, and let somebody else take the risk, find the money, and do the work. Except that the work, the risk, and the…

Should You Start a Business? Test Your Idea First

As I write this, during the worst pandemic in 100 years, in the grips of a severe economic slowdown — let’s all hope it’s just recession, not depression — people still want to start new…

Do Those Summaries. Use Those Frameworks. But Don’t Think They Replace Business Planning.

There is some bad advice floating around in the startup world. Useful as the Lean Canvas is, and despite some well-intentioned suggestions of summaries, those are not business plans. They don’t deal with the drivers…

10 Prevailing Myths of Business Ownership

I was asked about common myths of business ownership that people still believe in 2019. I came up with a list of 10 common myths. Do you agree? That the business idea matters. As if…

Know Your Industry: Average Margins

Know your industry. In a recent post here, I wrote that the most common stumbling point I see in multiple business plans is absurdly unrealistic profitability. Specifically … Most of the business plans I see project…

Advice to Young People Looking to be Entrepreneurs

How does a young person work towards a career in entrepreneurship? I was asked this question on Quora. Here’s my answer. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. Make sure you focus on your education while…

10 Tips on How to Protect a Software Idea

How to protect a software idea? I recently answered a related Quora question on this one. I took parts of this post from a previous post on how to protect an idea while building a business, but this…

5 Most Important Illusions About Startups

Q: What are some illusions about start-ups?  A: here’s my list of the five most important illusions about startups The illusion of the idea. Few businesses have truly new ideas. Apple didn’t; Facebook didn’t; Google…