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.
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22 Good Reasons to Write a Business Plan
Question: What are some of the main arguments for writing a business plan? Here are 20 good reasons to write a business plan. Please note, however, that a business plan is not necessarily a traditional…
What are the Normal Steps for Angel Investment?
Question: What are the normal steps for angel investment? What’s involved in submitting a business plan? I decided to answer this question here because I see it so often in email and in question and answer…
7 Things Wannabe Entrepreneurs Need to Know
What do entrepreneurs need to know as they get started? Of course there’s need to know, absolutely; and there’s ought to know. I was asked to come up with a list, and here is my…
Good Data Debunking Popular Startup Myths
Contrary to popular startup myths and misunderstanding, tech founders aren’t mainly younger than 30. They are generally well educated, not dropouts. They tend to start up where they are, instead of moving to Silicon Valley or…
12 Visual Principles for Everyday Design
Design is essential and affects so much of our work. But design is also expensive. And the tech world, social media, the web, and business are full of designs we do ourselves. Profile pages, presentations,…
10 Most Common High Tech Business Plan Fails
I was asked about high-tech business plan fails on Quora recently. So this isn’t about lean plans for all business owners, but just the business plans submitted for angel investment and business plan competitions. I read about…
Why Do We Need Financial Forecasts?
Business owners and managers do financial forecasting to enhance management. Anticipate essential flows of money to manage them better. Forecasting is a necessary first step towards managing plan vs. actual results, which means course corrections….
Understanding Uncertainty is Vital to an Entrepreneur
Pop quiz: what relationship factor is the single most common trait in the successful entrepreneur? My answer: understanding uncertainty. Living with uncertainty Why? First let me say that I’m not sure. Second, that I might change…
Did You Get Screwed in Business?
This is a true story. I was there. The details are possibly not exact, and the quotes are paraphrased, but the essentials are true. A startup founder was pitching to 22 local investors. The group…
Do You Believe the Legendary Startup Failure Statistics? I Don’t!
This recent piece on startup failure statistics caught my eye on Twitter first, and I followed the links to discover Startups: Conventional Wisdom Says 90% Fail. Data Says Otherwise. | Fortune.com. Here’s a direct quote from…