Garner Consulting, LLC

The MBA myth"There’s a popular book on entrepreneurship called The E-Myth which claims that bakers shouldn’t run bakeries, plumbers shouldn’t run plumbing companies, and everyone else should think about how they could turn their small business into a franchise. On the face of it, there’s a lot of good advice about how you can’t just be a good baker if you don’t have a business bone in your body and expect commercial success.""Problem is that the reverse is also often true. If you just put MBAs inplace — or other professional managers without deep subject matterexpertise — you’re equally likely to end up with an uninspiringbusiness that fails to be passionate about the right things."

Embedded Video

OK, admittedly, there are quite a few "best answers"...but LinkedIn has a new "Answers" section that somewhat mimics Yahoo Answers. It is targeted at members of LinkedIn and there are various categories of questions that can be asked.

On a recent Q/A, I was selected as the one with the best answer (out of 30+ answers from other folks) for a question about business plans. Not a big deal really, but I do still like my answer. Here's the skinny:

--

The Question

"What are the top five things you look for when evaluating a business plan?

I often hear from VC people that when they evaluate a business plan they look at the Executive Summary, flip to the financials, and then the Proof of Concept. If they add up and are intriguing, only then will they read it cover to cover. What I would like to know is what are the top five things you look for when evaluating a plan? Any information, ranging from a mathematical formula you use to particular salient points you expect to see would be great. I have written numerous plans before, but I wanted to test out this new LI feature and see what feedback I can get from the people who receive what I write (instead of those who hire me to write them)." 

- JH

My Answer

1 - Verifiable quality of the management team. It has been said elsewhere that a "C" product/concept with an "A" team still has a pretty good chance of getting A results. However, an A product with a C team can get D results.
2 - Unique, defensible positioning. Being the “first” in any segment is usually an advantage, and having solid IP to back it up is also important.
3 – Simplified complexity. The key pitch should be evident in a couple of sentences no matter how complex the actual solution. The inability to develop this message can be a red flag of a lack of management focus on what is the most important.
4 – Humility in presentation. I have never done this, but it would be interesting to develop a metric for the number of times “best,” “leading,” and all of those other nebulous, non-specific terms get tossed into a plan. The more there are the more suspect the plan is. Humility can also be reflected by indications of the ability and willingness to adjust according to market realities. A plan will be “wrong” as soon as it is printed because no one can see the future. The team and the solution should demonstrate the ability to adjust quickly and continue to execute.
5 – Great numbers (of course). However, they must be reasonable with solid research to back them up. A well developed “worst case” is the most important.

Coffee snobbery? I admit it...I have succumbed...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061121/ap_on_bi_ge/business_of_life

Reuters article that is fairly negative on Sprint's current and near-term operations. Says it could take a year or two to stabilize subscriptions, leaving them open as possible acquisition target.

Link to Reuters article.

DNC and Clinton-era officials are attempting to smear the ABC miniseries "Path to 9/11" airing September 10th and 11th.

I'm gonna watch...

Ad Age article.

ABC page about the movie.