The Autumn Camp of ISS : let’s talk about the Business Plan

The Business Plan (BP) is one of the most discussed objects in the entrepreneurial world. No survival without the existence of such a document, first of all to be supposedly credible to investors, but above all perhaps for the entrepreneur himself. By structuring her thoughts, her objectives and the means to achieve them, she will be able to verify their realism and then communicate better with her employees, her partners and her customers.

So, Inria Startup Studio (ISS) organized for the 3rd time an intensive two-day camp bringing together project leaders in a Parisi hotel. ISS offers a large number of tools and events to its entrepreneurs, we have already mentioned it here, such as participation to Vivatech and Hello Tomorrow, its Spring Camp more focused on an exchange with guests external to the program or its Fête des Startups, the 2024 edition of which will take place at the Cyber ​​Campus on November 21, 2024. There is still time to register!

The problem and the Solution of the Business Plan

Yet the business plan remains a controversial subject. Entrepreneurship is about action, not analysis. It is also sometimes confused with financial projections, which are only a subset of it, and are themselves sometimes a bit ridiculous when they have a five-year horizon. Who can predict the future in such a long term for nascent projects in a quasi-chaotic world?

The first half-day aims at breaking this somewhat mechanical vision by referring to Guy Kawasaki, whose book The Art of Start describes a good business plan as a 10-slide PowerPoint document, which we are sharing with you here.

And if you prefer videos, here is an excellent short one on the right questions to ask to understand the issues :

Defining someone’s problem and proposing a solution is the beginning of the BP. Our entrepreneurs therefore worked the first half-day on define this and if they were already very advanced in the program (our system selects people on a rolling basis without any mechanics of annual sessions), then they were able to deepen or validate their slide deck.

The Autumn Camp is one of the opportunities offered to meet and exchange ideas but also to meet entrepreneurship experts. The first guest was Lea Mékies Nahon, business manager of the public incubator Agoranov. Our project leaders were able to hear what is expected of them to be selected and then supported by the rich French ecosystem. And what it can bring them too of course!

The market opportunity

If there is a common mistake of apprentice entrepreneurs, it is to remain locked in developing their project without knowing or checking if someone wants to use the imagined solution. Knowing the ecosystem in which you will have to survive and ideally grow, that is to say your customers, your users (they are not necessarily your customers), your partners and even your competitors is essential.

For all our entrepreneurs, the second half-day was dedicated to working on their ecosystem and for those who knew it to define their value curve. The value curve model provides a framework to identify where a company’s value is created and how it is delivered through its products and/or services. It offers an overview of the competitive landscape to determine where market share is and where it is going.

The first day ended with a friendly dinner where minds did not always rest but continued passionate exchanges.

Speed ​​of execution, speed of learning, drive and passion

The second day has started for 3 years with a special guest, Alexis Robert from Kima Ventures. In a very clear and honest pitch, this “nerd” entrepreneur who would never have thought of becoming a venture capitalist for Xavier Niel’s fund, explained with passion that investors seek to invest in projects at 80% for the entrepreneurial qualities and at 20% for interesting markets. By meeting startupers, they will try to validate during their “due diligence” whether the entrepreneurs demonstrate exceptional speed of execution, speed of learning, drive and passion. 

You may have noticed : no business plan mentioned in the pitch. But investors are also looking for a very large market and Alexis explained that a large market gives more opportunities to entrepreneurs to quickly find new customers and also the possibility of pivoting. Another friendly tip from Alexis: the essential reading of the Mom Test, a book that has already been discussed here in the post on market exploration.

The Business Plan Model Canvas

Another essential topic when it comes to Business Plan is the famous tool developed by Alexander Osterwalder.

It is a dangerous tool to use when you are not prepared for it or when the project has not yet reached a level of maturity that makes it useful. You must have mastered the topics discussed the day before to start describing what the future company will be: its customers, its value proposition, how the distribution channels and customer relationships and revenue streams will be structured, and on the left side of the canvas, how the structure of the company will be described by key resources and activities, in relation to partners, all of which generate a cost structure. Our project leaders could, depending on the maturity of their project, skim over or delve deeper into these 9 essential elements.

And then what ?

If the business project comes to fruition, taking action will require resources, both human and financial. It is therefore necessary to plan, which is the whole point of finally writing a business plan, whether it consists of 10 slides or 20 pages of text. The entrepreneur can quantify what he or she will need over a horizon of 18 months, three years, or even five years, without reading too much into the crystal ball.

This document is for you, the entrepreneur. The investor has too little time to read it, he will give you 20 minutes to explain your project and be interested, then he may delve deeper. But you must become an expert on your subject, the business plan will be the illsutration on paper of this expertise, in constant evolution.

Paul Berrux, director of Multeam and fundraiser was our third guest and shared his experience on these complex subjects. The entrepreneurs then did the exercise of projecting themselves three years ahead.

Two intense and exciting days!