RSS at Feed BurnerFocus on the Game, not the Plan
Guy references a Wall Street Journal article saying that studies have showed that businesses with a business plan do not have a higher rate of success compared with those without a business plan. This helps support the idea that a great idea will not work by itself. In fact, a lot of companies actually change their focus as they grow. As you probably know, Flickr started as a gaming site. A lot of companies get into an industry only to later find a niche. Having a business plan and only focusing on executing the plan may prevent you from finding a niche that may give you an advantage.
Great companies are usually a result of great leaders, managers, and business thinkers, which is why many investors are more interested in the Executive team than they are in the business plan. A business plan isn’t worthless, in fact you need one if you are seeking investments. But I would take a great team and a good idea over a great idea and a good team.
In sports, you can tell good coaches by what happens after half time. All coaches go into a game with a game plan. Some of them work from the beginning and don’t need to stray from it. Others need to go in at half and adjust their plan. They learn and adapt to the game at hand. Those that can make the adjustments are usually the ones that have a better shot at success.