Need a Good Example?
If you have never looked at an actual business plan, you may be surprised at the amount of research involved in making the business case. Here are a few options, including past business plans written by students peers.
- Read electronic plans via Gale Virtual Reference Library: The "Business Plan Handbook" includes sample business plans as well as "how to" articles and information for starting a new business. TIP: Click the "Business" category in the middle of the main page or use the search box.
The Startup Owner's Manual by ISBN: 9780984999309Publication Date: 2012-03-01Now a decade after The Four Steps to the Epiphany sparked the Lean Startup revolution, comes its sequel... The Startup Owner's Manual. The Manual incorporates 10 years of learning and best practices that have swept the startup world. It incorporates the Business Model Canvas as the organizing principle for startup hypotheses, provides separate paths and advice for web/mobile products versus physical products, offers a wealth of detailed instruction on how to get, keep, and grow customers recognizing the different techniques for web and physical channels and teaches a "new math" for startups: "metrics that matter for fueling growth." The Startup Owner's Manual is a step-by-step, near-encyclopedic reference manual or "how to" for building a successful, scalable startup.
The Lean Startup by ISBN: 9780307887894Publication Date: 2011-09-13Most startups fail. But many of those failures are preventable. The Lean Startup is a new approach being adopted across the globe, changing the way companies are built and new products are launched.
Business Model Generation by ISBN: 9780470876411Publication Date: 2010-07-13Business Model Generation is a handbook for visionaries, game changers, and challengers striving to defy outmoded business models and design tomorrow's enterprises. If your organization needs to adapt to harsh new realities, but you don't yet have a strategy that will get you out in front of your competitors, you need Business Model Generation.
The Hard Thing about Hard Things by ISBN: 9780062273208Publication Date: 2014-03-04Ben Horowitz, cofounder of Andreessen Horowitz and one of Silicon Valley's most respected and experienced entrepreneurs, offers essential advice on building and running a startup--practical wisdom for managing the toughest problems business school doesn't cover, based on his popular ben's blog. While many people talk about how great it is to start a business, very few are honest about how difficult it is to run one. Ben Horowitz analyzes the problems that confront leaders every day, sharing the insights he's gained developing, managing, selling, buying, investing in, and supervising technology companies.
Selected Books, etc.
A great deal of your research needs will be met with online sources. However, there are some print items you may wish to use as well. We recommend that you speak with a member of our reference staff to learn the best resources for your particular plan. Here is a selected list of some specialty print materials you might find useful:
- Marketing WarfareSage Hall Management Library Reserve and ILR Library HF5415 .R55
- Business technology marketing benchmark guideCall Number: HD30.2 .B88
Marketing Sherpa's Business Technology Marketing Benchmark Guide 2007-08 provides practical data for B-to-B software, hardware, & services marketers. (Management Library, Ready Reference HD30.2 B88 2007/2008) - Consumer BehaviorPublication Date: 2017/2018
Available in full text via Richard K. Miller & Associates link. Provides trends in consumer behavior, tells what’s hot and provides market survey links and articles cited in the bibliography. - The Lifestyle Market AnalystCall Number: ILR Ref HF5415.33.U6 L54
Lifestyle Market Analyst provides profiles of consumers by bringing together demographic, geographic, and lifestyle information for different markets. - The Marketing Research Guide by Robert E. Stevens; Bruce Wrenn; Philip K. Sherwood; Morris E. Ruddick; David L. LoudonCall Number: ILR Reference HF5415.2 M35585 2006
ISBN: 0789024160
Publication Date: 2005-11-18
If you need to make a survey or model some market research for your business plan, this guide provides examples.
Talking to Humans by ISBN: 9780990800927Publication Date: 2014-09-24Talking to Humans is a practical guide to the qualitative side of customer development, an indispensable skill for vetting and improving any new startup or innovation. This book will teach you how to structure and run effective customer interviews, find candidates, and turn learnings into action.
