Category: business plan

Cannabis Business Plan

Your Startup Guru client - Latinos For Cannabis

Latinos for Cannabis came to Your Startup Guru for help with their cannabis business plan.  The funding request would be used for growth, operational overhead, and raising awareness.

About Latinos for Cannabis

Latinos for Cannabis is a community-based organization that is committed to raising awareness of the social, economic, and medicinal benefits that Cannabis has to offer.

The goal of Latinos for Cannabis is economic, social, & political empowerment by demanding racial equity and accessibility to the cannabis industry.  As such, we offer three major service categories:

  • Civic Engagement & Education
    • Engage voters, public officials & community influencers – Organizing community town halls; lobbying and advocacy work to build community awareness.  Promote social responsibility through public education about medicine, nutrition, and the movement.
  • Industry Access
    • Promote growth & accessibility – Access to capital and business infrastructure support for new and existing industry members.  We will offer training and resources on how to start/operate a business.  Provide information on regulations, access to licenses, entry into the industry, market, and jobs through industry workshops.
  • Reparation & Social Justice
    • Maintain a level of accountability to Latino communities – We will monitor tax revenue of cannabis initiatives such as Prop. 64 and use grant capital to provide job training, record expungement, penalty reduction, drug treatment, and education, as well as immigration training and workshops to educate our community on the law and their rights.

Launch and Grow Your Business

Contact us for your cannabis business plan today.

Business PLAN vs. Business MODEL

Control Leave Mark Production Planning Marker Hand
Image courtesy of Max Pixel

Sometimes my clients ask for a business plan but aren’t yet seeking funding or aren’t beyond the ideation/conceptualization stage.  This is where a business model is helpful.

“I have an idea for a product/service.  How do I monetize?”

At this stage, you don’t need to exactly know the details of marketing strategy, distribution channels, location, etc. unless it is crucial to your business model.

At the ideation/conceptualization stage, you need to know who your market (i.e. customers) is, growth rate of the industry, who your competitors are, the major costs to bring your product/service to market, and any other major hurdles (e.g. regulatory) that might be a barrier to entry.  Business models are 30,000 foot views for seeing how the business will run: who the customers are, selling price of the product/service, who the competitors are, etc.

Business plans go further into depth than business models by including details of the operation, marketing, product/service, financial projections, investment ask, and other pertinent information specific to the industry/sector that your company will occupy.  A business plan can then be presented to investors and lenders to raise capital to launch the business.

Also, a business model should not be confused with revenue model.  Revenue model is a piece of the business model.  In other words, how the company generates revenue:  production, subscription, advertising, commission, etc.

No matter where you are at the business development process, contact us to help map out the strategy for your business launch.

Business Plan and Pitch Deck for Listing Website

Business Plan and Pitch Deck for Listing Website

BizBoards came to us to create a business plan and pitch deck for their listing website. Their website improves the online marketplace for key business activities by creating a simple affordable one-stop-shop.  As of now, customers are paying large fees to use an unattractive interface to find/advertise work, investments, business sales, and partnerships.  BizBoards streamlines this once-difficult process with a sleek, effective, and powerful solution.

Your Startup Guru prepared a business plan and pitch deck that allowed them to secure financing and attract team members for their launch.

Contact us today for a business plan or pitch deck for your business!

The Lean Startup

the-lean-startup-summary

Last week a client asked me about the Lean Startup. As a small independent baker, the Learn Startup methodology didn’t really meet his needs. Actually for many small businesses, they’re already utilizing some of the Lean Startup’s principles: split testing (e.g. which new cupcake idea is selling better), pivoting (e.g. advertise better selling new cupcake), build-measure-learn (e.g. ask customers what they like about each cupcake, why, etc. then adjust the recipe if needed).

The Learn Startup is more applicable to large/new & complex products and/or services. When you have hundreds of ideas, tweaks, iterations, it can very easy to get caught-up in the labyrinth of product/service development. Essentially, it comes down to starting with a minimum viable product (MVP), have users play around with it, gather data on (i.e. with actionable metrics, interviews, use studies, etc.), decide on which steps to go next. This measured, calculated, and insightful process prevents over-developed products/services that do not necessarily have a market/meed a need.

As mentioned, the Learn Startup method might not be useful for all entrepreneurs but if you are in the processes of developing a large/complex product or even a brand new/novel product, it might be worth your time to check out this book and install some informational gathering and pivoting processes to make sure that it closely meets a market need.

Sport Chalet is closing

Vestis Retail Group, the parent company of sports equipment and apparel stores Sport Chalet, Eastern Mountain Sports, and  Bob’s Stores has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection today.

I don’t have the financials for Bob’s Stores or Eastern Mountain Sports, but if the numbers for them looks like that of Sport Chalet, it looks like it’s another victim of passing trends and Amazon.  I wrote about the bankruptcy of Quiksilver and how it can save itself, and about Amazon‘s effect on Walmart.

sport chalet

Mountain sports presents another challenge above its sea-level cousin, surfing.  It costs a LOT more money to go skiing.  Skis, jacket, goggles, beanies, gas, food, etc.  The list goes on and on.  With the slow economic recovery putting Vestis’s holdings on a slower expansion pace, downsizing and keeping only strategic stores in wealthier markets would have slowed the cash flow hemorrhage.  Another factor unique to snow sports is the abnormally warm winters with little snowfall.  This climate factor greatly hurt sales.

Who knows what the boardroom meetings were like when CEO Mark Walsh, CFO Susan Riley, and others were meeting; nonetheless they should’ve listened to the decision-maker that had a closer eye on industry, market, and environmental trends.

In every business plan, I include industry and market analysis that covers the trends, threats, and emerging opportunities for every business.

Importance of a Financial Plan

learn vest

LearnVest CEO Alexa von Tobel talks on HuffPost Live about the importance of having a financial plan with their business plan.

huffpo

LearnVest, a financial planning service for women, was acquired by Northwestern Mutual for $250 million in 2015.

Luckily for you, all of my business plans come with a 3-5 year financial plan that includes income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement.

Another happy customer!

Congratulations to 9 Bar Roasting!

9 bar roasting logo

They approached me almost a year ago for a business plan.  They are a  boutique coffee roasting company that serves to restaurants, La Cimbali and Casadio equipment sales, as well as barista training, in addition to delicious coffee in their Northridge store.  Check them out if you ever get a chance.

Congratulations to Yaniv and Eric!

www.9barroasting.com

coffee bag               machine

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