I am always interested in investing in new venues. Few days back, I stumbled upon a bunch of entrepreneurs who wanted to develop a 3D action game. It looked like a freaky idea and I was all game for it. I asked them to put together a basic business plan. Nothing monstrous. Just a simple paper-napkin business plan.

I got back a business plan, which looks like this:

This is the most funny business plan I have ever seen. I could not help myself but share it with you all. I have removed the name of the company which was scribbled on top of this page!

Few things to notice:

• The plan talks about all expenses. It does not talk about revenue channel.
• The salaries of administrative staff = salaries of production staff.
• They want to start off with 3000-4000 sq feet space. I do not remember seeing many start-ups doing that. May be I am an old fashioned guy, but I think start-ups should work at shoestring budget to pull break-even point closer and to allow more space for experimentation.
• No cost for the game development engine. I have heard that this is one of the major costs in starting off a game development company.
• No breakup for administrative expenses which amounts to almost INR 1 million every month.
• Investment in 2.25 million pieces media for a product which has not been test-marketed. 
• Approximating INR 75.425 million to INR 80 million. It clearly shows that they do not value money.

The business plan clearly shows:

• There is no plan.
• The team does not know about the business that they want to get into.
• They are non-committed.

It goes without saying that I will never associate myself with such a business.

Guys,

Recently some of my employees got unsolicited call from a gentleman called Manish Gupta, who wants to woo them away from my company to his startup. Of course like every normal human being, my colleagues also need a reason to go and work for a relatively unknown and small company.  So they need convincing. And he did put up an argument to convince them…

And then came the bummer!

He thinks that my colleagues should work for his company because he has a bigger vision and everyone has a bright future with him. But how do people believe him? Simple - His was the runner-up of the Business Baazigar contest of Zee TV.

:D

I could not stop myself from laughing out at this humbleness.

Then I thought of doing some research on the business model and modus-operandi of his company. I found out that there was no innovation and no marketing strategy (mind you, he must have spent time in sales, but definitely not in marketing). He is selling the same old wine in the same old bottle with no value addition. There is no investment in human resource development, since the human resource policy is absolutely based on poaching.

Is this the vision, he is selling to my employees?

I wish him best of luck!

BTW, in all my humbleness, I will like to get my message across to Mr. Gupta that I have been on the jury panel of nationwide business plan contest (organized by one of the most reputed management institution in India), giving my inputs to several business baazigars who are working hard to build their dream company!

And yes, it does not hurt me anywhere. But it is sad to see this approach to business after getting the said recognition.

I hope he learn to differenciate, innovate and deliver!

And yes, I am fast losing faith in TV programs like Business Baazigar if this is the talent they have identified

Divya Narendra and his two other Harvard friends (Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss) have sued Facebook alleging that their founder, Mark Zuckerberg have stolen their business plan and source code. You can read the full story at rediff.com.

I was wondering if this is the case, why they didn’t cried foul earlier.

In fact I doubt that Facebook has become so popular and valuable (not sure) because of the business plan and source code that was stolen (if at all it was stolen). In my experience business plan is just a starting point and then everything keeps changing and you have to adopt according to the situation. Above all ideas do not matter, execution does. Mark has executed the idea well and he deserves what he has achieved.

Anyways, it will be interesting to see the outcome of the lawsuit. Divya has almost nothing to loose, but everything to gain. He just might be able to make the kill. But I see very little probability of the same.

I have often seen people struggling with their business plan. I have a bit unconventional take on the subject. May be, because it has worked well for me till now. So here is what I sugget: