I came across this quote online: “Two weeks of coding can save you an hour of planning” and not only laughed, but cried, as the same is even more true over on the business side of startups.
If I had a nickel every time one of my entrepreneurs spent months on operations, bashing the company’s proverbial head against the wall trying to fill orders or gain customers, when a few hours away from the business, questioning assumptions and thinking strategically could have solved that problem in an hour.
After a decade running business accelerators, I can unquestionably say that the reason such programs work is that they force entrepreneurs to step away from their business and spend time on planning vs. operating.
So… what is the lesson for all you entrepreneurs reading this today???
Simple, schedule a day next week for you and your management team to talk strategically. Discuss and set corporate goals for the upcoming year. Discuss and set a revenue forecast and budget. Discuss what isn’t working, what you are NOT going to do as much as what are ARE planning on doing.
Best to have that discussion away from the office. Away from the daily operations. And to plan on repeating the off-site every quarter, three of those to check in on the goal, the fourth to recap the lessons for the year and to set new goals for the next year.
