The Successful Business Plan: Secrets & Strategies [Paperback]

Rhonda Abrams (Author), Eugene Kleiner (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2003 | Series: Successful Business Plan

Forbes calls The Successful Business Plan one of the best books for small businesses. This new edition offers advice on developing business plans that will succeed in today's business climate. Includes up-to-date information on what's being funded now.

Editorial Reviews

Book Description

This number-one selling business planning guide in the U.S. includes expert help, worksheets to jumpstart the process, a sample business plan, tips on impressing funders, winning tips for competitions, and more. Used in the top business schools throughout the nation, including Stanford; M.I.T.; University of Denver; Hass School of Business, UC Berkeley; and Cornell. Hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs have used this book to launch their businesses.

Named by Inc. and Forbes magazines as one of the top ten essential books for small business, this fully revised and updated fifth edition of Successful Business Plan: Secrets & Strategies is a complete, step-by-step guide to researching and writing a business plan to get your company funded!

With a foreword by legendary venture capitalist John Doerr, Successful Business Plan: Secrets & Strategies is packed with insider tips and insightful advice on writing and formatting a business plan that will stand out from the crowd.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

From the Publisher

Now you can find what venture capitalists and bankers really want to see before they fund a company. Gives you their personal tips and insights for successful business plan development. The sample business plan provides a guideline for you to follow in writing your own plan. Breaks the chore down into easy-to-manage steps, so you can end up with a fundable proposal.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 417 pages
• Publisher: Planning Shop; 4th ed. edition (April 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0966963563
• ISBN-13: 978-0966963564
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #62,329 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

71 of 74 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Business Planning Book, PERIOD. December 28, 1999

By The Marginal Way

Format:Paperback

I have read a lot of them and written a lot of them... business plans and bus planning books. This is BY FAR the best book available. It has depth and the detail needed to write a SERIOUS business plan. The only reason it has been criticized in reviews here is that it has a lot of detail and requires WORK. If you want the Daffy Duck business plan book (don't want to work), go elsewhere. If you want to get money (are willing to work), buy this book and do it from cover to cover. A MUST HAVE BOOK.

44 of 45 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book, some flaws...but not enough to lose stars June 8, 2003

By Blurb

Format:Paperback

This book was well organized and some of the worksheets were a little hard to use but its still one of the better books I've looked at. The worksheets I had problems with were the financial planners. Some of them were not well explained and therefore hard to use. Overall, the book was very thorough and hopefully it will help my plans for starting a business go through.

Pros:
-The sample plans were the strongest part of the book because it allowed you to see how the worksheets were put together.

-Very thorough book.

-Leaves nothing out in terms of how to write a business plan and then how to get the money.

Cons:
-The book fell apart on me after reading through it a few times. For such a high quality text I expect a better put together book.

-Some of the financials were not matching other sections of the sample plan to see how it was put together overall.

-Some of the worksheets especially the financials were not well explained.

33 of 33 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Good starting point and reference July 20, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

I have probably purchased 5 business plan books over the last year. I have also purchased a couple of business plan software programs (both unsatisfactory). None can be considered a definitive "best" book or resource. Each one has strengths and weaknesses, and anyone searching for a drop-in guide should re-think their goals. Abrams book, on the whole, is certainly one of the better business plan books. The advise and focus of the content are very salient to anyone out there looking for OPM.

55 of 63 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Not as helpful as I had hoped.... August 6, 2003

By Tech Girl

Format:Paperback

I did not find this book as helpful as I was hoping. First, and most importantly, I needed more examples. There was only one and it was a service organization and I needed to see an example of a manufacturing organization where the target customer was not so geographically limited. Also, I found that the way the book is organized was difficult. I felt the book was more oriented toward helping someone sort out their thoughts and feelings about starting a business than it was focused on actually structuring and writing a business plan. What I actually need are the hard, factual mechanics of writing a business plan and I did not find it to my satisfaction in this book.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Unquestionably the best business plan guide out today June 15, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

I have been doing business plans for several years now and Abrams' book is the best out there. It is clearly written, informative without being overly detailed and it walks the reader step-by-step through the business plan writing process. The book provides methods and items to perform research and does a solid job of explaining the difficult job of preparing projected financial statements. I cannot understand why anyone would give this book a dissapointing review. The few bad reviews that I've read criticize the book for everything that makes it such a strong read. If you are writing a business plan you should have this book. If you are experienced in writing business plans, you should have this book for reference.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars So far, soooo smart! July 22, 2002

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

I'm only three-fifths of the way through the plan I'm writing with this book, but I had to stop and praise it highly. Abrams forces you to go find numerical evidence for statements (I'm using the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Census Bureau for starters), and to back up what you say with solid numbers. Thanks to her, I discovered highly lucrative, related fields to the business I was originally intending to start! By adding some simple enhancements to my original vision, I will probably double my income. Had I not done the research this book recommends, I never would have known.

There are some drawbacks to this book. For one thing, the fill-in charts don't always match the sample plan sections at the end of the chapter. And sometimes they ask questions without telling you where or how to find the answer. But those are minor quibbles. Overall, it is an excellent book that makes you work hard (as in 40 hours or more), and think about who you are as a corporate entity.

The best "proof of the pudding" was when I took a draft of my business plan into a meeting with an accountant today. Abrams warns you not to use draft plans (they can seem half-baked), but I had no choice... the accountant had to look at something. She was highly impressed, and instantly grasped the basics about my business based on this tight, well-focused, statistically sound presentation.

Thank you, Ms. Abrams. And to potential readers, what's thirty bucks if you can earn many tens or hundreds of thousands more by planning right?

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The new 4th edition is outstanding. June 29, 2003

By Andrew Ewings

Format:Paperback

This is simply the best business planning guide on the market. I teach entrepreneurship classes and have used prior editions in my classes, but I'm really impressed with this new edition and how it reflects the realities of business planning in the post-dot-com era. There's a new chapter on seeking funding in a recession, which is the most frequent question I'm asked by my students now.

The other thing I like about the new edition is the Excel templates for generating the business plan's financials. They work exactly like the worksheets in the book, which lessens the learning curve. BUT, you have to buy the templates separately from the publisher's website.

All in all, a great update to an already excellent book. Highly recommended.