By Wanjiru Maina
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20 Oct, 2021
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Entrepreneurs draw up business plans for new ventures to make various marketing, pricing, financial, and other projections. More often than not, though, their estimates bear little relationship to reality. We at KNG Ventures argue that planning for new enterprises differs fundamentally from planning for existing companies, given the inherent instability of start-ups. How can managers launching new ventures plan effectively for the many unknowns they will encounter? Identifying milestones over the project’s life enables planners to both learn from experience about the enterprise’s viability and make adjustments in strategy and goals as necessary. We walk through our investment ventures using typical milestones that new businesses pass: including concept and product testing, first financing, market testing, production start-up, and competitive reactions. At each stage, we match assumptions with actual outcomes and determine whether and how to proceed to the next milestone.