Business Plans: Are They Relevant to Venture Capitalists?

Abstract

Relevance of the traditional business plan in the investment decisions made by venture capitalists for entrepreneurs has recently been a subject of debate. Some people view business plans to be a main input in the decision making process of investors. Others see business plans as having limited prominence, having been replaced by other means of inspiring confidence in potential investors. This study is designed to empirically investigate the relevance of a business plan in today's fast-paced and dynamic environment. Data was collected from 150 investor capitalist firms from around the world through an on-line survey. Data was analyzed and results are provided. A discussion is also presented.SOMMAIRE. On a récemment commenté sur la pertinence pour les entrepreneurs du plan de développement appliqué aux décisions de placement prises par les investisseurs de capital de risque. Certains considèrent le plan de développement comme un apport essentiel au processus décisionnel des investisseurs ; d'autres lui accordent une importance limitée, et le considèrent remplacé par d'autres moyens d'inspirer la confiance chez les investisseurs éventuels. La présente étude a été conçue pour examiner de façon empirique la pertinence du plan de développement dans la dynamique du milieu contemporain. Nous y analysons des données récoltées par sondage en ligne auprès de cent-cinquante firmes d'investissement dans le monde entier. Les résultats sont présentés, et une discussion s'ensuit.

Entrepreneurial competences in a higher education business plan course

“…Research in entrepreneurship is immersed in an intense debate on the value of business planning. Most previous empirical findings move along the same lines and come to similar conclusions: the process of creating a business plan is essential for successfully completing a project (Barringer and Gresock, 2008;Honig, 2004) and enables students to enhance their reflection and planning skills (Ashamalla et al, 2008). It even increases the chances of success in launching a business, helps guide risk-taking and supports the performance of certain activities during the initial start-up phase (Brinckmann et al, 2010;Giunipero et al, 2008), and also has a positive influence on students' entrepreneurial competences (Tounés et al, 2014).…”

“…Furthermore, the results of Brinckmann et al (2010) are partly confirmed, according to which teaching entrepreneurship reduces uncertainty in decision-making, since in our case the decision-making competence is ninth in terms of level of perception and second in attainment. The results of Ashamalla et al (2008) are also confirmed, since they CA1 CA2 CA3 CA4 CA5 CA6 CA7 CA8 CA9 CA10 CA11 CA12 CA13 CA14 CA15 CA16 CA17 Fictitious 7.86 7.86 7.86 7.86 7.86 7.86 6.06 6.06 7.61 7.04 7.04 4.87 6.91 7.23 4.87 6.54 6.26 Real 8.05 8.05 8.05 8.05 8.05 8.05 6.41 6.41 7.76 7.21 7.21 5.02 6.88 7.19 5.02 6.91 6.37 CA18 CA19 CA20 CA21 CA22 CA23 CA24 CA25 CA26 CA27 CA28 CA29 CA30 CA31 CA32 CA33 CA34 Fictitious 6.82 6.82 6.26 6. 06 7.50 8.88 8.88 7.66 7.61 7.53 7.59 6.54 7.62 7.17 4.87 7.46 7.30 Real 6.84 6.84 6.37 6.41 7.26 8.67 8.67 7.86 7.76 7.76 7.42 6.91 7.27 7.22 5.02 7.42 7.32 showed that creating a business plan offers a learning context in which students can boost their planning skills and, in our case, project management competence is sixth in terms of level of perception and eighth in attainment.…”

El Efecto Del Desarrollo De Planes De Negocio en Las Actitudes E Intenciones Emprendedoras De Los Estudiantes

“…Cook, Belliveau, & Sandberg (2004) consideran que el desarrollo de un BP de calidad es un ingrediente esencial para el éxito emprendedor. Longenecker et al (2010) sostienen que, son un requisito previo que ayuda al emprendedor a comunicar su visión y enfocarse en los aspectos y las actividades más importantes, y juegan un papel crucial en la evaluación global de una nueva empresa por parte de inversionistas, aumentando las posibilidades de éxito (Ashamalla, Orife, & Abel, 2008). Por lo tanto, los estudiantes que han aprendido a desarrollar BPs deben mostrar un mayor conocimiento y habilidades emprendedoras, autoeficacia e intención de iniciar una nueva empresa (Lange, Marram, Jawahar, Yong, & Bygrave, 2011;Honig, 2004).…”

What Factors are Causal to Survival of a Startup?

“…Many authors and researchers advocate for writing little or no business plan at all (Brinckmann, Grichnik, & Kapsa, 2010;Gerber, 2010;Gumpert, 2002;Guttman, 2015). Further research shows that the venture capital community is open to investing in firms with no startup plans (Ashamalla, Orife, & Abel, 2008). Castrogiovanni (1996) argues that many great successes started without business plans.…”