Business schools and entrepreneurship literature teaches how to write a proper business plan. The better the plan, the better the business. Planning makes perfect right?

Having started businesses with and without business plans, I’ve come to the conclusion that, as long as you know why you’re taking your decisions, there are only 2 reasons why you might need a business plan:

  1. Someone you need is asking for it (eg. investors).
  2. You want to communicate ideas and reach agreement within your team.

In all other cases, your time will be better spent being proactive dealing with business issues than updating and managing versions of a document most people won’t read. Be agile, don’t try to freeze actions and strategies; they will change and so will your business, concept, etc (Claude Ananou).