Young Entrepreneurs of America wants to make the 2009-10 Academic Year your best year ever for learning entrepreneurship and starting new businesses for young entrepreneurs.

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1. By far this movie has the best directing of the five. David Yates did an awesome job reducing a very long, detailed book down to its essence and did a remarkable job of capturing the best parts of the key scenes. There was obvious some scenes that were noticeably absent but the movie is already 2 hours and 23 minutes.
2. Partially related to the above, this film did not overexplain everything that was going on (i.e. how quiddich is played, Fawkes flying off into the sunset). If you don’t understand Harry Potter by now, explaining it again isn’t going to help.
3. I was not really looking forward to Michael Gambon‘s performance in this film. He was by far the worst overactor in the bunch in the previous movies and the loss of Richard Harris is still noticeable. This movie is carried by a number of key scenes that usually require the great Albus Dumbledore. I don’t know whether it was once again the result of supurb directing or if Mr. Gambon received some much needed acting lessons but his performance in this show was not only not a major downside of the film, but he actually did a good job helping to portray the role of the great Headmaster in a meaningful, respectful way.
4. Luna Lovegood – Great character, well played by Evanna Lynch. Regrettably, her role was too small in the film.
5. Great special effects. Done very well but not overplayed. You never get the idea that the special effects are more important than the scene, but rather used appropriately to support the scene. I especially liked the flight of the death eaters, and the scene when the candles in the Great Hall are extinguished.
6. Alan Rickman Rocks! What a great performance. His non-answer to Harry’s question at the Christmas Slug Club party is priceless.
7. Every once in a while you get a character that was absolutely perfect for the actor. In this film, Jim Broadbent gives a truly remarkable performance of Professor Horace Slughorn. J.K. Rowling must have had him in mind when she wrote it. From his slight embarassments to his grand professiorial airs he makes this character come to life in a remarkable manner.
8. Amazing sets. From the giant scenes in the cave, Wonko’s and Slughorn’s class to the simple tiny alcoves, and the Burrow, these sets due justice to a series of books and movies that have become larger than life.

Of course, this movie wasn’t perfect. To read a few of its lessor points, visit my other post at The 6 Worst Things About Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

1. My biggest regret was the fact that due to great editing and limited time there were many terriffic scenes from the book that were omitted entirely.
2. Replacing Michael Gabon for worst overplayed role is Ron Ron’s sweetheart Lavendar Brown way OVERplayed by Jessie Cave.  You get the feeling that someone who wanted more told her that “you can’t posibly overplay your love for Ron”…unfortunately, they were wrong.
3. “Mumbling” Draco Malfoy, played by Tom Felton. While Tom does a decent job as an actor, his accent, combined with him talking much too quickly makes it so you can’t understand half of his lines. Fortunately, it was only a total of 4 sentences.
4. Not enough Nymphadora Tonks. Natalia Tena was only in one scend in the entire show, barely enough to get a speaking part and refresh her memebership in SAG.
5. The wait between movies was too long.
6. From the “what were they thinking” category, I can’t believe that they made poor Neville Longbottom a waiter. He goes from hero at the ministry to waiter at the Slug Club. Maybe Matthew Lewis needed to keep his SAG membership as well so they tossed him another line of dialog. Regardless, it was a poor decision for a character that was just beginning to shine.

Now on to the fun stuff. Read about “The 8 Best Things About Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince“.

Beginning at 8:00 a.m. at the Jordan Commons IMAX lobby they are holding a gourmet tasting table followed by an information session and your choice of 3 private screenings for one of the following:

Pick your choice of screenings!
“The Proposal”
“Transformers”
“Year One”

Make sure you RSVP to jjolley@lhmse.com or call (801) 304-4550 because their space is limited.

See you there!

He also asked if I could send him the quote that I got from the manufacturer and also RE-SEND HIM HIS QUOTE THAT HE SENT TO ME ORIGINALLY. Doesn’t he have the stupid thing in his own system or is he now using me as his file cabinet as well as his scribe?

The next day they laid her off.

Now she is very worried that her 15 years spent fine-tuning her skills for her very particular job has left her with a well defined job set for a position that nobody else needs. I told her that anyone who overlooks a 15-year commitment to a single employer is very near-sighted. In today’s job market when people flip jobs faster than they update their iPod I believe there are many employers who would like to be able to hire a new employee, and have them stay with the company longer than their introductory training session.

Be Complete, Accurate, and Thorough

• Include all relevant details
• Put them in the right spots (not all in the executive summary)
• Be credible (remember, this plan is going to be read by people who read business plans for a living. If you are truly talking to the right people, they are already going to know a tremendous amount about your market, your financials, and your strategy than you do…you better know what you are doing and your plan must be a strong reflection of your knowledge and skills.
• Don’t beat a dead horse

Be Crisp

• Use as few words as necessary to make your point
• Say exactly what you want to say

Target Your Audience

• Know who likes your product and why
• Know how big your market is, who the other players are in that market and how your solution STANDS OUT
• Know who will be reading your plan and what stage they are in the fundraising process

Plan Your Attack

• Know how you are going to get your first customers
• What needs to happen to build the business to support your 100th customer?
• What is your breakeven point?
• Show significant traction

Show Your Excitement

• Have a clear, compelling introduction
• Your plan/pitch should match your company’s voice, product, market, etc (pix, colors, format, quotes)
• Tell your STORY
• Exude Honest Energy

This post focuses on how the business plan is used to reel in the investor by providing them with the information they need to see. Of course, the information in the plan must be complete, it must be accurate, it must be compelling, it must be easy to read, it must be concise and it must be organized in a way that demonstrate experience and expertise to savvy investors.

It is important to iterate that a successful business plan is actually a sales document. That doesn’t mean that it’s covered in fluff and flowery marketing talk, but it does need to be interesting and compelling enough to want to read more. It should not read like a mystery novel, nor should it read like an encyclopedia entry. Present the facts in a compelling manner and organize the document in a way that makes it easy for the investors to find the information they are looking for.

You can’t do that, however, unless you first understand how investors read business plans. Having read hundreds of plans in close proximity to angel investors, venture capitalists, bankers, and other potential investors, I can tell you a few important facts.

Business plans are ready by a variety of people

from a variety of backgrounds

for a number of diverse purposes

and in a number of ways.

Keep in mind that just because you organized your business plan with great care from front to back does not mean that potential partners / investors will read it that way. In fact, many investors that I know read the business plan from the back to the front (starting at the dry, detailed, boring financials…that reveal everything…every flaw in your plan).

In general, however, most investors will read your business plan’s executive summary first. Beyond that, I have noticed that most investors will then continue to read your plan in one of four ways.

1. In order – A small number of investors will continue to read your business plan front to back (until they feel that they have enough information to warrant either a) further investigation or b) the garbage can.
2. By personal expertise – Other investors will follow the executive summary by turning to the section of the business plan that they understand best. Note, this is based on personal experience of the reader. Some investors will turn to the financials, some to sales / marketing, and others to the operations. They have built decades of experience in this area and can quickly judge the quality of your plan and your idea based on the thought you have given to their specific area of expertise.
3. Base on past experience – Most investors have had multiple startups under their belt and their personal experience has convinced them that startups generally fail / succeed for a specific reason. Based on their personal involvement in previous startups they may realize that a strong management team makes all the difference and will quickly turn their attention to that section of your business plan. Others may have past experience that suggests that having an accurate understanding of your competitors is the prime reason past ventures have failed / succeeded and may turn to that section. Still others may be convinced that a strong “go-to-market strategy” would have saved previous endeavors and may start their reading at that point.
4. Weakest link - I personally fall into the fourth category of readers. Those readers who, after reading your executive summary think of the most likely reason your business has of failing. If I think that marketing is going to be critical to your success then I turn to that section of your business plan (if I can find it.) If the information that I find in that part of your plan demonstrates that you know what you are talking about and that you have a strong plan in place for succeeding in what I determine is the most important part of your specific venture then I am impressed and I will then think of the 2nd most likely reason for your demise and will turn to that section. If you have both of these 2 areas well organized with a strong plan then I probably don’t need to read more because I would be willing to move forward with a follow-up meeting.

Keep in mind that most investors are reading to convince themselves that your idea is either valid or invalid (as well as relevant / irrelevant to their field of expertise and size of investment). As soon as they see proof that it does not “fit” for whatever reason, they will almost always stop reading your plan at that point. As a result, the further they read into your plan, the higher the likelihood that your plan will catch their attention and could result in a follow-up meeting. (Congratulations, the fish is now at the side of the boat.)

The business plan must contain all the details but it must generate excitement and it must sell the business.

There are, of course, several key tips that could make or break your business plan. Those specific tips will be the subject of my next post.

Start by developing a creative and compelling “tag line” to describe your business. This should be a brief 1-sentence answer to the question “What do you do?” NOTE: The answer this question should never be “Here is an 80-page business plan that includes 18-months of personal research, 40-years of made-up financial projections, pretty graphs and charts and a note from my mother.” Something more along the lines of  “We break the poverty chain,” or “We save orphans from starvation,” or “We cut inventory costs by 40%.” Any of these answers should elicit the shocked response of  “Wow, how do you do that?”. If you don’t receive that response on a regular basis you need to rework your tag line or rethink your business.

Of course, the next step in the process is to have a slightly more detailed response to the question “Wow, how do you do that?”. Something like “Our programs deliver food and training dirctly to 1.5 million children in 29 third-world countries.” or “Our software leverages proprietary industry data and minimizes freight and logistics costs on over 50,000 products in the automotive parts industry.”

If done properly, your next response is something like “How do you do that?” or “How big is that market”. It is incredibly important to realize that each question from an interested investor is actually another nibble on the hook. The art of fundraising is knowing how much information to give, in what format, at what time, and in what order to maximize the interest of the investor. Not every question deserves to end with “Will you read my business plan?”.

A successful progression should follow a pattern similar to the following:

“We solve the problem of X”

“How do you do that?”

“Is there any money in that?”

“How big is that market?”

“Who else plays in that space?”

“Who are your customers?”

“Who do you mean by ‘We’?”

“How far along are you in the process?”

“What makes your product better than X?”

Notice that along the spectrum of tools discussed in the previous posting, the correct answer to these questions still do not involve the business plan. These investors are still nibbling at the bait, are very cautious about the “free meal” and will scurry away quickly at any sight of the net / business plan.

If you have answered four or five of the previous questions and think that the investor may be genuinely interested it might be appropriate to offer to send a BRIEF executive summary (no more than 2 pages, preferably 1 page). The business plan is still a later-stage document and my next post will talk a little more about how investors actually view the business plan.

One of the first, and arguably most important aspect of a business pitch is to get the investor’s attention and interest. If I don’t care about your idea I am certainly not going to write you a check, meet you for lunch, or read a lengthy business plan…it is just not going to happen. Entrepreneurs must understand that wooing potential investors is a process, not a document.

Consider the analogy of a fisherman. The fisherman is in his rowboat with an idea of catching fish. He first casts a small amount of “chum” (raw, chopped bait) into the water immediately around his boat. The smell of the raw bait attracts the attention of all of the fish in the lake and they swim near to take advantage of the free meal. Next, he expertly baits his hook and casts a ways away from his boat. The fish who have been interested in the free chum notice the attractive bait and nibble at the hook. The experienced fisherman then “sets the hook” by tugging expertly on the rod to drive the hook deep into the mouth of the nibbling fish. Next, the fish must be brought near the boat by “reeling ‘em in” with the fishermen keeping a consistent tension on the line. Once the fish is near the boat a net can be used to land the catch and bring the fish into the boat.

Notice all of the tools that the fisherman used in this analogy…chum, bait, hook, rod, reel, boat, net, patience, experience, and skill. The fisherman did not just drive his boat around the lake at high speed dragging the net alongside the boat hoping to “catch a fish.” I have seen many entrepreneurs attempt a similar, unsuccessful strategy when looking for investors. Armed only with a massive business plan, trolling the funding event hoping to land the big one.

The business plan is only one tool used in landing an investor. The savvy entrepreneur will also use a very brief tagline, a 30-second elevator pitch, a 1-2 page executive summary, a 12-slide introduction, etc. throughout the process. The goal at each stage of the process is NOT to “land the fish” but to bring an investor one step closer to the boat.

Just as you don’t fish with a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, you don’t begin introductions to potential investors with a complete business plan. Consider the following steps and consider that there is a fine line between baiting the hook and feeding the fish.

• Tag line
• Mission Statement
• Elevator Pitch
• Initial Presentation
• Executive Summary
• Business Plan
• Detailed Presentation
• Due Diligence I
• Due Diligence II
• Term Sheet

The next post will include additional information about how to get investors to move from one stage to the next.