Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

A bunch of us guys have been getting together for years to kick around business problems and new ideas. One of the most common arguments has been how to get the new ideas off the ground. And this always comes back to how much money we`re prepared to risk to establish feasibility .

The optimists in our group always underestimate how much money they need for the startups. Cash crunches for expanding receivables and inventory as well as how much pressure rapid growth puts on their wallet led the pessimists to develop a planning tool to model these cash issues.

We`re making available our spreadsheet models for startups, along with our 135 page illustrated how-to-use-it guide to the entrepreneurial community. You can download it at The Free Startup Spreadsheet Model. We also have download links for free OpenOffice.org Calc spreadsheet software with installation/use instructions.

It`s a bottom-up approach from detailing your product lines (5 of them), your distribution channels (3 for each product line), and your facilities. We also have 9 different debt facility structures including fully amortized loans and mortgages.

It will generate 5 year projections and year-over-year presentation statements for balance sheets, income statements, and cash flow statements.

We can routinely, in two hours, establish the feasibility and cash requirements for a new business idea - so can you.

Your cost - nothing.

Feel free to respond with any feedback and from us to you, good luck!

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Downloaded the spreadsheet for Calc.
This was the first spreadsheet, for this purpose, that I`ve gotten my hands on (quite thorough).  I`ve already started using it. at first I was concerned with how much information and time I would have to put into it, but after about 30mins I was surprised with how much I had already finished. I really like the guide, It`s very detailed but not too complex for me (no college edu).

Nice work, I`m sure it will be helpful to others... Thanks for the contribution.

Hey Menoz

Glad you have found the model to be some help to you. It looks a little overwhelming when you first load it up, but a lot of it is common-sense, and we tried to take as much of the calculation and transfer of information out as possible.

We had the model in use (in modified form for a variety of businesses), but the guide was more a collection of notes and instructions. It took some time to pulll that stuff together to make it easy to work with - nice to hear that it isn`t overkill. We weren`t sure who would be using it, so tried to make it helpful to a wide range of experience and so on.

Let us know if you run into any snags - we`ll keep an eye on the thread !

You mention that you grabbed the Calc version. If you don`t mind my asking, are you an experienced spreadsheet`er? We are wondering how people without a lot of spreadsheet experience find it, and whether we need to give more instruction on spreadsheet techniques? We think it is fairly easy to navigate, but its hard to tell when you do a lot of this anyway...

Anyway, thanks for the positive feedback!

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excel at work, OO at home. I`ve been using spreadsheets for many different projects for about 41/2 years now.... wasn`t hard to find on your site.

   

Hey crazydiamond


I just downloaded the business spreadsheet model and i was amazed at the amount of detail that there is on it. It had a bit of a learning curve, but like Menoz said, I was surprised when i looked at it after an hour or so and how much I had gotten done. Keep up the good work, this is a very cool little tool!

Glad you like it theyounger . . .Yeah, we find that we can get results pretty fast, at least as a rough cut. It is though, a process - one in which you get the first results, and start to ask what if we could do this differently? What if we come under price pressure? how long can we put off making the investment in new plant or equipment, or adding a new management role. When is the best time to open a new facility?

This feeds back into more research, which changes the thinking behind the plan, which changes the numbers in the model, which raises new questions . . . Do I really need that extra equity injection this early? What if I brought in a partner with this key skill of those contacts - could I generate greater value earlier, or reduce a risk factor considerably? Would it be a better plan to buy that competitor out, and bring the principal and the other key guy into my shop? Or should we fight it out to the death?

So the results come early, yeah, but then comes the real meat - improving your operation, and making better decisions - Have fun...

By the way, we didn`t unload the full marketing model in this version! We figured this would get most folks started, and be enough to digest. as the business grows and becomes more complex, the models become more complex too! Not to be taken as a threat...

Thanks for the feedback
Mike




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Is Crazydiamond still around? My father was told to come here by his banker, because he is working on a business plan for his sports store. He is not that comfortable with computers so I have been drafted. We downloaded that file you linked to, and unzipped it. We are working on the spreadsheet (we use Excel). I took a business intro course that did spreadsheeting in it, so I know a bit about about working with it, but I am not sure how to proceed with the product parts of it. We sell a large number of items, ranging from skiis to footwear, to helmeted sports gear. Read the guide, but I could use some help.

Kurt

Yes I am still around, just been a bit busy though. Pleased to hear that you got the download, and have it loaded up. You don`t mention what area you are having trouble with, so I am going to guess on this. You may be having trouble with grasping the idea of a product line. Lets take skiis. The model does not handle a particular make or model of skiis, it expects to handle all of them. So typically, you call the product skiis, and the unites would be two skiis, a pair of boots, and a pair of poles ( a set). On the segment page, if all of your sales take place within the store, then there is only one segment. If you also sell them on consignment at the local ski hill, then that would be a different segment, since different sales costs are likely to be involved. For price, use the average price of a set of equipment. On the inventory page, use the average cost of a set (which you can get by using the markup policy and the selling price).
As for the other product lines, proceed similarly. Remember that this model only handles five products, product lines, or product classes. This means that you have to review your sales profile, and decide how to class your items. If foortwear is 40% of your sales, that`s one product class. If helmeted sports gear is 20% of your offerings, that might be another. Skiis might be a third. You would then have two left for miscellaneous small items, and one for, I dunno - clothing?
Try to keep a picture of the business in your mind as you proceed - that is the reality check that business planning requires.
Have fun

Mike

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Thanks for the help, that is a bit clearer to me. I have done as you suggested, we have five working groups of product that we sell now. On the financial debt schedule, we are applying for a 5 year amortized loan to cover the inventory increase for a new product line of clothing we are adding. Do we show that loan in the model, or since it doesn`t exist, or do we leave it out.
Appreciate the help!

Kurt