Author: stephensemprevivo

Start Your Startup | How To Build a Business Plan

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Start Your Startup | How To Build a Business Plan

Stephen Semprevivo Startup Business Plan

Your Business Plan – Why Bother?

           Stephen Semprevivo is a firm advocate for building a business plan before you build your business. For any building to stand tall it needs a strong base and a solid foundation. There’s no compromising on this part. This exact same concept applies to building a successful and lasting business. Except for a business, the foundation is your business plan. Starting a business is easy – making one that can last for decades is the challenging part. If you want to witness your business profit and grow from the ground up, along the way you’ll need a cohesive business plan to guide you in the right direction. So your business will not only be your foundation, it will be your compass to keep you moving in the right direction.

What is a Business Plan?

A business plan includes your business’s goals/milestones and a road map of how to achieve them. It narrows down the objective of your business and what your plan is. Having this helps avoid wasted time and money on projects or initiatives that serve no purpose to your goal. A fully detailed business plan will help organize all aspects related to your business.

 

How Do I Start My Business Plan?

 You might be wondering what a business plan should include. Stephen Semprevivo advocates taking an iterative approach to building business plans.  It can start simple with:

  • A simple mission statement (More on Mission Statements)
  • A summary of your product/service and why it is necessary
  • A description of who your customers are why fit your product/service (More on Product Market Fit)
  • How you will price your product/services
  • How you will market your product/service and make money

 

Once you have a good amount of detail around these areas Stephen Semprevivo highly recommend you start vetting this high level plan potential customers, partners and trusted advisors to ensure you are pointing in the right direction.

Once you are satisfied and have sufficient input from others you will also want to look at the external market and understand how those dynamics effect your business. You don’t want to create your business in a vacuum and it is important to understand how to navigate the external environment. The two areas to look at here are:

Once again, input from others whether its through consumer surveys or speaking to other seasoned professionals will be of great assistance in creating your business plan. To create a cohesive and detailed business plan, the next crucial step is to brainstorm around these following areas:

 

 

Sorry – Your Business Plan is Never Done

As you can see in the steps above Stephen Semprevivo stress the iterative nature of building your business plan. It requires constant input both from experiences you have and key constituents. Business plans are not something you build and put on a shelf. These plans are ever-changing and evolving as time goes on. Maybe you made a mistake with a previous financial goal. Perhaps current operations run inefficiently.

When these things occur, the first action to take is going back to your business plan and reassessing it. Then making the necessary changes. Business plans are meant to adjust as your business continues to grow. The objective throughout this entire business planning process is incorporating new learnings to redirect and grow your business.

 

As a successful entrepreneur, Stephen Semprevivo is always looking for new businesses to mentor. If you have an idea for a startup and are ready to take the next steps, apply for the Stephen Semprevivo Startup Scholarship. Two student entrepreneurs will receive a $2,500 scholarship along with mentorship and guidance. Learn more about the scholarship program and apply today. Remember, the best time to start a business is NOW!

 

Stephen Semprevivo Startup Scholarship Video

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Stephen Semprevivo Startup Scholarship Video

Here is a quick video overview of  the Stephen Semprevivo Startup Scholarship. The Stephen Semprevivo Startup Scholarship is an achievement-based scholarship awarded to students interested in starting their own business. Students are recognized for their ideas and capacities, as well as for their commitment to being an entrepreneur. As the 1st class in 2021, the Stephen Semprevivo Scholarship will select 2 student entrepreneurs to receive $2,500. Winners will also receive 20 hours of assistance on their business plan or strategy, and two startup books from Stephen Semprevivo’s list of favorites.

 

Stephen Semprevivo Startup Scholarship 2021

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Stephen Semprevivo Startup ScholarshipSanta Monica, CA, February 1, 2021 –Business Consultant, Stephen Semprevivo, is now accepting applications for the Stephen Semprevivo Startup Scholarship 2021 .  The Stephen Semprevivo  Startup Scholarship is an achievement-based scholarship awarded to students interested in starting their own business. Students are recognized for their ideas and capacities, as well as for their commitment to being an entrepreneur.

One of Stephen Semprevivo’s favorite mantras is, “The best time to start a business is NOW!” To that end, he wants to help students get started and reward their ideas and help turn their passions into a profession. 

Students will be hand-picked by Stephen Semprevivo and NEW Women’s Business Center and their teams, receiving $2,500. Winners will also receive 20 hours of assistance on their business plan or strategy, and two startup books from Stephen Semprevivo’s list of favorites..

Business Consultant, Stephen Semprevivo and his team strongly encourage all student entrepreneurs to apply to the Stephen Semprevivo NEW Women’s Business Center Startup Scholarship. To apply for the Stephen Semprevivo Startup Scholarship 2021, visit Stephen Semprevivo’s official website.

In order to participate in the scholarship contest, applicants must meet the following criteria: Entrants must be legal residents of the fifty (50) United States and the District of Columbia, and who are sixteen (16) years of age or older at the time of application. Applicants must be  a high school, vocational school, college, or university student who are or will be enrolled in an accredited post-secondary institution of higher learning for an associate’s or bachelor’s degree or certificate program.

Good Luck!

 

Best Startup Books | The Lean Startup

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Best Startup Books | The Lean Startup

Stephen Semprevivo Recommended Best Startup Books: The Lean Startup

There are countless books on starting your own business. Many are quite good, and many are not and can be quite long. Stephen Semprevivo as an entrepreneur and business consultant is often asks for advice on the best books to read that can help budding entrepreneurs.

One of Stephen Semprevivo’s favorite startup books that is also a best seller is The Lean Startup by Eric Reis.

Stephen feels that The Lean Startup clearly articulates many concepts that successful startups have been using for years and puts them into a simple framework that is easy to understand. The author also gives a number of good examples that help entrepreneurs understand the two core concept of accelerating their business quickly and cheaply.

 

Build, Measure, Learn Cycle

The first concept is that of the BUILD, MEASURE, LEARN cycle. This concept states that entrepreneurs should create very simple hypotheses about their business like “People will shop online for modular homes” then BUILD a simple product that allows them MEASURE if that hypothesis is correct. Based on what they MEAUSURE, they should LEARN something (was the hypothesis correct or not) and then BUILD their next iteration of the product that may test an expanded or new hypothesis.

Stephen Semprevivo Best Startup Books Build Measure Learn Cycle

Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

The second concept in the LEAN Startup is that of a Minimum Viable Product (MVP). This concept says that the BUILD part of your product should be as simple and as quick as you can make it and still proved out (or disprove) your hypotheses.

Let’s take the hypotheses from above “People will shop online for modular homes.”  Using the MVP concept, we wouldn’t build a whole site and factor before we launch. Instead we may survey people who are shopping for homes and ask them if they would build a modular home online and why. If we LEARN from this survey that the people said they would shop online, our next BUILD may be to create a simple website/landing page without any true product behind but asking people to sign up for information on modular homes. Based on learning from this BUILD you would continue to iterate.

 

Stephen Semprevivo Best Startup Books - MVP

Learn More

Stephen Semprevivo likes The Lean Start Up because as you can see the concepts behind the book are quite simple. If you are still not sure if you want to invest the time in reading the book Semprevivo recommends you watch the YouTube video of Eric Reis presenting his concepts at Google’ offices to a group of Googlers. (Click Here for Video)

If you like the video, Stephen Semprevivo recommends you either read the book (Lean Startup Amazon Link) or listen to it on Audible. That is one of the best startup books to read in 2021.