Module 3 - Developing a business model & building your business plan
5. What to do when things don’t go according to plan
Things don’t always go your way. In fact, in the startup world, things hardly ever
go according to plan. You should spend time planning for things that may go wrong, putting together contingency strategies whilst also accepting that unexpected events may send you completely off-course. That’s ok, you just have to accept it as part of the journey and learn how to grow from it.
Entrepreneur testimonials on things not going according to plan
“You have to put that first step forward and understand that whatever you’ve planned is likely going to immediately be torn up. Some businesses can over-plan, over-worry, over-justify. Mike Tyson said: “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” We get punched in the mouth every day and we just roll with it now.”
-Hugh Thomas, CEO & Co-Founder at Ugly drinks
Go to Plan B, C, D…
If you’re well prepared, it’s likely you’ll have a Plan B for Plan A not going as expected. Did one of your manufacturer’s factories burn down? Has one of your suppliers gone bust? In setting up your operations you probably looked at more than one factory and considered several suppliers, go back to them and build on the existing relationship.
Post-mortems
There’s always a lesson in there somewhere. When you encounter a bump in the road, make sure you take the time to learn from it. It’s easy to rush but learning from mistakes is instrumental to successful growth. Ask yourself: How can we do better? What could we have done differently? What can we learn from this for next time? What plans or processes should we put in place to ensure this doesn’t happen again?
Handling relationships with investors and other key stakeholders when things go “wrong”
Be transparent and honest. Show what you’re doing about it and what your next steps are. Investors and other partners will expect things not to go according to plan – this is perfectly normal and part of running a business. What people want to see is how you respond to it. If you’re well prepared and understand how to run your business, you should show confidence in your next move.
Top tip from entrepreneur on managing investors
“At the beginning, we did a report for our investors every week, they told us we were the only company in their portfolio doing that. It helped build credibility really quickly and also meant that before they had any questions, we had already answered them. This is a great way of being transparent and responsive to potential issues in the business.”
-Saasha Celestial-One, Co-Founder at Olio
