The Roles of Business Planning

in
Successful Business Growth

Jack Derby
Professor of the Practice, Tufts University
Head Coach, Derby Management
Venture Partner, Converge Ventures
 Section 1…
• Expectations
• What’s a Business Plan?

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 Who’s Jack?

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 • Jack Derby
– 25 year successful track record of coaching over 400 companies.
– 17 year successful track record in medical devices as Executive Vice
President of Becton Dickinson Medical Systems, CEO of Datamedix
Corporation and President of Litton Medical Systems.
– 3 years as President of CB Sports
– Co-founded 14 companies
– Raised over $840 million in venture and private equity
– Current Director: AIM, Aviant Healthcare, Brainshark, Chase
Corporation, Rome Snowboards, Loci, and Reiser
– Professor, Tufts University, “Marketing”, (Teacher of the Year, 2015)
– Lecturer, MIT, Dr. Chun
– Activities…
• Partner, Converge Venture Partners
• Past Chair, Common Angels
• Past Chair, Association of Corporate Growth
• Past Chair, MIT Enterprise Forum- Distinguished Service Award
• Past Vice Chair, SBANE- Pro Bono Publico Award
• Past United States Peace Corps volunteer
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 So, just what is “Business Planning”?

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 Just What is Business Planning?

• Why bother?

• Everyone knows what to do?

• Seems like a lot of extra work?

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 SunTzu Said It Best About Planning…

Sun Tzu, author, The Art of War .

After his hiring, the kingdom of Wu

which had previously been
considered a semi barbaric state,
went on to become the most
powerful state of the period. Book Title image from The Art of
War by General Sun Tzu (c) Gary
• He was the most successful of Gagliardi, 2004.

China’s generals
• He was a master at battle
planning.

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 SunTzu Said It Best
About Planning…

business growth
Book Title image from The Art of War by
General Sun Tzu (c) Gary Gagliardi, 2004.

The art of war is of vital importance to the state. It

is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety
or to ruin. Hence under no circumstance can it be
neglected.
General Sun Tzu
The Art of War

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 The Importance of
Business Plans…
• The general who wins a battle makes
many calculations in his temple before
the battle is fought.
• The general who loses a battle makes
but few calculations beforehand.
• Thus do many calculations lead to
victory, and few calculations to defeat; Book Title image from The Art of War by
General Sun Tzu (c) Gary Gagliardi, 2004.
how many more do no calculations at
all! It is by attention to this point that I
can foresee who is likely to win or
lose.
- General Sun Tzu, The Art of War

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 General Dwight D. Eisenhower
&
World Champion Boxer, Mike Tyson

General Eisenhower at the invasion of Normandy

• In preparing for battle I have always found that plans
are useless, but the planning is indispensable

Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the World

• Everyone has a plan, until they get punched in the
mouth

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 Just 1 little word…

…why?

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 All Businesses Must Have Growth…

• Product growth in any business

– Product evolution
– Product extensions

• Sales growth in any business.

• Startup and emerging company growth

…why?

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 The Five Stages of Growth…

Success
Growth
Stability
What’s the point that my
Survival business or my product
Concept absolutely needs to get to
very quickly ?
The Idea

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 The Five Stages of Growth…

Success
Growth
Stability
Survival …and why is that?
Concept

The Idea

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 The Five Stages of Growth…

Success
Growth • Positive cash flow
• “A” level managers hired
Stability
• Strategies locked down
Survival • Tactical plans in place
Concept –Product Plans
• Engineering Plans
• Sales Processes
• Marketing Plans
What this really means is…
• Product Portfolios
• Your Business Plan must define Stability and Growth
• The business must reach Stability quickly at a minimum
• In order to succeed every business, every product MUST grow
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