#Goals
The foundation of a great plan starts with a clear understanding of your goals. You can only figure out if something will be successful if you first understand what your definition of success is.
Below are some thought starters to help you think honestly, critically, and exhaustively about your goals. Feel free to list multiple goals, but you must force rank them. Be as specific as you can (for example, if you have a revenue goal, include the time horizon to achieve that revenue goal).
For the Start-up
If you’re an entrepreneur thinking about launching a new business, your goals will be highly personal and likely include some combination of money, impact, influence, and lifestyle considerations:
Money
Do you have a goal of how much revenue you want to earn? Is there a time horizon you want to earn that revenue in?
Do you have a goal of how much money you personally want to take home from this venture? On what time horizon? Consider if time to first dollar as well as time to your goal amount is important. (*note: this is real life, if you need $x to pay rent and that’s an important consideration, please be explicit about that)
Do you want to raise money from venture capitalists? VCs have specific requirements for investment that will be important to orient yourself around if you want to raise money from them.
Do you want to sell this business in some time frame?
Do you want this to be a side hustle, your full time job until you retire, a legacy business your children can inherit, or something else?
Do you need this business to get off the ground for less than $X of your personal capital? Or a certain amount of your time? Be explicit about any constraints.
Do you need to make a go or no-go decision on this business in a certain time frame?
Impact
Do you have a social mission in mind that it’s important for you to achieve with this business?
Do you want to reach a certain number of customers? A certain type of customer? In a certain geography?
Influence
Do you want to win an award, be recognized for your expertise, or gain a following?
Lifestyle
Do you want to have a business where you don’t need any employees?
Do you want to have a business that requires a minimal amount of your time on an ongoing basis?
Do you have to have a business that has a minimal level of legal risk?
For the Existing Business
If you’re launching something new within an existing business, the nature of your goals will be less personal, but that doesn’t mean they’ll be more straight forward. Here are some tips:
Interview every stakeholder who will be a decision maker on moving this project forward to get their input on the definition of success. They will likely each have slightly different goals that are most important to them.
Make sure you understand the time and resource constraints associated with your goals (i.e., do you need to earn $X by Y date with only Z engineers working on the project and not cannibalize any other business in the company?)
Understand the trade-offs. In other words, is this project competing with a different project for the same resources? If so, part of your definition of success should include having better metrics than that other project.
