Planning doesn't mean slavery to the plan. But planning can be useful, even without 100 page slide decks to sleep through, or massive binders on the wall.
Planning can help with:
- How many talented developers might we need in 3 years? If we want to grow our own, when do we need to start hiring interns?
- At what size do we need to hire a receptionist and start thinking about more space?
- What's our burn rate, and when do we expect to run out of money?
- What rate of customer acquisition will we need to grow this business? Are we doing the right things to get there? If we do succeed, what's that imply for buying hardware?
Planning can help with:
- How many talented developers might we need in 3 years? If we want to grow our own, when do we need to start hiring interns?
- At what size do we need to hire a receptionist and start thinking about more space?
- What's our burn rate, and when do we expect to run out of money?
- What rate of customer acquisition will we need to grow this business? Are we doing the right things to get there? If we do succeed, what's that imply for buying hardware?
- What's success look like?
- What's failure look like?