Monthly Meet-up Delhi Chapter
February 5, 2013
This month’s meet-up session in Delhi focussed on the very foundation of any business – the business plan. Facilitated by Shilpi Singh and Dinakshi Arora, it was attended by a set of brilliant entrepreneurs and professionals ranging from seasoned ones to just-in-the-visualizing-stage-yet. There was palpable energy and enthusiasm in the session that Delhi’s cold and rainy weather failed to dampen that day.
The group discussed the importance of having a robust business plan and concurred that real value of creating a business plan is not in having just the finished product in hand; rather, the value lies in the process of researching and thinking about the business in a systematic way. The act of planning helps think things through thoroughly, study and research if not sure of the facts, and look at ideas critically. It takes time initially, but avoids costly, perhaps disastrous, mistakes later.
The workshop emphasized more on the creative right-brain process than completely mathematical. The exercises were designed to get the insights and clarity from within. The discussions touched upon areas like vision, targets, marketing strategy, understanding customer and more than anything the real added value of your business. Marketing, for example, participants concluded is not a onetime thing but a process that evolves over time as you get to know and interact with your customers.
Starting from very basic questions like – “Why this business and not something else?”, the discussion went on more complex and subtle insightful nuances of running a business.
There were a lot of brainstorming exercises as well as silent introspection. Since it was a very interactive session, it was heartening to see participants come up with bright ideas to each others’ challenges as well as their own.
We worked on goals keeping in mind the bigger picture, the ultimate ideal business statement. There was a dive into what’s working and what’s not working at present and how to leverage the strengths one’s business had. The whole thinking was filtered through customer’s point of view and insights were drawn.
Financial aspects of the business were discussed later. The session concluded with the thought that Business Planning is an ever-evolving process but if the basics are in place, challenges are so much easier to deal with.
