Mike Hatfield and I were at it again this past weekend – the final day of our “thenextphase” workshop on raising capital. This time we covered “Execution” – defining your targets and how to achieve them.
A proper plan, we were told, does not contain projections; it contains targets that we feel are achievable, plus a set of assumptions that must be met in order for these targets to be met. You must also have a set of activities to go along with the numbers.
It is important that we have a way to test the assumptions, because the execution consists of not only trying to hit the target, but also to test out the assumptions. As we gain experience in the real world, these assumptions are validated or disproved, and the plan amended.
The ultimate goal is to have a well-defined sales process that has steps saying “if you do ‘this’, then ‘this’ will happen.” It is predictable.