I’m the founder and CEO of Need.
At a high-level, Need is a curated men’s retailer. In brief, rather than selling a huge selection of items, we sell a limited-selection of — frequently exclusive — clothing, literature, furniture, coffee, and artwork each month.
These collections are presented editorially (i.e., much like a magazine) and shot by independent photographers each month.
- Did you have a business plan when you started your business?
I put together a two-page executive summary, small deck, and financial outline for the first 12-14 months. I took those to investors in January 2013 and we were fully funded several days later.
I’ve never written anything in greater length, beyond some internal updates to my investors and board.
Generally, I think excessively detailed business plans can be rather troublesome. Plans rarely stay on a predictable track — particularly from idea to launch to growth — and plans predictively trying to dictate your plans will prove to be more prohibitive than anything else.
- Do you think business plans are necessary for entrepreneurship?
I don’t believe so.
As I wrote for the last answer, excessively detailed blueprints and plans are not reliable documents when you’re starting a company. Of course, it’s useful to fully think-through business — including the risks and prospective strategies to mitigate them — but excessively doing so will only limit your scope.
Truly, starting a company is much more about knowing why and how you’re going to execute and then doing so.
Plans are helpful as reference points, but little more, in my opinion.
- What three pieces of advice can you offer developing entrepreneurs?
First, don’t over-think anything.
There’s a tendency for people to want to think through every possible aspect of their decision-making. The reality of the situation, though, is that you’re going to mess up a lot. No matter how much thinking and planning you commit to a project, things will invariably and inevitably go wrong.
So, it’s best to remain agile. You’ll make quicker decisions and you’ll account for errors much more efficiently.
Second, say “no” far more than you say “yes.”
I was chatting with a VC in town recently, Joel Fontenot, and he mentioned they’d seen 1038 pitches in 2013. They invested in three.
The same should hold true for the entrepreneurs on the other side of the table. Having bad investors, partners, or team members can ruin your concept.
Third, twenty-four hour workdays and maxed out credit cards are not necessary.
People who talk about never sleeping when building companies are doing something wrong. Building a company is as much about working efficiently and knowing your own workload as it is about meeting deadlines.
Keep yourself afloat or you’ll burn out.
Interview by Chase McConville, student in Developing an Arts Venture Plan (Fall, 2014), Arts Entrepreneurship at Meadows School of the Arts, SMU.
