5 ms·

Gotcha. YC Continuity, otoh, surely evaluates go-to-market / business plan?

austenallred 5y ago
There’s a difference between business plan and Business Plan, so to speak - a formalized document with a pretty standardized format you used to have if you, for example, wanted to get a loan from a bank. It’s mostly gone away, but there used to be endless arguments about whether a startup should have a formalized written business plan https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_plan https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_plan. Business schools taught all the MBAs to write them, and everyone used to argue about whether a startup ought to have them. Today I’m not aware of any VC or investor that requires/wants a Business Plan, almost everyone has settled on a standard pitch deck if anything (though one-page ‘memos’ are becoming a thing, and some investors even eschew those). A few business schools somehow still tell you to create a business plan if you want to raise VC. I invest in ~100 startups/yr and will see a handful of Business Plans sent to me, but not many. I don’t read any. YC Continuity today would likely look at a deck and definitely ask questions, but still wouldn’t require a Business Plan. PG probably wouldn’t ever even look at a deck.
- WisNorCan 5y ago
  We worked with Continuity for our raise. PG was not involved. They definitely required balance sheet, income statement, financial forecasts etc. Much more than a deck and a one page memo. It all has to do with what stage you are raising at.
  - austenallred 5y ago
    Of course. That’s just not PG and isn’t a Business PlanTM.
ptero 5y ago
One of the things PG reiterates is that at the early stage what the startup is doing changes rapidly. Many companies that end up being very successful have a product that looks quite different from what they set out to achieve. In such a setup, half-life of a business plan may be measured in weeks and its rigorous analysis may be a wasted time. Instead, I believe YC is trying to focus on finding good teams under the assumption that a strong team that can execute well has a higher chance of success than a worse team with a better starting plan. If anything, the business plan's value is to indicate that the founding team can think logically and realistically map products to market. Once the investment reaches 100M (YC Continuity's stated higher end), they probably focus more on the marked and business plans. Just my 2c.
mbesto 5y ago
PG also said in his thread that he never reads pitch decks. YC Continuity and similar follow-on investors are 100% reading pitch decks which have projections, financials, etc.

There’s a difference between business plan and Business Plan, so to speak - a formalized document with a pretty standardized format you used to have if you, for example, wanted to get a loan from a bank. It’s mostly gone away, but there used to be endless arguments about whether a startup should have a formalized written business plan https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_plan https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_plan. Business schools taught all the MBAs to write them, and everyone used to argue about whether a startup ought to have them. Today I’m not aware of any VC or investor that requires/wants a Business Plan, almost everyone has settled on a standard pitch deck if anything (though one-page ‘memos’ are becoming a thing, and some investors even eschew those). A few business schools somehow still tell you to create a business plan if you want to raise VC. I invest in ~100 startups/yr and will see a handful of Business Plans sent to me, but not many. I don’t read any. YC Continuity today would likely look at a deck and definitely ask questions, but still wouldn’t require a Business Plan. PG probably wouldn’t ever even look at a deck.

WisNorCan 5y ago
We worked with Continuity for our raise. PG was not involved. They definitely required balance sheet, income statement, financial forecasts etc. Much more than a deck and a one page memo. It all has to do with what stage you are raising at.
- austenallred 5y ago
  Of course. That’s just not PG and isn’t a Business PlanTM.

ptero 5y ago

One of the things PG reiterates is that at the early stage what the startup is doing changes rapidly. Many companies that end up being very successful have a product that looks quite different from what they set out to achieve. In such a setup, half-life of a business plan may be measured in weeks and its rigorous analysis may be a wasted time. Instead, I believe YC is trying to focus on finding good teams under the assumption that a strong team that can execute well has a higher chance of success than a worse team with a better starting plan. If anything, the business plan's value is to indicate that the founding team can think logically and realistically map products to market. Once the investment reaches 100M (YC Continuity's stated higher end), they probably focus more on the marked and business plans. Just my 2c.

mbesto 5y ago

PG also said in his thread that he never reads pitch decks. YC Continuity and similar follow-on investors are 100% reading pitch decks which have projections, financials, etc.