It's the act of developing a business plan that is important, not the plan itself. There is also much more to a business plan than just projecting revenues. If

It's the act of developing a business plan that is important, not the plan itself. There is also much more to a business plan than just projecting revenues. If you are realistic, planning forces you to actually think critically about things like startup and ongoing costs, cash flow, suppliers, sales pipeline, time/resource requirements, the window to achieve profitability before you run out of money, and most importantly the critical steps you need to take before you start. After you're in business the game changes. Then it becomes much more about flexibility and adapting to new information and changing situations. There is no doubt that if you blindly stick to a plan no matter what your business will fail, but this doesn't discount the value of the up front planning process.