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\n\t\tOpinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.\t<\/p>\n
For the last few years, founders have been told that a business plan is a waste of time. \u201cJust start\u201d is the advice du jour.<\/p>\n
The intent is to reduce procrastination, as often, action beats overthinking. After all, done is better than perfect, right?<\/p>\n
However, when we take a look at the state of entrepreneurship now, it\u2019s a little messy. Yes, things are moving much faster now, but founders feel more lost and unsure whether their business is working.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re more reactive than strategic, and decisions are made based on urgency rather than clear direction. And the marketing? Well, it\u2019s a little random and usually based on what other people are doing.<\/p>\n
The problem?<\/p>\n
Most founders don\u2019t have a business plan, and so they have no direction or benchmarks for their business.<\/p>\n
When I first learned anything about business, I was taught that you cannot start your business without writing a plan first.<\/p>\n
It was even suggested that running a business was impossible without one.<\/p>\n
Thousands of founders today will say that it\u2019s obviously not impossible, as they\u2019re doing it. But the question is, are they? Are they genuinely running a business properly, or are they guessing every single day and getting lucky?<\/p>\n
When I did my MBA, our \u201cfinal exam\u201d was to present a business plan for our business. We had to write out a full and detailed executive business plan AND a pitch deck-style presentation.<\/p>\n
This was worth a huge proportion of our grade and the finale we\u2019d all been working towards.<\/p>\n
So why do modern-day founders believe it\u2019s a waste of time?<\/p>\n
Well, thinking about the business plans I\u2019ve produced over the years, whether it\u2019s for myself or for my clients, they have been incredibly bloated. They were essentially written to impress investors. Founders rarely looked at them.<\/p>\n
But they took ages to put together. So, I totally get why people consider them a waste of time and believe we should \u201cjust start.\u201d<\/p>\n
The problem is, \u201cjust start\u201d can also be incredibly dangerous advice. While it\u2019s motivational and encouraging that you shouldn\u2019t overthink things, and perhaps you learn more from \u201cdoing,\u201d there are some issues with it.<\/p>\n
First of all, when you skip planning, every opportunity suddenly feels urgent. It\u2019s incredibly hard to say no because they all seem exciting. So founders chase ideas, platforms, partnership and trends that look and sound like opportunities, but they don\u2019t actually move the business forward.<\/p>\n
Secondly, progress becomes impossible to measure. Revenue may be coming in, but there are no clear benchmarks in place to see whether the business is on track, ahead or slowly drifting off course.<\/p>\n
Thirdly, founders confuse busyness with productivity. Just because lots of things are happening, it doesn\u2019t mean that you\u2019re making progress towards your goals. Largely because, without the business plan, you don\u2019t really know what those goals are.<\/p>\n
This is why so many businesses feel much harder than they should.<\/p>\n
I mentioned goals earlier, and I think entrepreneurs love<\/i> setting goals. They have plenty of ways of doing this \u2014 vision boards, planners, apps, post-its \u2026 I\u2019ve seen it all.<\/p>\n
So, why do people love goal-setting but think that a business plan is useless?<\/p>\n
I think it\u2019s because when you say the phrase \u201cbusiness plan,\u201d many people consider a 40-page corporate document that you will never read.<\/p>\n
However, a business plan does not<\/i> have to be like that at all.<\/p>\n
A useful business plan answers a few simple but uncomfortable questions:<\/p>\n
Who exactly is this business for?<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
How does it actually make money?<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
What does \u201cworking\u201d look like in six, 12 and 24 months?<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
What are we not<\/i> doing \u2014 on purpose?<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Without those answers written down, businesses default to guesswork.<\/p>\n
The biggest misconception is that a business plan is about predicting the future. Knowing exactly what should happen and when.<\/p>\n
Even after running a business for one day, we know things are extremely unpredictable in entrepreneurship, and you absolutely cannot plan for everything.<\/p>\n
A business plan is about knowing where you\u2019re starting from, where you\u2019re aiming and how today\u2019s decisions connect to tomorrow\u2019s outcomes.<\/p>\n
Many people think that this is slower. That founders who love to plan end up being behind because they spent time planning instead of doing. However, that\u2019s not the case at all.<\/p>\n
Founders who plan are actually calmer. They make fewer reactive decisions. They waste less time and money testing things that never had a chance of working.<\/p>\n
And crucially, they know when something isn\u2019t<\/i> working, because they defined what success looked like upfront.<\/p>\nWhich founders most often fall into the planning trap?<\/h2>\n
This might surprise you, but the founders who often dismiss planning are the most capable ones. After explaining the importance of business plans, you\u2019d think the capable ones all create them.<\/p>\n
But that\u2019s not the case. The most experienced ones do, because they have made the mistake of not<\/i> making a business plan before!<\/p>\n
But the capable founders are the ones who are smart, move fast and trust their instincts. They know they can get stuff done and have the ability to achieve great results.<\/p>\n
However, even if they have great instincts, without structure, this can lead to blind spots.<\/p>\n
So then many founders only realize they need a plan when:<\/p>\n
Their marketing spend keeps increasing, but the results don\u2019t improve<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Hiring feels premature, but also unavoidable<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Revenue looks healthy, yet cash flow is tight<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
The business grows, but the founder feels stuck inside it<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Only then do founders take a step back and create a business plan. But, by then, fixing the mess is far harder than preventing it.<\/p>\n
I think the traditional business plans are no longer necessary in 2026. You do not need to spend weeks creating a document that you won\u2019t read. Even if you have investors, there are simpler documents you can create for them.<\/p>\n
However, I think some kind of plan is essential for business. A clear, written point of view on where your business is going and why.<\/p>\n
Because without it, you\u2019re not really building a business \u2014 you\u2019re reacting to one. And reaction is a very expensive way to grow.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
For the last few years, founders have been told that a business plan is a waste of time. \u201cJust start\u201d is the advice du jour.<\/p>\n
The intent is to reduce procrastination, as often, action beats overthinking. After all, done is better than perfect, right?<\/p>\n
However, when we take a look at the state of entrepreneurship now, it\u2019s a little messy. Yes, things are moving much faster now, but founders feel more lost and unsure whether their business is working.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n