“Business planning” has been on Tim Berry’s mind most of his working life, from his consulting days in Silicon Valley twenty five years ago, when he began gathering ideas that—a decade later—would result in the first version of what today is “Business Plan Pro.”
That’s the flagship product of Palo Alto Software, which Tim founded. Though still its president, Tim happily lets his daughter run the company these days, leaving him free to teach, write books (the latest being “3 Weeks to Startup”), accept speaking engagements, and blog. A prolific blogger, Tim’s thoughts are to be found at
Planning Startups Stories,
Up and Running and
Business Planning Demystified, as well as at the likes of
The Huffington Post.
In this interview, Tim admits, “in truth, a great product, great marketing and a genius entrepreneur can achieve success without planning.” But for the mere mortals among us, he advises, “If you don’t enjoy planning – and I mean the real planning, not the fake planning – then maybe you should keep your day job.”
Listen now: