Records-201105012.bib

@techreport{Records-201105012, author = {" Mohsen BANAN "}, title = {" The Concept of An Open Business Plan Example: Neda's By* Libre Services LinuxFest NW 2011 "}, type = "Published Libre Record", number = {"201105012"}, institution = "Autonomously Self-Published", month = {"April"}, year = "2011", note = "\htmladdnormallink{http://www.neda.com/Records/201105012}{http://www.neda.com/Records/201105012}", abstract = "Traditionally business plans have been highly confidential and quite limited in audience. The business plan itself is generally regarded as secret. However the emergence of free software and open source has opened the model and made the notion of an open business plan possible. An open business plan is a business plan with unlimited audience. The business plan is typically web published and made available to all. In the free software and open source business model, trade secrets, copyright and patents can no longer be used as effective locking mechanisms to provide sustainable advantages to a particular business and therefore a secret business plan is less relevant in those models. While the origin of the open business plan model is in the free software and Libre Services arena, the concept is likely applicable to other domains. In theory, a business plan has many uses and purposes. As a strategic plan it gives the organization its direction, defines priorities, guides allocation of resources, defines goals, objectives, processes and strategies; and identifies and focuses the business on specific markets and revenue sources. In practice most business plans are none of the above. Instead they are purely a tool for fundraising. The dotCon era (late 1990s) demonstrated how business plans can become an agreement document between entrepreneurs and Venture Capitalists on how to engage in spin and flip and pump and dump activities. That makes the requirement for the business plan being secret even stronger. In what we believe is a first in the history of business practice, we are publishing our business model in the form of an Open Business Plan. The plan is freely available on our website to be read by anyone. The primary url for Neda's Open Business Plan is: http://www.neda.com/StrategicVision/BusinessPlan Our business model of not using the locking mechanisms of trade secrets, copyright and patents plus the notion of an open business plan is very difficult to digest for Venture Capitalists. Yet, the scope and scale of what we are trying to do requires facilitation of external participation including capital investment. Our engagement with Venture Capitalists typically starts here: http:// www.neda.com/StrategicVision/Participating/Investment/StartHere Insisting on this honest and transparent model has come at a price. We point with pride to the fact of having been thrown out of the offices of some of the most prestigious high-technology venture capital companies in the Pacific Northwest. In this presentation, we will provide an overview of the model that we have been following and the lessons we have learned from interacting with VCs. We believe that open source software engineers are best positioned to pave the way towards making widespread the concept of open business plans. We highly encourage those wishing to attend this presentation to page through this example open business plan.", location = "/lcnt/lgpc/neda/record/byStar/201105012-linuxFest-openBusPlan" }