Getting to Plan B

You have a new venture in mind. And you've crafted a business plan so detailed it's a work of art. Don't get too attached to it.

As John Mullins and Randy Komisar explain in Getting to Plan B, new businesses are fraught with uncertainty. To succeed, you must change the plan in real time as the inevitable challenges arise. In fact, studies show that entrepreneurs who stick slavishly to their Plan A stand a greater chance of failing-and that many successful businesses barely resemble their founders' original idea.

The authors provide a rigorous process for stress testing your Plan A and determining how to alter it so your business makes money, solves customers' needs, and endures. You'll discover strategies for:

-Identifying the leap-of-faith assumptions hidden in your plan

-Testing those assumptions and unearthing why the plan might not work

-Reconfiguring the five components of your business model-revenue model, gross margin model, operating model, working capital model, and investment model-to create a sounder Plan B.

Filled with success stories and cautionary tales, this book offers real cases illustrating the authors' unique process. Whether your idea is for a start-up or a new business unit within your organization, Getting to Plan B contains the road map you need to reach success.

John Mullins is Associate Professor of Management Practice at London Business School, and a veteran of three entrepreneurial companies. Randy Komisar is a Partner at venture-capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers and has served as a Consulting Professor of Entrepreneurship at Stanford University.