Week 3 — From Idea to Plan: Entrepreneurship, Small Business & the Business Plan

Welcome to your Week 3 Start Here page.

Why this matters

Whether you dream of opening a food truck or help a family farm apply for a loan, this week turns an idea into a plan that shows what it sells, what it costs to start, and where the money comes from.

In plain language

This week is about turning an idea into a plan someone else can read. An entrepreneur (a person who starts a venture and carries the risk that it fails) is where every plan begins, and most U.S. businesses are small. A business plan (a written description of what the business sells, to whom, and how it will be paid for) comes in a long form and a one-page form. Before the coffee cart opens, its owner studies the industry's competition, adds up what it costs to start, and decides where that money comes from. By the end you can read a start-up list, check a funding plan, and sum up a plan in three sentences.

• Already covered: Week 1, The Idea and Its Environment, and Week 2, The Market It Sells Into.
• This week: entrepreneurs, small business, two plan formats, the five forces, and a funding plan.
• How they connect: the SWOT and market structure feed the plan's market analysis.
• Where we're going next: Week 4, Choosing a Legal Form.

Focus

How does an idea become a funded plan, and what does it take to open?

By the end of this module, you should be able to:

• [ ] compare the traditional and lean startup plans
• [ ] apply the five forces to an industry
• [ ] check a funding plan and a loan's interest
• [ ] sum up a plan in three sentences

To-do

Plan your week

1. Read Chapter 3 (about 35 minutes), then the lecture and slides.
2. Work the lecture tutorial (60–90 minutes) and the practice set (about 20 minutes).
3. Do the Business Case Workshop (about 90 minutes), the discussion, and the assignment.
4. Take the quiz.

This week's checkpoint: add a start-up list, check that the funding sources match it, and compute a loan's first-year interest.

You've got this

Take it in order, and ask your instructor if a step snags.

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