What is Over / Under? It’s a metaphor for two companies, one that was over-funded and the other under-funded. The results aren’t what you would think. Why would a start-up, with a 100 page business plan and with 4.2 Million raised from top tier ventures firms, fail spectacularly, despite having a product, a top tier list of customers and a reasonable revenue base?

My guest on this episode of The Business Edge is Charlie Alsmiller, CEO of Appterra, his second tech star-up. , Charlie took a different approach. He had no business plan, no customers, no products and no capital. Rather, he set out to listen to the market and the market told him how to build his business. Today, 11 years later, his company is one of the top Business-to-Business integration firms, supporting some of the largest companies in their mission critical processes.
Listen to this podcast and learn:: The importance of having a plan A, B, C, D as a funding strategy; what contributes to the life or death as a start-up…and it’s not money; why the ability to say “yes” or “no” is most satisfying being an entrepreneur; how parenting is like running a business – different stages require different expectations and involvement; and the reason he says: The only thing I know about a business plan when I write it, is that it’s probably wrong.”

The key takeaway: You’ll be more effective the less you do.  Build repeatable processes and train the proper people in your business. When you do that, your role changes dramatically. You become the carrier of the cultural flag….and get to push the business in new directions. Work ON your business not IN your business guides everything I do. It can be really easy to just want to jump in and do everything – but at the end of the day, that doesn’t create value nor grow your business.