This is definitely a must read for anyone interested in starting their own business. In Start Your Business in 7 Days, the former dragon on BBC’s Dragon’s Den show James Caan masterfully walks the reader through the mental process that increases the chances of a business venture to become a success. What makes this book unique is Caan’s focus on trying to break a business idea as quickly as possible in order to minimize losses from a business that is doomed to fail and is only going to lose more and more money in the long-term. The fact that the author highlights successful businesses he has started and also depicts mistakes that led to substantial personal financial loss for him helps the reader contextualize the theory behind the book.
So here is the 7 days process that Caan develops and an entrepreneur can use to evaluate a business idea:
Day 1 is about identifying whether your idea is a truly scalable business able to generate growth rather than a hobby or lifestyle where the entrepreneur is the limiting factor.
In Day 2 the entrepreneur should be able to answer the question whether the idea will work and should try to identify a breaking point.
The next step is to try and get an order in Day 3. Put simply this step verifies that there is sufficient demand for the product or service that is being developed.
Day 4 is about getting the costs of running the business right and especially to make sure that the entrepreneur builds the cost of his own time and efforts into the business plan.
Day 5 describes the importance of putting the right team in place. For a business to flourish a team needs to be in place or the entrepreneur runs the risk to sooner or later become the limiting factor in the process.
Day 6 continues to stress test the business idea and tries to identify final breaking points after the costings, the team, and the demand have been verified.
Finally in Day 7 the entrepreneur verifies if his idea can attract an investment.
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