Pre-seed currently raising. What's your do's and don'ts on the 3 year operating plan?

Holly Oh Diamond
4 replies
Hey hunters, I'm currently raising and just finished the first meeting with one VC a week ago who is showing some positive signs for my company. They requested to share my 3-year operating plan in the spreadsheet and wonder if any founders have prepared this document before. Any tips on how to measure your operating plan better? Thanks! Holly from Work Onward

Replies

John Koo
First of all, congratulations on the news. A VC usually asks for a 3-year plan just to see if you understand your business and how you see the market. There's no expectation that it'll be accurate. Make sure you don't stress yourself out trying to get every number exact. It can be done in a few hours (or less!) if you know enough about the market and business. Just don't spend too much time on it (like I did for days). Good luck!
Holly Oh Diamond
@imjohnkoo Awesome, thank you for your input! :-)
Holly Oh Diamond
@imjohnkoo Thanks John for your reply! I've been doing some research and asking for feedback from founder friends for the past few days so I definitely spend plenty of time on this, haha! Did you create yours quarterly?
John Koo
@workonward I did it on a monthly basis with monthly goals and financial projections. However, all those numbers and fancy projections didn't pan out. We had to make a lot of adjustments.