DANIEL L. LUNANI

The world signed up to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals in 2015, and we all realize that the only way for the Goals to be achieved would be for private capital to fund them and for private business to implement them.  Sustainable Development Goals are not only goals for the global community, but also a signpost for businesses looking for guidance on how to grasp the new market opportunities offered by a changing world. The Goals need to become as central to the business world as they are to the world of development. The key question to ask ourselves is how can we build a powerful and evidence-based case that successful realization of the Goals that would be a great business opportunity of our generation. From the beginning that the challenge was to quantify the opportunity and explain how business, suitably financed, could address it. its important to make the business case for the SDGs and the SDG case for business. The business case is compelling. Achieving the Goals will o...

PART A: Introduction to Business Plans   Definition Business plans are roadmaps for setting the direction of the company -- they outline the key goals of the company and set plans for how to achieve those goals. The time horizon for business plans varies, but typically they provide plans and forecasts for the upcoming 3-5 years. Business owners can gauge performance over time by comparing actual performance with plans set out in the business plan. Moreover, business plans are often used to help secure financing options for the business.   Audience Business plans are written for a wide variety of audiences, including but not limited to: ●        Management team ●        Financing sources ●        Potential customers ●        Potential suppliers ●        Prospective hires ●      ...

The challenge is that most businesses try to predict consumer behavior rather than predicting value-assimilation. It’s more than just a purchase — think of the utilitarian principle which says the product or service is of as much value as the job it performs. It’s also riddled with emotional considerations because a human being is not monolithic nor are they purely rational. Emotional bases are often the driver for the products we buy and the things we do. So, what you want to do is “Learn to understand the emotions of the consumer.” This is harder to do because emotions beyond the binary (think here, happy vs sad) are harder to understand & even harder to collect data on. What is the data point for satisfied but unhappy? The thing about value is that simplistically we tend to think value is price. Not so. Price is the cost of something. Value is the benefit (real or perceived) derived from the thing. Building a business for value is much more complex. It’s not just about the perpe...

  The difference between success and failure with a Minimum Viable Product almost always comes down to deciding what gets built when. In 20+ years of building all kinds of products, I’ve come to the conclusion that while there is no perfect plan for success, the most damning mistake startups make with their MVP is building it from the ground up. That kind of unstructured product development leads to disaster every time. Step 1: Define the value proposition and stick to it For an MVP to be valuable to both your customers and your business, it has to accomplish three things: Your MVP must test the core functionality of your product. Your MVP must test the full delivery system for your product. Your MVP must prove the market viability of the idea on which your startup is founded. Again, there is no guarantee that your MVP will be successful, but to even  begin  to determine whether or not you have a success on your hands, your MVP has to test those three hypotheses. Any feat...