Open-Source Business Plans?

bigattichouse asks: "I've been working on a business plan lately, sort of a 'If I ever get out of computing' fantasy. Its simple, a bakery. But since I *know* I'm not going to do anything with it, I thought it would be interesting to create a GPL equivalent.. a plan, logos, recipes, methods that anyone could use to start their own bakery/delivery service under a GPL/Copyleft sort of arrangement. I image there are a LOT of potential entreprenuers who might benefit from a 'Free/Open' franchise looking at the market. Has anyone done something like this?"

Comments

Start one, and I'll help you out

[Vendekkai]

Hi. Sounds like a fun thing to do.

Why don't you start off the project, and I'll chip in with documents and stuff? I evaluate business plans for a living, so this should be right up my alley.

V.

Re:Start one, and I'll help you out

[sd3]

I evaluate business plans for a living, so this should be right up my alley.

I've never done a business plan so I'm interested in this. But it seems to me any given company's business plan would be heavily tailored to it. Really, the business plan is the expression of the combination of a company's product idea, values, marketing strategy, assessment of risk, etc. Wouldn't any open-source starting point be generic to the point of useless? Sorta like:

/* This business plan is provided AS IS blah blah blah... */
void main() {
create_idea();
assess_market();
strategize();
/* now you fill in the actual code */
profit();
}

People would be grateful

[Korpo]

Especially if such a project would show them how to handle paperwork or to deal with the local administration. It may not be _that_ much of a problem in the US, but e.g. in Germany the bureaucracy is really overwhelming.

How would you handle the openness? GPL-ish? (Every sub-franchise gets the whole deal) Or BSD-ish? (You may keep some of your secrets)

Re:People would be grateful

[SkunkPussy]

"Especially if such a project would show them how to handle paperwork or to deal with the local administration. It may not be _that_ much of a problem in the US, but e.g. in Germany the bureaucracy is really overwhelming."

I think the bureaucracy in Germany is pretty formidable, particularly the way they regulate the size of your TP!

Open source business plan

[Anonymous Coward]

1) release free software
2) run out of money, bescause you have no income
3) ???
4) move back into parents basement
5) profit!

Re:Open source business plan

[Anonymous Coward]

1. Collect underpants
2. ???
3. Profit!

Bakery? Why not a brewery!!

[zcat_NZ]

One thing I've always wanted to do, but never got around to doing, is to develop a fairly decent homebrew recipe and release it under the GPL.

Just to totally confuse RMS's "free as in beer" analogy.

Re:Bakery? Why not a brewery!!

[tprox]

You could always start a fork...

Re:Bakery? Why not a brewery!!

[joshmccormack]

and you could make the beer free, but charge for the glass, or seats or something... whoa

Re:Bakery? Why not a brewery!!

[lizrd]

Released under the GPL by request: Free as in Beer Pale Ale Recipe: Yields 5 gallons. 12 lbs. 2 row pale malt 1 lb 10L crystal malt 1 oz Centennial hop pellets 3 oz Cascade hop pellets Wyeast #1056 American Ale Yeast 1 oz. sugar Crush grains and place in a large container (a cooler is ideal). Add 4 gallons of 165 degree F water and stir until all the grain is completely wet. The temperature should now be about 150 degrees F. Cover and let stand for one hour. Strain the liquid (wort) from the grain into a large pot. Add 3 gallons of 175 degree F water onto the grain, mix and strain it off into the large pot. Bring the liquid in the pot to a boil. Add the Centennial hop pellets. After 45 minutes add one ounce of Cascade hop pellets. After 60 minutes add one ounce of hop pellets and remove from heat. When the liquid has cooled to room temperature (sitting in a sink of ice water helps this happen faster) siphon the liquid into a 5 gallon bucket, add the remaining ounce of hop pellets and the yeast. After two weeks add the sugar and bottle your beer.

Franchising without the leeches

[MrIrwin]

I think it is a great concept!

Is there an "Open Source" business semantic?

[Anonymous Coward]

On a (slightly) related point, does anyone know if there is an open source project to define business semantic / knowledge...so that a single semantic template can be used for any normal business model and system.

I've thought of this before

[benjamindees]

as a way to skirt burdensome Federal laws and gain a foothold in an otherwise closed industry.

For instance, starting, say, an automobile manufacturer, might not be worth the overhead if you have to operate within a single state. If, on the other hand, you were sharing research and methods with other, similar franchises in other states, you might have a chance to compete and add some innovation to a staid industry.

Prior art........

[Anonymous Coward]

Thinking about it, this is pretty much the way high quality wines and food products such as Parmesan cheese are handled.

The producers "own" the marketing oraganization which both control the quality of the production and market the product.

It is a small step moving this concept to the 'marketing' per se. Obviously here we have a more open structure, but obviously some sort of volontary control must be there, if you just have e.g. a GPL logo that anybody can use then the logo will come to mean "but here and you could get any rubbish".

However marrying the concept of OSS with a trade organization with standards and rules (so a type of bread with a certain name must match a standard recipie) would be a powerful combination, it would be much quicker to react to the market and be more fun, as everyone can try out thier ideas on a small experimental scale yet rely on tested ready made solutions for day to day operations.

Open-Mickey-Deez

[1iar_parad0x]

I'm a programmer, so sure it sounds great.

However, lawyers aren't usually OSS friendly. if you can navigate the headaches, knock yourself out. If McDonalds and Subway can franchise, so can OSS.

Great Idea

[DrunkenHawk]

I'd really like to see something like that, combined with a big forum and discussion area for those interested and/or active in these "franchises".

If I can be of any help please let me know.

Regards from Germany

Developers: A biological system that converts tea and chocolade into code.

So lets see...

[bigattichouse]

I believe the general plan, logos, etc would be available under GPL. Compliance, Training and certification (and possibly some other logos) would only be available as a separate license.

Market Saturation

[bjb]

I think the one thing that you'll have to worry about and address in the plan is avoidance of market saturation in a neighborhood. Basically, if everyone has this business plan, anyone can use it. Lets say then that 5 people want to start a bakery in the same town using this plan. They all go to the same bank for a loan to start such an operation. If they all have the same recipies, they end up making essentially the same product and thus their price competition comes down to purely aesthetic issues of the store front and location. However, given that aesthetics are an equal, there is a point where setting up too many of these essentially identical businesses in the same area will reduce the potential return for the bank (the lender of initial capital). Given also that bakeries are typically cash businesses (read: a lot of income is not declared), this poses the lender's profitability to be even less in a saturated market.

So basically, you may want to consider some kind of formula or description that can give these businesses a bit of difference, and a "volume multiplier" that estimates how many customers this operation could support, given the surrounding market conditions, preferences and demographics.

Then again, I live in NYC and I've seen two starbucks on opposite corners staring at each other, and they're both busy. I could be completely wrong :-)

Re:Market Saturation

[dk.r*nger]

Well, that's not isolated to store-front businesses..

You can have, say, two OSS consulting businesses, selling essentially the same product, but they will by definistion differ in areas like pricing, people (leadership/support), websitedesign, phone-number/website-address rememberability, proximity and all over karma..

Re:Market Saturation

[stienman]

Then again, I live in NYC and I've seen two starbucks on opposite corners staring at each other, and they're both busy.

Their business plan consists mainly of:
* Pay city of New York to change pedestrian crossing times and patterns such that it takes 20 minutes to travel kitty corner.

-Adam

Re:Market Saturation

[dododge]

Then again, I live in NYC and I've seen two starbucks on opposite corners staring at each other, and they're both busy.

In Bowie MD, the Home Depot and Lowes hardware stores are literally across the street from each other.

15 minutes away in Annapolis MD there are two more Home Depots, close enough together that you can probably see one from the roof of the other. Mapquest says the drive between them is around 4 minutes.

These are all full-sized stores with their own massive parking lots. I guess we really love fixin' stuff around here. For a while one of the Annapolis stores was even open 24 hours.

OS Business Plan?

[mchawi]

What about OS accounting? Post all your accounting information online for the public to view, comment on, etc. That to me seems like a true open source business model.

I don't think the world is ready yet though :)

Re:OS Business Plan?

[sd3]

Hmmm, I'm not sure many people would be too keen on posting their accounting information, myself and my little company included. Companies generally keep things like financials and compensation packages pretty well protected unless they're forced to reveal it (usually to the Government e.g. in an audit).

However, posting accounting techniques or accounting lessons learned would be a terrific idea.

I'll start with one that took us a few years to grasp: when doing business with the Federal Government, don't try to religiously stick to your projected overhead rate. Instead, make a reasonable guess with your projected budget, and if overhead-type costs come up, go ahead and spend on them. At the end of the year you can adjust your overhead rate to meet your actual costs, and go back and seek reimbursement from the Government if you've underbilled. You'll be audited at the end of the contract anyway to square up your overhead expenditures, so as long as the things you spent on were reasonable, you don't have to fret about staying within your original projections. And remember, FAR section 31.205 tells you exactly what constitutes reimburseable overhead expenses.

GPLed cola recipe.

[KevinDumpsCore]

> One thing I've always wanted to do... is to develop a fairly decent homebrew recipe and release it under the GPL.

Like this cola recipe?

I would like an Open Business Plan for...

[RevRagnarok]

...Real Estate rentals! I would like to rent out my townhouse after I sell it but would like it to be a corporation that holds it so I am not personally liable. Unfortunately, I think that would involve closing costs, etc since I am basically selling my house to the corporation... but a neat idea, nonetheless. ;)

Re:I would like an Open Business Plan for...

[bigattichouse]

You wouldn't need to pay closing costs if you "sell it toi yourself", although some states might require "something"... you could sell it to your corporation for a dollar, if you wanted to... the only costs for closing would be filing and paperwork fees.

You MUST write your own.

[bluGill]

Interesting project, and it might be a good starting point for someone looking into that type of business. However if you are thinking about going into business you must write your own business plan yourself. You might start with this plan, but by the time you are done the result should have so little resemblance that courts will agree that it is not a derivative work and you don't have to abide by whatever license agreements applied to the original. [1]

All the details of your local area need to be filled in. All the details of current technology need to be filled in. You need to be sure that you will the people in.. (And there is a different between foot traffic where location counts, and phone traffic where price and big ads count)

[1]IANAL, consult a lawyer to find out exactly what the limits are. Since you will be consulting a lawyer as part of creating your business plan this shouldn't be a big deal.

Re:You MUST write your own.

[ceez]

With regards to consulting lawyers:

This sounds like something that should be bounced off of the Creative Commons folk.

Re:You MUST write your own.

[at_kernel_99]

Huh? Why MUST he write a business plan at all? For whom? In my state (Minnesota), you go to the secretary of state with about 50 bucks (I don't exactly recall), fill out some paperwork & you're a business. Thats it. Now, if you're going to ask somebody for money, THEY might want a business plan. But I don't know how they'd know who wrote it; or really care either, as long as its well thought out the person presenting the plan (i.e. asking for their money) understands it and appears to have a reasonable chance of not defaulting on the loan / losing the investment. Of course, the stupider the person you're approaching for money, the less well thought out the businesss plan needs to be. A good salesman could doodle up a 'business plan' on a napkin & sell it to some people.

Re:You MUST write your own.

[bluGill]

You must write your own plan, for your own benefit. A business plan when properly written tells you how you can make money. It gets on paper a head of time all the things that can go wrong, so you can avoid them.

If your plan calls for selling to local businesses, you know to lock the doors when a tour bus stops outside! OTOH, if you plan calls for tourists stopping (which means you have made sure they will stop), you know to turn away locals when the tourists stop in. Without the plan you can serve the wrong customer, costing a lot of money. Or worse yet, without the plan you can sink a lot of time and money into something that can never make money. (As a hobby that is okay, but not for putting food on the table)

Sure to be legal you don't need a plan. To succeed you need a good one.

GPL? Bakery?

[MisterFancypants]

Oh I get it... You start a bakery that gives away bread for free, but make it so hard to eat that you can sell service & support!!

Brilliant!!!

Re:GPL? Bakery?

[bigattichouse]

No, silly.. the *plan* for marketing the product, production scehdules, logos, all the stuff you get when you buy a franchise. not GPL the product itself.

Re:GPL? Bakery?

[mandalayx]

sounds interesting to me, I'd like to check it out. email me.