How to do a business plan for Indies?

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4 comments, last by hplus0603 2 years, 6 months ago

So for a while now, I've had this issue.

Not quite sure how to solve.

Not sure if we need one?

especially since we are on Rev share.

Our company homepage:

https://honorgames.co/

My New Book!:

https://booklocker.com/books/13011.html

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GeneralJist said:

So for a while now, I've had this issue.

Not sure if we need one?

Why is it an issue? How long a while has it been an issue? You need to explain yourself more here.

GeneralJist said:
Not sure if we need one? especially since we are on Rev share.

Is that not even more reason to have one? Your teammates have expectations needing managing, do they not? You need to explain yourself more here.

-- Tom Sloper -- sloperama.com

  1. This has been an ongoing issue for us since 2018, we had an offer from a guy to make us one for 5K, but I wasn't sure of thing then, we and by we, I mean, I, I pushed it to the back burner, while we focused on building the product. Now our products are somewhat stable, and I can again return to focusing on this, not sure how much money I should spend on making one. (my bank has some resources, neeed to do more digging)
  2. Well, from my understanding, a business plan is to detail how the company is to make money, and since we are Rev share, we have a rev share agreement, but not sure what more we need to do. or how to do it.

Our company homepage:

https://honorgames.co/

My New Book!:

https://booklocker.com/books/13011.html

What does your rev share plan look like? Do you have to share profits (do you take the costs of development out before sharing), or do you start sharing with the first penny of income?

-- Tom Sloper -- sloperama.com

There are two separate issues here.

The first is: Do you need proper accounting for your business?

The second is: Do you need a forward-looking projection/plan for what the business will look like?

For the first one, the answer is: YES, ABSOLUTELY! If real money is involved, and you're making promises to people, not only do you have a duty to be able to show those people what the current state is, but the taxing authorities in whatever country you're in will not look kindly on you if you operate a business without the proper paperwork. And tax forms. If you have costs now that you plan to deduct from profits later, you need to have the books in order now. If you take in money now, you will absolutely need the books, not just to track the money, but to be able to calculate how much (if any) of that money should go to the tax authorities.

For the second one, the answer is murkier. You generally need a “plan” (forward looking projections) if you're going to make a decision that matters. So, if the decision is “should I quit my job or keep doing this on week-ends,” a business plan based on all available data might be able to answer this. How long until you have a product? How much cash is available? What's the needs of each person on the team? Similarly, if you attempt to raise funding from outside investors, you don't just need a plan, but you also need to show that your plan is credible, based on a historical record – which means that you have to compare previous outcomes to previous plans (say, quarterly, or yearly, depending on cadence.)

Finally, there seems to be a third, hidden, assumption: What's the exact agreement for revenue share? Who bears costs, versus who gets how much of the revenue? Is revenue counted before or after platform fees? Will there be other withholdings, and how are they calculated? How is all of this audited for each person with a claim? Hopefully, your share agreement will specify these things, at least at the point where the project is more than just a week-end hobby.

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