“Done and done.”
An experienced business operator had asked for a one-page summary of the managed infrastructure company my former Beatport teammate and I were building.
What do you do? Who buys it? How do you price it? How large is the market? Who else is already there? He wanted enough detail to see the business.
Two hours later, I sent the assignment back to my technical partner.
“Think of what we could do in 40 hours a week ;)”
The idea was becoming Monk Networks. We wanted to create clean, secure, virtual infrastructure for startups and other growing technology companies. The old hosting model was heavy on racks and manual work. We thought software could turn more of it into a repeatable product.
The advisor said we had something and offered to help us work through the model. He also asked whether we were willing to listen when people challenged it.
What I sent back is the first pass, not a finished plan. It answers the categories he gave me: what the company does, the space, product, pricing, sales approach, rough revenue, profit, competitors, and market size.
The speed is the part I am excited about. Two hours after the request, there is a document to review. It is enough to move the conversation from an idea between old coworkers to a business summary another person can read and question.
The next response belongs to the advisor. Today, my partner has the one-page answer and the exact time it took me to produce it.