After graduating from school, Rajiv and I were still playing around with the idea of actually starting this company. I left for Beijing to go interview for a few companies and Rajiv went to backpack in Europe before he started his full-time job.
It was in China that I had lots of downtime, between my lack of language skills and my desire to stay inside - because Beijing is quite smoggy/polluted in the middle of the hot summers. I began writing the business plan - an essential piece in starting a business.
Lots of people out there have different opinions about a business plan. Is it worthwhile or a waste of time since "VC's don't read b-plans anymore anyway". Well, regardless of what VC's do, I find writing a business plan incredibly valuable. And so does someone like Guy Kawasaki, so don't take my word for it.
In short, a business plan helps you to formulate your ideas, set a time-line, understand your competition and barriers to entry, and really organize every aspect of your business. I learned more about our business during the month of writing my plan than the 6 months that I had previously been thinking about it.
Even though some claim that if you're not looking for financing, don't do it. We're not looking for financing yet...and I still stand by my claim.
As I began to get through the business plan, Rajiv and I would IM and email when we could. We began to iterate through ideas and finally got to a point when we had a product that got us both FIRED UP.
Rajiv and I made a deal. I was giving up my ambition of working in China and he was going to give me a roof over my head. Together we'd make it happen.
I left from China in August and returned to the Bay Area. We've been at it ever since.
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