What Entrepreneur's Say vs What They Really Mean
We're considerably ahead of plan - We hit plan in one of the last three months
We're basically on plan - Revenue shortfall of 25 percent
Possibility of a slight shortfall - Revenue shortfall of 75 percent
Too early to tell - Results to date have been grim
Turnaround opportunity - The horse has four feet in the air
Our projections are very conservative - We read a book that said we had to be a $50 million company in five years, and we reverse-engineered the numbers
We're currently revisiting the budget - Our financial plan is in total chaos
Acquisition Strategy - Our current products have no market
Bio-tech business model - Potentially bigger fools have been identified
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We're in a cyclical industry - We posted a huge loss last year
The ingredients are there - Given two years, we might find a workable strategy
We're investing heavily in R&D - We're trying desperately to catch the competition
The product is 98% complete - To complete the remaining 2% will take twice as long as it took to create the initial 98% and will cost twice as much
Limited downside - It can't get much worse
Window of opportunity - Without more money, the company is dead
Long selling cycle - We have yet to find a customer who likes the product
We're the low cost producer - We haven't produced anything yet, but are confident that we will be able to
We're on a manufacturing learning curve - We can't make the product with positive margins
We're repositioning the business - Multimillion-dollar investment recently written off
Our products are unique - No more than six competitors
We have no competition - Only IBM, Microsoft, Sun and Cisco have announced plans to enter the business
We only need a 10 percent market share - So do the other 50 companies getting funded
Our management team has a great deal of experience - Consuming the product or service
We're upgrading the management team - The organization is in complete disarray
Entrepreneurial CEO - Totally uncontrollable, bordering on maniacal
A select group of investors is considering the plan - We mailed a copy to everyone in Pratt's Guide
We want a value-added investor - We are looking for a "dumb-as-rocks" investor
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