Ever since ChatGPT took the world by storm last month, companies of all sizes have experimented with how to implement AI. Content marketing, product descriptions, SEO, job listing keywords, and candidate interview questions are some of the popular uses.

While ChatGPT creates opportunities for many businesses, it was a “code red” at Google, which has been the internet’s go-to information source for decades. Co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin even returned to oversee the tech giant’s response — and now it’s official: Google will release Bard, a conversational AI tool, to the general public “in the coming weeks,” according to Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai.

It’s possible that many businesses will feel more comfortable with a Google-branded product than with OpenAI’s, and Google has an enormous built-in user base. Either way, the paranoid among us can take comfort that Bard will adhere to Google’s AI Principles, which prohibit “weapons or other technologies … to cause or directly facilitate injury to people.” Your business isn’t named SkyNet, right?

Today’s Edition...

Business plan: Can you ever skip it?

Shaq: Big lessons from the Big Diesel.

Infographic: SEO by the Numbers

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It’s Fashionable to Skip the Business Plan — How Reckless Is That?

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It all started with a business plan.

In 1994, Jeff Bezos famously sat in the passenger seat during a cross-country roadtrip and banged out the business plan for Amazon. Yet, you might be surprised to learn that Bezos is an outlier among entrepreneurs. A lot of them actually just make everything up on the fly.

A range of studies have indicated that only one-third of entrepreneurs follow a business plan, and found no difference in performance between those who did and those who didn’t. So, are business plans still relevant? Here are some thoughts from business leaders who responded to our survey.

Most respondents defended the business plan

As it turns out, many business leaders are still passionate advocates for the value of a detailed plan. “I think that questioning the essence of a business plan is nonsense,” says Josephine Li, founder and CEO at Cicinia.

In many cases, investors and venture capital firms will want to see a strategy for how their money will be spent. Stella Cooper, CEO at PaydayLoansUK, emphasizes this point.

“Without a business plan, a prospective investor might think of you as a directionless business owner, which won't work in your favor,” Cooper says.

The middle path: a flexible business plan

Even back in the day, many entrepreneurs didn’t write a formal business plan. A 1989 survey in Inc. magazine found that just 21% of businesses began from a detailed plan. Another 58% did follow an outline, but they kept it fast and loose.

Many business owners in our survey hold similar views today. Adam Olson, the cofounder of Home Service Direct, thinks that formal business plans are too rigid. “Businesses require flexibility, as there’s no assurance that everything will go as planned,” he says.

Just wing it?

Some of today’s biggest companies, especially in tech, started as college passion projects without any market research whatsoever, just intuition. In 2018, Syracuse University professor Carl Schramm even published a book titled Burn the Business Plan: What Great Entrepreneurs Really Do.

As we can see, there is no straightforward answer. You can succeed with or without a business plan. Doing some sort of planning is clearly helpful for most businesspeople, though, even if it’s just a basic outline. Whatever you choose, make sure you get out there and do it!

SEO by the Numbers

HBO’s Shaq: Big Business Lessons From the Big Diesel

Many sports fans remember Shaquille O’Neal as the most dominant NBA player to ever step on the court. The Hall of Famer and four-time NBA Champion takes the spotlight in HBO’s Shaq, a four-part documentary that covers his early life, his NBA rise, and his life beyond basketball as a spokesperson and entrepreneur. Here are some top takeaways.

If you don’t pay for top talent, someone else will

When it was time for the Orlando Magic to offer Shaq a new contract, they came at him with a lackluster offer (despite having the resources to pay more). He then left Orlando for a team that would pay in full for his talents: the Los Angeles Lakers, whose investment was rewarded with back-to-back-to-back NBA Championships, a regular season MVP, and three NBA Finals MVPs.

Every team needs a leader

Even with the dominance of Shaq (and a budding talent in Kobe Bryant), the Lakers couldn’t win a title at first — until they signed head coach Phil Jackson, who’d just won six for the Chicago Bulls. Jackson told Shaq that if he listened, he’d win a championship, league MVP, and Finals MVP, all of which happened in Jackson’s first year with the team. Skill needs guidance.

Be willing to pivot eventually

During the last stretch of his NBA career, Shaq went through a number of injuries and rough patches that led to his historic retirement. But he was prepared. Shaq had built a marketable brand and invested in a number of industries, allowing him to change directions easily. Like Shaq, your next venture might be a season away.