By Senior Editor – Kris Smith (@croncast)

There is a valuable conversation going on right now over that the WSJ regarding whether, “Should Start-Up Founders Forget About Business Plans?”

This is a hot topic for any startup that is looking for funding regardless of the level. The comments on this post by Scott Austin are the current wisdom that traditional publishers wish they had by the time a book hits the shelves.

This is a real world, real time conversation that adds value to startup founders that are looking to get connected.

The post focuses on Brian Halligan and his experience with his company, HubSpot. Of course, like the title of the post that Austin has written the article advocates that startups don’t really need a business plan. And Halligan offer his input on what a startup should look to have in today’s business world to seek out investors.

Instead he recommends that startups produce a PowerPoint, Executive Summary (1 Page) and “Fictitious” pro forma income statement. Not bad suggestions from someone that has closed all the way to a C round for his company. However, like most situations his recommendations aren’t a one size fits all – that’s where the comments come in.

There is serial decorum in most of them as they are written by others that have the business acumen to add to the conversation. What a newbie should be paying attention to though is the fact that these comments are from some of the brightest minds of serial entrepreneurs.

The true measure of what is important to a potential investor is that you have your bases covered. They want to be able to ask you questions and know that you have answers and have thought about the exact same thing. Sure, you can’t cover everything there is given market variables (and hopefully) the insight that this investor might have about your vertical.

The best advice is to be prepared by doing your homework about the investors that you will sit in front of. That, and make sure to quote something that you read in The Wall Street Journal <wink>. Citing of course, that the conversations from their readers in the comments section on their blog posts are as valuable as the stories themselves.

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