Raymond Di Nizo: Reshaping the business modeling industry with LaunchPlan

Having the spirit to help others grow their businesses with ease, Raymond Di Nizo, Co-founder and CEO of LaunchPlan, has introduced a simple and smooth solution to reduce the hassle of business structuring. He states, “I wanted to help my fellow entrepreneurs have a better chance and easier way of starting a business, so I created LaunchPlan.”

Journey to success

Raymond grew up in an entrepreneurial household. His father, Romano, owned his own company and was very successfulbuilding houses which played a significant role in structuring the path for him in his youth. The skills required to succeed in the domain were hammered into him by his father, from a young age.

He states, “My father inspired me and taught me that anything is possible, you can be your own boss, and you can do anything you set your mind to.”

During his early years, he was not familiar with the potential of the technology. However, while he was in college expanding his knowledge base, he started realizing the opportunity and simplicity that educational software offered.

“In my capstone entrepreneurship class, we were assigned with the task of coming up with a business idea and creating a business plan for that idea. It didn’t take long for me to realize that a lot of people had great ideas, but creating a business plan was the most difficult part of getting a business off the ground.”, Raymond says. So, to help others build a successful business model and fuel the growth smoothly, he co-founded LaunchPlan.

Kicking down the hurdles with determination

Raymond shares, “Setbacks were my middle name for a time period. Every professor I approached with the idea of LaunchPlan, at the beginning used to poke holes in the “styrofoam cup.” Everyone gave me 1,000 reasons on why it would fail and very little encouragement to pursue my business idea.”

Even with no support, he never gave up and followed his intuition. He came to find out that the only company in the business plan software market, at the time, was doing extremely well however only sold a CD ROM disk – nothing of which was available on an online platform. Knowing this, he started approaching Universities with the niche he found in the market.

He states, “Finally, after getting MIT Sloan to agree to use LaunchPlan in their courses and with their 100K business competition, it seemed as though I jumped the first big hurdle. Soon after, many Universities followed suit.”

Bringing change with LaunchPlan

LaunchPlan is a SaaS online platform that helps users create a professional business plan suitable for investors. LaunchPlan is the most intuitive and affordable way to create a successful business plan. LaunchPlan is easy to use and educational, with examples and definitions to guide users along the way.

“LaunchPlan is tremendously helping reshape business modeling by offering users the ability to work on what’s called a “canvas.” The business model canvas is the first step a user can take in figuring out whether or not their business idea is viable. LaunchPlan allows users to work through the canvas, which has nine sections to complete, including automated financials. In the end, they will be able to have a better understanding of whether their idea will be profitable or not.” He says.

Now, young entrepreneurs do not have to create an entire business plan to flush out their ideas to see whether it is feasible or not. Once they complete the task of creating a simpler business model canvas, they then will be able to dive deeper into creating a business plan, with more confidence that the idea they are working on is worth pursuing.

He expresses, “The industry over the years has changed in this exact way. What used to be the baseline for working on ideas for new businesses, creating a business plan now comes after working through a business model canvas. We allow our users to work through a canvas if they are just starting out with a fresh idea before creating a business plan, and we allow users that have already done that to jump right into working on their business plan. Other companies allow you to do one of these. LaunchPlan is the only one that allows both.”

Raymond believes that LaunchPlan has its own unique features. However, to stay ahead of the curve, they keep on exploring new areas and ameliorate their services by regular feedback from the users. On top of that, their pricing for the services is unparalleled in the corporate market.

Wearing the hat as the CEO of the company

Being the Co-founder and CEO of the company, Raymond is responsible for setting a strong foundation for the company in the market and gaining a competitive edge over others. He states, “I’m always strategizing with my developer to see how we can make ourselves the front runner in the market by creating new marketing ideas, new price strategies, partnerships, and advertising where our competitors don’t. My developer and I built LaunchPlan with the idea that we have a better product than what is currently offered on the market, and my role is to ensure that everyone knows that.”

He gets his constant dose of motivation by reminding himself that the success of LaunchPlan is in his hands. “LaunchPlan started with an idea I had over ten years ago. I feel it’s my responsibility to keep my idea going, which in itself is very motivational to me every day. Every time we get a new user or group to sign up with our platform, my employees automatically get motivated. I have a great team that has the hunger to make LaunchPlan successful as I do.”, he states.

On balancing the professional and personal front, he makes ample time for both of them. Raymond indulges in a healthy lifestyle and tries to keep balance. He gives his best to fuel the growth of the business and makes time for his family and self-care. Once he goes off the grid from his business, he tries to stay away from the pressure and enjoy his personal life.

Future milestones for the company

Raymond’s vision for LaunchPlan is to become the number one SaaS for business plans globally. He adds, “LaunchPlan is finding the niches in the market that our competitors have left untouched, and I feel that those will help guide our success. We will continue to update and develop our site to the growing and changing economy, what investors are looking for in business plans and business ideas. LaunchPlan will never be out of date. Intuitiveness and affordability that keeps up with the ever-changing world is our goal.”

The team currently updates their site to offer LaunchPlan in ten different languages, and they are looking to expand to even more languages. Marketing globally is a project they are looking to taking on soon.