Burke Franklin, Founder & CEO
“I love it when good companies, products, or people succeed!”
says Burke Franklin, known as the man who’s helped “launch a million businesses” since he invented business planning software in 1988 with the introduction of his best-selling BizPlanBuilder® software system and templates.
From that successful beginning, he launched Business Power Tools, the company behind an entire suite of successful business productivity software apps & templates for launching, building and succeeding in business with minimum BS.
Startup founders need a mentor who can tell them how the world works and what to focus on when it comes to the volatile business of starting a company.
Building a successful business and being a mindful and responsive entrepreneur is an emotional, mental, physical and spiritual bootcamp. Yet, few things are more rewarding and gratifying than succeeding with your own ideas and making a difference in the world.
Burke graduated from the University of California – Santa Barbara with a degree in business and a minor in electrical engineering. While the economics professors got worked-up over theories, he wanted do something real. Burke heard of a ‘do-it-yourself’ used car lot idea, borrowed $5,000 from his grandmother, put it together, and ran it from his fraternity bedroom. It was painful.
After college, Burke sold a software system for analyzing real estate, he sold electronics for Texas Instruments, he sold financial software to mid-sized companies…
Burke has a very strong background in sales, marketing and business development with both technology and consumer products. He worked for companies like Texas Instruments, CPT and a number of start-ups. Wanting to experience the other side of the sales desk, Burke joined the Sharper Image Catalog as their electronics buyer… A great job and lesson that life’s not all about the stuff.
Burke was elected delegate to the White House Conference on Small Business held in Washington, D.C., where he met with entrepreneurs from across the U.S. to discuss issues every small business owner faces. (With appreciation for the votes from the National Association of Women Business Owners! (NAWBO))
He has also been nominated for Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award
In May 1996, and again in 1997, the Brazilian software council flew Burke to Belo Horizonte to teach business planning to Brazilian entrepreneurs; in 1999, he addressed the Silicon Valley Entrepreneurs group; and since 2000, Burke has presented an ongoing series called The Thinking Behind Your Business Plan for CEO Space and other organizations.
Burke has always loved the ideas offered in Popular Science and Popular Mechanics. What happens to them? 27+ years ago he had the inspiration to create the first business planning software template — to help artists, engineers, and inventors to build successful businesses around their ideas. To date, more than 2,000,000 copies have been used to build thriving businesses. It’s up-to-date and still rocks!
A second-degree black belt in TaeKwonDo, Burke authored Business Black Belt, a book rapidly gaining popularity because it draws parallels from the martial arts to teach about building and running a business. Burke is also an instrument-rated pilot.
Burke’s highly praised book, Business Black Belt is like 20 years of self-help seminars applied to building a business…
What works. What doesn’t. And what you can do right now…
It’s like 70 business books in one and teaches 100+ current, real-world lessons and is rich in hard-won tips for building and running a business today.
So far so good. It seems he’s a connector of dots, a navigator thru BS, and a creator of tools to help you do what you want to do the way you want to do it.
“I first found Burke and Business Power Tools almost 10 years ago and have been a RAVING FAN ever since. I trust his knowledge, skill and more importantly – his Wisdom… Seriously, we’ve used many of Business Power Tools’ products and found them accurate, up-to-date and incredibly useful – I strongly endorse both Burke and Business Power Tools.”
~ Jeffrey Edwards, CEO, Alchemists International
“I’ve never met Burke, but I am huge fan of his products and his company. In my various roles as a VP of Marketing at a $400M company, as an independent consultant, and as an entrepreneur, I have used several Business Power Tools apps. In sharp contrast to cookie-cutter, turnkey packages that promise much and deliver little, Business Power Tools are clean, powerful, and effective. Based on applications you already know how to use –and tailored to specific issues, they enable you to ground your mission in reality while enabling your creativity to run free. I strongly recommend this man’s company and products.”
~ Carl D. Melville, Chicago, IL
“Burke is an amazingly creative and resourceful entrepreneur. He found a market niche and captured it whole-heartedly. As a speaker, he is funny, engaging, entertaining, and wonderfully motivational. There’s no question that anyone who is lucky to work with Burke will find it truly rewarding.”
~ Jan Altman, VP, Biz Dev, DrivAd, Inc.
“Burke is a brilliant marketer and an inspiration to anyone he comes in contact with. He’s a true entrepreneur and I’ve learned much from him. I’ve known Burke for over 20 years and he’s an honest, exceptional business man and person”
~ Jim Coughlin, Foundation Systems
“I’ve known Burke for almost 20 years, he is a very capable and creative CEO. He is honest and trust worthy and an excellent business partner.”
~ David Fein, President/CEO, ValuSource