YOUR BUSINESS PLAN

Physically putting a business plan together requires you to translate your thoughts about how you're going to run your business (and how it will perform) into a format that is dictated, in large part, by the business you're in and the expectations of your audience .

While most business plans share a similar structure and contain similar information about a business, your business plan will be distinguished by those characteristics that are unique to your business. The following items need to be examined before you can start to write your plan:

Whom are you writing it for?

If you are writing for third parties outside your business, their needs and expectations will govern the type of information and level of detail in your plan.

Planning horizon: How far out into the future will your plan extend? Normally this is three or five years.

Type of business: Your business's classification as a service provider, product producer or seller, or mixed provider of products and services will have a large impact on the type of information needed in your plan.

Sources of information: What information is available to you in creating a business plan? How can you reduce the time and effort required to analyze your idea? How can you set yourself up for success by taking a realistic look at internal and external conditions of your business, so as to make reasonable predictions about the future?

Costs: Expect to spend $1,000-$2,500 for a well prepared professional venture capital funding proposal.

I urge my clients to prepare an investor lead letter program. A well written Executive Summary, Management Statement and Deal Sheet are critical paperwork.