Roll Up Your Sleeves and Start Writing

1
Roll Up Your Sleeves and Start Writing

• Writing and Presenting a Business Plan
• Chapter 3

2
Good ideas vs. good businesses

• Not every great idea is a great business idea
• Wrong time
• too early/late bad economy other priorities
• Wrong market
• Seasonal mismatches
• Wrong price
• Overpriced/under-priced
• Wrong customer
• Spending priorities/patterns
• Wrong product
• Doesnt solve the problem as promised

3
Business Plan Basics

• Use data collected in feasibility study stage
• Do not exceed 25 pages
• Use section heads for organization
• Single spaced, 10-12 point type
• User-friendly font such as Times Roman
• Support materials cover page, table of contents,
  page numbers, citations where appropriate

4
Defining your business plan

• Future business strategy laid out in an
  operational format
• Description of business goals and the process by
  which to obtain them
• Your dreams on paper
• Road map for your business
• Requirement for investors (and professors)

5
Business Plan Components

• Executive Summary
• Description of Company
• Description of Product or Service
• Competitive Analysis
• Market Analysis

• Marketing Plan (sales and promotion strategies)
• Management Team
• Financial Analysis
• Appendices

6
Component Descriptions

• Executive Summary
• Highlights each major business plan section
• Description of Company
• Include company name, legal status, formation
  date, description of business/industry and a
  product/service overview
• Legal structures to chose from
• Sole proprietorship
• Partnership (general vs. limited)
• Corporation (S Corp vs. C Corp)
• Limited liability company
• Non-profit organization - 501(c)(3)

7
Component Descriptions

• Description Industry
• Life stage of Industry
• Industry growth rate
• Competitive landscape
• Cross-industry representation
• Seasonality
• Barriers to Entry

8
Component Descriptions

• Description of Product/Service
• How was product/service developed
• How does it work and how will it evolve
• Exceptional attributes of product/service
• Competitive advantage of product/service
• Inventory requirements and demands

9
Component Descriptions

• Market Analysis
• Customer demographics and spending trends
• Psychographic data
• Competitive Analysis
• Direct other products/services that serve same
  markets as your business
• Indirect what else your customers spend money
  on instead of your product
• Differentiations in product/service quality,
  availability, and price

10
Component Descriptions

• Marketing Plan
• Three-step sales process presale, point-of-sale,
  and post-sale
• Presale Reaching your customers and teaching
  them about your product/service
• Point-of-sale When your customers select your
  product/service over all others
• Post-sale Keeping track on your repeat and
  hopefully happy customers

11
Component Descriptions

• Management Team
• CEO/visionary
• Other management
• Legal counsel
• Finance/Accounting
• Marketing
• Sales
• Inventory manager
• Creators/distributors/obtainers of product
• Providers of services

12
Component Descriptions

• Financial Analysis
• Explains where and how you spend money and how
  much you expect to earn as a result.
• Income Statements show company profits and losses
• Balance Sheets detail assets and liabilities
• Cash Flow Statements show cash on hand
• Assumptions are rationale for projections
• Break-even Analyses calculate when youll earn
  back what youve invested
• Funding request/use statements show money youve
  received from who, and what was promised in turn

13
Component Descriptions

• Appendices
• Provide detailed, supplemental information to
  plan
• Offer product diagrams, letters of endorsement,
  office floor plans, personnel resumes, supplier
  contracts, organizational charts, SWOT analyses,
  among other items.
• Labeled alphabetically, listed at end of plan