Business Plan

As a rule of thumb, the business plan should have a balance between being realistic and showing ambition. The goal is not to impress the reader with gratuitous bravado. Also the entrepreneur should report facts honestly since a single lie would ruin any chance of building a trustworthy relationship with potential partners. Now let’s take a look at the specific content of the document.

When browsing through the business plan, a reader should quickly find indications about what the company’s destination is, what the founders’ vision is and how do they plan to reach their destination. A simple tip for the entrepreneur is to step into the shoes of a potential investor. Here are some typical questions one may have: Does the proposition outlined in the business plan clearly differentiate from the competition? Is the market size significant enough? Does it have potential for growth? What is the competition density within the targeted market?

A business plan generally contains a dozen chapters. However the entrepreneur should particularly pay attention to the following areas. First, team and management. People are the number one asset on the way to success and the document should clearly demonstrate that there is a good alchemy between the team members. Next is the marketing plan. As mentioned above, the entrepreneur should spend a significant amount of time thinking about the differentiation aspect of his business. Showing that his venture can serve a particular niche will greatly raise his chance of hooking the reader. And last but not least is the financial plan. Here’s a common trap : many entrepreneurs focus on income generation but forget to address margins issues. A business owner has to make sure that his company his able to develop strategies that will maintain the business margins over time.

If content is key, looks also matter since first impressions stay in the mind of the reader. The business plan has to look professional and should be in conformity with the company’s corporate image. Design shouldn’t look too luxurious neither too cheap. In order to facilitate reading, the document should be concise, fact-based and organized with several levels of detail. Investors are very busy people. A business owner should keep in mind their reading habits : first the headers, then the introduction and the conclusion, and finally the particular sections if their attention is hooked. And one has to remember that a business plan is not an essay. It should be trimmed of anything that does not serve the content.

Writing a business plan remains a mandatory exercise for the wannabe successful entrepreneur. The key to composing a good business plan is to focus on the fundamentals first both in terms of content and design. Then the details get taken care of by themselves.