BUSINESS PLAN

INTRODUCTION

A business plan is a formal statement of a set of business goals and the plan for reaching those goals. However, in overall terms your business plan should show: Where you are Where you are going

How you propose to get there and

Is it worthwhile?

PURPOSE

It has 3 primary purposes:

i.
ii.

To serve as an action plan

To serve as a road map

iii.

To serve as a sales tool

OBJECTIVE

Deals with the why, what, who, how, where, when and how much of your venture.
How you will turn your idea into business? Helps in recognizing those areas that need rethinking? Helps in communicating our ideas to financers, employees, potential employees, suppliers and customers.

COMPONENTS

Executive Summary Product/Services Management Team Business Environment Marketing Plan

Operations Plan
Financial Plan

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

What is your business idea?

What way does it uniquely fulfill an unsatisfied consumer need? Who are your target customer?

What is the value proposition you offer to those customers?

What market volume and growth rates do you forecast? What competitive environment do you face?

How much investment is necessary?

What long term goals have you stated? What are your financing needs? What are the sales, costs and profit situations?

What are the most important milestones along the way?

What distribution channels will you use? What partnership would you like to enter into? What opportunities and risks do you face? How much production capacity is necessary?

Who are the people behind the show?

PRODUCT/SERVICES

What are the customer unmet needs? What end customer will you address? What customer value do you provide? What is the nature of your innovation? Do you have patents/licenses? What milestones must be reached? What patents/licenses do your competitors have?

What competitor product already exist? Does law permit your product/service? What kind of service/maintenance will you offer? Compare the strengths and weaknesses of comparable product What resources(time, personnel, materials) do you require for each subsequent development? What share of sales do you expect from your various product/services? Why?

MANAGEMENT TEAM

CEOs background and qualification Background and qualifications of other key management team members What distinguishes them: education, professional experience, success, standing in business world?

What experience or abilities does the team possess?

Organization chart Do team members have relevant experience?

Have the founders agreed on their future roles?

Has the management team agreed on a common goal? What experience and abilities are lacking?

What goals do the team members pursue by starting up the business?

How high is the motivation of each individual team member? Management compensation and incentives Employee career paths

BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

PEST analysis
How is the industry developing? Key success factors

What market volume do the individual market segments have now and in the future?
What is your estimate of current and future profitability? What major competitors offer similar product/services?

How sustainable will your competitive edge be? How much do you depend on large customer? How does the competition operate? What are the barriers to market entry? What market share does your competition have in the various market segments?

What target groups do your competitor address? How profitable are your competitors? What are your competitors marketing strategy? Capacity and production advantages/disadvantages vis-a-vis competition What distribution channel do your competitors use? How will competitors react to your market launch? Compare the strengths and weaknesses of your major competitors with your own

MARKETING PLAN

What are the key buying factors for customers? Sizetotal market and your segment? Growth rates STP Product strategy

Pricing strategy

Distribution strategy Promotional strategy Stage in Product Life Cycle How is the companys sales effort structured? How does the company source prospect and identify decision makers? How does the company set its sales priorities and sales budgets?

OPERATIONS PLAN

How product/service is produced? Production advantages/disadvantages versus competition

Cost at present and future volume levels

Opportunities for improvement Present capacity and future expansion plans

FINANCIAL PLAN

How will your revenues, expenses and income develop? Which sources of capital are available?

Plan to raise debt and equity capital

Working capital and cash flow developments How will the funds be used? When will you expect to break even?

How will you finance your working capital requirement? How much cash is needed in the worst case scenario? What assumptions underlie your financial planning?

What deal are you offering potential investors?

What return can investors expect?

COMMON BUSINESS PLAN MISTAKES

Cash flow casualness Idea inflation Fear and dread Spongy, vague goals Diluted priorities