The Business Plan
The business blueprint
Your business plan is the blueprint to the longevity and success of your business venture. Business plans describe the goals and objectives of your business and explains how you intend to make them a reality.
You business plan also help you obtain financing for your business, provide you with a measure for evaluating results, help you uncover potential flaws, commits your plan to writing, helps you anticipate and adapt to change and tests the commitment of you and your team members.
For complete information on business plans, check out the Interactive Business Planner and the Business Plan Guide and Financial Forecasting: A Start Up Guide.
The business Plan Format & Structure
The presentation of your business plan is important since it is a communications tool, one that reflects your business to readers. You only have one chance to leave a positive first impression. A well-structured plan will help inform and influence your readers towards some action whether it be providing a loan, extending credit or investing in your business.
If you are not seeking financing, a structured business plan is still valuable because it helps guide you through the complex process of committing your ideas to paper.
Executive Summary
An Executive Summary is devoted to summarizing the key points of your business plan in one or two pages. The Executive Summary is important to capture the reader’s attention (potential lender or investor). Make sure it sells your idea so the reader will retain interest and continue reading.
Your Executive Summary should include:
- Company name (include address and phone number)
- Contact person (presenter's name and phone number)
- Paragraph about company (nature of business and market area)
- Securities offered to investors (preferred shares, common shares, debentures, etc.)
- Business loans sought (term loan, operating line of credit)Highlights of Business Plan (your project, competitive advantage and "bottom line" in a nutshell--preferably one page maximum)
Table of Contents
Your table of contents should include section titles and page numbers for easy and quick reference.
Business Overview
The Business Overview section introduces the reader to your business. In this section you will want to describe your business and the progress you have made to date. You should include information such as:
- Type of legal entity for your business
- Start date
- Location, addresses and contact person
- Current state and predicted trends of the industry
- Classification of business (i.e. retail, food, service, tourism, etc.)
Products/Services
This section includes a description of your product or service. You will want to highlight the uniqueness of your product/service, the research and development that you must undertake before your product goes to market, proprietary features (i.e. patents, trademarks) that may help you obtain a competitive advantage, and any future development you have planned.
Key Management, Staff & Support Services
In this section you will want to describe the key management, staff and/or supporting services. Include brief biographies, if possible. The names of your Board of Directors (if applicable). And a list of your professional advisors (lawyer, accountant, banker, outside consultants, etc.).
Market Analysis
The Market Analysis section should be a comprehensive and detailed discussion on your market. It should include the following subsections:
Implementation Plan
Your Implementation Plan should list the estimated dates for completion of major dates of your business plan, as well as the acquisition of equipment, inventory, staffing, financing, etc. Questions to consider are: How will my business grow and develop? What are the key milestones to be achieved?
Risk & Contingency Plan
Your Risk/Contingency Plan should discuss possible challenges, issues, barriers that your business may encounter. These can be external (i.e. economic downturn) or internal (i.e. less than projected sales). State positive plans to minimize these risks.
Financial Plan
A sound Financial Plan must include pro-forma balance sheets, income statements and cash flow statements.
Appendices
The Appendices should include any supporting material that you have referenced in writing your business plan. These materials may include a summary of market research surveys, contracts, price lists, detailed or technical information on your product/service, owners’ resumes, etc.
