A great Business Plan is the roadmap your current and future investors, senior management, banker, suppliers and other interested parties will use to understand the current stage of your business, what you plan to achieve over the next three to five years and how you will achieve your plans.
Out of every 100 great businesses plans, at least 99 will include a detailed financial model of the company’s operations for the next three to five years. The best business plans are roadmaps that outline the long-term results of investments in time, effort and money in the near term.
The content of your own Business Plan will depend on a lot of variables, including:
- How long has your company already been in business? Or are you a start-up?
- How many different types of products or services do you sell now? Will you add new products or services in the near future?
- Can you fund your company’s operations and growth with your current operating cash flow?
- If you will need additional investments from bank loans or new shareholders in order to achieve your business plan, how much money will you need, when will you need it and what’s in it for the lender or investor who provides you the money you need?
- How much money do you need to raise and from what sort of investor(s)?
- What is the threshold minimum rate of return your board of directors or senior management require on a new business or major new product line?
- What are your competitive advantages and challenges (e.g. SWAT analysis)We always include a one-page Elevator Pitch in the Business Plans we write. Concise, easy to carry, available to show to any potential investor or banker in any situation and readable in five minutes or less—every company looking for new investors or a bank loan should have a well-written Elevator Pitch to hand out anywhere at any time.
Common Business Plan Mistakes:
- Presenting a Plan that is too short or too long. Your plan’s content should be long enough to do it’s job, but not even one word longer.
- Presenting a Plan that promises too much. Investors and banker want to know you fully understand your business – unreasonable expectations won’t impress them.
- Presenting a Plan that is internally inconsistent. Nothing is more disconcerting to a potential investor than to see important information in one part of a business plan that is different than information elsewhere in the plan.
- Producing a Plan that does not meet the needs of its target audience. A great business plan for a start-up company that wants to approach a local angel investor club for an investment of $100,000 will be very different than a great business plan for an existing company with $25 million in annual revenue looking for a $5 million loan from a bank.
Standard Pricing: Hourly ($45 – $60); Fixed ($500 – $3,000)
Typical Time Required: 10 – 40 Hours
Note: Most Business Plans will require a detailed Financial Model, which is not included in the above pricing schedule.
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