Business Plans

Examples

Executive Summary

*Company Description
*The cover slide should offer complete contact info, and a tagline if you've got it.

Company Purpose/Mantra

* Define the company/business in a single declarative sentence.

Problem

* Describe the pain of the customer (or the customer’s customer).

* Outline how the customer addresses the issue today.

Solution

* Demonstrate your company’s value proposition to make the customer’s life better.
* Show where your product physically sits.
* Provide use cases.
*Include a demo such as a screencast, a link to working software, or pictures. God help you if
you have nothing to show.

Why Now

* Set-up the historical evolution of your category.

* Define recent trends that make your solution possible.

Market Size/Industry Analysis

* Identify/profile the customer you cater to.

* Calculate the TAM (top down), SAM (bottoms up) and SOM.
Competition

* List competitors
* List competitive advantages
* Describe why users or customers use your product instead of the competition’s product.
Describe any competitive advantages that remain after the competition decides to copy you
exactly.

Marketing and Sales

Development and Milestones

- Your best and worst case scenarios for growth

Product

* Product line-up (form factor, functionality, features, architecture, intellectual property).

* Development roadmap.

Business Model

* Revenue model
* Pricing
* Average account size and/or lifetime value
* Sales & distribution model
* Customer/pipeline list

SWOT Analysis and Risks

*Describe your most primary risks, how you will mitigate them

Team/Operations/Management

* Founders & Management

* Board of Directors/Board of Advisors
* Your team's credentials

Highlight the past accomplishments of the team; if your team has been successful before,
investors may believe it will be successful again. Don’t include positions you intend to fill—save
that for the Milestones slide. Put yourself last: it seems humble and lets you tell a story about
how your career has led to the discovery of the…

Financials

* P&L
* Balance sheet
* Cash flow
* Cap tab
 * The deal
* Your funding requirements (including salary)

It's important to remember

It's important to illustrate strong market potential in size ($$$) and scope (long term growth.)
Your business plan should make a compelling argument that illustrates a strong understanding
of your operating environment, market trends, and how your business will strategize to use
these trends to your advantage.

Complementary Questions to address

- How are you going to make money? What if that revenue model doesn't bear fruit... any other
ideas?
- How are you going to reach your customers? How much will it cost to reach your customers?
- Roughly, how big is your market? Is there a lot of demand?
- How big a team do you need to test your initial theories and roughly how expensive is that
going to be?
- Are there any other significant expenses aside from people?
- How many sales/pageviews/whatever would it take for you to be cash flow positive?
- Most investors of internet startups don't ask to see a business plan. Maybe half want a short
- What can you do better than anyone else? What’s your core competence?

http://venturehacks.com/articles/elevator-pitch

http://whohastimeforthis.blogspot.com/2005/11/how-to-not-write-business-plan.html

Slideshows/Deck
Examples

1- Contac Info on the first slide.One of the benefits of a powerpoint plan is that it forces you to
perform the critical exercise of describing the business in very few words.
2. A mission statement is a good idea to present, unless it's rather obvious from the tagline (as
in BlueNile.com: Education, Guidance, Diamonds and Fine Jewelry). Select a mission statement
that is achievable, but not yet achieved. Bad mission statements:

3. Introduce the team

4. Without yet getting into your product or service, describe the nature of the problem you
address. Emphasize the pain level and the inability of incumbents to satisfy the need.

5. Introduce your product, and the benefits (which should obviously address the market problem
you just described).

6. Elaborate on the technology or methodology you have developed to enable your unique
approach. If appropriate, mention patent status.

7. Show off early customer or distribution progress: numbers, logos, testimonials.

8. Sales strategy. Show the expected cost of customer acquisition.

9. Competitive landscape. Be sure to anticipate competitive responses (before the VC does),

and never deny that you have competitors, no matter how unique you think you are. Really, it's
okay to compete. Even against Microsoft (as Flock will prove).

Question: What’s the optimal process for writing a business plan?

Answer: Grab whatever part gets your attention first and get going. Understand that it’s
not sequential it’s iterative, and a good plan is never done. Some people do the numbers,
then the concepts, most people do concepts first, but it doesn’t matter. Planning isn’t a
waiting room where you sit until you’re done. Build it in parts, mix and match, choose
items from a menu. If you like, do a sales forecast and see where that leads you.
My favorite process starts with what you want for the business on the long term, moves
to establishing a conceptual identify: what are you best at, how do you want the world to
distinguish your business from all others. Then it goes to the marketing: what message,
to whom, through what media. Then it goes to sales forecast, costs, expenses, and last
but frequently most important, cash flow. Key concept: a good business plan is never
done.

Read more: http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2007/07/how-to-write-a-.html#ixzz13IYhi9b1

Write “Proprietary and Confidential. Please do not distribute. Prepared for Blue Shirt Capital,”
on the cover of your deck (some folks write it on every page). They’re less likely to forward it if
their name is on it. And ask any recipients, in writing, via email, to kindly not distribute the deck
outside their firm.

How to Write a BP.

http://www.sequoiacap.com/ideas