Last month I got a chance to go through about 25 business plans. All plans were in the idea stage and were written by college students. I am no expert in wrinting bplans, but felt, with basic knowledge on how to run a company and common sense, the bplans could have been improved many folds.
For a Business plan to be successful in real world, there are a few areas that you need to concentrate on irrespective of the sector of operation. In a bplan competition you will judged on the very same criteria. I will be talking on these few key areas in this post.
Say, you go to a investor asking him to invest in your company. What are the things he will see before investing in your company?
He would evaluate:
Hence, you need to focus on the areas which will answer the above questions. Below are few key area that are a must to have in your bplan:
Have already blogged about how important market research is. Market Research must, at the minimum, contain:
You should not only know who your competitors are, but also their strength and weakness. Make a thorough analysis of all your competitors. Know why customers are choosing a particular competitor over others. Drawbacks of each of them. And compare your product with these. This will not only help you decide if you need to proceed further with the venture or go back to the drawing room, but also helps make projections.
Every product in the market tries to solve some problem or the other, so should yours. Be clear on what problem you are trying to solve. It can be something which the customers are already facing, or something they will face in the near future. If yours is a value add company i.e your product is not a must for them to have, but help cut costs, improves performance etc.
Find out if there is already a demand for a product such as yours. Sometimes, there might not be any existing demand for your product. In that case, you will have to create the demand. Knowing the demand for your product also helps you to price your product appropriately.
Its good to have something unique about your product, which your competitors cannot easily mimic. Of course this “unique thing” should add value to the product from customers point of view. It can be anything: getting a patent for your product, building a network that helps provide better service, getting exclusive deals etc
This is one of the most important, at the same time, the most ignored section in a Bplan. You might have an ordinary idea, but if the team is good, the chances of it working is more. You might have identified the right market, right product and even got investment, but if the team is not competent, all the effort you have put in goes waste. Have already blogged about choosing the right partner for your venture.
Finance section of your Bplan must give an idea of
Always put cost on the higher side and sales projection on the lower side. Try to give capital flow(projection) for 2-3 yrs.
You might have to touch upon other things like market acceptance, legalities etc depending on the type of sector you are in.
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Hi thanx for your great post i have been looking for a good price for this for a long time.
You can find thousands of entrepreneurial business opportunities using the net and these can help you to build a career that you could have only dreamt of.
Shoe stores such as Payless have a lot of competition such as Aldo and other shoe stores. But a store that sold flowers wouldn’t have as much competition because there aren’t that many stores that sell flowers.
I have advanced to the international competition and hope to take 1st place however I can only do that by getting other suggestions and a different pair of eyes.
I sent you the email with the attachment for the business plan. I just wanted to confirm that you received the email and all the materials.
You may want to go and pitch your ideas where investors gather. Here are some places where angel investors come and those looking for funding can come and pitch their business plans.
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Last month I got a chance to go through about 25 business plans.
I think its essential to make business ideas frequently after sometime if you want to be on top of success ladder. Solid business plan setup is key to success.
Thanks for such nice post.
Imagine hiring an architect/contractor to build an expensive mansion. You have had good recommendations on this person, and are ready to move forward. The construction team shows up to start working on the house.
It’s just a stimulant, and you’re probably having a reaction to it…at least now you know better!
wow..you sure do have a lot of spam comments on here. You should use Akismet if you have Wordpress.
This is a very MBA way of looking at business competitions. I suppose business plan competitions are a weird merging of by-the-book MBA types and by-the-seat-of-your-pants entrepreneur types.
Depending upon the nature of your business, many of your first-time customers may have the potential to be repeat customers.
Does participating in a business plan competition disclose business secrets?
Business plan competition?
Would someone please give me a brief outline as to what my plan should look like/consist of. I am looking for investors in a business idea. Which will be franchised in the future.