2. WHY BUSINESS PLAN ?
Business Plan
A document that sets out the basic idea underlying a
business and related startup considerations
Identifies the nature and context of the business opportunity
Presents the entrepreneur’s approach to exploiting the
opportunity
Identifies factors affecting the venture’s success
Serves as the entrepreneur’s tool for raising capital
3. BUSINESS PLAN FRAMEWORK – THE PEOPLE
The People
The men and women starting and running the venture, as well as
the outside parties providing key services or important resources
for it, such as its lawyers, accountants, and suppliers. 14 Qs:
Where are the founders from ? Where have they been educated ?
Where have they worked and for whom ?
What have they accompanied – professionally and personally – in the past ?
What is their reputation within the business community ?
What experience do they have that is directly relevant to the opportunity they
are pursuing ? What skills, abilities, and knowledge they have ?
How realistic are they about the venture’s chances for success and the
tribulations it will face ?
Who else needs to be on the team ? Are they prepared to recruit high quality
people ? How will they respond to adversity ?
Do they have the mettle to make the inevitable hard choices that have to be
made ? How committed are they to this venture ? What are their motivations ?
4. BUSINESS PLAN FRAMEWORK – THE OPPORTUNITY
The Opportunity
A profile of the business itself – what it will sell and to whom, whether
the business can grow and how fast, what its economics are, who
and what stand in the way of success. 11 Qs:
Who is the new venture’s customer ?
How does the customer make decisions about buying this product or service ?
To what degree is the product or service a compelling purchase for the customer ?
How will the product or service be priced?
How will the venture reach all the identified customer segments ?
How much does it cost (in time and resources) to acquire a customer?
How much does it cost to produce and deliver the product or service ?
How much does it cost to support a customer?
How easy is it to retain a customer ?
How the venture will expand its range of products or services, customer base
Geographic scope ?
How will the business not fall into Opportunity traps – tricky business of arbitrage,
core structurally unattractive ?
5. BUSINESS PLAN FRAMEWORK – OPPORTUNITY @ INVESTOR
The INVESTOR
The following 4 questions should also be addressed so that
investors can understand the cash flow implications of pursuing
an opportunity:
When does the business have to buy resources, such as supplies, raw
materials, and people ?
When does the business have to pay for them ?
How long does it take to acquire a customer ?
How long before the customer sends the business a check ?
How much capital equipment is required to support a dollar of sales ?
6. BUSINESS PLAN FRAMEWORK – COMPETITIONS
The Competition
Business plan should answer the following 6 Q about competition:
Who are the new venture’s current competitors ?
What resources do they control? What are their strengths and weaknesses ?
How will they respond to the new venture’s decision to enter the business ?
How can the new venture respond to its competitor’s response ?
Who else might be able to observe and exploit the same opportunity ?
Are there ways to co-opt potential or actual competitors by forming alliances ?
7. BUSINESS PLAN FRAMEWORK – CONTEXT OPERATION
The Context
Opportunity exists in context.
Microeconomic Environment Economic activity, inflation, exchange rates,
interest rates ?
Government rules and regulations, Tax policy ?
How the opportunity will harvest?
Evidence related to context?
What the management will do in the event the context grows unfavorable ?
How the management can affect context in a positive way? E.g. management
might be able to have an impact on regulations or on industry standards
through lobbying efforts .
8. BUSINESS PLAN FRAMEWORK – RISK AND REWARD
The Risk and Reward
Business Plan discuss about future which is unknown and filled with risks ?
What is End of process and exit options ?
What are directions and business model to mitigate risks, risk management
plan and achieve success in future e.g. a journey is a lot less risky when you
have directions ?
Beware the Albatross : A business plan must not be hanging around the neck
of entrepreneurial team, dragging it into oblivion. There should be risk
management plan to fix the broken in real time. Risk is inevitable and avoiding
risk is impossible. The risk management plan should always tilt the venture in
favor of reward and away from risk.
Risk in deals, minimize dilution in raising capital.
