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Business Plan Pointers
IÂ am truly in hell. I am being punished. My brain hurts. My fingers hurt. I am frustrated. I can no longer look at this thing! What am I talking about? The 10Speed Media business plan of course.
I have written many business plans over the years. I wrote two business plans that took me to the finals at the UEC. I didn’t win, which was very disappointing because I could have used the $40,000. Beyond all the pain, writing a business plan is actually a great exercise. It gets the creative juices flowing. I have come up with some of my best ideas while writing business plans.  In the same way your goals come alive when you write them down, your business comes alive when write a business plan.
Since I am complaining so much I better give some pointers on business plan development:
- Write the executive summary last. This is also the most important section to get right
- Make the executive summary no more than two pages in length
- If the plan is for an investor they will typically look at the executive summary, then the management team, then the financial summary, then put it in the trash
- Use normal size font and recognizable typeface
- Stay away from graphics unless you’re using them to visually explain the financial summary
- Remember to write for your audience
- Keeping number five in mind, always include an exit strategy
- Summarize your financials on one page and make it visual
- If you say you’re going to go public then you better have the team to back it up.
- VC’s fund teams not ideas so make the management section just as good as the executive summary and don’t lie about your experience.
- Go light on the industry numbers - no one cares. Remember, your audience is smart enough to know that the Web is where its at. Don’t insult them with meaningless stats (”100 million people use the Internet”).
- Include detailed financials although they may never be read. Its still a good exercise for you to put these together.
- Remember the often forgotten basics: problem/solution, index page, competition, business model, timelines, conclusion, keys to success, etc…
- Have it proof read
- Keep it in a smaller file size in case you need to email it. No one appreciates a 10 meg email attachment
I hope that was helpful. Back to work.