Business Plan Template And Tips
Author: Shankar AVSB

In this note, I want to share my learning on business plans
with you. Because I am involved in Venture Capital and Private
Equity, I get a lot of business plans. And going by the number
of proposals we reviewed or prepared in the last one year, the
global economy is doing great! A lot of individual professionals
have opened their own companies, and many companies are looking
to grow with global demand for their products/services.

The physical location of people is getting less relevant in
many industries. The Internet is playing a role in every
business plan, across industries: Software Services, Financial
services, Media, Healthcare, Café and Retail chains, etc.

One of the most common questions I see is this: How should my
business plan look like?

Well, that depends on what your business aims to do, and who
you want to approach for capital. While there is no one answer
to it, I want to share a good business plan template that has
been used with success. You can download it from the link on
this page.
http://alphaneuron.com/blog/business-plan-template-development-and-review/


From our business plan reviews, I also see a common mistake
many people are making – there is a lot of emphasis on how much
money is needed and what kind of sales will happen, etc. But
there is insufficient information and analysis on the market in
which you want to play and the differentiators with respect to
competition, and therefore, what makes you think that you will
win the sales that you show in your plan. Also, none or very
little information is shared on the systems/processes in place
for the business to run if you were to go down for some reason.
These are important parts of a business plan. And we hope the
template we have shared above will help you. Ideally, 20-25
slides are good for any business plan, including references and
supporting data.

So please keep the following in mind if you are going to
develop a business plan:

1. The purpose is to convince the investor that your plan is
practical and that there is a good chance for success.

2. If you send your plan to every VC and investor around, your
effort will be high, and also your rejection rate. Therefore,
first connect with prospective VCs and check if they are
interested at all in what you are proposing. It is often more
productive to send customized mails to 20 VCs than the same mail
to 200.

3. Be willing to face a lot of NOs. Be ready to start things
small with alternate funding arrangements. If you will start
only if VC money is available, then your plan is weak.

4. Show options at key decision points, so that different
possibilities are visible. For example, what if the demand turns
our to be only 50% of what you planned? Or what if it is 200% of
what you planned? What if you go down with illness? What if a
large company creates similar product? Identify real-life risks
and show options for them. This will be received well because
many VCs often start from the business risks.

5. There are many useful inputs available on the blog here that
you can use while making your business plan:
http://alphaneuron.com/blog/


About The Author: Shankar AVSB is CEO of MyOrbit Business
Channel(http://MyOrbit.tv) and Director of Alpha Neuron
(http://alphaneuron.com) with experience in commercializing new
technologies and services. He has worked with 100+ business
owners/directors worldwide on real-life business challenges.