Entrepreneur - Business Plan Tips

Business Plan Tips

What Investors Are Looking For In A Plan

Investors, whether angels or VC's, are looking for the same things when reading a business plan. They want to know how big the opportunity is, whether this is the right team to exploit the opportunity, who the competition is, what the risks are, and why they can expect this team to implement successfully. Your job in writing the business plan is to address these questions convincingly and clearly.

Emphasize Your Real Strengths

Highlight what your team brings to the table. If your business hinges on a particular competency (for example, understanding the procurement process), your plan will be more persuasive if one of your team members knows something about it and that is brought out in your plan. Rather than including generic resumes of team members, tailor the resumes to draw out the experience each member has that will make him or her a valuable contributor.

Get To The Point And Make It Clear And Comprehensive

Investors see many business plans. A 20-page plan which clearly lays out your business is far more likely to be read than a 100 page plan. Today, some entrepreneurs are using a 15 slide Powerpoint presentation. If your text is short and punchy, you won't need to repeat yourself, because the reader won't be bogged down keeping ten chapters in their head. Reading the same thing over and over, even if it's in different words, can get really tiring. The more you use brevity and give each concept a single home in your document, the more people will want to read it.

Write In Plain English

If you can't explain your idea in English, either you don't understand what you're talking about (What is a transaction enabled atomic journaling database server, anyway?) or you haven't simplified the idea enough. Think, revise, and try again.

Get Rid Of The Hype

Yes, we know you will be the "premier insert product category here of the Internet, achieving 99% market penetration with 60% customer retention in 3 months". Your product will reach "new heights in customer experience through the use of personalization and one-to-one profiling and customization". It will be "user friendly" because you will be creating a truly "ecstatic customer experience". It is a "quantum leap forward" in the marketplace for product category here. Um, yeah. Believe me, we've read it before. About a dozen times today, in fact. (And by the way, the phrase "quantum leap" really doesn't mean anything.) Stick to a tight, simple explanation of your idea. Convince your reader you'll be the best because your idea is the best, not because you can string a dozen buzzwords together.

Use Quantifiable Information

In each section, back up your assertions with solid facts. Even if you are a new venture and cannot give specific figures on the performance of your business, quote figures for the industry or your competitors. These real figures carry more weight than your assumed projections and give more reality to your plan.

Choose A Huge Market

Especially in the internet world, investors are looking more at the market than at the detailed specifics of your financials. Choose a market that is big enough to be an obvious good opportunity. A business which targets teenage girls who listen to music and has a reasonable chance of capturing 90% of the girls that are online is a huge opportunity. A business which targets net-savvy SAAB mechanics who need prosthetic limbs is not.

Local Investors

United States > Massachusetts

Launch Angels is an early stage venture capital firm. We raise micro funds ($1-2MM) to invest in early stage companies. We look for great management teams, early traction, and sustainable markets. We have raised one fund so far and have selected five companies for investment. We are a silent investor, but are willing to advise at the request of the companies. Our investment committee has significant experience in venture capital and early stage investing.

$25,000 to $125,000

United States > Connecticut

I'm an owner of six building lots in Central Connecticut

$125,000 to $130,000

United States > New York

Secured Lending Hedge Fund that looks for the following in transactions: Preservation of capital and downside protection is the overriding theme - Collateral’s value is not correlated to successful and timely repayment of the loan. - Collateral’s value is not based on the successful execution of a business plan. - We look at non-conventional assets such as mining and energy assets, receivables, purchase orders, securities and more. - Deal size between $5-40mm. - Maximum note duration 36 months - We look for yield on the note of mid-high teens’, sometimes we ask for an additional equity kicker - We fund domestic transactions within 4-5 weeks - Our funds are in house so no need to raise the money from outsiders - We typically keep the loans until repayment so the borrower will be dealing with the same managers throughout the entire process - We typically fund entire deals and prefer not to syndicate - We do not want to be involved in the day to day operations of the business

$1,000,000 to $30,000,000

United States > Missouri

Private investor with extensive background in TV and Film production. Looking to find new, sensible and lucrative opportunities to invest in. Outside the box thinking and a pioneering attitude have allowed me to be in a position to back others success.

$100,000 to $300,000

United States > New Jersey

Extensive real estate investment financing experience. At this point I am interested in fix and flip opportunities. Private investor and I manage a small investment group.

$10,000 to $200,000

United States > Texas

Principle focus is on established oil extraction, downstream refining, storage, and distribution businesses. Our activities in this area are concentrated in the United States, Canada, Western Europe, and the Middle East. As derivative products of oil, our regional focus is the same as that of our Oil & Gas activities. We work with established specialty chemicals, commodity chemicals and fertilizer businesses throughout the United States, Canada, Latin America, and Western Europe. Established precious metal mining businesses that have both a history of production and existing proven reserves. Activities in this area are concentrated in the United States, Canada, Latin America. We work with established base metal and non-organic mining operations within our regional focus. We also invest in commercial development,refinance,any type of project development income producing we'll look at funding. Also Residential.

$10,000 to $1,000,000,000

United States > Florida

I have been a successful real estate developer for the past 30 years and my interest is shifting to technology, medical and new invention that I can use my experiance to grow the company into a possible pre-IPO

$1,000,000 to $5,000,000

United States > Virginia

I am 51 years, married and live Aldie, VA I am a Lead Information Security office at Navy Federal Credit Union I am currently the Commercial Director of Blues-Solar UK I have an MSc degree in Finance and Information Systems. I have invested $100000 in Blues -Solar Ltd over the last 4 years.

$5,000 to $100,000

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