The format of a business plan depends on its presentation context. It is
common for businesses, especially start-ups to have three or four formats for
the same business plan:
- An "elevator pitch"
- a three minute summary of the business plan's executive summary. This is
often used as a teaser to awaken the interest of potential founders,
customers, or strategic partners.
- a pitch deck with oral
narrative - a hopeful, entertaining slide show and oral narrative that is
meant to trigger discussion and interest potential investors in reading
the written presentation. The content of the presentation is usually
limited to the executive summary and a few key graphs showing financial
trends and key decision making benchmarks. If a new product is being
proposed and time permits, a demonstration of the product may also be
included.
- A written presentation for
external stakeholders - a detailed, well written, and pleasingly formatted
plan targeted at external stakeholders.
- An internal operational plan
- a detailed plan describing planning details that are needed by
management but may not be of interest to external stakeholders. Such plans
have a somewhat higher degree of candor and informality than the version
targeted at external stakeholders and others.
Typical structure for a business plan for a start up venture
- Cover
page and table of contents
- Executive
summary
- Business
description
- Business
environment analysis
- Industry
background
- Competitor
analysis
- Market
analysis
- Marketing
plan
- Operations
plan
- Management
summary
- Financial
plan
- Attachments
and milestones
Typical questions addressed by a business plan for a start up venture
- What problem does the
company's product or service solve? What niche will it fill?
- What is the company's
solution to the problem?
- Who are the company's
customers, and how will the company market and sell its products to them?
- What is the size of the
market for this solution?
- What is the business model
for the business (how will it make money)?
- Who are the competitors and
how will the company maintain a competitive advantage?
- How does the company plan to
manage its' operations as it grows?
- Who will run the company and
what makes them qualified to do so?
- What are the risks and threats
confronting the business and what can be done to mitigate them?
- What are the company's
capital and resource requirements?
- What are the company's
historical and projected financial statements?
