1. Business plan = business success.

I think any endeavor will fail without a at least some planning, but a polished business plan document is neither a requirement nor guarantor for success. While a business plan will document your ideas and should clearly lay out your value proposition, unless you already have funding secured or a lot of staff, it will be too high level to be actionable. Recommendation: put more effort into the sales strategy and marketing plan.

2. Business plan is a tool for new recruits.

In two of my past startups, the business plan never graced the desk of a VC, but helped tremendously in communicating my goals and ideas to staff and potential partners that I came across. Be sure that your business plan clearly lays out operational details as well as clearly stating your high level concept and strategy.

3. Business plan is the gateway to real capital.

If you dream epic dreams (as starving entrepreneurs typically do) you will eventually want to use your business plan to get money out of potential investors. While small capital <$50K can typically be raised with a good story and a pleasant smile, landing millions of dollars from established VCs will surely take a polished business plan and more.

4. A business plan is a living document that changes with the organization.

When you do get up and running, don’t throw the business plan away, or let it collect dust. Keep it as a document that changes with your organization and catalogues your successes and failures — not only to show your readers how effective you are, but to keep for lessens learned and best practices in your next venture.

So how does one go about putting a business plan together? Typically with one of two tools — a normal word processor (Microsoft word) or else a specialized business plan builder
(Business plan pro). In my experience, the specialized editors work well if your scheme fits the mold of other mainstream businesses, like selling a product or service domestically through established channels, or if you are in the early stages of you plan. A wordprocesser is typically better if your plan is fundamentally different from established businesses — different channel strategy, different structure, global base, as your items may not be the ones offered to you by the template.

I have found that a good way to go is to use the template offered by business plan pro, and then edit the output in word until you like it.

Final Steps: Finishing

In the end, you are presenting more than your ideas, you are presenting yourself. Carry your brand through your document by finishing it in a way that defines it and you in exactly the way you want. Have relevant graphics in a layout that guides the viewers through your steps, and that makes the entire document easy to read. Pick a nice font, keep a consistent color theme, print on nice paper. Make sure that your brand is well defined and smells like success.

Do you have any other tips on a good bplan? Please share.

-vik