2.
Re: Small business lokking for investor Jun 24, 2008 10:32 AM
in response to:
Shakti
If you have not done it yet; the best starting point for you is to get what you want to do down on paper. Developing your business plan helps you to make your dream a reality; but only if you work at it to do the things necessary to reach your goal. A good business plan is something that funding sources and/or prospective investors are going to want to see so that should be your priority at this point. In general, Business Plans should consist of the following:
Executive Summary
Market Opportunity
Vision, Mission, & Objectives
Management
Business Strategy
Competition
Risk
Financial Plan/Capital Requirements
Summary
How complex and comprehensive your plan should be depends on what you plan to use it for. This generally falls into 3 categories:
1. Internal Planning (to form the business)
2. Internal Planning and presentation to close contacts that might want to invest in the business.
3. Internal Planning, close contacts presentation and presentation to experienced investors and/or sources of funding for the business.
Business plans can range from 10 pages to 50+. Simpler business plans (really more of an extended Executive Summary) are usually 10 pages or so and would primarily be used for internal planning purposes. These type plans are less complex. Plans for presentation to personal funding sources or investor-ready business plans designed for professional investor presentation are longer and much more comprehensive (they have to be to cover all of the aspects of your business that an investor or funding source is going to want to know about).
There are a number of resources you can find online (some free, some not) that can help you with your business plan. Just enter "help with business plan" or "business plan" in any search engine and you will find many sources to check out. One site that you might find useful is:
http://www.sba.gov/smallbusinessplanner/i
ndex.html
Also, you can search within this online community for "business Plan" and find many postings, some from experienced business professionals, that might be useful to you as well.
I hope that helps; good luck with your business plans.
Dennis Lowery
Adducent, Inc.
