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Company Confidential

The Art and Science of Writing andPresenting a Business Plan

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Why create a Business Plan?

Most importantly, for you & your team

You need one for a startup

You need one for a corporation The actual process of planning is the

key.

It consolidates management direction.

It provides debate & finally consensus.

Its used as a guide when speed bumpshappen.

Its your company & your personalscorecard.

Source: Jack Derby, Derby Management

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Why else?

No Business PlanNo money.

The Six Stages of Successful Sources:

FF&A: Friends, Family & Acquaintances

Private angels

Venture capitalists

Corporate investors

Strategic partners

Banks

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Writing a plan is tough work

It requires disciplined balance

Its visionary, but logical.

Its financially perfect, but flexible. Its for today, but also for 3-5 years out

Its a formal Plan, but its easy to read.

Its creative, but it follows The Rules.

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How do you start?

Pay attention to The Dos & Donts.

Above all else

Be compelling

Be brief, focused, & deliberate

Focus on customers & how you will sell them.

Provide market research & hard data

Be innovative & describe barriers to others. Create an experienced managementteam

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The 25 Dos

Be brief & direct & detailed.

Get to the bottom line quickly.

Identify what the business is immediately

Identify the business model immediately.

Focus on your customers.

Define whats compelling.

Define whats unique.

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The 25 Dos

Be realistic with yourself.

Remember, you're investing your career.

Define long term objectives for 3 to 5 years.

Describe the 3 to 4 primary strategies.

Focus on your sales model & channelstrategies.

Include your ecommerce strategies.

Make realistic, but exciting, projections.

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The 25 Dos

Support strategies with detailed tactics.

Substantiate with accepted market research.

Discuss very objectively your risks.

Answer the question of why customers buy.

Describe the barriers to entry for others

Convince your reader about success.

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The 25 Dos

State how much money you will need.

Define exactly how the funds will be used.

State clearly your exit strategy.

Stick with proven and accepted plan formats.

Don't try to be cute!

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The 15 Donts

Write about history. Focus on the future.

Focus only on you & your technology.

Use highly technical buzz & descriptions.

Forget about objective customer research.

Make unsubstantiated statements or claims.

Create revenues that you wont make.

Include detailed budgets.

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The 15 Donts

Forget what makes your plan different

Experienced management

Large and growing markets

Proven sales models & channels

Experienced sales penetration tactics.

Innovative technologies

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The 15 Donts

Assume anything.

Forget what your reader wants.

Define valuations in the actual plan.

Attempt to write the business plan alone.

Extend the process more than two months.

Include copies of resumes & technical papers.

Forget to proofread, proofread & proofread.

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Dont just start writing

PreparationThe Key to Success.

Whats my Vision? Can I say it so that anyone understands it?

What business are we in today?

What about in 3 years?

Are we really innovative? What about in 3 years?

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Dont just start writing

PreparationThe Key to Success.

What do we really know about

Our future product roadmap

What our service offerings could be.

The market data, trends, & forecasts.

The new technologies in development The competition

Who are our customers will be in 3 years?

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One more preparation task

Think about your starting assumptions.

Externally, what do I think will happenabout

Economic trends

Markets that I am entering

Technology changes

Regulations

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One more preparation task

Define your starting assumptions

Internally, what do I want & expect for

Sales revenue growth rates

Product costs and margins

Sales expense percentages

G&A expense percentages

Receivables, payables, financing, & capital

models.

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Now, you can finally start writing.

What you need

A quiet place and time.

All of your data easily available.

Start working by yourself. Get the content down quickly.

Send a first rough draft to others quickly.

Write draft after draft after draft after..

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You have two options today

The Traditional Business Plan

7-8 sections

20-30 pages with financials

More detail: markets, products & technologies

Business Plan Lite 2 sections:

8-10 pages with financials

An extended Executive Summary

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The traditional plan

Certainly preferred by sophisticated VCs

Provides an opportunity to provide clear details

Brings out the richness of the business idea. Details the business and sales models

What follows here is the traditional format

7-8 sections

20-30 pages

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Business Plan Lite

A result of the times

Today, time to read is the driver.

Requires you to Be an excellent writer

Provide great detail with very well chosen words

Get your points across succinctly & with clarity.

Sections 1 & 2 & 7 create the BP Lite

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Whats included?

Vision

Strategies

Tactics

Operations

Actions

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Whats included?

7-8 Sections

Executive Summary

Introduction to the business Definition of your products & services

Overview of your markets

Overview of your sales & marketing plans

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Whats included?

Overview of product developmentroadmap

Summary of manufacturing &operations

Bios of your management team

Four pages of financials

Brief appendices if necessary

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2-3 pages

Make it compelling

Your Idea Your Markets

Your business and sales models

Your competitive advantages

Your management team

Your use of the funds

Section 1: The Executive Summary

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Section 2. Whats the Business?

This section is focused on

The Business Opportunity

The Markets

The Technology The Products

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This section must define

a clear Vision

clear strategies

a well defined business model a dedicated, believable Mission

a strong sense of management experience

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The products & their value add services

features & benefits, innovation, technology

The markets research data

competition

The customers

who they are & their needs

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Section 3: Sales & Marketing

The most important section

3.1 Whats the Market?

Customer analysis & their needs

Worldwide market size & trends

Competitive strengths & weaknesses

Value creation for your products & services

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3.2 The Marketing Plan

What are your marketing strategies?

What are the data points to measure success?

What is your price positioning & why?

What are your primary tactics in years 1 & 2?

What are your primary events in year 1?

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3.3 The Sales Plan

Whats your Sales strategy? What standard channels will you use?

Is there an innovative channel?

What are your penetration tactics?

Whats your sales model?

Whats your hiring & training plan?

Whats your measurement & reporting?

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Section 4: Engineering and R&D

What are your core technologies?

Provide sufficient, but not numbing, detail.

What is your development status?

Describe your primary milestones. Be conservative.

Assume development will be late.

Detail the technical teams background.

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Section 4: Engineering and R&D

What is your strategy for future products?

Define in text with graphics your roadmap

Define common platforms and architectures. What your IP & patent strategy?

What is your IP strategy?

If you have patents, provide a status table.

If not, define why not in a positive manner.

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Section 5: Operations/Manufacturing

Whats your Manufacturing strategy? Outsource or not?

Why & why not?

What is core in Manufacturing?

What are your unique capabilities

What are your unique processes?

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Section 5: Operations/Manufacturing Focus on your customers in your

Distribution strategy

Quality strategy Value added services that you will

employ

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Section 5: Operations/Manufacturing

What is your Customer Support strategy?

Customer order fulfillment tactics

Primary objectives Delivery

Response time

Primary policies

Outsource or not?

Future services that you will provide?

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Section 6: Senior Management

Management

The #1 reason that investors do not invest.

Experience counts first.

Dedication counts second. Ability to rapidly learn is third

Too strong an ego is a negative.

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Section 7: The Financials

The Rule: Everything Must Hang Together

Your vision and strategies in text must tie in. Your market growth objectives must tie in.

Your business and sales models must tie in.

Your margin percentages must tie in.

Your cost of goods must tie in.

Your expenses must reflect standard percentages.

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You need

P&Ls

1st year by month

2nd year by quarter

3rd

year by year Balance Sheets for each year

Cash Flows for each year

3-4 pieces of paper only

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You need to list your

Primary assumptions

Primary categories for the use of the funds What are the primary risks?

Other than the normal of early stage companies

If nothing specific, do not list any.

Whats your exit strategy?

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Section 8: The appendices

Provide only the compelling things

Product data sheets for primary products

Any critical publication.

Do not provide resumes. Do not include patents.

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Where do I go for help?

Good textbooks

Rich, Gumpert

Anything from HBS Press

Anything from Inc.

Inc Magazine & inc.com

Startup.wsj.com

MIT Enterprise Forum workshops

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Where do I go for help?

MIT Enterprise Forum seminars

Entrepreneurship schools

MIT Sloan , Babson, HBS, Smith

Professional Mentors & Coaches

Venture capital investors The big CPA firms:

PWC, Deloitte, Ernst.

The big law firms

Cooley, Mintz Levin, Hale

INC, Fortune Small Business

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Goals for a Successful Venture

Evidence of customer acceptance of the product Letters of reference Data generated at their facilities Abstracts White paper

An appreciation of the investors needs Investors want a 1.6^n (n=years before cash out) It includes 50% ROI and 10% inflation Time horizon is 3-7 years

Evidence of focus through concentration of a limited number ofproducts and services Dont chase butterflies

Proprietary position Patents, trade secrets, etc.

Exit Strategy What do you want to do in 3-5 years? Be acquired, go public.

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Important Things to Keep in Mind What is the value of the product

Questions to ask- How much does it save the customer($ and non$) How much does it earn the customer ($ and non$) What non monetary benefits do customers realize

Be market driven, not product driven

It is easier to sell in an already established field than in a newmarket

Investors want their money to be productive Producing and selling the product Therefore, develop the product with other funds You are better off developing the product by any means necessary

Management Matters Dont be a one person band Find people w/complimentary skills Hire gray hairs or no hairs Pay all key folks the same Have employment agreement, limiting disclosure and competition Describe employment agreement in management section

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Financials

Avoid too many spread sheets

Real numbers are usually 20-80% right from original estimates

Most VC seek a min of 20 million of sales revenue in 5 years

Include income statement, cash flow forecast, balance sheet,break-even analysis

Look at 10K and annual reports of companies in the same space

Make a critical staffing chart and describe when they arecoming in

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Investor Presentation First Impressions

Eye contact Hand shake Dress like you can be trusted with their money Impressions are made within first few seconds Once impression is made, it is virtually irreversible

Introduce management team

Have executive team (2-3) partake in presentation

Dont dim lights

Talk about the market or need first!

Present technology half way through

Important things in presentation (order of importance) Market User benefits How investment will grow for them

Practice, practice, and practice

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What Matters

Who you run with

Legal advisors

Business advisors

Key Executives

Investors

Your performance record

Nothing predicts future performance like historical performance

Dont burn bridges

Integrity

Reputation: Your most valuable asset

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The Top Ten Lies Told By Entrepreneurs

(okayreally eleven)1. Our projections are conservative.

2. (Insert reputable market research firm) says our market will be $50 billion in 2010.

3. (Insert Fortune 50 company name) is going to sign our purchase order next week.

4. Key employees are set to join us as soon as we get funded.

5. No one is doing what we're doing.

6. No one can do what we're doing.

7. Hurry because several other venture capital firms are interested.

8. (Insert Fortune 50 company name) is too big/dumb/slow to be a threat.

9. We have a proven management team.

10. Patents make our product defensible.

11. All we have to do is get 1% of the market.

Source: Guy Kawasaki

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The Top Ten Lies Told By Venture Capitalists

(okayreally nine)1. I liked your company, but my partners didn't.

2. If you get a lead, we will follow.

3. Show us some traction, and we'll invest.

4. We love to co-invest with other venture capitalists.

5. We're investing in your team.

6. I have lots of bandwidth to dedicate to your company.

7. This is a vanilla term sheet.

8. We can open up doors for you at our client companies.

9. We like early-stage investing.

Source: Guy Kawasaki

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