Let’s face it, no one confuses writing or reading a Business Plan with a Bruce Willis action movie or a Tom Clancy novel. A business plan is a serious presentation detailing an economic opportunity that is being offered for consideration of financing, licensing, or sale. The details, research, finances, and harvest options—key elements of any plan—can be dry, less than electric stuff. However, successful Business Plans are invariably written with an air of urgency, excitement, and color that sets them apart from the usual boring, template-based presentations.
I write business plans, teach business school students to write plans, and read plan presentations daily in my consulting business. Plans that have the potential for success are different, beginning with the first paragraph of the Executive Summary. A great product or service opportunity, along with a boring and uncreative document, is dead on arrival. And this is a shame, because many potentially valuable business opportunities are lost, undiscovered, abandoned when financing or licensing options close.
A powerful executive summary is the key to making any document fully read. Investors, venture capitalists, angel investors, or potential partners are often inundated with new bid submissions. There just isn’t enough time to read every plan cover to cover. At many companies, a relatively low-level reader is tasked with reading through and choosing which opportunities are passed on for full consideration. A boring presentation of an exciting product will not make the cut.
Make your plan presentation stand out with an exciting, energetic and well-constructed executive summary. The old adage “you only get one chance to make a great first impression” is never more true than when presenting a business proposal. There is always more opportunity in the market than capital or placement possibilities, too much supply and limited demand. Give your product every possible chance of success by presenting it as an exciting and necessary development, not addressed in a growth category.
Here are some basic tips to keep in mind when creating the document that you will present as a template for your new opportunity.
Paint a word picture on the executive summary. Visualize the story you need to summarize in this crucial section. Tell briefly, the unique features and benefits of the project. Explain and quantify the size of the opportunity. Explain the research done to support the assumptions. Scheme of management and specific qualification of the team. State, and be able to support later in finance, the necessary investment funds and the use of funds. Finally, very briefly detail the Return on Investment and Harvest goals. All of this should be accomplished in just two full pages.
There are many acceptable outlines or templates for formatting the plan. There is no single, absolute format for a successful plan. An original product, with a beautifully crafted plan, will be successful in any style format.
Keep the current Business Plan short. Don’t confuse many pages with success. It is far more important to be precise, fast, and creative than to be long in your storytelling. The finances must be very well constructed and narrated, line by line. I try to never go from 20 to 24 pages.
Extended Exhibits, placed behind the current Business Plan, are always excellent tools. If the document is well received by the reader and the investor, a full set of Exhibits will reinforce the strength of your opportunity and confirm that this is a product to be seriously considered.
If you are looking to raise capital to self-market your product or service, you will need a highly experienced and successful management team on hand, and able to fully commit to the project. No investor will consider any new opportunity that purports to have an (experienced) carpenter as CFO. We see this all the time and it’s not a start.
Have passion for your product or opportunity. Passion overcomes and overcomes many shortcomings. However, do not be a passionate dreamer. The passion must come from the knowledge that you have not taken shortcuts, you have really and thoroughly researched and identified the market and your product’s place in this competitive maelstrom. Knowledge leads to confidence and this will lead to a passionate belief that success will be achieved.
Successful Business Plans open doors. A fill-in-the-blank template is a waste of postage. An exciting business plan fully details an exciting offer for full and serious business consideration. Least of all, any document that contains obvious shortcuts won’t make it past a quick scan by a novice reader. Give your product every chance to succeed. Build a Titanic (the movie), not a Titanic (the ship).
