April 2020 – Harbor Capital Group Inc.

Your business plan is the primary document you will use to convince investors and others to work with you or invest in your startup. This business plan is not a one size fits all. You will want to tailor your material to what the audience wants. For example, if it is a venture capital company with recently raised funds, they will be looking for a longer-term view. If it is a venture capital company that has been investing for a while, they may be interested in more of shorter-term outlook and faster exit,

Following is the typical format for a business plan. It is intended as a guide because different kinds of companies will have different requirements.

1 Executive Summary

Describe (summary only) what your company is, what it does, and why it will be successful. Include your story, products and services, goals, company leadership and team, growth plans, financial information, and why and use of the funds you need.

2 Company Description

This section goes into more detail about your company. What are the problems you are solving, how you solve them, and the benefits to the buyer from buying your product or service? You can go into detail here with a list of specific customers, markets, organizations you serve, and any partnerships you have established.

Explain the competitive advantages your product has over the competition and if that advantage is long term—for example, Intellectual property, Patents, Trademarks, .etc.

Describe the strengths of your company, including product, market, or industry expertise.

3 Market Analysis

What are your target industries and markets? What is the outlook for size and growth in each target market? Who are your competitors, and how do you compare to them. Do any of them have a significant advantage (market share, business model, IP, etc.) over the others in the market? What about pricing and market share?

Why is your solution to the problem better, faster, cheaper, etc.? Are there any barriers to entry?

4 Organization and Management

Start with your legal structure (incorporation or Limite Liability Company), which be essential depending on the type of investor you seek. Mostly, angel investors are with LLCs, but venture capital companies want companies that are incorporated.

Explain your company’s structure and who will head up each department. Use an organizational chart, if possible, to talk about how each department head is qualified to run that department.

5 Service or Product Group

Explain your line of products or services in some detail, including their features, functions, and benefits. Describe how each of these products benefits the customer. What is the product life cycle? How long will you be in Beta?

Do you have any plans for future patents, trademarks, or other product designs that will protect the uniqueness of your products or services?

6 Marketing and Sales

What is your sales story? Describe how you plan to get, keep, and expand sales to your target audience. What marketing methods will you use? Will you be using outside agencies or inhouse personnel for marketing and sales. What kind of experience do these marketing and salespeople have?

How long is the sales cycle? What kind of funnels will help develop prospects? Will you be using any distributors or wholesalers. If so, who are they, and what procedures and compensation are involved?

7 Funding Request

Describe your funding requirements in as much detail you can. If it is for one year, five years, or are you planning to fund by milestones? What type of funding are you looking for: debt, equity, loans, or some combination. Are you looking for a strategic partner or multiple investors?

How do you plan to use this funding: product development, sales, marketing, equipment, facilities, salaries, etc.

8 Financial Projections

Sone of the documents that will be requested includes the capitalization table, income statements, balance sheets, cash flow statements, capital expenditures, and budgets. Also, you will need to prepare a Pro Forma which uses assumptions and hypothetical events that occurred in the past and may occur in the future. This comprehensive financial overview gives outsiders a good look at your business from an economic viewpoint going into the next five years.

9 Appendix

Thie appendix includes documents that support your business plan like resumes, licenses, patents, legal documents, permits, any contract documents, etc.

Some people find it hard to develop an easy way to create a story or get it started. We usually use the three steps of problem, solution, and results or outcomes. Here is another way to get you started. Nick Morgan, author, and coach, tells people to use the story formats of famous and well-known stories as their framework, Then explain their story within that framework,

Before you start, don’t confuse a story with an anecdote, which is more of a description of something that happened. Nick says a story has three parts: a situation, a complication, and a resolution,

You need to tell a story if you want to grab someone’s attention and hold it until you reach the Call To Action (or, as Jerry Weissman would say, get them from point A to Point B).

You can do that with stories because stories work the way your mind works, Memory depends on attaching emotion to facts, Too many people try to use lists (3 of these, 6 of those) but people have a difficult time remembering those lists. Stories do a much better job.

But if you are having a hard time creating a story, use one of the traditional story frames that have proved themselves over the years,

Here are the five frames you can use.

Quest is the most fundamental frame. In this scenario, the hero goes off to achieve a definite goal but runs into a problem(s), generally finds a mentor, and then, throughout the story, reaches the target (for example, a new solution to a problem).

The Stranger in a Strange Land is a much different story; the hero finds himself in a strange place where he is unsure of what to do (e.g., maybe a research task without any defined criteria), the rules, or even the path forward. But he finds a mentor and a solution to something he didn’t know he was looking for initially.

Rags To Riches is the traditional story of starting out with nothing and, through hard work and some luck, ending up with fame and fortune. Maybe an investor pitch showing the investors how your startup started with nothing, is now at milestone B and is ready to scale.

Revenge is simply about a wrong done to the hero who, through no fault of his own, loses everything/. Then, he prepares a plan and sets out to get revenge for the wrong done to him. For example, this could be a public relations story about a company getting its reputation back after some false stories about it. This happened to one of our clients years ago.

Love stories are about both love found and love lost. For example, a new great partnership being formed or a partnership is dissolved,

The main point here is that you can use a story’s frame to help you create your own story without having to create a new structure. Also, these frames are familiar and understandable from the beginning, which makes your job and their ability to follow your story easier.

Do you have a situation in which one of these frames would make sense as a starting point to create your unique story?

Month: April 2020

The Elements Of Your Business Plan

A Quick And Effective Way To Tell Your Story