Developing & Presenting Your Business Plan

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Good Afternoon. I’d like to start by asking a question. How many of us have a
live business plan – one that is current and waiting for funding? Good! How
many of have written a business plan? Good! How many of us have read a
business plan? Good!
This afternoon I would like to take us through developing and presenting a
business plan. Developing and presenting a business plan is something most
of us will do at some point in our business life. If you are good at doing it you
are more likely to be successful at raising finance.
The more successful you are at raising finance, the more businesses you will
own. The more businesses you will own…the richer you will become. The
richer you will become…? Do I see dreams materializing?
Well I hope so! Whatever it is you are dreaming about – this is where it starts..
your own, (gesture at individual participants) personal, individual, special,
exciting, exceptional, magnificent, revolutionary BUSINESS PLAN!
Are we ready for success? – Let’s go!

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We will start with an ice breaker – a little exercise to get us in the right mood.
We will then talk about business plans to get a better feel for what they are.
We will talk about how to structure a business plan. We will look at a general
structure you can apply to your own plan.
We will then look at how to write a good plan – we will go through some tips.
First some writing tips, then some design tips.
Then we move onto the second part of the session which will cover how to
deliver your plan to an audience – typically a group of investors.
Any questions?
Is there any topic you would like us to cover that is not on this list?
Is there anything you think might not be so important?
If we are all happy – lets begin.
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how well they handle challenges]
Who first found out what your partner wanted before toasting them? [Hardly
anyone, it is unnatural, especially for a confident entrepreneur]
How successful was this approach? How does it compare with other
approaches? [In the end a new joint future perspective is the best
approach]
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OK. Lets deepen our understanding of a business plan. If we better
understand a business plan we can better write one.
Why do we write business plans?
Clarify Strategy – What do you understand by this?
Raise financing – what do you understand by this?
Attract collaboration – what do you understand by this?
How will your plan differ if it’s purpose differs between these options?
How will a plan designed to clarify strategy differ from one designed to raise
financing or one designed to attract collaboration?
The key point in all this is FOCUS ON YOUR PURPOSE.
Don’t write a general plan for all purposes. Tailor your plan to your purpose
and even tailor your plan to your audience.

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When we think business plan what do we normally think about?
A document.
A business plan can extend beyond this. One way to be different is to extend
the scope of what we can include as part of our business plan.
What do we mean by a sample? – give an example
What we mean by slides? – Give an example
What do we mean by a film? – Give an example
What do we mean by a demonstration? – Give an example
When you are planning your business plan – try and include as many forms as
you can to give your audience a better feel for your concept.
Exercise:
Pair up and discuss unusual ways you can represent your product or service
to prospective investors. Give them 5 minutes.
Does anyone have a very unusual way to present a product or service?
Take some examples and point out the creativity and benefit of that approach.

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What do think is the one thing that most often separates a great business plan
from a good one? Note that I did not say what separates a good business plan
from a bad one – there are many things. How does a good plan become a
great one?
It clearly identifies what is MOST important. It clearly identifies what is most
important for this business. Why must we do this? What is the financier
trying to do when they read your business plan? They are trying to decipher
what is most important. They are also trying to see if YOU know what is key
for this business.
So, how do you identify the key drivers? One approach is to list all the
stakeholders of a business and for each one list the one or two most important
things for this business, from their perspective.
When you have this list arrange them in order of importance. Take the top 3 to
5 items and make sure each of these items is addressed specially in your
business plan. I would even go further and state them as the key drivers of
your business. Show how your business uniquely (or at least better than
others), solves a problem or meets a requirement of a stakeholder.

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The key point here is that it should be simple. Do not use the introduction to
summarize the business plan. Simply tell the reader what to expect.

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Who knows what it is like being a busy executive?
Let’s find out – can I have a volunteer?
Mimic interruptions to a busy executive’s attempt to read a business plan.
Why does this executive need an executive summary?

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Describe how you will produce your products or services.
Try to keep it well structured – for instance you can follow the production
process step by step.
Indicate any special technology you will use.

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It helps to state strengths and weaknesses as applying internally and
opportunities and threats as applying externally.

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