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1. 4 Stages of writing a business plan or why write a business plan
4 Stages of For the best insights
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Why Write a
Business Plan

2. 4 Stages of writing a business plan or why write a business plan
When you are in business it is important to realize not
only where are you heading but where you are standing
right now. Here are the four major stages you pass while
building your business from zero to hero.
Stage 1: Business idea
This is the starting point of every business. At this stage
you as an entrepreneur have the insight for new business
opportunity. You feel like you’d love to create and explore
new markets and bring your new business ideas to life. No
matter how experienced (or inexperienced) you are, the
most important task to fulfill at this stage is to develop
clear vision of your future business. There are many ways
and techniques to do that (which we’ll cover in Invest
Engine blog, too). And they all aim at packing your whole
business idea into a single vision statement. Once you
have it and it still sounds great to you, move to the next
stage.

3. 4 Stages of writing a business plan or why write a business plan
Stage 2: Business plan
At this stage you start bringing your business idea out to
the crowd and discussing it with people. The more diverse
their backgrounds are the better. Invite professionals with
wide experience in the business field you are about to
enter, talk to people with unconventional ideas (not
necessarily involved in business), find and discover your
potential clients etc. They all will give you brilliant insights,
contribute greatly to your vision of the future product,
outline risk and uncertainty. And with your detailed notes
at hand you are ready to write your business plan.
“Why write business plans” seems to be an eternal
discussion and lots of things have been written and said
on the topic. Most popular arguments of those who say
business plans are no good are:
 nobody reads them so why waste time writing;
 business plans are static while the business
environment is constantly changing;

4. 4 Stages of writing a business plan or why write a business plan
 the idea of business plans is mainly supported and
promoted by people who make living on them.
So first of all let’s go through the main purpose of a
business plan. It is aimed at organizing your thoughts,
evaluating all the risks and calculating your projections.
And once you have completed it, you should keep on
working with the plan, adding new information and
correcting what turned to be overestimated. Going
through business plan sections is like cutting your idea
from the stone: you are able to review it from completely
different angles and find answers to very fundamental
questions of your business. So start at the beginning and
take your time to work through the template. A business
plan template will ask you certain things about your
business idea. Therefore in each section and sub section
you should be able to just answer the questions as
accurately as possible. Again, answers can (and should)
always be revised and changed at a later date. Working
with financials is vital too: many start up entrepreneurs

5. 4 Stages of writing a business plan or why write a business plan
will instinctively overinflate projected sales and
underestimate costs. So do stay objective. And remember,
if some numbers don’t play well on paper, chances are
they’ll do even worse in real life.
Stage 3: Find investors and business partners
It is unlikely you’ll be able to achieve all your business
goals completely on your own. Finding angel investors for
your project might be as important as attracting right
people to your team. Private investors bring money,
business partners bring expertise. Thus before you launch,
you’ll perform numerous business presentations. Not all of
them will require a business plan lying on table, but you
will definitely be asked questions concerning your business
strategy, competitors, product features, profitability etc.,
etc., etc. So consider writing business plan like doing your
homework before any of these important meetings. And of
course you will appreciate having handouts and/or
powerpoint slides to support your presentation. So your

6. 4 Stages of writing a business plan or why write a business plan
business plan will become an ultimate source of all these
materials for your meetings.
Stage 4: Building a business
One of the major reasons “business plans don’t work” is
that they are put aside once written. But if you update
your plan regularly, compare actual results against
projections, control your timing and budget, then the
business plan becomes a roadmap to success. Remember,
that effective business plan is the one that helps you build
a company you dream of.
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