The diagram of a business plan varies depending on your reviewer or funding source, whether your company is a start-up or an existing business, and the amount of money you're seeking to get to that next level. In truth, there's no hard and fast rule for what the diagram or sequence of items/schedules in a business plan is meant to be. Conventionally, there is an executive summary and start-up or highlights table at the beginning, followed by a complete discussion of your proposed solution or product. The market analysis comes next, then the marketing strategy, and finally the management team bios section and the personnel plan. From there it's up to you to develop a working financial pro forma, a model showing:
• The proposed use of funds
• The revenue forecast and break-even point
• The profit and loss statement year over year
• The cash flow and balance sheet
• The full set of tables in a monthly format for the first year
This component should cover a three-year forecast for a banker (or a reviewer tied to the Small Business Administration, or SCORE etc.), though an investment source or venture capital firm will expect to see at least a five-year model post start-up. The business plan's most important sections are generally the executive summary, the market analysis, and the pro forma, but depending on your business, you might have to stress certain aspects of your implementation plan or play up the backgrounds of your team members. Need to talk through this? Want to see samples? MasterPlans has been writing custom business plans since 2002 and now has more than 11,000 documents to its credit. Call us today to learn how we can help get your business where it needs to be: 877-453-2011.
