What are the key points in a business plan? What topics does your business plan need to address in the most detail? This is an excellent question, and thankfully it's a topic on which experts have reached some consensus. It depends somewhat on the specific industry you're entering, and it also hinges on the amount of capital you need to raise and the sort of funding source (institutional investors, lending institutions, etc.) you intend to approach with the document. But, for the most part, these are the items that you need to cover most thoroughly:
1) Executive Summary – a concise overview of your business, its goals and opportunities, and the expansion you envision within 3 to 5 years
2) Product/Service Description – a section outlining what you will sell or offer to the market
3) Market Analysis – the most data-intensive section, this should analyze your potential for sales by looking at the immediate market, industry trends, competitive players, and so forth
4) Marketing Strategy – a section that lists out the advertising and marketing methods you will employ to drive sales
5) Management Summary – a biography of you and your executive team, plus any advisors or employees key to the venture
6) Financial Pro Forma – 3-year or 5-year financial projection including cash flows, a break-even analysis, revenue projections, expense details, and a sensitivity analysis
The depth of these sections should vary depending on what the most important considerations are inside your specific industry and markets, but all of these topics need to be covered in some fashion. No business plan can be considered complete without addressing each one of these sections in adequate detail. If you need help preparing a document that covers these topics in full, reach out to a MasterPlans consultant today at 877-453-2011. We've worked with 8,000 clients producing business plan documents for everything from comic book shops to green energy plants. Contact us to talk about your business planning needs and we'll help you cover the points in a business plan that are most important to you.
