cei
Center for
Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Technology Venture Sequence
9/6/05
Business Plan
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A document that defines your business and presents a compelling
argument to you, your potential employees, partners and investors that
your company will be a successful enterprise
Typically 10-20 pages
Reasons for writing a business plan:
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Sell yourself on the business
Obtain financing
Arrange strategic alliances
Mitigate avoidable risk
Obtain large contacts
Attract key employees
Prepare for mergers and acquisitions
Motivate and focus management team
The two key reasons:
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Center for
Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Page 2
– Obtain financing
– Mitigate avoidable risk
Table of Contents
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Executive Summary
Business Description
Market Research
Marketing Plan
Development Plan
Intellectual Property
Regulatory Approval
Management Team
Critical Risks
Financing and Exit
Center for
Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Page 3
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Table of Contents
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Executive Summary
Business Description
Market Research
Marketing Plan
Development Plan
Intellectual Property
Regulatory Approval
Management Team
Critical Risks
Financing and Exit
Center for
Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Page 4
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Executive Summary
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The executive summary should summarize the business plan. Investors
expect the executive summary to include the following information:
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Questions:
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Is the essence of the business clearly explained?
Does the company have a clearly defined competitive advantage?
Is the management team discussed?
Are financial projections included?
Is the amount of capital and how it will be used included?
Center for
Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Page 5
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Information on this slide comes from Chip Vara’s manuscript on Business Plan Development
with the permission of the author. Mr. Vara works for Enterprise North Florida Corporation.
Table of Contents
cei
Executive Summary
Business Description
Market Research
Marketing Plan
Development Plan
Intellectual Property
Regulatory Approval
Management Team
Critical Risks
Financing and Exit
Center for
Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Page 6
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Business Description
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This section should contain the relevant company history, corporate
objectives, current market conditions and a brief product description.
The purpose of this section is to give the reader a general
understanding of whom the company is and what it is attempting to do.
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Questions:
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Center for
Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Page 7
– Is the corporate history clearly stated?
– Is the market situation, opportunity and strategy clearly stated?
– Are the products and their unique features clearly stated?
Information on this slide comes from Chip Vara’s manuscript on Business Plan Development
with the permission of the author. Mr. Vara works for Enterprise North Florida Corporation.
Table of Contents
cei
Executive Summary
Business Description
Market Research
Marketing Plan
Development Plan
Intellectual Property
Regulatory Approval
Management Team
Critical Risks
Financing and Exit
Center for
Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Page 8
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This section describes the dynamics of the overall market and how it
operates today. This section will include information about the market
size and growth rate, what market needs are being met and by what
products, what market needs are not being met, who the major
competitors are and what segments exist. This is also the place where
the distribution strategies by the market are explained and why. The
company’s product or service should be described and how it will meet
specific unmet market needs.
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Questions:
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Is the overall market adequately described?
Are specific target markets identified?
Is the competitive landscape adequately described?
Are specific competitors and their products identified?
Are the unmet needs of the target market identified?
Is the product’s value proposition defined?
Are the competitive advantage and barriers to entry described?
Are potential strategic relationships described?
Center for
Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Information on this slide comes from Chip Vara’s manuscript on Business Plan Development
with the permission of the author. Mr. Vara works for Enterprise North Florida Corporation.
Page 9
Market Research
Table of Contents
cei
Executive Summary
Business Description
Market Research
Marketing Plan
Development Plan
Intellectual Property
Regulatory Approval
Management Team
Critical Risks
Financing and Exit
Center for
Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Page 10
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Marketing Plan
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This section will describe all aspects of the company’s market strategy?
This should include the price, the product features and benefits, the
role of promotion and the distribution channel of choice. The
information from this section must be directly traceable to the
assumptions used to drive the financial model.
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Questions:
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Center for
Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Page 11
– Are all aspects of the marketing strategy clearly stated?
– Is the marketing strategy realistic, defended by the market analysis and low
risk?
Information on this slide comes from Chip Vara’s manuscript on Business Plan Development
with the permission of the author. Mr. Vara works for Enterprise North Florida Corporation.
Table of Contents
cei
Executive Summary
Business Description
Market Research
Marketing Plan
Development Plan
Intellectual Property
Regulatory Approval
Management Team
Critical Risks
Financing and Exit
Center for
Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Page 12
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Development Plan
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This section should address all aspects of the product development
effort and must contain sufficient detail to convince the reader that the
management team not only understands the technology and have the
capability of delivering the product prototype, but also have a program
to insure customer acceptance.
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Questions:
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Center for
Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Page 13
– Are the product development milestones realistic and clearly defined?
– Are the costs to achieve the milestones clearly defined?
– Is staffing adequate to achieve the milestones?
Information on this slide comes from Chip Vara’s manuscript on Business Plan Development
with the permission of the author. Mr. Vara works for Enterprise North Florida Corporation.
Table of Contents
cei
Executive Summary
Business Description
Market Research
Marketing Plan
Development Plan
Intellectual Property
Regulatory Approval
Management Team
Critical Risks
Financing and Exit
Center for
Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Page 14
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Intellectual Property
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The company’s intellectual property strategy will be explained in this
section. For example, in addition to describing the existing patent or
patent application, this section will also describe what additional
patents are likely to be added to the company’s IP estate.
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Questions:
cei
Center for
Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Page 15
– Is the IP status adequately described?
– Does the IP provide a competitive advantage?
Information on this slide comes from Chip Vara’s manuscript on Business Plan Development
with the permission of the author. Mr. Vara works for Enterprise North Florida Corporation.
Table of Contents
cei
Executive Summary
Business Description
Market Research
Marketing Plan
Development Plan
Intellectual Property
Regulatory Approval
Management Team
Critical Risks
Financing and Exit
Center for
Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Page 16
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Regulatory Approval
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An investor will interpret government regulation as an additional risk.
This section should educate the reader on the regulatory process,
support the company’s regulatory posture and explain why this risk is
minimal.
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Questions:
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Center for
Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Page 17
– Are the regulatory requirements adequately addressed?
– Is a clear regulatory strategy described?
Information on this slide comes from Chip Vara’s manuscript on Business Plan Development
with the permission of the author. Mr. Vara works for Enterprise North Florida Corporation.
Table of Contents
cei
Executive Summary
Business Description
Market Research
Marketing Plan
Development Plan
Intellectual Property
Regulatory Approval
Management Team
Critical Risks
Financing and Exit
Center for
Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Page 18
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Management Team
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This section will contain summary biographies of the key management
personnel, members of the Board of Directors and Board of Advisors.
This section should also acknowledge deficiencies in the management
team and list the new requirements for any new positions.
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Questions:
cei
Center for
Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Page 19
– Are the bios of key management included?
– Are boards of advisors and directors included?
– Are future staffing needs addressed?
Information on this slide comes from Chip Vara’s manuscript on Business Plan Development
with the permission of the author. Mr. Vara works for Enterprise North Florida Corporation.
Table of Contents
cei
Executive Summary
Business Description
Market Research
Marketing Plan
Development Plan
Intellectual Property
Regulatory Approval
Management Team
Critical Risks
Financing and Exit
Center for
Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Page 20
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Critical Risks
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This section should address the major commercialization and
management risks as well as the investment risks.
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Questions:
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Center for
Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Page 21
– Are the major commercialization risks addressed?
– Are the management team risks addressed?
– Are the competitive risks addressed?
Information on this slide comes from Chip Vara’s manuscript on Business Plan Development
with the permission of the author. Mr. Vara works for Enterprise North Florida Corporation.
Table of Contents
cei
Executive Summary
Business Description
Market Research
Marketing Plan
Development Plan
Intellectual Property
Regulatory Approval
Management Team
Critical Risks
Financing and Exit
Center for
Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Page 22
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Financing and Exit
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This section should present the company’s financial position, should list
major assumptions used to generate financial statements and should
include capital requirements.
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Questions:
cei
Center for
Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Page 23
– Is the company’s financial position clearly stated?
– Are the capital needs and milestones clearly stated?
Information on this slide comes from Chip Vara’s manuscript on Business Plan Development
with the permission of the author. Mr. Vara works for Enterprise North Florida Corporation.