by John Adler

There are three forms of a start-up business plan, an executive summary, a presentation and the business plan itself. Each serves a unique purpose.

1) The Executive Summary. The summary should include the relevant points of the proposal, and be interesting enough to encourage a potential investor to seek more information from the entrepreneur.

It answers six basic questions:

1. Who? Describe the background and experience of the management team.
2. What? The product or service the company will offer, the financial results it will produce.
3. Where? Location of the company and the offering be in the marketplace.
4. How? The unfair competitive advantage the company will create, and the amount of capital required.
5. Why? The market size, exit strategy and the vision of the company.
6. When? A timeline for the development, launch and growth of the proposed venture.

The summary should be no more than 1-3 pages, and be targeted to a particular investor in the venture firm.

2) The Presentation. The presentation is used in a formal meeting with the investor(s).

The presentation covers:

• Problem / Opportunity
• Solution / Offering
• Team
• Market
• Technology
• Milestones / Timeline
• Financial Plan
• Investment Proposal

Looking past the basic requirements of the presentation, it must capture the attention of the investor so that this becomes the most exciting deal in the pipeline. Typically the meeting is an hour with Q&A, and the presentation is 12-18 slides. Backup slides as needed are fine.

3) The Business Plan.

The business plan is the in-depth analysis, description, and contingency planning that supports the presentation and the summary. It is often a mechanical or checklist item for the investor. More important, the management is required to think through all aspects of the business and how they fit together. Put simply, the exercise of putting together the complete business plan will produce a better presentation and summary. All experienced investors expect the plan will change, often dramatically, over time. A typical business plan is 20-30 pages in length.

Finally, every venture is different and requires more or less emphasis on any one particular part of the summary, presentation or business plan. For example, a technology commercialization proposal often requires more diligence work on the core technology and its development effort.

Other free resources:

www.businessplans.org
http://www.entrepreneur.com/startingabusiness/businessplans/article81188.html
http://www.businessplanarchive.org/whatwecanlearn/tenlessons.html
http://www.myownbusiness.org/s2/
http://images.businessweek.com/ss/08/01/0107_businessplan/index_01.htm