Building Your Business Plan
A good business plan possesses four main characteristics:
  1. A detailed description of the product you want to develop
  2. An understanding of the marketplace and the competitors within your market segment (i.e. why would customers want to buy your product versus those offered by the competition)
  3. A description of the technology required to develop the product.
  4. A detailed analysis of the resources required to develop the product and bring it to market.
    Sample Business Plan Outline
    Table Of Contents
  1. Executive Summary
  2. Position your products:
    1. Describe the market you are serving:
      1. What makes it grow
    2. Define the value proposition of your products (how will you compete price/performance/lower cost-of-ownership)
    3. Anticipate what the competition will do once you introduce your product
    4. What Intellectual Property will you be developing
    5. Pricing
    6. Estimate the cost of your product. Is your product economically viable?
    7. Assess yourself: Do you have a competitive advantage?
    8. Assess yourself: Are you a company or just a product?
  3. Size of the opportunity:
    1. Size the TAM/SAM
    2. Identify the potential trends/technologies that could effect the development and growth of the TAM/SAM. Disruptive technologies.
  4. Resources Required to execute your planning:
    1. Management Team / Critical Hires
    2. Equipment/Technology
    3. Capital
  5. Financial Plan:
    (Note click here for list of accounting definitions )
    1. Revenue Plan
    2. Profit & Loss Statement:

      3. (Click here to view a sample Income Statement).
      1. Product costs (corresponding Gross Profit)
      2. Operating Expenses (Research Development and Engineering, Sales and Marketing, and General & Administrative expenses)
      3. Operating Income
    3. Balance Sheet
    4. Cash Flow (Most important financial schedule in your business plan: 1) how much cash do you need?; when do you get to break-even?"

      5. (Click here to view a sample Cash Flow Statement).
  6. Plans for raising cash for your business:
    1. Identify potential sources of funds
      1. Venture Capital
      2. Banks
      3. Angel Investors
      4. Large companies (“strategic investors”)