Business Plan Format
A conventional business plan often is 40 pages long and follows an organization that is well accepted in academia and in practice across the U.S. As an entry to the SVBPC your business plan should be around 20-40 pages in length.
The Written Plan
Please understand that the idea/opportunity and the team's ability to communicate and elaborate it are more important than just filling out the suggested template detailed below. The template is to be used as a guide that (hopefully) students can use when completing their projects in non-College of Business courses. Similarly, the questions listed in each section give an idea about the purpose and expectations of each section, but again these questions are meant to be a guide, and a team can still submit a business plan to the even if it doesn't answer/address each and every question.
The template below lays out a standardized version of what business plans are generally expected to contain, so participating teams are urged to complete as much of the template as possible. We don't want to give the impression that "anything goes" for what is submitted to the SVBPC, but we don't want to exclude great, well-communicated ideas/opportunities because the template wasn't followed exactly. Advice to student teams: do the best you can given your available time and course/project requirements-and realize that other teams are doing so too.
The Final Round Presentation
Keep in mind that the teams whose business plans make it to the final round of judging will also have to make a presentation to the judges. The judges will read the business plan but will also base their decisions in part on the presentations. Since the presentation will be based on the business plan, a good, solid business plan is crucial for the team to be able to make an excellent presentation.
For the final round, PowerPoint presentations will be required. In general, we suggest the teams follow the presentation adhere to the ten-slide PowerPoint format described by Guy Kawasaki in his book, The Art of the Start. Each team will be allotted 10 minutes to present their idea and there will be 10 minutes for Question and Answers. Allotted time may change depending on the number of finalist teams.
We recommend no more than six to eight slides in total and no smaller than 24 point font, otherwise the presentation will run too long and appear too cluttered and difficult to read. We hope to offer a workshop to hone the finalists' presentations, but the details are not available at the moment.
Sections II to X in the sample format below contain the body of the business plan (Section I is the Executive Summary), so (approximately) allocate one slide per section. Since the presentation is not geared toward raising funds but to win the competition, Section X (Proposed Company Offering) can be excluded.
What Should Be Included in the Business Plan
At the beginning of the business plan, the business model, value proposition, and business strategy should be clearly and concisely described. The business model is what the new venture will do to generate revenue and sustain profits, the value proposition is why customers will buy the product or service, and the business strategy is how the business model and value proposition will be achieved.
The other important parts of a business plan are: the Marketing and Competitive Analysis, the Management Team, and the Financial Plan. The descriptions provided next give an overview of what should be contained in a successful business plan and should be considered as broad guidelines, not necessarily specific requirements. A more detailed format for the complete business plan is also presented below. For samples of complete business plans, please go to the Resources link on the toolbar on the right.
Marketing and Competitive Analyses. To be realistic, the idea for a successful new venture should have some degree of market validation. Suggested issues that should be addressed in this regard are: a) the new venture's product or service, b) the need the new venture satisfies or the problem it solves, c) competitive advantages and barriers to entry, d) existing and/or expected competitors, and e) the size and growth potential of the target market.
Management Team. This section describes the skills and attributes of the team that will start the new venture or bring the innovation to the marketplace. This section should present: a) the proven abilities and industry-specific knowledge of the founding team, b) the completeness of the team and the skills it contains, and c) the leadership for the new venture in the key areas.
Financial Plan. Before investors commit funds to a new venture, they will want to know how much financing is needed and when the new venture will be able to pay back this investment. This part of the business plan primarily consists of spreadsheets, but a short overview is requested plus a statement of any assumptions used in constructing the financial statements is also desirable. The suggested financial plan should include: a) income statements, balance sheets, and cash budgets for five years of annual projections and two years of quarterly and monthly projections, b) an analysis of the breakeven point for the proposed new venture, and c) an estimate of the required funding.
Considerations for the Business Plan Guidelines
The following sample format provides useful guidelines for business plan writers, and the major sections correspond to the Table of Contents laid out by Jeffrey Timmons and Stephen Spinelli (New Venture Creation, 6th edition, McGraw Hill Irwin, 2004, p. 403). The questions in each major section correspond to those recommended in the University of Maryland Business Plan Competition:
http://www.venturecatalyst.umd.edu/BPC/executive_summary.html.
Keep in mind that the following outline provides suggestions and recommendations for writing a business plan. Since a business plan is a communication tool and since each new venture's innovation, product, or service is unique, you should organize your business plan in a way that best expresses and explains your ideas and concepts.
The following guidelines are meant to help you think about what is important to include rather than to serve as a rigid format. To get a sense for the variety of ways that a complete business plan can be written, please go to the Resources link on the toolbar on the right.
Sample Business Plan Format and Sample Questions for Each Section
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Can you summarize everything else that follows in two or three pages?
This should be the last section written after everything else is completed.
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THE COMPANY AND ITS PRODUCT(S) OR SERVICE(S)
What is the new venture's product, service, or process? What need is satisfied or what problem is solved?
What is the business model (what is done to generate revenue and profits)?
What is the value proposition (i.e., the benefits to customers)? Why will customers buy this product or service?
What is the business strategy? How will the business model and value proposition be achieved?
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INDUSTRY AND COMPETITORS
Who are the existing and/or expected competitors and what is their market share?
What is the competitive advantage: what does the new venture offer that is better than or different from what competitors or substitutes offer?
Do any barriers to entry exist against competitors?
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MARKET RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS
Who are the customers?
What is the size of the target market?
What is thegrowth potential of the market?
Will customers buy this product or service? (Based on market research.)
What is the new venture's expected market share and when will it be obtained?
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MARKETING PLAN
Is there an effective sales and marketing plan?
What is the overall marketing strategy in terms of: pricing, sales tactics, advertising and promotion?
How will the product or service be distributed to customers?
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DESIGN, DEVELOPMENT, & OPERATIONS PLAN
Where will the product or service be produced?
How will the product or service be produced or offered to the market?
What is the new venture's stage of development: conceptual, R&D, prototype, or test market?
Does this company posses intellectual property or other assets?
Is there unique and valuable information that only this company has?
Can this knowledge be protected?
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MANAGEMENT TEAM
Who are the team members?
What value does each add to the new venture?
What are their prior accomplishments?
What are their skills and areas of expertise?
What is their prior experience?
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CRITICAL RISKS AND ASSUMPTIONS
What critical risks face the new venture that could affect its performance and your analysis?
What assumptions have been made in the market and competition analysis?
What assumptions underlie the financial plan?
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THE FINANCIAL PLAN
What is the new venture's revenue and profit model?
Will revenues be derived from subscriptions, transaction fees, usage fees, advertising, licensing, or product sales?
What are the pro forma income statements, balance sheets, and cash budgets?
What are the gross and operating profit margins?
How many months will it take to breakeven and to obtain positive cash flows?
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PROPOSED COMPANY OFFERING
How much is the desired financing?
What type of offering will be made to investors?
What will the capitalization table of the new venture look like?
What will be the use of the funds being raised?
