A guide to writing a kick-ass business plan
A business plan maps out how your business will operate and how this will help you reach your business goals.
By putting your plan in writing, you’ll get a better sense of your business, know the steps to be taken to succeed, and inspire confidence in current and potential stakeholders.
We will go over the steps you need to take and considerations during each of these steps. Treat this as a handy guide, if you will, when you sit down to pen that B-Plan. If you thinking of starting a business, or already started one and still have not drafted your Business Plan; do it Now!
Step 1: High Level Overview
Business Name
What Products or Services you wish to sell
Who is your Target Audience
What are your success goals
What is your Industry
How does your Product or Service work
What are the different roles in your company and what would be achieved by these roles
Step 2: Industry and Competitor Analysis
Detailed Analysis of your Industry with facts & figures
Is the indutry growing or shrinking
Why do you think there is an opportunity in this industry
Trends in the industry
List down all your competitors
Who are the major players
What is their market share
What market share are you looking for
What are the barriers to entry for this industry
Step 3: Target Audience Analysis
Decribe your target audience in detail
List your audience’s Demographic & Psychographic (values, attitude, personality, opinions, hobbies etc) info
What is the volume of this Target market
Why is this TG ripe for potential sale
How are you meeting your Audience’s needs
What is your differentiating factor
What problems are you solving for them that your competitor isn’t
What techniques are you going to use for this (innovation, thinking, quality, data etc..)
Step 4: Legal
Define the ownership of the business
What is the legal structure of the company
Compliances adhered to
Step 5: Product or Service Definition
Define in detail your product or service
What are the key highlights about your product or service you want people to understand
What stage is this in
What are the differentiating factors vis-a-vis your competitors
Does it use any special technology
Is there any design elements worth mentioning
Note the R&D done on this
Are there any patents
Step 6: Marketing Starategy
Describe your Brand’s Identity
How will this identity will help in reaching your target audience
What will be the voice and tone of your marketing efforts
What colors, imagery and visuals will be used
How will your introduce your product or service to your audience
What channels wil be used (social media, search, display ads etc)
What is your strategy for each of these channels
Step 7: Sales Strategy
How will sales be approached
What modes — partnerships, distributors, online or offline staore, salespeople etc
What are the sales steps already taken, if any
What is the progress already made and how to proceed from here
How will sales strategy work in tandem with marketing startegy
Step 8: Money
State what funding you need now, how long will that last & what is needed in the future
Where will the funding be used; give detailed breakup under each head
Prepare an actual cash flow till date and projected cash flow
Prepare monthly and yearly projected P&L statements
List out what key miletones must be hit to be financially stable and when
Identify what activities might lead to a loss and what steps are to be taken to break even
There you go guys! I have personally learned these guidelines from the best and also used these for preparing B-Plans for my startups. Remember, you are making the B-Plan for yourself and not just for an investor. It is essential for You, the founder to have answers to pretty much everything about your business in your head!
Now, go forth and Get Working!
PS- I send out ocassional mails to my network sharing valuable content I come across and some which I pen down. The theme is centered around Marketing, Design Thinking & Startups. Would love to have you on board too: Sign-Up Here
