The EIR Corner

Your business plan is a road map. It is also how you share your vision with potential investors. It describes what makes your opportunity special, your team, target markets and investment return results. To be effective, it must concisely document your objectives, strategies and tactics in a manner that is easy to understand, believable and persuasive.

When you are building your plan, it is a good idea to keep the following in mind:

• Limit your plan to twenty pages. Investor interest is inversely proportional to plan length.
• Strive to explain complex ideas briefly and simply. Don’t be vague or overly detailed.
• Avoid jargon, buzzwords and acronyms. Use pictures, charts and graphs.
• Don’t attempt to be all things to all people. Stay focused on your core ideas.
• Eliminate all spelling and grammatical errors. There is no room for silly mistakes.
• Keep hype to a minimum. Exaggerating will hurt your credibility.
• Develop your plan using all team members, but have one person write it.
• Don’t repeat yourself. The Executive Summary is the only place you should restate key points.
• Have it reviewed objectively by as many people as possible. Make appropriate changes.
• Don’t get overly obsessive. The objective is to get it in investors’ hands.

You can give yourself the best possible chance of funding by avoiding obvious mistakes and making your message clear and compelling. Keep in mind that your business plan is a living document that will change as you learn more about your market, customers and competitors.