Hello Queens-based entrepreneurs,
We know you’re working hard on your business plan. Here are some writing tips and a list of key item/questions that we highly recommend to include or answer in your business plan.
1. Executive Summary
This is the elevator pitch for your business and is considered the first page on the business plan for this competition. It should be no more than one page and is suggested to write this section last. Things you should include:
- Legal name and form of business entity
- What is unique about the company?
- Problem & Solution: describe customer’s pain-points and product or service being offered to alleviate the pain
- How big is the market opportunity
- A quick overview of current company development stage, financial position and achievements to date (early tractions: sales, traffic to the website or social media, etc.,)
2. Company Description (Product and Service)
The most important part You should include in this section is the product or service description. Go into as much detail as you feel is necessary.
- Why should users care about your product or service?
- What are some key features of the product or service offered?
- What is your company’s mission statement, vision, short-term objective and long-term goals
- Suggested page limit: 1 page
3. Industry Analysis
- How big is the industry? (Show statistics and facts)
- Is the industry growing or shrinking (Hopefully it’s growing)?
- Has it changed recently due to technology or regulatory changes?
- Where your business fits into the industry as a whole.
- Suggested page limit: 1 page
4. Target Market
- What is the actual addressable market? Who is going to be buying your product?
- Geographic distribution
- Demographics
- Psychographics
5. Competition and Value Proposition
- Who else is doing the same thing as you or, at least, something relatively similar? Who are the movers and shakers in your industry? (Check Competitive Matrix Analysis in our toolbox)
- Why is your target market going to choose you over your competitors?
6. Marketing and Customer Acquisition (Be Specific)
- How do you market or plan to market your products or services?
- What is the company’s social media strategy?
- What advertising are you doing or going to do?
7. Operations Plan
- How are you actually making your product or delivering your service? Think about things like sourcing, manufacturing, labelling, delivery, product life cycle, etc. If you’re offering a service, include how your relationship with the client will work (how do you start working with them, how do you get your service accomplished, etc). You are probably doing everything by yourself or with a small team. You still need to go into how you’re accomplishing everything.
8. Founders & Team
- Who are the founders and team members?
- What is the relevant industry experience does the team have?
- Why are you and the team uniquely capable of executing this business?
9. Growth Strategy
- How do you see your business grow or why does your company have high growth potential?
- What is the timeline you have planned?
- How will you handle the changes of growth?
- What could be the factors that limit faster growth?
10. Financials
- What are the company’s three-year projections?
- What are the key assumptions underlying your projections?
- How are you financing the business so far?
- What future debt or equity financing will be necessary?
- When will the company get to profitability?