2. About Us
ī¯
Janis
âĸ
âĸ
âĸ
âĸ
ī¯
ī¯
ī¯
ī¯
Managing Partner,
Paladin Partners
Serial entrepreneur,
business advisory
services
Wang, Sun, Microsoft,
IT Start-ups
BA Psychology, MBA,
University of Iowa
Long time active player in West
Coast venture and angel scenes
NWEN, Alliance of Angels, Seraph
Done lots of deals
Don
âĸ
âĸ
âĸ
âĸ
ī¯
ī¯
ī¯
President/CEO, SeaTec
Consulting
Serial entrepreneur,
business development,
large scale IT systems
integration
Scitor, Rockwell
International
BA Math, BS Physics,
Washington State
Strong technical acumen
Excellent execution and
team building skills
Fiscally conservative
3. About Our Company - BigScreen
ī¯
Simplified computing and
Internet for older adults
ī¯
Extends social and caregiving networks
Trusted source for valueadded services
ī¯
4. Purpose of a Business Plan
ī¯
ī¯
ī¯
ī¯
ī¯
ī¯
Alignment of team(s)
Operating plan
Communication across company,
division, department, business
partners
Investment capital
Expansion capital (banks, leases)
Merger/acquisition process
5. How to Use a Business Plan
ī¯
Executive summary
īŽ
īŽ
ī¯
Mini business plan
īŽ
īŽ
ī¯
Solicit interest
Screen for investor candidates
Banking/leasing document
Potential acquirers
Full business plan
īŽ
īŽ
Team planning process
Due diligence
6. What Investors Look For
ī¯
ī¯
ī¯
ī¯
ī¯
ī¯
How does the team think?
How detail oriented is the team?
How big is this market?
Is there sustainable competitive
advantage?
Whatâs the growth plan?
What does the technology roadmap
look like, short term or long term play
8. 10 Must Answer Questions
ī¯
ī¯
ī¯
ī¯
ī¯
ī¯
ī¯
ī¯
ī¯
ī¯
How large is your addressable market?
How fast is the market growing?
Whoâs make up your management team?
Whatâs your âsecret sauce?â
What are the barriers to entry/competitive
advantage?
What do your 5 year financials look like?
Whatâs your path to profitability?
Why is this a company versus a product/service?
Whoâs your competition and how do you beat them?
Why canât Microsoft do this? (or name any big,
established companyâĻ)
9. Creating Your Companyâs Strategy
ī¯
ī¯
Building a strategy is harder work
than building your product
Think about
īŽ
īŽ
īŽ
īŽ
ī¯
What do you want your business to be
when it grows up
Looking back from 5 years in future
Perspectives of all stakeholders
Anything that could go wrong
Hope is not a strategy
10. Competitive Analysis
ī¯
ī¯
ī¯
ī¯
ī¯
ī¯
You always have competitors
Dig deep, be detailed, be honest
Compare features and benefits
Technology comparison
Whole product offering (pricing,
support, etc.)
Channels, funding, customersâĻ
11. Sustainable Competitive Advantage
ī¯
ī¯
ī¯
Create barriers to entry
Continually add value for your
customers (and your investors)
Anticipate competition and make
plans for dealing with it
īŽ
ī¯
Better widget, price erosion, market
share, different business modelâĻ..
Avoid the trap of believing that your
main competitor is your exit strategy
12. Business Plan Format
ī¯
ī¯
ī¯
ī¯
Pages: 10 to 30
Kinkoâs white bond
is good enough
Simple binding
Examples
īŽ
īŽ
Handout â a good
example B Plan
Discuss examples
of bad ones
Typical Outline
Executive Summary
Introduction and Business Premise
Market Analysis and Customer Needs
Product Overview
Value Proposition
Business Model
Business Operations Plan
Marketing and Sales
Market Entry
Transition to Revenue Service
Competitive Assessment
Partnership Strategy
Management Team and Advisors
Financial Projections
Key Business Metrics
Capital Structure/Financing Plans
Exit Strategy
Risk Analysis
Summary
13. User Friendly B-Plan is Key
ī¯
ī¯
ī¯
Investors receive hundreds of these
Most plans donât get fully read
Reasons why:
īŽ
īŽ
īŽ
ī¯
Logic is difficult to follow
The business is not obvious
Too much extraneous information or fluff
Use the same techniques to write
your plan that you would use to write
a play, a song, softwareâĻ..
14. Nuts and Bolts
ī¯
ī¯
ī¯
ī¯
ī¯
ī¯
ī¯
ī¯
ī¯
12 point type
Use a clean font
Donât use bold or italics too much
Make sure your visuals are readable
No typos, proof-read thoroughly (including
the visual!)
Remember: not everyone has same printer
Check for grammar
Style consistency
If you canât write, hire someone
15. Due Diligence
ī¯
ī¯
ī¯
ī¯
Market assessment is initial focus
Customer market validation next
Team references and resumes critical
Secondary:
īŽ
īŽ
īŽ
Financials and assumptions
Corporate structure and legal docs
Patent applications
16. Resources
ī¯
Reading list
īŽ
īŽ
īŽ
īŽ
ī¯
Guy Kawasaki
Geoffrey Moore
Business 2.0
HBS Case Studies
Workshops
īŽ
īŽ
īŽ
īŽ
ī¯
CIE Program
NWEN
WTC
SBA
Archive
īŽ
īŽ
ī¯
Venture blogs
Kauffman
Foundation
Consultants
īŽ
īŽ
īŽ
Domain experts
Funding experts
Teambuilding
experts