writing a business plan

Writing a business plan can be a daunting task.  Although we have our own way of submitting a business plan in our "apply for investment" section, you may just be looking for some general guidelines to start your business plan. Here are some pointers to help get you started.  Remember that InVenFin and most other investors out there typically want an executive summary that is no more than 4 or 5 pages first of all, so you don't necessarily need to develop a detailed business plan in order to get things moving.

Anatomy of a Business Plan

• Introduction and Background Information
  Explain your concept in brief - provide some history about the business and key changes that have take place. Introduce yourself and your business and summarize what you require.
  
• Product & Market
  What is the concept and why is it unique / different to what already exists?  What stage of development is it at and what protection has been sought?  How big is the potential market? Is the market international?  What is the competitive advantage?
  
• Business
  How do you plan to turn this into business - do you plan to license your product to a company or companies, do you plan to manufacture and distribute or would you like to sell off the idea entirely?
  
• People
  Describe the key people & their backgrounds. The people that will be hands on within the business should be highlighted. How dependent is the business on key personnel?
  
• Financial
  Describe your funding requirements, planned expenditure by major area and forecast performance for at least three years into the future. Be modest and realistic!