A Business Plan Is The First Step

In this Episode we discuss business plans, what should go in them and how to start tackling them!
A business plan should help you to realise the dream you have for your product/service. It should support your vision and take you on a journey to realise that vision.

A business plan should cover the 3 stages of your business:
1 Start up: The creation of the foundations of the business.
2 Building: Putting the substructure on to the foundations.
3 Scale or Sale: Capital or value to others that it is trade-able.

The start up stage is from the daydream to the point at which revenue is coming in and shows proof of the need of your product/service within the market. The revenue covers the expenses so that no more cash is needed to fund the start up.

Who are you writing it for? This depends on where the funds are coming from for your business. If you are self funding your business plan can be pretty basic, but it does need to be complete. If family or friends are helping financially you should aim for your business plan to be clear, logical and comprehendible. Finally, if you are approaching a business angel, your plan needs to be rich, detailed and have all contingencies covered.

What should go in your business plan? Minimal background & maximum actions.
The headings should include a description of your product, a dive into the market and competition and conclude with the gap and/or lack of satisfaction of the competition that your product/service will follow. You should also touch on market dynamics, price and where they can be used. Reaction of the competition and human resource (requirements, skills & experiences required). Look into prototyping and whether you should launch before you have entered the market and when to do the marketing for the product/service.

Take a listen to the episode to get a full detailed look at these topics and more!
Thank you for listening & reading! Beth