2. About Us
Janis
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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
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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
Simplified computing and
Internet for older adults
Extends social and caregiving networks
Trusted source for valueadded services
4. Purpose of a Business Plan
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
Executive summary
Mini business plan
Solicit interest
Screen for investor candidates
Banking/leasing document
Potential acquirers
Full business plan
Team planning process
Due diligence
6. What Investors Look For
How does the team think?
How detail oriented is the team?
How big is this market?
Is there sustainable competitive
advantage?
What’s the growth plan?
What does the technology roadmap
look like, short term or long term play
7. Financial Projections
Build 5 years
Detail near years, extrapolate out
years
Build from single unit economics
Document assumptions
Compare against top down
Validate with market comparables
8. 10 Must Answer Questions
How large is your addressable market?
How fast is the market growing?
Who’s make up your management team?
What’s your “secret sauce?”
What are the barriers to entry/competitive
advantage?
What do your 5 year financials look like?
What’s your path to profitability?
Why is this a company versus a product/service?
Who’s your competition and how do you beat them?
Why can’t Microsoft do this? (or name any big,
established company…)
9. Creating Your Company’s Strategy
Building a strategy is harder work
than building your product
Think about
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
You always have competitors
Dig deep, be detailed, be honest
Compare features and benefits
Technology comparison
Whole product offering (pricing,
support, etc.)
Channels, funding, customers…
11. Sustainable Competitive Advantage
Create barriers to entry
Continually add value for your
customers (and your investors)
Anticipate competition and make
plans for dealing with it
Better widget, price erosion, market
share, different business model…..
Avoid the trap of believing that your
main competitor is your exit strategy
12. Business Plan Format
Pages: 10 to 30
Kinko’s white bond
is good enough
Simple binding
Examples
Handout – 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
Investors receive hundreds of these
Most plans don’t get fully read
Reasons why:
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, software…..
14. Nuts and Bolts
12 point type
Use a clean font
Don’t 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 can’t write, hire someone
15. Due Diligence
Market assessment is initial focus
Customer market validation next
Team references and resumes critical
Secondary:
Financials and assumptions
Corporate structure and legal docs
Patent applications
16. Resources
Reading list
Guy Kawasaki
Geoffrey Moore
Business 2.0
HBS Case Studies
Workshops
CIE Program
NWEN
WTC
SBA
Archive
Venture blogs
Kauffman
Foundation
Consultants
Domain experts
Funding experts
Teambuilding
experts
