When making the decision to set up a brand new company, you should remember one thing: the existence of a written business plan will be the base pillar for the success of your grant applications, guaranteeing the fruitful development of your startup.
There are some basic rules to follow when elaborating the business plan:
- do not use other people's business plans available on the Web (a well-considered, independently developed strategy will bring much more benefit, so do not get carried away with copying);
- honestly consider your own abilities (the investor needs a truly working plan, so you should adequately assess the possibilities, timeframes, and prospects)
The main goal of a business plan is to determine what your company intends to do over time. Explaining the purpose and direction of your business allows you to understand what you need to do to move forward.
Developing a comprehensive business plan shows whether your company has the potential to make a profit. By writing down statistics, facts, prospects, and detailed plans, your company is more likely to attract investors that will want to provide the capital needed to get you started.
Business plans can be developed as a sales tool to attract partners and employees. They can be the convincing factor to join the team or collaborate with a newly formed company. It also can also be used as a management tool to ensure that the business follows the path to achieving its set goals.
This kind of plan contains all the information about your product, its benefits and prospects, as well as your plans for the future. Your business plan reminds you why and where you started, in the first place, what were your initial goals and how your decisions might change the initial goals.
During the first years, you’ll always be looking for external financing. Private investors, banks or any other lending institution will want to see your plan, your forecasts of expenses and income and how much your plans for the future are achievable with the business you created. All this can be answered with a well-written and thorough business plan.
Common mistakes
It is worth mentioning the most common mistakes in compiling a business plan:
- Unrealistic numbers or too long descriptions of their advantages (an objective assessment is important not only to sponsors, but to the business itself);
- A document oversaturated with unnecessary information (pay attention to analytics and forecasts);
- Lack of clear goals (set real goals and plan real ways to achieve them);
- Inadequate financial forecasts (big inflated numbers will attract attention, but they won’t show the future reality, making your arguments less convincing).
Now, it may be easier to hire someone to write a business plan for you. However, creating the plan by yourself is much more beneficial for your company.
Developing your strategic plan requires a detailed review, lots of research and exceptional brainstorming. If you write your own plan, you will be better prepared to evaluate the company’s opportunities, plan its activities, processes and resolve issues related to the business set up by you.
