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Executive Summary and Business Plan Guidelines
Remember, you only get one chance to make a first impression, make it a good one.
You will get five to ten minutes of a potential investor's attention before they determine if they will continue reading your plan or trash it. The executive summary covers the nature of the request, amount of capital required, the amount of collateral at present, the strength of management and so forth. It will also allude to strategic alliances, the potential profit centers, and has an accompanying conclusion and implied exit strategy. Give the reader enough information to make them want to spend their valuable time reading the balance of the business plan. The total content of the Summary should not exceed 8 pages of information, the opening paragraph is the key to your success.
It is very important to understand that Angel Investors and Venture Capitalists tend to invest in people, rather than a product, idea or technology. They want to know what the people involved with the business have done before with success. Can they perform and do they exhibit experience, integrity, commitment and the ability to work together as a team under substantial stress. Remember to have your "KEY" players identified; CEO, CFO, CIO, COO, Marketing Director, Legal Council, Accounting and any other qualified support positions.
It is also very important to remember that you must demonstrate to the reader that you can see through the eyes of your client and can market your product or service to or through them. You must tell a compelling story regarding your Plan. When discussing money, there are two critical issues; one, your desire to value your company must be realistic - there are established formulas and guidelines, and second, be sure to establish a very strong profit margin so as to be able to satisfy your debt load on the money you are securing. Do not forget the cost of money in your calculations.
The following is the format for posting your executive summary to the VentureVest web site. Please adhere to the format as closely as possible.
Company
Summary of Opportunity
Describe the purpose of the Executive Summary, Desired Financing, how much and when, Explain the product or technology to be capitalized upon, for whom and why is the product or service needed.
Company Profile
Operating history, present ownership structure, future objectives, goals of the business and how it will achieve them.
Products & Services
Market Niche
The product or service function and uniqueness, patents?, exclusive licenses, roles the company and/or product plays within the industry and trends in that industry, is the business well known? Size of the potential market and size of the niche being pursued, support these numbers by third party information.
Service & Pricing Strategy
The Market share the company anticipates and the basis for the determination of that number, strengths and weaknesses of the product or service, pricing compared with top three competitive products, demonstrate value added to the consumer versus the price paid.
Market
Marketing Plan/Existing Competition
Timing of the market window before next generation of product arrives, marketing channel expected to use and why, assess risks and identify downside, how does the company plan to identify, contact and sell to potential customers, specific approaches for capitalization on each channel and how they relate with other industry practices, advertising and promotional plans, how will competition be dealt with.
Growth Opportunities
Identify additional opportunities for strategic alliances in manufacturing, sales, distribution or marketing, is this technologies applicable or adaptive to other industries.
Operations
Operating Plan
Extent of invention to successfully complete the project, track record of key people in developing similar products, proprietary aspects of product or technology, adequate supply of raw materials both physical and technology talent, critical milestones table constructed, first product installation, facilities, sources of supply, warranty program, service strategy included.
Current Accomplishments
Simply put, where does the company stand today?
Management
Management Team
Officers, Directors, key employees, Board of Advisors, identify why the team has the talent to be successful in this venture, highlight track records of ALL key people, where are the management holes and how will they be filled, resumes available in Business Plan.
Current Financing Status
Current Financials & Financial Projections (Overview)
Does the financial information agree with the forecast in the previous text, are the assumptions stated and supportable, are they consistent with operating and marketing plans, are the cost's associated with research and development, marketing and operations consistent with industry averages.
Capital Invested & Sought
How much, how will it be repaid what kind of ROI can the investor expect, is it debt or convertible debt, equity or series stock, how does this requirement tie to the liquidity and exit strategy of the plan.
Exit Strategy
Do not forget to identify at least three realistic strategies for the investor to get his money out of the company in a defined time frame.
Contact Information
Obvious, but typically forgotten. Do not forget the qualified advisors such as attorneys and accountants.
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