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Business Plan Outline for Startups: A Simple, Time-Tested Format For Strategic Planning and Raising Capital

Written by: Nathan Beckord

Article Overview: Business plans are more than just a written document-- they are a way of capturing and honing your business strategy, eliminating risks, and understanding the market and competition. This is an example of a business plan outline used at VentureArchetypes. This format has been used by startups raising venture capital, angel capital, and bank loans. It is a simple and adaptable business plan outline that covers the key areas.

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Business Plan Outline for Startups: A Simple, Time-Tested Format For Strategic Planning and Raising Capital

Business plans are not really about the written document. Instead, itis the process of developing your business plan that provides great value to a startup or entrepreneur. By applying a structured approach to developing your plan, you will know the market, your customers, and the competition on a deeper level. In addition, you will have real insight into the key factors that drive profitability in your business.



In this manner, the business plan becomes the foundation of your business. It can help you grow more effectively, with greater focus and reduced risk.
And finally, the actual written document does have a useful role: a really well-crafted business plan is a useful marketing tool for raising capital or recruiting partners, advisors, or key hires.

Here is a basic outline to get you started. Here at VentureArchetypes, we have used this format (or slight variations of it) for more than 100 clients who have collectively raised close to $200 million in early stage funding. In other words, this business plan outline works.

1. Market Opportunity

  • Establishes the case for "why the world needs your solution"
  • Provides market size, growth, trends, and customer information


2. Company and Products

  • Explains what your product does and how it meets market needs
  • Details your business model today and in the future


3. Operations and Development

  • Lays out launch, growth, and expansion strategies and tactics
  • Details what you will do & when, given the limited resources (human & financial capital) of a startup


4. Existing Relationships and Future Alliances and Partnerships

  • Discusses who will help you succeed and why they will do so


5. Marketing, Sales, and Distribution

  • Demonstrates how you will gain awareness, close deals, and get product to market


6. Competition

  • Describes the competitive environment as well as your advantages and differentiation


7. Management & Advisors

  • Background on who is running the show; Demonstrates credibility


8. Financial

  • Shows how you will make money, your funding needs and uses, and how much of a return you will generate for investors.
Keep in mind this is only the framework; it can be tailored for different needs and uses. For example, a business plan tailored toward a bank or lender would contain more detail on how you intend to pay back the loan, while a business plan for raising venture capital will go into more detail on potential exit strategies (such as IPO or acquisition).
In addition, the length can be suited to the circumstance; some plans require greater detail and thus run longer (30 pages or more), while most startup business plans can be succinctly captured in 8 to 10 pages. The format is also flexible; for example, we often create a short written plan (using Microsoft Word or Apple Pages) and then have the bulk of the content above be detailed in a slide deck (using PowerPoint or Keynote). Both pieces are supported by a detailed startup financial model (created in Excel).
Good luck with the process, and let us know if you discover any new tips or best practices.

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Home > Venture-Capital > Nathan Beckord > Business Plan Outline for Startups A Simple TimeTested Format For Strategic Planning and Raising Capital
Article Tags: angel capital, business plan format, business plan outline, business plans, business strategy, example of a business plan, raising venture capital, startups, VC business plan

About the Author: Nathan Beckord
RSS for Nathan's articles - Visit Nathan's website

Nathan Beckord, MBA/CFA is a startup junkie. He has been helping startups launch, raise capital, and execute on business development deals for over ten years. He has worked on numerous deals, ranging from small seed and venture capital rounds on up to initial public offerings and complex transactions with Fortune 500 companies.

Nathan is Principal of VentureArchetypes, LLC (www.VentureArchetypes.com), a consulting firm focused on business plan and venture advisory, as well as www.StartupPartnerships.com, which provides on-demand business development consulting.

In addition, his resume lists the Equity Private Placement Group at JP Morgan in New York, the High Tech Valuation Services Group in San Francisco, and Access Venture Partners in Austin, Texas. Nathan has a BS in Commerce from Santa Clara University and an MBA in Finance and Entrepreneurship from the McCombs School of Business (UT Austin).

He was also a member of Venture Capital Fellows, VP of the Entrepreneur Society, and co-founder of ProjectStartup.org. His blog can be found at www.SeedStageCapital.com. Nathan is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and a member of the Association for Investment Management Research.




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