Drawing A Business Plan

Before deciding exactly what that looks like and how to create it, there are some critical questions to answer and factors to understand.

Just because it is the status quo should never be a line in the vocabulary of a startup founder today.

Getting lost in rehashing and dragging out a business plan for a year or more can cost your startup the optimal moment to get to market and the best funding opportunities.

Too many founders have also tried to cram the equivalent of a business plan into a pitch deck, only to find it is a hindrance to getting the results they want.

This is especially true for those considering funding that involves commercial real estate or a SBA loan.

This is a brief 1-3 page document that sums up your business and plan, and gives viewers enough info to decide whether they want to see any more data or not.Harvard Business Review (HBR) says “the real key to succeeding in business is being flexible and responsive to opportunities.Entrepreneurs often have to pivot their business once it becomes clear that their original customer is not the right customer, or when it turns out that their product or service fits better in an alternate market.We look for functional prototypes and customer development and most importantly, scalability.Can you scale customer acquisition cheaply and measurably?You should have a plan in order to get yourself organized, to ensure you have some type of viable commercial potential, you have focus and hopefully aren’t going to run out of money or starve before you get going.If that’s all you need, and you don’t plan to raise money, apply for loans and don’t intend on bringing in partners, then you certainly don’t need a 25lb manuscript. In fact, Brian Chesky (found of Airbnb) is famous for his one-page business plan for global domination.SCORE offers fillable worksheets covering these key pages in your business plan for your startup business: Summary A business plan still plays a critical role in launching a profitable and sustainable venture today.New trends and the data show us that the best time to complete a robust plan may now come later in the journey than it used to.Even your friends and family, or the most aggressive angel investors.Things have changed., a business plan is still a must for some scenarios and some reasons.