What Every Successful Business Plan Has in Common

1. Is the Idea Behind the Plan Convincing and Realistic?

The first and most important attribute that every business plan needs is an idea behind it. You need to hone your idea and vision until it shines. Make sure that your idea is solves a problem or, at the very least, fulfills a large untapped need. Just like a good book, your business plan needs to grab the reader’s attention in the first few seconds.

For example, if you have a software idea, for goodness sakes, don’t talk about the technology in the first line of your executive summary. Instead, talk about how people struggle and spend over 400 hours trying to create a report that your software can spit out in a nano-second.

2. Do You Have a Strong Team?

Without a great team, no business idea will make it to fruition. Investors are cautious by nature, they want to know that you have a strong team to back you up. And, don’t promise them that some anonymous big-shot from a Fortune 100 company will join as soon as you get funding. Gather your team together ahead of time and make sure they are committed enough to go with you to investor meetings.

3. What is the Market Opportunity?

All great business plans have a specific market opportunity and a plan to fulfill that market need. You do not need to have a billion-plus market opportunity. In fact, you will not be credible if you go in saying that your market is that large. Instead you should have a highly defined target market and a specific project plan for how to attack the market.

5. How is Your Business Different from the Competition?

All great businesses have a competitive advantage. They are quicker, better, faster, or more innovative than their competitors. Make sure you look very carefully at your potential competition and position yourself to be ahead of the pack. Then quantify this clearly in your business plan.

6. Are Your Financial Projections Realistic?

Love them or hate them, financial projections are the backbone of every business plan. Make sure you get help from a professional in creating your financial assumptions and projections. And, lastly, make sure you compare them to similar businesses to make sure that they are realistic. Unrealistic financials will very quickly mark you as an amateur.

If you can model your business plan with all of these elements that every successful business plan contains; then you will be well on your way to obtaining the funding that you need for your business.