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3 Parts of a Business Plan to Focus On
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Each section of your business plan builds the story of your business, hopefully convincing a reader, bit by bit, of the logic of funding the company. There are three sections which are absolutely essential to this story and, therefore, to the process of fundraising.
Executive Summary
The executive summary is your business plan in miniature, a one to two page digest of the entire document. The main points of each section to follow are covered here and charts are used to show the financial returns the company expects. This section is very important because, like a handshake and introduction, it creates a first impression with readers for which you only get one chance. The executive summary must hook readers, not through mystery or dramatics, but through the validity of the business idea, logic of the argument, and rationality of the strategy chosen.
Customer Analysis
This section is the basis for much that follows, providing a breakdown of the major customer groups which will be sought out and sold to. The specifics of who these customers are, what they value in your product or service, and what drives their decision-making should all be covered in this section. Without a deep customer analysis, competitor research is meaningless as it is unclear how it relates to your specific customers, and a marketing plan with focused tactics will be difficult to create.
Operations Plan
Although not as glamorous as marketing, company operations forms the backbone of the business going forward. The plan for operations should show your understanding of short-term processes, such as sales, order fulfillment, production, and bookkeeping, as well as long-term processes of growth, innovation, hiring, and training. Without an operations plan, it will be unclear to readers whether you have any sense of how to run the company on a daily basis and what type of skills and training will be needed for employees.
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