Business Plan Outline
Rich and Gumpert created - in 1985 - one of the best books on creating a business plan to raise money. Here's a simple summary of a business plan outline (Rich, 33):
The Company: Current Status, Objectives, Management, Management Objectives
Markets and Competition: Present Market, User Benefit, Markets Near and Long Term, Summary of project market, Competition, Projected sales and market share, Sales strategy to reach goals.
The Products: Theory of operation, Applications, Performance data, Economics and advantages, Present status, Scale-up requirements, Patents
Selling: Current, near-term and long-term selling method, Sales support, Custom engineering requirements, Pricing and Warranties
Manufacturing: Facilities, Make/buy decisions, Purchasing issues, Secondary sourcing, Engineering support, Quality, Staffing
Financial Data: Financial history, Expansion requirements and budgets, Financial projections, Current shareholders and their shares
Investment: Use of proceeds, Description of offering,
Rich, Stanley R. and David E. Gumpert. Business Plans That Win $$$. Lessons From the MIT Enterprise Forum. Harper & Row. 1985.