[chiakhai]

Recently i joined a competition where we have to come out with our own business idea. My team was fortunate to qualify the initial phase and its now only 30 teams left. They sent us to a half day business plan workshop to prep us.

The current phase is to write a proper business plan for VCs to read. Out of the 30 teams only 8 teams will qualify for the final phase which is to pitch to them in person.

Taking a step at a time, I would be very grateful for words of advice and helpful links on fleshing out our idea, phrasing words (and numbers ), and anything else you think would be good to keep in mind.

Currently, there are about 3 weeks left before we have to print out ten copies of the business plan to them. The business plan should have about 10 pages also.

They gave us a rough guide:

Exec Summary, Business Description, Market Potential, Competition, Marketing Plan, Management Team, Resources Requirements, Implementation Plan, Risk Assessment, and Financial Plan. Each should be a page long and 2 pages for the Financial Plan.

Help and encouragement welcome.

[akula]

here's lots of biz plan/pitch advice from hundreds of active venture capitalists

here are the actual important things you can do to win the comp:

- complete some customer surveys
- get letters of intent signed with customers and distributors
- put a seasoned entrepreneur with vc exit track record on your board
- put together a website/sales collateral and start publishing progress reports

in other words, when you do your pitch, you'll show that you have potential customers, the team and the beginnings of the required infrastructure

the point: all you 30 teams will have the same repetitive crap in your plans. if you wanna stand out you need to show more. every venture investor assumes that biz plans are feel good fairytales that are subject to change..what they're looking for is a team who can sell stuff, change the business plans as conditions require, and continue with the business even if you lose the comp

I've been through a lot of these business planning things and the guys who win are those who a) go above and beyond the plan to actually some real business outcomes b) have great presentation skills

[peterkao]

Originally Posted by akula

here are the actual important things you can do to win the comp:

- complete some customer surveys
- get letters of intent signed with customers and distributors
- put a seasoned entrepreneur with vc exit track record on your board
- put together a website/sales collateral and start publishing progress reports

in other words, when you do your pitch, you'll show that you have potential customers, the team and the beginnings of the required infrastructure

Yep, I agree with you on that one. My adviser from my university said the exact same thing. You have to prove to them that the idea will work. A few words strung together by repetitive jargon isn't enough!

[Cole Taylor]

OP,

You have 30 seconds to not only capture, but keep their attention. Yes you need content, i.e a defensible business model, but keep in mind they're never going to get that far without a rock solid executive summary.

Write it, revise it and bounce it off people in the industry...rinse, repeat. You may have to do this a dozen times so you better get started.

[chiakhai]

Guys all these posts are getting me revved up! Thanks.

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Remember that even in competition, it's not always just about the plan, but also about those implementing it.