How to Write a Great Business Plan


Book Description

Judging by all the hoopla surrounding business plans, you'd think the only things standing between would-be entrepreneurs and spectacular success are glossy five-color charts, bundles of meticulous-looking spreadsheets, and decades of month-by-month financial projections. Yet nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, often the more elaborately crafted a business plan, the more likely the venture is to flop. Why? Most plans waste too much ink on numbers and devote too little to information that really matters to investors. The result? Investors discount them. In How to Write a Great Business Plan, William A. Sahlman shows how to avoid this all-too-common mistake by ensuring that your plan assesses the factors critical to every new venture: The people—the individuals launching and leading the venture and outside parties providing key services or important resources The opportunity—what the business will sell and to whom, and whether the venture can grow and how fast The context—the regulatory environment, interest rates, demographic trends, and other forces shaping the venture's fate Risk and reward—what can go wrong and right, and how the entrepreneurial team will respond Timely in this age of innovation, How to Write a Great Business Plan helps you give your new venture the best possible chances for success.




The Perfect Business Plan Made Simple


Book Description

Successfully start your own profitable business Starting your own business is an American Dream. But raising money requires a polished business plan that sells financial backers on your idea. The Perfect Business Plan Made Simple approaches the business plan as a sales document that will persuade bankers and venture capitalists to invest in your new or growing enterprise. Featuring examples and detailed sample plans, this updated edition addresses legal concerns and special issues unique to internet-based businesses. Detailed writing instructions, overviews of the funding process, and explanations of why certain arguments are crucial make this guide invaluable to both novices and experienced entrepreneurs. Important topics include: • your business’s mission and strategy • the written plan and the role of presentations • the target audience principle • making financial projections • how to make and present a marketing plan • special considerations for service businesses • contingencies–what you’ll do if things go wrong • legal and ownership issues • dot-com businesses • a self-test to see if you’re cut out to be an entrepreneur Look for these Made Simple Books: Accounting Made Simple Arithmetic Made Simple Astronomy Made Simple Biology Made Simple Bookkeeping Made Simple Business Letters Made Simple Chemistry Made Simple Computer Science Made Simple Earth Science Made Simple English Made Simple French Made Simple German Made Simple Inglés Hecho Fácil Investing Made Simple Italian Made Simple Keyboarding Made Simple Latin Made Simple Learning English Made Simple Mathematics Made Simple Philosophy Made Simple Physics Made Simple Psychology Made Simple Sign Language Made Simple Spanish Made Simple Spelling Made Simple Statistics Made Simple Your Small Business Made Simple




Creating Business Plans (HBR 20-Minute Manager Series)


Book Description

A well-crafted business plan generates enthusiasm for your idea and boosts your odds of success--whether you're proposing a new initiative within your organization or starting an entirely new company. Creating Business Plans quickly walks you through the basics. You'll learn to: Present your idea clearly Develop sound financial plans Project risks--and rewards Anticipate and address your audience's concerns Don't have much time? Get up to speed fast on the most essential business skills with HBR's 20-Minute Manager series. Whether you need a crash course or a brief refresher, each book in the series is a concise, practical primer that will help you brush up on a key management topic. Advice you can quickly read and apply, for ambitious professionals and aspiring executives--from the most trusted source in business. Also available as an ebook.




Successful Business Planning in 30 Days


Book Description

Now in a newly updated and expanded 3rd edition, SBP30 is a concise, reader-friendly guide that contains all the information needed to craft a comprehensive business plan for any type of entrepreneurial activity within a 30-day time frame. It provides step-by-step procedures as well as hundreds of company startup and operating strategies. There is even a section showing readers how to create a mini- one day business plan in a single afternoon to give any current ideas they have a needed focus when time is of essence. Revised with international readers in mind, this 3rd edition also offers more than 200 educational and motivational quotations as well as 33 profit tips and 11 entrepreneurial success stories from around the globe. Enhanced with more than 100 time-saving checklists and worksheets, a sample business plan, and over 150 newly added sample paragraphs to help readers with the language of business, this guide is a key ingredient for anyone interested in planning a business.




The Nonprofit Business Plan


Book Description

A fresh, compelling approach to establishing a sustainable, results-driven nonprofit business plan. Nonprofits often use the terms “strategic planning” and “business planning” interchangeably, but a good business plan goes beyond the traditional strategic plan with its focus on mission and vision, goals and objectives. The Nonprofit Business Plan, created by the nationally recognized nonprofit consultant experts at La Piana Consulting, helps your nonprofit organization understand what a strategic business plan is and why you need one, then provides a practical, proven process for creating a successful, sustainable business model. This groundbreaking resource further explains how your nonprofit can determine whether a potential undertaking is economically viable—a vital tool in today’s economic climate—and how to understand and solve challenges as they arise. With detailed instructions, worksheets, essential tools, case studies, and a rigorous financial analysis presented clearly and accessibly for executives, board members, and consultants, The Nonprofit Business Plan is also an important resource for non-specialist audiences such as potential funders and investors. This innovative step-by-step guide will provide your team with a solid set of business decisions so that your nonprofit can achieve maximum results for years to come.




Inc. Magazine Presents how to Really Create a Successful Business Plan


Book Description

This comprehensive step-by-step guide takes you through the critical business planning issues of company strategy: What's your Identity? Marketing issues: Who are the buyers? Product/Service issues: What are you selling? Sales and promotion issues: How do you sell? and financial issues: How are you doing?




How to Prepare a Business Plan


Book Description

A good business plan should impress potential financial backers by clarifying aims, providing a blueprint for the future of your company and a benchmark against which to measure growth. Part of Kogan Page's Business Success series, with over 50,000 copies sold worldwide, How to Prepare a Business Plan explains the whole process in accessible language and includes guidance on: producing cash flow forecasts and sample business plans; expanding a business; planning the borrowing; and monitoring business progress. The author introduces several small businesses as case studies, analyses their business plans, monitors their progress and discusses their problems. How to Prepare a Business Plan helps new business owners to consider what they really want out of their business, and to map their own journey and gain a new understanding of their product's place in the market, as well as writing a business plan with the clarity, brevity and logic to keep bank managers interested and convinced. Whether looking to start up or expand, this practical advice will help anyone to prepare a plan that is tailored to the requirements of their business - one that will get the financial backing they need.




Business Planning: A Guide to Business Start-Up


Book Description

A readable and structured guide for the increasing numbers of people each year who consider setting up a small business or becoming self-employed. 'Business Planning' outlines the options and risks involved in setting up a business. The importance of thorough planning is often overlooked and only becomes evident if the business fails. This is highlighted in a recent study by the SFEDI of 486 bankers and accountants where lack of planning was the most common reason cited as to why businesses fail. 'Business Planning' shows how to avoid this failure by focusing on the planning stage and building on this framework as the business develops. This is the only book based around the Small Firms Enterprise Development Initiative (SFEDI) for first time owner-managers. It contains all the underpinning factual information required to prepare and present a successful Business Plan for presentation to a bank manager, or an alternative potential source of finance, or for use in an NVQ portfolio. It is in line with the major syllabuses for Business Start-Up, and can be used as a course book for anyone completing a formal NVQ level 3 qualification in this area, with tips on NVQ structure and assessment.




Business Plans that Work: A Guide for Small Business 2/E


Book Description

Turn your great idea into BIG PROFITS with a powerful, persuasive business plan! With any endeavor, good planning is the key to good results—especially in the launch of a new business or product. Business Plans That Work gives you an easy-to-follow template for conceptualizing, writing, focusing, and revising a business plan that converts your business idea into financial profit. A virtual blueprint for entrepreneurial success, this new edition of the popular entrepreneur’s guide provides all the tools you need to communicate the value of your idea to investors and attract key talent, and create a plan you can turn to throughout the entire process of starting and running a business. You’ll learn how to: Determine what to include in each plan, why, and for whom Secure the capital you need to get the project off the ground Assess opportunities and risks involved in your project Avoid common pitfalls that cost money, time, and effort With Business Plans That Work, you have everything you need to create winning strategies for development, sales, marketing, operations, distribution, and everything else successful ventures are founded on.




The Business Plan Workbook


Book Description

One of the most important steps in launching or expanding a venture is the creation of a business plan. The absence of a written business plan can lead to failure for new businesses, and inhibit growth and development. Based on methodology developed at Cranfield School of Management, The Business Plan Workbook takes a practical approach to the topic of business planning. Perfect for those growing businesses, as well as a range of academic and professional courses, this title takes the reader step-by-step through each phase of the development of a business plan, from creating a competitive business strategy to its writing and presentation. With 29 corresponding assignments that each includes case studies such as Hotmail, Cobra Beer, IKEA and Amazon, actively engaging questions and worksheets, it will enable you to validate your business idea, brand your business, research your market, and raise finance. This new edition includes an additional assignment covering online content, key words, SEO, Social Media, traffic tracking, affiliate marketing and online advertising. With a range of fresh case studies including BrewDog, Chilango and Honest Burgers, this fully updated ninth edition of The Business Plan Workbook is an invaluable and comprehensive guide to all aspects of business planning.