Sample
Business Plan Template
<<Company Logo>>
<<Company Name>>
Business plan
<<Prepared
by:__________________>>
<<Date>>
Table of Contents
Page
Confidentiality
Agreement ii
1)
Executive Summary 1
2)
Company Description 2
Promoters, shareholders and Board 2
Advisors 2
Products and services 2
Long Term Aim of Business 2
Objectives 2
S.W.O.T. Analysis 2
3)
Market Analysis 3
Target market 3
Total market valuation 3
Targeted share 3
Market trends 3
Profile of competitors 3
Competitive advantage 4
Benefits to clients 4
4)
Marketing/Sales Strategy 5
Income sources 5
Marketing strategy 5
Pricing 5
Advertising and Promotion 5
Sales Strategy 6
5)
Research & Development 7
Patents, copyrights and brands 7
Product/Service Development 7
R&D 7
6)
Staffing and Operations 8
Management Organisation Charts 8
Staffing 8
Training Plans 8
Operations 8
7)
Financial Projections 9
Key
Assumptions 10
Profit and
Loss Accounts 11
Balance
Sheets 12
Cashflow Projections 13
8)
Sales Pipeline 14
9)
Funding Requirements 15
10)
Appendices 16
Confidentiality
Agreement
The undersigned reader
acknowledges that the information provided in this business plan is
confidential; therefore, the reader agrees not to disclose it without the
express written permission of <<Company/Promoter>>.
It is acknowledged by the
reader that information to be furnished in this business plan is in all
respects confidential in nature, other than information that is in the public
domain through other means, and that any disclosure or use of this confidential
information by the reader may cause serious harm or damage to <<Company>>.
Upon request, this document
is to be immediately returned to <<Company/Promoter>>.
__________________________
Signature
__________________________
Name
(printed)
__________________________
Date
This is a business plan. It does not imply offering of securities.
1. Executive Summary
<< Introduce promoters here, and the reason you are
now preparing this Business Plan.
This section should not be completed until the business
plan is written. It will highlight all
milestones in the company’s development over the next five years. It should sum up the following areas:
·
Purpose of the plan
·
Product or service and its advantages
·
Market opportunity
·
Management team
·
Track record, if any
·
Financial projections
·
Funding requirements
Financial
projections should be summarised and highlighted. The following format is suggested as a guide:
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Year 1
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Year 2
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Year 3
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Sales
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Exports
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Net Profit before Tax
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Investment
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Employment
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!
Remember
that potential investors often make a provisional judgement based on the
executive summary, and that their decision to read the main body of the
business plan will depend on the information presented here. The appendices at the back of the plan
contain more detailed information to support the main text of the business
plan. >>
2. Company Description
Promoters and Shareholders
<<
Description of the people involved in starting the business:
- Promoters
- Management structure and
areas of responsibility
- Shareholders names, no.
of shares, % shareholding and cash investment to date
Advisors
<<
Financial, legal, and other advisors should be listed, with names, addresses
and contact details. >>
Products and services
<<
Explain clearly what your product or service is and what it does.
- Background to its
development
- Benefits and Features
- Unique selling points
- Advantages to customers
- Disadvantages or weak
points
- Future developments >>
Long Term Aim of the Business
<<
State the long-term aim of the new business. >>
Objectives
<<
State the specific milestones to be achieved by the company over the next five
years (sales, exports, employment, product development, etc). >>
SWOT Analysis
<< Analyse the
strengths and weaknesses of the business and product or service, the
opportunities that exist in the marketplace, and the threats to the viability
of the project. This is best done in a
matrix diagram as follows:
|
Strengths
|
Weaknesses
|
|
Opportunities
|
Threats
|
>>
3. Market Analysis
<<
This section covers market research and competitor analysis. You must show that you have done the market
research to justify the projections made in your business plan. It must demonstrate that there is a viable
market and that you can beat the competition in the market for sales. >>
Target Market
<<
The market to which you are planning to sell the product or service. Analyse the segments of this market as
follows:
- Size of each market
segment
- Is the segment growing
or declining?
- Characteristics of
potential customers in each segment >>
Total Market Valuation
<<
Show the total potential value of the market for this type of product or
service, in all the targeted markets, domestic and international. >>
Target Company revenue
<<
These figures are the basis for the sales figures in your financial projections
and must be based on realistic assessments. Include average deal size, length
of sales cycle, recurring revenues>>
Market Trends
<<
Analyse what is happening in the market:
- Recent changes
- Future predictions
- Drivers such as
demographic changes, economic and
legislative factors
- Implications for your
product or service
- Your plans to meet
future demands and changes in the market >>
Profile of Competitors
<<Analysis
of your competitors in the market:
- What are the competing
products and services?
- Profile of key players
(company size, turnover, profitability etc) and their market share
- Advantages and
disadvantages of the competitors’ offerings >>
Competitive Advantage
<<
This is your assessment of why potential customers will choose to buy your
product in place of those profiled above.
Advantages may include:
- Unique features
- Price
- New technologies or
systems
- Better value to
customers in terms of efficiency or ROI or cost/benefit ratios
- Greater compatibility
with existing systems
- Include any independent
validation or case studies >>
Benefits
to Clients
<< This is what your
product or service provides to potential customers in terms of their own
business goals. Does your product or
service enable them to:
- Increase sales
- Increase efficiencies
- Save money?
- Save time?
- Maximise resources?
- Reduce errors?
- Reduce downtime?
- Improve Customer Service, reduce churn,
increase loyalty
What will buying your product
or service actually do for the customer? >>
4. Marketing/Sales Strategy
<<
This section sets out your strategies for reaching your target market, arousing
their interest in your product or service, and actually delivering the product
or service to them in sales. >>
Marketing Strategy
<<
How you will position your product or service in the market and differentiate
it from its competitors:
- Which segments of the
market will be targeted first and why?
- How will this be
developed to reach the full target market?
- How will you
differentiate your product or service?
- What key benefits will
be highlighted?
- What potential customers
have you already targeted?
- Have you a test site in
operation, and what feedback is coming from this?
- What contacts can be
used to generate market awareness and sales?
- Who will do the
marketing: staff, agency, reps? >>
Revenue Sources
<<
What contributions to revenue and profit will your business have?
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Irl
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EU
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US
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Rest
of World
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Sales Strategy
<<
How you will sell your product or service to the target market.
- Directly
- Retail
- Distributor
- Agent
- Sales rep
- Website
- Revenue Sharing Partners
Analyse
for each method the costs involved, whether it will reach the intended market
efficiently, the control you would retain over the pricing and positioning, the
logistics, and the overall integration with your marketing strategy. State the
advantages of the methods you have chosen to sell your product or service.
>>
Pricing
<<
How you will set the price charged for your product or service. Considerations include:
- Competitors’ prices
- Level of competition in
the market
- Perception of
quality-price relationship by customers
- Production costs and
overheads
- Chain of distribution
and the added-value at each stage
- The extent to which the
buyer can control the price
State
how each product or service will be priced, referring to the income sources
above. >>
Marketing and Communications
Strategy
<<
How you will promote your product or service in the marketplace.
- Advertising – where,
when, how, to whom
- Public relations
- Direct marketing
- Website and internet marketing
- Exhibitions and
conferences
- Word of mouth >>
5. Research and Development
Technology Roadmap
<<
Show the intended future development of your product or service, i.e., changes
to meet future market demands, adaptations to international markets, or
upgrades. Also detail plans for new
products or services to add to the range.
Include
- Team/Department
structure
- Methodology
- Platforms used
- Milestones to be
achieved
- System Overview
Diagram>>
Research and Development
<<
Indicate whether you will have ongoing R&D as an activity of the company,
what areas this will be exploring and what future contributions to the company
you expect from this research. >>
Technical Partners
<<
List all partners and indicate nature of involvement >>
IP, Patents, Copyrights, Brands
<<
Indicate any protection available for your product or service: whether the
technology can be or has been patented, whether you can avail of copyright or
trademark registration, and the brand image you intend to build up as a protection
against competition. >>
6. Staffing and Operations
<<
This is where you will outline the intended structure of the company in terms
of management, number of employees, and
the physical operational requirements to produce or supply the product or service.
>>
Management (including Board) Organisation
Chart
<<
Include a diagram of the way in which the management of the new venture will be
organised. This should show the areas of
responsibility of each manager and the employees to be taken on over the next
three years. >>
Staffing
<<
State what employees will be taken on over the next three years, with which
skills, in which areas of the business. >>
Training Plans
<<
Outline the planned employee and management development to be undertaken in order
to maintain a skilled workforce. This
should also tie in with the future market developments and any new product or
service developments. >>
Operations
<<
State the physical requirements of the business:
- Premises
- Equipment
- Production facilities
- Infrastructure
- Communications
facilities
- Costs involved
- Suppliers >>
7. Financial Projections
I Key Assumptions p
II Profit and Loss Accounts p
III Balance Sheets p
IV Cashflow p
Requirements for Preparation of
Projections
1.
Opening
figures included based on latest Mgmt/Audited accounts
2.
Shareholders
Fund analysed into Share Capital, Share
Premium and Retained Profits
3.
Sales
Assumptions provided by unit, price segment & geography and reconciled to
pipeline
4.
Expenditure
categorised into R&D, Admin and Overheads and Promoters / key managers
salaries
5.
Identification
of monthly and cumulative company operational deficits
6.
Sensitivity
analysis may be required, detailing strategies to be implemented if sales or
expenditure targets are not met.
7.
Projections
should identify separately Operational Cash Flow and external Cash Injections
I Key Assumptions
<<
This section reviews the key assumptions used in the financial
projections. It is a guide to explain
how key figures in the financial projections were arrived at. Included here should be items such as:
- Income sources
- Number of employees
projected for each year and their intended salaries
- Projected investment in
equipment and materials
- Projected R&D costs
- Depreciation allowed for
- Expected rent and rates
charges
- Creditor days expected
and debtor days allowed
- Expense calculations
This
section should be brief and to the point.
Further detail regarding these items can be placed in the Appendices.
>>
II Profit & Loss Accounts
<<
Attach here projected profit and loss accounts for the first three years of the
company’s operations. >>
III Balance Sheets
<<
Attach here projected balance sheets for the first three years of the company’s
operations. >>
IV Cashflow
<<
Attach here a monthly cashflow prediction for the first two years of the
company’s operations. >>
8. Sales
Pipeline
Table
as follows:
|
Name
of Customer
|
Size
of Deal
|
Date
|
Probability
% of Getting
|
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|
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9. Funding
Requirements
<<
State here the total funding requirements of the business, and how those are
intended to be provided. You will also
need to state the approximate breakdown of how these funds are to be spent.
Sources:
- Promoters’ funds
- Bank lending
- Grants or loans from
agencies
- Investment already
received
- Investment sought
Required for:
- Equipment
- R&D
- Marketing
- Staffing >>
9. Appendices
<<
This section is used to provide the detailed data on which the main text of the
business plan is based, and to provide extra information of interest to the
readers of the business plan. Items for
inclusion in appendices vary from business to business, but normally include
some of the following:
- Promoters’ CVs
- Detailed financial
assumptions
- Most recent Company
Audited Accounts
- Share Cap table and
Investment history
- Term Sheet from
Potential Investors
- Detailed market research
findings
- Promotional literature
- Product or service
information
- Details of company
website
- Testimonials or letters
of intent from customers >>
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