ENTREPRENEURSHIP 110 – FINAL BUSINESS PLAN
Whether a venture is large or small, it needs to begin with a venture plan. Your Venture Plan should include the following:
Title Page
p Name of business & owners
p Company logo
p Date assignment due/submitted
p Be creative & unique
Table of Contents
p Includes each major section
p Includes page numbers
p Neat and organized
Executive Summary – summarizing the most important points of your plan and introducing the venture to the reader. (1 page)
Company Overview
p Name of venture
p Contact person/key management
p Contact information: phone number, mailing address, email, and website
p Description of its nature and objectives & formation of organization
p Description of good or service
p Mission statement: type of venture, product or service, philosophy or purpose, and need/want being served
p Logo: clear, creative, appropriate and neatly presented
p Company vision
p Operating history and/or how the venture was conceived
p What makes the business unique
p Location of business & why
p Proposed timeline for its development
p Investors: why should someone invest in your company? Any security that can be offered to investors in exchange for their investment
SWOT
p 5 or more strengths listed and described
p 5 or more weaknesses listed and described
p 5 or more opportunities listed and described
p 5 or more threats listed and described
p All SWOT are strongly linked to other areas of the report
Market Analysis – describes the marketing research you conducted and the conclusions you drew from your research. Use of both Primary & Secondary Data is recommended. Including:
p Demographics of potential customers (age, gender, income, education, location, buying habits) including data (using StatsCan or other appropriate sources)
p Needs/Wants: Types of products/services you think your customers will buy and how you know
p Market trends and growth patterns (that suggest this is the right time to introduce your product/service)
p Analysis of Competition: Who are your competitors, where are they, how successful are they
p Sales Forecast – monthly forecast for one year & graph of market share vs. competition
p Target market description
p Analysis of Product – consider: features that will be emphasized and how you plan to make your product/service better than and/or different from competitors
p Analysis of Price – consider: profit, quality/cost of product/service, needs/wants of target market, demand and competition
p Analysis of Promotion – consider: the people to reach, cost, and suitability of medium
p Analysis of Place – consider: how product/service will get to customers, channels of distribution, where product/service will be made available
Resource Analysis – outlining material resources, human resources, and financial resources needed for the venture.
Including:
p Resources: What tools and equipment you will need & how you will get them
p Consumable and capital resources needed
p Any technological resources needed
p Human resource team: key management, board of directors, advisers, consultants, internal/external, job advertisements, where jobs will be posted
p Where your venture will be located
p How much space you will require & the kind of space you will require
p Whether you plan to buy or rent a facility, or operate without a facility
p Whether you’ll manufacture your products yourself or hire a contract organization to do it for you
p Which sources of raw materials you intend to use and how much these will cost
Operating Strategy – stating how you will manage these resources.
Including:
p Form of ownership: explanation of name registration process
p Analysis of employees: job descriptions, shift schedules, payment guidelines, relevant expertise of each team member, who will do each job, how the work will be supervised
p Human resource management (organizational chart recommended)
p Training of staff
p Layout of operating facility/production - What the operating facility will look like
p How the production process will be organized
p Where the supplies will come from and who will be in charge of ordering them
p What rules/regulations apply (including environmental) – licenses, insurance, contracts, taxes
Financial Strategy – describing the financial strategy used to capitalize the venture. Including:
p Statement of Financial Objectives
p How much it will cost to start the venture
p How much it will cost to keep the venture going after start-up
p The expected costs and revenue
p Chosen method to raise capital
p Other financial papers: sales forecasts, expected gross profit, administrative costs, balance sheet, break even analysis
p Exit strategy
Appendices – to include any additional, relevant, information that has not already been stated at the end of your report, referred to appropriately within the report. Suggestions include:
p Resumes of employers
p Major assumptions
p Brochures
p Letter of recommendations or endorsements
p Charts or graphs
p Application forms
p Advertisements or pictures
Format – should be:
p Free from all mechanical errors
p Times New Roman font size 12
p Double spaced
p 1 inch margins
p Headings are Bold and Underlined