How to Write a Winning Business Plan

Operations: This is a description of where the operations are located and what is involved in running the business. You should mention which functions will be taken care of in-house and which will be outsourced.

Launch Plan: If this is a new company or product line or a relaunch of an existing company, you should include a detailed spreadsheet showing the various activities that will occur each month for the first six to 12 months.

Financials: The investor wants to see a five-year projection and 12 to 24 months of cash flow. The investors want to see how the numbers were built. It's best to stay away from using percentages of the market, because no one believes anyone will capture 10% of whatever market they are focused on.

Your total plan with financials shouldn't be more than 30 pages in length. It should also be written in a Word document and be short, concise and grammatically correct. The reason I mention conciseness and grammar is because investors get a sense of who you are by how you write. If you write long-winded documents, they will assume you are long-winded and take a long time to get things done. Sloppiness indicates you don't pay attention to detail.

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