Idriss Rami — Notes

Business plan

3 min read

A business plan is a written document — typically 25-35 pages — that describes what a new business plans to do, how, and why investors and stakeholders should support it. Two audiences: the people running the business (it keeps them aligned and on-track), and the people funding it (investors evaluating whether the venture is worth backing).

Types

  • Summary business plan (10-15 pages) — best for new ventures in early stages, used for initial conversations and preliminary screening.
  • Full business plan (20-35 pages) — best for new ventures actively seeking funding or financing. The standard format expected by serious investors.
  • Operational business plan (40-100 pages) — primarily internal, used as an operations blueprint with extensive implementation detail.

Twelve standard elements

  1. Executive summary — short overview, “TL;DR” for a busy reader. Should not exceed two single-spaced pages. Written last but presented first.

  2. Industry analysis — size, growth rate, sales projections, industry structure, key success factors, trends, long-term prospects.

  3. Company description — overview, history (if any), mission statement, products and services, current status, legal status and ownership, key partnerships.

  4. Market analysis — segmentation, target market selection, buyer behaviour, competitor analysis. Where in the industry the firm will focus.

  5. Economics of the business — revenue drivers, profit margins, fixed and variable costs, operating leverage, start-up costs, break-even charts. Where does profit come from?

  6. Marketing plan — overall strategy, positioning, points of differentiation, then the 4 P’s (product, price, promotion, distribution), plus sales process and tactics.

  7. Design and development plan — for ventures developing new products: status of development, challenges, projected development costs, IP issues (patents, trademarks, copyrights).

  8. Operations plan — how the business runs and how products are produced. “Back stage and front stage” — internal operations and customer-facing operations. Keep it short — don’t drown the reader.

  9. Management team and company structure — founders, key management, board of directors, board of advisors. Often the second thing investors read after the executive summary — they want to know who’s running the business.

  10. Overall schedule — major milestones: incorporating the venture, completing prototypes, renting facilities, obtaining financing, starting production, first sale. Shows the team has thought through what needs to happen.

  11. Financial projections — pro forma income statements, balance sheets, cash flows; sources-and-uses of funds; assumptions sheet; ratio analysis. The numbers behind the story.

  12. Presenting the plan — slide deck, rehearsal, anticipation of investor questions. Substance matters but so does delivery.

Standard pitch slide structure

The accompanying pitch deck typically includes 10-12 slides:

  1. Title
  2. Problem
  3. Solution
  4. Opportunity and target market
  5. Technology
  6. Competition
  7. Marketing and sales
  8. Management team
  9. Financial projections
  10. Current status
  11. Financing sought
  12. Summary

Practical guidance

  • Use software boilerplate templates as starting points — speeds writing and ensures coverage.
  • Be clear and concise — investors read many plans; brevity wins.
  • The plan should be long enough to convey the business, but no longer.
  • Expect questions and pushback. Have answers prepared, especially for financial assumptions.

For the inputs see Feasibility analysis and Business opportunity. For the financial-projection inputs see Pro forma financial statements and Financial management.

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