Ten Questions Every Business Plan Must Answer
Are you getting ready to pitch investors? Then you need to make sure that your materials – your pitch deck, executive summary, and business plan – answer ten critical questions…
Business Plans Posts
Use Your Business Plan to Get on the Same Page
Most entrepreneurs think that business plans are only good for communicating with potential investors and lenders. Not true! Business plans are a very effective way for management teams to communicate with…
Ten Common Financial Model SNAFUs
I plan to publish a series of posts on mistakes I frequently see in financial forecasts (or pro-formas, or financial projections, or whatever you want to call them). I’ve segregated…
Write Better with Lists
Lists are a great way to convey information in business plans and other business documents. Unfortunately, many writers misuse lists, rendering their documents difficult to read. Here are a few…
Is the Business Plan Really Dead?
If you're an entrepreneur, you've probably come across a few articles proclaiming the Death of the Business Plan. And perhaps you breathed a huge sigh of relief and thought to…
The Elevator Pitch: Your Ticket to the Top
Every entrepreneur needs a convincing 'elevator pitch,' so named because it is the pitch you give if you happen to step into an elevator with the investor of your dreams…
Managing Your Startup’s Burn Rate
Cash is the fuel of every startup. Your burn rate is the rate at which that money is being spent, and allows an estimate of how long you can go…
You Don’t Have a Business Until You’ve Sold to Strangers
“Will the dogs eat the dog food?” This rather crude expression weighs heavily on the mind of all good startup founders, no matter how confident they appear. We all know…
10 Ways to Keep Your Business Plan Simple Yet Powerful
If you want people to invest in your idea, my advice is to write a simple business plan. Don't confuse your business plan with a doctoral thesis or the back…
The Ultimate Free Business Plan Template
A lot of entrepreneurs contact us to see if we can send them a business plan template. Frankly, we're flattered that you think we're smart enough to create The One…