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VCI has been around for years helping people and businesses from every walk of life or niche, get their thoughts and ideas into print through quality writing.

Call today and get your ideas in print,or wait, and risk that your competition will do it first, leaving you lost in their dust.

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Venture Capital Int, Thomas Duffy,
Managing Director
Office 860-350-4440
Cell: 203.775.9999
Fax: 203.648.4942
Skype ID VCI.LLC
http://www.venturecapital-advisors.com

A business plan is as much of a management tool as it is a document. It should force the management team to think through the business issues facing them, including: what is the product or service, why it is needed, how much it is needed and who needs it.

In addition, the plan should outline what the team has and will do to deliver the products to the customer and create value for the shareholders. The entire management team often participates in developing the plan.

In addition to the above, we will need information regarding:

• The management team
• Existing owners
• An analysis of the opportunity, the industry and competition
• Financial results: historical and projected (income statement, balance sheet and cash flows)

Good business plans come in many flavors. Their organization is varied, the level of detail ranges from little to much, graphics range from non-existent to overwhelming and the plan may be stapled, placed in a three ring binder, or bound. The point is that the content should take precedence over packaging.

Good plans show a systematic approach to analyzing the market opportunity and showing that management will be able to execute.

The following outline provides an idea of what we look for in a good business plan:

Executive Summary

A 2-3 page overview of the business plan. This is typically the first thing that venture capitalists turn to (the second is the section on the management team). The Executive Summary should outline what the company has done so far and what it plans to do in the future, and explain why this is important or valuable.

Areas to cover are what the product or service is, why it is in demand, who will pay money for it and how much, and how large the market is. Additionally it is important to note the progress the company has made in product development and in terms of revenues and other financial measures, the experience and background of the management team, the financing desired and the uses planned for it, and of course how to contact the company.

And don’t forget to add how much in funding dollars you are seeking. Often times, we see Executive Summaries that manage to exclude how much money is being requested. Remember, we want to make it as easy as possible for the investor(s) to make their decisions.

Industry & Market Analysis

This section should explain the basis for the need for the company’s product or service, how urgent the need is, and how large the need is.

Questions often covered are: Is the industry new or well-established? Is the need well recognized or still undiscovered? Who are customers: consumers, the government, or businesses? Who are the competitors, what are their abilities and weaknesses, why have they succeeded or failed, what is their market share, etc? Where will competitors be in eighteen months in terms of market position and product capability?

Here a competitive matrix can be useful: comparing you to your competitors in terms of financial performance & resources, target markets, product functionality, product pricing, areas of strength and weaknesses, key customers, and the like.

Target Market

What is your target market and why? What are its dynamics, size, locale, etc? Is it stable or evolving rapidly? Who makes the purchasing decisions and how long is the typical sales cycle? How much of the market can you expect to gain with the resources that you plan to have? What is the competitive pricing situation? What are industry gross margins? What barriers to entry face players in the industry and what regulatory issues must be handled? (If this company is in a regulated industry such as medical or telecommunications, the regulatory section may need to be separate.) Are any customers critical, or do any account for a disproportionate share of your current or forecasted revenues?

The Company & Management

This section should offer a brief history of the company. Explain what business the company plans to be in, what the company does particularly well, and who it is that is doing so – i.e., the management, board, and ownership team.

The management team organization, summaries of each of key management team resumes (with complete resumes provided in the appendix), holes in the team that you plan to fill, all are placed here. Additionally, information on the board of directors is also useful. An ownership table showing all shareholders, the number and type of shares, their percent of ownership, and the options granted and available is another important part of this section. Also note how the company is organized, as an LLC, Sub-S, C Corporation, etc.

Product/Services Offered

This is where you explain what you are selling or planning to sell. Do you have any “unfair” advantages such as patents, copyrights, and the like? Why should customers choose you over the competition, and have they so far? How long should this advantage last if you do nothing more? What will you need to do to create, maintain, or expand upon the advantages (R&D, sales team development, customer partnerships, law suits, etc)? What is the current R&D effort and what are its goals and milestones? What R&D efforts are underway with your competitors.

Marketing & Sales Plan

This section explains how you plan to reach your target customers.

How will you acquire customers, and how much will that cost? What distribution channels do you plan to use, and what methods of marketing communication make sense? Will you build an internal sales force, use independent reps, use telemarketing, etc., and how will you compensate each. What is your revenue and unit break-even, and how does that tie to your sales strategy?

Manufacturing/Operations/Logistics

This section should cover how you design, develop, manufacture the product or provide the service(s).

Is this handled internally or by subcontractors?
Who are key subcontractors and what is their expertise and background?
How proprietary is the design and manufacturing component?
Is manufacturing capital-intensive or people-intensive?
What is capacity utilization on average and at peak?
What economies of scale are possible?
Do you have critical suppliers?

Financial Data

You should provide historical financial data such as income statements, balance sheets and cash flow statements for the past 3-5 years if available, and note whether the results were audited, reviewed by an outside accountant, or compiled. Additionally, year-to-date results should also be provided. Also you should explain significant items in the results, and analyze the trends and key ratios.

The other major component of the financial section is the forecast. Here you should project the next 3-5 years (including the current year) of performance for the income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement, and if appropriate, provide detail on capital expenditures. The projections should be done on both an annual as well as either quarterly or monthly basis, since cash needs during the year can often far exceed cash needs at the end of a year.

The major assumptions behind your projections should be explained. Changes in key ratios from historical results should also be explained. Often it is helpful to show some sensitivity analysis – the effect of changes in key variables such as growth, gross margins, sales cycle, and the like on the income statement and cash position. (Additionally it is useful to provide compensation history and projections on each member of the management team.)

Appendices

Here you should include resumes of the key management members, any product literature or brochures, analyses of the market or industry, or relevant articles that would help an outsider understand the significance of your company and the need that you are meeting.

What are grants?

There is a way to get a grant and we make it easier for you with our half up front and the rest at end . We have secured over 67 million in grants for companies and municipalities,we find the best grant for your company we write it and we file it for you
Types of federal grants include project grants awarded for medical or other types of research, categorical grants for narrowly-defined purposes where the recipient usually has to come up with funds to match the federal money given, block grants in which the receiving agency has a little more allowance in how to use the money than with a categorical grant, and earmark grants which are congressional appropriations not competitively bid.

Call Thomas Duffy to find out more 860-350-4440 or 203-775-9999

Grant Categories

First and foremost, make a business plan for the New Year. Think about what you have to accomplish in order to increase revenues, consider the implications of executing that strategy for every aspect of your company and plan accordingly.
Invest in your most important asset – yourself. If you need some extra skills to manage more effectively, get some training. There are many business seminars and short term training opportunities that are offered for business owners, ranging from accounting to managing tax issues. Entrepreneur University provides training covering most of the basic skills in starting, managing and financing a new company. Find other opportunities in the newspaper, online, at your local county college, and by word of mouth. Remember that your employees might become much more productive with some additional training, too.
Do a serious sales projection, and think about how many new customers you could win over by making personal sales calls (a personal telephone call to the CEO is a good second choice). Next, make a schedule to contact those prospects a few at a time over the course of the next month – then do it!
No one is indispensable. Train your closest subordinate to handle the day-to-day managerial tasks in the office so you can get out more and meet your prospects – and stay close to your customer. If you get sick this winter it will be a decided advantage if someone else knows how to complete those tasks while you’re eating chicken soup.
Invest in some new equipment and save yourself some time. If your computer is more than three years old, youÕre probably spending too much time waiting for programs to load or getting on the Internet. Just adding another 32 Megabytes of memory could make you think it’s a new machine, so could a cable modem or DSL line? Perhaps your staff might be more productive too, if they didn’t constantly have to nurse ancient equipment.
What about some additional financing? Money seldom solves all problems, but in almost twenty years of business consulting I have seldom seen a company that couldn’t benefit from an injection of working capital. If you need some extra cash to buy that new equipment, or expand your marketing program, consider taking a short-term loan to cover all or part of the expense. Interest rates are presently low, and you’ll be investing in your own success.
Get professional help. Thinking that you can save money if you do it all yourself frequently costs you more as you struggle to ascend the learning curve. Why not hire someone who has the skill set you need rather than depending on your brother-in-law or one of the kids? Accountants, attorneys, and consulting professionals should all be considered part of your management team. Use them more effectively by assigning them the tasks you can’t do yourself. Sure, it costs you, but not getting the work done can cost you more in terms of lost business and dissatisfied clients.
If you’re just starting out, consider moving into a business incubator as a launching pad or development location for your business. Incubators can save you a lot of time and rent by providing shared services so you don’t have to buy a copier or fax machine, or rent a conference room. Most important, incubators provide the advice and counsel of an experienced manager who can act as your advisor. Tenant companies in business incubators have a survival rate exceeding 80% – a significant contrast to that of most new companies. (The State of New Jersey supports incubators at Rutgers University, Stevens Tech, NJIT, Burlington County College and other locations as well.)
Look into establishing a company website. The Internet is clearly not just a craze, and the ability of a new company to be more credible and look like a larger company is obvious. There are plenty of website developers in New Jersey and you can have a website created for your company for as little as a few hundred dollars. There are in excess of 50,000,000 users on the Internet today. How many are potential customers and clients for your company? Can you afford not to participate?
In the end it’s all about execution. If you have the time, talent and dedication you’ll eventually be successful, but clients demand that you provide what you say you can provide, or service the products you sell them. Now start your plan!

The angel will first be attracted by the sex appeal and opportunity of your project. Does your project have the necessary sex appeal that will push an angels hot buttons. You are in lumber and housing therefore you are unlikely to find an investor from food manufacturing or pharmacy industries. It will be an individual or group that has an affinity with your industry sector. He/she will look at the opportunity and ask questions like how can I contribute apart from dollars, where could this opportunity lead too, what is the exit strategy if required or long term picture and so on.

The angel will then look at you the individual and your people. Let’s face it. You are out selling yourself and wanting to establish a long-term business relationship that will happily end in marriage. If the angel does not like you it is over before you start. He is going to look at you and you will be measured. I have often met people wanting funding and they are busy spending money left right and center on non essentials of the business. (flash cars, offices, salaries etc) The investor wants to see if you are real and truly understand the basics of business.

An angel/investor is going to look at your numbers. The angel after all understands numbers and that is why he/she has money to invest. He/she is going to look at your financial projections and possible returns. He will review these numbers and very quickly determine if the numbers are realistic or not. it is better to be conservative than be out landish and unbelievable. Be absolutely real.

An investor will also want to know your level of commitment and just how hungry you are to succeed. Are you realistic with your valuations. How much of the pie are you willing to share. Are you willing to risk all that you have rather than risk the angels money. Have you over valued the business.

It is never easy but definitely achievable to secure your investment. You might want to structure the investment against you achieving defined mile stones over a set period of time. Break it down to five lots of 100k.

I appreciate your challenge and right now investors are out there but you have to do the initial ground work to attract them

I hope these thoughts help.
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