Remember Me
forgot your password?

Ideal Length of Your Business

Business plans, like other marketing communications documents, should be visually appealing and easy-to-read. This can be accomplished by using charts and graphics and by formatting the plan for readability. Effectively using these techniques will enable the investor to more quickly and easily understand the company’s value proposition within fewer pages.

While the body of the business plan should be 15 to 25 pages, the Appendix can be used for supplemental information. The Appendix should include a full set of financial projections, and as appropriate, technical and/or operational drawings, partnership and/or customer agreements, expanded competitor reviews, and lists of key customers among others.

If the Appendix is long, a divider should be used to separate it from the body of the plan, or a separate Appendix document should be prepared. These techniques ensure that the investor is not handed a thick business plan, which will make them queasy before even opening it up.

How long should a business plan be? A business plan needs to be whatever length is required to excite the investor, prove that management truly understands the market, and detail the execution strategy. From surveys of investor needs, Growthink has found that 15 to 25 pages of text is the optimum length in which to accomplish this. Anymore and the time-constrained investor will be forced to skim certain sections of the plan, even if they are generally interested, which could lead them to miss essential elements. Any less and the investor will think that the business has not been fully thought through, or will simply not have enough information to make an investment decision.

Many management teams feel that their company is too complex to describe in 15 to 25 pages. While this is sometimes true, the business plan is not meant to tell the whole story. Rather, the company must be “boiled down” into its essential elements. If the investor is interested, there will be plenty of additional time to tell the whole story.

To summarize, the goal of the business plan is to create interest – not to have an investor write you a check. In creating interest, the full story of your company need not be told. Rather, the plan should include the essential elements regarding why an investor should invest and spend more time examining the business opportunity. The shorter length does not mean that your business plan should take less time to prepare. Rather, it will take more time. As Mark Twain once said, “If I had more time, I would write a shorter story.” Likewise, condensing your business plan to a concise, compelling document is challenging and time consuming. Fortunately the rewards are significant.

DHARMESH

Did you find this article useful? For more useful tips and hints, points to ponder and keep in mind, techniques, and insights pertaining to Internet Business, do please browse for more information at our websites. http://www.adsence-dollar-factory.com http://www.100earningtips.com

Rate this Article: 0 / 5 stars - 0 vote(s)
Print Email Re-Publish

Add new Comment



Captcha

  • Latest Business Articles
  • More from DHARMESH

SEO and Online Fitness Marketings Tips from A Fitness Marketing Expert

By: Steve Hochman | 03/01/2010
Online fitness marketing is like a Pandora's box of opportunity for success and trouble, for making easy money or for wasting your time and money. Learn how to prioritize and make the most of it all.

All About John Deere Toys

By: Michelle.Pearson | 03/01/2010
The company that started with a plow and is world renown for great farm equipment not surprisingly offers a wide selection of toys, in particular John Deere Toy Tractors. John Deere Farm Toys range from infants to the adult collectible replica enthusiast. John Deere Learning Curve items offer fun imaginative play...

How You Can Make Money and Work From Home

By: Richard Vennes | 03/01/2010
Are you tired of your dead-end job? Tired of going nowhere? Are you worried about your future? Wondering if your job will be the next to be cut? Have you thought about working on the internet? Do you want to run your own business? The internet is very exciting. You can...

Business Use of Limousine Services is on the Rise

By: Stephen A Daniels | 03/01/2010
Businesses are increasingly utilizing limousine services in place of other modes of transportation such as taxis, public transit, or rental cars. While most people think of this form of travel as prohibitively expensive, it can be cost effective as compared to the maintenance of a company vehicle and driver. As far...

Why Outsourcing Can Save You Thousands of Hours Over Time

By: James Trent | 03/01/2010
In order to develop the key aspects for discovering legitimate outsourcing for your business, first and foremost you should spend some quality time online analyzing and researching various options and opportunities that may interest you. A number of experts and authors are available online to advise you on the many ways in developing the correct outsourcing plan for your business.If you are truly serious about outsourcing read this article now.

Look before You Leap When Ordering Flowers Online

By: Michael Atma | 03/01/2010
Buying anything online these days is easy, all you need is a credit card. However, do you really know exactly what you'll be getting for your money when you order flowers online? You might be surprised at where most of your money really goes.

Finding a Dependable Commercial Cleaning Services For Your Company

By: Loren Yadeski | 03/01/2010
For any company looking to develop their operations, they need to include new office space or commercial property. They also must hire commercial cleaning services which is an essential part of the game plan. The appearance of a company's office space is one of the first impressions communicated to a...

Online Payday Loans - How To Find The Lowest Rate On Online Payday Loans

By: Matt Couch | 03/01/2010
Finding legitimate online payday cash advance lenders is not that difficult of a process but you have to know where to look as there are some lenders out there who will try to take advantage of desperate consumers and therefore it is really imperative that you compare payday loan lenders with reviews before choosing a lender.

12 Items CAN'T Sell On eBay

By: DHARMESH | 27/10/2009 | Business
Millions of would-be entrepreneurs want to sell things on eBay. EBay is the #1 home-business opportunity in the world right now, so it's natural that many are eager to find highly profitable items for re-sale on eBay. However, it's important to know that there are certain items that can't be sold. Here are a dozen of them ... Some items are copyright infringement and can actually land a seller in federal prison: 1. Knock offs of music, TV shows or movies. The "bootleg" movies, for example, a

Ideal Length of Your Business

By: DHARMESH | 27/10/2009 | Business
Business plans, like other marketing communications documents, should be visually appealing and easy-to-read. This can be accomplished by using charts and graphics and by formatting the plan for readability. Effectively using these techniques will enable the investor to more quickly and easily understand the company’s value proposition within fewer pages. While the body of the business plan should be 15 to 25 pages, the Appendix can be used for supplemental information. The Appendix should inc

How Well Do Listen?

By: DHARMESH | 26/10/2009 | Self Improvement
Listening is one of the most important skills you can have. It means being attentive to the other person and doing more than just creating the impression the conversation is important to you. You need to show the other person that you value what they are saying by giving them your full attention. Your ability to listen will have an impact on your effectiveness at work and home as well as your success in relationships with others. One would think we are better listeners than what we really are

Convert your Traditional IRA to a Roth IRA

By: DHARMESH | 26/10/2009 | Business
Convert your Traditional IRA to a Roth IRA Is this a Good Time to Convert? There is a conversion tax to pay when you convert your traditional IRA to a Roth IRA but there may be advantages to converting now. If you’re one of the many people who have noticed a significant drop in your IRA due to the stock market and economy then this would be a great time to convert as you would have less to pay in taxes. Though it is discouraging to see your account balance drop, you will be able to enjoy the ta

POSTCARD: THE NEXT BIG THING & Publishing Special Reports And EBooks At No Cost

By: DHARMESH | 23/10/2009 | Internet Marketing
Just having a postcard to promote your business is not enough. You have to send these postcards out to your prospective clients although such process may seem easy enough to do still it requires proper planning. A postcard marketing company deals with aspects of marketing by means of color postcards. But before hiring the assistance of a postcard marketing company make sure that it has an excellent track record which can verify the quality of its service.

Why become a ghostwriter?

By: DHARMESH | 23/10/2009 | Internet Marketing
Ghostwriting can be rewarding in two ways. a) You get a chance to research and write about all types of topics that you would not normally have a chance to learn about. The old theory in writing, "write what you know" does not apply to ghostwriting since your clients will dictate what topic you will write about. b) You can make a decent living at it. If you are new to writing, it may take a while to get clients but it is possible. It just takes a little hard work and perseverance. There are se

Benefits of Water for Human Health…

By: DHARMESH | 23/10/2009 | Health
Nature has blessed us with one of its most precious gifts-Water. It is one of the most vital components of all living beings. Water carries all the essential nutrients throughout the body though it is not a food. Its importance lies in the fact that a person can stay without food for some time, but not without water. It is more important than food. Water possesses a unique property-versatility. It can be used for various purposes and various needs of the body. It is advantageous in any form be i

Your Best Home Business

By: DHARMESH | 23/10/2009 | Business
The best links you should try to build for your best home business are definitely one way links. One way links are back links which link from another website to yours without any need for you linking back from your site. A lot of people with great home business ideas are unsure of reciprocal link exchange. Has reciprocal linking lost its value in search engine optimization? Forget Traditional Reciprocal Link Exchange Best home business owners have now realized that Google and other search eng

Submit Your Articles Free: Signup

Use of this web site constitutes acceptance of the Terms Of Use and Privacy Policy | User published content is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Copyright © 2005-2008 Free Articles by ArticlesBase.com, All rights reserved. (0.32, 5, w3)