Many potentially great entrepreneurs are put off by having to write formal business plans and cash flow forecasts. They just simply want to get on with it. Lets face it most of the time any future forecasts of revenue in 90% of new start-ups is pure guesswork. We all know this but we still have jump through hoops. However what a plan and financial forecasting does show is that you have thought about how your business will operate and how you intend to make money. If your projections are unrealistic then you will fail at the first hurdle. They also demonstrate that you can handle money responsibly.

If you have a great idea but are not sure how all of this works then don't worry. That is why we are here. It is the idea that is important and we will help you through these hurdles if we feel the idea is right. If you are concerned about keeping your idea confidential then we are happy to sign a non disclosure agreement.

THE KEY TO ANY SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS IS NOT ONE INDIVIDUAL THOUGH THEY ARE OFTEN THE KEY DRIVER BUT HOW THAT PERSON GETS THE MOST FROM THOSE THEY WORK WITH, BOTH INSIDE AND OUTSIDE OF THEIR BUSINESS.

We work in partnership with you and develop your idea with you. We are here to work with you and we will help where we can. Take a look at what is written below and send us your idea.

 There are many guides and ways to write an executive summary. The job of the executive summary is to sell, not to describe. The executive summary is often your initial contact with a potential investor, so it is important that you create the right first impression.

YOU NEVER GET A SECOND CHANCE TO MAKE A FIRST IMPRESSION

You do not need to explain the entire business plan you need to convey its essence. You have about 30 seconds to grab an investor’s interest. You want to be clear, compelling and enthusiastic

GET THEIR ATTENTION

Start with a concise statement of the unique solution you have developed to a big problem. This sets the tone for the rest of the executive summary. It should be direct and specific, not abstract and conceptual. If you can drop some impressive names in the first paragraph you should—world-class advisors, companies you are already working with, a brand name founding investor.

THE PROBLEM

You need to make it clear that there is a big, important problem (current or emerging) that you are going to solve, or opportunity you are going to exploit. In this context you are establishing your Value Proposition—there is enormous pain and opportunity out there, and you are going to increase revenues, reduce costs, increase speed, expand reach, eliminate inefficiency, increase effectiveness, whatever.

THE SOLUTION

What specifically are you offering to whom? Use commonly used terms to state concretely what you have, or what you do, that solves the problem you’ve identified. Avoid acronyms and you might need to clarify where you fit in the value chain or distribution channels—who do you work with in your sector, and why they will work with you. If you have customers and revenues, make it clear. If not, tell the investor when you will.

THE OPPORTUNITY

Provide the basic market segmentation, size, growth and dynamics—how many people or companies, how much money, how fast the growth, and what is driving the sector. You will be better off targeting a meaningful percentage of a smaller, well-defined, growing market than claiming a microscopic percentage of a huge, heterogeneous, mature market.

YOUR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

No matter what you might think, you have competition. At a minimum, you compete with the current way of doing business. Most likely, there is a near competitor, or a direct competitor that is about to emerge. Understand what your competitive advantage is, and state it. Here is where you can articulate your unique benefits and advantages. You should be able to make this point in one or two sentences.

THE MODEL

How specifically are you going to generate revenues, and from whom? Why will it be capital efficient? What are the critical metrics on which you will be evaluated—customers, licenses, units, revenues, margin? Whatever it is, what levels will you reach within three to five years?

THE TEAM

Why is your team uniquely qualified to win? Don’t tell us you have 48 combined years of expertise in widget development; tell us your CTO was the lead widget developer for Intel, and she was on the original IEEE standards committee for arc-widgets. Explain why the background of each team member fits. If you can, state the names of brand name companies your team has worked for.

THE PROMISE

When you are pitching to investors, your fundamental promise is that you are going to make them a shedload of money. The only way you can do that is if you can achieve a level of success that far exceeds the capital required. Your Financial Projections should clearly show that. But if they are not believable, then all of your work is lost. You should show at least three years of revenues, expenses, losses/profits, cash and headcount. You should also show a key driver or two, such as number of customers and units shipped each year

THE ASK

This is the amount of funding you are asking for now. This should generally be the minimum amount of equity you need to reach the next major milestone. You can always take more if investors are willing to make more available, but it is hard to take less. If you expect to be raising another round of financing later, make that clear, and state the expected amount.

You should be able to do all this in six to eight paragraphs, possibly a few more if there is a particular point that needs emphasis. You should be able to make each point in just two or three simple, clear, specific sentences.

This means your executive summary should be about two pages, maybe three. Some people say it should be one page. They’re wrong. (The only reason investors ask for one page summaries is that they are usually so bad the investors just want the suffering to be over sooner.) Most investors find that there is not enough information in one page to understand and evaluate a company.