What products or services do you offer or plan to offer? (See worksheet on page 21.)
TARGET MARKET
Who are your customers? (Include a summary of any market research results.) (See worksheet on page 43.)
THE COMPETITION
Who are your competitors? How is the market currently divided? What gives your company its competitive edge? (See worksheet on page 60.)
MARKETING AND SALES STRATEGY
How will you market and sell your product? (See worksheet on page 76.)
OPERATIONS
What are your most important operational features? (See worksheet on page 92.)
MANAGEMENT
Who are your founders? Who are the key members of your management team and what are their qualifications? (See worksheet on page 106.)
DEVELOPMENT
What is the company’s current stage of development? What are your long-term goals? What are some of the milestones you’ve met or plan to meet? What is your potential exit strategy? (See worksheet on page 120.)
FINANCIALS
What are the expected financial highlights or performance of your company? What are your company’s expected gross sales and net profits? (Use gross sales and net profit figures from the worksheets on pages 132-133.)
FUNDS SOUGHT AND USES
How much money are you seeking, from what sources, and how will the money be used? (See worksheets on pages 25 and 147.)
2
STEP 5: Marketing and Sales Plan
Accomplishments
In this step you’ll:
List your company’s name(s) and location(s)
Provide information about your company’s ownership and legal structure
Describe your company’s history, development stage, and milestones
Describe your product(s) and service(s)
Give an overview of your industry
Explain how your company has been funded to date and how much money you are seeking
Pulling it all together: Company Description
Time-Saving Tools
You’ll complete this section more quickly if you have any of the following handy:
Business license(s), incorporation papers, or other key business documents
Legal and financial agreements
Product or service descriptions
Dates of key developments in your company’s history
Industry research data
Step
Company Description
The Company Description provides the basic details about your business. While your Executive Summary creates a compelling case for why your business will succeed, the Company Description fills in the necessary specifics.
QUICKTIP
Missing Info?
If you’re just starting your business, don’t worry if you lack some of the information necessary to complete each part of this step. For example, if you haven’t yet legally incorporated, indicate your intention to do so and in which state or province.
While much of this information seems—and is—mundane, providing these facts is the foundation of the picture you paint of your company. Completing this section should not be particularly time consuming or cumbersome; the goal is to quickly provide background information about your company’s structure, ownership, and developments to date.
This
