The plan should highlight the most interesting and important points of your business that will lead the potential investor to a general understanding of why your venture will succeed.
The criteria weight (located in the parentheses) was developed by venture capitalists from around the country, and indicates what emphasis the investor places on various parts of your plan.
For example, on a 100 point scale, financial information is worth only 10 points, while marketing is worth 35. A typical business plan is approximately 25 to 35 pages in length and may have additional appendices to support the plan.

The marketing strategy and the management are the most important elements of you venture. At a minimum your plan should include the following elements: A cover page complete with name, address, phone and fax numbers, email and web site addresses, and contact person.

Do not use a font size smaller than 12pt. and use standard letter margins. Your opening paragraph should contain a 25-50 word defining description of your business.

Executive Summary (initially, most important; if it doesn't get an investor's attention, all is lost)

• Length: 1-3 pages long.
• Summarize your business purpose:
  • The compelling reasons that lead to an opportunity (markets, business growth potential, etc.)
  • Products/ Services
  • Management Ability
  • Unique attributes and strengths of your company
  • How much money you need
  • A simple statement of revenue growth
• Summarizes but does not document or provide support to the most compelling parts of your business plan
• Use specific information. A name of a current investor or strategic partner can speak volumes. The same is true when you speak of management background.
• Must create an appetite for more, making an investor want to read the rest of the plan

The Company (15% Weight)

• Business purpose: Explain what business you are in and why (what market opportunity you are going to exploit).
• Give a brief summary of your company's history and current status
  • Including whether the company is publicly or privately held, or a start-up
  • List what has been accomplished
• State your company's overall strategy and objective's (i.e., to go public in seven years, to command 10% market share after ten years, to reach $100 million in sales after five years, etc.)
• If you are currently in business, describe your revenue growth and closeness to profitability and what has been accomplished to date
• Diagram, if possible, your business model and where you fit in the industry "Food Chain". Show were and how much value you add in the this "Chain"
• An investor should be able to ascertain quickly what your venture does, what market(s) it "plays" in, and what stage of development your venture is at

Products or Services (15% Weight)

• Discuss the development and the important attributes of your technology, and identify and compare the technology with competing technologies.
  • Is it evolutionary or revolutionary and why?
  • What performance characteristics must it demonstrate in order to be accepted in the market.
• Describe important features and user benefits - relate features of the products and services to market needs and to the competition.
• Discuss pricing and margins for both your products and your competitors' products.
• Explain proprietary position - trademarks, patents, trade secrets, special production skills, proprietary processes, etc.
• Describe specific products and projects planned, their status, when they are due out, expected product life, and potential revenues.
• Articulate any regulatory or environmental issues, if any, and how they will be addressed.
• For Biotech companies, proprietary technology is extremely important. Compare it with competiting technologies. Is the technology evolutionary, revolutionary, or common place. Does it need enabling technology or is it enabling technology. Also, FDA issues are extremely important and their accomplishments must be outlined.
• Dot.com's seldom have proprietary technology. Barriers to Entry that generate Branding Opportunities are much more important. Delineate barriers to entry.
• Investors need to know what your technology/ product does, not how it does it. Don't include any material that may violate your proprietary position(s).

The Market And Marketing Strategy (35% Weight)

• Discuss the issues or circumstances that "drive" (market drivers) or create the market, (what compels people to buy)
• Descriptions of the market - size, anticipated growth, key changes. What issues are driving or forcing the market to need your product/ service
• Describe in detail what needs in the market you intend to satisfy (what situations in the market you intend to exploit). Who buys your products and why
• Unique capabilities - what makes you different; what gives you a special advantage. Discuss any significant barriers to entry for you or potential competitors
• For a Biotech Company strategic alliances are mandatory. Currently, VC funding is hard to obtain without solid alliances and a solid strategic alliance strategy
• For dot.com's: what is your branding strategy. The investor needs to know you will grab market share is a short period of time
• Market penetration - how are you going to reach the market, (your market strategy - channels of distribution, promotion, pricing, etc. and the cost of the marketing program). Delineate any proposed, pending or ongoing strategic alliances or agreements
• Competition - who they are, how much of the market they have, and their strategic position (size, market and product development philosophies)
  • There is no such thing as "no competition" every one has competitors in general if not specific, and if the business is viable new competitors will emerge.
  • "No competition" will be viewed as "no market" and "no management."
  • Communicate and demonstrate that your plan is based on "market pull" rather than "technology push."
• Operations
  • For a dot.com that is ready for $20-30 million major round of venture capital, or a biotech firm that is ready to go from the lab to clinical trials; to the firm that is ramping up sales from $2 million to $15 million: being able to demonstrate that you can execute the tasks at hand is vital.
  • What does the venture need to support pending rapid growth. What is your growth strategy
  • How, when and where will you get the human, physical and technical resource you need to expand
  • What are the critical milestones and barriers to overcome to ramp up the venture
  • For a Biotech venture detail how the venture will fulfill its research and FDA requirements and regulations

Management (25% Weight)

• Backgrounds of key individuals - why they can do this job, specific value they add to the company, their past successes and achievements, relevant work experiences
• History of working together as a team
• Identification of immediate personnel needs and anticipated initial organizational structure
• Include Boards of Directors and Advisors with their backgrounds and responsibilities

Financial Summary (10% Weight)

• Funds required - how much you want to raise, both initially and subsequently
• History of past investments, if any; offering(s), type of security, price, other terms, if appropriate. Include description of current corporate structure.
• Describe funding needs at each stage of development along with each stage's bench marks or milestones to be accomplished. Use only value added benchmarks such as development, product and market testing, and sales milestones
• Simple projection of sales, revenues, income and expenses over a 3-5 year period (also balance sheet). State and justify your financial assumptions. Also include income statement (showing cash flow) and balance by month for the first year, by quarter for year two. Do a sensitivity analysis on year one and two
• If you are an existing business, include a past financial history.
• Best estimate as to how and when the investor will get his money back: indicate an exit strategy (mergers, acquisitions, or initial public offerings). Describe, if possible, similar businesses and what their returns to investors were.
• Demonstrate sales growth and backlog if at all possible.

Do not include any statement valuing the current round of financing. Such statements will never work in your favor with a professional investor.

The plan should be neatly presented, typed and error free, and current. Use of elaborate bindings, or overuse of color will only cause your plan to be viewed as form with no substance and it will not be taken seriously. Hire you high school English teacher to edit the plan for grammar and understandability.

Each section of the business plan reflects on the competence of each team member. A strong technology section - a solid technology person. A strong marketing section - first class marketing people. Good financials, a good CFO. A great plan indicates a strong CEO. If the different team members can't write their section of the plan, at least have them review and edit their section(s).

Use of synonyms can be confusing. While investors are sophisticated people, don't abuse their time by using complicated technical jargon. Remember, time is a venture investors most important resource don't waste it!

Remember, the plan is designed to build credibility. Credibility is the key to raising money. Don't short change your "deal" or your team by putting together a sloppy plan. Document your conclusions with third party verification, use footnotes. Every man is entitled to his own opinion, but no man is entitled to be wrong in the facts - Steuart Henderson Britt.

Venture Capitalists look for reasons not to do a deal. They assume nothing and neither should you.

Confine detailed vital sheets, extensive finanicals, lengthy technical discussions, operations plans and manuals, and detailed marketing lists and reports to separate unattached appendices.

Your plan should be no more than 25 pages long; but your appendices may be lengthy and numerous.

Remember a business plan is like a contract. It is what the investor is "buying" and it is what his/her expectations will be based on.

Never submit a plan to an investor without an introduction. Unsolicited plans are inherently not credible.