| I stumbled on a very interesting article that lead me to | | | | explain a lot more. |
| a very interesting competition. The article appeared in | | | | We personally believe that the shorter the better as |
| the New York Times on Friday 16 April with the | | | | long as it achieves its objective. One expert said that |
| following heading, "Can You Write a Business Plan | | | | "A business plan needs to be whatever length is |
| With Fewer Than 140 Characters?" The article was | | | | required to excite the investor, prove that |
| written about a competition being run by the | | | | management truly understands the market, and detail |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in | | | | the execution strategy." |
| conjunction with their MIT $100K annual business plan | | | | The "empathy" test, once the business plan has been |
| competition. | | | | done, is to put yourself in the shoes of the audience |
| They call it the TWITCH (Twitter Pitch) contest. And | | | | and to ask yourself if you would have done what you |
| this brings me to the topic for this article, "How long | | | | want them to do based on what you see and read. |
| should your business plan be?" Here are some of the | | | | If the plan does not pass your "empathy" test there |
| advice you may find on the Net: | | | | may be several reasons for that and one of them |
| - It can vary from a 10 to a 100-page document; | | | | may be incomplete information. This will require that |
| - It should be short enough to not bore your reader; | | | | you add more pages. |
| - The shorter, the better; | | | | If one looks at the advertising industry the greatest |
| - Shouldn't take up more than 25 pages; | | | | challenge is to sell a product on the TV in a 30 |
| - Limit the plan length to 15 pages; | | | | seconds commercial. Can you sell your plan in 30 |
| - 15 to 25 pages is the optimum length; | | | | seconds? We therefore go for the "Short is good, long |
| - Basic plans are under ten pages; | | | | is bad." approach. When we look at the various areas |
| - Comprehensive plans are often 10-25 pages long; | | | | that should be covered in more detail we will |
| - Length should be 20 to 30 pages max; | | | | endeavour to indicate how long each section should |
| - Can be any length. | | | | ideally be. |
| The general feeling is that shorter is better. A few | | | | In the next article we'll have a look at the concept of |
| factors should dictate the ideal length of your business | | | | the "elevator speech" and how that can become a |
| plan. | | | | powerful tool in business planning. |
| The nature of your business - The simpler the shorter, | | | | Happy planning. Make it a challenging, exciting and |
| the more complex or "new" the longer. | | | | creative experience. |
| Purpose of the plan - To raise millions may have to | | | | |