| There are innumerable articles and templates for | | | | It should be concise and expressed in 3-4 bullets |
| preparing a business plan for start-ups. But what I | | | | 2. Business Mission - Yes, this answers the question |
| found is that most of them are too exhaustive and so | | | | 'Why does your business exist?', so it talks about how |
| a strong de-motivator for an enthusiastic individual who | | | | uniquely you want to provide value to your customers. |
| wants to pen down his ideas and present it to his | | | | In future this will help you prioritize diversifications, |
| potential investors/advisers. | | | | alliances, etc. And more than all that, after setting up |
| Immaterial of the scale of the business viz., financial | | | | the business, you customers still sense value in your |
| size or employee size, the below business plan is a | | | | product/service, then its not going to be long before |
| good starting point. When one has got this right, a large | | | | you will wind up. |
| part of planning has been accomplished. Depending on | | | | 3. Annual Objectives or Measures of Success - 'What |
| one's purpose, additional information and more details | | | | will you measure in your business?' - Something this |
| can always be added. | | | | can helps you to quantify business vision and mission. |
| Being simple and providing essential elements, this | | | | Section 2 |
| business plan is called as Individual Hoshin Plan. The | | | | 1. Strategies - Strategies are your broad approaches |
| name is derived from 'Hoshin Kanri', a Japanese | | | | of how you would accomplish your Business Vision |
| methodology of policy deployment used for several | | | | and Mission. So it addresses What, How and Why |
| large corporations to successfully deploy their | | | | aspects of your business model. It is advised to |
| strategies on the ground. | | | | complete this section as a group and involve a |
| There are pre-requisites to writing this business plan. | | | | facilitator who can guide you through this sector. |
| Depending on whether this is being written for an | | | | Key areas to cover in defining strategies are: |
| existing business of a big company or by an aspiring | | | | · Positioning (What will you want your |
| entrepreneur, the quantum of information available may | | | | customers to know you for?) |
| vary. For more details about the pre-requisites, check | | | | · Revenue Model (What are your sources of |
| out 'What I need to have before writing a good | | | | revenue) |
| business plan'. | | | | · Marketing Strategy (How will your market |
| Unlike many other sites, there are no free templates | | | | your brand and services) |
| that I am going to offer, that you can download and | | | | · Alliances & Intermediaries (How will help |
| start filling. I'm sure you will understand that writing a | | | | your get new sales leads) |
| business plan isn't as easy as filling a template. It's | | | | · Sales (What are your sales channels?) |
| more about thought leadership and flushing ideas to | | | | · Diversification ( What would you want to |
| workable strategies. | | | | diversify in the next 5 years) |
| There are 5 sections which have been logically split. | | | | · Talent Management (Your approach on |
| Following are the key elements of an essential | | | | managing talent - Recruiting, Retaining & |
| business plan: | | | | Remuneration) |
| Section 1 | | | | 2. Benchmarks (Who will you want to be in next 5 |
| 1. Business Vision - A good vision is drawn for a period | | | | years) |
| of 3-5 years. So it is medium to long term. In essence | | | | 3. Services (What are the services you are going to |
| a good vision should explain 'What are you building?' | | | | offer in first phase) |
| So it can be expressed in terms of objective, scale, | | | | 4. |
| profits, etc., | | | | |