Course title: Entrepreneurship & Business Plan

The Business Plan: Creating and starting the Venture

Planning is an important process for a business. An entrepreneur needs to prepare a

business plan from which he/she gets guidance. A business plan gives the entrepreneur
a better sense of market, product, management team financial needs.
Business plan is a written document describing all relevant internal and external
elements, and strategies for starting a new venture.
There are three perspectives should be considered in preparing the business plan: 1.
perspective of the entrepreneur, 2. Marketing perspective, 3. Investor’s perspective. The
details of the business plan depend on size and scope of the proposed new venture,
size of the market, competition, potential growth.
A business plan is very valuable because it helps to determine viability, provides
guidance, helps to obtain financing, thinking process (provides a self-assessment, bring
objectivity to the idea, role playing, avoid obstacles)
Business plan must mention strengths of management and personnel, product or
service, Available resources. Entrepreneur first make a sample of a business plan from
his viewpoint. But then changes considering the audiences such as suppliers,
customers, potential suppliers of capital.
Before investing the investors check the entrepreneur’s character, background and
demand high return.
The entrepreneur must convince the investors to buy his plan showing why his plan is a
good opportunity and showing the potential risk and how to prevent those.
An entrepreneur must do feasibility study and feasibility study should focus on
marketing, finance, production. To gather information an entrepreneur must conduct an
ups-down pyramid approach.
Entrepreneur need information on location, manufacturing operations, raw materials,
equipment, labor skill, space, overhead. A business plan should be comprehensive and
should help to clarify his or her thinking process.
Entrepreneur must do environmental analysis of economy, technology, legal concerns
and industry analysis of competition and industry demand.
Entrepreneur must do production plan, operation plan, marketing plan, organizational
plan and financial plan also do assessment of risk which identifies potential hazards and
alternative strategies to meet business plan goals and objectives.
After making the business plan the entrepreneur must need to use and implement it by
ascertain progress and initiate contingency plans if necessary. Without good planning
entrepreneur is likely to pay a huge price and employees will not understand the
company’s goals.
Entrepreneur need to measure the planning progress by checking on profit and loss
statement, cash flow projections, inventory control, quality control, production control,
sales control, disbursement, web site control.
A plan needs to be updated by being sensitive to changes and determine what revisions
are needed.
Business plan fails because of some major factors like unreasonable goals,
unmeasurable goals, no experience etc.