A well-thought-out business plan is the key to the success of any enterprise. It will not only help to attract the attention of a potential investor but will also serve as an entrepreneur’s most valuable tool for internal control over business development.
A Good Business Plan as a Provider for a Successful Business
An entrepreneur who can rally a team and show breathtaking results often does not know how to sell his idea. His faith in his own endeavors is enough to attract early investors and key employees, but not enough to convince others to join – those who insist on more careful scrutiny before making a decision. For many, many endeavors that need financial support, it is very difficult to present the ideas and personal qualities of prospective participants in the format required by an investor or lender.
From this point of view, the current business plan provides the basis for the next plan. At regular intervals (that is, regularly), the plan should be studied in order to understand at what points the company deviated from it, why the deviation occurred, what it did – benefit or harm – and how to proceed further. Finally, there is another reason for planning a business plan – the one that most people think of first: fundraising.
Neither lenders nor investors usually provide financing to entrepreneurs without a business plan in front of their eyes. You should not especially believe the stories of how a businessman with burning eyes met an investor with a pen at the ready, they scribbled something on a napkin together, shook hands, became “partners” and went together to develop an ultra-modern technology. For the most part, this is pure fiction.
The general tone should be energetic and businesslike. If you give too much attention to the beauty of the form at the expense of the content, the business plan will not be taken seriously. And yet it is read by real people who like the competent presentation of interesting positive ideas and do not like it when the ideas are poorly thought out, and the presentation is vague, poorly structured, and drawn out. Maybe these people look at so many business plans every week and know how to set up data room so that they get their eyes on their foreheads.
4 Reasons Saying It Is a Time to Sell Your Business
There are four reasons for selling a company:
- Everything is bad. Of course, these are unfortunate circumstances, and unless you are in a position where you will have to sell, I would not recommend doing so. On the contrary, I would do everything in my power to stabilize the company and reconsider this decision later.
- Everything is very good. On the other hand, this is the best selling position. But this is also the time when founders are least interested in doing this. The terms of the deal should really be outstanding.
- External factor. Something happened outside the company that made the sale an attractive opportunity. For example, at some point, it was managing two companies at the same time and decided to leave a smaller business in order to focus on a larger one.
- You have done everything you could for the business. This is the most common reason why founders sell their companies. They see a lot of opportunities for them and decide that a certain buyer will do better than themselves.