Writing a Sustainable Business Plan

We like business plans that are short and sweet. Your slide decks should be 15-20 slides maximum.

Here is what should be covered:

Company Mission

• Give us your short elevator pitch at the beginning - one to two sentences

Problem

• Describe the market opportunity, or customer pain points that currently exists

Solution

• Demonstrate your company's value proposition to make the customer's life better.
• Provide use cases.

Why Now

• Set-up the historical evolution of your category.
• Define recent trends that explain why your solution makes sense now
• What is the reasonable time to market window of opportunity?

Market Size
Competition

• List competitors and your advantages

Product

• Description of the product or service
• State of development/time to market
• Intellectual Property
• Demo if applicable
• Development roadmap, future products, etc.

Business Model

• Revenue model
• Pricing
• Sales, marketing & distribution model
• Potential and current customer/pipeline list
• Likely Exit Scenarios (IPO, acquisition, who are the most likely acquirers and why, etc.)

Team

• Founders & Management
• Board of Directors/Board of Advisors
• Company Legal Structure (incorporation, key shareholders, etc.)
• Brief History of the company

Financials

• P&L
• Balance sheet
• Cash flow
• Cap table
• The deal (funding requirements, valuation, and use of funds breakdown).

Risks

• Please list the major risks associated with your business that might thwart success

This document should be a working document for the company, used in long-term planning, and not simply a sales tool for fundraising.