Don’t be fooled by other so-called business plan consultants who suggest you can use templates or software to complete a Business Plan (BP) that will achieve your goals. The typical result: a BP that is not well received by the investors and lenders your Plan targets because it can clearly be seen as a template, is almost always missing critically important information, or has excess information in certain sections not suited to a particular business. The typical bottom line: the trash can.
We are providing these samples to demonstrate some diversity and flexibility needed to write a customized BP that enables an investor to make an informed decision. Our team has completed Executive Summaries (ES), BPs and related Appendixes or separate reports for a wide variety of businesses. We have worked closely with non-profit organizations and governmental agencies as well as for-profit businesses as diverse as retail, wholesale, construction, Green, technology, web-based, healthcare and so much more..
Since confidentiality is of paramount importance to our clients, we have limited ability to provide many examples of more extensive and lengthy BPs, particularly those with proprietary patents or trademarks, such as many technology companies, but could provide more complex samples if you sign an NDA.
This SBA report answers the question of how long a BP should be with the statement “It depends,” but then concludes with the statement “Most business experts and counselors say it should be thirty to fifty pages as a minimum while others may say less or more than this depending on their own personal perspective.” We agree with these statements, yet if you have an existing relationship with a lender or seek to “test” interest, an ES with a Forecast and/or a preliminary Market Study would suffice with a full BP to follow. Examples follow:
- ABC transaction, the sale/leaseback of approximately $40M in real estate that resulted in our client obtaining a commitment for a $75M line of credit, is summarized in this case study, which also contains info on other transactions. It is unique in that the complexity of the transaction did not require a complete BP, but rather a series of ESs, with the ES of the overall transaction and a Table of Contents that summarize our extensive efforts. This is one of many examples of our expertise in real estate, development, and financial consulting including investor/lender RFPs, HUD-insured loans, tax-exempt or taxable bond transactions, with summary of work with Non-Profits and HUD here.
- We know the healthcare delivery system. This Report and Projections were provided to a government-owned hospital system regarding the utilization of a former hospital campus. The Table of Contents of said report provides a sense of the depth of information and Appendixes.
- A technology-based BP usually requires market research, a more difficult and complicated effort, but an area in which we can provide assistance. This ES for ABC Technology gives some sense of the depth of the 45 page BP, 30+ pages of financial forecasting, and 23 page market share and market penetration Appendix that we completed for this client.
- Eco-friendly, green and sustainable BPs have gained our increased interest as we hope to do our part in saving the planet. Like technology BPs, these Plans often contain information such as patents that make it difficult for us to provide a sample plan of depth. As a partial example, an ES of a Green company is provided versus the 45-page BP, forecasts and other appendixes we completed as part of this engagement.
- These Insurance Agency Forecasts that accompanied the BP of an insurance agency were completed within the guidelines of the insurer and are examples of our expertise in varied settings.
- The Restaurant Business Plan and the Spa Business Plan are two examples of our work for regional entrepreneurs, often in a service industry or retail setting.
Feel free to ask any questions you may have about your BP.
