If you are thinking of starting your own business then you
know you must have a business plan and that business plan needs to be able to
show investors why they should invest in you. So if you are like me and would
like some sound advice on how to make sure you business plan is the best and
gives you the best results, here is some advice from two experts on writing a
business plan. The first expert is
Mark Cuban.
Mark Cuban is the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, successful
businessman, and billionaire entrepreneur. Mark’s best area of business is in
Internet business. One key piece of advice Mark gives about writing your
business plan is to ask yourself, is there an actual need for the product or
service. Asking this question is so important because if your service or
product is not one that is needed, then investors will not see the need invest
their money into a business that will not give them a good return on
investment. Mark has recently started a new platform for entrepreneurs to seek
funding from him for their own business. He gives the entrepreneurs 12 rules if
they want to receive funding from him, and one that stands out to me is the
rule that the business plan must show that it will be profitable within 90
days. This too shows the investor that the business will bring in income and
they will receive money back on their investment. Mark has confirmed to receive
money; you must show that you will bring in money.
Martin Zwilling is the second expert I researched. Martin
Zwilling is the CEO and Founder of Startup Professional, Inc. He has been
published in Forbes, Harvard Business Review, and Business Insider writing
about business plans, so I would say he knows what he is talking about and the
business world agrees. Zwilling gives me a different look with regards to my
business plan has he explains what turns off investors. This is equally
important because by knowing what not to do you know more on what to do. He
gives 10 things that turn of investors in his Forbes article and one that stuck
out to me was “don’t be negative”. Zwilling explains not to talk about your
competitors or customers in areas you can’t back up. If you are making a
statement about your competitors and customers it should be supported by
third-party data. I found this to be key, because it is easy to think and speak
about competitors and customers from our own point of view, which is probably
in favor of our business. By having third party data it shows investors that we
have proof, like having creditable sources in a research paper.
Both Mark Cuban and Martin Zwilling have great tips on how
to have a successful business plan. I will be using what I learned from each of
them in creating my business plan. If you are planning on starting your own
business, I suggest taking a look at the articles each of them have done on business
plans.
Resources:
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