Writing The Business Plan

Instructions

In this assignment, you will develop a simple business plan for your entrepreneurial idea. You have completed some of these components in prior assignments, so please remember to revisit previous work to extract those components. Please make sure to review the instructor’s feedback and make any required revisions.

The business plan must contain the following components:

1. Executive Summary

A one- to two-page summary of your business idea. It must contain the following information:

The mission of your company. Explain why the business concept is relevant in the marketplace. Reveal why you want to start the business.
Describe the company—your name, location, and management.
Briefly describe the products and services, explain how they are differentiated from competitors, and to what types of customers they will appeal.
Describe why the company will be successful by referencing real research and data.
Describe your financial projections and start-up costs. Close by listing how much money you want to raise, and how it will be spent.
Executive Summary Example (PDF, 65.4 KB)

2. Company Description

a. About the company:

One to two pages containing the following information:

List the company name, location, and type of business entity. You may briefly explain why you selected this type of entity.
Define your company as it stands in the marketplace. For example, is your business a luxury brand or a mass-market brand?
What will be your key focus? Lululemon grabbed consumer attention by focusing on the fit, function, and quality of their products. Fashion Nova won the devotion of their target audience by offering attractive and unpredictable sales promotions, which gamified the shopping experience. What will your business focus on to achieve success?

b. Mission and vision statements:

One to two sentences for each

c. Core values:

Three to four sentences

d. Organizational structure:

Create an organizational chart on a single page.

3. Market Analysis

Conduct research to find information about the following. Make sure to find current information, and cite all sources correctly.

Size and growth rate of your industry
Trends in the industry
Dominant characteristics of your customer base

4. Competitive Analysis

Conduct research to find information on the following topics. You may present the information in a table. Refer to the visual example in the module for inspiration.

Description of their company, including location, brief history, and key employees
Marketing mix description
Strengths to be emulated
Weaknesses that can be exploited by you

5. Financial Projections

Revisit the start-up cost projection and funding plan that you completed in a previous module. Check the instructor’s feedback and make all required edits. Include the following in the business plan:

Start-up costs for six months
Funding plan