Business Plan - Presentation Formats

Presentation Formats

The format of a business plan depends on its presentation context. It is common for businesses, especially start-ups to have three or four formats for the same business plan:

• an "elevator pitch" - a three minute summary of the business plan's executive summary. This is often used as a teaser to awaken the interest of potential funders, customers, or strategic partners.

• a pitch deck with oral narrative - a hopeful, entertaining slide show and oral narrative that is meant to trigger discussion and interest potential investors in reading the written presentation. The content of the presentation is usually limited to the executive summary and a few key graphs showing financial trends and key decision making benchmarks. If a new product is being proposed and time permits, a demonstration of the product may also be included.

• a written presentation for external stakeholders - a detailed, well written, and pleasingly formatted plan targeted at external stakeholders.

• an internal operational plan - a detailed plan describing planning details that are needed by management but may not be of interest to external stakeholders. Such plans have a somewhat higher degree of candor and informality than the version targeted at external stakeholders and others.

Typical structure for a business plan for a start up venture

• cover page and table of contents
• executive summary
• business description
• business environment analysis
• industry background
• competitor analysis
• market analysis
• marketing plan
• operations plan
• management summary
• financial plan
• attachments and milestones

Typical questions addressed by a business plan for a start up venture

• What problem does the company's product or service solve? What niche will it fill?
• What is the company's solution to the problem?
• Who are the company's customers, and how will the company market and sell its products to them?
• What is the size of the market for this solution?
• What is the business model for the business (how will it make money)?
• Who are the competitors and how will the company maintain a competitive advantage?
• How does the company plan to manage its' operations as it grows?
• Who will run the company and what makes them qualified to do so?
• What are the risks and threats confronting the business, and what can be done to mitigate them?
• What are the company's capital and resource requirements?
• What are the company's historical and projected financial statements?