Essential Elements of a Business Plan – First Five
Published December 27, 2011 | 
Planning is a course of action by which we can imagine and visualize the future, and then build and develop the essential procedures and operations to affect and achieve our envisioned future.
What are the Essential Elements or Sections that should be included in a Business Plan?
A good business plan generally has ten essential components. It is critical for you to provide comprehensive assessments for these individual components in attracting either lenders, investors, or both. Let’s take a look at the first five essential elements.
Executive Summary – The Executive Summary should provide a concise to the point summation of the business plan, along with highlights the main points within the body of the plan. The Executive Summary should communicate to any prospective investor the size and extent of the opportunity you have identified in the market, the endeavor’s business and profitability model, and how the management team of the company is uniquely qualified by resources, skills, and strategic positioning to successfully execute the plan. In short, the Executive Summary must be easy-to-read, yet compelling, and certainly no longer than 2-4 pages.
Company Analysis – This part should provide a tactical and strategic overview of the company, describing the organization of the company, products and services it offers or will offer, and delves into further detail specific to the unique qualifications of the business in serving the needs of its target market niches.
Industry Analysis – This part is an evaluation of the ‘playing field’ your business will be a part of and competing in, and should include clear thought through answers critical market specific questions including the next two components.
Customer Analysis – The Customer Analysis component is an assessment of the customer target market niche that the business serves. In this part, you must express the needs of its target customers, and then show how its products and or services meet the specific needs to an extent that the customer is satisfied enough to pay for them.
Competition Analysis – This part lays out the competitive landscape of your business. It should clearly identify who the direct and indirect (don’t forget indirect) competition is including assessments of their strengths and weaknesses and defines and describes your business’s competitive advantages.
Sparking, and winning an investor’s interest early is crucial. Therefore, the initial five sections of a business plan are almost beyond critical because most of the time, an investor won’t read or even scan through the whole plan. The market research and information that backs up the business opportunity’s potential, in addition to the background on the full business opportunity, are critical factors in gaining an investment.
Entrepreneurs that skillfully and comprehensively lay-out and present these components in their business plan really help themselves to deeply-comprehend and understand the business.
Annoying Orange Video! Be a Star!
Published June 12, 2011 | Team Altman Awesome Annoying Orange Video!
It looks like Pear is filming and having all the fruit out try out with the line “I’m a star, I’m a great big shining star,” but Orange thinks it has a better line with, “Nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh!” Of course, Orange always thinks anything he says is better, yet annoying.
As always enjoy, and share Be a Star!
Most Important Questions for Business – New Entrants?
Published February 14, 2011 | How Significant is the Threat of New Entrants?
There are certainties that apply to any market Entrepreneurs should understand. One of the most certain is that if there’s any money (profit) to be made, the competition will most definitely appear. If the competition is not a direct rival (think what Microsoft has done to other Internet browsers), then perhaps an alternate technology may take out your legs (look at what digital images did to Kodak film). There are ways you can build barriers to entry by filing a patent, securing a desirable lease, building a faithful following long before that happens.
Once again, any sign that a market is increasing, not being served or above all profitable will generate a high-level of interest from 
Entrepreneurs who judge that there is profit to be made from your market.
Where the existing businesses are demonstrating success from good profits, an Entrepreneur will understand completely this as an opportunity too good to pass up.
So you need to have a clear understand of what these signs of success are revealing to both your existing and possibly future competitors.
Barriers to Entry Make it More Difficult for New Entrants
To discourage or deter additional businesses entrance into your market and challenging for both your customers and profits, you want barriers to entry.
Frequent barriers include:
New entrants must make a big financial investment.- Businesses established in the market have cost advantages unavailable to new entrants.
- Existing supply restrictions, either from suppliers or to customers which make it more problematical and complicated for new entrants to become established.
- Customer loyalty and devotion makes it difficult and challenging for new entrants to attract customers.
- Legal barriers and patents.
- Threat of retaliation from currently existing competitors.
The entire subject matter of the threat of new entrants and the issue of barriers to entry all depends on where you are coming from or your business’ position in the market.
If you are already in the industry you want the highest possible barriers but if you are outside the market looking for the path of least resistance to get in, preferably you want low barriers for you but the highest barriers for every other likely entrant.
Competitive Analysis – Competitors to Include
Published January 4, 2011 | Competitors to Include in the Analysis
As previously mentioned, experienced high-level investors will carry out extensive due diligence, including before infusing capital into a company, performing their own competitive analysis. Based on such, it is crucial not to leave out or downplay a competitor merely because it may be a sign of inadequate due diligence on the business’s opportunity.
There are frequently a small number of direct competitors and numerous indirect competitors. Based on such, most of the time, the plan should describe each direct competitor, group the indirect competitors in sub-categories, and then describe the sub-category entirely.
One last point you should keep in mind when listing competitors, is that listing public companies in a competitive space is frequently a beneficial sign. A public company means that the market size is great and presents the investor with the promise that if the management team executes and performs correctly, the business has significant profit and liquidity potential.
Competitor Description and Competitive Advantages
The next step is to describe the competition clearly, especially any direct competitors. By doing this, it is essential not to merely refer to information about the competitor and its customers, products and/or services. Instead, the plan ought to explain as well, each of your competitor’s strengths, weaknesses, and the strategic forces and drivers of aggressive delineation in the markets.
In illumination of competitors’ weaknesses, be sure to use independent information. We have reviewed competitor information for business plans that declare the competition “does not know what it is doing” or “is not as smart as us.” This clearly positions the business’s management as not fully informed and inexperienced especially if the competitors have convincing historical performances. 
On the other hand, it is extremely persuasive to present market research results that provide evidence the competition fails at the task of customer needs satisfaction.
Finally, in relating competitive rewards and advantages, it is essential to reveal how the business’s “business model” generates barriers to entry. Understand that “Barriers to entry” are rationale why consumers will not leave once they become one of your business’s loyal customers.