Definitive Business Plan, Second Edition, The

Why?

At last, you are ready to put fingers to keyboard and start writing the plan. But hold on. There is one more thing that you should do first. You should define the forces that are motivating you to write the business plan. Broad priorities (with the most important ones listed first) are usually to:

• raise funds;

• obtain approvals;

• document a plan;

• create a management tool.

The first two may be reversed. Almost certainly your priority is funding. In some cases the emphasis tends more towards obtaining approvals – for a longer-term strategy or next year's operating budget. In many large corporations, approval by the chief executive guarantees funding – and if that is for whom you are writing, the emphasis will be different to that of a plan written ...