business plan layout

business plan layout

Business Plan Layout

1. Executive Summary

First on the list are the company goals. This is what should have prompted the plan in the first place. It is important that a company understands what it wants to achieve. Next, the executive summary should introduce the company’s brand or product. What is it that the company is offering? Often this is significant as a general overview of an entire business plan. All parts of the plan need to ensure potential investors that there is a desire among the customers for this product and there is a reason it will be different from other products of the same kind.

To make a good executive summary, there are several guidelines that must be followed. Firstly, the summary should be short, possibly no more than two pages. The point of an executive summary is to summarize the key points of a report for its readers, saving them time and preparing them for what’s to come. Next, the summary should highlight strengths and try to minimize weaknesses. Potential investors are looking for reasons to give their money, so the summary should enlighten them.

Business plans are utilized for different reasons, such as starting a new endeavor, raising funds, or communicating ideas for an organization. A business plan is a written document that contains all necessary information about a business; this document is used to analyze the feasibility of an endeavor. One of the most critical parts of the business plan is the executive summary. The executive summary is essentially the overall view of the document. This is often what investors read first and if it’s bad they won’t read any further. It should be written last after considering all of the other sections.

2. Company Description

Company Name is a historic restoration company in Ashland, Oregon. We have thirty years of experience in the building industry. Our extensive background in the restoration of older homes and buildings has qualified us to work on numerous projects involving a wide range of trade skills. Company Name specializes in focusing on details and combining modern updating with preservation of original building fabric. This often involves discovery and exposure of original materials that have been concealed or neglected resulting in an unhealthy or deteriorated building fabric. Many times in the restoration field architecturally unique situations dictate a need for a custom design and build of material or structural components. This is a more complex and skill oriented approach which we are particularly adept at due to our experience and attention to detail. Company Name is committed to sustainability in our industry. To date, our greatest accomplishment is our work on The Project Name, where we took 100 year old run down farm worker housing and turned it into a showcase of sustainability and green design. Unfortunately, this example of our commitment and abilities was not without sacrifice and hard learned lessons. This fixed contract bid was based on an incomplete set of construction documents, an all too common situation for restoration work. This led to a loss for us and valuable experience in the wetland mitigation process and common mistake of unbuildable land. The completion of the project was also delayed considerably because of our above mentioned expertise in custom detailed work i.e. curved siding and custom windows. Though we were compensated to a level representing a lesser amount of effort and time than given, we take pride in what we accomplished on the project and the lessons learned.

3. Market Analysis

With this in mind, the company has decided to make a rebuttal offer for spaces in one of the local planning urban renewal projects. This space would potentially be an indoor food court, and the company would have a monopoly on food sales. An initial study of the demographics for this project shows a target market of some 8,500 local residents with median incomes and 700,000 day trippers and tourists. On Jazz and Java’s best days, we believe that we could capture a sizeable portion of this lunch crowd, and the evening sales would also be substantial due to close proximity to the local amphitheatre, which hosts several music festivals and concert series. While there is no guarantee that Zion will receive this space over other businesses, the location is desirable and the company believes that it will have a fair chance given its past contributions to the community in sales, quality music services, and donations to various charitable organizations.

The company’s target market, consisting of local residents, over one million day trippers, and tourists from both the U.S. and abroad, has been carefully chosen to support the company’s continued growth. Market research shows an overwhelming demand for café/pub atmosphere and businesses which offer alternatives to merchandise shops. Along with Staunton’s reputation as a regional arts and entertainment destination on the threshold of a substantial tourist influx (mostly baby boomers and young families), this makes a local and Ziona prime location to invest further in the food and music industries.

Market Analysis

4. Marketing and Sales Strategy

The Comgate company will offer a full range of services and products. In the beginning, it will not focus on especially small or big companies, but will concentrate on finding new customers and following up closely with current customers. We will focus on our relationship with our customers and try to fulfill all expectations from us. The Comgate company will put themselves in the customer’s shoes because they can understand customers as the company has been established by young people who have grown up with technology. We will monitor customer achievements and feedback. With this, we will be able to improve our services and gain many more references. We believe that getting references is the most powerful way to acquire new customers. If we have proven our services and done it right, then the reference given by the customer will likely guarantee the new customer. With the same method, Comgate will expand its location in the future.

5. Financial Projections

Proforma Income Statement – This provides an estimate of the revenue, expenses, and profits that are expected. It consists of four small worksheets: Assumptions, Proforma Inc. Statement, Proforma Balance Sheet, and Proforma Cash Flow. First of all, go to the assumptions tab in which the data is provided as shown in the below image. This data is used to develop and quantify projections for the income statement. Now go to Proforma Inc. Statement where we have to provide the number of years for the income statement and depreciation schedule. Below that, in the main section, it requires the data from Assumptions and Depreciation Schedule in the given specific headings. At the end, the data in this worksheet automatically gets summarized in the last three rows showing Net Income. A detailed one-page explanation of how to develop an income statement is given under the “Income Statement” section.

Assumptions – This section is important in explaining the assumptions on which the numbers are based from previous years. It consists of the interest rate for determining the discount factor, sales tax for calculating sales, tax rate for calculating income tax, fixed and variable expenses, and inflation. This information is required to be entered in the top white section, which is labeled as “input”.

5 year projections – This worksheet estimates the key financial figures for a company over five years. The five-year projection is for an amount of $100,000 which has been invested as seed money.