What should I include in my business plan? This is the most common question for any business start-up and you shouldn’t be ashamed to admit you are unaware of what to include, the thing you should be ashamed about is not seeking help and advice from the experts who will help to make a succinct and relevant business plan on your behalf. That being said you should still look to populate what content you can because no one knows your company better than yourself. So here are some things to consider as well as a list of what to include in your company’s business plan.

1. Executive Summary – Typically an executive summary should summarise very succinctly what the business does; what the opportunity is; why you are best placed to take advantage of this; and the financial highlights. This section should be a few pages and be interesting enough to capture the reader’s attention.

2. Biographies – All readers want to know who are the people involved and what relevant experiences they have. For early stage investment opportunities, it is the people that matter more than the product or service. Where you can insert and provide previous success stories and photographs of the key staff you should.

3. Operation - How does the business operate; what resources do you have and what resources will you need to acquire. This section is your chance to detail what it is you actually do; how you do it and why your products and services are superior.

4. Marketing – Who are the customers and what are you going to do attract them in. Producing a marketing plan is often a separate discipline however it is important that the plan detailed here ties in the current resources (staff, experiences and finances) into a realistic marketing plan that is realistic and achievable.

5. Competition – Knowing your competition as well as their weaknesses and strengths will allow you to shape your business accordingly. Typically successful companies compete on either price or they create a niche. What are your competitors doing and where do you fit among them.

6. Financial – What do the projected numbers look like; what has been invested so far and what are the financial risks involved. The numbers should not cut across anything already described and should where possible add credibility to the overall proposal. There should also be some sort of risk / scenario testing to demonstrate to the reader that risk has been considered.