Business plan definition

What is the business plan?

The business plan is used for all of this. This is a document realized in the birth of the company, or when a company embarks on a new branch.

In particular, the document is presented as a business project, a series of measures to be taken, a summary of the goals to be achieved.
Its purpose is twofold :

• On the one hand, it allows you to effectively put your ideas in a clear view of the forecast and planning of the organization of the company. This helps to have an overview of what needs to be done and also the final or intermediate goal to achieve. This allows us not to lose too much of sight of the objectives and to always keep in line with the fact that the company is set at the beginning, in order to avoid any deviation. Obviously it is necessary that these objectives are ambitious and realistic. Setting unattainable goals will only result in a decrease in collective morale, when the employees of the company, and the owner of the company himself, realize that they are far from the objectives set.
• On the other hand, it is used for external communication. The business plan is in fact a part of the « showcase » of the company, and, if you want to attract venture capital from potential investors, you are interested in presenting a face as a pilot as possible.

Contrary to what you hear very often in the discussions, the business plan is not a big folder with the write request from the long hours of insomnia. In general, a score of pages is sufficient. These 20 pages, is divided into two main parts.

1. On the one hand, the presentation of the project, which includes the identity of the company, its objectives, the different partners, generally of a market study, the technical and human means implemented in the project, etc..
2. On the other hand, the financing of the project, which incorporates a general balance sheet projection, a financing plan and a treasury plan, in short, everything related to the financing of the company. The drafting of this case is obviously not the easiest task, it is, therefore, it is recommended to seek the help of a financial advisor, or in any case to take the advice of specialists in the field.

To whom is it addressed a business plan?

There are three categories of people to whom the business plan is likely to apply :

• the creator of the company: In fact, the latter, as the « boss » of the company, has the duty to be able to make a coherent plan of all the activities of his company. He is the quintessential person with a vision for the entire company in all its activities. The business plan is therefore a « tool » that allows the entrepreneur to make his project coherent, which serves to clarify his own thoughts, but also has a better power of persuasion in talking with bankers or investors , as well as the knowledge of the business plan, gives us a better overview at the head of the company and will allow you the best to defend your project to the need.
• Then, this business plan allows (as mentioned above), to communicate. This presupposes, therefore, that this document is also for investors, such as business angels, but also for bankers (including one of the first reflections when the owner of a business comes asking for a loan is to read carefully the project of the aforementioned company, and therefore the « business plan »). It is, therefore, one of the many faces of the external representation of the company.
• Finally, this document can also be applied to the employees of the company. After all, these are the first affected by this that is the result of their work, therefore, it is natural that you can know what exactly is to guide the company to which they belong.

 In which case, make a business plan?

There are two types of cases in which the preparation of the business plan is necessary.

• The creation of the company: It is, without a doubt, the most crucial moment in the life of a company, it is also the moment in which it is most necessary to clarify their ideas in writing on a piece of paper, because the number of topics is very broad. A new business also requires funds to be launched in its sector of activity. The business plan is a weapon in the arsenal of the entrepreneur to attract potential investors and therefore raise the figures of the company.
• The application of new activities: In the launching of new activities, it is necessary to have clear ideas for the start-up of the company itself. The reflection is also almost similar, because it is, again, to see the project as a whole, the objectives, the strategies of the company, etc..

Is it mandatory to produce such a document?

Realizar a plan of negocios no es in modo alguno una obligación, pero es muy recomendable para hacer uno, sin importar el tamaño, los objetivos, the estrategia of the empresa in cuestión. Su escritura, a menudo subject to the postponement of much worse leases of despistado, obligará al empresario para poner in orden sus ideas, para entender lo that sus necesidades of negocio hoy in día y también para anticipar sus necesidades futuras. El plan de negocios es, por tanto, the guía de los cuales la empresa tendrá a lo largo de su existencia.