Business Plans For Small Business

How many other business plans for small business has he read? In other words, how experienced an investor is Uncle Al?

Now with these considerations in mind, you need to prepare your business plan. At a minimum you should write your plan to include the following information for your potential family/friend investor:

• A brief description of your new business…depending on how much your audience (Uncle Al) already knows about your business. This also applies to any other relative or friend you plan on talking to.


• A brief synopsis of your market including who will buy what you’re offering—and why. You should also cover how you intend to reach your target market.


• If you have a partner(s), or some key employee on board, or just waiting to join your new business, give a brief resume of these folks because your audience (Uncle Al) may not be familiar with them.


• You need to explain how far along you are on implementing your business plan…especially if you are still in the pre-venture stage.


• Include a summary pro forma P&L showing how much money you are going to need and how much profit you plan to make. If you have already started your business you need to show how much you have spent to date, and for what, plus any income you might have received. You can get more information on a pro forma P&L in the Small Business Accounting section.


• Most importantly, you need to present exactly what you are looking for in the way of investments or loans, and what you are willing to give up in stock, interest, etc. Typically, when dealing with family and friends, we are hesitant about asking for specific amounts, but this is business and you must be clear and concise about your business needs.

  This doesn’t mean you will only accept the full amount from one source—that too, is part of the “request” portion of your business plan for small business.



• Any supporting documents need to go in the Appendix. This could include copies of:



• Resumes of partners and/or key employees (if any).


• Actual financial reports (if any).


• Collateral material—brochures, advertising copy, etc. (if any).


• Any other supporting documents you feel are appropriate.

There are many forms of business plans for small business and this one does not need to be as formal as one you would present to professional investors, and not as informal as the “Simple Business Plan” we discussed in scenarios no. 1 and 2.

In the event you are going to need more startup capital than you can raise through family and friends, you will have to turn to outside investors—either Angel Investors or Venture Capitalists.

This will require a much more formal and detailed business plan than the one we just discussed in this Business Plans For Small Business report.

To read about the next level of business planning, go to the report titled, Creating a Business Plan. This next report will cover the typical business plan that is universally promoted.