C6.Writing A Business Plan

Getting
Personal
Go-Founders
Eli Broad College of Business,
Michigan State University, 2013
Eli Broad College of Business,

Michigan State Universi$, 2013
Gollege of Engineering,
College of Engineering,
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MY FAVORITE SMARTPHONE
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Snapchat
BEST ADVICE I'VE RECEIVED

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MY ADVICE FOR NEW
ENTREPRENEURS
Take y*ur tinre. Many entrepreilsur$ just wan? tc g*t th*ir pr*du*t
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MY BIGGEST SURPRISE
AS AN ENTREPRENEUR
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182
PART
2 I
DEVELOPING SUCGESSFUL BUSINESS IDEAS
and in parlicular the judging, as Shark Tank times 10. The judges were executives and
well-known entrepreneurs from companies like Google, Square, and TechStars. Leider
summed up the experience by saying that "We went into the competition thinking we
int
knew everything but found that we knew very little." This was actually a positive comment
on Leider's paft. He was referring to the learning that took place as a result of the rigor
of the judges' questions and their feedback. The South by Southwest win also netted
TempoRun $5,000 in Google Cloud Platform credit and acquainted the entrepreneurs with
people they would have had no way of coming into contact with othenryise. The nearby
photo was taken just after the win at the South by Southwest competition. The team, from
T]
left to right, included Phil Gatzen, Benny Eberl-Zavos, Adam Proschek, and Josh Leider.
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To gain visibility and prepare for launch, the TempoRun team sponsored a charity
5K at Michigan state in April of 2013. The proceeds went to support breast cancer
research. The company formally launched in the Apple App Store in May 2013. The
way the app works is that it helps users run at their preferred pace by categorizing the
music on their iphone from Level 1 (walking) to Level 10 (sprinting). lt also incorporates
music from a streaming lnternet music station. The user selects a level, which can be
changed with arrows on a simple interface. The app also keeps track of basic running
analytics, such as distance run, pace, and calories burned. TempoRun, which charged
a one-time download fee of $2.99 when it first launched, had 2,000 downloads its first
sh,
day of launch. The company has experienced a steady pace of downloads since.
Looking back, Leider credits the time his team spent in The Hatch, the Michigan
State student accelerator, and the business plan and pitch competitions in which they
participated as pivotal to their success. Leider says that the value of a business plan
or pitch competition is that it "gets your ideas down on paper and causes you to ask
questions of yourself that you would have never thought of before-questions about
your business, your revenue streams, and more." Another ingredient to TempoRun's
success is that Leider and Elbert-Zavos are very involved in the running community.
Because they are consumers of their own product, they are able to make tweaks to
te:
the product based on their own observations and listen to suggestions from runners
whom they know and who are also TempoRun users.
TempoRun is not yet a full-time job for the four founders, but they hope this will
soon be the case. They envision extending TempoRun's basic approach to other
sports, such as cycling and swimming.
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his chapter discusses the importance of writing a business plan. Although

some new ventures simpty "wing it" and start doing business without
the benefit of formal planning, it is hard to find an expert who doesn't
recommend preparing a business plan. A business plan is a written nurative, typically 25to 35 pages long, that describes what a newbusiness intends
to accomplish and how it intends to accomplish it. For most new ventures,
the busin."s plan is a dual-purpose document that is used both inside and
outside the flrm. Inside the firm, the plan helps the company develop a "road
map" to follow to execute its strategies and plans. Outside the firm, it introduces potential investors and other stakeholders to the business opportunity
the firm is pursuing and how it plans to pursue it.1
To begin this chapter, we discuss issues \Mith which entrepreneurs often
grapple *h.r, facing the challenge of writing a business plan. Topics included
i1 ffr. chapter's flrst section are reasons for writing a business plan, a description of who reads the business plan and what they're looking for, and guidelines
to follow when preparing a written business plan. In the chapter's second section, we presenl un oufline of a business plan with a description of the material
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184
pART
2 I
DEVELopTNG succESSFUL BUSTNESS TDEAS
This group of young

entrepreneurs plans to
launch a website that

features educational
toys for children. Here,
they are discussing how
to integrate the results
of their feasibility analysis into their business
plan. A business plan
is more compelling if it
contains primary research
conducted by the entrepreneurs launching the
business.
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Lindseg; We spent Memoriat Day weekend (2003) doing our business plan. We
spent the Fourth of July weekend doing our cash flow. After we had our ideas
on paper, we went back to Cornell, met with a professor there, and had a crash
course in chemistry. She worked \vith us on the formulation of the products.
Gwen: I found a manufacturer on Columbus Day. Every piece of free time we had,
we dedicated to the business. We weren't at the beach with our friends an5rmore.6
The payoff for this level of dedication and hard work, which involved the
preparation of a formal business plan, is that Whiting and Wieber have now
had a successful business for lO-plus years. Their products are sold through
their website and in many stores.
Consistent with Whiting and Wieber's experience, writing a business plan
forces a firm's founders to intently study every aspect of their business, a
process that's hard to replicate in any other way. Imagine the following. Two
friends are thinking about opening a seafood restaurant. They spend the next
two months meeting four nights a week to hash out every detail of the business. They study the restaurant industry, identi$r their target market, develop
a marketing p1an, settle on a hiring schedule, identi$r the type of people they
want to employ, plan their facility, determine what their start-up expenses will
be, and put together five years of pro forma (projected) financial statements.
After 32 meetings and several drafts, tJrey produce a So-page business plan
that explains every aspect of their business. Regardless of how conscientious
the founders of a business are, it's difficult to discipline oneself to cover this
level of detail absent writing a business plan. As stated earlier, writing a business plan forces a business's founders to systematically think through every
aspect of their business and develop a concrete blueprint to follow.
The second reason to write a business plan is to create a selling document
for a company. It provides a mechanism for a young company to present itself to
potential investors, suppliers, business partners, key job candidates, and othlrs. Imagine that yo, h"rr. enough money to invest in one new business.T You
chat informally with several entrepreneurs at a conference for start-ups and
decide that there are two new ventures that you would like to know more about.
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greater than lower-risk investment alternatives. The same is true for potential
business partners, customers, and key recruits. Unless the new business can
show that it has impressive potential, investors have little reason to become
involved with it.
Investors vary in terms of the reliance they place on formal business
plans.s Initially, many investors ask for a PowerPoint deck or the executive
of a business plan. A PowerPoint deck is a short set of PowerPoint
"rm*ary
slides that describe a business idea, and an executive summary is a one- to
two-page overview of the full plan. If their interest is sufficiently peaked, in
some cases investors will ask for a full business plan, and in other cases they
won't. It's still necessarJr to have a business plan, however. If an investor commits, in most cases a business plan will be required during the due diligence
phase. Due diligence refers to the_ process investors go through after they tenlatively commit to an investment.e The commitment is based on a thorough investigation of the merits of the venture, whether any legal complications exist,
and whether the claims made in the business plan are accurate and realistic.
A firm must validate the feasibility of its business idea and have a good
understanding of its competitive environment prior to presenting its business plan to others. Sophisticated investors, potential business partners, and
key recruits will base their assessment of a proposed firm's future prospects
on facts, not guesswork or platitudes, as emphasized in Chapter 3. The most
compelling facts a company can provide in its business plan are the results of
its own feasibility analysis and the articulation of a distinctive and competitive business model. A business plan rings hollow if it is based strictly on an
entrepreneur's predictions of a business's future prospects. Modi$z Watches, a
retailer of custornizable watches, is an example of a business that laid a firm
foundation for its business plan via the feasibility analysis that it conducted
very early on. Modi[z Watches is the focus of Case 3.1.
In addition to the previously mentioned attributes, a business plan should
disclose all resource limitations that the business must address before it is
ready to start earning revenues. For example, a firm may need to hire service
people before it can honor the warranties for the products it sells. It is foolhardy for a new venture to try to downplay or hide its resource needs. One
of the main reasons new ventures seek out investors is to obtain the capital
needed to hire key personnel, further develop their products or services, lease
office space, or fill some other gap in their operations. Investors understand
this, and experienced investors are typically willing to help the firms they fund
plug resource or competency gaps.
Guidelines forWriting a Business Plan

oBJEGTIVE There are several important guidelines that should inlluence the writing of a
3. Discuss the guidelines t0 business plan. It ts important to remember that a firm's business plan is typifottow to write an effective cally the ffrst aspect of a proposed venture that an irrvestor will see. If the plan
business plan.
is incomplete or Iooks sloppy, it is easy for an investor to infer that the venture
itself is incomplete and sloppy.lo It is important to be sensitive to the structure, content, and style of a business plan before sending it to an investor or
anyone else who may be involved with the new lirm. Table 6.1 lists some of the
"red flags" that are raised when certain aspects of a business plan are insufficient or miss the mark.
LEARNING
Structure of the Business Plan

To make the best impression, a buslness plan should follow a conventional
structure, such as the oufllne shown in the next secflon. Although some entrepreneurs want to demonstrate creauvity in everything they do, departing
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include any contact information for the entrepreneur. Apparently, the entrepreneur was so focused on the content of the plan that he or she simply forgot
to provide contact information on the business plan itself. This was a shame,
because the investor was interested in learning more about the business idea.la
mw ffimwwem* w# &fum ffiwmw*meww ffiffimme The plan's appeara.nce must be
carefully thought out. It should look sharp but not give the impression that a lot
of money was spent to produce it. Those who read business plans know that entrepreneurs have limited resources and expect them to act accordingly. A plastic
spiral binder including a transparent cover sheet and a back sheet to support
the plan is a good choice. When writing the plan, avoid getting carried away with
the design elements included in word-processing programs, such as boldfaced
t54re, italics, different font sizes and colors, clip art, and so forth. Overuse of
these tools makes a business plan look amateurish rather than professional.15
One of the most common questions that the writers of business plans ask is,
"How tong and detailed should it be?" The answer to this question depends on
the type of business plan that is being written. There are three types of business
plans, each of which has a different rule of thumb regarding length and level of
detail. Presented in Figure 6.2, the three types of business plans are as follows:
ffi&grKm
ffi Summary plan: A summary business plan is 10 to 15 pages and works

best for companies that are very early in their development and are not
prepared to write a full plan. The authors may be asking for funding to
conduct the analysis needed to write a full plan. Ironically, summary
business plans are also used by very experienced entrepreneurs who may
be thinking about a new venture but don't want to take the time to write
a full business plan. For example, if someone such as Drew Houston, the
co-founder of Dropbox, was thinking about starting a new business, he
might write a summary business plan and send it out to selected investors to get feedback on his idea. Most investors know about Houston's
success l,^rith Dropbox and don't need detailed information. Dropbox, the
subject of Case 2.1, is a free file hosting service that was founded in 2OO7
and is now being used by more than 2OO million people across the world.
ffi Full business plan: A fult business plan is typically 25 to 35 pages long.
This type of plan spells out a company's operations and plans in much
more detail than a summary business plan, and it is the format that is
usually used to prepare a business plan for an investor.
ffi Operational business plan: Some established businesses \ rill write an
operationd business plan, which is intended primarily for an internal
audience. An operational business plan is a blueprint for a company's operations. Commonly running between 4O and 100 pages in length, these
plans can obviously feature a great amount of detail that provides guidance to operational managers.
ffiffiffiwffiffi ffi-ffi
Types of Business Plans
l0-15
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Works best for

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stages of development I
that want to "test
the
waters" to see if
investors are interested
in their idea
25-55 pages
40-100 pages
Works best for

new ventures that are at
ls meant primarily for

an jnternal audience;
works best as a tool for
creating a blueprint for
a new venture's
operations and providingi
guidance to operational
managers
the point where they

need funding or
financing; serves as a
"blueprint" for the
company's operations
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ffi"ffi Business Plan Outline
Cover Page
Table of Gontents
l.
ll.
Executive Summary
lndustry Analysis
lndustry Size, GroMh Rate,
and Sales Projections
VIl.
lndustry Structure
lll.
Nature of Participants
Key Success Factors
lndustry Trends
Long-Term Prospects
Company Description
Company History
Product, Price, Promotions, and Distribution

Sales Process (or Cycle)
Sales Tactics
Design and Development Plan
Development Status and Tasks
Challenges and Risks
Projected Development Costs
Proprietary lssues (Patents, Trademarks,
Copyrights, Licenses, Brand Names)
Vlll. Operations Plan
Mission Statement
Products and Services
Current Status
Legal Status and Ownership
Key Partnerships (if any)
lV. Market Analysis
Market Segmentation and Target Market Selection
Buyer Behavior
Competitor Analysis
Estimates of Annual Sales and Market Share
V. The Economics of the Business
Revenue Drivers and Profit Margins
Fixed and Variable Costs
Operating Leverage and lts lmplications
Start-up Costs
Break-Even Chart and Calculation
Vl. Marketing Plan

Overall Marketing Strategy
IX.
General Approach to Operations

Business Location
Facilities and Equipment
Management Team and CompanY
Structure
Management Team (lncluding a Skills
Profile)
Board of Directors
Board of Advisors
Company Structure
X. Overall Schedule
Xl. Financial Projections
Sources and Uses of Funds Statement
Assumptions Sheet
Pro Forma lncome Statements
Pro Forma Balance Sheets
Pro Forma Cash Flows
Ratio Analysis
Appendices
Exploring Each $ection of the PIan

Pmgm mse# ffmfuffim m# #mss*ear*w The cover page should include the
company's name, address, and phone number; the date; the contact information for the lead entrepreneur; and the company's website address if it has
one. The company's Facebook page and TWitter name can also be included.
The contact information should include a land-based phone number, an e-mail
address, and a smartphone number. This information should be centered at
the top of the page. Because the cover letter and the business plan could get
separated, it is wise to include contact information in both places. The bottom
of the cover page should include information alerting the reader to the confidential nature of the plan. If the company already has a distinctive trademark,
it should be placed somewhere near the center of the page. A table of contents
should follow the cover letter. It should list the sections and page numbers of
the business plan and the appendices.
ffimwmw
The executive summarlr is a short overview of the

entire business plan; it provides a busy reader -itf, everything she needs to
know about the new venture's distinctive nature.l9 As mentioned earlier, in
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PART
2 I
DEVELOPING SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS IDEAS
3. Why do you think some start-ups find it difficult to
change their business plan, even when presented with

evidence that their current business plan isn't working?
4, Look at the "You Be the VC" features at the end of
Chapter 3, which focus on August Smart Locks and
Blue Apron, and the "You Be the VC" features at the
end of this chapter, which focus on Buzzy and Flings
Bins. From the information in the features and on each
company's website, which company do you think will
have the easiest time sticking to its original business
plan? Which company do you think will have the hardest time? Explain your selections.
Sources; Songkick home page, www.songkick.com, accessed
February 28, 2014; GrubHub home page, www.grubhub.com, ac-
cessed February 28, 2014; lnstagram home page, http://instagram, accessed February 28,2014; B. Barringer and R. D. lreland,
Entrepreneurship: Successfully Launching New Ventures, 3rd edition, 2010; M. G. Siegler, "A Pivotal Point," Techcrunch, available at
http://techcrunch.com/201 0 / 1 1 /08/instagram-a-pivotal-point, accessed February 28, 201 4.
many instances an investor will first ask for a copy of a firm's PowerPoint
deck or executive summary and will request a copy of the full business plan
only if the PowerPoint deck or executive summary is sufficiently convincing.
Thus, certainly when requested, the executive s_ummary arguably becomes
the most important section of the business plan.2o The most critical point to
remember when writing an executive summary is that it is not an introduction or preface to the business plan; instead, it is meant to be a summary of
the plan itself.
An executive summary shouldn't exceed two single-spaced pages. The
cleanest format for an executive summary is to provide an overview of the
business plan on a section-by-section basis. The topics should be presented
in the same order as they are presented in the business plan. TWo identical
versions of the executive summary should be prepared-one that's part of
the business plan and one that's a stand-alone document. The stand-alone
document should be used to accommodate people who ask to see the executive
summary before they decide whether they want to see the full plan.
Even though the executive summary appears at the beginning of the
business plan, it should be written last. The plan itself will evolve as it's written, so not everything is known at the outset. In addition, if you write the
executive summary first, you run the risk of tryrng to write a plan that fits
the executive summary rather than thinking through each piece of the plan
independently.2l
ffimffiwmw*wp ffimemffipw&m The main body of the business plan begins by describing the industry in which the firm intends to compete. This description should
include data and information about various characteristics of the industry,
such as its size, growth rate, and sales projections. It is important to focus
strictly on the business's industry and not its industry and target market simultaneously. Before a business selects a target market, it should have a good
grasp of its industry-including where its industry's promising areas are and
where its points of vulnerability are located.
Industry structure refers to how concentrated or fragmented an industry
is.22 Fragmented industries are more receptive to new entrants than industries
that are dominated by a handful of large firms. You should also provide your
reader a feel for the nature of the participants in your industry. Issues such as
whether the major participants in the industry are innovative or conservative
and are quick or slow to react to environmental changes are the types of characteristics to convey. You want your reader to visualize how your firm will fit
in or see the gap that your firm will fill. The key success factors in an industry
are also important to know and convey. Most industries have 6 to 1O key factors in which all participants must establish competence as a foundation for
competing successfully against competitors. Most participants try to then differentiate themselves by excelling in two or three areas.
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PART
2 I
That's just the type of solution that people recovering from a natural disaster
like an earthquake need."
A mission statement defines why a company exists and what it aspires
to become.23 If carefully written and used properly, a mission statement can
define the path a company takes and act as its financial and moral compass.
Some businesses also include a tagline in their business plan. A tagltine is a
phrase that a business plans to use to reinforce its position in the marketplace.
For example, Wello's tagline is "By., Bye G5rm Hello Convenience." Wello is an
online platform that allows participants to arrange workouts with trainers via
Slqrpe or another online means, which avoids having to make a trip to a grm'to
receive the same service.
The products and services section should include an explanation of your
product or service. Include a description of how your product or service is
unique and how you plan to position it in the marketplace. A product or service's position is how it is situated relative to its rivals. If you plan to open a
new type of smoothie shop, for example, you should explain how your smoothie
shop differs from others and how it will be positioned in the market in terms of
the products it offers and the clientele it attracts. This section is the ideal place
for you to start reporting the results of your feasibility analysis. If the concept
test, buying intentions survey, and library, Internet, and gumshoe research
produced meaningful results, they should be reported here.
The current status section should reveal how far along your company is
in its development. A good way to frame this discussion is to think in terms
of milestones. A milestone is a noteworthy or significant event. If you have
selected and registered your company's name, completed a feasibility analysis, developed a business model, and established a legal entity, you have aIready cleared several important milestones. The legal status and ownership
section should indicate who owns the business and how the ownership is
split up. You should also indicate what your current form of business ownership is (i.e., LLC, Subchapter S Corp., etc.) if that issue has been decided.
We provide a full discussion of the different forms of business ownership in
Chapter 7.
A final item a business should cover in this opening section is whether it
has any key partnerships that are integral to the business. Many business
plans rely on the establishment of partnerships to make them work. Examples
of the types of partnerships that are common in business plans are shown in
the "Partnering for Success" feature.
The market analysis is distinctly different from the industry analysis. Whereas the industry analysis focuses on the industry in which
a firm intends to compete (e.g.,toy industry, fitness center industry, men's
clothing industry), the market analysis breaks the industry into segments
arrd zeroes in on the specific segment (or target market) to which the firm will
try to appeal. As mentioned in Chapter 3, most start-ups focus on servicing a
specific target market within an industry.
The first task that's generally tackled in a market analysis is to segment
the industry the business will be entering and then identi$z the specific target
market on which it vrill focus. This is done through market segmentation,
which is the process of dividing the market into distinct segments. Markets
can be segmented in ma.ny ways, such as by geography (city, state, country),
demographic variables (age, gender, income), psychographic variables (personality, lifestyle, values), and so forth. Sometimes a firm segments its market
based on more than one dimension in order to drill down to a specific segment
that the firm thinks it is uniquely capable of serving. For example, in its market analysis, GreatCall, the cell phone serwice provided especially for older people, probably segmented the cell phone market by age and by benefits sought.
Some start-ups create value by finding a new way to segment an industry.
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PART
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DEVEL.PING SU.CESSFUL BUSINESS IDEAS
start-up knows about the consumers in its target market, the more it can gear
products or services to accommodate their needs. Many start-ups find it hard
to sell products to public schools, for example, because purchase decisions
are often made by committees (which draws out the decision-making process),
and the funding often has to go through several levels of administrators before
it can be approved. A competitor analysis, which is a detailed analysis of a
flrm's competitors, should be included. We provided a thorough explanation of
how to complete a competitor analysis in Chapter 5.
The final section of the market analysis estimates a firm's annual sales ,and
market share. There are four basic ways for a new firm to estimate its initial
sales. If possible, more than one method should be used to complete this task.
The most important outcome is to develop an estimate that is based on sound
assumptions and seems both realistic and attainable. We show the four methods entrepreneurs ca.n use to estimate sales in Table 6.3.
Wffism ffiwspmmmrruffimm qBff *ftae ffiExsf,mesm This section begins the financial analysis of a business, which is further fleshed out in the financial projections. It
addresses the basic logic of how profits are earned in the business and how
many units of a business's product or service must be sold for the business to
"break even" and then start earning a profit.
The major revenue drivers, which are the ways a business earns money,
should be identified. If a business sells a single product and nothing else, it
has one revenue driver. If it sells a product plus a service guarantee, it has two
revenue drivers, and so on. The size of the overall gross margin for each revenue driver should be determined. The gross margin for a revenue driver is the
selling price minus the cost of goods sold or variable costs. The costs of goods
sold are the materials and direct labor needed to produce the revenue driver.
TIIBLE
6"3
The Eour Methods for Estimating a New Firrn's Initial Sales
Method
Explanation
Utilize the Multiplication

Method
There are two approaches that fit this category. Start-ups that plan to sell a product on a
national basis normally use a top-down approach. This involves trying to estimate the total
number of users of the product, estimate the average price customers pay, and estimate what
percentage of the market your business will garner. Start-ups that plan to sell locally normally
use more of a bottom-up approach. This approach involves trying to determine how many
customers to expect and the average amount each customer will spend.
Find a Comparable Firm
Find a comparable firm and ask for an estimate of annual sales. For example, if you are
planning to open a women's clothing boutique, try to find a boutique that is similar to yours
(and is not in your trade area) and simply call the owner and ask for a chance to talk to him or
her about the business. Once a relationship has been established, you can ask for an estimate
of the business's annual sales.
Contact lndustry Trade

Associations
Contact the premier trade associations in your industry and ask if they track the sales numbers
for businesses that are similar to your business. lf the trade association doesn't track actual
sales numbers for comparable businesses, ask if there are other rules of thumb or metrics that
help new companies estimate sales. For example, many industries collect statistics such as
"average sales per square foot" or 'oaverage sales per employee" for firms in their industry.
Conduct lnternet Searches
lnternet searches often reveal magazine and newspaper articles as well as blog entries that
focus on firms in your industry. On occasion, these articles and blog entries will talk about the
sales experiences of a similar early-stage firm. lf you know of a firm that is comparable to your
firm, target that firm first in your search. You may get lucky and find an article or entry that says,
"XYZ firm earned gross revenues of $250,000 per year its first three years." lf the source of this
data is credible andXYZ firm is comparable to your firm, you've just found useful information.
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PART
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used to solve problems while reading about adventures. The ultimate goal is to
connect girls \Mith the art of building and encourage young women to pursue
careers in engineering. As we see with the example of GoldieBlox, the marketing strategr sets the tone and provides guidance for how the company should
reach its target market via its product, pricing, promotions, and distribution
tactics. For example, it will invariably promote and advertise its.products in
places that young women and their parents are most like1y to see. Similarly, it
will most likely sell its products through specialty toy stores and its owrl website, along \ rith mass merchandisers such as Toys"R'IJs.
The next section should deal with your company's approach to product,
price, promotion, and distribution. If your product has been adequately explained already, you can move directly to price. Price, promotion, and distribution should all be in s5mc with your positioning and points of differentiation, as
described previously. Price is a particularly important issue because it determines how much money a company can make. It also sends an important message to a firm's target market. If GoldieBlox advertised its toys as high-quality
toys that are both educationalty sound and environmentally friendly but also
charged a low price, people in its target market would be confused. They would
think, "This doesn't make sense. Are GoldieBlox toys high quality or aren't
they?" In addition, the lower price wouldn't generate the profits that GoldieBlox
needs to further develop its toys. You should also briefly discuss your plans regarding promotions and distribution.
The flnal section should describe the company's sales process or cycle and
specific sales tactics it will employ. It's surprising how many business plans
describe a business's overall marketing strategies, but never comment on how
a product or service will actually be sold.
Wwweffic&w* {xaw Senw&me} ffimm&grc mmd ffiewwf,rypmmema* ffiffimsm If you're developing a completely new product or service, you need to include a section in your
business plan that focuses on the status of your development efforts. Many
seemingly promising start-ups never get off the ground because their product
development efforts stall or the actual development of the product or senrice
turns out to be more difficult than expected.
The first issue to address is to describe the present stage of the development of your product or senrice. Most products follow a logical path of development that includes product conception, prototyping, initial production, and
fult production. You should describe specifically the point that your product or
service is at and provide a timeline that describes the remaining steps. If you
are in the very early stages of your business and only have an idea, you should
carefully explain how a prototype, which is the first physical depiction of a new
product or service, will be produced. A product protot54re is the first physical manifestation of a new product, often in a crude or preliminary form. The
idea is to solicit feedback and then iterate. For example, a prototype of a product, like one of GoldieBlox's toys, might consist of a preliminary version of the
product for users to test and then report their experiences. GoldieBlox would
then modi$r or tweak the toy based on the users' experiences. Similar1y, a prototype for a Web-based company might consist of a preliminary or beta version
of the site, with sufficient functionality built into the site for users to test it
and then provide feedback. In some instances a virtual prototype is sufficient.
A virtud protot54re is a computer-generated 3D image of a product or service
idea. It displays the idea as a 3D model that can be viewed from all sides and
rotated 36O degrees.
A section labeled "Challenges and Risks" should be included and disclose
any major anticipated design and development challenges and risks that will
be involved in bringing the product or service to market. While you want to
remain upbeat, the last thing you want to do is paint an overly rosy picture of
how quickly and effortlessly your design and development process will unfold.
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PART
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Kmmwm mued ffimxw*pmrap ffi*wamw*xxwe Many investors and

others who read business plans look first at the executive summary and then
go directly to the management team section to assess the strength of the
people starting the firm. Investors read more business plans w"ith interesting
ideas and exciting markets than they are able to finance. As a result, it's often not the idea or market that wins funding among competing plans, but the
perception that one management team is better prepared to execute its idea
than the others.
The management team of a new firm typically consists of the founder
or founders and a handful of key management personnel. A brief profilb of
each member of the management team should be provided, starting with the
founder or founders of the firm. Each profile should include the following
information:
ffiffimmmmgmmmerxq*
ffi Title of the position

ffi Duties and responsibilities of the position
ffi Previous industry and related experience
ffi Previous successes
ffi Educational background
Although they should be kept brief, the profiles should illustrate why
each individual is qualified and will uniquely contribute to the flrm's success.
Certain attributes of a management team should be highlighted if they apply
in your case. For example, investors and others tend to prefer team members
whoVe worked together before. The thinking here is that if people have worked
together before and have decided to partner to start a new firm, it usually
means that they get along personally and trust one another.za You should also
identiflr the gaps that exist in the management team and your plans and timetable for filling them. The complete resumds of key mzrnagement team personnel can be placed in an appendix to the business plan.
If a start-up has a board of directors and /or a board of advisors, their
qualifications and the roles they play should be explained and they should be
included as part of your management team. A board of directors is a panel of
individuals elected by a corporation's shareholders to oversee the management
of the firm, as explained in more detail in Chapter 9. A board of advisors is a
panel of experts asked by a firm's management to provide counsel and advice
on an ongoing basis. Unlike a board of directors, a board of advisors possesses
no legal r."por"ibility for the firm and gives nonbinding advice.2s Many startups ask people who have specific skills or expertise to serve on their board of
advisors to help plug competency gaps until the firm can afford to hire additional personnel. For example, if a firm is started by two Web designers and
doesn't have anyone on staff vrith marketing expertise, the firm might place
one or two people on its board of advisors with marketing expertise to provide
guidance and advice.
The final portion of this section of your business plan focuses on how your
companywill be structured. Even if you are a start-up, you should outline how
the company is currently structured and how it will be structured as it grows.
It's important that the internal structure of a company makes sense and that
the lines of communication and accountability are clear. Including a description of your company's structure also reassures the people who read the plan
that you know how to translate your business idea into a functioning firm.
The most effective way to illustrate how a company will be structured and
the lines of authority and accountability that will be in place is to include an
organizational chart in the plan. An organizationd chart is a graphic representation of how authority and responsibility are distributed within the company.
The organizational chart should be presented in graphical format if possible.
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U]IdVHC
202
PART
2 I
What EventVue Learned the HardWay About Making Assumptions

ilventVue was a product that was intended to
im-
fu* prove the experience of people who attend conferL*ences. lt started as a private social network that
helped conference attendees network more effectively. lt
pivoted twice, once to rollout a widget that would bring
more people to specific conferences, and then to an
app that promised to be the best way for conference attendees to disscuss what was taking place in real time.
EventVue launched with promise but failed in early 2010.
What went wrong?
Several things, all of which have to do with incorrect
assumptions. The first assumption was that conference
organizers would see EventVue as an invaluable asset.
They didn't. While EventVue saw itself as essential, conference organizers saw it more as "a vitamin rather than
a pain pill." lt was something that event organizers said
they liked, but none of them saw it as essential. lt didn't
make their lives easier, make them more money, reduce
their costs, or boost the profile of an event. lt was simply
nice to have. Although EventVue's platform made it easier
for conference attendees to network with one another, it
wasn't clear what was in it for the organizers, who were
the ones being asked to pay for it. What the founders of
EventVue found was that conference organizers care first
they were less likely to register themselves. Therefore,

rather than making conference organizers money, the
EventVue widget actually cost them money. EventVue
tried out several other ideas, but eventually ran out of
ideas, persistence, and money.
There are two key takeaways from the EventVue story
for business plan writers. First, a business should test its
assumptions prior to launching. This lesson illustrates
the need to complete a comprehesive feasibility analysis
prior to writing a business plan and moving forward with
a business idea, as illustrated in Chapter 3. Second,
it's essential that a business understand its customers'

needs. EventVue never found a way to help conference
organizers sell more tickets. lt found a way to help conference attendees better network with others, but conference attendees were not EventVue's customers.
ffimmm&ffi#ffiffi ffmr ffiw$*$mmff Ykerruffic$mg
1.
and foremost about one thing-selling tickets. Anthing

that doesn't sell tickets is a secondary consideration.
After disappointing initial results, EventVue pivoted
to offer a widget that would help bring more people to
conferences. This, the company founders assumed,
would get the attention of conference organizers. The
widget would let people know who was registered for
an event. The idea was that if a prospective attendee
saw that a friend or someone they admired was registered for a conference, they would be more likely to
register for the event conference as well. lncredibly, the
widget had the opposite effect. A rule of thumb for conferences is that the majority of sales come in the last
two weeks before the conference is scheduled to take
place. As a result, when people looked at the registration list-particularly if they looked at it more than two
weeks out from the event-and saw that none of their
friends
or people that they admired were registered,
2.
3.
4,
Briefly map out the feasibility analysis that EventVue's

founders should have conducted prior to launching
the company. Of the four forms of feasibility analysis
described in Chapter 3, which of the forms should
have been emphasized the most? Explain your
answer.
lf EventVue had conducted a comprehensive
feasibility analysis prior to launch, what do you think

the company would have looked like?
Do some lnternet research to see if there are companies
that are providing social networks for conference attendees. lf so, what are they doing differently than what
EventVue tried to do? Try to discern why they have been
able to stay in business while EventVue failed.
The "You Be the VC 3.1" feature focuses on August
Smart Locks, a company that will enable users to
controlthe locks on their homes or apartments via a
smartphone. What are some of the main assumptions
that August's business plan is based on?
Source: J. Fraser, "A Few Words About EventVue," Online Aspect,

available at wwMonlineaspect.c om/201 0/1 0/26/ a-tew -words-abouteventvue, accessed February 28,
201 4.
ffippema#$re Any material that does not easily fit into the body of a business
plan should appear in an appendix-resumes of the top management team,
photos or diagrams of product or product prototypes, certain financial data,
and market research projections. The appendix should not be bulky and add
significant length to the business plan. It should include only the additional
information vital to the plan but not appropriate for the body of the plan itself.
ffi*x**&mg ffi* ffi&H Wm6w&kew In evaluating and reviewing the completed business plan, the writers should put themselves in the reader's shoes to determine if the most important questions about the viability of their business
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UfldVHC
204
'ART
2 I
DEVEL.'TNG succESSFUL BUSTNESS TDEAS
entrepreneurs may mistakenly spend too much time talking about the technologr that will go into a new product or service and not enough time talking
about the business itself. The most important issues to cover in the presentation and how to present them are shown in Table 6.5. This presentation
format calls for the use of 12 slides. A common mistake entrepreneurs make
is to prepare too many slides and then try to rush through them during a
2o-minute presentation.
fABeE 6.5 Twelve PowerPoint Slides to Include in an Investor

Presentation
Topic
Explanation
1. Title slide
lntroduce the presentation with your company's name, the

names of the founders, and the company logo if available.
2. Problem
Briefly state the problem to be solved or the need to be filled.
3. Solution
Explain how your firm will solve the problem or how it will
satisfy the need to be filled.
4. Opportunity and target
Articulate your specific target market. Talk about business

and environmental trends that are providing your target
market momentum.
market
5. Technology
This slide is optional but is normally included. Talk about

your technology or any unusual aspects of your product or
service. Don't talk in an overly technical manner. Make your
descriptions easy to understand and interesting.
6. Competition
Explain specifically the firm's competitive advantage in the

marketplace and how it will compete against more established
competitors.
7. Marketing and sales
Describe your overall marketing strategy. Talk about your sales

process. lf you've conducted primary research regarding how
people feel about your product, report the results here.

8. Management team
Describe your existing management team. Explain how the

team came together and how their backgrounds and expertise
are keys to the success of your firm. lf you have a board of advisors or board of directors, briefly mention the key individuals
involved. lf you have gaps in your team, explain how and when
they will be filled.
9. Financial projections
Briefly discuss the financials. Stress when the firm will achieve
profitability, how much capital it will take to get there, and when
its cash flow will break even. Use additional slides if needed to
properly display your information, but don't go overboard.
10. Current status
Describe the current status of your firm in the context of the

milestones you've achieved to date. Don't diminish the value
of your accomplishments.
11. Financing sought
Lay out specifically how much financing you're seeking and

how you'll use the money.
12. Summary
Bring the presentation to a close. Summarize the strongest

points of your venture and your team. Solicit feedback from
your audience.
Source: B. Barringer, Preparing Effective Busrness Plans: An Entrepreneurial Approach, 1st Edition, O 2009,
pp.242-253. Adapted by permission of Pearson Education, lnc., Upper Saddle River, NJ.
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conventional structure (as noted earlier)

and should not suggest to the potential investor that a great deal of money was spent
to prepare the plan itself.
F.#,4. A business plan has multiple parts, the
first of which is the executive summary.
The executive summary is a quick overview of the entire business plan and provides busy readers with everythin$ they
need to know about the distinctive nature
of the new venture. In many instances, an
investor will ask for a copy of a firm's executive summary and will request a copy
of the full business plan only when the
executive summary is sufficiently convincing. The industry analysis, which is another part of the business plan, describes
the industry a business will enter. The
market analysis part of the plan breaks
the industry analysis into segments and
zeros in on the speciflc segments (or target markets) to which the firm will seek
to appeal. The management team and
company structure section of a business
plan is critical. Many investors and others

who read business plans look first at the
executive summary and then go directly
to the management team section to assess
the strength of the people starting the
firm. The sources and uses of funds statement is a document that lays out specifically how much money a firm needs (if it
is raising money), where the money will
come from, and what it \Mill be used for.
An assumptions sheet is an explanation of
the most critical assumptions that a business's financial analysis is based on.
E*#S. After writing the business plan, the entrepreneur must prepare to present it effectively to potential investors and possibly
others as well. The oral presentation of a
business plan typically consists of 20 minutes of formal remarks, accompanied by
approximately 12 PowerPoint slides, and
40 minutes of questions and answers. The
presentation should be smooth and wellrehearsed. The slides should be sharp and
not cluttered with material.
Key Terms
assumptions sheet, 2Ol
board of advisors, 2OO
board of directors, 2OO
business plan, 182
competitor analysis, 196
contribution margin, 197
costs of goods sold, f 96
executive summary, l9O
fixed costs, 1,97
full business plan, f 8a
market analysis, 194
market segmentation, f 94
marketing strategr, 1v-7
milestone, 194
mission statement, 194
operating leverage, 197
operational business
plan, f8a
or garizational chart, 2OO
position, 194
pro forma (or projected)
financial statements, 2Ol
product prototype, 198

ratio analysis, 2Ol
sources and uses of funds
statement,2Ol
summary business
plan, fa8
tagline, f94
variable costs, 197
virtual prototype, 198
Review guestions
1. What is a business Plan?
6-2. What are the advantages of preparing a
business plan for a new venture?
6-3. When is the appropriate time to write a
business plan?
6-4. What are the two primary reasons for
those starting a new venture to write a
6-
business plan?
6-5. It is often argued that the process of writ-
ing a business plan is as important as the

plan itself, particularly for the top management team of a youn$ firm. 'vVhy is this so?
6-6. Who reads the business plan and what are
they looking for when doing so?
6-7. How will investors typically react if
they think a business plan is based on
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6-25. The entrepreneurship class you are taking meets for four hours once per week.
A break of 10 minutes or so takes place
after the first two hours of each class.
During a recent break, you overhead one
of your classmates say to another person
that in her opinion, the teacher is overselling the importance to potential investors of a start-up's management team.
"After all," the classmate says, "A good
product outweighs any deficiency a firm
may have in terms of managers and their
abilities." Given what you have learned
about business plans, what would you
say to your classmate to convince her
that she needs to rethink her view about
potential investors' views about the
quality of a proposed venture's management team?
6-26. d. light, which operates as a for-profit social enterprise, is the focus of Case 6.2.
What, if any, special factors should be
kept in mind when writing a business plan
for a for-profit social enterprise?
6-27. Michael Graves and Jill Simpson just
left their jobs with Microsoft to launch a
business that will sell a new type of fax
machine. They wrote a full business plan
that they've asked you to review. When
reading the plan, you noticed that several
key sections begin with the phrase "We believe...." Is any knowledgable person who
reads this business plan going to know
what "We believe..." really means? What is
the problem with including the phiase "We
believe...." to introduce key sections of a

business plan?
6-28. Recently, Megan, Jennifer, and Mark, the
cofounders of a medical products company, presented their business plan to a
group of investors in the hopes of receiving funding for their venture. One of the
investors asked the three, "How much of
your personal money do each of you have
invested in this firm?" Is this a legitimate
question for the potential investor to ask?
'vVhy would an investor want to know how
much of their own money each cofounder
has committed to the ProPosed new
venture?
6-29. Patty Carroll is thinking about opening a
high-end fashion boutique in an affluent
suburb of Minneapolis. She contacts an
angel investor she knows has previously
invested in this type of firm and asked if
he would read her business plan. She received the following response from the angel investor: "I would be glad to read your
plan. But you should know that when
examining business plans for high-end
fashion boutiques, the section I concentrate on with great intensity is called "The
Economics of the Business." Why do you
think the angel investor concentrates on
this particular section of a business plan
when studying proposals to launch a highend fashion boutique? What specifically do
you think the angel investor is interested
in understanding when concentrating on
this section?
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Eve party. While people don't normally think of impress-
ing their guests with their trash or garbage containers,

Flings Bins are quite stylish. Flings Bins are also available that are completely covered in the recycle symbol
and are labeled "Please Recycle Here." There are boxes
that can be checked with a marker or sharpie that say
"cans," "plastics," "glass," and so on, so a host can opt
to set up recycling bins for different purposes.
Flings containers come flat and pop up for use. As a result,
they are easy to transpott and store. As the company says,
"Pop lt! Fill lt!Toss lt! Or Recycle and Reuse!" Each bin has
a 13-gallon capacity (which holds about 60 cans or bottles),
and a drawstring that makes them easy to close and carry.
6-32. Based on the material covered in this chapter, what
questions would you ask the firm's founders before
making your funding decision? What answers would
satisfy you?
6-33. lf you had to make your decision on just the information provided in the pitch and on the company's website, would you fund this company? Why or why'not?
GASE 6.1
Birchhox: teveraging the Coltege Experience to lllrite

a Business Plan and lraunch a1ftIinning Start-up
.
Web: www.birchbox.com
. Facebaok:
Birchbox'Twitter: @birchbox
Oklahoma State University

R. Duane Ireland, Texas A&M University
Bruce R. Barring
er,
*rstnmdu*t&sn
The GCIllege Hxperience
Katie Beauchamp and Hayley Barna met on their first

day at Harvard Business School. They volunteered to
co-coordinate a spring holiday for themselves and 50 of
their classmates. Through the experience they realized
that they worrked well together as a team, but at that
time, they had no thought of co-founding a business.
That all changed just over ayear later, when Beauchamp
and Barna launched Birchbox, a beauty samples subscription service that now has over 400,000 monthly
Beauchamp and Barna quickly became friends. They

were also in the same MBA cohort and took many of their
classes together. The idea for Birchbox emerged gradually. One class was pafticularly instrumental. lt was a class
on disruptive innovation taught by Harvard professor
Clayton Christensen. The class challenged the students
to think of a big idea that's an industry game changer.
Beauchamp and Barna's first idea concerned the beauty
industry, which hadn't experienced significant innovation
for many years. A personal dynamic also nudged them
subscribers.
Birchbox Co-founders
Hayley Barna and Katie
Beauchamp
(penwyoc)
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Birchbox today is operating on all cylinders. The company has 400,000 monthly subscribers. lts monthly
subscription service for women, which costs $10 per
month, is much the same as it was when the company
originally launched, except that subscribers now fill out
a beauty profile and several versions of the monthly box
are sent out. ln 2012, the company launched Birchbox
Man, a $20 box filled with men's grooming supplies and
lifestyle products. It also started testing a limited edition
"home box" for $58 a month that will include home d6cor products and items such as seasonal napkins and
decorations. ln September 2012, Birchbox acquired
JolieBox, a Paris-based competitor. The acquisition
will allow Birchbox to more effectively enter European
markets. Along the way the company has grown to 140
employees and raised almost $12 million in funding.
The company's performance metrics are also
strong. The number of monthly subscribers in all of
its categories continues to grow. More than half of its
monthly subscribers make purchases from the firm's
e-commerce store, and the e-commerce store now represents a quarter of its revenue. Birchbox's online store
even attracts business from nonsubscribers. About '15
percent of the company's orders come from customers
who don't get the monthly box of sample products.
Birchbox's model is also working out for its suppliers. Traditionally, beauty suppliers have tried to acquire
customers by handing out samples at their counters and
in other parts of stores and malls. Birchbox's customers,
in stark contrast, actually pay to be acquired through
the monthly subscription service. They in effect opt-in
and explicitly want to be sampled. When Birchbox sells
a full-sized version of something that was sampled
through its subscription service, it shares the revenue
with the supplier.
Sha$fengem A*remd
Despite its success, Birchbox has significant challenges.
It may at some point plateau in terms of subscribers for
its staple women's subscription service. New markets

may be more difficult to grow. For example, the number of products and product samples made for men's
grooming and lifestyle supplies is much lower than
those made for women. lt may also be difficult to find
as large a following for products like home d6cor as for
women's beauty suppliers
Another challenge Birchbox faces is growing

competition. A number of start-ups have replicated
Birchbox's monthly subscription service for beauty
product samples for women. While Birchbox remains
the clear leader in this space, the number of competitors it is attracting is somewhat worrisome. lnterestingly,
while it doesn't directly impact Birchbox's business, the
company has also inspired a wave of companies selling
monthly boxed products in almost every conceivable
area, including fishing, food, crafts, kids' toys, products
for dogs, and wine.
Discussion Questions
6-34. How effectively do you think Katie Beauchamp and
Hayley Barna used their time in college to advance
their business idea?
6-35. ln what ways is Birchbox's business approach a
win-win for both its suppliers and its customers?
6-36. How was writing a business plan and preparing
for a business plan competition helpful to Katie
Beauchamp and Hayley Barna while Birchbox was
still in the planning, testing, and prototyping stage?
6-37. Going forward, what are the most serious challenges
facing Birchbox? Which of these challenges do you
believe is the most threatening to the firm's success? Why?
Sources; Birchbox home page, www.birchbox.com, accessed
March 1,2014; A. Groth, "Exclusive Q&A: Birchbox Co-Founder on
HSB and the Advice They Got from lnvestors," Business lnsider,
www.businessinsider.com, acessed March 1, 2014; A. Dizik,
"MBA Enrepreneurs Think Outside the Box for Beauty Business,"
Financial Times, March 3, 2013; T. Baldwin, "Entrepreneur's
Corner: Birchbox," The Wharton Journal, February 28,2014.
GASE 6.2
d.light: How Bringing lts Business Plan to Life Helped

a Social Enterprise Get Off to a $trong Start
* Web: dlightdesrgn.corr, * Facebook: D.lightDesign
Thitter: @dlightdesign
Bruce R. Barringer, Oklahoma State University

R. Duane lreland, Texas A&M University
lntnoduction
lmagine the following. You're in the audience of a business plan competition. The next team up to present is
d.light, a for-profit social enterprise that plans to bring
light to people without access to reliable electricity.

Two young men introduce themselves as the founders
of d.light, and say they're going to start their presentation with a demonstration. The lights go out. ln a few
(penu4uoc)
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DEVELoptNG succESSFUL BUSTNESS TDEAS
updated frequently. These numbers reflect the impact

of the availability of light, produced by d.light solar
lanterns, for people who didn't previously have access to reliable electricity and light. The numbers are
remarkable, particularly in terms of lives empowered,
school-aged children reached with solar lighting, and
savings in energy-related expenses. The numbers reflect the good that a well-managed social enterprise
can create.
in raising investment capital. Early on, d.light entered

several business plan competitions. lt the spring
of 2007, it took second place in the University of
California, Berkley's Social Venture Competition and
won first prize at Stanford's Social E-Challenge. A big
breakthrough happened in May 2007, when the team
claimed the $250,000 first prize in the prestigious
Draper Fisher Jurvetson Venture Challenge competition. This money provided seed funding for much of
the work that was completed during the summer and
fall of 2007.
What's particularly interesting is Goldman's reflections about why d.light was so successful in business
plan competitions and eventually with investor presentations. These reflections are instructive for entrepreneurs as they think about how to design and then successfully launch their ventures. As shown in the nearby
table, there are six reasons that account for d.light's
success, specifically with business plan competitions.
Collectively, the attributes shown in the table present
d.tight as an organization with a compelling idea, a
strong management team, large markets to serve, an
intense product focus, and a coherent, resolute, and
extremely admirable vision for the future.
d.light's $ocial lmpact Dashhoard
Number
Category
28,785,844
Lives empowered
7,196,461
School-aged children reached with

solar lighting
$905,549,027
Saved in energy-related expenses
9,276,143,334
Productive hours created for working

and studying
2,125,754
Tons of CO2, offset
37,590,326
kWh generated from renewable energy

source
d.light Today
Today, d.light is having the impact that its founders
envisioned it could. The nearby chart shows the numbers on d.light's social impact dashboard, which is
o
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d.light sells its product through a number of channels in more than 30 countries. One strategy that has
worked well is to employ "rural entrepreneurs" to sell
the product. d.light likes to employ indigenous personnel, who know the local customs, people, and
language, to sell its product on a commission basis.
It also has partnerships with NGOs, microfinance organizations, and social enterprise start-ups that are
producing solar lanterns to achieve the same goals it
is striving towards. ln 2013, d.light entered into a major
partnership with Total, a French oil and gas company
that sells d.light's products as part of the "Access to
Energy Program" throughout Africa. As a result of the
Total partnership, and its initiatives across the world,
d.light now makes more than 500,000 of its solar lanterns per month. The first few years of its existence,
d.light's production was more in the neighborhood of
20,000 to 30,000 units per month. d.light has funded
its operations and growth through both investment
capital and earnings. d.light is also continualty updating its products. For example, its newest design incorporates a smartphone charger, knowing smartphones
are the lifeline of many small business owners and others in developing countries.
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lndian mother of three with her d.light solar-powered lamp.
Ohallenges Ahead
As it continues to grow, d.light faces a host of challenges. The problem it is trying to solve, to provide
a reliable source of light to people without access to
electricity, is as large as ever. The United Nations now
estimates that over 2 billion people in the world do not
have access to reliable electricity. lncredibly, that number is higher than when d.light was founded in 2007.
Its for-profit status is also periodically challenged. A
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Exrds:*tes
1. S. A. Alvarez and J. B. Barney, "Entrepreneurial
Opportunities and Poverty Alleviation,"
Entrepreneurshtp Theory and Practtce 38, no. 1
QOr\: 159-184.
2. A. Tjan, R. Harrington, and Tsun-Yan Hsieh,
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Harvard Business Review Press, 2Ol2).
3. The Hartford SmallBus[ness Success Shtdg,
20 L L Available at http : / /newsroom. thehartford.
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4. S. Barlett, "Seat of t]:e Pants," fnc., October 2OO2.
5. J. Brinckmann, D. Grichnik, and D. Kapsa,
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7. A. Parhankangas and M. Ehrlich, "How
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8. R. Zachary and C. S. Mishra, "Research
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Briggs, "Exploring the Role of Trust in the DealMaking Process for Early-Stage Technologr
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10. G. Sutton, WrttingWinning Bustness Plans: How
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Jordan Baltimore and Oyster Digital Media,"
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13. P. M. Getty, The 12 Magic Sttdes (NewYork, NY:
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14. Personal conversation \Mith Michael Heller,
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15. L. Essig, "Ownership, Failure, and Experience:

Goals and Evaluation Metrics of University-Based
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Everythin$," HctruordBusiness Reuleru 91, no. 5
(2013): 110-112.
1
8. G. Clydesdale, Entrepreneuriat Opportunifu
(New
York, NY: Routledge, 2010).

19. M. J. Bliemel, "Getting Entrepreneurship
Education Out of the Classroom and Into
Students' Heads, " Entrepreneur shtp Re seqrch
Journal, 2014, in press.
20. U.S. Small Business Administration, "Executive
SummarSr," www.sba.gov, (accessed March 10,
2Or4).
2I.
M. Jenkin, "Smal1 Business Tips: How to Write

a Business Plan Executive Summary," Ttae
Guardian, www.theguardian. com, February 22,
2014.
22. C. A. Bartel and B. M. Wiesenfeld, 'The Social
Negotiaflon of Group Prototype Ambiguity in
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ManagementReuiew 38, no. 4 (2013): 5O3-524.
23. D. L. King, C. J. Case, and M. Kathleen, "2OL2
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Theory of Team Processes: Accounting for the
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oJManagementReuiew 38, no. I (2013): 32-48.
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J. H. Chua, '"The Influence of Family Goals,
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(2013): L249-r261.
26. T. Vanacker, S. Maingart, and M. Meuleman,
"Path-Dependent Evolution Versus Intentional
Management of Investment Ties in Science-Based
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andPractice 38, 2014, in press.
27. M. Renko, "Early Challenges of Nascent Social
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Practtce 37, rto. 5 (2013): 1045-1069.
28. R. Adams, A Good Hard Kick in ttrc Ass (New York,
NY: Crown Books, 2OO2), L5O.
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C6.Writing A Business Plan

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Getting

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