At this point you are probably thinking that you have no idea where to start your plan or even what it should include. A good place to start, as with any other objective, is to construct a summary of what your plan will contain. Create a table of contents that includes whatever you think your plan should encompass. In all likelihood your plan will contain an objective, an executive summary, your product, marketing strategies, target market, competition, financial analysis and profiles of key decision-makers. There may be other aspects that should be included in plan but for now, above mentioned are primary ingredients for a good plan.

You might also consider seeking counsel of an attorney to be sure your plan and business venture is legal. What a disappointment it would be if you put a lot of hard work into your plan and later found out that some important legality was missing, requiring you to start from scratch. In addition, services of an accountant are of vital importance. Unless you are prepared to construct spreadsheets and graphs explaining how you intend to use your money and what projections you have for future, you might want to hire someone who knows all financial ins and outs of a business.

I believe you now have a good beginning for organizing your new startup venture. When your plan is complete, make sure there are no typos or grammatical errors. Perhaps you might want to have someone you trust review it before submitting it for consideration. In any event, good luck with your new venture and may your business become a huge success.

Knowing little or nothing about your competition is evidence that you haven't done your homework. While it may not be fatal blow, it certainly doesn't help your cause.

Legal Entanglements

Investors today are very conscious of potential legal problems that may be lurking around corner. If they have any interest in your plan and business proposal, they will conduct their own due diligence. The time to address any potential legal problems, however, is during plan review. Here are some questions to ask yourself if you're not sure of potential legal issues:

·Was your product developed while you were employed somewhere else ·Are there potential employment contracts or non-compete conflicts ·Is there any possible patent infringement issues ·Are there any disgruntled former employee(s) who could sue your company ·Is there clear ownership of your product or service

If you have doubts about any of above questions, it's probably a good idea to have an attorney review and resolve issue before you meet with an investor. A good rule of thumb is that you want to avoid surprises at all costs.

Assessment of Risks

Risks are different than weaknesses in that they deal with future and are normally outside realm of your business. Are there market forces that could prevent your plan from being successful and if so, what are they. Some common sense should lead you through this exercise. I would, for example, leave out world wars or Armageddon but I would consider possible impact of new technology, e-commerce, changes in consumer demand and a variety of other issues that could negatively impact your business.

Financial Projections

You're sitting across conference room table from your prospective investor. He's read through your plan, asked a lot of tough questions but things have gone reasonably well - so far. Then he turns to financials.

There is a long pause and then he looks at you and asks, "what data do you have to support these projections?"

Dead silence. Sweat is starting to accumulate on your upper lip. You glance over at your finance guy who avoids eye contact but still manages to shrugs his shoulders as if to say "hey, I'm just messenger."

"Well, ah - ah - our projections were based on our analysis of market, competition and what we feel are advantages of our product line."

"Okay, show me your analysis..." Point - set - match.

Here's a tip. First, be prepared for this question because it will come up. The likelihood that anyone will invest in your business based solely on you "best guess" of revenues and net income are pretty remote - even if you're dot-com. There is a very strong correlation between amount of research data that you have to support your projections and likelihood of success in securing funding. This doesn't necessarily mean that you need to spend months and thousands of dollars on focus groups, surveys and market research. What it does mean, however, is that you should have and be able to provide convincing rationale for how your projections were put together