UNIT-2

ENTREPRENEURIAL JOURNEY
 The entrepreneurial process of new business creation starts when a business
opportunity is discovered or created by nascent entrepreneurs. This process
involves a journey of improvising and coping with uncertainty. There are
many obstacles as well as pulling, pushing, and driving forces that the
entrepreneur may encounter along the way.

 Every business starts with something. It might be an idea or the germ of an

idea. It might be a thing, a world-changing product, a smart enhancement to
something which already exists. It might be a dream, a desire to shake up the
status quo, to change things.
Starting your own venture brings new and exciting experiences. Every entrepreneur
moves through several steps in considering the entrepreneurial journey. Once you
understand this journey, the steps will help you define path toward creating and starting
a new venture. Each step of this process offers another level of understanding that
prepares you for long-term success.

What makes someone ready or willing to choose entrepreneurship over becoming an

employee of an established business or a small business owner? It takes confidence,
courage, determination, resilience, and some know-how to select entrepreneurship as
a career as well as the recognition of the opportunity.
You are unique. Even if two similar people attempted to launch identical ventures, the results
would likely not be the same. This is because each one of us has different ideas, approaches,
available resources, and comfort levels, all of which influence the venture’s development and
eventual success.

Although there are no hard and fast rules or theories of the best way to launch into
entrepreneurship, we can gain wisdom from the lessons learned by experienced entrepreneurs.

Selecting an entrepreneurial career requires honesty, reflection, and a tendency to be action

oriented. You will need to recognize your own strengths, limitations, and commitment as part of
that honesty. Reflection is required for self-growth—seeking improvements in your own skills,
interactions, and decision making—and commitment is required to maintain consistency in your
willingness to make the new venture a top priority in your life.
 Step 4: Step 5:
Step 1: Step 2: Step 3: Step 6: Step 7:
Exploring Business
Inspiration Preparation Assessment Navigation Launch
Resources Plan

Step 1: Inspiration – What is your motivation for becoming an entrepreneur?

Step 2: Preparation – Do you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur?
Step 3: Assessment – What is the idea you plan to offer through your venture?
Step 4: Exploring Resources – What resources and characteristics do you need to make this venture work?
Step 5: Business Plan – What type of business structure and business model will your venture have?
Step 6: Navigation – In what direction will you take your venture? Where will you go for guidance?
Step 7: Launch – When and how will you launch your venture?
Proper mindset

Devoted with work

Smart thinking

Mentor

Committed with
work

Temperament
1. Proper Mindset

The term entrepreneurial venture

means any type of new business,
organization, project, or operation
of interest that includes a level of
risk in acting on an opportunity
that has not previously been
established.
2. DEVOTED WITH YOUR WORK
Dishonesty, deception, or lies of omission are so dangerous in business because they
damage trust. If you lie and get caught, that customer/partner/investor will have a
hard time believing anything else you say.

“Honesty is a dying virtue. In a world where people are often doing anything they
can to get the deal signed, or move ahead of their competitors, honesty will
differentiate you quickly,” says Geek Powered Studios’s.

Kendra Wright, project management. “Your customers need to know they can trust
your word first, before they can trust you with their money.”
 3. SMART THINKING
 Utilize the mornings: Now, multiple psychosis researches have revealed that the
mornings are the best time to begin new ventures. This is due to the freshness
factor; if it works for you, try and utilize the first-half of the day to execute the
most important of tasks and those requiring a chunk of your efforts. Finish the
most demanding tasks within the most productive hours of your work day.
 Think laterally, not unilaterally: Figure out positives that could potentially arise
when certain “demanding” projects are completed. Find out the “way out” to get to
the end of the tunnel (in case you feel like you are abandoned in a dark alley- a
trend in today’s corporate sector).
 Networking: Networking is actually smart working; you could meet that dream
client of yours business in an event or land that business all through a single
meeting. Therefore, never underestimate meetups; if possible, attend these so that
they turn into breeding grounds for smartness.
4. MENTOR
“A mentor is someone who sees more talent and ability within you than you see in
yourself, and helps bring it out of you.” - Bob Proctor
A mentor is a person who can support, advise and guide you. They typically take the time
to get to know you and the challenges you're facing, and then use their understanding and
personal experience to help you improve.
Traits of a good mentor include:
 Being a good listener
 Asking good questions
 Empathetic
 Encouraging
 Self-aware
 Personable
 Honest
5. COMMITTED WITH WORK
Commitment is about having the courage to go through the unknowns. And when you go through
those unknowns, you learn. When you learn, you develop capabilities that you would never be able
to acquire through other means.

Those capabilities then lead to confidence. That confidence then, in turn, leads to more
commitment- and more capabilities, and more confidence

When you complete this cycle over and over again, it leads to massive success and massive results
especially in business.

The best part? Because this cycle is self-fulfilling, all you need to do is put in that first level of
commitment. From there, it will compound upon itself and you’ll start to see exponential growth
across your life and business.
6. TEMPRAMENT

 “Your temperament will define whether you are cut out for this game or not – surviving and
prospering in business means that you have to deal with any situation that life throws at you.
You cannot afford to be emotional or anger quickly when things go wrong, as they inevitably
will. The key is to take a breath and look at the bigger picture.”
 You believes that having the right temperament means being consistent in how you deal with
difficult situations and with people. We have to respect everyone for their differences and their
own talents.
ENTREPRENEURIAL JOURNEY-INNOVATIVE
IDEA
 The entrepreneurial idea is a feasible, financially sound,
technically possible, and socially acceptable idea of a project
or product that may have utility perspective customers.
 No one can come up with an idea and, in the very first
instance, convert it into a business opportunity and start a
small business on that basis.
 The majority of good business opportunities do not come
suddenly.
 It comes from an established mechanism to generate many
ideas so that at least one idea has the potential for a business
opportunity. It requires a series of steps to finalize it into a
profitable business.
1.Customers
Prospective customers know best what they want and the habits/tastes that
will be popular shortly. New product or service ideas may come from
customers’ reactions to the present product and the expected product idea.
Contacts with prospective consumers can also reveal the features that
should be built into a product or service. The attention to the customers can
take the form of informally monitoring potential ideas and needs or formally
arranging surveys among prospective customers. Care needs to be taken to
ensure that the idea or need represents a large enough market to support a
new venture.

2.Existing organization
Competing products and services of existing organizations and evaluation
thereof is a successful source of new ideas. The analysis of profitability and
break-even level of various industries or organizations indicate promising
investment opportunities which are profitable and relatively risk-free.
3.Distribution channels
Member of the distribution channels; intermediaries, transient customer
preference, and possible expectations may be a good business idea.
Not only do channel members frequently have suggestions for
completely new products, but they can also help in marketing the
entrepreneur’s newly developed products.
4.Government
The government can be a source of new product ideas in many ways.
 First, the files of the Patent Office contain numerous new product
possibilities. They can suggest other more marketable new product ideas.
 Secondly, new product ideas can respond to government regulations,
industrial policy, investment guidelines, annual plan, Five-year plan, etc.
Thirdly, several government agencies nowadays assist entrepreneurs in
discovering evaluating business ideas.
6.Research and Development
 The entrepreneur’s own “research and development” is the largest source
of new ideas. It may be a more formal endeavor connected with one’s
current employment or an informal laboratory in the private premises.
 Formal institutional research and development are often better equipped,
enabling the entrepreneur to conceptualize and develop successful new
product ideas. But many amazing product ideas have come from informal
research endeavors at the private level.

7.Trade Shows, Fairs aid Exhibitions

 These sources display new products and innovations in processes and
services.
 An innovative entrepreneur can get product ideas to adapt or modify and
produce with indigenous materials and technology.
8.Focus Groups Discussion (FGD)
 Focus groups are good sources of product ideas.
 A moderator leads a group of people through an open, in-depth discussion
rather than simply asking questions to solicit participant response; for a
new product area, the moderator focuses the group’s discussion in either a
directive or a nondirective manner.
 The group of 8 to 14 participants is stimulated by comments from other
group members to conceptualize and develop a new product idea to fulfill
market needs.
 This is an excellent method for initially screening ideas and concepts too.
9.Brainstorming
The brainstorming method for generating new product ideas is based on
the fact that people can be stimulated to greater creativity by meeting with
others and participating in organized group experiences.
 This method would be effective if the effort focuses on a specific product
or market area. The following four rules should be followed when using this
method:
A. No criticism is allowed by anyone in the group – no negative comments.
B. Freewheeling is encouraged- the wilder the idea, the better.
C. Quantity of ideas is desired- the greater the number of ideas, the greater
the likelihood of useful ideas emerging.
D. Combinations and improvements of ideas are encouraged – ideas of
others can still produce another new idea.
10.Collective Notebook Method
 In the collective notebook method, a small notebook that easily it’s in a pocket,
containing a statement of the problem, blank pages, and any pertinent background
data, is distributed.
 Participants consider the problem and its possible solutions, recording ideas at
least once but preferably three times a day.
 At the end of the month, a list of the best ideas is developed, along with any
suggestions.

11.Heuristics Method
 The technique is probably used more than imagined because entrepreneurs
frequently must settle for an estimated outcome of a decision rather than a
certainty.
 One specific heuristic approach is called the Heuristic Ideation Technique (HIT).
 The technique involves locating all relevant concerts – that could be associated
with a given product area and generating a set of all possible combinations of
ideas.
12.Checklist Method
 A new idea is developed through a lot of related issues or suggestions. The entrepreneur can use the
list of questions or statements to guide the direction of developing entirely new ideas or concentrating
on specific “idea” areas. The checklist may take any form and be of any length.
One general checklist is :
 Put to other uses? New ways to use as is? Other uses if modified?
 Adapt? What else is like this? What other ideas does this ‘ suggest? Does the past offer parallel?
What could I copy? Whom could I emulate?
 Modify? New twist? Change meaning, sour, motion, odor, form, shape? Other changes?
 Magnify? What lo add? More time? Greater frequency? Stronger? Larger? Thicker? Extra value? Plus
ingredient? Duplicate? Multiply? Exaggerate?
 Minify? What substitute? Smaller? Condensed? Miniature? Lower? Shorter? Lighter? Omit?
Streamline? Split up? Understated?
 Substitute? Who else instead? What else instead? Another ingredient? Other material? Another
process? Other power? Other places? Other approaches? Other tones of voice?
 Rearrange? Interchange components? Other Pattern? Other layouts’.’ Other sequences? Transpose
cause and effect? Change pact? Change schedule?
 Reverse? Transpose positive and negative? How about opposites? Turn it backward? Turn it upside-
down? Reverse roles? Turntables? Turn other cheeks?
 Combine? How about a bend, an alloy, an assortment, Combine units? Combine purposes?
Combine /appeals? Combine ideas?
13. Synectics Method
 Synectic is a creative process that forced individuals to solve problems
through four analogy mechanisms: ‘ personal, direct, symbolic, and fantasy.
A group works through a two-step process.
 The first step is to make the strange familiar.
 Through generalizations or models, this involves consciously reversing the
order of things and putting the problem into a readily acceptable or familiar
perspective, thereby eliminating the strangeness.
 Once the strangeness is eliminated, participants engage in the second
step, making the familiar strange through personal, direct, or—symbolic
analogy, which ideally results in a unique solution being developed.
14.Dream Approach
 The big dream approach to coming up with a new idea requires that the
entrepreneur dreams about the problem and. Its solution- thinking big.
 Every possibility should be recorded and investigated without regard to all
the negatives involved or the resources required. In other words, ideas
should be conceptualized without any constraints until an idea is developed
into a workable form.

15.Market Gap Analysis

 Market gap analysis is a powerful method used to uncover areas in the
market in which the needs and wants far exceed the supply.
 This method has a hopper or gathering effect of converting everyday
information into bunches of lucrative product and service gaps that few
have thought of before.
16.Life-style analysis Method
 Entrepreneurs can use lifestyle analysis effusively for product-service
ideas. Lifestyle is a person’s pattern of living expressed in his or her
psychographics (Kotler and Armstrong. 181:2001).
 It involves measuring consumers’ major activities (work, hobbies,
shopping, sports, social events), interests (food, fashion, family,
recreation), and opinions (about themselves, social issues, business,
products).
 The lifestyle analysis will help entrepreneurs understand new needs and
want under the changed conditions. It will also reflect the changing
consumer values that may be a good source of product-service ideas.
 OPPORTUNITY IDENTIFICATION
Opportunity identification and evaluation is a most difficult task.
Entrepreneurship does not always begin with the creative concept for a new
product, service, or process. It often begins with the entrepreneur's alertness
to identify an opportunity.
“examination of how, by whom, and with what effects opportunities to create
future goods and services are discovered, evaluated and exploited.”
Opportunity recognition is dependent on the perspective and abilities of the
entrepreneur. Opportunity recognition has been described as an interaction
of the individual characteristics of the entrepreneur and the factor existing or
emerging in the environment.
Furthermore, how do you identify entrepreneurship opportunities? Here are
four ways to identify more business opportunities.
 Listen to your potential clients and past leads. When you're targeting
potential customers listen to their needs, wants, challenges and frustrations
with your industry.
 Listen to your customers.
Objectives of Identification of Business
Opportunities
Thus, the following are the objectives of the Identification of business opportunities:
1. Identification of opportunities by an entrepreneur, in the context of probable
industries and to decide his own role, the scope of work, and relationships, in
accordance with the opportunities.
2. To keep watch over the possible market of the commodity or service to be produced.
3. To decide a high-level group of managers, so that entrepreneurial ventures may be
started.
4. To make an assessment of financial resources by making financial forecasts, in the
context of the process if industrial development.
5. To explore the opportunities for possible entry in other areas.
6. To assess the requirements of labor, capital, and materials for the industries.
7. To find out the possibilities of short term and long term development in various areas
of the economy.
8. To have the desire for technical knowledge, awareness towards new opportunities,
and acceptance of the changes.
9. To see the possibilities of diverting the available resources towards achieving the
Factors to Consider in Identifying Business
Opportunities
Analysis of Internal Demand: Business opportunities may be identified by
assessment of internal demand of the existing and proposed products, as to
what will be the possibility of future demand? Before it, the entrepreneur will
have to keep into consideration, the per capita income, population, and
national income.
Availability of Raw Materials: Easy availability of raw material also has an
important role in selecting the business opportunities, the reason being that
the quantity and level of future production are decided only by it. If the raw
material is easily available, then not only the production cost is low, but it also
makes the entrepreneur ready to establish the industrial unit.
External Assistance: Role of external assistance, like – government,
suppliers, investors, and specific institutions is also important, in Identification
of business opportunities, the reason being that external assistance, support
and cooperation are helpful in Identification of opportunities.
In various areas, governments provide assistance, subsidies, and incentives in
 Internal Sources: The availability of internal sources also has an important role
in the identification of business opportunities. If the sources of production are
regularly available to the entrepreneur, he may take positive steps for the
establishment of the industrial unit.
Knowledge about Industrial Development: By obtaining detailed knowledge
about proposed industrial development from various sources, the entrepreneur may
know, the establishment of which type of industry and at which place will be
profitable, and which not?
Risk in Business Opportunities: Every business involves risk. It goes on
increasing or decreasing with the environment in such conditions, the entrepreneur
has to identify, when, and how much risk involved in the business opportunities?
Performance of Existing Units: The entrepreneur main objectively analyzes the
performance of existing units to identify business opportunities. For that, he will
have to analyze products, and product expansion, capital, profits, employment,
assets, export possibilities, etc.
Promote Entrepreneurial Activity: The entrepreneur may promote
entrepreneurial activity for the establishment of industries having good potential
for exports, by identifying suitable business opportunities It is clear that decisions
regarding the profitability or otherwise from the promotion of particular
Challenges of Identification of Business
Opportunities
Innovation
Financial
of New
Challenges
Product
Promotion
of an Unhealthy
Entrepren Competitio
eurial n
Venture

Initial
Decision-
Crisis in
Making
Beginning Challenges
and
of
Leadership
Business
Customer discovery

 Customer discovery is the initial and iterative process of understanding customers’ situations,
needs, and pain points.

 Customer discovery involves defining and prioritizing personas and is applicable to both early-
stage companies and big companies when developing new products, seeking to target new
personas, or entering new markets. Discovery should encompass the entire customer journey.

 Common discovery techniques include interviewing, ethnography, low fidelity (lo-fi) testing, and
journey mapping.

 “Part of discovery is trying to define not just how painful the problem is, but also whether it is a
big enough problem across enough constituents to make it worth it to build a product—and
potentially a company- to resolve it.
In Customer Discovery, you (the founder) take on the role of a scientist or detective, trying to let
evidence lead you to a solution without letting any of your own bias get in the way. In fact,
Customer Discovery ordinarily involves a process that closely follows the traditional scientific
method:
1.Observing and defining a phenomenon (problem or market need)
2.Developing a hypothesis about a solution to the problem (business idea)
3.Conducting an experiment to test the hypothesis (getting “out of the building”)
Customer Discovery is imperative if you want to create a product or service that serves the
needs, pain points, and challenges of potential customers. Being a customer-centric process,
Customer Discovery can be (and we encourage it to be) utilized at any point in a startup’s
journey, however, the early stage discovery step is the most important.
Step One: Define a Hypothesis
The first step is to form a hypothesis that defines both the problem and the solution you are proposing. A
simple way to frame this is to fill in the following sentence:

My idea solves [insert problem] by [insert solution].

A good hypothesis addresses a single problem with a single solution.

Breaking down your Customer Discovery journey to focus on one specific hypothesis will make your
results more articulated and insightful. Here are four of the most common hypotheses you see in the
Customer Discovery journey:
• Problem Hypothesis: A hypothesis that addresses the problem you’re looking to solve. Is it an actual
problem people have? What’s the scope of the problem? Why does the problem exist?
• Solution Hypothesis: A hypothesis that addresses the proposed solution to a problem you’ve identified.
Does your solution actually solve the problem in the customer’s eyes?
• Price Hypothesis: A hypothesis that addresses the feasibility of your solution? Can it generate revenue?
Are customers willing to purchase at your price to alleviate their pain?
• Go-to-Market Hypothesis: A hypothesis that addresses how you will get your solution in the hands of
the customer. Is your MVP (minimum viable product) able to be distributed? How will they find your
product? How will they purchase your product?
Step Two: Define Your Assumptions

When detailing your hypothesis, you will be forced to make some assumptions
about your idea. These will include assumptions that:
• The problem you addressed is actually a problem
• The solution you propose will actually solve the problem
• The market you plan to target has this problem
• The market you plan to target will be willing to pay for your solution
Step Three: Ask (Good) Questions

The next step is to “get out of the building” and ask some questions. You’re going to
start by targeting people who you believe could be potential customers
Customer Discovery questions are open-ended and nonspecific about your idea. By
letting the customer lead the conversation, you will end up letting them tell you
about their ideal solution (instead of the other way around). Example questions
might include:
• Tell me how you currently do _____________________.
• How is that process working for you?
• If you could do anything to improve your experience with ___________________,
• what would it be?
• What’s the hardest part about ______________?
• What do you like/dislike about ______________?
Step Four: Evaluate and Refine

If you perform the Customer Discovery process correctly, chances are you’ll
discover some things that you had not originally considered. At this point, you
have the opportunity to return to the drawing board (Step One), incorporate
what you’ve learned, and repeat the process. Once your customers’ responses
match your hypothesis, then you can move on confidently, knowing that you are
about to build something that your customers will actually want.
What Customer Discovery Approach is Right For You?

Survey
Interview

Virtual Interviews

Focus Group Virtual Focus Group

Video Survey
Observation/
Ethnographic
Online Observations

In-person forms of customers Virtual forms of customer discovery

discovery
Opportunity Assessment
How to assess opportunities?
Opportunities are made, not found
But assessing opportunities is crucial to the pivot decision
Ans especially crucial if you seek resources to help launch your startup

The best opportunities often…

Are in times of CHANGE
Capitalize on MACRO-TRENDES
Solve major PROBLMES AREAS
Go beyond PRODUCTS
Assessment of Business Opportunities The process of making a business plan is
a very good way for the organization to assess its business opportunities. In its
most rudimentary form, a business plan is a road map or a guideline to the
future. It is the written manifestation of the company’s long term goals.
CUSTOMER VALIDATION
Customer validation is the second part of the Customer Development model. This phase is
important because you find out whether your assumptions regarding customers are true or
false. Customer discovery was all about figuring out who your customers are and how to reach
them. Customer validation is about making sure that your research is correct and developing
your business model to reflect that information. Essentially, if you can validate your customer
related assumptions then you have potentially found customers who will buy your product.
1. Customer Discovery: Learn and Listen to the Potential customers. It is important to understand what the
customer needs So, Go and get out into the real world to talk to them and find the answers to your Fundamental
questions. This helps to create a series of hypothetical business models.

2. Customer Validation: After the fundamental questions has been answered and hypothesis has been formed, it’s
time to examines the scalability and repeatability of the hypotheses. In fact it creates a strategy to test and validate
those hypotheses with real/potential customers.
The first two steps of the customer development process is all about learning and discovery about your customer.
Once you’ve validated your ideas about your customers, you’re ready to bring in more customers and build business
with next steps.

3. Customer Creation: The main goal is to build demand and awareness for the solution by activating sales
channels. In addition to that, business can start spending on marketing as well at this step. It is important to validate
before you begin to spend money because not only this prevents you from spending money but also prevents you
from wasting time to position business in wrong market.

4. Company Building : This is the last step of customer development process transforming the “startup” mentality
to execution-focused company. Here the business includes formal departments to scale up the business development
so that the management keeps pace as the company grows.
CUSTOMER VALIDATION PROCESS
1. GET READY TO SELL
Collect all the findings and insights generated in the customer discovery process. In this
step you would collect all the information available which would be later on used to
validate directly from customers.
Make sure to include
 Hypothesis- Assumptions about your market, their problem and your solution.
 plan– Outlines the overall direction and goals for the product
 Channel Strategy – Paid/free channels to reach out to your customers. Make sure to
not spend too much initially hence do not consider spending big on advertising
channel.
 Value Proposition -It is an easy-to-understand reason why a customer should buy a
product or service from that particular business.
 Any other materials required to present to customers- Presentation, website, price
lists and so on, product data sheet and customer presentation.
2. SELL TO EARLYVANGELISTS
In this step your simple aim is to get a handful of deals from customers to be known Earlyvangelists.
They are those customers who envision the potential of your product/service to solve their problem and
are willing to take a risk on your product or service.
Steve Blank has described Earlyvangelists as somebody who
• Has a problem.
• Understand they have a problem.
• Is Actively searching for a solution and has a timetable for finding it.
• Understand that the problem is painful.
• Have budget for the solution that can solve the problem.
◦ There are plenty of ways through which you can seek validation from them. Infact this is the stage
where you make use of your MVP to get validation.
◦ MVP is Minimum product with the least amount of invested development for which you believe you can
start charging.
DEVELOP POSITIONING

You have learned a lot about your customers and your product by this point. The validation
received in the 2nd Phase of Customer Validation would help you to develop your Product
positioning .
Customers develop opinions about companies and products. So, You have to position the
Product in the mind of the customer. Moreover, positioning is always done in relation to the
competition and customer’s point of view
In addition to that, you may also begin to push sales and marketing now. Just keep in mind
that you are just beginning to grow so dont spend too much in this step. Leave it for later steps
.
4. VERIFY
In this step you need to self verify and gauge the progress you have made, which would inform
you about your next steps. Few questions you need to answer to validate your sales road map are-
Did you sell enough to validate your value proposition?
Have you identified a profitable and sustainable sales and business model?
Did you get sufficient insights to scale your business?

If you answered ‘yes’ to all the questions then Congrats you have verified your Sales Roadmap
and you should move ahead to the Third Phase of Customer Development Process.
However, If you answered ‘no’ to only the first question then you need to Iterate and conduct a
customer validation process again. Iteration would help in Optimizing your product for a
successful business that would reach to a wider market.
FEASIBILITY STUDY
The word ‘feasibility‘ means the degree or state of being easily, conveniently, or reasonably done.
If something is ‘feasible,’ it means that we can do it, make it, or achieve it. In other words, it is
‘doable’ and also ‘viable.’

A feasibility study is an evaluation and analysis of a project or system that somebody has
proposed. We also call it a feasibility analysis. The study tries to determine whether the project is
technically and financially feasible, i.e., is it technically or financially viable? Financially
feasible, in this context, means whether the project is feasible within the estimated cost.

A feasibility study also determines whether a project makes good business sense, i.e., will it be
profitable?
Feasibility study vs. business plan
The term is similar to a business plan, but the meaning is not the same. When somebody has
an initial business idea, the company carries out a feasibility study.

The study aims to flesh out the possibilities in that business idea.

The business plan, on the other hand, describes the company, its goals, strategies, and
financial projections (forecasts).

A feasibility analysis tells you whether something will work. A business plan tells you how it
will work.
BUSINESS PLAN

A business plan is a document that contains

the operational and financial plan of a
business, and details how its objectives will
be achieved. It serves as a road map for the
business and can be used when pitching
investors or financial institutions for debt or
equity financing.
A business plan is a written document
describing a company's core business
activities, objectives, and how it plans to
achieve its goals.
Preparation and Execution

Title page
Appendices
Executive
and
Summery
Exhibits

Financial Industry
Planning Overview

Business
Plan
Customer
Market
Segmentatio
Analysis
n

Sales and
Operating
Marketing
Plan
Plan
Management
Plan
Contents of a Business Plan: A business plan should be structured in a way that it contains all
the important information that investors are looking for. Here are the main sections of a business
plan:
1. Title Page: The title page captures the legal information of the business, which includes the
registered business name, physical address, phone number, email address, date, and the
company logo.

2. Executive Summary: The executive summary is the most important section because it is the
first section that investors and bankers see when they open the business plan. It provides a
summary of the entire business plan. It should be written last to ensure that you don’t leave any
details out. It must be short and to the point, and it should capture the reader’s attention. The
executive summary should not exceed two pages.
Here’s what your business plan’s executive summary should include:
Business concept. What does your business do?
Business goals and vision. What does your business want to do?
Product description and differentiation. What do you sell, and why is it different?
Target market. Who do you sell to?
Marketing plan. How do you plan on reaching your customers?
Current financial state. What do you currently earn in revenue?
Projected financial state. What do you foresee earning in revenue?
The ask. How much money are you asking for?
The team. Who’s involved in the business?
3. Industry Overview: The industry overview section provides information about the specific
industry that the business operates in. Some of the information provided in this section includes
major competitors, industry trends, and estimated revenues. It also shows the company’s position in
the industry and how it will compete in the market against other major players.
4. Market analysis: A firm needs a good handle on the industry as well as its target market. It will
outline who the competition is and how it factors in the industry, along with its strengths and
weaknesses. It will also describe the expected consumer demand for what the business is selling
and how easy or difficult it may be to grab market share from incumbents.
5. Sales and Marketing Plan: The sales and marketing plan details how the company plans to sell its
products to the target market. It attempts to present the business’s unique selling proposition and the
channels it will use to sell its goods and services. It details the company’s advertising and promotion
activities, pricing strategy, sales and distribution methods, and after-sales support.
6. Management Plan: The management plan provides an outline of the company’s legal
structure, its management team, and internal and external human resource requirements. It
should list the number of employees that will be needed and the remuneration to be paid to each
of the employees.

7. Operating Plan: The operating plan provides an overview of the company’s physical
requirements, such as office space, machinery, labor, supplies, and inventory. For a business that
requires custom warehouses and specialized equipment, the operating plan will be more
detailed, as compared to, say, a home-based consulting business. If the business plan is for a
manufacturing company, it will include information on raw material requirements and the
supply chain.
8. Customer segmentation: Your ideal customer, also known as your target market, is the foundation of
your marketing plan, if not your business plan as a whole. You’ll want to keep this person in mind as you
make strategic decisions, which is why an overview of who they are is important to understand and include
in your plan.
To give a holistic overview of your ideal customer, describe a number of general and specific demographic
characteristics. Customer segmentation often includes:
Where they live
Their age range
Their level of education
Some common behavior patterns
How they spend their free time
Where they work
What technology they use
How much they earn
Where they’re commonly employed
Their values, beliefs, or opinions
Their purchase preferences
9. Financial planning: In order to attract the party reading the business plan, the company
should include its financial planning and future projections. Financial statements, balance
sheets, and other financial information may be included for already-established businesses. New
businesses will instead include targets and estimates for the first few years of the business and
any potential investors.

10. Appendices and Exhibits: The appendices and exhibits part is the last section of a business
plan. It includes any additional information that banks and investors may be interested in or that
adds credibility to the business. Some of the information that may be included in the appendices
section includes office/building plans, detailed market research, products/services offering
information, marketing brochures, and credit histories of the promoters.
1. Actually starting it: “The hardest part about writing a business plan is getting it started. Lock
yourself in a room, turn off your phone and focus.
2. Filling out your financials: “The most difficult part of writing a business plan is the financial
section. It is difficult to project figures on a brand-new business with, possibly, a brand-new
concept. There is no roadmap, no one to follow. The best you can do is find a similar company
and try to gauge what they are making.
3. Knowing your demographics: The hardest but most important piece is getting your target
demographics dialed in properly. You need to know who you will be selling to and how big the
market is to estimate with some accuracy how many people you can reach and sell your product
or service to.”
4. Planning for tech changes: Predicting the unforeseen technology variables
that the future holds is a challenge. Most businesses that started nearly 10 years
ago, there was no marketing on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram did not yet
exist. Today, these social media platforms play a huge role in business’
marketing strategy and directly affect sales.”
5. Being concise: One of the top challenges is keeping it short and sweet. The
more concise and focused a plan is, the more likely business owners are to
achieve the goals they have set out for themselves and their business.”
6. Making it interesting: The hardest thing about writing a business plan is
being able to tell your story in such a way that people buy into your idea. If you
tell a lousy story, people won’t want to invest.”
7. Establishing workable goals: Establishing clear, concise and understandable goals, these
goals must also be realistic. When people can’t see the vision of the plan, they won’t take action
to pursue the plan. In addition, by having set goals that align with your plan, you have
measurable targets to track your progress.”
8. Staying grounded: You need to be honest with yourself. Entrepreneurs are by nature
dreamers and optimists and business plans require them to challenge their assumptions about
market opportunity, the competition, the value of their product and growth projections. That is
where they get caught up in defining an aspirational, but somewhat realistic, business plan.
9. Finding the right amount of flexibility: The hardest thing about writing a business plan is
making it flexible enough to allow for change without making it so flexible that it isn’t really a
plan. There is a happy medium between these worlds and this is where the most success can be
found.
10. Proving that your idea is worth it: Proving monetization is undoubtedly the biggest
challenge when it comes to developing business plans. Often, startups will have innovative ideas
and a lot of ambition, but not necessarily a budget or the funding to bring their ideas to life.
When companies come to us, we always ask [if there is] a need, because need drives business. If
there is no need, you won’t be able to succeed with your business plan.” – Kim Connors,
director of strategy, Blue Fountain Media.

11. Making your plan useful: In my experience, the biggest challenges CEOs face is creating a
business plan that can actually be successfully implemented. Many companies create plans, but
too often, those plans sit on the shelf with actions not done, targets not met.”