An 18-slide Venture Plan Presentation

Slide 1: "Billboard"

Slide 2: Core Team ... who, what

Slide 3: Problem / Customer / Opportunity ... scale and scope of problem, SOM/SAM/TAM

Slide 4: Solution ... brochure

Slide 5: Value Proposition ... Customer NWD Profile, Benefits, FFFF

Slide 6: "Underlying Magic"... differentiation, competitive advantages, core competencies

Slide 7: Industry and Environment ... Who, What, SWOT

Slide 8: Competitive Analysis ... Who, What, SWOT

Slide 9: Business Model ... BM canvas

Slide 10: Go-to-Market Plan ... Strategies

Slide 11: Sales Plan ... Objectives

Slide 12: Operations ... Production, distribution, delivery, margin objectives

Slide 13: Growth Strategies ... Scale and Scope

Slide 14: Timeline ... What, when, where

Slide 15: Financial Objectives and Key Metrics ...

Slide 16: Use of Funds ...

Slide 17: Funding Proposal ... Equity, debt, grants, gifts

Slide 18: "Billboard"

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Slides 19 to 100+ will have all the gory details!! Lists of 100: customers, prospective customers, target markets, competitors, prospective collaborators, suppliers, prospective investors, ...

These 18 slides also form the foundation for a formal written business plan and an executive summary.

How to Start a New Venture

Go on a DXpedition ...

The Desire Phase ...
Determine why you (and your teammates) want to start a new venture

The Discover Phase ...

Form initial core entrepreneurial team
Identify problems or opportunities

The Define Phase ...
Screen problems or opportunities

Define the value proposition

The Design Phase ...
Generate potential solutions
Create a business venture hypothesis
Design a business venture plan

The Deploy Phase ...
Acquire needed resources
Launch the venture

The Develop Phase ...
Test, validate, and refine the venture hypothesis
Develop and iterate the venture based on real customer experiences

Ten Legal-Issue Mistakes That Entrepreneurs Make

1. Failing to incorporate early enough.
2. Issuing founder shares without vesting.
3. Hiring a lawyer not experienced in dealing with entrepreneurs and venture capitalists.
4. Failing to make a timely Section 83(b) election.
5. Negotiating venture capital financing based solely on the valuation.
6. Waiting to consider international intellectual property protection.
7. Disclosing inventions without a nondisclosure agreement, or before the patent application is filed.
8. Starting a business while employed by a potential competitor, or hiring employees without first checking their agreements with the current employer and their knowledge of trade secrets.
9. Promising more in the business plan than can be delivered and failing to comply with state and federal securities laws.
10. Thinking any legal problems can be solved later.

[Thank you, Connie Bagley]

[4.95]

Perspectives on Corporate Entrepreneurship

1. Companies must constantly innovate ... without innovation they tend to do what they've always done and run the risk of getting stale and becoming competitively disadvantaged.
2. For a company to thrive, it must tap the individual initiative of its team members ... this must be a major area of focus.
3. On any initiative being pursued, team-member buy-in is absolutely essential for success.
4. If a company want its people to be intrapreneurial in their thinking, they must be kept well informed about the company's processes and visions, and the impact of these processes and visions on profit.
5. Leaders must give team members everything they need to be self-motivated and take the initiative to succeed.
6. Companies must reward the creativity of their people.
7. If a team member owns an initiative, he or she should be accountable for all aspects of its success.
8. Companies must encourage resourcefulness and out-of-the-box thinking.
9. All thought leaders must be constantly focused on customer needs and now to satisfy and exceed them.
10. Leaders and managers must work to maximize team-member involvement in all key initiatives to tap the collective intellect of the team.

[Thank you, The One Minute Entrepreneur]

Are We Shooting Down Good Ideas?

1. You know whether or not an idea is good based who proposed it.
2. You observe from a distance rather than being lead down a path to the idea. (a.k.a. The Sniper)
3. You believe every idea is improved with your input.
4. Listing the top 10 ideas from your organization this year, half or more are your own.
5. Brainstorming means narrowing down to the best idea, instead of hearing all of them.
6. All ideas must be proven.
7. You only want BIG ideas.
8. You have no effective mechanisms to foster, collect, review, and implement ideas.
9. Your competition is your main source of ideas.
10. No matter how much you've talked about ideas, collected them, praised them, in the end you don't use them. (Like a maimed duck, you let them wander off and die.)

[Thank you, Dustin Staiger]

Perspectives on the Nature of Entrepreneurship

1. Creation of Wealth ... assume risks in exchange for profit
2. Creation of Enterprise ... founding a new business where none existed before
3. Creation of Innovation ... making existing products or methods obsolete
4. Creation of Change ... adjusting, adapting, modifying to meet new opportunities
5. Creation of Employment ... employing, managing, developing the factors of production
6. Creation of Value ... creating value for customers by exploiting untapped opportunities
7. Creation of Growth ... sales, income, assets, and employment

[Thank you, Michael H. Morris]

Highlights of an Effective Venture Plan

1. Start with a clear, concise executive summary of your venture. Think of it like an elevator pitch. In no more than two pages, billboard all the important stuff. At the top, communicate your value proposition: what your venture does, how it will make money, and why customers will want to pay for your product or service. If you are sending your plan to investors, include the amount of money you need and how you plan to use it. You have to know the whole picture before you can boil things down, so tackle the summary after finishing the rest of your plan.
2. Next, establish the market opportunity. Answer questions like: How large is your target market? How fast is it growing? Where are the opportunities and threats, and how will you deal with them? Again, highlight your value proposition. Most of this market information can be found through industry associations, chambers of commerce, census data or even from other business owners. (Be sure to source all of your information in case you are asked to back up your claims or need to update your business plan.)
3. While you may have convinced yourself that your product or service is unique, don't fall into that trap. Instead, get real and size up the competition: Who are they? What do they sell? How much market share do they have? Why will customers choose your product or service instead of theirs? What are the barriers to entry? Remember to include indirect competitors--those with similar capabilities that currently cater to a different market but could choose to challenge you down the road.
4. Now that you've established your idea, start addressing the execution ... specifically, your team. Include profiles of each of your business's founders, partners or officers and what kinds of skills, qualifications and accomplishments they bring to the table. (Include resumes in an appendix.)
5. If potential investors have read this far, it's time to give them the nuts and bolts of your business model. This includes a detailed description of all revenue streams (product sales, advertising, services, licensing) and the company's cost structure (salaries, rent, inventory, maintenance). Be sure to list all assumptions and provide a justification for them. Also, include names of key suppliers or distribution partners.
6. After all of that, one big question still remains: Exactly how much money will your venture earn? More important, when will the cash come in the door? That's why you need a section containing past financial performance (if your company is a going concern) and financial projections.
7. Three-year forward-looking profit-and-loss, balance sheet and cash-flow statements are a must ... as is a break-even analysis that shows how much revenue you need to cover your initial investment.
8. For early stage companies with only so much in the bank, the cash-flow statement comparing quarterly receivables to payables is most critical. "Everyone misunderstands cash flow," says Tim Berry, president of business-plan software company Palo Alto Software. "People think that if they plan for [accounting] profits, they'll have cash flow. But many companies that go under are profitable when they die, because profits aren't cash."
9. After you've buffed your plan to a shine, don't file it away to gather dust. "A business plan is the beginning of a process," says Berry. "Planning is like steering, and steering means constantly correcting errors. The plan itself holds just a piece of the value; it's the going back and seeing where you were wrong and why that matters."

[Thank you, Mary Crane]

[2.17]

Potential Sources of Venture Funding

1. The "Fs" ... founders, family, friends, fanatics, fools ... the starting point for most independent ventures ... generally low to moderate sophistication, low to moderate investment ...
2. Bootstrapping ...
3. Customers ...
4. Suppliers ...
5. The "Strangers with Candy" ... angels, investment clubs ... wide range of investment interest and sophistication, generally low to moderate investment ...
6. The "Vulture Capitalists" (VCs) ... venture capital firms ... usually focused on a specific industry ... moderate to high sophistication ... a mistaken target for many new ventures, very few new ventures are funded directly by VCs ...
7. The "Big Ugly Monsters" (BUMs) ... corporate venture capital ... usually focused on specific industries and proven ventures ... may fund internally-developed ventures ... often part of a angel/VC network of investors ...
8. Corporations ...
9. Bank loans ...

[4.16]

Google Design Principles

1. Focus on people - their lives, their work, their dreams.
2. Every millisecond counts.
3. Simplicity is powerful.
4. Engage beginners and attract experts.
5. Dare to innovate.
6. Design for the world.
7. Plan for today's and tomorrow's business.
8. Delight the eye without distracting the mind.
9. Be worthy of people's trust.
10. Add a human touch.

[Attribution: Sue Factor, User Experience Group, Google]

Waterfall Veture Planning

1. Vision ... "We will change the way someone does something!" [Be specific, 100 words or less: Who is someone? What is the something? Why are you going to change the way it is being done now? How?]
2. Mission ... "We will earn a profit solving customer problems better than the competition!" [Be specific, 100 words or less: Who are the target customers? What are their problems? How will you solve them? What is the competition? How are you better? What will you do to earn the business? How will you make a profit? How much?]
3. Goals ... "In five years, we will ..." [What are your three most important goals?]
4. Objectives ... "To reach our goals, we must accomplish these objectives ..." [What are the three most important objectives for each goal that must be accomplished in the next six months?]
5. Strategies ... "To accomplish our objectives, we will do this better than our competition ..." [What methods will you use to reach your objectives?]
6. Tactics ... "To implement our strategies, we will do these things ..." [What three procedures will you use to carry out your strategies?]
7. Tasks ... "To execute our tactics, we will ... " [What three things must be done to realize your tactics?]
8. Assignments ... "Here's who is going to do what and when ... " [Who are the best people for each task?]

[6.17]