The View: Value of Business Plans

In light of business plan experts Dave Lavinsky and Simone Brummelhuis views on the significance of business planning and raising capital, my own plan needed a tune-up. The researched gathered from expert Lavinsky was the importance of raising capital and concept that venture capital is not the only route. More importantly, Lavinsky acknowledges that more often than not a business plan is without a doubt a necessity. A noteworthy view from Brummelhuis is women investing in women owned businesses. There are many resources for minority owned business, especially women. While Brummelhuis is in the VC business, their focus is women venture capitalist investing in other woman-owned ventures.

Based on Lavinksy’s multi-faceted approach to raising capital, angel funding, silent investors, and event fund development are alternate avenues to raise capital for my plan. Without expelling traditional funding sources such as bank loans, the current economic climate presents alternate forms of funding relative and ideal. Taken from a chapter in Brummelhuis’ book, another potential source of funding is woman-owned business grants, loans, VCs, and investors.

No one investor is the same but one thing is certain, ROI or Return on Investment. The financial portion of the plan will prove to be significant, as it must demonstrate the profitability of the company beyond a great idea. Furthermore, it should indicate sustainability and growth. Although the financials weigh heavy in the investment pool, other factors could include location, market size, and competitive position. A few other aspects recognized by www.gobignetwork.com as potential factors include traction, social proof, industry, and stage of business. Traction is recognized as pre-sales, hired talent, or building product with minimal outside help. Traction is especially helpful in the entertainment industry. More and more record labels are moving away from traditional A&R to signing artists that have built their own following locally or nationally. This same principal applies to film, as filmmakers, screenwriters and directors are producing their own films for film festivals and some direct releases.

Each of the experts has provided unforeseen insight on how to build and plan a successful business and the research does not stop here.

Resources:

http://www.womanowned.com/growing/funding/opportunities.aspx

http://mixergy.com/dave-lavinsky-growthink-interview/

http://www.thenextwomen.com/users/simone-brummelhuis

http://www.gobignetwork.com/learn/what-are-investors-looking-for

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