LiON’S LAIR 2015 Business Plan Format Guidelines Business plans must be a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 10 pages in length and must include an executive summary. Below are the six items that should be included in the business plan. We have listed potential topics within each item and participants are welcome to use any or all of the listed topics. The items that should be included are: 1) Executive Summary – Briefly describe the company that is planned to be formed or already formed, and give a general idea of what the business seeks to accomplish. Describe the problem, solution and opportunity. 2) Product/Service Description – Briefly describe the specifics of the product or service. a. Features: Describe what the product/service is. b. Value Proposition: Why is the product/service valuable? What makes it unique? c. Competitive Comparison: General comparison of the features of the product/service against the existing providers of a similar offering in the market. What makes your product better than what is currently being offered? d. Technology: The unique or core technological features of the product/service. e. Future products/enhancements/service 3) Market Analysis – Summarize segmentation, target market, size, and growth of the market. a. Market Segmentation: How is the market segmented? b. Target Market Segment: Describe who comprises the target market. Mention the size and the growth of the market c. Market Need: What is the pain that the future clients are suffering from? d. Market Trends: Describe the trends followed by the clients and the business participants. e. Competition: Describe the main groups of competitors and then the individual business participants in each group. If the targeted entry market is un-‐served, describe the substitutes that customers are using to solve their problems. f. Competitive Advantage: What advantage does this product/service have compared to the competitors? 4) Business Planning and Strategy – What is your strategy for growing this business? a. Entry Strategy: Who will be the first customers? How will you reach them? b. Marketing Strategy: Describe the marketing techniques that will be used. c. Positioning Strategy: Describe how the product/service will be differentiated from others in the market. d. Selling Strategy: How will the product/service be sold? Direct sales, salesmen, web, brick and mortar, or all of the above? e. Customer Acquisition Strategy: How will you scale and reach more customers? f. Distribution Strategy: What are the channels of distribution? g. Pricing Strategy: How is the offering priced? 5) Management Team Profiles – Profiles on who is running the company. a. Management Team: Describe briefly what each member brings to the table. b. Board of Advisors: Describe briefly what each member brings to the table. c. Personnel Plan: Show the number of people needed in the next five years and their cost. 6. Financial Plan – Summarize your company’s financial plan. a. Important Assumptions b. Break Even Analysis c. Profit and Loss Statements d. Cash Flow Statements e. Projected Balance Sheet