The various inspiring case studies on the startups reveal that the startups are started with funding from different sources. Some of the startups are being funded or bootstrapped by the founders’ own capital or from the money which has been borrowed from the relatives or friends. Some of the startups manage to raise angel funding from the angel investors. No matter how you have launched your startup, this is imperative for every startup entrepreneur to look for more and more avenues for raising funds in order the attain success eventually. There are several instances when the founders are reluctant in bringing funds from any outside source as this would eventually result in losing the ownership and control over their dream venture. This is nothing less than a Catch-22 situation – the startup venture requires a huge capital for breathing and to sustain but the founders are reluctant to take outside funds in order to retain tight control which eventually results into a slow death of the venture.

While an entrepreneur opts to approach an expert venture capitalist, the very first thing that the startup founder requires is a well-drafted & well-presented thorough business plan. Besides offering a holistic picture of the overall business venture to the concerned investor, a well-written business plan also talks about the overall business idea, how the ideas would be implemented and the trajectory that it would take. Creating a proper business plan is very crucial for every startup entrepreneur. When a startup entrepreneur opts to operate from a coworking space, he comes in the company of several progressive and like-minded professionals who can offer their inputs that can be of great help in creating an effective business plan.  

The necessary DO’s while creating a Business Plan

While creating a business plan, the most crucial aspect is to keep in mind the underlying concept of the business and also its commercial viability. The entire business plan needs to be necessarily presented in a completely logical sequence and also should be in a very well-organized form. A business plan need not necessarily very long. The major aim of a business plan is to define the roadmap very clearly and concisely so that it attracts the venture capitalists.

This is to be borne in mind that an investor is more concerned about the safety and the return of the funds while he is considering to invest in your venture. A venture capitalist team would be very keenly determining the potential of your business rather than how eloquently you present the plans to them. Hence, this is obvious that the most important aspect of any business plan is to define your Target Audience (TG) and major markets. Once the TG and markets are properly defined in your business plan, you need to mention your feasible plans of penetrating the target markets. You need to necessarily mention the opportunity that you see for your offered service or product. Also, you need to point out the gap that exists in the current market where your product/service would potentially fit in and enjoy high demand. Also, you need to determine the probable status of your business a few years down the line and mention that in the business plan. Also, you need to foresee the probable threats to your business model and what are your plans to overcome them. If you are successfully able to nail this particular aspect, then you would surely achieve your purpose.

This is imperative to conduct a detailed and exhaustive research on the existing market trends for your services/products and then present the real-time data in your business plan. The data to be presented has to be realistic and also should necessarily support your chosen business premise. You should put a strong emphasis on your business’s competitive advantages and show it in the positive light how it can excel over its competitors. A coworking space is a meeting ground of professionals from various backgrounds and industries. While networking in a coworking space, you will be able to fetch a lot of crucial information which would be of great help in building an effective business plan.

The financial projections are also very crucial and should necessarily be included in a Business Plan. The overall financial projections should nevertheless be achievable and realistic. You should also mention that at what point of time your planned business would be self-sustainable. Also, to be very precise you should mention all your projection figures on a monthly basis & not on an annual basis.

The business plan for your startup should also necessarily include the present as well as the future competition and their strengths. Also, you need to mention how fast your proposed business would grow ahead of all the existing competitions in the market. This is obvious that every venture capitalist would prefer those businesses which would grow rapidly and fetch them bigger returns in a comparatively lesser time period.

The proposed business plan should also necessarily include the organization structure and management of the company, the abilities and experience of the core team in order to win the confidence of the concerned venture capitalist for investing in the business.

The business plan should also necessarily include an Executive Summary that is the fair snapshot of the company’s goals and mission.

The strict Don’ts while creating a Business Plan

This is to be kept in mind that the prepared business plan should not be under any circumstances over-balanced in certain parameters like sales strategy and marketing, market competitiveness and also on the financial projections. The venture capitalists operating in the market usually possess a huge experience and can easily gauge if the projections are made overboard.

Once you have your business plan ready, you need to look for the right venture capitalist who would be willing to partner with you by investing in your business.

A coworking space is an ideal platform and meeting ground of several dynamic entrepreneurs. While you opt for coworking, you receive an opportunity to interact and exchange your experiences & viewpoints with other like-minded members in the coworking space. So, building an effective business plan is easier while operating from a coworking space. Nevertheless, most of the coworking spaces also regularly organize conferences and venture capitalist meets which would help you in connecting with potential investors.