How To Create A Business Plan That Gets You Money

Hey Kevin Pritchett here:

Forget All The Crap You’ve Been Taught…Seriously!

As the Managing Director of a Private Equity Fund and as a business attorney who has represented high net worth business owners and gets pitches and business plans presented to me  for over 30 years…..

I can tell you there’s a bunch of crap floating around about how to REALLY raise money using business plans, pitches and such.

The truth is:

–the format of the business plan/pitch is NOT the critical issue

–the ‘credentials or firm’ of the person/entity does NOT make as much difference as people would have you believe…

-Here’s what DOES matter a TON

The 4 ‘No B.S’ Business Plan Components

1.How Much Money Do You Want?
I can’t tell you how many times people approach my Venture Capital firm or my law firm wanting to ‘pitch’ their plan…but they NEVER make clear how much money they want!!

You must make clear up front early how much funding you’re seeking and…DON’T MAKE ME ASK YOU HOW MUCH MONEY YOU WANT…or worse..don’t have me ask you and you don’t know or you say ‘it depends…WRONG WRONG WRONG.

2.  How Much Money Are You Going To Give Me?
“What’s In It For Me‘ applies to venture fund sponsors like it does for ALL human beings…you MUST tell me how much money you are promising in exchange for the investment..again…upfront…early.  Don’t make me guess or wonder what my return will be…a kiss of death to any pitch…’ask me how I know..and how many pitches I toss in the trashcan?!!

3.  When Am I Going To Get Paid?
After your ‘better mousetrap’ is completed and you ‘rock the world’ how soon are you going to pay me? As an potential investor, I must know upfront and as early as possible how soon I’m gonna get paid.  It can be short or long as fits the investment program,…but it MUST be clearly stated and as early as possible in your presentation. Get the themes here….

4.  How Likely Is It That You Will Pay Me What And When You’ve Promised?
This is the section where you put your operators profiles, spreadsheets and operational guidelines, market niche, intellectual property uniqueness, other barriers to entry for competitors, sales forecasts yada, yada, yada.

Bottom line here though, after all the song and dance,  you MUST convince me that everything you promised me (or most of it at least LOL) is logical and is likely to occur. Proof trumps puff and the more sales examples to act as your ‘proof of concept’ the better.

Ideally you can show a track record of sales successes or performance successes that then can be ramped up by the investment you’re seeking.  Alternatively, its the ‘kiss of death’ when someone asks me for money for something that hasn’t been tested with sales…think Mark Cuban’s questions on Shark Tank..”how much have you sold?”

Granted there are some early stage applications where the proposed plan is groundbreaking, never been done before…mostly in the tech space.  That’s fine but you STILL must connect all the dots and show how your proposed product fills a void, solves a pressing problem with a huge market, etc.

Even with first impression, first in space applications…proof trumps puff!!

The Bottom Line
So the form of your business plan software, your damn logo, your ‘Steve Jobe-seque- ‘Apple-like’ cool-ass presentation style matters far, far less than your business proposal containing substantive components containing the information above.

Hope this helps…it sure is the TRUTH!!

“Remember..Things Don’t Get Better With Neglect…..

Kevin Pritchett, Esq
Founder-Founders/CEO Business Collective
www.KevinPLaw.com
JPI Ventures LLC
www.JPIVentures.com