{"id":472,"date":"2018-07-20T09:59:13","date_gmt":"2018-07-20T09:59:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/ie\/?p=152"},"modified":"2024-03-28T10:30:09","modified_gmt":"2024-03-28T10:30:09","slug":"is-a-business-plan-necessary","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/ie\/blog\/is-a-business-plan-necessary\/","title":{"rendered":"Is a business plan necessary?"},"content":{"rendered":"

To get straight to the point, No, we don\u2019t think it is; at least not for fundraising. For a young business at it\u2019s early stages it is constantly changing and evolving and still working to secure resources. A full business model is an unnecessary document for the purpose of a fundraiser as many investors do not tend to look at them straight away.<\/p>\n

What is the purpose of a business plan?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

A business plan is not solely a document used externally to secure funds. It is also an important internal document to reference for your business as it develops and grows.<\/p>\n

Writing your business plan makes you step back and look at everything at once: your value proposition, the marketing assumptions that follow, your operations plan, financial plan and staffing plan. It helps draw links and connections that you would have otherwise missed. A well written plan is also very useful at attracting and onboarding new talent. You want to be able to provide a concentrated business overview to a potential hire to show the excitement and promise in your business.<\/p>\n

Despite its usefulness for early stage businesses and investors, things change in the business rapidly\u00a0 which makes most of the content assumptions \u2018nice to haves\u2019 which becomes quickly outdated; so writing a detailed business plan may not always be the best use of your time or energy.<\/p>\n

What should I do instead?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

For pitching to investors<\/strong><\/p>\n

The key thing you need is a Pitch Deck<\/a> and a concise financial model with projections between 3 to 5 years. Although this may seem like making the same assumptions as a business plan, a pitch deck paints a vision of the key elements of any investment; what the return will look like upon exit.<\/p>\n

This document is the most important plan to have to get your foot in the door with investors for early stage startups.<\/p>\n

More about pitch decks<\/h3>\n

For your internal roadmapping<\/h2>\n

Instead of writing down every piece of info across multiple pages, you might want to think about using a business model canvas<\/a> instead. This is a lean startup and management tool for constructing business models, with a focus on developing and describing<\/p>\n