Please NOTE: General Submission Guidelines Only.

How do I write a business plan that will meet your minimum requirements?

Well, It's straight-shooter time when it comes to search for capital and expertise to make it all happen. No fluff. No dodging critical issue. The Business Plan will be your fist step on the way of gaining private equity funding so make it clear concise and to the point.

As an example, when Garry started looking for outside funding and expertise, he put together a business plan that was just 13 pages long. The potential portfolio client (a three-year-old business based in Sydney, Australia), knew what we have been looking for: "a short, quick, fast read explaining what [the business] is and explaining how much money they required." What the client needed was over A$1 million to expand on their current commercial cleaning business and expand his state based business nationally". In the end it took Garry six months to secure the money. By then, with appropriate assistance and guidance, Garry's business plan filled two binders and was ready for another transformation, to a franchising operation.

Indeed, a 13 to 25 pages is a more typical length for initial business plans, even now. Still, the business plan that pushes the right buttons today is a very different model from the one that pulled in the required funding only a couple of years ago. These days it's back to basics. So what the basics are to makes your business plan attractive to us? Here's our take on the fundamentals and our basic requirements:

The Executive Summary - We are looking for a clear, solid business model that makes a profit or will make one soon. So among other things, you need to describe the business in an understandable, plain English fashion.

The Market Analysis - Simply citing a study about total market size from the internet site isn't very compelling. We have seen many glowing reports for many different industries and companies we considered funding for, and yet a lot of times there are huge problems with those companies. You own market research/analysis will be fundamental.

Talk about your competitors in detail in your business plan: identify direct, indirect, and even potential competitors and describe their offerings, their percentage of the market, their funding, and their pricing, distribution, and promotion strategies. Most important, the plan should be crystal clear about how your own offering is different and why it gives customers a better value. In addition, some evidence that customers will buy your product or service and buy it at the price you're (or will be) charging is essential in your business plan.

The Management - A start-up that's looking at a capital injection probably doesn't have the cash for a full board of directors or management team in place. We suggest that entrepreneurs figure out the three or four most important functions for their particular business and fill those first. In addition, your management team doesn't need to be full-time or actually drawing salaries. It's possible to bring in an adviser with a certain expertise to fill a hole on the management team say, a CFO at least temporarily. If a start-up can't afford to make certain prospective appointments who are still employed at other jobs until after the funding comes in, it's acceptable to submit blind Resumes in the business plan.

The Financials - As potential investors in your business plan, the biggest questions in our minds will be, "How soon does this company get to breakeven? When will it be profitable? Are the numbers real? Savvy entrepreneurs will also want to include the economy and sales cycles in their assumptions. In short, we will look at experience but place emphasis on profitability.

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