Venture capital

Lead –in

· If you were starting a new company, how could you try to raise money?

· What are the main ways that established companies raise capital?

READING: A business plan

If you are starting a business, you have to get capital from investors. In order to persuade them to invest, you need, among other things, to write a business plan. Here are ten standard elements of a business plan, in alphabetical order. In what order do you think they should come in the actual plan?

Appendix or Appendices - curricula vitae or resumes of the managers, and any other necessary documents (e.g. promotional materials for your products)

__ Competition - specifies the existing competitors to your product or service, reviews their strengths and weaknesses, predicts how they will react when you enter the market, analyses the possibilities of future competitors entering the market, and describes how the company plans to overcome them.

__ Competitive advantage - describes the sustainable competitive advantage the new business has over its competitors and the strategy for maintaining it over the long term (e.g. management strengths, innovative technology, product features, pricing, etc.)

__ Customer profile - gives details about the customers you plan to cater to (market segments, age, sex, lifestyle, interests, geographic location, etc.)

__ Executive summary - a one-page summary or overview of what the business plan is about and what it will contain (e.g. what sort of company it is, what the product or service is and what is special about it, who the managers are, how much money you need, and what you will use it for)

__ Financial analysis - gives details of the business's performance (if it is already operating), and existing finance and assets, sales forecasts, andprojected financial statements. It will specify the minimum level of sales required to achieve the break-even point, and make projections for future revenue. It will specify current and long- term financing requirements and give details of previous investment. It will outline an exit strategy for investors

-Implementation plan - describes sales and marketing and operational strategies, including what pricing strategy you will use and why, sales and distribution strategy, promotional strategy (public relations, advertising, sales promotions, etc.)

_Management team - gives information about the founders, directors, advisors, etc., and their previous business record and experience, and about the key personnel, or the human resources plan if key staff still need to be appointed

___ Market opportunity - briefly describes what the company or business plans to do, the target market, its needs, current products and services and why they are inadequate, and how the new product or service fills the gap

__ Product or service - describes its features and the benefits for the customers, emphasizing differences, improvements and innovations compared with other products or services on the market.