What's missing from your business plan?

Business plans and models help you structure and make sense of the startup business you're creating.  These living documents can reveal your strengths, weaknesses, and what your next steps should be, if you included all of the key components.  What did you leave any out?

Strategy

This hard to measure component should be the underlying motivator for all of your startup decisions.  Know where you are going in a very specific way.  You may plan on supplying your customers with a precious and  scalable product or service, but what key factor brings your target demographic to your front door? Thinking  BIG and planning strategically about an infant company is very difficult.  If you can understand where you are going, your startup partners can help you get there.

Marketing Investment

Don’t  invest thousands of hard earned dollars in developing an amazing new product or service and expect your old Facebook page and newly created twitter account to do miracles for you.  Yes, social media is important; it will enhance your marketing campaign, but give your company’s marketing campaign the  respect it deserves…. In dollars!  Understand how many marketing dollars it takes to get 1 customer.  Investors love to know this number!  It shows you get it.  Take advantage of Google adWords and Facebook advertising.  Seasoned marketing expertise turns this investment into revenue.

Intellectual Property

Guarding your technology and proprietary models with patents and trademarks is critically important.  Filing provisional patents on your ideas is an inexpensive way to achieve the “patent pending “status, while preserving a competitive advantage over your market opponents. Investors want you to do this.  Understand the time limits associated with your potential intellectual  property, if you miss the window on filing a patent, its gone! Your unique ideas will become free game, industry wide. If you don’t file, you literally give your best ideas to your competitors. Issued relevant patents are commonly evaluated at 1 to 1.5 million during an acquisition.  Make this a part of your business plan.