Business Plan Checklist

I am one of the principals involved in Foxtrot Systems (almost six years now!), and as a first-time business owner I've learned a lot.

This is a terriffic, highly-detailed checklist for developing a business plan. The biggest thing I always stress to anyone thinking about a business or a new product idea is, "who will buy it, and how will you get them to know about it?"

The main goal of the business plan is to solicit funding. Before you even think about developing a business plan and soliciting the funds, you should sit down and develop a detailed marketing plan. It will become part of your business plan, but this is the first part to start thinking about.

Project worst-case sales scenarios, and build contingency planning into the final business plan (see Risk Assessment section in the article). This might entail cutting some staff and/or re-allocating funds toward stepped-up marketing efforts. This kind of flexibility and realism will be a breath of fresh air to most people evaluating your business plan (read: will increase the likelihood of getting funded).