What Business Plan is, its advantages and how to make one for your venture

What is a Business Plan

A study also carried out by SEBRAE in São Paulo in 2014 points out that the main cause of business failure is the lack of prior planning. No less than 55% of the interviewed entrepreneurs did not prepare a Business Plan before opening their company.

The Business Plan is the basic tool for learning more deeply about the business you want to open and the market in which it is inserted, and it can provide powerful insights, which can even drastically change the initial idea. It is nothing more than a document, the product of a period of reflection and study by the partner(s) before starting the creation of the company.

Why Make a Business Plan

According to Timmons' model, the tripod of entrepreneurship is composed of Opportunities, Available

Resources and teams. The Business Plan serves as a link between the identified opportunity and the available resources, evaluating and balancing the best way to maximize the potential of the value idea with the information available at the time.

The other two intersections Opportunity – Team and Team – Resources are powered by Creativity and Leadership, respectively. All this in an environment of uncertainty and in compliance with the rules of the Capital Market, with Sustainability as a base.

The 9 Divisions of the Business Plan Canvas

1. Customer segments

It is the target audience that your company wants to reach. Will you focus on a specific segment? If yes, which one?

2. Value proposition

In the value proposition, you write what your company will bring to the market that will generate value for customers.

3. Channels

Here you describe which are the new customer acquisition channels that your company will use to generate demand and maintain a relationship with those who are already in the base.

4. Relationship with customers

How the company will establish relationships with different customer segments.

5. Revenue sources

It is how the company makes money from various sources of income.

6. Main activities

Here you describe which services you will perform to fulfil your value proposition.

7. Key Resources

These are the resources needed to carry out key activities. They are important for the company to maintain and can be of a different nature: human, intellectual, and financial resources, among others, are included here.

8. Key Partnerships

They are business alliances that complement the services offered by the company, such as services you will outsource, for example.

9. Cost structure

It's how you're going to get revenue through the value proposition.

.Business Plan Template: what it needs to present

A Business Plan must be a robust document, which contains the main proposals, surveys, assumptions and projections of the business. It must contain at least the following parts, which can be adapted, grouped, or have their order changed depending on each case:

Executive Summary – Description of the business, Target market, Competitive advantages, Key sales and profitability projections.
Management Team – Organizational chart and summary CV of key people.
Market Research – The Industry, Customers, Suppliers, Market Size and Trends, Competitors and Customer Needs not being met by competitors.
Economic-Financial Analysis – Sales Projections, Margins, Profitability, Costs, Break-even point, Time to reach a positive cash flow, Return calculations – NPV, IRR and Payback.
Marketing Plan – Pricing Strategies, Product / Service Qualities, Sales Channels and Advertising.
Operational Plan – Production route and essential operational processes; Productive capacity; Regulations and legal matters; Geographic location; Logistics, Environmental, Social and Governance Sustainability – ESG Approach.
Implementation Plan – SWOT Analysis ; Macro schedule; Risk assessment and scenario analysis; Personnel hiring; Need for own and external capital – fixed assets and working capital needs.

In short, the Business Plan should be comprehensive enough that you have a good understanding of where you are going, but also direct and as concise as possible. It is important to pay close attention to the details, as they make all the difference.