Steve Smith’s viewpoint on business plans for young
technology businesses
“The first step to securing investment is a
comprehensive and realistic business plan that accurately describes
your business,” Steve Smith, director, early stage investment.
You’ll need to tell us about key areas of your
business in your investment proposal and a strong executive summary
is an important part of this.
Executive summary
Your executive summary is where you susinctly describe your
business proposal, one or two pages at the most. As well as
inlcuding how much money you require, you need to demonstrate
genuine growth prospects through key operational, financial and
management information.
You should back up your executive summary with
the following information:
Business description
How have you developed your business? What are its
principal activities, current trading situation and importantly its
potential?
Products/services
What’s your competitive advantage? How
do you plan to develop your products/services and make the most of
any unique features or IP? Tell us about your premises and any
equipment you need to manufacture your product/service.
The market
Tell us about your market, its size and any potential
competitors? What’s your planned route to market and which
segments will you target, for instance? How do your sales
projections compare to your market’s size? Can you forsee any
future market trends?
Pricing and costs
What are your prices and how do you set them? Do you give
credit terms? Do you know the value of your costs? Can
you negotiate credit terms with your suppliers?
Organisation
We’ll need to understand details of the ownership of your
business, including shareholdings.
A simple organisation chart can help explain
key roles and responsibilities, though we’ll need to see full CVs
of key staff before investing.
Financials
We need at least three years’ cash-flow and P&L projections
as well as a current balance sheet including your opening position
and any assumptions.
If you’re trading, we need up-to-date
management accounts and copies of past accounts including
details of your creditors and debtors?
Investment required
What do you want the money for and how much do you think you
need? What’s your personal commitment and how much is
available from other potential investors?
Exit strategy
Finally, if Finance Wales invested in your business, how and
when do you think we’d get our money back?
Find out more about Finance Wales’ investment criteria.