Business plans continue to be an essential element of the capital-raising process. They must convince investors to take notice – investors that are shrewder today due to the ups-and-downs they have experienced over the past few years.

Adding to the financing challenge is the plethora of high-quality companies, both public and private, in which investors can choose to invest. In this environment, more and more investors are asking companies seeking capital the question “Why You, Why Now”?

The question seems simple at first, but has many complexities. The management team must clearly delineate what it is about the business opportunity that makes it such a good investment now. Should this investment have been made a year ago to cement a market leadership position? Or, is the venture before its time – will slow market adoption cause slow sales over the next few years, and as such, should the investment wait. Questions like these, based on investment failures from the past few years, continue to surface and must be addressed by the management team in their business plans.

Likewise the team must address what it is that makes them uniquely qualified to succeed. Does the team have proprietary (and protectable) technology, management talent and experience that competitors do not, long-term strategic partners? According to Growthink president, Dave Lavinsky, “Management teams must prove to investors why they are unique and why they will succeed. They can’t just state how wonderful they are – they need to prove it through detailing past successes and unique qualifications.”

A business plan that fails to address the “Why You, Why Now” question, is most likely a business plan that will remain in the stack of “not now” business plans. Business plans must present a compelling argument as to why the investor should invest and in our fast-paced world with unbelievable opportunities and opportunity costs, why investors should invest now.

Work Your Home Based Business Idea in Three Easy Steps

Create a Business Plan first
The primary necessity is to get a perfectly designed plan of action for a genuine business. A business plan on its own is useless. It is a mere reflection, but it will not suffice you also need an action plan. A business scheme is the first step in working out your idea into actions that you can follow. Well-illustrated business plans can be found online or at your library.

Begin now

• Do not be afraid of failure. Remember failure is the first stepping stone to success, if this home based business idea does not work out for you now do not let this deter you. Always remind yourself of the spider when you feel like losing hope.
• Do not let that wonderful home-based business idea gather dust. Start today.
• Waiting for the right time to start your business might make success elude you forever. If there is any specific right time, it is right now. Do not waste your precious time.

Put a figure on it

This is the greatest stumbling block for most home-based business owners. That is, they fail to evaluate their work. If you do not give proper attention to this, you may have to wrap up your business. You need to know that real figures and numbers are needed for you to stay in business. If this is not your agenda of work, you are probably going all wrong.

Large businesses usually set up balanced scorecards. The idea is to have a referring point to compare how successful your work is. For example, to get five customers in one month you could settle on free seminars but if you see that your plan is not getting you five clients, you need to reassess your plan. Change of plan prevents waste of energy and resources.
Entire contents copyright © 2005 Morpheus Institute.

The most important function of a business plan is to create interest among investors so that they write a check. In achieving this goal, business plan writers are often challenged by determining the proper level of optimism in their plan. That is, they must create a compelling story to investors while maintaining credibility.

Optimism shows investors that a company is confident about the market opportunity, its ability to execute on the opportunity, etc. Over-optimism, however, leads investors to believe that the management team does not fully understand the opportunity or the tough road ahead. As such, business plans must be sure to limit over-optimism and show investors they are realistic and credible.

Realism, the opposite of over-optimism, should be used in business plans to portray sobriety and credibility to investors. Realism should manifest itself in management team bios that tell the actual accomplishments of managers, rather than fluff. It should manifest itself in credible market forecasts and sober assumptions of the company’s growth.

While business plans must excite investors so they take action, if they are too optimistic, investors will discount their merit. Conversely, if they are too sober, investors may not feel they will get an adequate return on their investment. As such, business plans should present a compelling, optimistic picture, but continuously refer to hard facts and realistic assumptions to build credibility and genuine excitement
Restaurant Business Plan Software Considerations

Whether you are an entrepreneur looking to start your first restaurant, or you have been working in the service industry for a long time, restaurant business plan software can help you create a streamlined business plan that will improve your chances of funding. Here are few things to keep in mind when comparing various packages.

Your needs – Various business plan software packages are geared toward different sizes of restaurant business and different levels of funding needs. Make sure the software does what you need it to do. Don’t go overboard on a program that offers more than you need.

Feedback – Make sure to get in touch with other people who have used the software before and get their feedback. The more reputable restaurant business plan software vendors will provide testimonials and contact information of previous customers. Make sure to compare. Keep an eye out for positive comments about ease of use.

If you have been in the restaurant business already, you probably have a number of contacts you can network with for information. Ask other restaurant owners you trust if there was a software program they used or have heard good things about. Word of mouth recommendations can often provide valuable leads.

Support – Make certain your software vendor offers full support for their programs. Many top vendors offer 24/7 online and toll free support for their programs. When weighing benefits, this is an important factor to take into consideration. You want to be assured you can get the software to work.

Cost – Once you’ve narrowed your choices down by the above benefits, it is time to consider costs. Check different vendors, as there can often be a large difference in prices between vendors for the same title. Make certain to factor in shipping and handling costs and delivery time of your restaurant business plan software when comparing prices.

Once you’ve chosen and installed your software, it’s time to get to work creating the business plan for your restaurant. If you have any trouble, be sure to get in touch with the vendor’s support as soon as possible. Good luck with your new business venture!

When a company decides that it must raise capital, a key question that must be answered is how much the company is worth. For example, if the business needs $500,000 to get started and/or grow, how much of the equity in that company should $500,000 command? Once this question is answered, the company will go out and try to find investors. When doing so, a key question often arises as to whether the valuation is “pre-money” or “post-money.”

“Before the money”" or “pre-money” and “after the money” or “post-money” denote simple concepts. However, these simple concepts can even confuse even the most sophisticated analysts at times. If a company is valued at $1 million on Day 1, then 25 percent of the company is worth $250,000. However, there may be an ambiguity. Suppose the company and the investor agrees on two terms: (1) a $1 million valuation, and (2) a $250,000 equity investment. In this case, the company may offer the investor 250 shares for $250,000. Immediately there can be a disagreement. The investor may have thought that equity in the company was worth $1,000 per percentage point, in which case $250,000 gets 250 out of 1,000 shares or a 25% equity position. Conversely, the company may have believed that the investor was contributing to the enterprise which was already worth $1 million. Under this rationale, the $250,000 would give the investor 250 shares out of 1,250 shares or a 20% equity position.

The critical issue was whether the agreed value of $1 million to be assigned to the company was prior to or after the investor’s contribution of cash (pre-money) or post-money.
In the above case, a pre-money valuation of $1 million and a post-money valuation of $1.25 million were equivalent. Because mixing up the terms could significantly increase the cost of capital raised, companies must be sure to understand the two metrics and agree with investors to the metric that raises them the capital at the appropriate price.
Raising Capital for Your Business – How Long Does it Take?

Most companies vastly underestimate the time commitment necessary to successfully complete a financing. In actuality, a company seeking financing needs to budget between 500 to 1000 work-hours to the capital-raising process, spread out over a 6-9 month time period.

The key processes in the capital-raising process include 1) perfecting the business plan, offering memorandum and other company due diligence materials, 2) developing a comprehensive, targeted prospective investor list, 3) contacting this list and responding to investor due diligence requests, and 4) negotiating the transaction.

Completing the business plan typically requires at least 200 hours of work. This time is dedicated to conducting the market research to validate the opportunity, developing a comprehensive financial model, determining the most effective way to lay out the business strategy, and actually writing and proofing the business plan.

The next step, developing a comprehensive, targeted prospective investor list is also very time consuming. There are thousands of potential investors, each of which has very different tastes regarding the types of ventures that interest them. Some invest by market sector (e.g., healthcare vs. telecommunications), stage (seed stage vs. later stage), geography, or a combination of these. Many hours must be dedicated to determine which investors is the right fit for your venture. This process involves creating a master investor list, visiting each investor’s website to view investment criteria and past investments, and determining who the right contact at the firm is.

To see how easily the time adds up, consider that only about 25% of prospective investors who show an initial interest in a transaction actually progress to detailed company due diligence. Only about 10% of this 25% actually progress to a bonafide offer of funds, of which only 25% of these actually result in an investment transaction. So completing a financing transaction requires, on average, contacting approximately 160 pre-qualified prospective investors.

The due diligence process, where investors scrutinize the investment, can also be very time consuming for the company. Investors often request many documents, some of which can be easily retrieved from files (e.g., prior tax returns), while others may take more time to prepare (e.g., additional market analysis, customer lists with past purchases, contact information, etc.). Finally, negotiating a transaction can take a significant amount of time depending upon the complexity of the transaction and number of parties involved.

Too many companies fail to raise capital since they are unaware of the significant time requirements to do so. Those firms who understand these requirements and budget accordingly are the ones most likely to persevere and end up with the capital they need.