This may seem obvious, but it is a step that many people skip as they get caught up in the excitement of a new idea: make sure that your company has the potential to succeed before digging for those hard-to-get dollars. For most of us, our desires about where we would like to go are not as important as our businesses’ ability to take us there. Put another way, if you choose the wrong business, you’re going nowhere.
Luckily, one of the most valuable uses of a business plan is to help you decide whether the venture you have your heart set on is really likely to fulfill your dreams. Many, many businesses never make it past the planning stage because their would-be founders, as part of a logical and coherent planning process, test their assumptions and find them wanting.
Test your idea against at least two variables. First, financial, to make sure this business makes economic sense. Second, lifestyle, because who wants a successful business that they hate?
Related: How To Craft A Business Plan That Will Turn Investor’s Heads
Find Your Realistic Potential
Answer the following questions to help you outline your company’s potential. There are no wrong answers. The objective is simply to help you decide how well your proposed venture is likely to match your goals and objectives.
Financial questions
- What initial investment will the business require?
- How much control are you willing to relinquish to investors?
- When will the business turn a profit?
- When can investors, including you, expect a return on their money?
- What are the projected profits of the business over time?
- Will you be able to devote yourself full-time to the business financially?
- What kind of salary or profit distribution can you expect to take home?
- What are the chances the business will fail?
- What will happen if it does? Do you have a backup or alternative plan?
Related: The Main Objectives Of A Business Plan
Do you have the necessary passion?
“Investors want more than just an idea,” writes Noah Parsons in his article How to Write a Convincing Business Plan for Investors. “They want evidence that you are solving a problem for customers. Your customers have to want what you are selling for you to build a successful business and your business plan needs to describe the evidence that you’ve found that proves that you’ll be able to sell your products and services to customers. If you have traction in the form of early sales and customers, that’s even better.”
Related: Why You Shouldn’t Send Your Business Plan Cold to Investors
As Noah Parsons says business plans aren’t just words on a page — they are proof that you are serious and knowledgeable about your idea.
“The business plan document itself isn’t what’s important to investors. It’s the knowledge that you’ve generated by going through the process that’s important. Having a business plan shows that you’ve done the homework of thinking through how your business will work and what goals you’re trying to achieve.
When you put together a business plan, you have to spend time thinking about things like your target market, your sales, and marketing strategy, the problem you solve for your customers, and who your key competitors are. A business plan provides the structure for thinking through these things and documents your answers so you’re prepared for the inevitable questions investors will ask about your business.
Even if investors never ask to see your business plan, the work you’ve done to prepare it will ensure that you can intelligently answer the questions you’ll get. And, if an investor does ask for your business plan, then you’re prepared and ready to hand it over. After all, nothing could be worse than arriving at an investor meeting and then getting a request for a business plan and not having one ready.”
Related: 3 Tips For Pitching Investors Your Big Idea
这或许看似显而易见，但许多人在被新想法的兴奋冲昏头脑时，往往会忽略这一步：在苦苦筹措资金之前，务必确保你的公司具备成功的潜力。对我们大多数人来说，我们想要去往何方的愿望远不如我们的企业能否带我们到达目的地重要。换句话说，如果选错了行业，你将一事无成。
幸运的是，商业计划书最有价值的用途之一就是帮助你判断你心仪的创业项目是否真的有可能实现你的梦想。许多企业甚至止步于计划阶段，原因就在于，它们的潜在创始人在进行逻辑严谨的计划时，会检验自己的假设，结果发现这些假设并不成立。
至少要从两个方面检验你的想法。首先是财务方面，确保这项业务在经济上可行。其次是生活方式方面，毕竟谁会想要一份自己讨厌的成功事业呢？
相关阅读：如何撰写一份吸引投资者眼球的商业计划书
发掘你的实际潜力
回答以下问题，帮助你勾勒出公司的潜力。没有标准答案。目的在于帮助你判断你提出的创业项目与你的目标和愿景的契合度。
财务问题
企业需要多少初始投资？
你愿意向投资者放弃多少控制权？
企业何时能够盈利？
投资者（包括你）何时能够获得投资回报？
企业长期的预期利润是多少？
你是否能够全身心投入到企业中？
你预期能拿到多少薪水或利润分成？
企业失败的概率有多大？
如果失败了怎么办？你是否有备用方案或替代方案？
相关阅读：商业计划书的主要目标
新的行动号召
你是否拥有必要的热情？
诺亚·帕森斯在他的文章《如何撰写一份令人信服的商业计划书》中写道：“投资者想要的不仅仅是一个想法。他们需要证据证明你正在为客户解决问题。你的客户必须需要你销售的产品或服务，你才能建立成功的企业。你的商业计划书需要描述你找到的证据，这些证据能够证明你有能力将产品和服务销售给客户。如果你已经有了早期销售和客户，那就更好了。”
相关阅读：为什么你不应该直接把商业计划书发给投资者
正如诺亚·帕森斯所说，商业计划书不仅仅是纸上的文字——它证明了你对你的想法是认真且有充分了解的。
“对投资者而言，商业计划书本身并非最重要的。重要的是你在整个过程中积累的知识。一份商业计划书表明你已经认真思考过你的业务运作方式以及你想要实现的目标。
在撰写商业计划书时，你需要花时间思考诸如目标市场、销售和营销策略、你为客户解决的问题以及你的主要竞争对手等问题。商业计划书为你思考这些问题提供了框架，并记录了你的答案，让你能够应对投资者必然会提出的各种问题。
即使投资者从未要求查看你的商业计划书，你为之付出的努力也能确保你能够巧妙地回答他们提出的问题。而且，如果投资者确实要求查看你的商业计划书，你也已经做好了充分的准备。毕竟，没有什么比参加投资者会议却被要求提供商业计划书而自己却无从下手更糟糕的了。”
相关阅读：向投资者推介你的伟大创意的 3 个技巧