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Business Plans
After developing a viable business model, the critical first step, the entrepreneur needs a business plan to communicate this model. This document serves various purposes. First, and perhaps most importantly, it forces the entrepreneur to answer the difficult questions and nail down the key elements of their concept. The business plan is also the operating guideline for the new venture; it articulates the goals, as well as the means for achieving them. The plan serves as the means of communication with potential sources of funding, describing both the business and the entrepreneur's ability to organize and conceptualize the details.
The entrepreneur should not simply recruit an outsider to write the business plan. It is important that the entrepreneur is intimately involved in the process and can defend all points of the plan.
If you want to request a Stanford MBA student to develop a business plan for your company please see the Experiential Projects section. Please be aware that there is a constantly high demand for this.
Additional Resources
The Business Plan
Watch the following video presentations at the GSB Entrepreneurship Conference:
- The Business Plan (Jim Ellis, Stanford GSB lecturer, 2007)
- Business Plans (Jim Goetz, Sequoia Capital, 2008); Business Plans Power Point (Goetz, 2008)
External Web Sites
- Business Plan Services Ltd
- Small Business Association Business Plan Outline
- Harvard Business School Case: Some Thoughts on Business Plans, Case #9-897-101, November 14, 1996
- Sample Business Plans from Business Resource Software, Inc.
The Jackson Library
The Jackson Library at the Stanford Graduate School of Business has a number of publications on business planning, including:
- How to Develop a Business Plan in 15 days, by William M. Luther
- Business Planning for the Entrepreneur, by Edward E. Williams & Salvatore E. Manzo
- Inside Secrets to Venture Capital, by Brian E. Hill & Dee Power
- 2002 The Insider's Guide to Venture Capital, by Dante Fichera
Please refer to our Helpful Links section for more information on Business Plans.