The Business Plan 271Company and Product Description (1–2 pages)
Completing the dispassionate analysis described in the previous section lays
the foundation for describing your company and concept. In one paragraph
identify the company name, where it is incorporated, and a brief overview of
the company concept. Also highlight in this section what the company has
achieved to date—what milestones have you accomplished that show progress.
More space should be used to describe the product. Again, graphic repre-
sentations can be visually powerful (see Exhibit 9.7). Highlight how your prod-
uct fits into the customer value proposition. What is incorporated in your
product and what value do you add to the customer? This section should clearly
and forcefully identify your venture’s competitive advantage. Based upon your
competitive analysis, why is your product better, cheaper, faster than what
customers currently have? Your advantage may be a function of proprietary
technology, patents, distribution. In fact, the most powerful competitive ad-
vantages are derived from a bundle of factors because this makes them more
difficult to copy.
Entrepreneurs also need to identify their entry and growth strategies.
Since most new ventures are resource constrained, especially in terms of avail-
able capital, it is crucial that the lead entrepreneur establish the most effective
way to enter the market. Based upon analysis in the market and customer sec-
tions, entrepreneurs need to identify their primary target audience (PTA). Fo-
cusing on a particular subset of the overall market niche allows new ventures
to utilize scarce resources to reach those customers and prove the viability of
their concept.
EXHIBIT 9.6 Sample source for information on public/private companies.
InfotracIndex /abstracts of journals, general business and finance magazines; market
overviews; and profiles of public and private firms.
Dow Jones InteractiveSearchable index of articles from over 3,000 newspapers.
Lexis/NexisSearchable index of articles.
Dun’s Principal International BusinessInternational business directory.
Dun’s One Million Dollar PremiumDatabase of public and private firms with revenues
greater than $1 million or more than eight employees.
Hoover’s OnlineProfiles of private and public firms with links to Web sites, etc.
Corp TechProfiles of high technology firms.
Bridge Information ServicesDetailed financial information on 1.4 million international
securities that can be manipulated in tables and graphs.
RDS BizsuiteLinked databases providing data and full-text searching on firms.
BloombergDetailed financial data and analyst reports.