In analyzing your Snail Farming Business you must be able to test it to determine it's likelihood of success. All of your
ideas must have a demonstrated need, ready market, and the ability to
provide a solid return on investment.
- Is the idea feasible in the marketplace?
- Is there demand?
- Can it be done?
- Are you able to pull together the persons and resources to pull it off before the window of opportunity closes?
Your Snail Farming Business must start with the customer and the market in mind.
And then ask these simple questions
- What is the need you fill or problem you solve?
- Who are you selling to?
- How will you make money?
- How will you differentiate your company from what is already out there?
- How many competitors do you have and what do they offer that you do not?
- How fast is the market growing or shrinking and why?
- How much would it cost to get started? (Start-up Costs)
- Do you plan to use debt capital or raise investment? If so, how much and what type?
- How do you plan your Snail Farming Business will end?
- If you take on investment, how much money do you think your investors will get back in return? And when?
Executive Summary
The Executive Summary must capture the essence of
your proposed Snail Farming Business. Try to keep the summary as brief
as possible. Whether you are preparing this proposal for a venture
capitalist, banker, or your boss, it is imperative that your summary be
of the highest quality. These individuals may be flooded with requests
for assistance.
Since the summary is a distillation of your plan,
you might want to complete this section after you complete the rest of
your Snail Farming Business Plan. Or write the summary first, then
create the Snail Farming Business Plan and then go back to the summary,
improve it and insure its consistency with the rest of your plan.
Since your objective is to lure the reader to want more information, your summary should have the following elements:
- It should be concise - you have one or two minutes to tell someone about your business.
- It should be exciting
- It should communicate how your business concept is unique
No matter how long you spent developing and honing
your business plan, the reader of the plan will only spend five minutes
reading it! It’s important to make those five minutes work to your
favor. You may have the most meticulous and well-crafted business plan
imaginable - in the end, however, the best plan is the one that entices
the reader.
Surprisingly, many Snail Farming Business plans
neglect to include their formal name, address and principal contact.
Please ensure that you leave a number that is attended. If the business
plan recipient can’t reach you in one or two attempts, they will move on
to the next proposal. Make sure this information is on your proposal -
there is a prominent location on the front cover to put this
information. Feel free to repeat the information in the Executive
Summary.
Type of Business
This section answers the question - What business
am I in - a non-trivial question. Deciding what business you are in is
probably the most important decision you will have to make. Indicate
whether the business is a start-up or an existing business.
Company or Business Summary
Here, you can briefly describe the history of the
company. Is this a startup? An expansion of an existing business? A
division of a larger business that is launching a new product or
service? Is the business a sole proprietorship, partnership, or
corporation? If your business is a going concern, briefly describe the
company’s historical performance. If the company is introducing a new
web site or if the web site is a critical component of the Snail Farming
Business then briefly describe the web site and any significant future
plans for that site.
Financial Objectives
Clearly state the sales and profitability
objectives and the underlying ways that you will meet these objectives.
Perhaps a chart from the Business Plan Excel workbook would visually
describe your goals. It is within this section that you can summarize
sales and profitability objectives for the five year planning period.
Financial goals could be cash flow related, described by financial
ratios, by growth rates of sales, assets, cash flow, and profits, or by
cost and expense relationships.
Management Overview
Perhaps the biggest keys to success of any Snail
Farming Business are the people who run it. Be sure to summarize the
expertise of the management in this particular business. Since poor
management is a key contributor to business failure, describe why the
cards are stacked in your favor.
Products and Services
Describe the product or service you are offering
and clearly state why the product is unique. If the product is not
unique, be sure to explain why it will succeed over existing products.
Name of Your Products - Here you can briefly describe the primary characteristics of this product.
Funds Requested (optional)
If you are writing this proposal to an audience
from which you are requesting funds, be specific in your request. Select
a number and explain why that amount is needed. Also state whether the
money you are raising is in the form of equity or debt. When you send
the proposal to organizations, you can save valuable time by
understanding which types of investments they make. Some investment
companies do not make any equity investments while others specialize in
this investment.
If you are seeking debt
financing, be prepared to discuss whether collateral is available. If
you are seeking an equity investment, be prepared to discuss the
percentage ownership position.
Here are some additional questions to consider when writing this section:
- What is the total amount of funds needed by your
Snail Farming Business? Is it needed immediately or over the next two
to five years?
- What part of this financing is being sought from
the investors or lending institution that will receive this business
plan (including the amount, terms, and any related security agreement)?
- For equity financing, what percentage of the
company are you willing to give up and what is the proposed return on
investment and anticipated method of taking out the investor (e.g.,
buy-back, public offering, sale)?
- For debt financing, what is your company’s proposed interest rate and repayment schedule?
Use of proceeds (optional)
Be as specific as possible on how the proceeds will be spent. Include a chart or table to describe this if you wish.
Exit (optional)
If you are requesting funds to grow your Snail
Farming Business, your investor will want to understand how you are
planning your exit strategy. Most investors want to realize a gain over a
medium term horizon. Don’t underestimate the time it will take to
either take the company public or sell the business. Most investors
should be willing to wait for a three-year period before their
investment can be realized.
Company Background
The first part of any Snail Farming Business Plan
should clearly define the Identification of Market Opportunity. Be
prepared to discuss the rate that the market is growing and the demand
for the product or service that you are offering.
Business History
Give a brief history of the company’s business to
date, when your product or service was introduced, and the key
milestones that you have met. Be sure to keep this section brief, since
your investor is primarily concerned about the future, not the past.
Some of the information you might include in this section could be:
- The firm’s date of origin.
- The names of the founders.
- A summary of the major milestones achieved or the stages of the life cycle through which the firm may have passed.
- The major episodes or stages of development in the firm’s past.
- brief description of any significant changes the business has undergone or challenges that the company has faced up to.
- Other developmental indicators such as sales levels, net worth, market share, assets, and company valuation.
- Company mission statement.
- Growth and Financial Objectives
The objectives in your Snail Farming Business Plan
can begin with a short list of what you hope to achieve in the next year
or so and those significant goals that you would like to achieve in
later planning periods. Objectives will vary according to your mission
statement and where your company is in the life cycle. For example, a
start-up company might want to set a short-term objective of
profitability (to be profitable by year-end) or may take a longer-term
view and simply look to build a competitive Snail Farming Business model
by the end of year one.
State your growth and financial objectives as
clearly as possible. You can start with the sales chart for the
five-year period and follow that up with the sales table broken down by
product line. Then you might want to explain how you plan to keep
certain financial metrics and use the Financial Highlights table to
clearly portray your goals.
Follow this up with the sales table broken down by product line.
Then you might want to explain how you plan to keep
certain financial metrics and use the Financial Highlights table to
clearly portray your goals.
Legal Structure and Ownership
Describe how the company is legally organized. This
is a decision that is best made in the early stages of the company. The
decision to establish your company as a sole proprietorship, a
partnership or a corporation that will issue stock is an important one.
You may want to consult with an attorney and/or accountant before doing
this.
Company Location and Facilities
State where the company conducts its business and
what real estate the company owns or leases. Be sure to address the
issues regarding your future space requirements and how this might
determine your need to expand or move.
Name and/or address of your facility - Here you can briefly describe the facility and location.
Plans for Financing the Snail Farming Business
Investors prefer to see a defined financing
proposal which shows the capital needs of the venture and the proposed
equity or debt agreement. The financing proposal may refer to the
Start-Up Costs that are attached in the appendix if it is a start-up. If
the company is a start-up, or an ongoing concern, be sure to detail the
use of the proceeds from the financing. What collateral or personal
guarantees will be offered for an equity or debt investment?
Financial Plan and Analysis
- Start-Up Costs - Briefly describe the numbers in the report and on the chart.
- Financial Highlights - discuss the numbers that might draw attention.
- 5-Year Income Statement - Describe these numbers.
- 5-Year Balance Sheet - Point out any key issues from this.
- Break-Even Analysis - Use the Break-Even analysis to compare your projected monthly sales with the break-even point.
