WELCOME!

Background

D. Neil Berdiev 10+ years in the financial service industry with 8+ of them in commercial lending Participated in the approval and renewal of over $500 million in loans to privately-held

and public companies Lent to companies across the U.S in industries such as manufacturing, retailers,

restaurants, distributors, professional service companies, and many others Consulted and advised to business owners on a wide range of issues related to securing

financing and financial management Author of Loan Financing Guide for Small Business Owners, available from

www.LoanFinancingGuide.com as well as major on-line retailers Wrote articles for and/or featured on Inc.com, L.A. Times, Boston Metro, Banker &

Tradesman, the RMA Journal, and others

About the Salem State SBDC

North Shore Regional

Small Business Development Center (SBDC)

Salem State College

Bertolon School of Business

AGENDA

COMPETITION CRITERIA & GUIDELINES ENTREPRENEURSHIP & PLANNING BUSINESS PLAN CONTENT SUMMARY & OPEN DISCUSSION

COMPETITION CRITERIA & GUIDELINES

ELIGIBILITY FORMAT DELIVERABLES

www.enterprisectr.org

ELIGIBILITY

Only startups (not yet operational) and emerging businesses (less than two years old) may apply

Existing early stage businesses must be located in the North of Boston/Merrimack Valley or must relocate to the area.

If the plan is for a startup business, that business must commit to locating in the North of Boston/Merrimack Valley.

Businesses with existing professional venture investment are not eligible Contestants shall have no more than $200,000 investment (exclusive of real estate)

 from sources other than  professional venture capital Business must have plans to grow to at least 5 full time or FTE employees in

addition to the founder(s) within two years Your business idea must be original work that you’ll be able to fully disclose 

www.enterprisectr.org

FORMAT

In addition to the three page overview  you may use your own cover page with company logo, tag line, etc.

Please be sure to include entry form with your plan overview. If you do so, the second page of the document must be the entry form above.

Font size between 10 and 12 point. You may use any font you like, however we recommend Times New Roman, Arial,

Helvetica, or Garamond. The margins should be no less than .75 inches, not including header and footer. Please number all the pages including the first page. Include your business concept name as a header or footer on all the pages. You can submit your entry as a PDF or in Microsoft Word (Office 97 or later). If

you choose to use other software for diagrams, tables, spreadsheets, etc., they must be integrated within the Word document.

www.enterprisectr.org

DELIVERABLES

By February 22, 2008: Attend SBDC seminar (optional) Review eligibility requirements Create 3-page plan overview Complete all entry forms  Deliver completed package to the Enterprise Center no later than 5:00pm on February

22, 2008.

By March 28, 2008: Complete full business plan Deliver 15 copies of the completed business plan to the Enterprise Center no later than

5:00pm on March 28, 2008.

www.enterprisectr.org

COMPETITION CRITERIA & GUIDELINES

ELIGIBILITY FORMAT DELIVERABLES

Questions?

Contact the Enterprise Center

or Salem State College SBDC

www.enterprisectr.orgwww.salemstate.edu/sbdc

NATURE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

ROLES ENTREPRENEUR MANAGER TECHNICIAN

SKILLS OPERATIONS MARKETING FINANCE

NATURE OF PLANNING

“If you don’t know where your going

any road will get you there”

anonymous

“You need to know where you’re going

or you’ll wind up somewhere else”Yogi Berra

THE PLANNING PROCESS

Plan (prepare for the future) Act

(implement the plan)

Results(something happens)

Record(measure the results))

Analyze(compare

results)

Evaluate(explain

variances)

2-2

TIPS FOR SUCCESSFUL PLANNING

BELIEVE IT IS IMPORTANT COMMIT TIME & ENERGY HAVE REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS BE FLEXIBLE WRITE IT DOWN

REASONS FOR A WRITTEN BUSINESS PLAN

INTERNAL VALIDATE BUSINESS CONCEPT PREPARE FINANCIAL FORECASTS

EXTERNAL SUPPORT FINANCING PROPOSAL PROMOTE BUSINESS RELATIONSHIPS

BUSINESS PLAN CONTENT

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY BUSINESS DESCRIPTION MARKETING & SALES ORGANIZATION & MANAGEMENT FINANCIALS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

MISSION STATEMENT FORM OF ORGANIZATION PRINCIPALS LOCATION & FACILITIES FINANCIAL & MARKETING GOALS WHY YOU EXPECT SUCCESS WRITTEN LAST

BUSINESS DESCRIPTION

INDUSTRY STATUS & TRENDS BUSINESS HISTORY PRODUCTS / SERVICES DETAILS LOCATION & FACILITIES ISSUES REGULATIONS & LICENSING RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT PROPRIETARY INFORMATION

MARKETING & SALES

VALUE PROPOSITION TARGET MARKET MARKET RESEARCH MARKETING & SALES STRATEGY REVENUE MODEL COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

COMPETITION

ENVIRONMENT & TRENDS STRONGEST COMPETITORS

STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES

HOW YOU WILL BE DIFFERENT HOW YOU WILL BE BETTER

ORGANIZATION & MANAGEMENT

ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE MANAGEMENT TEAM

INTERNAL EXTERNAL

RELEVANT EXPERIENCE RESPONSIBILITIES STAFFING

FINANCIALS

HISTORICAL DATA INVESTED CAPITAL

TO DATE NEW

CAPITAL EQUIPMENT REQUIREMENTS PROJECTED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

CASH FLOW- THE KEY! – CASH BUDGET INCOME STATEMENT BALANCE SHEET

RATIO ANALYSIS

SOME DOs

WRITE PLAN YOURSELF MAKE PLAN CLEAR, CONCISE,

COMPREHENSIVE CLEARLY DEFINE MARKET NEED SHOW CUSTOMER KNOWLEDGE SHOW COMPETITION KNOWLEDGE HAVE PLAN REVIEWED & EDITED

SOME DON’Ts

MAKE PLAN TOO LONG OR UNFOCUSED BE INCONSISTENT USE TOO MUCH TECHNICAL JARGON USE UNSUPPORTED NUMBERS MISUSE COMPUTER PROGRAMS MISUSE SAMPLE PLANS

WHERE TO GET MORE HELP

INDUSTRY ASSOCIATIONS BOOKS & PERIODICALS WEB SITES CONSULTANTS SBDC COUNSELORS

Use common sense and sanity test!

SUMMARY

REMEMBER THREE LEGS OF STOOL THINK OF BUSINESS PLAN FOR

CONCEPT VALIDATION SALES TOOL OPERATIONAL TOOL

HAVE SUBMISSION REVIEWED REMEMBER – PLANNING IS A NEVER

ENDING PROCESS

Q & A

OPEN DISCUSSION

GOOD LUCK !!!