Excellent advice on building a pitch slide deck for seeking venture capital: http://www.altgate.com/blog/2008/09/vc-pitch-deck-a.html

I am often asked to work with innovators to create a business plan.  If you don’t feel that you are the best persuasive writer, then I do recommend hiring someone with experience to coach you through this process.  HOWEVER – a word of caution: do not hire someone to do the entire business plan for you.  Why?

Well, when you are headed to raise money, sell an idea, etc. you have to be quick on your feet and know 3-4 levels deeper than what actually goes into your bizplan.  You have to distill that to a 15 page power point and when you pitch, you’d better be ready for anything.  I’ve never met anyone that can read a full bizplan, memorize it and be ready to take any one of the areas on in detail when put on the spot.

Sure, paying thousands of dollars might get you a plan that gets you in the door with angels and VC’s but I’d bet against your success in the pitch.  I’ve seen too many pitches in my life go really bad and even then, those people did their own plan.  You have to nail it and frankly, if they are not willing to do the heavy lifting – research, interviews, etc, then they shouldn’t be in business.  This tells me they don’t care enough.

Why would you enter the ice cream business if you aren’t willing to go taste the flavors of all the places in your neighborhood and interview neighbors on their thoughts about the ice cream available to them today?  The same applies for any venture.  You don’t have to write it in the end but if you don’t do all of the research, interviews and due diligence, then you shouldn’t be in the business.

Q: Who is your market?

A: Everyone.

Is this right?  It is EVER right?  Well, if enough prospective entrepreneurs had their way, it would be the right answer but here is the real truth – your target market will NEVER be “everyone”.

Too many times, an innovator will write in their business plan that their market includes everyone.  Even if you are making toilet paper or even food, do not put in your business plan that your product is for everyone – it simply isn’t and even if it were true, you are sealing your demise if you don’t exhibit some focus on your target market.

Here is an example of what you should be thinking about.  Let’s use the toilet paper example: First, it isn’t everyone, many cultures don’t use the stuff, so do some research in Google or your local library and you may find some estimates of the total world market – put that number in the business plan, that is the ultimate prize but no one will own that whole market. Since no one can own that whole market, then tell investors in your plan who your target marketis by defining the specifics about a select group you feel you can adequately market to effectively.  For instance, “our target market is 65-85 year olds in the US who have annual incomes of X”.  Next, tell investors about who you think the early adopters are that you will focus on immediately after launch.  These are the people within the target market who are searching for an innovation like yours, are willing to deal with glitches along the way and praise your product once they’ve used it.  This might be 65-85 year olds who have recently had surgery for a colon problem.  Now you have some real information!  This isn’t just for investors, you probably see now that you are armed with that info, you could send samples to general surgeons or specialists who would pass them along to these patients. 

Focusing early on a very select group of people is essential to success.  Remember, your market is never “everybody”, it is a small group of people that allow you to realistically focus your efforts and marketing dollars in an effective manner.