Бизнес план

Businesses fail because they cannot pay their bills. Every part of your business plan is

important, but none of it means a thing if you run out of cash.

The point of this worksheet is to plan how much you need before startup, for

preliminary expenses, operating expenses, and reserves.You should keep updating it

and using it afterward.It will enable you to foresee shortages in time to do somethingPage 25 of 31

about them—perhaps cut expenses, or perhaps negotiate a loan. Butforemost, you

shouldn’t be taken by surprise.

There is no great trick to preparing it: The cash‐flow projection is just a forward look at

your checking account.

For each item, determine when you actually expect to receive cash (for sales) or when

you will actually have to write a check (for expense items).

You should track essential operating data, which is not necessarily part of cash flow but

allows you to track items that have a heavy impact on cash flow, such as sales and

inventory purchases.

You should also track cash outlays priorto opening in a pre‐startup column.You

should have already researched those for your startup expenses plan.

Your cash flow will show you whether your working capital is adequate. Clearly, if

your projected cash balance ever goes negative, you will need more start‐up capital.

This plan will also predict just when and how much you will need to borrow.

Explain your major assumptions, especially those that make the cash flow differfrom

the Profit and Loss Projection. For example, if you make a sale in month one, when do

you actually collect the cash? When you buy inventory or materials, do you pay in

advance, upon delivery, or much later? How will this affect cash flow?

Are some expenses payable in advance? When?

Are there irregular expenses, such as quarterly tax payments, maintenance and repairs,

or seasonal inventory buildup, that should be budgeted?

Loan payments, equipment purchases, and ownerʹs draws usually do not show on

profit and loss statements but definitely do take cash out. Be sure to include them.

And of course, depreciation does not appearin the cash flow at all because you never

write a check forit.

Opening Day Balance Sheet

A balance sheet is one of the fundamentalfinancialreports that any business needs for

reporting and financial management. A balance sheet shows what items of value arePage 26 of 31

held by the company (assets), and what its debts are (liabilities).When liabilities are

subtracted from assets, the remainderis owners’ equity.

Use a startup expenses and capitalization spreadsheet as a guide to preparing a balance

sheet as of opening day. Then detail how you calculated the account balances on your

opening day balance sheet.

Optional: Some people want to add a projected balance sheet showing the estimated

financial position of the company at the end of the first year. This is especially useful

when selling your proposal to investors.

Break-Even Analysis

A break‐even analysis predicts the sales volume, at a given price,required to recover

total costs. In other words, it’s the sales level that is the dividing line between operating

at a loss and operating at a profit.

Expressed as a formula, break‐even is:

Break‐Even Sales = Fixed Costs

1‐ Variable Costs

(Where fixed costs are expressed in dollars, but variable costs are expressed as a percent

of total sales.)

Include all assumptions upon which your break‐even calculation is based.Page 27 of 31

XI. Appendices

Include details and studies used in your business plan; for example:

• Brochures and advertising materials

• Industry studies

• Blueprints and plans

• Maps and photos of location

• Magazine or other articles

• Detailed lists of equipment owned orto be purchased

• Copies of leases and contracts

• Letters of supportfrom future customers

• Any other materials needed to support the assumptions in this plan

• Marketresearch studies

• List of assets available as collateralfor a loanPage 28 of 31

XII. Refining the Plan

The generic business plan presented above should be modified to suit your specific type

of business and the audience for which the plan is written.

For Raising Capital

For Bankers

• Bankers want assurance of orderly repayment.If you intend using this plan to

present to lenders, include:

o Amount ofloan

o How the funds will be used

o What this will accomplish—how will it make the business stronger?

o Requested repayment terms (number of years to repay). You will

probably not have much negotiating room on interestrate but may be able

to negotiate a longerrepayment term, which will help cash flow.

o Collateral offered, and a list of all existing liens against collateral

ForInvestors

• Investors have a different perspective. They are looking for dramatic growth, and

they expect to share in the rewards:

o Funds needed short‐term

o Funds needed in two to five years

o How the company will use the funds, and what this will accomplish for

growth.

o Estimated return on investment

o Exit strategy forinvestors (buyback, sale, orIPO)

o Percent of ownership that you will give up to investorsPage 29 of 31

o Milestones or conditions that you will accept

o Financialreporting to be provided

o Involvement of investors on the board orin management

For Type of Business

Manufacturing

• Planned production levels

• Anticipated levels of direct production costs and indirect(overhead) costs—how

do these compare to industry averages (if available)?

• Prices per product line

• Gross profit margin, overall and for each product line

• Production/capacity limits of planned physical plant

• Production/capacity limits of equipment

• Purchasing and inventory management procedures

• New products under development or anticipated to come online after startup

Service Businesses

• Service businesses sell intangible products. They are usually more flexible than

othertypes of businesses, but they also have higherlabor costs and generally

very little in fixed assets.

• What are the key competitive factors in this industry?

• Your prices

• Methods used to set prices

• System of production management

• Quality control procedures. Standard or accepted industry quality standards.Page 30 of 31

• How will you measure labor productivity?

• Percent of work subcontracted to otherfirms. Will you make a profit on

subcontracting?

• Credit, payment, and collections policies and procedures

• Strategy for keeping client base

HighTechnology Companies

• Economic outlook forthe industry

• Will the company have information systems in place to manage rapidly changing

prices, costs, and markets?

• Will you be on the cutting edge with your products and services?

• What is the status ofresearch and development? And what is required to:

o Bring product/service to market?

o Keep the company competitive?

• How does the company:

o Protect intellectual property?

o Avoid technological obsolescence?

o Supply necessary capital?

o Retain key personnel?

High‐tech companies sometimes have to operate for a long time without profits and

sometimes even without sales.If this fits your situation, a banker probably will not

want to lend to you. Venture capitalists may invest, but your story must be very good.

You must do longer‐term financialforecasts to show when profit take‐off is expected to

occur. And your assumptions must be well documented and well argued.Page 31 of 31

Retail Business

• Company image

• Pricing:

o Explain markup policies.

o Prices should be profitable, competitive, and in accordance with company

image.

• Inventory:

o Selection and price should be consistent with company image.

o Inventory level: Find industry average numbers for annual inventory

turnoverrate (available inRMA book). Multiply yourinitial inventory

investment by the average turnoverrate. The result should be at least

equal to your projected first yearʹs cost of goods sold.If it is not, you may

not have enough budgeted for startup inventory.

• Customer service policies: These should be competitive and in accord with

company image.

• Location: Does it give the exposure that you need? Is it convenient for

customers? Is it consistent with company image?

• Promotion: Methods used, cost. Does it project a consistent company image?

• Credit: Do you extend credit to customers? If yes, do you really need to, and do

you factorthe cost into prices?