Why Many Business Plans Fail to Attract Capital: Ignoring the Required Format
If banks and investors have specific formats of their own, make sure you write the management characteristics according to their formats. I strongly emphasize this matter, because many people who fail to attract capital for their business plan have made this simple mistake and failed to follow the rules of the formats accepted by the companies, banks and investors in question.
In many cases, the plan is read by a software tool. The software tool classifies and analyzes the plan and presents it to the decision-makers. In this case, not following a certain structure results in losing many opportunities.
According to the audience's usage and their preferred business plan format, edit the resumes of those who are supposed to be a part of the management team.
This is one reason why a smart business plan exists in several versions. The plan you offer to an investor is not the same as the one you hand to an employee. The investor takes you more seriously as the plan they see of you becomes more precise. In the version prepared for the bank and the investor, the management section is of special importance, because it determines whether these people can properly manage and use the capital provided for the project.
The same logic applies to the other sections. When you send the business plan to banks and investors, you do not need to describe the pricing method in detail. Banks do not care much for details. But when you want to recruit a management team, you bring up that section, because a person in charge of marketing needs to know his or her place in this sector and to see whether he or she can do the job the way you want it done.
The appendix helps as well. Take a big part of the information out of the main version to make a suitable one for the bank. Present the summary version containing the prominent points and facts, and leave the rest of the contents and details in the appendix.
Do not let a simple formatting mistake cost you the capital your idea deserves. Ask what format your audience expects, and write for it.