Author : Dee Power

If you’re writing a business plan to attract investors or to apply for a loan, a general overview of your company should be included It’s also a good idea if you’re writing the plan as a management tool Knowing where you’ve been is a good start on deciding where you want to go Seeing the stumbling blocks your company has overcome motivates you for the future The general overview is a brief summary of your firm which includes a description of the business, how it started, what major problems have been surmounted, the major accomplishments, products offered and who the customers are As the title suggests this section is a brief history of your company

The easiest way to start is simply by stating, The “Yourcompanyname” was founded in 2XXX as a C corporation (S corp, or LLC whatever is appropriate) Then think back, what were the milestones in the first years: How long did it take to get that first product to market? How did you market the product? How many were sold? Who bought them? And so on As the years passed how did the company grow? Was new management brought on board? Did you add new products? Did you sell your product to a different type of customer? Did you expand your market geographically? Were there set backs? This exercise brings your company to the present day

The entire Overview shouldn’t take more than two pages, even if you have a ten year old company You don’t have to define your product Explain its benefits, or go into detail about your market and competition The overview is meant to give a brief background of the company, to help the reader see the company as a living entity

If your company is a start-up, use this section to explain how you started the company and why How you discovered the opportunity and why you became excited about it

Financial Performance Review

This includes a five year trend of revenue and profitability A comparison of the performance to industry standards, if possible, and discussion of major asset acquisitions, and substantial changes in inventory, receivables, payables, debt, or capital structure This financial review is at a summary level and should be no more than a page Include only top level general categories Obviously if your company is a start-up it has no historical financial performance

The general overview of your business gets your business plan off to a great start

Free business plan format. Dee Power and Brian Hill are the authors of Business Plan Basics on how to write a business plan and several other nonfiction books. They’ll answer your business plan writing questions.

Syndication Source: Thought Search Articles

Filed under: Wealth Creation

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