a canadian startup

Business Plan Tips

In the journey of your startup, you will have sent out many business cards, pitch decks, business plans, and blood samples. Probably in that order.

Here are a few small tips I’ve found that have helped us manage this process.

1. Print three times more business cards than you originally thought, print them cheaply but sharply so investors think that you’re affordable but sharp. I’ve given out more than 1000 business cards in the last 90 days, and I am not even the type of person that likes to give out business cards.

2. Have one folder on your computer to store your business plan, projections, pitch templates, etc. In that folder have the following sub folders:

• Working Copies–>
• Copies Sent to Investors–>
  • ShrinkWorks Venture Capital – Feb 19–>
  • ShrinkWorks Venture Capital – Mar 15 – Due Diligence #1–>
  • VenShrink Enterprises – Jan 12–>
  • Wealthy Investor #5 – Mar 15–>
  • HeckCapital – … etc.

The idea (you’ll appreciate this later on) is to keep track of what you’ve sent and to whom. That way, when you meet with one of these people later on, you can make sure that the newest files you send them will not contradict older documents. Also, you can always find a version of the business plan that is final-ish and tailored to the type of investor with whom you’re currently speaking.

3. Don’t send a pitch deck. Don’t send a pitch deck even when they ask for one. Don’t!

This is one of my more non-standard pieces of advice that’s worked extremely well for us. Investors, at the first stage, do not want to see your 300 page business plan, but they want to get a quick summary of what you’re all about. So they ask for a pitch deck. Don’t do it — Powerpoint is not a document for communication, it is a tool to accompany communication. What you’re better off doing is to create a summary of your business plan that fits on one page and the second page is only a list of your team members and contact information. Add graphs, and use bullets. A picture of our company profile is to the left. One page: PDF — not PPT.

Our one page company profile document is so effective and concise that we’ve seen very few investors end up looking at our business plan until late into due diligence. We find that this document serves well for other purposes as well — we print it in colour on glossy paper and use it for potential partners and marketing companies as well.