Business Capstone

  

Develop a business plan for a start-up company (preferably a school/daycare) that plans to sell a product or service in a local market, in a national market, or on the Internet. Select one of your favorite products as the basis for the company, or invent a product.

                         

College of Business
Western Governors University

Appendix A: Business Plan Template

Title Page

Insert your title page information here:

Your Company’s Name

The Date

Business Plan Author’s Name

Your Title

Company Address

Company City, State, ZIP

Company Phone

Company email address

Table of Contents–
Insert your table of contents here

Once you have written your business plan, insert the correct page numbers for each of the required sections.

To create a MS Word generated table of contents, view MS Word help files or the MS Office online help files at:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HP05

1

892931033.aspx

Table of Contents

B- Company Summary-(4-6 pages). Describe the history of the origins of your business.

B1. Industry History: Describe the industry in which the business will operate.

B2. Legal Form of Ownership: Describe the ownership and legal establishment of the company, (i.e. specifying whether your company is a corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship, limited liability partnership, etc.).

B3. Location and Facilities: Describe the geographic location of your business including where the products/services will be produced. Identify any regulatory or legal Issues your company needs to consider now or in the future in reference to the location and/or facilities.

B4: Management Structure: Include the key personnel and positions.

B5. Products and Services- Explain the primary product(s) and/or service(s) your company produces and any unique attributes they may have.

C.
Market Analysis (3-5 pages)-
The market analysis section of your business plan should demonstrate that you know your customers.

C1: Target Market- Describe the current market for your company’s product.

C2: Industry Analysis
– Discuss the characteristics of this industry such as growth trends, units sold, or employment.

C3: Competitive Analysis
– Describe your company’s current competition.

D.
Market Strategy (3-6 pages)-
Describe how product, price, place and promotion related to the products/services offered by the business.

D1: 4Ps. Discuss the pricing, product, promotion and distribution of your product

D2: Price List- Develop a price list for the products/services offered.

D3: Selling Strategy- Develop a selling strategy with goals, milestones and deliverables.

D4: Sales Forecast- Develop a Sales forecast based on expected market conditions.

E.
Implementation Strategy (3-6 pages)-
Outline how you will launch the business and evaluate the business’s success of failures

E1. Overall Strategy- Summarize your overall strategy for successfully launching the business.

E2. Implementation.- Outline your target dates for implementation along with your goals and objectives.

E3. Control Plan- Develop a control plan to be used to evaluate the success of the company in meeting milestones.

F. Financial Statements and Projections (3-5 pages) –
Develop projected financial statements for the first year of business. You may use the Business Plan Financials Template to prepare this section (see Appendix B) or you may create your own template.

F1. Revenue and Cost Estimate-
This is the first part of the profit and loss statement. You will estimate the revenue (sales) and expenses for the first 12 months of your business

F2. Forecasted Profit and Loss Statement (Month by month for 1st 12 months)–

Here you will consider the sales forecast, the operating expenses, and the profits. Take the month-by-month revenue estimates of sales and expenses from the revenue and cost estimate (F1) and include interest expense to obtain a profit projection for your first year of operations. It will reveal net profit (obtained from subtracting the interest expense from the profit before interest). The profit before interest is calculated by subtracting total expenses from total revenue.

Examples of expenses may include:

Salary expenses

Payroll expenses

General and administrative

Repairs and maintenance

Marketing and Advertising

Accounting and legal

Utilities

Insurance

Taxes (real estate, etc.)

Selling Expenses

Other expenses (specify)

F3. Forecasted Balance Sheet

– This statement deals with cash and income and also with assets, liabilities, and capital. The balance should result in the debit and credit balances ending up equal.

G1. Financial Projections (1-2 pages

)- Summarize the financial projections and the assumption used in estimating the projections in section F.

G1a- Breakeven Point– Include an estimate of income and expenses. It determines whether or not your business will bring in enough money to meet its costs.

This method is used to determine the exact point at which the business makes neither takes a loss nor makes a profit. It is calculated at a point where sales have grown at a greater rate than costs and the two lines cross.

G1b-Financial Position
: Include the estimated financial position of the company at the end of the first year and the estimated capital/investment needs. Make sure to include any assumptions you used in estimating this information.

G1c-Capital/Investment Needs
: Estimate the capital and investment needs for your company. Be sure to discuss any equity contributions your company will need along with other start up costs required.

PAGE

1

Capstone Course of Study Plan – 3/20/2008