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• State your educational background.
• Do you have any managerial experience?
• Who else is on your management team?
• What are their backgrounds?
• What functions will be performed by the team?
Indicate who will be responsible for finances,
marketing, human resources and production.
Do you have the skills needed?
• How are decisions made (i.e. board, owner)?
5. Describe your operating system
• What are your facility requirements for size/
capacity, location and type of premises?
• What equipment do you have? What equipment
do you need to purchase? What are the costs
involved?
• How will you produce your product? What is the
work flow?
• How will you assure quality?
• What is your capacity and production volumes?
• What are your day-to-day operations like
including hours of operation, seasonality of
business, suppliers and their credit terms?
• Describe your space for work in progress
inventory and finished goods storage. What about
expansion possibilities?
• What are the alternatives for production? Could
the products be custom processed and packaged?
• What regulation do you need to comply with and
how have you accomplished this (i.e. food safety,
business licenses, environmental standards, etc.)?
6. Describe your personnel
• What are your personnel needs, now and in the
future?
• What skills must they have and are these people
available in the area?
• Will you need to train your employees? If so, how
much will it cost, in both time and money?
• How many full-time and part-time workers will
you have?
• What will your pay scale and benefits program
be?
7. Describe your financial needs
• Prepare a 3 year financial projection
– balance sheet
– income statement
– cash flow
• How much will you seek from lenders/investors?
• How much are you prepared to put in?
• How is the money to be spent (working capital,
new equipment, inventory, supplies, etc.)?
8. Describe your risk management strategies
• What events could affect your customers demand
for products?
• How will you limit the impact?
• What other risks could impact your business?
What Do Lenders Look
For?
Your management team – who’s responsible for
financial planning, production, marketing,
human resources?
How much cash/capital is available?
What is the market?
• Is there demand for your product?
• Who is going to buy it and how are you going
to distribute it?
• Do you have a sustainable competitive
advantage?
• What is unique about your product and why?
Is your plan realistic?
Although investors and lenders like to back
businesses with high growth potential, they are
skeptical when the projections seem too good to be
true. This is a flag to them that you may be overly
optimistic or naive.