Business – Tails Waggin’ Pet Food Delivery (this company is a pet food delivery service that has offers non- GMO farm fresh food in biodegradable cartons and also offers vegan treats as well)

How to Compose Chapter 2 of your Business Plan

Follow these guidelines as to what should be included in your Chapter 2 write-up.  (This material is described in chapter 4 of your textbook.)  Be sure to use this outline:

 2.0     Business Idea and Expansion Plan

2.1     Description of the Market Opportunity

2.2     Description of the Business

2.3     Current State of the Business

2.4     The Expansion Plan

2.5     Ownership and Legal Status of the Business

What you should write about in each Section:

2.1  Description of the Market Opportunity

This is where you describe the market problem you perceive and speculate on how much market demand could be generated by this problem.  Don’t describe your solution to the problem – your business idea – just describe the problem that consumers are having.

• Show examples of the problem you perceive
• Speculate on how broad-ranging this problem may be
• Indicate the nature of the difficulty this problem creates for consumers

2.2   Description of the Business

This is where you describe your solution to the problem you described in the prior section – in other words, your business idea.  Provide all the details about your idea and why it has a strong chance of being successful.  This section is very important and will be referred to continually as you develop future chapters of your Business Plan.  You will probably come back to this section and updated it as further details about your business are developed.

• This section should explain your product or service, including a description of how it is unique and how you position it in the marketplace
• Discuss how your product/service differs from others in terms of the features or price range
• Identify your prospective clientele and why they would patronize your business instead of others
• Explain any proprietary aspects of your product or service and how you will create barriers to entry

2.3   Current Status of the Business

You should presume that your business has already launched 12 months ago using your own money – and has produced some low volume results that point towards business success.

• Provide a brief timeline of the company’s history in narrative form and talk about its major achievements
• include a simple history of sales volume, revenues, and net income growth.  
• Outline early customer reaction to your product or service
• Describe the current composition of your management team 
• Describe the financial status of your company

2.4   The Expansion Plan

Now you believe it is time to expand and you’ve designed an Expansion Plan that will enable the company to SUBSTANTIALLY grow its business volume.  The Expansion Plan involves considerable expense and purchases of assets that you can’t fund on your own, and you need professional equity investment for funding the plan.

IMPORTANT:  MAKE SURE YOUR EXPANSION PLAN IS LARGE ENOUGH TO ATTRACT AN INVESTOR.  IT HAS TO TRANSFORM YOUR COMPANY FROM A NEARLY-INVISIBLE SMALL BUSINESS INTO A WELL-RECOGNIZED COMPANY/BRAND/ORGANIZATION

• This section describes the proposal that your company has in mind to grow its business volume. It describes the nature of the project and gives an overview as to the expected needs of the project in terms of facilities, equipment, manpower, operating expenses, and other factors that will have to be put in place to accomplish the strategy
• The expansion plan should cover a span of the next five years.  That is your Business Plan period.  Your expansion should normally be completed within that period of time, and your company should have experienced significant growth compared to your current situation
• The section also gives a brief overview of the expected project costs
• This section reveals what major milestones your company has already achieved – this same material will be discussed in greater detail in subsequent chapters.  Just a brief overview is needed here.  Be sure that your future chapters are consistent with the status reported here.

2.5   Ownership and Legal Status of the Business

This is where you describe who owns the business.  You should be named as an owner of your business – and indicate the amount of equity capital that you (and others possibly) have contributed toward launching the business.  In addition, describe the current form of the business.   If others have also contributed equity capital, then they too are owners of the business

It is suggested that you select LLC as your business form and that you voluntarily elect to have a board of directors and a board of advisers (even though these are not legally required of an LLC) as this will be very attractive to an investor.

• Indicate your current form of business ownership (partnership, LLC, Corporation, etc.)
• Describe who owns the business and how ownership is divided between the owners
• State how much personal equity funding has been contributed to the business and by whom