How to Present Your Startup Business Plan: 7 Creative Ways
“How to Present Your Startup Business Plan: 7 Creative Ways” by Hypelife Brands
When presenting your startup business plan, you need to be unique. The conventional things that most people do can be a bit boring and monotonous. However, a startup business plan presentation to a venturesome investor requires a creative approach. This means taking your unique selling point (USP) in your startup project and doing something unusual.
The goal of your presentation should be to convince investors that they need your product. Prove that you know what you are doing and will succeed in creating value in the market.
The Components of a Business Plan
Your business plan should include:
- The Executive Summary: A high-level overview of the critical points in your plan, one or two pages in length.
- The Company Description: A summary of your company’s history, mission, goals, and objectives. The Company Description could be anywhere between one to three pages.
- The Market Analysis: A market analysis focuses on the market you’ll be entering, including competitors and consumers. Depending on the type of business you’re starting, this could range from one to 20 pages.
- The Organization and Management: Details about your company’s ownership structure and organization and profiles of key players within the company. These details range from one to four pages depending on the size of your company.
- Product and Services: In this section, you’ll detail what products or services you offer, who uses them, and how they meet customers’ needs. This section can range from two pages for a simple product to 10 or more for a detailed product/service.
- Marketing Plan: Your marketing strategy from advertising to public relations to branding. Opt for an agency for startups to deal with your marketing. Using startup marketing by Hypelife brands will build and scale up your business. Better to leave it to the professionals to ensure maximum turnover.
Tips to Present Your Startup Business Plan
The time you spend developing your business plan is as important as the information you include. If you want to get funding from investors or bankers, your business plan should be comprehensive and attractive. You can use these seven methods to help make your project more interesting.
Slide Presentations
Slideshows are a common element of startup presentations that allow information sharing with the audience via well-ordered slides. This type of presentation relies on visual elements. So, you must make the graphics in the slides unique, memorable, and professional.
PowerPoint is an excellent choice for slideshows you present in person because most computers already have it installed. Prezi is another option for creating visually exciting slideshows. If you want to try something different, create a slide deck using one of the many online free templates.
Make an Infographic
Infographics have exploded over the past few years as one of the ways to communicate information visually online. Infographics are powerful because they enable people to understand complex concepts. This takes minutes instead of hours by breaking down information into simple graphics, charts, and diagrams.
They also make complex ideas more digestible and easy to remember. Hence, infographics are an ideal way to present your business model creatively.
Make It Personal
The first thing investors will want to know about your startup is who’s behind it. So introduce yourself early in the business plan with a brief description of who you are and why you’re qualified to run this company.
Include a photo of yourself; they need to put a face with their investment. Talk about why you got into this industry, what inspired you, and your goals. People like to know they’re investing in people they want, so don’t be afraid to let some personality shine through here.
Get Creative with Your Format
Your business plan should be appealing to the eye. Consider using the same font text for presentation. The text should be easy to read, even from a distance.
The use of bullet points will also help break up long paragraphs. This makes the presentation easy to skim. Bold or highlight important points to pass the message.
Use Videos
Slideshows and charts work fine for many business plans. Still, if you need to make a big impression on investors, you may want to include a video. This could be a brief introductory video of you talking about the company vision, a montage of the team at work, or even footage of the product in action.
Video is becoming increasingly popular as an alternative to traditional text-and-photo content. So, this could help set your business plan apart from others. It also allows you to incorporate some emotion into your presentation. This can help bring the story alive for investors.
Incorporate White Space
White space makes pages easier to read and understand. It emphasizes critical points and allows readers to focus on what matters most. The amount of white space will vary based on the type of document you’re creating.
For example, a brochure might have little white space because it incorporates plenty of imagery. At the same time, a report would be text-based and should have white space around its margins.
Don’t Forget about Nonverbal Cues
Non-verbal cues help communicate when words aren’t enough. Consider how you’ll present your plan to potential investors and what kind of impression you want to make. For example, if your plan is full of wild ideas, you’ll wear something colourful and unique. If you’re presenting an ultra-conservative financial model, dress for the part.
Be mindful of your hand movements during client pitches too. Arm movements and head gestures will help expound your points more than expected. Also, make sure to research the background of the clients you are presenting to. You might be used to some gestures that they see as offensive.
Finally
Think of the best elevator pitch you’ve got. It might have taken you months to craft and perfect, but it’s worth it, and it’s one of the critical focus points to get your startup going. The initial impression is everything in business. Unfortunately, a wrong first impression can sink your company faster than you think. That’s why you should take the time to make your startup business plan stand out like that killer elevator pitch.
After all, an investor is more likely to back a team of passionate entrepreneurs with a memorable presentation. Additionally, have an attractive product than one whose business plan was written in a boring Word document.
