Writing a Business Plan to a large company

platypus

platypus

platypus

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How on earth does one write a business plan to pitch to a large company?

My wife wants to pitch an idea to a large national company. We know the basics of putting together a business plan, but don't really know where to start <in before the go on dragons den replies> in terms of pitching to a company that is already extremely successful.
 
Presumably you want to explain the concept, how it benefits said company (backed up with some hard numbers if possible), how you plan to implement it and what you want in return. You'll want to look for any holes in your pitch and address them, especially backed up by knowledge of the company you're pitching to.

I have no idea myself, but I would consider those to be pretty essential.
 
yeah if you're going to be pitching to a large national company your plan is going to have to be extremley transparant.

From the planning/concept, through to the revenue model and estimated profit margins YOY.

Probably best to start off with who you are and what your general goals are, from that point, introduce your product/service, explain why it is different from anything else on the market, or how it competes.

Finish with hard numbers and any future plans for growth or expansion.
 
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the problem with business plans is that they work largely on guess work

it is difficult to predict the numbers of sales and work on gestimations

try to be conservative on your guess work
 
Paul11 said:
the problem with business plans is that they work largely on guess work
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Good ones don't! Market analysis and benchmarking can remove the guess work. Yes, the numbers remain forecasts rather fact but if you have solid comparables and thorough market knowledge and the skills to put the two together objectively, it is not guess work.

OP, without giving too much away what industry/sector are dealing with?

I am a specialist in feasibility and business planning but I am very niche, so unlikely to be able to help.
 
Paul11 said:
the problem with business plans is that they work largely on guess work

it is difficult to predict the numbers of sales and work on gestimations

try to be conservative on your guess work
Click to expand...

This is one point I raised to my wife. I think her idea is genuinely brilliant - and I'm saying that as someone that wants to retire early when his wife makes millions rather than just being a luvvy duvvy supporter because she's my wife - but I can't work out how she'll be able to accurately predict any kind of numbers, be it revenue, uptake or whatever.
 
platypus said:
I can't work out how she'll be able to accurately predict any kind of numbers, be it revenue, uptake or whatever.
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have good data on the closest possible existing business concepts (nothing is so earth shattering that no reference point exists) - what benchmarks should be used entirely depends on the concept

real research and analysis not just pulling numbers out of thin air
 
Skidder said:
Good ones don't! Market analysis and benchmarking can remove the guess work. Yes, the numbers remain forecasts rather fact but if you have solid comparables and thorough market knowledge and the skills to put the two together objectively, it is not guess work.

OP, without giving too much away what industry/sector are dealing with?

I am a specialist in feasibility and business planning but I am very niche, so unlikely to be able to help.
Click to expand...
I don't know how you would do market research on an idea like this without actually selling the idea first, and you probably can't sell the idea first without the market research!

I'm not going to say anything in connection with the idea, not because I believe people on here may talk, but because the internet is easily searchable, and its not my idea!
 
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platypus said:
I don't know how you would do market research on an idea like this without actually selling the idea first, and you probably can't sell the idea first without the market research!

I'm not going to say anything in connection with the idea, not because I believe people on here may talk, but because the internet is easily searchable, and its not my idea!
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I agree it would be stupid to blurt out the concept in its entirety on here and I wasn't suggesting you should. I was asking for an indication of what sector, product type or service type so I could potentially give you some pointers rather than you just receiving very vague and obvious comments.

In every industry there are people like me who help with new concepts / ventures. I have done many 100s of business plans for people and have never had to buy their idea before doing market research! (I was referring to benchmarking rather than focus groups etc. (which are largely useless early on in business planning).)
 
Skidder said:
I agree it would be stupid to blurt out the concept in its entirety on here and I wasn't suggesting you should. I was asking for an indication of what sector, product type or service type so I could potentially give you some pointers rather than you just receiving very vague and obvious comments.

In every industry there are people like me who help with new concepts / ventures. I have done many 100s of business plans for people and have never had to buy their idea before doing market research! (I was referring to benchmarking rather than focus groups etc. (which are largely useless early on in business planning).)
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I don't know how I can do that without giving the game away :p.
 
I posted more for general help producing a business plan really, and as I said, I won't give anything away in relation to the idea itself.
 
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