The Business Plan starts with a two-page executive summary that concisely addresses the following topics, using text, charts and graphics:

• Mission (be simple and inspiring)
• Problem and Solution (describe your value proposition)
• Market (clearly define your target)
• Competitors (acknowledge barriers to entry)
• Management Team (describe relevant experience and advisors)
• Operations (demonstrate scalability)
• Investment Needed (put an offer on the table)
• Intended Uses of Cash (describe them detail)
• Forecast Financials (state your assumptions and plans)
• Exit Strategy (summarize recent industry examples, including valuation metrics)

You'll need a specific approach for communicating your business plans to potential private equity investors. While business plans provide a "first look" at a company the following can be utilized in gaining private equity investors' attention:

• Be aware of private equity investors' criteria and industry focus. Investors look for double-digit returns from companies with such attributes as: a credible, well-rounded management team with a vested interest in the company's success; a board having outside directors with successful track records; a minimum number in the millions in revenues; selling into an expanding market; and enjoying consistent operating margins of at least 10 percent, preferably more.
• Avoid lofty earnings projections. Often, the history and forecast of revenues and earnings depict a long end (the history) and the short end (the projection). Such a projection is credible only when it is predicated on some dramatic change, whether that be management, process or product, that could reasonably result in a sharp increase in earnings.
• Resist the impulse to make business plans overly long or detailed. Quantity does not mean quality. A good rule of thumb is that a business plan should be no longer than 30 manuscript pages with a two-page executive summary, including financial data.
• Identify barriers to entry. Equity investors -- leery of getting into fields that are easy for others to enter and chip away at existing companies' profit margins -- look for such attributes as a patent on the technology a company uses or a long--term, low-cost supply contract for a critical material, etc.
• Demonstrate a defendable competitive advantage. Zero in on the company's competitive strengths, such as dominant market position, lower costs or an advantageous position in the supply chain.