Complete Business Plan - "The Key to Funding"

Once you secure financing for your invention, you are limited only by your imagination. One of the most unique concepts (if your goal is to make considerable money off your invention) is to consider your invention as a small business in and of itself. This requires the preparation of a detailed business plan. Actually, no matter what kind of financial avenue you seek, a well conceived business plan would be needed to attract potential investors or financing. Business plans are an important test of your clear and objective thinking and the merit of your idea. Typically, an investor places on your business plan's components in the following order:

• personnel - the individual(s) behind the invention
• marketing- the market potential for your idea and your marketing strategy
• sustainability - your invention's uniqueness and your ability to protect the technology
• financials - the financial statements (balance sheet, income statement, cash flow statement, etc.)

You should also be able to clearly explain how you expect to provide investors with a return on their investments. Specifically, how and when they should expect to realize their financial returns. Venture capitalists who invest in new ideas do not invest based on financial projections; inventions must pass the reasonability test to receive funding. Financial projections need to be based on rational expectations; they are, in essence, a sanity check.

Before you speak with venture capitalists about investing in your product, you should prepare a brief (and well thought-out) oral presentation. You should include detailed information on such topics as:

• the market potential of your invention
• your invention's unique ingredient(s) to guarantee its success
• the growth prospects of your invention
• how you plan to achieve your objectives
• the amount of financing needed and how it will be used