Business plan/model resources?

[FastFokker]

I've been contemplating starting a new business with funding through ACOA (http://www.acoa.ca/), anyone recommend some good resources online to get it started?

I have friends who are willing to help out, but I'd rather get as much compiled myself as possible, before hassling them.. business people are pretty BUSY!

TIA

[Rehan]

Some decent links here:
http://del.icio.us/popular/BusinessPlan

[FastFokker]

That's pretty good.. I've been warned that likely when I approach for funding, ACOA will ask how I know there is a market for my services.. at which point I'm supposed to tell them I don't, and therefore need cash (say $20,000) for a market analysis.

Is that the end of it, or should I compile something in detail regarding a market analysis as well?

I'm so used to contracting myself to others, this idea of controlling my own fate seems daunting.

[Rehan]

That's pretty good.. I've been warned that likely when I approach for funding, ACOA will ask how I know there is a market for my services.. at which point I'm supposed to tell them I don't, and therefore need cash (say $20,000) for a market analysis.

Is that the end of it, or should I compile something in detail regarding a market analysis as well? $20k for a market analysis?! I'm sure you can do something basic for much, much less. Your business plan is useless if there's no market analysis.


In terms of books on business plans, one I recommend is http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/0764113992/ ... it's compact, concise and well laid out.

[Canucklehead]

Don't skimp on the market analysis - it will help determine where you put your effort. Besides, if you need money later, it helps to have done the analysis and of course the business plan.

Don't say you don't know....say that you believe based on your experience and basic research that there IS a market for your services. However, much more detailed research would be required to determine the optimum positioning of your service.

Other resources:
Strategis (Gov't site) (http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/engdoc/main.html)
Inc Magazine (http://www.inc.com)
Canadian Professional Sales Association (CPSA) (http://www.cpsa.com)
Business Plan Software (http://www.bplans.com/dp/)

Business Plan Pro and Marketing Plan Pro are good software packages to use

[kingofwit]

Here are the templates I used to write my business plan (with some modification of course as they are only templates).

The best thing about these are that they are in Word and Excel format and ready to use (as opposed to PDFs that can't be edited)

http://www.bdc.ca/en/business_tools/business_plan/default.htm

[fly]

That's pretty good.. I've been warned that likely when I approach for funding, ACOA will ask how I know there is a market for my services.. at which point I'm supposed to tell them I don't, and therefore need cash (say $20,000) for a market analysis.

Is that the end of it, or should I compile something in detail regarding a market analysis as well?

I'm so used to contracting myself to others, this idea of controlling my own fate seems daunting.

Subscribe to research companies and download their latest market analysis for much less. IDC, D&B, Forrester, Gartner, to name a few...