[MUSIC] I'm now going to talk about management and the organization. You need to ask questions. Who will manage the business on a day-to-day basis? What experience does that person bring to the business? Do they have any special or distinctive competencies? Is there a plan for keeping the business going if this person is no longer available to manage it? That's a key point. Often businesses fail when they lose key personnel. If you plan to have more than ten employees, then draw up an organizational chart. Chain the management hierarchy and who's responsible for the key functions within your organisation. Include position descriptions for those key employees. If you're seeking loans or investors, then you need to include resumes of owners and key employees. I think it's key that your plan list the following. First of all, it should be a complete list of who you expect to be on the board of directors. You need to have a list of the management advisory board as well, if that's required. Most businesses are using the services of lawyers and accountants. I think it's important that you name them. Also, maybe your insurance company, your bankers, any consultants, or, consultant, any mentors and key advisors. I think these are all key to list in your business plan. While not necessary, it's often useful to put in your own personal financial statement into the business plan itself. And if there are more than one of you, then you need to include those personal financial statements for each owner and/or major shareholder. Showing the assets and liabilities held outside of the business, and maybe even their personal net wealth. This can always help, especially if you're applying for loans. Owners will often have to draw on personal assets to finance the business, especially at start-ups, and these statements will show what is available. Bankers and investors usually want this information as well, so that's quite important. Let's move on to start-up expenses and capitalisation. You will have many expenses before you even begin operating your business, and it's important to estimate these expenses accurately and then plan where you will get sufficient capital from. This is a research project, effectively, and the more thorough your research efforts, then the less chance that you will leave out any important expenses, or even underestimate them. Even with the best research, however, opening a new business has a way of costing more than you anticipate. There are two ways to make allowances for any surprise expenses. The first is to add a little padding, a little bit extra, to each item in the budget. But, of course, the problem with that approach is that it may destroy the accuracy of your carefully thought out plan. The second approach is to add a separate line item called contingencies, and this will be to account for anything that you don't foresee. I think this is the approach that I would recommend. I think it's important that you talk to others who have started similar businesses to get a good idea of how much to allow for these contingencies. If you can't get access to that good information, then I would recommend, as a rule of thumb, the contingencies should equal at least 20% of the total of all other start-up expenses. With all this information that's gone into your plan, I think it's really important that you explain your research and how you arrived at any forecast that you're giving in this particular plan, in particular with regard to expenses. Give sources of your information. Give amounts. Give, potentially, terms of any proposed loans. Also explain, in detail, how much you will be contributed by each investor and what percentage of ownership each will have. [MUSIC]
