从90年代以来，我已经看了成千上万的商业计划书。其中绝大部分都很糟糕。不幸的是，这并不是微软Powerpoint软件的错（即使Freelance也不能解决这个问题）。
这其实是计划书作者的责任。Edward Tufte是The Visual Display of Quantitative Information方面的权威，他认为Powerpoint绝对是邪恶而且有害的。象Beyond Bullets这样的网站有助于减少这些害处，但是因为我必须在很短的时间里（通常是30到60分钟）完成非常细节内容，我想有必要更详细的介绍一下什么是“好的”计划。
几年以前，Chris Wand（他和我一起在Mobius投资公司工作过）列出了一些和VC商谈时必须解决的问题。如果所有创业者都自觉考虑并解答了这些问题，那事情会变得容易多了。
下面是那些应该解答的问题：
1) 你的眼光是什么？
* 你的远见是什么？
* 你要解决什么问题？对象是谁？
* 你将来想要成为什么样的人？
2) 你的市场机会是什么？市场有多大？
* 你目标的市场有多大？发展有多快？
* 这个市场有多成熟，或多不成熟？
* 你是否有资本成为这个市场前两三位？
3) 介绍你的产品和服务
* 你的产品或服务是什么？
* 解决了用户的什么问题？
* 你的产品或服务有什么特别之处？
4) 你的用户是谁？
* 谁是现在的用户？
* 谁是目标用户？
* 理想的用户是什么样的？
* 谁会付费？
* 介绍一下某个具体用户的例子
5) 你的价值主张是什么？
* 你给用户提供了什么价值？
* 使用／买你的产品，用户的投资回收率是什么？
* 你解决了什么问题？
* 你是销售维他命，阿司匹林，还是消炎药？（奢侈品，有益的东西，还是必需品？）
6) 你如何销售？
* 销售程序是什么？周期有多长？
* 你的销售和市场方针是什么？
* 你当前的销售链是什么？
7) 你怎么吸引客户？
* 争取每个用户要花费多少钱？
* 在不同时期这个费用是否不同？为什么？
* 用户的永久价值什么？
8) 你的管理团队有谁？
* 你的管理团队有谁？
* 他们有什么经验？
* 欠缺那些环节？有什么计划去弥补？
9) 你的收入模式是什么？
* 如何赚钱
* 你的收入模式
* 需要怎样才能盈利？
10) 你现在进展到哪一步？
* 你现在进展到哪一步了？技术／产品？团队？财务／营收？
* 现在进展情况如何？现状和前景是否更清晰了？
* 你将来的计划是什么？
11) 你的融资计划是什么？
* 已经得到了什么投资？
* 希望得到多少投资？比例如何？
* 资金用在什么地方？
* 资金可以支持多久？到那时公司是否可以发展到一个重要里程碑？
* 你还打算吸引多少资金？什么时候？
12) 你的竞争对手是谁？
* 谁是你当前和潜在的竞争对手？
* 谁有可能和你竞争，谁有可能和你合作？
* 你的优势和弱点？
* 你有什么特殊之处？
13) 你有什么合作伙伴？
* 谁是你的销售或技术合作伙伴？当前？未来？
* 这些合作伙伴有多可靠？
14) 为什么适合有意的投资者？
* 和投资者的方向，经验吻合？
* 与投资者现有的投资组合有什么互补，或竞争？
15) 其它
* 成功的条件里有什么还只是假设？
* 有什么突然因素有可能一夜之间改变你的生意？新科技，新市场成员，规则法规的变化？
* 你公司的薄弱环节是什么？
原文如下：
The Torturous World of Powerpoint
I’ve looked at thousands (tens of thousands?) presentations pitching new businesses since the mid 1990’s. The vast majority of them suck. Unfortunately, it’s not Powerpoint’s fault (no – it wouldn’t be better if Freelance has become the standard).
It’s the content creators fault. Edward Tufte – a master of The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, thinks Powerpoint is evil and corrupts absolutely. Blogs like Beyond Bullets help reduce the corruption, but given that I’m trying to get a very specific set of information in a short period of time (usually 30 – 60 minutes), more specificity about what I think is “good” is probably helpful.
Several years ago, Chris Wand (one of the guys that works with me at Mobius Venture Capital) put together a list of questions that a pitch to a VC should address. The world would be a better place if all entreprenuers could automagically incorporate this outline into their pitches – at least to me.
Following are the questions to address.
1) WHAT IS YOUR VISION?
- What is your big vision?
- What problem are you solving and for whom?
- Where do you want to be in the future?
2) WHAT IS YOUR MARKET OPPORTUNITY AND HOW BIG IS IT?
- How big is the market opportunity you are pursuing and how fast is it growing?
- How established (or nascent) is the market?
- Do you have a credible claim on being one of the top two or three players in the market?
3) DESCRIBE YOUR PRODUCT/SERVICE
- What is your product/service?
- How does it solve your customer’s problem?
- What is unique about your product/service?
4) WHO IS YOUR CUSTOMER?
- Who are your existing customers?
- Who is your target customer?
- What defines an “ideal” customer prospect?
- Who actually writes you the check?
- Use specific customer examples where possible.
5) WHAT IS YOUR VALUE PROPOSITION?
- What is your value proposition to the customer?
- What kind of ROI can your customer expect by using buying your product/service?
- What pain are you eliminating?
- Are you selling vitamins, aspirin or antibiotics? (I.e. a luxury, a nice-to-have, or a need-to-have)
6) HOW ARE YOU SELLING?
- What does the sales process look like and how long is the sales cycle?
- How will you reach the target customer? What does it cost to “acquire” a customer?
- What is your sales, marketing and distribution strategy?
- What is the current sales pipeline?
7) HOW DO YOU ACQUIRE CUSTOMERS?
- What is your cost to acquire a customer?
- How will this acquisition cost change over time and why?
- What is the lifetime value of a customer?
8)WHO IS YOUR MANAGEMENT TEAM?
- Who is the management team?
- What is their experience?
- What pieces are missing and what is the plan for filling them?
9) WHAT IS YOUR REVENUE MODEL?
- How do you make money?
- What is your revenue model?
- What is required to become profitable?
10) WHAT STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT ARE YOU AT?
- What is your stage of development? Technology/product? Team? Financial metrics/revenue?
- What has been the progress to date (make reality and future clear)?
- What are your future milestones?
11) WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR FUND RAISING?
- What funds have already been raised?
- How much money are you raising and at what valuation?
- How will the money be spent?
- How long will it last and where will the company “be” on its milestones progress at that time?
- How much additional funding do you anticipate raising & when?
12) WHO IS YOUR COMPETITION?
- Who is your existing & likely competition?
- Who is adjacent to you (in the market) that could enter your market (and compete) or could be a co-opted partner?
- What are their strengths/weaknesses?
- Why are you different?
13) WHAT PARTNERSHIPS DO YOU HAVE?
- Who are your key distribution and technology partners (current & future)?
- How dependent are you on these partners?
14) HOW DO YOU FIT WITH THE PROSPECTIVE INVESTOR?
- How does this fit w/ the investor’s portfolio and expertise?
- What synergies, competition exist with the investor’s existing portfolio?
15) OTHER
- What assumptions are key to the success of the business?
- What “gotchas” could change the business overnight? New technologies, new market entrants, change in standards or regulations?
- What are your company’s weak links?
