Far to often when a new entrepreneur is asked questions about their business they stutter, hesitate, and struggle their way through their answers. This is not because they have a bad idea or have no put the time in it is simply because they have not prepared themselves to have that conversation.
These are the questions that should be addressed in a business plan or executive summary but even if you have not made it that far yet you should put some though into each one of these answers.
Here are the main questions you should be ready to answer whenever discussing your business with someone…
- What need or want are you filling?
- What problem does your business solve?
- What is your mission?
- How big is your market? (Everyone is not an answer)
- How will you target that niche?
- How are you different?
- Who is your main competition?
- What are the barriers to entry?
- How will you market your business? (Please say more than Facebook)
- How does your business make money?
- What is the business structure, how will it operate and who’s involved?
- How does your product or service actually work?
- How is your product or service distributed to the customer?
- Why will your business be successful?
- How do you plan on scaling your business?
- What are the costs involved? Need startup funding?
- How much money does your company have the potential to make?
- When will your business make money?
- When are the investors going to see ROI?
- What is your exit strategy?
The more specific you can be the better. Most importantly know your hook and how in a few seconds you can catch someones attention with what your business does.
If you have not made that formal plan yet take some time and write down your answer to all of these questions which will help you think them through then see our Executive Summary Template to put it together formally.
