A good business plan plays an important role for people applying in the newly announced innovator visa category. The endorsement criteria set by the Home Office for the new venture must meet all the requirements below;
- Innovation
- Viability
- Scalability
Structure of a good business plan
A sample business plan structure for innovation start-ups may involve:
- executive summary
- description of a business idea or your business statement
- product or service description, including how you will exploit any new technology or IP
- market analysis, including trends, needs and growth projections
- competitor analysis – looking at their strength and weaknesses, and opportunities
- marketing plan and strategies
- management and operations, including your business’ legal and organisational structure
- financial planning and resource requirements
- risk management, covering business, technology or financial risks
Innovation
An innovative business plan will help you to validate the feasibility of that idea, market potential, real demand for your product to can also help provide your innovation start-up with credibility and focus, which is vital if you want to attract investors for your innovation start-up.
Your business plan for innovation should show:
- how you will develop and exploit your invention
- the capability and experience of your team
- how you will finance costs
- how investors will be able to realise their profits
Viability
There may be a market for the product or service you have in mind for your business plan, and plenty of potential profit – for those who are already doing it. Sometimes there’s just too much competition for any new business in the same business to prosper. Study the UK market and competition carefully in light of your ideas of your new business. A viable business plan may contain information such as;
- Who will buy your product and why?
- The cost to deliver and how much will it sell for?
- Your competition, and how do you propose to tackle this?
- When will the business start to receive income and when will it break even?
Scalability
A software product is a classic example of a scalable solution as it involves real money to build but unlimited additional copies can be quickly cloned for almost no additional cost. Most consulting business such as marketing or management service are not scalable since they require an expert to leverage the services and it is slow as well as expensive.
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