I come across a great number of business plans each week, each soliciting investment in some aspect of clean technology — usually electric transportation or some form of renewable energy. And in near every case, I find that a “second set of eyes” should review the text before it goes out to potential angel investors or venture capitalists. Almost without exception, I come across typos and grammatical errors that should be fixed — sometimes dozens of them. See my “25 Tips for Renewable Energy Businesses” for more on this.
I hope I can say this without offending anyone. At the base of it all, I’m really a professional writer by trade (direct mail copy-writing, blogging, research reports, etc.) and I know when I reread my own material I find outright errors — and, maybe more commonly, things that could be presented more clearly and professionally. (By the way, I don’t have these posts proofread, and I have no doubt that there are mistakes that get by; as a reader, I hope you won’t be shy about commenting when you come across errors.)
In addition, of course, business plan authors would be well-advised to request a second opinion on content: market trends analysis, sales and marketing plans, cash-flow analysis, etc. I can tell instantly that many of the plans I see will never receive funding (or at least should never) due to a core misunderstanding of the marketplace.
In any case, I’m happy to review any cleantech business plan with no cost or obligation, and provide high-level comment.
I’m flying to New York City tomorrow to meet with a new associate – a friend of a friend – who will be helping 2GreenEnergy fulfill its promise to investors and entrepreneurs. He runs a small but effective investment banking firm, and seems like a terrific human being. I’ve always loved The City, and I’m really looking forward to all aspects of this trip.
What I see developing at 2GreenEnergy is a community of many thousands of people who take the business of renewables seriously. I’ve spoken with numerous professional investors and scads of inventors with truly exciting business plans. In very short order, we hope to be bringing these two groups together, enabling the formation of dozens of new business ventures. Speaking for all of us here, I’m thrilled to be able to play such a role.
In my “past life” as a marketing consultant for IT, my company delivered services to scores of venture-capitalized start-ups, and I well remember the drill that my clients with new companies went through. Investors want clear paths to liquidity, and that comes from good ideas, but mainly from proven management teams, hungry for success. I’ll never forget what one my client’s investors told me 30 years ago, “If the CEO doesn’t have fire in his belly, I don’t want any part of it.” Here, I’m happy to say that I see a great deal of that “fire,” and this re-enforces my belief that we’re headed in the right direction.
If I have one thing to add to this, it’s the importance of a good marketing plan. When you think about it, a business plan IS a marketing plan. It’s an assertion of the existence of an unmet need, and a quantification of how the company proposes to fill that need.
I urge those with great ideas to follow their thinking through to the exact business model that will be implemented. For instance, I’m speaking with a gentleman with a radical idea for an alternative drive train, and I’m encouraging him to flesh out the business plan to include at least the broad strokes of marketing: Does he contemplate becoming an OEM in a particular niche that seems to be available? Cutting a deal with an auto OEM? With one or more motor/drivetrain suppliers? Entering the supply chain in some innovative new way? Offering a conversion kit? Developing an affiliation with a university known for its transportation engineering?
When I return from The City, I hope to be able to post a series of helpful tips about this entire process of preparing an effective business/marketing plan.
Alex C. makes so many wonderful points in his comment on Brass Tack #1 that it’s hard to know where to start.
EV’s and related enabling technologies (batteries, charge stations, motors, inverters, converters, etc.) are great areas to invest in. Avoid investing in small OEMs who are only styling or assembling – instead invest in the suppliers and OEM’s who are leading in the enabling technologies.
There is no doubt in my mind that this is correct. I reviewed a business plan of a start-up whose model is essentially micro-assembly of subsystems into a finished EV. Their plan called for a gross margin of 33%, less 25% to the dealer. Yikes. If their own plan isn’t more optimistic, I’d hate to see what happens in the real world. They had trouble getting funding. It’s not hard to see why.
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