Startup & Business Plan Consultation

In consulting my chosen law firm about steps to take in drafting a business plan, I was

given some great advice of which what was shocking to me the majority of the advice was

not about actually writing the plan. I found this to be very informative and have included a

summary of the information below. My business plan and company, as I informed the

lawyer, is based on a company that will include more than one partner and incorporated as

a limited liability corporation.

1. Put it all in writing. If you are partnering with friends, get everything in writing. Meet with

those you are starting the company with and brainstorm all your ideas and then put

someone in charge of managing them (i.e. Business Manager or Chief of Operations) - this

includes everything from company duties, time frames, names of the company, ideas for

products etc. It is important to get everything clearly written down at the beginning so that

everyone knows their duties, responsibilities and what is expected of them. The more

detailed the better.

2. Assign titles, particularly one person should be in charge of all paper work. They should

follow all the financial and complex tax situations as well as documenting everything that

goes on with the business. This person will take the lead in structuring the company and

should administer and maintain all paper work, certificates, fees and taxes.

3. In the beginning your team should meet as often and regularly as possible to insure

productivity. Establish who will lead the meetings and that person should go over the goals

and purposes of the production company with everyone so that you are all on the same

page and revisit these goals on a regular basis to make sure you remain on the same page.

With our company I drafted an Organizational Agreement to clearly state and

determine company work ethic that every partner agrees to as standard policy. After that I

would assign "hats" or titles so everyone is carrying the same load of work during the dayto-

day operation of the company.

4. Up until this point the business manager should have taken lead but now is when the other

hats start taking over regarding their expertise regarding the business. With out company

this was the Music Manager & Visual Media Managers time to take the lead and begin

networking and facilitating options to get business rolling and aware of the company’s

existence.

5. Once the ideas and legal paperwork is in place then you focus on how to make money. If

you need start up loans then you should reach out to bankers and other investors who

routinely invest in production companies. Once this is in place then you can focus on

producing your product and generating a profit.

Once you have taken all of these items into consideration in approaching the business plan you should look to consider items and outline.

• Market analysis

• Competition

• Barriers to entry

• Strategic opportunities

• Products & Services offered

• Operation development

• Marketing plan

• Target market

• Marketing Vehicles

• Sales strategy

• Marketing budget

• Financial plan

• Sales projections

• Capital Expenses & Income statement (financials)

• Cash Flow statement & Capital Investments (financials)

These items should be clearly outlined in preparing your business plan.