How we build business plans.
The business plan is a financial document with a narrative attached. We build the model first; the narrative follows the numbers. The executive summary is written last because it has to summarize something defensible.
Brief lock
Day 1: a 15-minute conversation that ends with a one-page brief listing the company, the audience, the ask, the timeline, and what success looks like. No 40-question intake form. If your context fits in a 5-minute Loom, send the Loom.
Financial model
Day 2-3: the financial model gets built first. Inputs in one tab, assumptions in a second, outputs in a third. Color-coded, locked formulas, named ranges. Base/bull/bear scenarios with explicit assumption tables. CAC + LTV if we have your numbers; industry benchmarks if we do not (clearly labeled). The model is the spine of every other section.
Narrative scaffold
Day 3-4: each section drafted against the section investors actually read. Problem, solution, market, business model, GTM, traction, competition, team, financials, ask. In that order. Each section answers one question and exits to the next.
Competitive teardown
Day 4: five to seven named competitors with funded-status, pricing where disclosed, and a one-line vulnerability per competitor. Funded competitors get the longer treatment because investors will already know them; you cannot afford to be the founder who has not.
Executive summary, written last
Day 5: the executive summary is the most important page in the document and the last one we write. By the time we draft it, every claim it can make has already been defended in a later section. The exec summary becomes a one-page index into the document, not a marketing pitch.
Senior reviewer pass (Investor-Grade & SBA-Ready)
Investor-Ready and SBA-Ready engagements get a second pair of eyes from a different senior researcher before final delivery. The reviewer is looking for: assumption gaps, citation drift, narrative shortcuts, model errors. Two failed reviewer passes in a quarter and the researcher comes off the team.
Scope boundaries
- Promising the round will close. The document is in your control; the meeting and the decision are not.
- Producing 50-page plans padded with material no investor reads. We default to 20-40 pages of useful content.
- Ghost-pitching on your behalf. The document is yours; the meeting is yours.
Order the document built on this methodology.
Business Plan Investor-Ready
30-40 pages, 5-year model, scenario analysis, investor Q&A pre-answered.
The business plan you take to a VC, family office, or strategic partner. Thirty to forty pages with deeper financial modeling, scenario analysis, and a fully built-out competitive section.