How To Write A .com Business Plan: The Internet Entrepreneur's Guide To Everything You Need To Know About Business Plans And Financing Options Writing & Journalism

Page iii How to Write a .Com Business Plan The Internet Entrepreneur's Guide to Everything You Need to Know About Business Plans and Financing Options Joanne Eglash Page iv Disclaimer: Information has been obtained by The McGraw-Hill Companies from sources believed to be reliable. However, because of the possibility of human or mechanical error by our sources, The McGraw-Hill Companies or others, The McGraw-Hill Companies does not guarantee the accuracy, adequacy, or completeness of any information and is not responsible for any errors or omissions or the results obtained from use of such information. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Eglash, Joanne. How to write a .com business plan : the Internet entrepreneur's guide to everything you need to know about business plans and financing options / by Joanne Eglash. p. cm. ISBN 0-07-135753-X 1. electronic commerce—Management. 2. electronic commerce—Planning. 3. New business enterprises—Finance. 4. Internet. I. Title. HF5548.32.E33 2000 658.4'012—dc21 00-045079 Copyright © 2001 by Joanne Eglash. Printed in the United States of America. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a data base or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 DOC/DOC 0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 ISBN 0-07-135753-X Printed and bound by R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company. McGraw-Hill books are available at special quantity discounts to use as premiums and sales promotions, or for use in corporate training programs. For more information, please write to the Director of Special Sales, Professional Publishing, McGraw-Hill, Two Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10121-2298. Or contact your local bookstore. This book is printed on recycled, acid-free paper containing a minimum of 50% recycled de-inked fiber. Page v CONTENTS Acknowledgments and Dedication ix Part One: The Plan Chapter 1. Introduction 3 What Can This Book Do for You? 4 Why You Need a Business Plan 5 What's in This Book 6 Speaking of a Dot-Com Directory . . . 7 A Picture's Worth 1000 Words 8 Now, a Word (or Two, or Three . . . ) About Venture Capital Firms 8 Why CW Is Now WC—And How I Know 9 Chapter 2. Executive Summary 13 Two Common Approaches—Plus Here's My Version 14 I Cannot Tell a Lie 15 Guidelines 16 Your Mission, Should You Choose to Accept It, and Company Description 17 The Management 18 The Competition 19 The Market and Your Customer 19 Products and Services 20 Marketing and Sales 21 Operations 22 Financial Projections and Plans 22 Checklist 23 Chapter 3. Mission Statement and Company Description 25 Crafting Your Mission Statement 25 Try a Brainstorm Break 26 Company Description 27 Using Statistics in the Right Way 30 Checklist 31 Page vi Chapter 4. The Management 33 Name That Manager 34 Do You Suffer from Organization Anxiety? 36 Your Mileage May Vary, But . . . 37 Recruiting 38 Uncle Sam Has Advice, Too . . . 40 Checklist 41 Chapter 5. The Competition 43 Spell It Out—And Search It Out 44 Adding Depth to Your Competitive Analysis 45 Recognize the New Challenges in th