Page 123 - Business Plans that Work A Guide for Small Business
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114 • Business Plans that Work
Development Plan
The development plan highlights the process of preparing the company
for generating sales and provides a detailed timeline. Figure 7.2 high-
lights the main sections of the development plan. Many new ventures
will require a significant level of effort and time to launch the product
or service. This section tells how the business will progress from its cur-
rent position to a going concern. For example, new software or hardware
products often require months of development. For a retail business plan,
site location, financing, and zoning can take 12–18 months or longer. The
development plan should detail the steps taken to get to that developed
software product.
Development Strategy
What work remains to be completed? What factors need to come together
for development to be successful? What risks to development does the
firm face? For example, software development is notorious for taking
longer and costing more than most companies originally imagined.
Detailing the necessary work and what is required for the work to be
considered successful helps entrepreneurs to understand and manage the
risks involved. After you have laid out these details, a development time-
line is assembled.
Development Timeline
A development timeline is a schedule that highlights major milestones and
can be used to monitor progress and make changes. The timeline helps
entrepreneurs track major events and schedule activities to best execute
on those events. It also provides a guidepost of promised accomplish-
ments for your investors. Because Lazybones is developing a business
format franchise, a detailed timeline creates a detailed understanding of
the unit of operations (store) and then describe the process of replicating
these stores. Therefore, the business plan should illustrate the number of
stores that will open and the timeline to achieve those openings.
Figure 7.2 Development Plan
• Development strategy
• Development timeline
