Hi Katy,

I wrote couple of business plans for fun ;o)  The best advice I can give you is about two books that you can use as guides:

1. Business Model Genereation - before writing a business plan you must define your business model, understand the environment, competition etc.. This book is really great for this purpose and it is currently a super best seller in this field. Btw, the authors are Swiss ... :

http://www.amazon.com/Business-Model-Generation-Visionaries-Challengers/dp/0470876417/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1334076496&sr=8-1

2. The definitive business plan - This is just a guide about how to write a sounding business plan VC-proof ;o) this book is about the process and the content. Should be used once you are done with the first book (Business Model Generation)

http://www.amazon.com/The-Definitive-Business-Plan-entrepreneurs/dp/0273710966/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334076525&sr=1-3

Hope it can help. In my case it did. Let me know :o)

Ciao

Another source for the books. Supplier based in the UK. Free shippng to CH:

http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Business-Model-Generation-Alexander-Osterwalder/9780470876411

http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Definitive-Business-Plan-Richard-Stutely/9780273710967

Can't comment on the books, but it is worthwhile to do a little reading so you can lay out your idea strategically. Most business plans I have read are very long on the product/service and the wonderful creator of the idea () and very light on the competition and how you plan to make $$$ with the product/service. Spend your time on these aspects as you do not operate in a vacumm.

An alternatice to writing business plans: http://www.winning-opportunities.org/

Free, the book looks interesting, but the download link is borked. It prompts me to download an "addlead.pl"-file of 75 bytes and does not provide download instructions via email; in FF and Opera alike.

One possibility for preparing a business plan can be to proceed with a "SWOT Analysis" and then to set the short term and long terms objectives and actions based on this initial review.

The SWOT Analysis consists in identifying the following:

Wow, all really helpful responses.  I appreciate the advice.  I've got some work to do now!  Thanks everyone.

I haven't looked at the links that others provided, and some may be excellent. But the contents and structure of a business plan depends a lot on its purpose, so be careful with templates. Are you planning to submit it to a business competition? Is it to get financing (and if so who are you going to approach)? Or is it just for internal (between-partner) alignment?

Some things that need to be in the business plan are:

1. Description of idea, possibly with elevator pitch. Explain why it's novel.

2. Financial forecast - this may be tricky without experience, but it's essential. Easiest is probably to make a few diffferent scenarios (e.g. bad-average-good)

3. Capital requirements, i.e. how much money you need (the first few years)

4. Marketing plan

5. CV or profile of yourself and your partners (investors want to know if you can do the job), planned organization

6. Maybe an exit strategy - how will get rid of the company when it's successful? 

7. The SWOT analysis that Per suggested is a good idea, since it shows understanding of your business.

If you need some help with anything, send me a personal message (and include your e-mail address). If you want to protect your idea that's fine (you should), perhaps I can give you some help based on a vague description.

Let me explain the marketing plan (point 4) a bit further.

The easiest way to build it up:

A. Analysis: this could include the SWOT, and an overview of the competition and market. Ideally you show a gap in the market that your product will fill.

B. Target customer: describe who you intend to sell to in terms of demographics (age, gender), location, interests (if you have some customers already add that here - it's a good sign for investors).

C. Positioning/Message: How you will distinguish what you're selling from the competition; what is the first thought that customers will have when they think of your company/brand/product.

D. Marketing mix: the details. Often called the 4 P's (product, pricing, promotion, place/distribution). How will you reach your target customer (B) with your message (C)? 

Hi Katy, just by case I found this today (popped up in my FB News)

http://www.venturelab.ch/index.cfm?CFID=160598039&CFTOKEN=76959934&page=118835&event_id=1555

It's a 5 days full immersion course at no cost for the entrepeneurs that they will choose (Gratuit pour les entrepreneurs sélectionnés )

Regarding the advices you received, like SWOT etc.., yep that's great but before you need to define basic building blocks of your business like the  customers you want to serve, with which value propositions, which channels are required to reach your clients, revenue streams, costs structure etc... that is you have to define and build your business mode (first book in my list above)

Then a SWOT analysis will help you to verify if the assumptions are correct or not. Not sure if your business will have global or local reach. In case it will be local then you have to face the swiss market, small and fragmented ... same value propositions won't work everywhere cause language and cultural differences.