Secrets of the Game Business (Game Development Series)

The Business Plan's Contents

A business plan is an organic document. It can and must be tailored to the needs of the person or organization to which it is being presented. For example, if your business is applying for a bank loan, the banker will be far more interested in seeing how you will generate a regular positive cash flow (and therefore be able to repay the loan on time) than in your long-term growth process, while an angel investor will focus on the exact opposite.

That being said, most business plans need to include:

• Front materials: A cover page, executive summary, and table of contents.

• Market information: A general description of the state of the industry, the niche you want to carve for yourself, and the clients who will buy your products and services.

• A description of your company: Your own track record, key members of the team, your staffing plans, and the outside resources to which you have access.

• Your development plan: Growth objectives, research and development, other markets you wish to expand into, and risk management.

• Your financial plan: How much money you need (and when), your cash flow and earnings previsions, and your capital structure.

• Assorted supporting documents: Personal r sum s, letters of intent, and so forth.

Length

The complete business plan should not exceed 50 pages (preferably 30), starting with a 2-page executive summary and including 10 to 15 pages of financial statements and supporting documents. This is often insufficient to discuss everything that you feel is relevant; however, not every reader needs to see every piece of information, so you can assemble the 30-page document you submit on a given occasion from substantially more material. Case Study 2.2.1 discusses ways to do this effectively.

Case Study 2.2.1: Modulating the Business Plan

Once you have written all of the material that belongs in your business plan, you can assemble different versions of the document for different purposes. For example:

• To secure a work-for-hire contract with a publisher: Emphasize the team and any staffing growth plans (publishers like to establish long-term relationships), leave out the intellectual property except technology, and skim over financial predictions.

• To secure a bank loan: Include extensive personal information, make sure that your cash flow forecasts minimize fluctuations, and expand the section on risk management. De-emphasize long-term development.

• To define internal strategy: Prepare extensive market research, alternative financial forecasts based on different development scenarios, and leave out team info.

• To obtain equity investment: Insist on development plans and on how you will retain your key employees. In your market analysis, insist on emerging trends with long-term sustainability.

• To obtain venture capital: Identify a critical shortage in the market. Show enormous earnings growth potential within two to three years. De-emphasize risk management, except where it concerns very short-term cash flow.

• To recruit key employees: Leave out most of the market description (unless hiring outside the industry) and the financial data, and emphasize the company profile and the development plan.