No plan, no chance: why entrepreneurs without a proper business plan fail

You may be surprised to learn that plenty of entrepreneurs seeking investment right now don’t have a proper business plan. It’s not as if they’re arriving at meetings empty-handed, they’ve likely come up with all sorts of things to prove their concept and persuade investors. But they haven’t got the one thing that demonstrates how truly investable they are — a believable business plan.

For investors, the absence of a business plan is a big red flag that tells them that this entrepreneur has failed to clear an early hurdle. Persuading them to overlook this and go on to invest is a massive undertaking. That’s why it’s far easier to do the hard work now and create this foundational piece of collateral that’ll serve you well throughout your Fundraising Journey.

One of the most common mistakes we hear when talking to founders is that people think the business plan and pitch deck are one and the same. They believe they’ve enough information to patch together a decent 15–20 slide investor pitch, believing that this alone is what their investors are expecting. This is both wrong and potentially disastrous.

A good business plan gives investors the chance to take a deep dive into your strategy for commercial success. It’s where you take the exciting vision you have and drill down…