One of the forces that pin businesses down in these days is the inadequacy of finance or investment. Being a business owner or entrepreneur, how do you resolve this problem? There are varying routes you can take, including loans and sourcing capital from among family and friends.
Meanwhile, should you decide to get the attention of investors to your business, you will require an excellently compelling business plan and proposal to be able to get the attention needed to bring in investors that will give your business the upgrade that you desire. Thus, you need to learn how to draft a proposal for investment.
Through this post, you will be guided on how you can write an attention and interest-arresting investment proposal for your business. This article addresses the salient components of an investment proposal.
What is an investment proposal?
Simply put, it is a document that can be prepared in form of PDF, slide presentation or text, which has all information about the business you want to start.
What are the important preparations you should put in place before writing a proposal?
- Do a proper research on your market competitors. The data gotten will be used to define your product.
- Having researched, address existing and likely risks
- Study intensively, your target customers and the best ways you can meet their needs
- Evaluate your product
- Research and compile information about potential investors: banks, angel investors, venture capital, etc.
What are the important features of investment proposal?
- Title: All official documents begin with a name. As such, yours should also have a name. The title explains your product and service and its area of focus in the market. This must be clear, concise and be easily understood.
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Executive Summary: This can be described as the cover page of the proposal and is followed by the table of content. It comes in a form of summary which sum-up your propositions. Below are its key points:
- Customer overview and their problems
- Your planned solution to the problems
- The benefits of your solution to the customers
- Your likely return on investment (ROI)
At this stage, you can reference one or two of your success stories as an entrepreneur.
- Project Information: This has all the information about your business plan. Here, show your competence as a business person and how you would move it higher.
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Company Performance: If your company has been in business for some time, present the positive performance via the description and general financial data. If, however, you just about setting up, portray your stories of your contributions to the success of other products.
Importantly, provide information of all stakeholders in your present project, their history and achievements, coupled with excellent marketing stats that would enhance your company’s potential before investors.
- Planned marketing and Sales Strategy: Here, share your market research and your competitors, including your marketing and sales strategies.
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Logistics and Operations: A detailed presentation of your company’s logistics and operations offers investors a professional opinion about your business.
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Project Financing: This is about the most important element, because it hinges on money, which the proposal seeks. This should disclose your sources of funding, time frames, return on investment, and other predictions.
What are the pitfalls to avoid in a proposal?
- Don’t be complicated
- Don’t be of a low confidence
- Avoid shyness
- Take out irrelevant details
- Don’t be obsessive or focus on a specific information
- Don’t keep it lengthy.
Source: Nyscinfo