In the Templates section of this website, a draft business plan is provided. Nobody reads these anymore, but in short form they remain useful for ideation and strategic alignment. By serving to gather your thoughts and knowledge in a structured order, they also do most of the work for your pitch and data room.
You’ll notice that the sequence of headings below follows the chapter headings in the draft business plan. Read the relevant section of the business plan, which will give you a list of questions. Before you answer them, read the articles in the related section below. They will give you some tools with which to think about how you answer.
Market Breakdown
How to define a market and estimate its size, understand the way in which it functions, and assess the impact of the stage of its maturity on your strategy.
Value Chain
Put together the markets that make the stack, and determine the returns and ratios along the value chain to decide where you want to be and how you will reshape it.
The Opportunity
Distinguish between the whole opportunity within the market, and the one you are going to engage with.
Customers
Segment them according to behaviour, not demographics, then understand the use cases and purchasing patterns of each segment, so you can determine which ones to target and how.
Competition
Patents aren't enough, nor is getting there first; the systemic defensibility needs to be clearly defined and explained.
Funding
When will you seek investment, how much will it be, in what form, from whom, and at what cost?