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The Ten Most Common Mistakes Found in Business Plans

1. Too long. Reviewers of business plans look for concisely written plans in bullet form that do not read like term papers .


2. No competition indicated. In most cases, this is just not true. Too little competition may indicate there is no market for your product or service.


3. Unreasonable expectations and projections. Grandiose estimates regarding sales projections or money requested can be disastrous.


4. Financial assumptions do not match data in the financial statements.


5. Business does not provide a realistic exit plan for investors.


6. Founders fail to demonstrate that they have the necessary management skills to operate the business.


7. Unrealistic time line projections that the product/service can be produced in a reasonable time period.


8. Little business knowledge demonstrated.


9. Inadequate price/cost ratios.


10. The plan describes a product or manufacturing process with technical jargon only experts can understand.

Funded in part through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration. All opinions, conclusions or recommendations expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the SBA.

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