When you get your start by writing business plans for other companies, then move into entrepreneurs to develop their own businesses and write their own business plans, and when the number of those companies reaches close to a thousand businesses, you get to know a lot about businesses, business plans and about the people writing those plans. One of the things we have seen is that while most business owners can passionately describe their business idea, the one thing that scares the bejeepers out of the majority of them is the financials.
In our startSMART program, we have clients do a complete five (5) year forecast. Watching clients struggle through this process has caused us to develop tools and software to make the process easier. About 15 years ago we started to develop a spreadsheet package and have been "tweaking" it ever since. It is now at the stage that, provided you have done your research and already know such items as what your rent is, insurance costs etc., we have been able to sit down with a client and do a complete set of five year projections in as little as three hours. This package is an integrated, single entry system that will calculate income statements, balance sheets, depreciation schedules, ratio analysis, cash flows, labour costs, cost of goods, and just about any other piece of financial business intelligence that you will need. It has been described by accountants as the most accurate financial template they have seen, and far better then any other commercially available on the market. Clients who have used it rave about it, and university students from the business schools have said that they never really understood where the numbers came from until using this spreadsheet.
We have used it primarily as a proprietary tool, developed in-house for the exclusive use of our entrepreneurship clients. But with so many past clients recommending it, accountants and bookkeepers suggesting use of it to their clients, and other business owners requesting it, as of 2008 we began offering it for sale.
It is, quite frankly, an explosive piece of technology that will greatly aid in the writing, understanding, and accuracy of your business plan. It comes integrated with a pre-formatted business plan template designed for easy use. Even people who have very little computer skills can produce a comprehensive and impressive looking business plan.
But don’t take our word for it, see it and try it for yourself. Download an evaluation copy here.
If you’ve used it before or had it recommended to you, contact us for your licensed copy. If you are curious and want more information about it, again, feel free to contact us with your questions.