Sohrab Vazir
Consultant | Founder | Global Citizen | Writer
Tag Archives: Business Plan
Business Plan Writing Services: What to Know
In today’s competitive business environment, a well-crafted business plan is essential for success. Whether you’re launching a startup, seeking investment, a start-up visa or looking to secure a loan, a professionally written business plan can make all the difference. This article explores what you need to know about business plan writing services, their benefits, and how to choose the right provider for your needs. Why a Business Plan Matters A business plan is more than just a document; it’s your roadmap to success. It helps you: What Are Business Plan Writing Services? Business plan writing services are professional firms or individuals who specialize in creating comprehensive and customized business plans. These services cater to a variety of industries and purposes, from startups to established enterprises looking to expand. Benefits of Using Business Plan Writing Services Key Features of Quality Business Plan Writing Services When choosing a service, look for these features: How to Choose the Right Service Costs of Business Plan Writing Services The cost of these services can vary widely, depending on factors such as the complexity of your business, the level of detail required, and the provider’s expertise. Prices typically range from $500 to $10,000. While it’s important to stick to your budget, remember that quality often comes at a price. When to Consider Hiring a Professional DIY vs. Professional Services While writing your own business plan can save money, it requires significant time and effort. Without expertise, you risk creating a plan that lacks clarity, precision, or depth. Professional services can help you avoid these pitfalls and deliver a plan that stands out. Final Thoughts A well-prepared business plan is a critical tool for achieving your business goals. Investing in professional business plan writing services can provide the expertise, efficiency, and quality needed to set your business apart. Take the time to choose a reliable provider, and you’ll be one step closer to turning your vision into reality. Business Plan Services I provide a full-dimension range of business plan services, from reviewing existing business plans to writing them from scratch. Find out more below, or contact me for an informal discussion. About | My name is Sohrab Vazir. I’m a UK-based entrepreneur and business consultant. At the age of 22, and while I was an international student (graduate), I started my own Property Technology (PropTech) business under the endorsement of Newcastle University. I grew my business to over 30 UK cities, and a team of four. I now help other entrepreneurs with their businesses.
Key Financial Metrics Every Business Plan Should Include: Healthy vs. Unhealthy Ranges
When writing a business plan, highlighting the key financial metrics is critical. Without a clear understanding of key financial metrics, it’s challenging to make informed decisions, optimise spending, and plan for growth. In this blog post, we’ll explore the most important financial metrics to include in a business plan, including what healthy and unhealthy ranges look like, and how to use them to guide your startup toward success. 1. Burn Rate What it is: The burn rate is the rate at which a startup spends its capital before becoming profitable. It’s crucial to know how quickly you’re using up your cash reserves and how long you can sustain operations without additional funding. Formula: Healthy Range: Unhealthy Range: Recommendation: A good rule of thumb is to keep your burn rate low enough to extend your runway for 12-18 months before needing additional funding. 2. Runway What it is: Runway is the amount of time a startup can operate before it runs out of money, given the current burn rate. Formula: Healthy Range: Unhealthy Range: Recommendation: Monitor your runway closely, especially when you’re approaching the 6-month mark. If needed, look for ways to reduce costs or raise additional capital. 3. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) What it is: CAC is the total cost of acquiring a new customer, including marketing, advertising, and sales expenses. Formula: Healthy Range: Unhealthy Range: Recommendation: To improve your CAC, optimize marketing channels, focus on customer retention, and refine your sales processes. 4. Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV) What it is: CLTV is the total revenue you expect from a customer over the entire duration of their relationship with your business. Formula: Healthy Range: Unhealthy Range: Recommendation: Work on improving retention rates, increasing customer spend through upselling, and enhancing your product or service to keep customers longer. 5. Churn Rate What it is: Churn rate refers to the percentage of customers who stop using your product or service during a given period. Formula: Healthy Range: Unhealthy Range: Recommendation: Focus on improving customer experience, customer support, and continuously adding value to reduce churn. 6. Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) / Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) What it is: MRR and ARR are predictable revenue streams generated from subscriptions or contracts, providing insight into business stability. Formula: Healthy Range: Unhealthy Range: Recommendation: If your MRR/ARR is stagnating, analyze your customer acquisition strategies, product features, and retention efforts. 7. Gross Margin What it is: Gross margin is the percentage of revenue that remains after accounting for the direct costs of producing goods or services. Formula: Healthy Range: Unhealthy Range: Recommendation: Improve operational efficiency, reduce production costs, and look for ways to increase pricing or add value to your offering. 8. Net Profit Margin What it is: Net profit margin measures how much of each dollar of revenue turns into profit after all expenses, taxes, and interest. Formula: Healthy Range: Unhealthy Range: Recommendation: Work toward increasing revenue while controlling costs. A path to profitability should be clear, even if it’s not immediate. 9. EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) What it is: EBITDA is a measure of operating profitability that excludes non-cash expenses and non-operating costs. Formula: Healthy Range: Unhealthy Range: Recommendation: Focus on improving profitability by optimizing operating expenses and finding more efficient ways to generate revenue. 10. Debt-to-Equity Ratio What it is: This ratio compares the company’s total debt to its equity, indicating the degree of financial leverage. Formula: Healthy Range: Unhealthy Range: Recommendation: Keep debt levels manageable, especially during the early stages of your business. Consider equity financing over debt to avoid excessive leverage. 11. Working Capital What it is: Working capital is the difference between a company’s current assets and current liabilities. It measures liquidity and operational efficiency. Formula: Healthy Range: Unhealthy Range: Recommendation: If your working capital is negative, look for ways to improve cash flow, reduce liabilities, or increase assets. Conclusion Tracking key financial metrics is essential for creating a viable business plan. By understanding these metrics and keeping them within healthy ranges, you can make informed decisions about where to allocate resources, when to raise capital, and how to scale your business effectively. Regularly reviewing and optimising these metrics will set your startup on a path to profitability and sustainable growth. Business Plan Help I offer a business plan assistance service, including a financial evaluation of your proposition. My guidance helps you understand the financial health and metrics in your business plan. About | My name is Sohrab Vazir. I’m a UK-based entrepreneur and business consultant. At the age of 22, and while I was an international student (graduate), I started my own Property Technology (PropTech) business under the endorsement of Newcastle University. I grew my business to over 30 UK cities, and a team of four, and also obtained my Indefinite Leave to Remain (Settlement) in the UK. Currently, I help other entrepreneurs with their businesses.
What I Offer Clients as a Business Plan Consultant
Working with me as your business plan consultant offers a number of benefits. As such, I believe it is useful to highlight what I offer my clients, whether they are solo entrepreneurs, start-ups or other businesses. As a consultant, one of my key areas of focus and specialism is business plans. Being a former technology entrepreneur has formed the foundation of my expertise in this domain. Let me briefly introduce myself. About me My name is Sohrab Vazir. I am a British-Iranian business and communications consultant and currently a digital nomad. I moved to the UK alone at the age of 17 in pursuit of further education. After completing my master’s degree at the age of 22, I founded and scaled a technology start-up in the property sector. My business received recognition from several stakeholders such as Newcastle University, NatWest, GBEA and approval from the UK Home Office for 3 business visas, leading to permanent residence in the UK. Following the 2020 Pandemic, similar to countless other business owners, I was left with no choice but to cease my company’s operations. Prior to this, we operated across 30+ UK cities, grew to a team of 4 and almost closed a funding round at the seed stage. However, this is the nature of business: things can go wrong. Afterwards, I began working as a business consultant. My initial focus was on international entrepreneurs and innovators seeking to establish their ventures abroad. Working with me as a business plan consultant It is important to state that obtaining business visas in the UK required me to create my own business plan. This was approved by both my university as well as the UK Home Office. Additionally, I have worked with founders moving to the UK, the UAE, Norway, Switzerland and the Netherlands on their business and plans. Therefore, I live and breathe business plans during the course of my daily work. As a business plan consultant, I offer the following: Guidance and advisory consulting I strongly believe that business plan writing services should be a last resort for founders. Granted, some founders may lack the experience or the time to produce one; especially when having to do so within a short timeframe. However, founders writing their own business plans benefits them in several ways. It develops your writing skills. Additionally, it enables you to be fully involved in planning your venture and conduct research. These are integral to your venture. I offer Advisory Consulting Programs and tailored consulting for founders who require help with preparing and drafting their business plans. In doing so, I utilise my 8+ years of commercial experience as both a founder and business consultant to help founders create solid business plans. Evaluation Building on the previous point, I offer business plan review services to founders. I offer an objective third-party perspective on your business plan, focusing on its viability and presentation. This helps entrepreneurs identify the flaws in their business plans. Writing And finally, should a founder require a written business plan from scratch, I offer this service. As stated, some founders, for a number of reasons, require another party to create their business plans. It must be noted that as I write each business plan myself, I only take a limited number of business plan writing projects, up to 13 orders per year. About | My name is Sohrab Vazir. I’m a UK-based entrepreneur and business consultant. At the age of 22, and while I was an international student (graduate), I started my own Property Technology (PropTech) business under the endorsement of Newcastle University. I grew my business to over 30 UK cities, and a team of four, and also obtained my Indefinite Leave to Remain (Settlement) in the UK. I now help other migrant entrepreneurs, such as myself, with their businesses.
What you should NOT do when writing an Innovator Founder visa business plan
None of the content in this article, website, or my services constitute immigration advice or services. This content is presented as general information and on the basis of personal opinion. For immigration assistance, please refer to a regulated solicitor or immigration advisor. Writing an Innovator Founder visa business plan can be challenging. That’s one of the reasons why many international founders opt to work with me on their Innovator Founder visa business plan. If you plan to apply for the Innovator Founder visa, you must prepare a business plan. I have previously written an article about how to create an Innovator Founder visa business plan. In this article, I want to share some tips on writing an Innovator Founder visa business plan. Specifically, I will be highlighting things that you should NOT do when you are planning your venture. Remember: the perfect business plan does not boil down to being well-written or well-designed (although these are also essential). Writing the ideal Innovator Founder visa business plan requires a well-thought, viable and clear business proposition. These tips will help you in formulating both your business plan, as well as some of the fundamental aspects of your business planning. Overpromise This is one of the biggest mistakes made by founders. Sadly, international entrepreneurs are not exempt either. And it’s easy to understand why: you want to present the “ideal” image for your concept, whether it’s to the Innovator Founder Endorsing Bodies, the Home Office or even investors. However, this is a dangerous mistake, especially if you are held accountable for making progress against your initial Innovator Founder visa business plan. Underestimate your competition & market dynamics In line with the last point, some founders also underestimate their market and competition. This may be done either intentionally, to present an inaccurate/idealistic image of the market, or unintentionally as a result of personal neglect. Overestimate your offer This is an advice that you may not get from many consultants. Remember: simplicity is key. Keep everything as simple and straightforward as possible. Don’t write pages and pages about why your product is ideal and what it does. Instead, dedicate your content to presenting evidence of your venture and the market’s viability. Neglect the financials Cash flow and financial management are integral to every business. You must plan for and state all instances of incoming and outgoing cash flow. Have a plan B for every scenario and determine the financial implications of all scenarios. Need help with writing your Innovator Founder visa business plan? Read about my full services here to find out more. About | My name is Sohrab Vazir. I’m a UK-based entrepreneur and business consultant. At the age of 22, and while I was an international student (graduate), I started my own Property Technology (PropTech) business, StudyFlats. I did so by obtaining an endorsement from Newcastle University under the Tier 1 Graduate Entrepreneur Scheme. Subsequently, I obtained a further 3-year Tier 1 Entrepreneur Visa (replaced by the Innovator Founder Visa). I grew my business to over 30 UK cities, and a team of four, and also obtained my Indefinite Leave to Remain (Settlement) in the UK. I now help other migrant entrepreneurs, such as myself, with their businesses.
5 elements of a good business plan
Writing a good business plan can be a challenging task. In essence, business planning is the first major challenge an entrepreneur faces as it is a blueprint of their venture. In this article, I will outline 5 elements that make a good business plan. This is based on my own experience as a tech founder, consultant and writer. Writing a good business plan goes beyond proposing a viable business proposition. It entails clear articulation, milestones, well-written content and a thorough blueprint of how your business will succeed. There are plenty of articles that will refer to the basic and compulsory parts of a business plan such as SWOT analysis and regard them as factors contributing to a good business plan. However, my aim in this article is to provide you with the correct mindset and approach to: With the aforementioned in mind, let’s highlight the 5 key elements of a good business plan. Inclusion of the key standard sections Okay, so let’s briefly highlight an obvious part, which many entrepreneurs surprisingly fall short of. Regardless of the purpose of your business plan and where you are, several key sections must be included in every business plan. These key sections are: Clear & realistic business vision Entrepreneurship and starting a business require vision. And it is fantastic to set high goals. Nevertheless, this is where many entrepreneurs make a mistake. And the mistake is that they “fly too high” and set goals and visions that are essentially unrealistic. Your vision and anticipated goals should be realistic and based on market trends supported by research. Clear business milestones The ideal business plan is not a fancy document to impress your investors or other parties. It is the blueprint of your business as a commercial entity. And what does a blueprint entail? Clear procedural steps with timelines and outcomes. Moreover, this is not just related to one part of the business plan, for example, product development. Each aspect of the business (plan) should be subjected to prior anticipation with clear input/output estimations, whether it is product, marketing, sales or anything else. Objective market research and avoiding the “founder bias” As stated earlier, I will not highlight standard business plan sections. However, this part is crucial and you notice that I have used the word “objective”. You may have a business proposal that does respond to a genuine market need. However, this is where what I call the “founder bias” kicks in. The “founder bias” is when a founder only states market research that supports the notion that there is a need for their product and/or service. This eliminates the “objectivity” aspect. Your plan must be supported by objective market research, and this is why a business consultant like me is useful. By highlighting all the facets of the market, you demonstrate enhanced commercial awareness. Plus, it enables you to anticipate and prepare for unexpected market shifts and how to respond accordingly. Money, money, money (the financials) Regardless of the type of project, the primary goal of a venture is making money. Even if you are starting a non-profit/charity, your finances matter the most. This is one of the most neglected aspects of many business plans. You must anticipate and account for cash inflows and outflows of your business. And I get it: this is perhaps among the most difficult aspects, and hence why it is often neglected. However, without a financial analysis that is subject to scrutiny, you are almost always doomed for failure. About | My name is Sohrab Vazir. I’m a UK-based entrepreneur and business consultant. At the age of 22, and while I was an international student (graduate), I started my own Property Technology (PropTech) business, StudyFlats. I grew my business to over 30 UK cities, and a team of four. I now help other migrant entrepreneurs and all founders with their businesses, including their business plans.