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Your Business Plan: Make it a Short Story
“A riveting read.”
“Kept me bolted to my recliner.”
“Mesmerizing. I couldn’t put it down.”
“A rollicking page turner.”
”An instant classic. Invest in this company NOW.”
Okay. Not likely responses to even the best-crafted business plan. But the point is that by adhering to some basic narrative principles you can turn any document — even a business plan — into a good read that holds your audience captive for the 20 or so pages you have to tell your story. What will ultimately sell your reader is the underlying credibility of your narrative, but it’s important to remember that you are competing with a host of other entrepreneurs for the investor’s time and attention. A well-wrought, tightly “scripted” plan that moves briskly and flows seamlessly is more apt to keep the pages turning…and the investor engaged.
The following principles apply to the writing of a short story. They also apply to the writing of a business plan that gets read:
• Stay focused. The best stories are the ones that follow a narrow subject line. What is the point of your story? Its point is its theme. It’s tempting to digress, but in a “short” you have to follow the straight and narrow otherwise you end up with either the beginning of a novel or a…
