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We would like to ask for help in reviewing our plan. Not for viability of the business model but rather for clarity in explaining the plan. Does this function exist on this site? If not does anyone know of a good resource they can share? Thank you

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6 Answers

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I tend to disagree with Noah. I don't think this is the right site to get feedback on your business plan.

If you'd like your business plan reviewed, here are a few suggestions:

  1. Find a SCORE mentor. The SCORE website has a lot of small business resources. Try to get connected with one of their mentors. These are people that have successfully run businesses, and now volunteer their time to help people like us, that are just starting out. Your mentor can review your business plan. More importantly this is someone that will give you quality feedback. Asking for feedback from random people online will not get you the same quality results.
  2. Find a college professor. My preference would be to find a SCORE mentor. If you can't find one in your area, look for a college professor willing to give you a hand.
  3. Post it online. There are places online you can post your business plan and get feedback, but I don't think this site is one of them. I can't think of any at the moment, but they are out there. I'm sure someone here can answer that.

Side note: I took a look at your website, and I found it hard to figure out what it is that your business does. It's not clearly stated on the homepage, and my first thought was that it had something to do with the stock market :-) But then after seeing the term OEM, I realized it wasn't stock related.

Good luck!

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The SCORE thing is hit or miss. I was not impressed at all when I went to the local SCORE place... they did some name dropping and frankly their experience as "business men" did me no good. None actually founded or ran their own businesses. I hope the OP and others get good results from SCORE, but I was very disappointed. – TimJ♦ Nov 3 '10 at 2:32
@Zuly thank you for your input, We shall consider the SCORE site. I thank you for going to the site also. As a side note just by reading the input from caring souls here it is giving us the insight we seek. IE; you mentioned it seemed like we had to do with the stockmarket. Well we are a trade platform using Level 3 trading principles for the global manufacturing sector. We fight counterfeiting and fraud with back end associated services. What you did tell us though is one has to dig for that info and that may NOT be a win win. In any event thank you. – XS Direct Nov 3 '10 at 10:24
@ Tim I have no experience to draw from on the SCORE site but its worth a shot. Thank you for your input. – XS Direct Nov 3 '10 at 10:25
@Tim: I know what you mean. Nothing is 100%, but I do think it's a good option, and worth pursuing. It also depends on what kind of guidance you're looking for. – Zuly Gonzalez♦ Nov 3 '10 at 14:57
@XS Direct: You stated, "we are a trade platform using Level 3 trading principles for the global manufacturing sector.". I don't understand what that means. I have no expertise in your field, and I'm not in your target market, so maybe it doesn't matter. Maybe someone who is in need of your services has no problem understanding what that means. If so I wouldn't worry too much about it. – Zuly Gonzalez♦ Nov 3 '10 at 15:49
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up vote 3 down vote

I am a lecturer in Entrepreneurship at University level and have won national and international business plan competitions for plans I have written. I would be happy to review your plan. Take a look at my website if you want some more info. My email is on the about page

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your site looks interesting. Thank you for your information. I will speak to our group and drop you some info within a few days. – XS Direct Nov 3 '10 at 10:28
Susan, thanks for volunteering! Very kind of you! +1 – Zuly Gonzalez♦ Nov 3 '10 at 15:52
No problems. Looking forward to hearing from you XS Direct – Susan Jones Nov 3 '10 at 22:40
up vote 1 down vote

I'm sure you could post your plan here and get some feedback. You could upload the plan to scribd or docstoc and then share the link.

If you use Business Plan Pro, you can submit your plan for a free review from a business plan consultant (disclaimer: I work for Palo Alto Software, makers of Business Plan Pro).

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I have read that it maybe a bit forward to post the plan on here. In an effort to sow respect for the community we withdrew from this action. Perhaps a critique section could be developed??? – XS Direct Nov 3 '10 at 10:27
thank you also for your input – XS Direct Nov 3 '10 at 10:27
Good idea about having a place to get public feedback on your business plan. I wonder how many other people would be interested in that kind of feature? – Noah Parsons Nov 4 '10 at 16:07
up vote 1 down vote

Other options are 1) Connect with local entrepreneurs and see if you can find a mentor 2) Startuptodo.com

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up vote 0 down vote

I have never seen a public review of a serious business plan. In my opinion business plans are overrated, and those that spend too much time writing a plan take away time from actually building their business.

A plan is a good tool for raising funding. That is it. Most VC and Angels i have met do not actually read these plans, and when they do, they always look for negatives.

I think you are better having a general map for your business, a general product roadmap, a general market report, and a general marketing plan. General because all of this will and should change. Agility is very important.

If you want to get feedback on a venture, ask people who are already successful to share 30 mins disucssing your idea. Its better in a conversation.

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We agree Franky, that is where we are at financial expansion and what we seem to call a "plan" isn't either what investment firms are accustomed to seeing or isn't formatted the way they would prefer. To us our plan is writing blueprint of our time lines and milestones etc. What we really wanted to find out is whether or what we have compiled as a plan is too high level. Is it TOO technical and in laymans terms does it need to be "dumbed" down a bit. For this we ask for input on reading it. To not necessarily question the viability of the business but focus on readability and conciseness. – XS Direct Nov 4 '10 at 1:40
++ we also agree VC's and Angels seem too driven in finding holes or negativity in a plan whereas we need a different perspective. Thank you for your kind input and words. – XS Direct Nov 4 '10 at 1:42
Good to hear, I would ask other successful ceo and those who have a startup that is not necessarily related for their input. Best of luck – Frank Nov 4 '10 at 2:32
up vote 0 down vote

If you want feedback, may I suggest taking an indirect route by asking an Enterprise Architect that has interest in your product idea? They are used to reviewing lots of ideas on a weekly basis. You can find several who will help on LinkedIn

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