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Are you ready to start?
What is an entrepreneur?
– "An entrepreneur is a person who
assumes the organization, management
and risks involved in a business
venture."
Qualities that make a successful
entrepreneur:
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Decision Maker
Analytical Ability (problem solving skills)
Good Interpersonal Skills
High Drive (highly motivated)
Risk Taker
What you need:
 Personal skills
 Business knowledge
 A good idea!
 Start-up money
 Support
 Good personal
credit history
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Lets get down to business
First steps to start a business:
From a legal
stand point
 Choose the form of
business:
– Sole proprietor
– Partnership, or
– Incorporation
 Register your form
of business
 Get a business
licence
From a fiscal
stand point
 Get a business
number
 Register for GST
and PST
From an insurance
stand point
 Buy business
insurance
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Liability
Disability
Key people
Business interruption
 Prepare to have
employees
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Your proposal
 Your proposal will include your business
plan as well as additional documentation
such as:
– Market research
– Industry trends
– Other information supporting your
project’s viability
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Your business plan
What is a business plan:
 A business plan can help
you detail your goals, and
serves as an operational
plan for achieving them
 Everyone who is going
into business and who is
operating a business requires
a business plan
Why a business plan?
 It describes your business
 It conveys your vision to
potential investors
 It explains your business
goals
 It raises potential problems
and ways to solve them
 It states the amount of
capital required to finance
your venture
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Your business plan
What it should include:
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An executive summary
A description of your company
A description of your management team
An overview of your marketing plan
Human resources plan
Financial planning
Appendices that boost your credibility
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Your business plan
What it should include:
1. An executive summary
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Your industry, products/services, competitive
advantages, amount of financing required
2. A description of your company
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Legal status, date company founded, mission,
objectives and vision
3. A description of your management team
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Roles, experience and competence, education
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Your Business plan
4. Marketing Plan
Four sections should be detailed:
1. Your product or services
 Why your products/services will sell?
2. Your market potential
 Target clients, market size and
penetration, demographic factors
3. Overview of your competition
 Their strengths and weaknesses
4. Marketing strategy
 Overview of your Marketing plan,
media chosen, partners, etc.
Overview of your
Marketing plan
 Is there a proven market
for your products or
services?
 Who are your competitors?
 What is your client profile?
 What will you offer that is
better?
 How will you get them to
switch?
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Your Business plan
5. Human resource plan
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Determine how you will recruit, retain and develop employees:
– HR Policy
– Subcontracting and outside professionals
– Organizational and development plan
6. Financial planning
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Forecasts, balance sheet, statement of income, cash flow
budget
7. Appendices that boost your credibility
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Brief bios of your management team, market studies, client
testimonials, etc.
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Finding financing
What lenders look for:
 Proof of experience, skills, determination, and selfconfidence to successfully carry out your project
 Your personal credit history – past performance can
affect perception about how you will perform in the future
 Your business plan must be clear, structured, and short,
but it must cover all elements of your business idea
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Finding financing
What lenders look for:
 For new and existing companies:
– Forecast for next 2 years
– A cash flow analysis that describes
your forecasts:
• Shows the seasonal fluctuations in your
business and prescribes the need for capital
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Financing to get started
Finding initial financing:
1. Personal investment
money: Cash/collateral on
your assets.
2. Gift capital or love money:
Money loaned by loved one
and that will be repaid later.
3. Investments from others:
Money you raise from
investors.
 Proof that you have a long-term
commitment to your project
 Bankers consider this asset as “patient
capital”
 Bankers regard such investment highly
 Proof that your idea is sound but can often
diminish the degree of control you have
over you own company
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Financing to get started
Finding initial financing:
4. Supplier (A/P)
Financing:
 Policy for paying suppliers based on their
payment conditions (often 30 or 60 days after
delivery).
 Check with each supplier, since many offer
discounts for quick payment.
5. Grants,
Subsidies and
Tax Credits:
 You may have access to grants, subsidies or
tax credits to help recover expenses such as
salaries or equipment.
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Financing to get started
Type of loans:
1. Personal Loan
 Money loaned to you, not your business
 Loan secured by your personal assets
 Many banks offer this type of loan to start-up businesses
or those with few assets (land, building or equipment)
2. Operating Loan
- Also called
Line of Credit
 Short term, flexible financing that you manage yourself
 Borrowing as much as you need up to a determined
amount
 Secured by your inventory and accounts receivable, and
your bank can require full repayment at any time
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Financing to get started
Type of loans:
3. Term Loan
 Long-term financing option for fixed assets such as
equipment, land or building
4. Working capital
Loan
 Long-term financing to cover projects such as
Growth, Export, Marketing, e-Business, R&D, etc.
 Help provide you the cash flow to fuel your growth
 Complement your existing line of credit
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Financing to get started
About BDC:
 BDC is a Crown corporation with a mission to help Canadian
entrepreneurs start and grow their companies
 BDC acts as a complementary lender in the market and
operates on a commercial basis (must be financially
sustainable)
Building tomorrow's businesses:
 For over 60 years, BDC has provided flexible financing and
consulting solutions that are tailored to the needs of
entrepreneurs and designed to help their business prosper
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Why choose BDC
BDC can provide support to entrepreneurs who:
 Are in the start-up or early growth phase
(first 12 months of sales)
 Can demonstrate realistic market and sales potential
 Possess experience or expertise in their chosen field
 Demonstrate key personal characteristics of a successful
entrepreneur
 Have assembled a competent management team
 Have invested reasonable financial resources in the
enterprise
 Can provide personal and credit references
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Why choose BDC
BDC start-up solutions at a glance:
Co-Vision
Term Financing
(Start-up financing program)
(Flexible long-term financing)
 Customized term financing up to
$150,000
 For new businesses demonstrating
long-term viability
 BDC can provide personalized
management support
 Can not be used for change of
ownership
 For a variety of commercially viable
projects such as:
– expansion
– plant overhauls
– purchase of existing businesses
– acquisition of fixed assets
 In some cases, may be used to
reconstitute working capital depleted
by capital expenditures or to finance
sales growth
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Why choose BDC
BDC start-up solutions offer a total solution
for entrepreneurs
 BDC may be able to offer:
– Up to $150,000 in financing
– Up to a 6-year repayment period
– Progressive or seasonal repayment options
tailored to your business’s cash flow
– Consulting and mentoring solutions
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Good to know…
Insights on investors and lenders
 Many entrepreneurs are intuitive and rely on their
experience, industry knowledge, and gut feelings to tell
them whether a project “makes sense”
 Most bankers are methodical, and won’t draw conclusions
quickly- especially if they don’t have all the facts before them
 Given that they don’t have your technical knowledge, they
will want to see that you have thoroughly analyzed and
planned your project
 A thought out business plan is key to your success
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Useful resources
To help you get started:
 Strategis (Industry Canada): www.strategis.ic.gc.ca
– Useful resource to find industry-related information and tons of
information on what you need to do to get your business started
 Canada Business Service Centre: www.cbsc.org
– Excellent resource centre to help in writing business plans,
determining types of loans and other resources that may be
applicable to your business
 BDC: www.bdc.ca/startup or 1-800 INFO BDC
– # 1 resource for all your financing and consulting needs.
Templates of business plans available and lots of pertinent info.
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To find out more about BDC
Contact: Marie Bruno, Senior Manager
153 Great Northern Road
Phone: (705) 941-3039
marie.bruno@bdc.ca
www.bdc.ca
Thank you!
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