Look Ahead to These 4 Business Plan Milestones…

As you pitch investors, they will want to know where you see your company going and what goals you aim to accomplish. Here are four milestones to incorporate into your plans for the future.

You turn a profit. Whether you think you’ll reach profitability this year or five years from now, it’s important to consider when you’ll be in the black and when investors might start seeing a return.
Read more: 8 Questions That Will Help Set the Right Expectations With Investors

You expand. Success for your business might mean a new location in an adjacent town, becoming a franchise or building markets overseas. It might even mean moving from your garage to a warehouse, and getting some proper infrastructure in place. Consider how your company might grow so you staff accordingly and plan a product or service that will evolve with your business.
Read more: How to Overcome 4 ‘Frightening’ Milestones

You reach 1 billion customers. You should have a sense for how much your company might grow in the first year and even the first five years and what share of the market you’d like to capture. Customer growth can help you predict revenue growth so make sure you know what number spells success for your concept
Read more: 6 Keys to Proving a Viable Startup Business Model

You staff up. If you are bootstrapping your company, your first real hires are a vote of confidence in your vision for the company. They’re also a turning point, since it means you can start handling more serious expenses. Know when you’ll be able to handle the extra costs to keep up with demand for your products or services.
Read more: 7 Tips For Hiring The Best Startup Talent

Nina Zipkin

Nina Zipkin is a staff writer at Entrepreneur.com. She frequently covers media, tech, startups, culture and workplace trends.

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