A plan is just a paper document without an implementation plan, complete with a timeline, defined roles and key responsibilities.

How to Write a Business Plan: Milestones While the milestones and metrics chapter of your business plan may not be long, it’s critical that you take the time to look ahead and schedule critical next steps for your business. Investors will want to see that you understand what needs to happen for your plans to come to fruition and that you are working to a realistic timeline. Start with a quick review of your milestones. Milestones are major planned goals.

For example, if you are producing a medical device, you will have milestones associated with clinical testing and government approval processes. If you’re producing a consumer product, you may have milestones associated with prototyping, finding manufacturers, and receiving the first order. While milestones look to the future, you’ll also want to take a look at major accomplishments you’ve already had. Investors like to call this “traction.” What this means is that your company has shown some evidence of early success. Traction could be some initial sales, a successful pilot program, or a significant partnership. Sharing this proof that your business is more than just an idea, that you have real evidence that it’s going to be a success, can go a long way in getting you the money you need to grow your business. In addition to milestones and traction, your business plan should detail the key metrics you’ll be looking at as your business takes off. Metrics are the numbers you regularly look at to judge the health of your business. They are the growth drivers of your business model and your financial plan.

For example, a restaurant may pay particular attention to the number of table shifts they have on an average night and the ratio of beverage sales to food sales. An online software company might look at churn rates (the percentage of customers who cancel) and new signups. Every company will have key metrics to watch for to monitor growth and catch problems early, and your business plan should detail the key metrics you will track in your business. Knowing what your assumptions are when starting a business can make the difference between business success and business failure.

Finally, your business plan should detail the key assumptions you’ve made that are important to the success of your business. Another way to think about key assumptions is to think about risk. What risks are you taking with your business? For example, if you don’t have proven demand for a new product, you’re assuming that people will want what you’re creating. If you rely on online advertising as a major promotional channel, you are making assumptions about the costs of that advertising and the percentage of ad viewers who will actually make a purchase. Knowing what your assumptions are when starting a business can make the difference between business success and business failure. When you recognize your assumptions, you can begin to prove that your assumptions are correct. The more you can minimize your assumptions, the more likely your business will be successful.