Accounting Customer service Hiring & human resources Legal Management Raising money Sales & marketing Selling a business Startup Technology Small & Global How We Got Started Biz Books Innovators Owner Tested Tech Edge Best Bosses Next Little Thing Startup Showdown Current Issue Archive
3 of 10
BACKNEXT
Time is money
"With a startup, everything happens too quickly and changes too often to fit in a 45-page business plan," says MyPunchbowl CEO Matt Douglas. (For more of his startup story, click here.)

Instead, Douglas and Conta used three separate documents to pitch VCs. A one-page document detailed the event-planning site they envisioned. An Excel spreadsheet listed costs and projected revenue streams. Finally, a PowerPoint deck explained the entrepreneurs' five-year vision and listed existing tools like save-the-date reminders and customizable e-vites, as well as plans to add a vendor search function that could find, for example, "all the mariachi bands in Phoenix."

As the VCs dug into MyPunchbowl's business model during their due diligence, Douglas added a fourth, equally brief competitive analysis document explaining that MyPunchbowl would stand out from the slew of event-planning Web sites by adding unique party-planning tools such as a pick-the-date algorithm that recommends the best date for a particular event.

NEXT: Show you're worth it

LAST UPDATE: Apr 21 2009 | 10:57 AM ET
Sponsored by
Full story: The venture game Even in tough times, money is available for startups with vision and a foolproof plan. More
Startup showdown Dozens of aspiring entrepreneurs will vie for a share of $800,000 in seed money at this month's Rice Business Plan Competition. Meet the competitors. More
7 business plan superstars After winning competitions with their business plans, these 7 ventures turned their paper visions into thriving companies. More
Sponsors

© 2009 Cable News Network. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you. Privacy Policy
Copyright © 2009 BigCharts.com Inc. All rights reserved. Please see our Terms of Use.
MarketWatch, the MarketWatch logo, and BigCharts are registered trademarks of MarketWatch, Inc.
Intraday data provided by Interactive Data Real-Time Services and subject to the Terms of Use.
Intraday data is at least 20-minutes delayed. All times are ET.
Historical, current end-of-day data, and splits data provided by Interactive Data Pricing and Reference Data.
Fundamental data provided by Morningstar, Inc..
SEC Filings data provided by Edgar Online Inc..
Earnings data provided by FactSet CallStreet, LLC.