The business plan. It has been the “must” for every would-be entrepreneur. When I first started out, I read all the books about how to create the perfect one before I ventured out to get funding. While everyone has their own twist on what to include, there are some typical components. They range from an executive summary, to analyzing the competition, customer profiles, marketing and the like. It took quite a bit of time and research to develop my first plan which was lengthy- you might say it was more like a thesis. But, it did help me get funded.