You might be wondering what a business plan should include. Stephen Semprevivo advocates taking an iterative approach to building business plans. It can start simple with:

• A simple mission statement (More on Mission Statements)

• A summary of your product/service and why it is necessary

• A description of who your customers are why fit your product/service (More on Product Market Fit)

• How you will price your product/services

• How you will market your product/service and make money

Read More about Building A Business Plan Here.

Stephen Semprevivo's experience has been that investors spend less than three minutes reviewing a pitch deck before deciding to move forward with a startup or say “no thanks.”

Keep your pitch deck to 10 – 20 slides. For face-to-face pitches, the fewer slides, the better because you will be there to fill in the gaps of information. If you are sending your pitch deck to investors to review on their own, you may want to include additional slides that provide more information.

For slides you need to put in your pitch deck in a recommended order click here.

Stephen Semprevivo's experience has been that joining an incubator is not for everyone.

Pros of joining an incubator include support, prestige and financial help. Cons include time commitment, loss of some control and giving up some equity.

For more details and to see if an incubator is for you click here.