Section II. Instructions: Company Description

This section explains the basic elements of your business. Use the SCORE Company Description Worksheet contained in the Business Plan Module as a guide for gathering information for this section - but it is not the format to use.

Use the format provided in the Toy Company sample section in Modules. Include each of the below:

Company mission statement

A mission statement is a brief explanation of your company's reason for being. It is a declaration of an organization's fundamental purpose and basic philosophy. It seeks to answer the question: "What business are we in? Be clear and concise. Your mission statement should answer these five basic questions:

1. Who are we?
2. Who are our customers?
3. What is our operating philosophy (basic beliefs values, ethics, etc.)?
4. What are our core competencies and competitive advantages?
5. What are our responsibilities with respect to being a good steward of the environmental, financial and human resources?

It can be as short as a marketing tagline ("MoreDough is an app that helps consumers manage their personal finances in a fun, convenient way") or more involved: ("Doggie Tales is a dog daycare and grooming salon specializing in convenient services for urban pet lovers. Our mission is to provide service, safety and a family atmosphere, enabling busy dog owners to spend less time taking care of their dog's basic needs and more time having fun with their pet.") In general, it's best to keep your mission statement to one or two sentences.

Company philosophy and vision

1. 1. What values does your business live by? Honesty, integrity, fun, innovation and community are values that might be important to your business philosophy.
   2. Vision refers to the long-term outlook for your business. What do you ultimately want it to become? For instance, your vision for your doggie day-care center might be to expand the number of locations in the market area, to become a national chain, franchise or to sell to a larger company. It may be to provide a quality service to the community. Or, to increase social awareness of an issue.

Company goals

Specify your long and short-term goals as well as any milestones or benchmarks you will use to measure your progress. For instance, if one of your goals is to open a second location, milestones might include reaching a specific sales volume or signing contracts with a certain number of clients in the new market. (Make sure these are SMART goals - Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant & Timed.) Short-term goals should be 1 year or less. Long-term goals are 1-3 years.

Target market

You will cover this in-depth in the Marketing Plan section. Here, briefly explain who your target customers are. Remember, stating that the product or service is for everyone is not a target market.

Industry

Describe your industry and what makes your business competitive: Is the industry growing, mature or stable? (use a Google search or the IBIS World website for this information) What is the industry outlook long-term and short-term? How will your business take advantage of projected industry changes and trends? What might happen to your competitors and how will your business successfully compete?

Legal structure

1. 1. Is your business a sole proprietorship, LLC, partnership or corporation? Why did you choose this particular form of business?
   2. If there is more than one owner, explain how ownership is divided. If you have investors, explain the percentage of shares they own. This information is important to investors and lenders.

After reading the Company Description, the reader should have a basic understanding of your business's mission and vision, goals, target market, competitive landscape and legal structure.