Beginning with Dible's Up Your Own Organization several decades ago, business plans have been nearly sacred tools in communicating with potential lenders and investors.

Now the electronic age has brought an avalanche of new gizmos to the equation, such as CDs, emails, and online business plans. A cell phone number has become as essential as a business land line.

Just how useful are these gizmos, really? In truth, by themselves, they are just not very useful at all.

For instance, it is not unusual for me to receive emails with business plans attached. Some come with a cover note in the email, some don't. They all get trashed without being opened.

What the dickens makes that entrepreneur think that I'm going to spend my time and money to open the business plan, print it on my printer, and then cheerfully read it, especially when I might be letting loose a new virus into my computer system?

Hog wash.

A variation on this theme is a rather arrogant young CFO I know who sends out the business plan in a CD format. "It's cheaper than printing,” he says. It also saves a lot of time, since he won't have to spend any time at all talking with the venture capitalists who don't call. Heck, he saves himself out of business before he ever gets started!

There are some valid uses for e-technology in the funding process, such as:

1) Angel investor groups are increasingly using an online submission form;

2) Venture capital firms sometimes request an online submission form and approval for submitting a full business plan;

3) Attaching a CD to your hard copy business plan is an excellent way to include bulky or complex information, such as patents and financial drill downs;

4) Including your web site, or a link to it, on the CD is important, especially if your business relies on its web presence for business;

5) Creating an online business plan for investors is an outstanding means of spotlighting your team, your product, your marketing skill and all the other elements of your business plan; and

6)

Email is invaluable for keeping in touch with the investor and providing timely responses to questions.

But first start with your traditional business plan. You will need it. No matter how the process begins, at some point you will present your formal written business plan.

It seems silly sometimes. With all the technology at our disposal, we still put our ideas into a formal written business plan.

The truth is that, once you are asked for the business plan, your investor is about 80% in your corner. Now he wants to judge your formal presentation and persuasion skills, so he asks for your business plan.

Investors just don't lend on sketches on a napkin anymore, if indeed they ever did.

And, while the hard copy business plan is essential, even more essential is the process of developing that business plan. Creating a successful business plan doesn't allow for many shortcuts. So, create it.

By the time you are ready to submit your application to an angel investment group online, you will have in hand all the confidence that your research and organization can possibly provide.

There is just no substitute for shaking hands with your lender or investor, and knowing, just knowing, that you have the answer to any question he may throw your way - that's what the process of a successful business plan accomplishes.

It is no longer a question of whether or not to use e-technology. Rather, it is a question of how best to use it. Make that determination before you ever shake that first hand. With you ducks in a row, you would be amazed at how much easier the process becomes.

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