All of these questions can be answered without a highly technical discussion of how your product works. The details will be reviewed by experts during the due diligence process.
Keep the business plan simple. Document the technical details in separate white papers.
No risk analysis
Investors are in the business of balancing risks versus rewards. Some of the first things they want to know are what are the risks inherent in your business, and what has been done to mitigate these risks.
The key risks of entrepreneurial ventures include:
Market risks: Will people actually buy what you have to sell? Will you need to create a major change in consumer behavior?
Technology risks: Can you actually deliver what you say you can? On budget and on time?
Operational risks: What can go wrong in the day-to-day operations of the company? What can go wrong with manufacturing and customer support?
Management risks: Can you attract and retain the right team? Can your team actually pull this off? Are you prepared to step aside and let somebody else take over if necessary?
Legal risks: Is your intellectual property truly protected? Are you infringing on another company's patents? If your solution does not work, can you limit your liability?
This is, of course, just a partial list of risks.
Even though you may feel that the risks are negligible, potential investors will feel otherwise unless you demonstrate that you have given a lot of thought to what can go wrong and have taken prudent steps to mitigate these risks.
Poorly organized
Your idea should flow in a nice, organized fashion. Each section should build logically on the previous section, without requiring the reader to know something that is presented later in the plan.
Although there is no single "correct" business plan structure, one successful structure is as follows:
Executive Summary: This is a brief, 1 to 3 page summary of everything that follows in the plan. It should be a stand-alone document, as many readers will make their initial decision based on the executive summary alone. This should usually be written last; otherwise, you have nothing to summarize!
Background: If you are in a highly specialized field, you should provide some background in layman terms since most investors will not have advanced degrees in your field.
Market Opportunity: Describe how businesses and consumers are suffering, and how much they are willing to pay for a solution.
Products or Services: Describe what you do, and how your solution fits into the market opportunity.
Market Traction: Describe how you have succeeded in attracting customers, marketing and distribution partnerships, and other alliances that demonstrate that experts in your market are betting on your solution.
Competitive Analysis: Identify your direct and indirect competitors, and describe how your solution is better.