Critical Risks Segment

The critical risks segment gives you the opportunity to address potential situations which could affect your business negatively. These potential situations include such occurrences as the following:

• Higher than expected costs
• Lower than expected demand for your product or service
• Increased competition
• Short supply of needed materials
• A stagnant industry
• An economic downturn

The goal of this section should be to address situations which could pose a serious threat to the continuation of your business, followed by addressing your "Plan B" for overcoming these problems.

The Entrepreneurial Perspective: You as an entrepreneur need to be aware of and honest about the potential risks that could pose a threat to your business. Acknowledging these risks and coming up with a plan to address them will help you to build a stronger, more viable business model.

The Investor Perspective: Potential investors will want to know and see that you have thoroughly thought through potential threats to your business's viability. Investors will also want to know that you have come up with sound solutions to these problems.

The Partnership Perspective: It is important to make potential partners aware of what could go wrong within your business, industry, or marketplace. Doing so will help them to better prepare for potential road blocks.