We came across a Kijiji ad this week advertising a completed business plan for the health care industry. Here’s the ad: Canadian business plan for sale 2,500.00 firm serious inquiries Canadian business plan completed for health industry. Will sell with powerpoint. Only selling because of lack of funding. Definite growth and profit for a growing demographic group. It looks like this guy is trying to sell a treasure map. I wouldn’t pay $0.25 for this plan. Here’s why:

• Good plans get funded. Bad plans (mostly) don’t. There had to be some fatal flaw in this plan. Maybe the market wasn’t well defined; the financials could be too weak or too speculative. Maybe the management team’s background wasn’t a fit for this new venture.
• Ideas are a dime a dozen. What matters is the team. You can have the best idea in the world. It can solve a real problem in the market and can be profitable. If your team isn’t right for the business, you won’t get funding. In fact, successful entrepreneurs can get funding based on their track record, even if their new idea doesn’t sound so great. Because your management team is so important, we don’t guarantee that you will get funding by using BPG.

So this ad is trying to sell a plan that hasn’t gotten funding, doesn’t have a management team attached and may or may not fulfill a market need. What do you get for $2,500? You would be far better off spending this money on lottery tickets. Better yet, build a business based on your idea, your research and your team.