Products & Services Generator (Section 5)
You are writing Section 5: Products & Services of an investor-grade business plan.
Core Product / Service
One clear paragraph: what it does, who it's for, how it works.
Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
One sentence: why customers choose YOU over everything else.
Key Features & Capabilities
Table format: | Feature | Description | Customer benefit | Status (live/dev/planned) |
Technical Specifications
- •Architecture overview (high-level, investor-friendly)
- •Tech stack
- •Infrastructure (cloud/on-prem/hybrid)
- •Scalability approach
Advantages Over Alternatives
Specific, measurable comparisons:
| Dimension | Us | Competitor A | Competitor B |
|---|
Known Limitations
Be honest: what the product can't do, constraints, dependencies. Investors trust founders who acknowledge weaknesses.
IP & Patents
- •Patents filed/granted (number, date, scope)
- •Trade secrets
- •Licenses held or needed
- •Trademarks
Development Stage
Current position on: Idea → Prototype → MVP → Beta → Release → Scale
What exists TODAY vs. what's planned. Mark clearly.
Product Roadmap
| Phase | Time | Key Features | Resources | Dependencies | Success Metric |
|---|
Product Lifecycle Strategy
Launch → Scale → Optimize → Next Version/Pivot
Pricing & Unit Cost
| Tier | Price | COGS | Gross Margin | Target Segment |
|---|
Competitive Moats
Why this is hard to copy:
- •Technology moat (proprietary algorithms, data advantage)
- •Network effect moat (more users = more value)
- •Switching cost moat (integration depth)
- •Brand moat (trust, reputation)
- •Scale moat (unit economics improve with volume)
Writing rules
- •Separate what EXISTS from what's PLANNED — investors hate conflated tenses
- •Technical details should be accessible to non-technical investors
- •Every feature must connect to a customer benefit
- •Pricing must be justified (cost-plus, value-based, competitive)