I agree with Eileen. The process of getting financed is very similiar to an author trying to get a book contract with a publisher. Sometimes they submit the complete copy of the work and leave it to the person looking at it to base their opinion on the entire work; and sometimes the authors submit an "intro" look into the story, so as to give the advisor a general idea of what the book is about. If the advisor likes what he's reading, he'll throw the author a contact and say "finish the book for ***,***."

Intro BP's aren't unheard of, at least form what I understand, but are generally frowned upon and should only be used if you are very comfortable with your ability to condense information in a compelling manner. WWcap1 is the most correct here, though, in my opinion. The proper business plan length is whatever it needs to be - no more, no less.

With that in mind, I would suggest you no think of the length at all, instead, think of these three sectinos that are considered the "make or break me" sections:

1) The Executive Summary: It's what investors read first - if it isn't good, too wordy, TOO promising, or even "too good to be true," they will often dump it. Make sure you are very straight foward and do not be afraid to include your slow seasons along with your goods. Make this precise, professiona, and very well thought out.

2) The Management Team: The second most important aspect of a business plan is the management section. You should have very credible and impressive persons as your management/advisor team. Financers are very adament about this section simply because you could have the most promising concept ever, but without proper management and business staff, it could fail faster than the business plan they dumped just before getting to yours.

3) Finance and Proejctions: This is the third most important part. Many people sell themselves short and get to this point only to be rejected for one simple reason: their projections are not realistic and; even worse, are always making money. There is a reason why some 70+% of start-up businesses fail -- they over-project their sales which leads to a financial deficit within the company, which leads to not having a sufficient budget for long term bill paying, the launching of new marketing campaigns, and the company's inability to purchase new products to satisfy the industries demand.

Like I said earlier, make sure you be realistic with your projections. Do NOT be afraid to include slow periods expected in your business venture - if anything it makes you look like you've done all of your homework and that you have a backup plan incase that does happen. It also makes you appear most honest and less deceitful, which is something investors and banks are always looking for.

Good luck, my friend.

Matthew