When I was raising money for DoBox, I met with a young venture firm and one of the questions they asked me was "who are your big friends?"  I didn't know what they meant by that, and they went on to explain that "big friends" are existing players in the industry (customers, partners, suppliers etc) who have some reason to WANT you to succeed.  They're willing to go to bat for you, recommend you, provide resources and insights to you, in short, they are willing to help you succeed in the MARKETPLACE.

So, when I create or review a business plan, I like to look at Big Friends.  Ask yourself these questions:

• Who are your Big Friends?
• Who wants you to succeed?
• Customer, partners, suppliers, industry, government
• Customers are the best and most important big friends!
• Do the Dogs want to eat this dog food?