We all have words that make us cringe. That’s especially true in the investment community.

Generally, I can tell a few lines into a business plan if a company just doesn’t “get it”. Sometimes, it’s blatant – like the lack of a clear mission statement. Other times, it’s something more gut-based, like the use of quotation marks as I did at the top of the paragraph (it’s too cute for a serious business proposal).

There are some words and phrases that are real showstoppers, though – and if you’re using them, you’ll need to rethink your pitch before approaching a possible source of financing. They not only fail to sell your story. They often end up having the exact opposite effect.

• “Next big thing”.  If someone would give me a dollar for every time I’ve seen or heard that one, I could retire happily. The proof on that sort of claim is in the numbers. Show me traction in building your business and I’ll see it.  I’ve known people that built the next big thing and they were always too busy working (and scared of competition) to boast along the way.
• “Bigger than Facebook”.  (Or Google.  Or pick your company.)  Never compare yourself to or value yourself off the best winning companies.  Ideas are comparatively easy; implementation requires real work.
• “Game changer”.  Life (or business) isn’t a game.  I don’t know what this means.
• “Guaranteed”.  If its impossible for the opportunity to fail, then why are you sharing it?
• “Paradigm shift”.  Again, I don’t know what this means or why it matters.  Proof on this one is in the implementation.
• “Next level” (or “next generation”).  A completely unnecessary phrase.
• “Unique”.  Not a big offender in my book but I’m probably in the minority.  Everything and nothing is unique.  The word is overused.
• “Unparalleled”.  Um, no. There’s always something that can match some aspect of your product or service.
• “Ad supported”.  Is that the only source of financial support? I heard that pitch in the late ‘90’s and I’m still hearing it now.  What changed (other than Google being the rare company to make it work well)?
• “Viral marketing”.  This works wonders in the gaming world, but where else today?  Define what you mean but don’t use the term unless you really understand it (at which point I’m okay with it).
• “Free”.  Ouch.  Explain to me how that is working right now for you, not how it will at some fuzzy future date.
• “Really”, “very” and “a lot”.  No.
• “Opportunity”.  No thanks.  Opportunity is easy. Explanations (and monetization) matter more.
• “Leader”.  To where?
• “Best” and “top”.  Says who?  You?  You’ll need backup. Prove these sorts of claims; don’t just say them.  (if you were, in fact, the best, you wouldn’t need to look for money – it would find you).
• “Great”.  See “best” and “top”.
• “Solution”.  If you can walk me through it, I’ll follow it.  Otherwise, you aren’t saying much.

Reality: when you are pitching an early-stage opportunity, you are also pitching yourself.  If you are talking to quality investors, most of the above words don’t tell them anything about your business.  But they do tell the investor something about you – you are prone to exaggeration, to vagueness, to hype, to lack of depth.  Those words are setting you back.

Plan Cruncher asks questions about key issues such as the team, product and revenue plan and uses icons to represent concepts such as “advertising-based revenue model” or “we have a working demo”. While the user selects from standard options, there are also free-text sections that allow some creativity. Plan Cruncher may not replace the traditional business plan, but it could act as a useful first filter for investors. The tool is free to use, and the icon set used in Plan Cruncher is released under a creative commons license so it can be modified and reused in other applications and publications. Essentially this means that you can create your own business plan format using the icons. Here’s an example of Plan Cruncher’s output:

According to Lunatech’s MD Micheal Pentowski, the objective of Plan Cruncher is to get enough salient information on a page to capture an investor’s attention and get a meeting. The company has seen a huge jump in business plan submissions since it launched the tool a week ago, so the format itself seems to have captured the imagination of entrepreneurs. Lunatech is investigating applying the same idea to job resumes by using a set of icons at the start of a resume to summarize the key points.

The reality, of course, is that these documents are a necessity for any company. And, to be honest, they’re not as hard to put together as you might think. (There are plenty of good books on the subject and some really great software packages, such as Business Plan Pro.)

Still, there are some common errors entrepreneurs face when writing a business plan.

Procrastination. It’s easy to find distractions (such as your busy schedule) to prevent you from creating a plan. Resist them. And realize that without a document detailing plans for the future, your company is likely to become a rudderless ship at some point.

Financial focus. Think in terms of cash rather than profits. Initially, your profit and loss statement should be secondary to your cash flow statement. You’ll need to initially ensure you have enough cash on hand on a day-by-day basis to survive.

Cover your bases. Don’t focus too much on your grand idea, but make sure that you have all the fundamentals covered. Bold ideas are hard to sell. Rather, stress that you have the available time, common sense and business smarts to succeed. If you are looking for investors, they will be more interested in you and your people than the idea.

Forget the hype. Using colorful language and preconceived notions is an easy trap to fall into, but both are ultimately superfluous. People looking at your business plan want to see hard, solid facts, backed up by very reasonable assumptions. Set milestones, show which tasks you’ve established and apply sound logic to your reasoning.

Be realistic. Priorities are important, but you don’t want to set too many. Potential investors are interested in your focus and will shy away if you try and cast too wide a net.

Don’t overreach. While you’ll need to project growth, make sure those estimates are realistic and that any growth spurts are tied and referenced to understandable and realistic events. Your projections need to be conservative and you must be able to defend them.

Know the playing field. It’s critical to be thoroughly aware of your business competition. If your business plan is too inwardly focused, you lose sight of the big picture, which can be perilous to a small business.

A business plan is based, first and foremost, on common sense. Ultimately, you need to believe in all the assertions and assumptions that you’re making. (If you don’t, investors never will.) Solid preparation will position you well for the future.