In my role in business development for Sproutbox I see a lot of entrepreneurs and business plans – some good, some not-so-good. Rather than give entrepreneurs a laundry list of suggestions on how to make a good application, I figured I’d borrow questions from one of my favorite authors on entrepreneurship, Amar Bhide.

Bhide believes(and I agree) that there are really three major questions that every entrepreneur must answer:

1. Are my goals well defined? This is the biggest thing I look at when I’m looking at a business plan, and also the place where I often see major mistakes. If you haven’t clearly defined your goals, even in broad terms, then you aren’t there yet with your business. We use our unique application process for new sprouts to review how an entrepreneur has thought about their goals. When I read a business plan or talk to an entrepreneur I’m usually looking for a few highlighted points under this question. For example, does the entrepreneur show that they have their heart in their business, but do they balance that with the need to earn revenue? Does the entrepreneur have a tolerance for risk? Does the entrepreneur know what it means to be scrappy to focus on the goals at hand? At Sproutbox we look for highly dedicated entrepreneurs who want to make money and will stay focused on the goals of their business in order to keep moving forward.

2. Do I have the right strategy? This is really one of my biggest jobs at the box. When an entrepreneur gets going they often haven’t been able to clearly define what the strategy is, how they’re going to grow the business and how they intend to sustain that growth. Sure, I’m biased, but this is one of the best things that Sproutbox offers our Sprouts. Once selected, we take long hard looks at the businesses, their market opportunities, the costs of customer retention and acquisition, and how, based on our experience, they can experience off-the-charts growth. We want our Sprouts to not just succeed, but to dominate their markets, so getting this right is unbelievably important.

3. Can I execute the strategy? At our foundation this is how we work with our Sprouts. There aren’t many good ideas that can be executed without a great team. We realize that our Sprouts don’t have the resources to build and launch their software on their own, and that’s the central service we provide in exchange for equity. Once the product is built, do you have the skills to build an organization and grow market share? If you can’t confidently answer this question, you may want to think about adding a co-founder with complimentary skills. At Sproutbox, our job is to look at an entrepreneur’s answers to these questions and to help them achieve their dreams via their responses. We’re here to help build, guide, and shape businesses for success.

So, have you thought about these questions? More importantly, do you have what it takes to make a new business grow? We hope so, and we hope you’ll apply to build your business with us. Applications are online at http://www.sproutbox.com/apply and will be open until December 5, 2009.