Basically, what this means is that lenders want the business plan to reflect the entrepreneur’s credit history, the ability of the entrepreneur to meet debt and interest payments (cash flow), the collateral or tangible assets being secured for the loan, and the amount of personal equity that the entrepreneur has invested. Investors, particularly venture capitalists, have different needs since they are providing large sums of capital for ownership (equity) with the expectation of cashing out within five to seven years.