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The business plan is critical. It forces you to take a good, hard look at what you want to do, how much it will cost, how much revenue it will generate, your market, etc. The usual, common sense sort of stuff. But it really is critical.
Unless you're proposing something that is patentable, you can't really protect yourself. You can try, certainly. After all, in the tech world people have patented just about everything. But if you patent something - and let's say it is approved - you then have to defend it. That costs money. You can trademark your name, of course, and you can register domain names and the like, all at modest costs. But the reality is that you just have to be better at whatever it is you're proposing than anyone else can possibly be. You need to differentiate your product and/or service from the next guy's product or service. Why are you different? Why are you better? And you'd better be better and different, because the market will find you out in no time, and, depending on your nice, word can spread very quickly. If it's a product and you're not manufacturing it, you'd better be damn certain you have some sort of exclusivity with the manufacturer, so that they won't go selling their product to other customers.
Bottom line is, think about your business from all angles - as a funder (i.e., the bank, your family, whoever is going to loan you money, your spouse), as an owner/manager, as a competitor, as a customer. Where can you go wrong? Be realistic. You say you need a moderate capital investment, but you'll probably find that your investment does not go as far as you think it will, especially when you factor in your salary, real living expenses, and every conceivable business expense, from lawyers to accountants to bank checking account fees. Do extensive homework to see if someone else has already tried it. You get the idea.
Good luck.
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