one page business plan sample

One-Page Business Plan Templates with a Quick How-To Guide

By Joe Weller | April 6, 2020

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In this article, we’ve gathered a variety of free, one-page business plan templates for you to download in Excel, Word, and PDF formats. 

Included on this page, you’ll find a one-page business plan template for a service business , business plan template for a product business , business plan for a real estate agent , a Lean business plan template , and more. To help get you started, we’ve also included an example of a one-page business plan , and  a quick guide on how to create your one-page business plan .

One-Page Business Plan Template

Download One-Page Business Plan Template

Excel  | Word  |  PDF | Smartsheet

Use this one-page business plan template — designed to be simple, organized, and easy to use — to immediately get started on your plan. Write down your thoughts and key ideas as you decide if your business concept is viable, and adjust it as circumstances change. You can also use this template as a basis to build a more detailed and elaborate plan.

One-Page Business Plan for a Service Business Template

Download One-Page Business Plan for a Service Business Template

Excel | Word | PDF

This business plan template is designed specifically for businesses that provide a service. The one-page plan provides space to list the essential information about your strategy, including the service you offer, the problem you are solving for customers, your mission and vision statements, target audience, staffing requirements, key objectives, and much more. This template also includes a timeline at the bottom for you to add key milestones.

One-Page Business Plan for a Product Business Template

Download One-Page Business Plan for a Product Business Template

Use this one-page template to develop a strategic roadmap for your organization’s product offerings. This template provides space for you to include a business overview, a description of your target market, your competitive advantage, a list of marketing channels and materials you plan to utilize, as well as your pricing strategy, distribution channels, and success metrics. You can also use the visual timeline of milestones at the bottom to enter key dates and events.

One-Page Business Plan for Real Estate Agents Template

Download One-Page Business Plan for Real Estate Agents Template

This one-page business plan template is created for real estate agents to set objectives and put together an action plan. Enter your overarching goal at the top of the template, and establish three high-level activities you need to complete to achieve the goal. The template also includes a strategic action plan that breaks down each high-level activity into tasks and deadlines, with an accompanying visual timeline to ensure you stay on track.

One-Page Business Plan for Nonprofit Organization Template

Download One-Page Business Plan for Nonprofit Organization Template

This one-page business plan is designed for a nonprofit organization, with space to detail your mission, vision, and purpose statements, as well as who you serve, the problem(s) you solve, and programs and resources you offer. Additionally, the template includes space to detail your financial plan, marketing activities, costs, and more.

One-Page Business Plan for Startup Template

Download One-Page Business Plan for Startup Template

This one-page business plan template is intended for an entrepreneur or a small startup business to document a plan as they determine if an idea is feasible. This template provides space to describe the problem and solution, the product or service, the target customer, existing alternatives, the unique value proposition, a marketing and sales plan, success metrics, and other information. You’ll also find room to detail sources of funding and how the funds will be used.

One-Page Business Plan for Small Business Template

Download One-Page Business Plan for Small Business

Use this one-page small business plan template to outline the essential aspects of your business strategy. Provide details on your organization’s vision, mission, product or service offering, and management team. Then identify the target audience, market size, competitor offerings, and your competitive advantage. This plan also includes room to detail your marketing and sales strategy, key objectives, and financial plan.

One-Page Lean Business Plan Template

Download One-Page Lean Business Plan Template

This one-page template uses a Lean approach to develop your business plan. Use this customizable template to detail the crucial elements of your strategy, including a brief business and industry overview, your product or service offering, options from your competitors, and your competitive advantage. Plus, this template includes room to detail your marketing plan, success metrics, financial plan, and a visual timeline of milestones.

One-Page Business Planning Template with Timeline

Download One-Page Business Planning Template with Timeline

Excel | Smartsheet

Use this business planning template to organize and schedule key activities for your business. Fill in the cells according to the due dates, and color-code the cells by phase, owner, or category to provide a visual timeline of progress.

One-Page Business Plan Example

This one-page business plan covers all the essential elements and offers a visually appealing presentation. Information for each aspect of the plan is concise, with details about the business mission, management team, product offerings, key marketing activities, competitors, and financial projections. This plan also provides links to additional resources so that stakeholders can easily find information to support the specifics of the plan.

How to Write a One-Page Business Plan (with Sample Outline)

A one-page business plan takes a standard business plan and extracts the fundamental aspects, then condenses the essential information down to one page. To determine the key elements to emphasize in your one-page plan, consider the type of business you operate, as well as the financial (and other resources) needs of your business.

To streamline your business plan into a one-page document, follow the steps below.

• Create a simple outline for your plan using bullet points. Below, you’ll find an example of an outline for a one-page business plan. You can add or remove sections according to the needs of your business. 
• Business mission
• Problem you are solving
• Funds needed (if applicable)
• Product or service positioning statement
• Unique value proposition
• Target customers
• Market size
• SWOT analysis
• Direct competitors
• Existing alternatives
• Competitive advantage
• Key marketing strategy (e.g., channel or method that will yield the best results)
• Key sales strategy
• Specialized equipment or facilities
• Staffing requirements (e.g., key personnel, skills, and training needs)
• Distribution method
• Sales projection
• Profit and loss projection 
• Gather all your findings on your business and industry.

Compile all the current information you have gleaned from market research, interviews, surveys, and various teams in your business (e.g., the marketing and finance teams). Comb through each document and extract the information that is fundamental to your business’s operation and relevant to the bullet points on your outline.

• Write two to three brief sentences for each main bullet point.

Once you create your outline and gather information, write two to three sentences for each main bullet point that expands on and summarizes the sub-bullet points for that section. For example, the plan summary section could say the following:

Donny’s Food Truck will offer a variety of fresh food at an affordable price in a convenient location. Increased traffic in the Hungry Town area, combined with severely limited dining options, provides an opportunity to offer customers a quick, nutritious meal at a competitive price. A food truck with the necessary equipment has already been acquired, so we are seeking $200,000 to cover wages, emergency repairs, and licenses needed to fund our first year of operations.

• Ensure you are able to support all the information provided in your plan.

Since a one-page plan omits many of the details provided in a traditional business plan, be sure you have market research and other supporting documentation on hand to show stakeholders in case they have questions as they review your plan. In addition, make sure you thoroughly understand the supporting information and know how to restate it in your own words before you disburse the plan. 

• Ensure your plan answers all the vital questions .

At a minimum, an effective one-page business plan should answer the following questions:

• What product or service do we offer?
• Who will use the product or service?
• What problem does our offering solve?
• How will the product or service get to our customers?
• What alternatives do our customers use, and why are we superior?
• What is our unique value proposition?
• What strengths and opportunities can we use to our advantage?
• What resources do we need to get up and running?
• What will our sales look like for the first few years?
• When do we expect to be profitable?

In addition to the steps provided above, you can save time and get started on your plan by downloading one of the templates provided on this page. You can also check out “ Free Executive Summary Templates ,” which can serve the same purpose as a one-page business plan.

Benefits of a One-Page Business Plan

Organizations and stakeholders can unite behind a strategic direction when they have a business plan in place. Developing a traditional business plan can be a daunting task, so many entrepreneurs, small startups, graphic designers, freelancers, and consultants find a one-page business plan a less intimidating place to start. 

Creating a one-page business plan benefits your organization in the following ways:

• Push you to prioritize and focus on key ideas.
• Enable your audience to quickly scan and grasp the core concepts of your plan.
• Allow you to easily share and pitch your business idea to prospective investors and stakeholders (e.g., email attachment, single piece of paper).
• Accelerate business setup, especially businesses that don’t need a loan or investment to get going.
• Provide a solid starting point to expand upon at a later time.
• Enable you to document your thoughts and ideas to see if you have a feasible plan.

Tips for Creating a One-Page Business Plan

Now that you know how to create a one-page plan and the benefits in doing so, here are some tips to get you started:

• Set a time limit (up to one hour) to focus and work on your plan.
• Use a one-page business plan template (you can choose from the options above), or refer to the sample outline provided on this page.
• Ensure your plan details only the core aspects that are fundamental to running and operating your business. 
• Remember that this is a living document — continue to revisit and adjust it as strategies and objectives change.
• Expand on your plan as your business size and needs grow. 

When the time comes that you need more space to lay out your goals and strategies, choose from our variety of free simple business plan templates . You can learn how to write a successful simple business plan here . 

Visit this free non-profit business plan template roundup  or download a  fill-in-the-blank business plan template  to make things easy. If you are looking for a business plan template by file type, visit our pages dedicated specifically to  Microsoft Excel ,  Microsoft Word , and  Adobe PDF  business plan templates. Read our articles offering  startup business plan templates  or  free 30-60-90-day business plan templates  to find more tailored options.

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One Page Business Plan for Word, PDF

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Template Highlights

• Eight (short) sections: Business Opportunity, Industry Analysis, Target Market, Company Description, Timeline, Marketing Plan, Financial Plan, and Funding Requirements.
• Easy instructions for each part.
• Zhuzh it up a bit with your company logo and branding.
• Download it as a PDF or Word file.
• Print it, email it, send it via Morse code.

Why all businesses should create a business plan

For startups and enterprises alike, there are many reasons to create a one-page business plan. For example, it can help you:

• Show your progress and how you intend to grow : Your business plan lists vital information on your company, such as your goals, market research results, and success milestones.
• Determine a realistic budget to ensure success : If you don’t create a proper plan, you might underestimate fixed and variable costs and, therefore, lack the financial capacity to succeed.
• Provide concrete information to potential investors : By having a detailed business plan in place, you’ll be able to effectively convey your business goals to internal stakeholders, and you’ll stand a better chance of winning over investors.
• Fulfill the requirements for securing a business loan : Many financial institutions won’t even consider giving you a loan without seeing your plan.

Should you create a business plan from scratch?

You can do this, but it’s often more hassle than it’s worth. If you’ve never made a business plan before, you’ll need to do a lot of research on what to include and ensure you create a professional and eye-catching document.  If you download our free one-page business plan template, you’ll save time and ensure you cover every relevant detail.

How to use the one-page business plan template

Here are the steps for filling out our template:

• Enter your contact details to download the template in Microsoft Word or as a PDF.
• Gather your relevant business documents, such as market research results and financial statements, in case you need to include details from them.  
• Add information to all the fields, including Company Description, Target Market, Industry Analysis, Implementation Timeline, Funding Required, and Financial Summary.
• Get feedback from business partners, employees, or other parties to ensure that all information is correct and up to date.
• Proofread to ensure there are no errors. These look unprofessional, leaving a bad impression of your business.  
• Save your business plan in various locations and formats. This helps you share your plan with stakeholders via email or present it at company meetings.

Template Preview

One page business plan.

One-Page Business Plan Template

This brief business plan template encourages you to stick to your core message and provide investors with just the information they need to know about your new venture.

The Business Opportunity

What is the problem your business will solve? Focus on the customer’s needs.

Give your elevator pitch. Be succinct, clear, and persuasive.

Be sure to include your value proposition -- What do you offer that no one else does?

Industry Analysis

List key factors for success in your industry.

Who is your main competition?

Company Description

Identify important facts about your business:

• Founding date

• Mission statement

• Type of organization

• Core strengths

• Main leadership

Target Market

Describe your customer segments.

Will you serve a particular geographical area?

Implementation Timeline

Provide a brief summary of how you will roll out the business. Consider depicting the different phases in a diagram. You can use the timeline below as a template.

Marketing Plan

Describe what methods you will use to acquire new customers.

Why would your target market prefer your product or service to another option?

Financial Summary

Cost Structure: What are your fixed and variable costs?

Revenue Streams: How will your business make money?

Funding Required

Present the amount of funding that you are seeking from investors and how it will be used.

HubSpot Tip: Be sure to edit and review your plan for typos before distributing it. Errors in a short document can be distracting to the reader and make you look unprofessional.

Frequently Asked Questions

When should i create a business plan, what types of companies need a business plan, how do i write a one page business plan, what should my business plan focus on, is this template free, can i edit this template, related tags:.

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How to Write an Impressive One-Page Business Plan [Including Templates]

Written by: Olujinmi Oluwatoni

Looking to launch a startup or drive growth for an existing business?

A well-crafted business plan is a valuable roadmap that can increase your chances of success.

According to a survey by Bplans , companies that wrote business plans were twice more likely to expand their businesses, attract investors, or secure loans compared to those who didn't.

Unlike the traditional multi-page business plan, a one page business plan is concise and snackable. It helps you attract investor attention and quickly communicate your vision and strategies without boring them.

So how do you create an impressive one-page business plan?

In this article, we're going to provide you with practical insights on how to create a one-page business plan effectively. We'll also offer you some customizable templates that will jumpstart your planning journey.

Table of Contents

• What is a One-Page Business Plan

Benefits of Using a One-Page Business Plan

• What Should a One-Page Business Plan Include

How to Create a One-Page Business Plan

• 8 One-Page Business Plan Templates
• A one-page business plan is a concise document that provides a quick and clear overview of a business's core aspects.
• One-page business plans are faster to create, serve as an outline for a more comprehensive plan, make it easy to get feedback and are easy to modify and revise.
• Here are the key elements of a one-page business plan: The executive summary, business opportunity, value proposition, team members, industry analysis, target market, marketing plan, revenue model, implementation time, financial summary, funding requirements and contact information.
• To design a startup one pager, you should create an outline, research and gather information, choose a template, write the content, design visual components and share it with investors.
• Visme's offers a user-friendly interface with a wide range of customizable templates and features that’ll help you create your one-page business plan seamlessly.

What Is a One-Page Business Plan?

A One-pager business plan is a concise document that summarizes the key elements of a business idea or venture. They serve as a streamlined version of traditional, comprehensive business plans .

With a one-page business plan, you can distill your value proposition, target market, market analysis, strategies and projections on a single page. It is especially useful when seeking to secure funding as it offers a brief overview that can be quickly delivered to stakeholders and investors.

One pager business plans can also be considered a strategy manual for you, your team or any other outside party that wants to gain insight into what your business does.

Here's why creating a one-page business plan is beneficial:

Time Efficiency

Creating a comprehensive, multi-page business plan can take a lot of time and be daunting, especially for business people who have a lot on their plates.

A one-page business plan provides a more time-effective option that enables business owners to describe their business plans without getting bogged down in pointless details.

Investor Engagement

Attracting the attention of investors is difficult since they are always flooded with company pitches.

However, a visually appealing and outstanding one-page business plan can stick out like a beacon. By leveraging the brevity of a one-pager plan, you can pique an investor’s interest by communicating your business potential in a concise manner.

Outline For More Comprehensive Plan

When developing a traditional, in-depth business plan, one-page business plans serve as excellent starting points. It is useful for sketching out concepts before committing significant time to writing a detailed business plan that you'll likely need to revise.

Once you've finished your company one-pager and are satisfied with it, you'll have the right foundation on which to build a more comprehensive version.

Easy to Share and Distribute

One-page documents can be easily shared via print, internet, email, and social media channels.

It's also a handy tool for entrepreneurs to use while presenting their company at conferences or meeting with potential investors. This adaptability makes it easy to share your business idea with stakeholders and investors in a targeted manner.

What Should a One-Page Business Plan Include?

Whether you're in the early stages of developing your business, looking to maintain the growth of your already established business or seeking expansion, your one-page business plan should comprise the following essential elements:

Executive Summary

An executive summary gives an overview of your business story. It is the part of the report where you hook the reader's attention and give a brief overview of your business essence. Your executive summary should be concise and no longer than two sentences.

The Business Opportunity

This section should clearly articulate the precise problem your venture is setting out to solve. You should clearly state the pain points and challenges that your potential users or customers currently face.

Let’s say you’re writing a plan for a logistics software company. Your business opportunity section could look like this:

Many businesses struggle with the complex task of optimizing delivery routes for their fleet, leading to increased fuel costs, longer delivery times, and decreased customer satisfaction. Existing route planning methods often lack real-time updates and fail to account for variables like traffic, weather, and delivery windows. This results in suboptimal routes and operational inefficiencies that hinder businesses from delivering their products in a timely and cost-effective manner.

Value Proposition

In this section of your one-pager, you should briefly describe the unique value of your product and how your company sets out to solve the identified problem.

Using the example above, here’s a value proposition:

Our cutting-edge software harnesses the power of real-time data, predictive analytics, and advanced algorithms to create optimal delivery routes on the fly. By taking into account variables such as live traffic updates, weather conditions, delivery windows, and vehicle capacities, we ensure that every route is not only the shortest, but also the most time-sensitive and cost-effective option available.

Team Members

This is the driving force behind any successful venture. Introduce the key individuals running the operations of the business, including their qualifications and core competencies.

Industry Analysis

Briefly identify your competitors and analyze their strengths and weaknesses. Delve into their market share if the space permits.

But most importantly, take the opportunity to emphasize your own competitive advantage. Highlight what sets your business apart from competitors, whether it's unique features, pricing strategy, technology, or other factors.

Target Market

This section should highlight the specific audience or customer segment that your business is aiming to serve. You can include the following specifics when talking about your target audience:

• Geographic location
• Target market size
• Demographics such as age, income, and lifestyle.
• Spending habits

Marketing Plan

This part of the business plan explains how you'll promote your goods and services, generate consumer demand and meet it. You should include information such as your marketing channels and promotional strategy.

Revenue Model

You should explain how your business generates or plans to generate income in this section. Highlight your pricing and revenue strategy, whether it is subscription-based, pay-per-use, advertising, licensing or freemium models.

Implementation Timeline

How will you roll out the business and which phases will be involved? Briefly talk about these roadmaps in this section. You can utilize a visual aid such as a chart, graph or map to provide a clear picture of your implementation timeline.

Financial Summary

Your financial summary section should highlight your vital financial indicators such as profit and loss, cash flow, balance sheet and sales projections.

For enhanced comprehension, consider incorporating visual aids to convey the financial data in this section. Fortunately, Visme offers a diverse range of data visualization tools that you can use to visualize various types of data.

Funding Required

In this section, specify the amount of funding you are seeking from potential investors. You should also specify the aspects of your business that the funding will support. Clearly stating your financial needs demonstrates your thoughtfulness in resource allocation.

Contact Information

Include contact details at the end of your plan. This will allow potential investors, partners, customers, and other stakeholders to easily reach out for inquiries, collaborations, or further discussions.

Depending on your purpose for writing this plan, you could leave out certain of the points listed above from your one-page business plan.

Follow the steps below to create a compelling one-page business plan. If you're in a hurry or need assistance getting your plan off the ground quickly, Visme's AI business plan generator can help you do it in just a few minutes.

Create an Outline

First, list out the essential parts of your business plan. Rank the components and select the ones that are most relevant to your business plan. Then use that to develop an outline.

Research And Gather Information

After determining the sections your one-page business plan should have, the next thing you need to do is gather the information required to fill them.

This may require you to conduct a study on your target demographics, collate past financial statements and identify current market trends. You might also need to conduct customer surveys, analyze competitor performance and collect quotes/estimates for future costs.

The goal of a one-page plan is not to sacrifice accuracy or specificity on the altar of conciseness. So just as with a full-fledged business plan, creating a one-page business plan requires thorough research.

Use a One-Page Business Plan Template

Creating business plans from scratch can prove laborious, especially if you're not a professional designer. However, you can skip all of that grunt work with Visme.

You can choose a template from Visme's collection of one-page business plan templates and adapt it to your specific requirements. Modify the background colors, texts, pictures and font colors, among other things, to reflect your brand identity and taste.

With Visme’s Brand Wizard , you can have all vital brand assets from your website automatically imported into your workspace and applied to every asset you create. Plus, Visme’s sharing and collaboration options make it convenient for teams to work together on creating concise and impactful one-pagers.

Hear what one of our customers has to say about Visme:

“You stumble on some templates and you’re blown away that someone put in such time and effort into creating them. You did not know you needed them in your life until that minute.”

Lorens | Graphic Designer

Write the Content

Condense the gathered information to its core essentials and insert them into the relevant sections that you have previously outlined in step one. Keep each section concise, using no more than two to 3 brief sentences or a bullet list of 2 to 3 key points.

It's important to be mindful of the length here, as trimming down your content when it extends past a single page might be challenging.

Design Visual Components

After filling in all of the text, you might want to add some visual elements to the plan to effectively illustrate information or data.

For instance, you may choose to present market share with the use of a pie chart or depict financial summary using a bar chart, graph or any other data visualization tool. Adding visual components not only makes your design more compelling but can also be an efficient way to manage the space on your page.

Some other visuals you can include are stock photos, 3D graphics, icons, shapes, characters and avatars, ai-generated images, videos and animated graphics.

Share Your One-Pager

It's time to show prospective investors your one-pager now that it's finished. You can download or share the document in a number of ways with Visme.

If your one pager has interactive features, here are some options available to you:

• Download as an HTML5 file
• Share via a private link with password access
• Share via a public link
• Send an invitation with a link
• Embed into a website with a snippet code

However, if it's a static document, you can download it as a PDF or an image or share it right on social media.

8 One Page Business Plan Templates

One page business plan.

Crafted to cater to the needs of both startups and established enterprises, this template will help you pitch investors in a clear and succinct way. From your value proposition to target audience, revenue model and key metrics, every vital detail finds its place.

Just like every other Visme template, this design may be customized in every way imaginable. Insert your company's colors, logo, icons and images into the design to give it a more personalized feel.

If you would like to change the custom images, you can utilize Visme’s AI image generator to create new professional images of your choice or improve on existing ones. Simply type your prompts and watch the magic happen in seconds.

Retail Business One Pager Proposal

Whether you're launching a new retail endeavor or refining an existing one, this template is your key to capturing attention and securing support.

Effortlessly communicate your store's vision, unique selling points, target market and sales strategy in a visually compelling format.

Struggling with content? With Visme's built-in AI writer , creating content is a breeze. This tool's sophisticated text creation, modification and proofreading features will help you save time and energy while producing high-quality work.

Sales Business Plan One Pager

Whether you're seeking investors, aligning your team, or optimizing your sales approach, this one page plan is your go-to solution.

Use this nifty template to put up a professional-looking presentation of your company's data, products and services and more. Also included are sections in which you may provide details about your business, its offerings, special features, statistics and more.

With its eye-catching design, you can present your strategies and numbers in a way that captures the reader's attention instantly.

Use Visme's interactive features , such as clickable buttons and links, to pique the interest of your audience and encourage them to learn more.

Finance Business Plan One Pager

Attract potential investors and partners to your finance business with this stunning one pager template.

Lay out your financial strategies, whether it's investment management, financial consulting, or any other niche. Showcase how you'll stand out in a competitive landscape.

This well-designed one-pager incorporates charts, graphs and visuals to make your financial projections and strategies even more compelling. Investors and stakeholders will be impressed by your data-driven approach.

To quickly find design elements in the Visme editor, use the shortcut key. With a simple click of the forward-slash (/), you can conduct a targeted search or quickly skim through the available options.

Marketing Business Plan One-Pager

Provide your audience with a comprehensive overview of your marketing approach without overwhelming them by using this template. Showcase your target audience, unique value proposition, distribution channels and key performance metrics in a visually compelling format.

Make use of visual aids like charts and graphs to communicate your findings from market research, analysis of the competition and growth estimates. Backed by data, you'll command attention from investors and partners eager to join your journey.

You can also include a link to an explainer video that demonstrates the value you provide. Create videos with ease using Visme and store related files in dedicated brand folders for easy access.

Retail Business Start-Up One Pager

Whether you're seeking investment, sharing your vision with potential partners, or mapping out your start-up strategy, this template offers a way to make a compelling case.

With a focus on clarity, this start-up one pager template enables you to present your business concept, target market, product offerings and initial financial projections on a single, engaging page.

You can keep track of the data for each one pager you send out using Visme analytics . More precise activity tracking is possible when you customize each document and save it separately with the prospect's name.

Tech Business Plan One-Pager

Whether you're seeking funding, aligning your team, or refining your tech strategy, this simple one-pager template is your ultimate tool.

Utilize this template to showcase your product/service, target market, technology stack and key milestones in a visually compelling format.

You can download your design as a JPG, PNG, or PDF to print or share with your team members for collaboration. Sharing Visme projects through live links allows you to track who accessed your work using Visme’s analytics.

Ecommerce Business Plan One-Pager

The vibrant color used in this design is sure to catch the eye of your audience right away. This makes it an excellent option for showcasing the worth of your eCommerce solution to potential investors or business associates.

This one-pager touches on your product range, market analysis, marketing strategy and analysis in a visually captivating format.

Using Visme's collaboration features , you may swiftly solicit input from your partners or mentors while controlling permissions to edit or comment.

To add people to your workspace, follow the short tutorial video below.

Create Winning Business Plans with Visme

One-page business plans are great because they force you to distill your ideas and goals into concise and focused points. This brevity makes it easier to communicate your vision to investors, track progress and adapt to changes quickly.

Creating a professional one-page business plan is seamless with Visme. You can access a wide range of customizable templates, graphics to effectively convey the plan and impress your audience.

Visme's real-time collaboration tools and flexible sharing options allow you to effectively involve all relevant parties in developing and communicating your business plan, even when you're not physically together.

Apart from one-pager business plans, you can make all types of business one pagers , pitch decks, proposals , reports and all kinds of business content in minutes with Visme.

Sign up for Visme today to start creating excellent and compelling business content that’ll help you achieve your business goals.

Create winning one-page business plans with Visme

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How to Create an One-Page Business Plan + Templates

Many entrepreneurs find it challenging to put their business ideas on paper. So don’t worry if you’re feeling the same anxiety.

The solution? Try starting with a one-page business plan!

This simple yet powerful tool helps you and your audience gain a clear understanding of your business.

But how do you write one—this guide will walk you through the process of creating a one-page business plan, including its types, essential components, and business plan templates.

Thus, let’s get started on crafting an effective plan. But before that let’s go through what it is.

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What is a one-page business plan?

A one-page business plan is a simple and shorter version of a traditional business plan. It outlines the necessary elements of your business, such as the problem, solution, target customers, financial analysis, and other important things on a single page.

It’s specifically made to provide a quick idea of the business’s concept for easy communication and updates when needed.

Traditional vs. one-page business plan

A traditional business plan is a detailed document of around 15 to 30 pages. It covers everything from business overviews to financial forecasts in different sections. Whereas the one-page business plan is a single-page plan that’s a condensed version of the whole plan.

Traditional business plans are perfect if you need to secure significant funding or map out long-term strategies for your business.

On the other hand, a one-page business plan is ideal for quickly sharing your business idea and internal use for strategic planning. It’s concise and easy to update, making it perfect for startups and small businesses that need to stay updated and focused.

Now that we know the difference, let’s move forward to the components of the one page business plan.

What to include in your one-page business plan

A one-page business plan is particularly designed to provide a brief overview of your business, including your business idea, goals, strategies, and key metrics.

Here are the sections you need to include:

Note and mention the problems of the target customers that your product or service will solve. This is the part where you should create a convincing statement that’s relatable for your readers.

2. Customers

Identify who your target customers are, including their behaviors and demographics. Explain how your business will meet this specific target market’s needs.

Here, include information on market size, growth potential, and key trends. Highlight the demand for your product or service within this market.

4. Competitors

Highlight your main competitors along with their strengths and weaknesses. Explain how your business will stand out in the competitive landscape. Discuss any gaps in the market that your business will fill.

5. Solution

Explain your solution here about how your product or services will solve the problem. Also, highlight why your solution is the best fit for your audience.

Detail what exactly you offer to your audience and what’s the unique value proposition of the product or service. Also, mention how your product stands out along with your competitive advantage.

Introduce key members of your business, highlighting their roles and responsibilities. Also, add up their relevant experience and expertise in the industry.

8. Promotion

Outline your strategies—including a marketing plan, social media strategies, and advertising plans. Explain how these strategies will attract and retain customers.

9. Distribution

Describe the distribution channels you will use, such as online or retail stores, or direct delivery. Mention any partnerships with distributors that reach your target market.

10. Partners

Identify key business partners or collaborators who will play a crucial role in your business’s success. This could include suppliers or strategic alliances. Explain how these partnerships will support your business operations and growth.

11. Financing

Summarize your financial projections, including expected revenue, expenses, and profitability. Outline your funding requirements, specifying how much money you need to start or grow your business and what it will be used for.

12. Startup costs

Provide the list and estimation of the initial costs required to start your business. It includes costs for equipment, inventory, marketing, and any other significant startup expenses.

13. Running costs

Detail the ongoing operational costs necessary to run your business. This could include salaries, rent, utilities, supplies, and maintenance expenses.

14. Revenue streams

Clearly outline each revenue stream and how it contributes to your overall financial goals. List the different revenue streams, for example: product sales, subscription fees, licensing, or other sources of income.

Now that you know all the sections that need to be included in the one-page plan, let’s see which templates are used commonly.

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Most common one-page business plan templates

There are various types of one-page business plans with different components, let’s see them one by one:

1. One-page business plan canvas

The one-page business plan canvas helps businesses maintain the strategic overview of their company. By including all the necessary elements, it ensures everyone is in sync with the company’s mission and goals.

This is the one-page business plan canvas by Upmetrics:

2. One-page business plan: lean canvas

The lean canvas is ideal for startups and early-stage businesses to test their business concept. It helps the team focus on solutions and validate their business model through continuous feedback and learning.

3. One-page business plan: startup canvas

This canvas is for entrepreneurs to communicate their business ideas. It helps new entrepreneurs rapidly capture their business concepts, ensuring everyone understands the key elements and direction.

4. One-page business model canvas

The business model canvas is to help businesses visualize their entire business model on one page. It showcases how the business creates and delivers value.

How to use the one-page business plan template

You see it’s quite easy to use any of our one-page canvas templates. All you need to do is—download the template (we support PPTX and PDF format) and start filling in the details.

To begin with, gather the relevant business information; details on your target market, market research, and other essential points. Read the tips under each section to understand what to write, and begin filling out all sections.

Since you’re doing it all on your own, it may take a while to get things done. However, if you choose to use Upmetrics’ strategic planning tool , things can be sped up. Simply enter some related business information, and the Upmetrics AI assistant will do the rest.

The Quickest Way to turn a Business Idea into a Business Plan

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Prepare your one-page business plan using AI

While traditional planning methods still exist and work, I’d be hard-pressed to believe they’re as efficient as AI-powered tools.

Ideating a one-page plan is more about brainstorming, guess working, and critical thinking, than writing.

Considering the importance of a one-page plan for your business, your stretched-out schedules, and other critical tasks on your to-do, using an AI-powered tool like Upmetrics for planning seems your best bet.

A strategic planning tool for one-page plans, a plan builder for detailed plan creation, a pitch deck creator for compelling investor decks, and an AI-powered financial forecasting tool for accurate forecasts, Upmetrics has all you need once you finish your plan.

So, what’s the wait? Try Upmetrics and start preparing your one-page plan.

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Frequently asked questions, how detailed should my one-page business plan be.

As it’s a one-page business plan, the details included in it should be brief and to the point. Things to include are business overview, problems, solutions, market opportunity, business model, marketing strategy, business strategy, and key metrics.

Can a one-page business plan be used to secure funding?

A one-page business plan can give a quick and clear overview of your business idea and needs, but it might not be enough to secure funding on its own. Investors usually want more detailed information to understand your business fully. So, while it’s a good starting point, you’ll likely need a more detailed plan to get funding.

Is a one-page business plan suitable for all types of businesses?

No, a one-page business plan works well for startups or small businesses that want to portray and validate their business concept. For large enterprises and complex businesses, a detailed business plan is preferable.

However, even if your business has a one-page business plan, it’s advisable to have a traditional plan for detailed information on your business.

Can I convert my traditional business plan into a one-page format?

Yes, you can convert the detailed business plan into a one-page plan by summarizing all the sections in two to three sentences. But it’s not advisable.

About the Author

Upmetrics Team

Upmetrics is the #1 business planning software that helps entrepreneurs and business owners create investment-ready business plans using AI. We regularly share business planning insights on our blog. Check out the Upmetrics blog for such interesting reads. Read more

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One-Page Business Plan Templates

One-Page Business Plan Templates for Entrepreneurs

Susan Ward wrote about small businesses for The Balance for 18 years. She has run an IT consulting firm and designed and presented courses on how to promote small businesses.

Having a business plan is a must , whether your goal is to start a one-person freelancing business or a multi-million dollar enterprise. However, if you are looking to start a simple product or service business as a sole proprietor or one-person corporation you don't need a 50-page business plan . A shorter plan will suffice. A quick and easy one-page business plan templates can get you started. 

If your business is a partnership  or requires multiple employees, you may need a more robust business plan. Similarly, a one-page plan will not be sufficient if you are in need of  debt  or  equity financing  and wish to impress financial institutions or potential investors. Lenders and investors will require you to provide more in-depth information in the plan such as:

• Your relevant industry background, business, and management experience 
• A more thorough description of your target market , proof of sufficient demand for your products or services, and how you will meet that demand and turn a profit
• Thorough analysis of the competition and how you will compete in the marketplace
• Detailed, realistic financial projections , including projected income statements, cash flow projections, and  breakeven analysis
• An in-depth operating section with details on facilities, leases, equipment, and staffing.

Step-by-step guidance on how to write a business plan  can lead you through each section of a full-sized plan.

Keep in mind that a business plan is a living document and you can always start with a one-page plan and enlarge it with additional detail as required. You may be able to articulate the business overview, vision , objectives, and concise action items in a single page, but you might want more detail in the financial and marketing sections. For example, you might want to add an extra page to your pricing strategy section for income and  cash flow statements and another for breakeven analysis in advertising and promotion.

Structure of a Business Plan

A one-page business plan needs to provide concise answers to several basic questions that must be addressed such as:

• What is the need for your product or service?
• What is your competition and how will you differentiate yourself in the marketplace ?
• How will you make money, for example, in terms of sales versus expenses?
• How will you market your business?
• How will you get started? What are your  capital  requirements?

How to Use the Templates

The sample templates can be copied into a Word, Excel or similar office document by selecting the text and using copy/paste—using Windows, outline the text to be selected with the mouse, and hit CTRL-C to copy and CTRL-V to paste. 

One-Page Business Plan Template for a Service Business

This template is suitable for freelance businesses that provide services, such as consultants, graphic designers, landscapers, and delivery services. For a one-page plan, the answers to questions should be one or two sentences.

One-Page Business Plan Template for a Product Business

This template is suitable for businesses that sell products, such as food services, beauty products, and bike shops. For a one-page plan, the answers to questions should be one or two sentences.

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One-Page Business Plan Template

Focus on the core aspects of your business using a one-page business plan.

Updated September 22, 2023 Written by Josh Sainsbury | Reviewed by Brooke Davis

A One-Page Business Plan is a concise and summarized version of a comprehensive business plan. It captures the essential elements of a business idea or proposal on a single page, serving as a high-level overview of its vision, objectives, strategies, and action points.

The brevity of a one-page plan makes it especially useful for quickly conveying a business idea without overwhelming the reader.

What is a One-Page Business Plan?

When to use a one-page business plan, who should use a one-page business plan, how to write a one-page business plan, one-page business plan sample, advantages and disadvantages of a one-page business plan, frequently asked questions.

A one-page business plan is a simplified version of a complete business plan. Although the plan is shorter, it still outlines the basics of your future company. It follows the same structure as the standard version but with less detail.

The one-page plan allows you to condense and present the information in an easy-to-read format.

Similar plans like a lean business plan or executive summary also allow you to present your business in a condensed format.

However, an accurate one-page business plan must fit on one page. It must also use a legible font size of 11 or 12 points.

A one-page business plan would be best when ready to present your ideas to others, such as potential investors. Instead of filling out an extensive business plan, you can start small to get started.

This lets you present your ideas cogently.

You should use a one-page business plan template to:

• Present a simple version of your business plan to interested investors
• Get started on writing a more comprehensive business plan
• Create a plan for a small business or one with a simple purpose
• Focus on your key ideas to generate interest
• Brainstorm and plan for your future company

One-page business plans aren’t limited to just one type of business; they can be used in a multitude of scenarios, including:

Businesses in the ideation stage

A one-page business plan is ideal for building a quick overview for people and businesses still brainstorming ideas. A simple plan allows it to be amended and updated as the concept is developed and keeps all the ideas on a single page.

When you start, you will want to constantly refer back to your business plan to ensure you stick to your goals and core objectives. A traditional business plan doesn’t quite fit into an agile startup because it can be time-consuming to update and tweak as you grow and learn.

Using a one-page plan means you can edit it easily and either create a traditional plan down the line or, if you’ve already made one, fully update it once you feel more concrete with your goals.

Established companies

A one-page business plan isn’t limited to new and developing businesses. Established companies can take advantage of adding a one-page plan to their business strategy.

You can share your existing strategy internally and externally in a snapshot that will be easily understood by all, helping everyone to get on board with your goals.

Writing a one-page business plan is simple, mainly when you use a template to help you get started. A one-page business plan should cover the following sections:

Step 1 – Business Overview

It would be best if you discussed essential facts about your business and its identifying information, such as:

• Founding date
• Mission statement
• Type of business (LLC, Corporation, Partnership, etc.)
• Owner and leadership contact information
• Service of process information

Makes It Easy to Read: Use a legible and professional font that is easy to read and the right size. Be sure to format your document so it flows well. A template one-page business plan can help with this.

Step 2 – Market Analysis

You need to identify who your customers are and where they are located. This section should also address how many potential customers are available in your business’s geographical area.

This should also include whether you will engage in primarily business-to-consumer (B2C) or business-to-business (B2B) transactions.

Step 3 – Your Business Model

A description of your business model should consist of information like:

• How you will make money
• Costs of production and sales
• Prices customers will pay for products or services
• Will your company sell products online?
• Will you have a storefront presence?

This section could quickly become lengthy. Focus on the critical components of your business for the single-page business plan.

Focus on Your Strengths: This short plan is likely a pitching tool to investors. Lead with the winning aspects of your business that set you apart from the rest—your value proposition.

Step 4 – Financial Forecast

This section should outline critical financial metrics like cash flow, profit and loss, and a sales forecast. This part is often difficult to condense, but you should focus on standard business ratios that help you get the point across.

You can always provide further details if you receive a request for financial projections.

Step 5 – The Team

This final section should detail each team member’s names, roles, and responsibilities.

Keep It Short: Keep each section short and to the point. Sections should be limited to 1 or 2 sentences or between 3 and 4 bullet points.

You can download a free one-page business plan template below, in Word or PDF format:

All types of business plans have their benefits and their drawbacks, including a one-page business plan:

Advantages of Using a One-Page Business Plan:

• See the big picture – There will be plenty of situations through the growth of the business that will require a snapshot of your business venture. A one-page plan shows multiple elements of your strategy but focuses on the big picture and what’s important.
• Consense your thoughts and ideas – Condensing your thoughts and ideas allows you to be more critical of your business and provide a brief overview of your plan. It will enable you to show investors, your management team, and potential partners a quick run-through of your business.
• Faster to create than a traditional business plan – Designed to be completed quickly and easily, a one-page plan is much quicker to produce than a full-length business plan and will see you running through each section of your plan. You’ll likely have to revisit it to make amendments, but luckily, with everything on one page, it won’t be time-consuming.
• Keep your core objectives at the forefront – As your business grows, processes and operations will become more challenging to manage and maintain. But when it comes down to making the big decisions, you can always refer back to your one-page business plan to keep your core business objectives in mind.

Disadvantages of Using a One-Page Business Plan:

• Not suitable for complex business ideas that require lots of supporting data – If your business idea is difficult or your financial projections are detailed, you might struggle to get all the vital information into a one-page plan.
• Not as detailed as a traditional business plan – Squeezing all your business plans onto one page often means you will miss out on essential details that could be crucial to getting investment or bringing additional partners on board.
• Hard to identify weaknesses and potential opportunities – Only seeing a snapshot of your business can make it challenging to identify any potential faults that could harm your business venture. The lack of in-depth customer and competitor information could also result in missing profitable opportunities.

Tips for Creating a One-Page Business Plan

Now that you’re ready to create your one-page business plan, here are a few tips to get you started:

• Use a one-page business plan template to simplify the process; you can download the template above in PDF and Word.
• Make sure your plan focuses on the core information key to running and operating a successful business.
• Revisit, tweak and change. This isn’t a static document; update it as your business grows and develops.
• Before writing your single-page business plan, understand your target market and where your product or service fits. Don’t forget your value proposition.
• Don’t skip the financial projections, especially if you require funding.
• Keep your core goals and objectives realistic and achievable.

What should a one-page business plan include?

A one-page business plan should include the important details about your business. It should contain brief information about the following:

• Business goals and mission statement
• Product or service offerings
• Target market and advertising strategies
• Identifying information
• Financial status and funding needs

Can I create my one-page business plan?

Yes, you can create your one-page plan. Just download the template and start building your business strategy’s big picture.

Alternatively, you could use our document builder, the fastest and easiest way to create your single-page business plan.

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How to write a One Page Business Plan: templates, ideas, and a step-by-step guide

Preston Lee

Preston Lee is the founder of Millo where he and his team have been helping freelancers thrive for over a decade. His advice has been featured by Entrepreneur, Inc, Forbes, Adobe, and many more. Learn more »

Download our FREE one page business plan template + guide

The problem with business plans, using a one page business plan, vs. using no business plan at all, vs. a lengthy, drawn out business plan, the one page business plan bias, so what should you include in a one page business plan, examples of successful one page business plans, chris guillebeau’s one page business plan from the $100 startup, fizzle’s one page business sketch template, bplan’s one page business plan template, how to write a one page business plan from patrick bet-david of valuetainment, millo’s own one page business plan template & step-by-step guide, some final encouragement about your one page business plan, show me your one page business plans.

BIG NEWS! We just released The Freelance Files , a collection of professional done-for-you email scripts, contracts, invoices, and more for smarter freelancing. The first 50 customers, save 50% with this link .

Writing a one page business plan (instead of a hundred-page, in-depth business plan no one will ever read) has become a popular and efficient way to get your small business moving in the right direction.

This article is meant to be an all-inclusive resource for anyone wanting to write their own one page business plan and use it to actually start a business .

I’ll include links to quality one page business plan templates, ideas for what to include in a business plan, and more resources to walk you through the process of building a one page business plan yourself.

If you’re ready to skip all of this and just want to download our one page business plan completely free, you can enter your email below and we’ll send it to you asap. Otherwise, keep reading.

Here’s the fundamental problem with business plans—I’m not talking about a one page business plan here, I’m talking about the typical business plan you might see in silicon valley or presented to a bank loan officer.

Therein lies the issue: if you’re looking for a one page business plan template, you’re most likely not headed to the bank to try and get some huge loan to start your business.

Like millions of people around the world, you’re probably a freelancer, a side-hustler, a solopreneur or aspiring to be one of these.

You’re not trying to start the next huge corporation. You just want to make some extra money on the side—and maybe eventually quit your job and work for yourself.

For this much more common purpose, a one page business plan is the exact perfect remedy.

Why? Because by putting all your business plans onto just one single page, you’re forced to do a few things:

• Prioritize: Limiting your business plan to one page means you can only include the most important elements of your new small business.
• Simplify: When you’re dreaming up what your business might look like in the future it can be really easy to get carried away. By limiting your business plan to one page, you force yourself to keep it simple.
• Organize: Instead of letting all your dreams and plans swirl around in your brain, putting them down into a simple one page business plan allows you to quickly organize and move forward.

By forcing yourself to prioritize, simplify, and organize, you’ll find you can get down to what’s more important in your business: actually getting work done and getting paid for the work you do.

Let’s compare what your first 6-12 months of business might look like with a one page business plan vs. no business plan at all vs. a lengthy, drawn out traditional business plan.

Your first 6-12 months might look something like this if you choose to develop a one page business plan:

You come up with an interesting business idea that you want to explore. You jot down a few ideas including how you’ll make money, what you’ll be selling, and how much you’d like to make doing what you’re doing.

After just a couple of hours total working on your one page business plan, you’re ready to get to work on the tasks that actually move your business forward.

Your first 6-12 months might look something like this if you choose to use no business plan at all:

You come up with an interesting business idea that you’d like to explore. Instead of writing anything down, you decide to sketch out what your logo might look like.

The logo sketching leads to a dead end but reminds you of another business idea you once had in college. So you talk to your friends about that business idea for a while.

A year later, you’ve followed a similar pattern with dozens of potential ideas, but without a business plan, none of them ever came to fruition.

Your first 6-12 months might look something like this if you choose to use a long, drawn-out business plan instead of something that fits on one page:

You come up with an interesting business idea that you’d enjoy exploring further. You start to crunch the numbers on what this might look like if it gets really big and successful.

Knowing you’ll need funding from angels or the bank, you decide to draft up a large document explaining what actions your small company will take over the next 5-10 years to ensure your lenders get their money back.

You go through so many revisions of this hundred-page document, you finally burn out and decide it’s easier just to keep your day job.

Ok, obviously, I’m biased toward the one page business plan scenario. It’s clean, it’s easy, it’s simple. But most of all, it gets you to take action…quickly!

When I was contemplating taking my own business full-time, I called up my dad who, my whole life, has been talking about entrepreneurship and inventing. If I had a dollar for every time my dad said something like “that’s a great business idea” or “I can’t believe no one has made a business out of that yet,”….well, I would never need to work again.

But my dad…he’s not in business for himself.

He never has been, really. He’s always been at a desk job. And I admire him for his persistence in taking care of our family.

One day I called him up and asked him: “why did you never try to build a business of your own?”

His response, among other things, was he couldn’t wrap his brain around how to build a business plan, get funding, and find the right manufacturing (all of which, might I add, were infinitely harder 30 years ago than they are today).

Why do I tell you this story? Because I’ve seen it a thousand times in lots of variations: people get overwhelmed with what they think they need in order to start a business.

One of those overwhelming tasks: building a 40-page business plan complete with competitive SWAT analysis, positioning statement, and blah blah blah.

So it kills your idea.

On the other hand, using a one page business plan lights a fire under you and pushes you forward into the work that matters more than the planning: the actual doing.

Okay, enough talking about a one page business plan. You’re convinced. Putting all your plans down on one simple piece of paper is going to be better than any other option.

But where do you start? What exactly do you put down in your one page business plan to really make it effective without being too complicated?

Remember, a one page business plan is much different from a 70-page plan primarily because this plan isn’t meant to be shown off to other people in an effort to gain support or get funding.

This business plan is primarily for one person: you.

That means there are lots of things you might find are recommended to go in a typical business plan. But that doesn’t mean they should be in your one page plan. Examples include “Executive Summaries,” “Management Organization” or “Funding Requests.”

Don’t waste your time on that kind of thinking for now.

Instead, include the most important elements of your new business only. Here are a just a few ideas to get you started:

• Company Description: What will your company do? What exactly will your company sell? Will you provide a service? Sell a product? To whom? Why?
• Products or Services: What products or services will you offer? How much will they cost in the beginning?
• Marketing and Sales: How will you get your first customers? Who will pay you for your service or product?
• Goals and Milestones: How many customers do you need to make this business “successful”? How long will it take to get the ideal number of customer or monthly revenue?

There are countless examples of business plans on the internet, but below, I’d like to highlight a few of my favorite approaches to one page business planning from some of the smartest people I personally know in the world of solopreneurship and small business.

Note: PLEASE don’t pay for an app or software to help you write a one page business plan. Maybe down the road you’ll need something like that, but keep it simple and download one of the free options below or just get out a blank sheet of paper and create your own.

Chris Guillebeau, author of one of my all-time favorite business books, The $100 Startup , offers a free one page PDF that’s pretty great.

It asks simple questions like: What will you sell? Who will buy it? And How will your business idea help people?  

I also love how Chris’s one page business plan focuses on success metrics—or what the business will look like if it’s “successful.” Will have it have a certain number of customers? A certain amount of monthly revenue?

This allows you to put an actual end point or goal on your one page business plan so that you know exactly what you’re working toward.

You can access Chris’s one page business plan here .

Another great resource to get you moving quickly toward your business goals is the Business Sketch Template provided my my friends at Fizzle.co.

Here’s what they have to say about one page planning:

“It might seem surprising or impossible to imagine that all of the most crucial pieces of your business can fit onto one page. At Fizzle, we call this plan a sketch: it’s meant to be completed quickly, if not a bit roughly, but the objective is still to put pencil to paper.”

What I like about Fizzle’s business sketch template is that it starts with the center focus on Key Metrics and prompts you to ask questions like “What will you measure to determine that this audience has this problem and wants this solution?”

As big proponents of building a small, lifestyle business, It’s no surprise this template also includes some unique sections like “personal fit” which force you to ask questions about how the business will interact with your daily life, personal passions, and life goals.

You can access Fizzle’s one page business sketch template here .

Another potential one page business plan is presented by Bplan.

Here’s what they have to say about “a new kind of business planning.”

“A business plan no longer needs to be a long document that takes weeks to write and research. It’s not something that you print, bind professionally, and then stick on a shelf. You probably only need a formal, traditional business plan if you’re seeking a bank loan or outside investment—you’ll be expected to provide one in those instances.”

With that, they offer some great advice on how to write a business plan in under 1 hour .

You can download their “lean business plan” template here .

If you prefer to learn by watching a video, I found this video is a pretty great resource to help you with your one page business plan. I don’t agree 100% with everything he says, but I like his overall approach to tackling business planning.

After studying this topic extensively—reading hundreds of articles and looking at lots of one page business plan templates, we’ve decided to include a free download of one of our own templates as well.

Our one page business plan template is tailored particularly to freelancers and solopreneurs—one-person businesses who want to stay small and build a healthy revenue for themselves and their loved ones.

Our one page business plan template is designed to be completed in less than 45 minutes and give you the ammunition you need to hit the ground running—instead of getting stuck in the details of starting a business.

You can download our free one page business plan template by entering your email below:

Before you go, here are some final words of encouragement and advice when it comes to planning your business.

First of all, you can plan everything you need to on just one page. At least for now.

Sure, one day you might need a more lengthy, in-detail plan to present to someone else, but for now, give yourself a break. You don’t have to write a plan that Mark Cuban would be proud of. You just have to write a plan that helps you get from point A to point B.

Secondly, don’t get stuck at this phase. If you have to, time yourself. Set a time limit of 45 minutes (or whatever amount makes sense for you). And when the timer’s up, it’s time to get back to work actually starting or building your business.

Finally, use this one page business plan as a compass, but be flexible. The point is to give yourself a roadmap, but just like your GPS has to “reroute” when there’s an unexpected obstacle, you might also need to pursue a different path, different method, or different goals as you go along.

In fact, I’d say it’s next to impossible to build a business plan of any kind and then stick to it 100% over any significant amount of time.

There will always be unforeseen obstacles and changes. There will always be hiccups. The idea is to just write your business plan .

Roll with the punches and something as simple as a one page business plan can take you far.

After you draft up your one page business plan, I’d love to see what you landed on. Share a link with me in our mastermind group , by leaving a comment below, or sharing on twitter .

I can’t wait to see what you’ve done. Good luck!

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Written by Preston Lee

Editor at millo.co.

Preston Lee is the founder of Millo where he and his team have been helping freelancers thrive for over a decade. His advice has been featured by Entrepreneur, Inc, Forbes, Adobe, and many more.

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One-Page Business Plan Template (with Examples)

The first step of scaling a business is planning, and one of the easiest ways to create a scaling plan is to use the One-Page Strategic Plan (OPSP). Originally introduced by Verne Harnish in his books Mastering the Rockefeller Habits and Scaling Up , the One-Page Strategic Plan makes it simple to keep everyone on the same page to achieve business goals.

We’ll share with you how to create your own One-Page Strategic Plan, how companies have used these plans to scale a business , and templates to guide the strategy of managing people and processes.

These templates can be used throughout the rest of the Hub articles on scaling a business to help you implement your calling with more success. Let’s start by examining what is included in the One-Page Strategic Plan.

One-Page Strategic Plan (OPSP)

The One-Page Strategic Plan is normally two pages, but I guess the decision was made to call it a One-Page Strategic Plan because it sounds better. The first page focuses on people and long-term vision, while the second focuses on processes and quarterly results. We’ll look at each page separately.

Download the OPSP . If you print it, please use landscape mode and fit-to-page for the best results. Then use the template to follow along.

Long Term Plan

The first page of the One-Page Strategic Plan is focused on people and is broken into six sections:

• Strengths and Weaknesses
• People that Drive Your Reputation
• Core Values
• 3 to 5-Year Targets
• 1-Year Goals

We’ll look at each of these to help you understand how they help business leaders scale a business for success.

Strengths and Weaknesses (Bottom)

I’ve included the strengths and weaknesses first because the One-Page Strategic Plan (OPSP) was created with the intent for people to work their way from the bottom to the top. The first step of solving any problem is recognizing there is one.

Given that we’re using it to scale a business, you’ll probably want to focus on areas where you are:

• Struggling to meet core customer demands
• Spending too much time
• Reaching a point that you need to hire more people

If your strength is serving customers but you’re spending 20 hours a week performing accounting tasks, your weakness is likely your accounting process. By reducing the time spent on accounting, you can focus more on serving your core customer base.

Take this portion seriously, as it will drive the rest of the plan. While you’re working on it, check out our interview with Mike about writing business plans.

People Drive Reputation (Top)

People are the key to running a successful business. Whether the people are employees, customers, or owners, they can impact the business’s success. Let’s look at each concept and how they affect planning to scale a company.

The creator of the One-Page Strategic Plan intends for you to use metrics that show the company is succeeding, but you need to understand the stakeholder expectations to create meaningful metrics. So we’ll discuss expectations.

Employees (1st Question)

If the scaling opportunity you are working on only involves certain employees or divisions, you might want to include who they are in this section. You will probably want to consult with employees as you develop the scaling strategy because they will be the key to success during the implementation stages. 

The Harvard Business Review outlines why change management fails —ultimately, all of the reasons focus on the inability of management to get employees to buy into the strategic plan. Include employees early and often to get the most out of your scaling plan.

If it is the whole company, you may want to include information on how you measure success. If you have never created metrics before, the Academy to Innovate HR lists 21 employee performance metrics that help measure employee success. I suggest reading it.

Customers (2nd Question)

Without customers, there is no company. It’s just a glorified hobby. You’ll want to include customers in various ways when scaling a business. Consider drawing upon customer knowledge and opinion in the following ways:

• Customer service surveys
• Beta testing
• Market research
• Requests for new product features. Craft.io has a blog on collecting feedback , and it sounds like many product managers love their feedback portals.

If you’re going to include customer metrics in this section, you may want to have ones like Net Promoter Score, Customer Satisfaction Score, and Churn Rate. Check out Hubspot’s 15 customer success metrics to learn more about customer metrics .

Owners and debt holders (3rd-6th Question)

This section was called shareholders in the original One-Page Strategic Plan, but in today’s business world, there are many more potential stakeholders than just shareholders.

Scaling opportunities might need approval for business decisions from:

• Shareholders
• Debt holders

You may also need to disclose your new strategies and risks in quarterly or annual reports.

Make sure to include anyone who can help or hinder your scaling strategies. The executive team will be the driver that ties the company’s core values with the brand promises and a Big Hairy Audacious Goal® (BHAG). Without them on board, this powerful tool may not achieve the key results.

Boston Research Group surveyed 60 CEOs to understand what the most important metrics are for new members of their executive teams and found that the three most important measures of executive success are:

• Exceeding performance goals
• Establishing a reputation as an expert, both within the company and externally
• Fitting the company’s culture

The same can be used to establish whether owners provide measurable results to help the company achieve scaling goals that improve revenue and profitability. Keep reading for information on how core values guide a growing firm.

Core Values (Column 1)

Core values are the first column in an OPSP tool because the scaling strategy owners implement should stay in line with the core values and vision. Reminding the team of how the company sees the world is key to keeping the implementation in line with the company’s focus.

If you have a mission statement and values, include them in this column. Also, include behaviors and values the team should and should not emulate as they implement the strategy. Here is an example of an email Elon Musk sent emphasizing how important it is for every team member to keep the brand promise:

Be clear, compassionate, and honest when communicating core values with your company and customers. This column and the next are driven entirely by the small business owners, CEOs, or the executive team.

Keep reading to learn about how the purpose column fits into the one-page personal plan and how it guides the company scaling strategy.

Purpose (Column 2)

The purpose column in the one-page plan focuses on why you are doing what you are doing. It is meant to be inspirational. When originally written, the column was meant to be worked on from bottom to top. It takes an approach where you must build the foundation first and then build upon it. 

The foundation is a Big Hairy Audacious Goal ®, a term registered by Jim Collins and introduced in his book Built to Last . The next step is how the company wants to measure profits, followed by actions, and finally, the purpose, which is the summary.

An example of what the purpose might look like would look something like the statement below:

“XYZ LLC aims to triple the number of millionaires in the US by providing content that makes starting and running a business more profitable. To drive revenue, we partner with companies with a Trust Pilot score of 4.5 or higher and provide referrals that help clients and partners create better results.

We are looking to scale the company revenue by using AI to identify, apply, and insert referral links into our blogs in meaningful places.”

The above statement summarizes how a company might try to scale revenue from blogging.

Big Hairy Audacious Goal ®

Big Hairy Audacious Goal ® is simply a statement of how you will change the world. An example is Meta’s (formerly Facebook) intended goal “to give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together.” It’s big and nearly impossible to achieve fully without merging us all as one.

Most people will create a BHAG using four strategies:

• Numerical: Hit a specific revenue, profit, or customer number.
• Aspirational: Attempt to be like another company, for instance, become the “Nike” of backpacks.
• Market Leader: General Electric once aimed to be one of the top two companies in the industry or exit the business.
• Transformational: Change how the industry operates. For instance, Airbnb and Uber changed their industries by making it so that homeowners and restaurants can earn additional income. Both companies’ main asset is tech playing the middleman between consumers and owners.

When you started your company, you probably had a meaningful reason. What was that reason? Write it down on your OPSP template.

We’ve given you a few ideas of what you should include as the foundation, so let’s go to the next section of the One-Page Strategic Plan, measuring profits.

Measuring Profits

Measuring profits can be done in a variety of ways, but the goal is to give a meaningful way of defining how much profit you want to make from a venture. For scaling a business, the primary goal, as discussed in The Ultimate Guide to Scaling a Business , is to reduce the marginal cost of sales. That means you might want to consider profit metrics like:

• Profit per Customer
• Profit per Transaction
• Profit per Employee
• Profit per Piece of Content

Once you’ve defined how to measure profits as the company grows, it’s time to look at the actions to achieve success.

The actions are the changes you make to reduce the marginal cost of increasing revenue. Include the high-level goals of your scaling projects in this section, such as comparing automated accounting, training people on process changes,  and implementing dashboards to monitor progress.

Paul Akers encourages focusing on making improvements that save 2 seconds per task completed. He finds this a great strategy to improve his company and life using LEAN mindsets. Listen to our interview with Paul to hear how easy it is for small improvements to build up.

Once you have some high-level priorities outlined, it’s time to look at what you want the company to look like in a few years.

3 to 5-Year Targets (Column 3)

In this column, you want to get more specific about where you want to be in the next three to five years.  At the top is a box for the date you want to accomplish everything by, the revenue you want to generate, profit margins, market cap, or cash on hand.

This column will consist of brand promises, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to measure them, primary capabilities, and the sandbox. Start from the bottom and work your way up. You’ll also want to update this section when the execution of the action items is complete.

Let’s look at each.

Brand Promises (Column 3, Bottom)

Brand promises are what you agree to deliver. The specifics will vary by industry, but there are six main ways of differentiating your company from competitors:

• Product: Explain your product features, performance, efficiency, warranty, etc.
• Service: Explain how your services compare to the industry.
• Channel: Explain how you deliver your product or service to the customer.
• Relationship: Explain how your customer service differs from the competition. Are you faster or friendlier? For instance, the HVAC company One Hour Air promises “ALWAYS ON TIME…OR YOU DON’T PAY A DIME!®”
• Reputation: This can be accomplished through marketing or by combining the differentiation strategies so when people ask about your service, your clients immediately think of you.
• Price: Are you a premium brand, a low-cost provider, or priced based on client needs?

Check out 6 Ways to Differentiate Your Business by MarketResearch.com to learn more about these strategies.

Once you have established your brand promises, it’s time to create KPIs to measure their success.

Measuring Brand Promises with Key Performance Indicators

Promises are only as good as the emphasis put behind them. To fulfill a brand promise, you’ll need to measure the results across the entire organization using key metrics. Jack Welch once said:

There are only three measurements that tell you nearly everything you need to know about your organization’s overall performance: employee engagement, customer satisfaction, and cash flow.

No company, small or large, can win over the long run without energized employees who believe in the mission and understand how to achieve it.

Your business may need more KPIs than employee engagement, customer satisfaction, and cash flow to identify whether you are meeting the brand promise. Datapine has a list of over 300 KPIs to consider based on the job, industry, and technology you are using. Find the ones that drive your business to match the company identity you are trying to create.

Keep reading for information on how to define the primary capabilities of your organization.

Primary Capabilities

Primary capabilities are focused on what you want the organization to be able to achieve. As it relates to scaling, these might be steps like:

• Automate fulfillment
• Start using a phone app for employees to input receipts into the accounting system
• Create a database for customer feature requests

These are also referred to as key thrusts. As long as they align with the core purpose and can be verified with a measurable target, they should help the team complete its business goals.

The owner of Urbanity wrote nearly 100 page business plan and got a business loan without any experience in the boutique business. Find out how below.

Keep reading to learn how the sandbox impacts the ability to scale a business.

Sandbox (aka Target Market)

The sandbox is a term used in Mastering the Rockefeller Habits to describe what we more commonly call the target market. You likely already know the target market because most people looking to scale a business have already reached their ideal customers. The focus here is to remind the team of who the organization serves and who it doesn’t.

Keep reading to define the annual goals of an organization.

1 Year Goals (Column 4)

Fast-growing firms can see over 100% growth per year. An organization growing at this rate will need to define its goals and fast-track them to maintain the customer service and quality control level executives expect. 

The top of the column has space to input the targets for financial targets and should be updated before the beginning of each year. To give even more clarity to employees, I suggest including the percentage change over the last year, which we’ve included in the templates. The picture below shows what direction I would expect each to move.

This column includes sections on initiatives, critical personnel goals, and critical profit and loss numbers that the company needs to meet. We’ll look at each to help you create a strategic plan to scale a business.

Key Initiatives

Key initiatives break down the primary capabilities into smaller, more manageable tasks. For instance, you may want to break down fulfillment automation into:

• Research alternatives
• Plan layout for implementation
• Implement a fulfillment automation plan
• Train employees on the process

Critical Personal Numbers (Columns 4, 5, and 7)

In this section, you’ll want to include critical numbers for hiring to meet your annual revenue targets. Make sure to break it down to the skills, too. For instance, a construction company might want to add:

• 50 general construction workers
• Four project managers
• Two accountants
• Four delivery drivers

Verne Harnish’s OPSP separates critical numbers into four categories:

• Dark green: Meets 100% of the goal
• Light green: Can successfully meet the goal, over 75%
• Yellow: 25% to 75% of the goal
• Red: Under 25% of the way to the goal

You can use the color coding in an online dashboard to help the executive team quickly review the execution of the plan on a routine basis. Don’t check them daily, but weekly or monthly would make sense. You can emphasize action items with your team to meet the critical numbers based on the information in the dashboard.

Critical Profit  and Loss Numbers (Columns 4, 5, and 7)

Like the critical number for hiring, profit and loss numbers help identify what has been completed and what should be emphasized to meet future growth. In this section, you are looking for leading indicators that show whether the work is being performed to meet the objectives.

Some examples of leading indicators are:

• Emails collected
• Requests for bids
• Phone calls received
• The number of people who click on your ads
• Anything that can be used with other data to approximate the number of sales you can expect

Most industries average a 5% to 10% closing rate. Hubspot industry data shows that a 2% growth in traffic creates a 1% increase in transactions, but analytics will show better estimates.

That concludes the first page of the One-Page Strategic Plan. The second page focuses more on the actual actions to meet future growth expectations. Let’s look at the processes plan.

Process Plan

The process plan is where you get into the real details of how to scale your business. It covers industry trends, productivity drivers, quarterly actions, the theme of the quarter or year, and how to measure each person’s success. Create this page before the beginning of each quarter or after you successfully build the processes.

Let’s look at each to see how the One-Page Strategic Plan can help you scale a small business.

Trends (Bottom)

The process plan starts with a solid foundation at the bottom of the page. In every industry, some trends occur. How well you can recognize and respond to trends impacts how profitable the company can be.

List the ones you see going on in this section. If you aren’t already keeping up with the pulse of your industry, I suggest becoming more active on:

• Trade Organizations
• Location of searches
• Historical trends
• Related topics
• Related search terms
• Check out the picture below for what comes up with eCommerce:

Keep reading for more information about using a strategic plan to scale an organization.

Productivity Drivers (Top)

The top of the page is broken into three categories that drive productivity:

Make or Buy

Record and report.

Each of these should be focused on meaningful results that will help drive revenue and profitability during the quarter.

This section is focused on inventory and manufacturing. You may want to measure metrics like inventory per SKU, turnover per SKU, gross margin percentage, and loss. Remember, the goal is to increase revenue and profit by becoming more efficient.

In this section, you’ll focus on growth statistics in sales and marketing. You may want to include the sales leads, consultations, and closing percentages. You might also want to have or review metrics like average transaction value, average discount, and revenue per employee.

This section focuses on accounting and should include items like how long it takes for accounts receivable to be paid, EBITDA , and other metrics that show the company’s financial health.

Quarterly Actions (Column 5)

Column 5 is focused on the quarterly results. It includes a table with the financial goals for the quarter, followed by your “Rocks” and critical numbers. We discussed the critical numbers earlier, but be aware that each column will have different critical numbers.

Keep reading to learn about what Verne Harnish calls rocks.

Rocks are the goals you must accomplish to stay on track. They are things like hiring a new developer, increasing your seller ranking on Amazon, or completing 20 consultations with prospective clients. You will have some goals with which you must succeed. If you fail to meet those goals, you may have to cancel the initiative.

Make sure to specify who is responsible for each Rock.

Quarterly and Annual Theme (Column 6)

The theme needs to focus on helping motivate employees. It consists of a theme name, scoreboard design, celebration, and reward for meeting the goals. Depending on your company size, you might need to have a single theme or a theme for each division.

Your theme name should be catchy to get people’s attention. For instance, if you run a business in which most of the revenue is generated during the summer, you might want to run a quarterly theme in the spring called “Heating Up,” then “It’s a Scorcher” for the summer months. If the reward is specific, you can base the name on that, too.

Scoreboard Design

A scoreboard is a fun way to measure progress and what it should look like as you go. Common methods of showing the progress are with a thermometer scoreboard like the one pictured below. Alternatively, you can use a baseball diamond or a football field if you plan to take the team to a game.

You can also have a graphic designer and developer create something to view it in the company’s tech stack. Get creative and fun with it for the best results, but don’t spend a lot of time overcomplicating it.

Celebration and Reward

A celebration and a reward are similar but different. A celebration might be a pizza party, while a reward would be a bonus or taking the team to a sporting event. Doing both is a way of thanking the team and each individual. If you do a reward for individuals, try to make it something meaningful to them.

Keep reading for info on the accountability column.

Accountability (Column 7)

Accountability is about the individual and their performance. It should include the KPIs for the team and break them up based on each person. In addition, this section should spell out what each worker’s priorities are. At the bottom, it will include the critical numbers to meet.

Let’s look at individual KPIs and priorities to see how they impact when you scale a business.

Personal KPIs

You’ll want Personal KPIs that are meaningful to each position. As a writer, I might be judged on words per article, affiliate links clicked per blog, or an average Google ranking.

KPIs and priorities should be the basis for your promotions, reviews, and bonuses. Otherwise, they aren’t significant or specific and might easily be overlooked.

Personal Priorities

Personal priorities are the specific tasks to be accomplished for an employee to be successful. When focusing on how to scale a business, an accountant might need to have a personal priority of categorizing all vendor spending within the first eight weeks of the quarter. A salesperson might need to increase sales by 10%.

Scaling a business means you’ll consistently improve the processes, but that doesn’t mean you need an overly complex business plan to get great results. Once you’ve created the first page, you can use it until you surpass your three-to-five-year goals. Then, you just need to use the second page to plan new and improved processes. If you’re applying for financing you might want to go with a more traditional business plan .

What KPIs do you find most useful for scaling and managing your business?

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Simple Business Plan Template (2024)

Updated: May 4, 2024, 4:37pm

Table of Contents

Why business plans are vital, get your free simple business plan template, how to write an effective business plan in 6 steps, frequently asked questions.

While taking many forms and serving many purposes, they all have one thing in common: business plans help you establish your goals and define the means for achieving them. Our simple business plan template covers everything you need to consider when launching a side gig, solo operation or small business. By following this step-by-step process, you might even uncover a few alternate routes to success.

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Whether you’re a first-time solopreneur or a seasoned business owner, the planning process challenges you to examine the costs and tasks involved in bringing a product or service to market. The process can also help you spot new income opportunities and hone in on the most profitable business models.

Though vital, business planning doesn’t have to be a chore. Business plans for lean startups and solopreneurs can simply outline the business concept, sales proposition, target customers and sketch out a plan of action to bring the product or service to market. However, if you’re seeking startup funding or partnership opportunities, you’ll need a write a business plan that details market research, operating costs and revenue forecasting. Whichever startup category you fall into, if you’re at square one, our simple business plan template will point you down the right path.

Copy our free simple business plan template so you can fill in the blanks as we explore each element of your business plan. Need help getting your ideas flowing? You’ll also find several startup scenario examples below.

Download free template as .docx

Whether you need a quick-launch overview or an in-depth plan for investors, any business plan should cover the six key elements outlined in our free template and explained below. The main difference in starting a small business versus an investor-funded business is the market research and operational and financial details needed to support the concept.

1. Your Mission or Vision

Start by declaring a “dream statement” for your business. You can call this your executive summary, vision statement or mission. Whatever the name, the first part of your business plan summarizes your idea by answering five questions. Keep it brief, such as an elevator pitch. You’ll expand these answers in the following sections of the simple business plan template.

• What does your business do? Are you selling products, services, information or a combination?
• Where does this happen? Will you conduct business online, in-store, via mobile means or in a specific location or environment?
• Who does your business benefit? Who is your target market and ideal customer for your concept?
• Why would potential customers care? What would make your ideal customers take notice of your business?
• How do your products and/or services outshine the competition? What would make your ideal customers choose you over a competitor?

These answers come easily if you have a solid concept for your business, but don’t worry if you get stuck. Use the rest of your plan template to brainstorm ideas and tactics. You’ll quickly find these answers and possibly new directions as you explore your ideas and options.

2. Offer and Value Proposition

This is where you detail your offer, such as selling products, providing services or both, and why anyone would care. That’s the value proposition. Specifically, you’ll expand on your answers to the first and fourth bullets from your mission/vision.

As you complete this section, you might find that exploring value propositions uncovers marketable business opportunities that you hadn’t yet considered. So spend some time brainstorming the possibilities in this section.

For example, a cottage baker startup specializing in gluten-free or keto-friendly products might be a value proposition that certain audiences care deeply about. Plus, you could expand on that value proposition by offering wedding and other special-occasion cakes that incorporate gluten-free, keto-friendly and traditional cake elements that all guests can enjoy.

3. Audience and Ideal Customer

Here is where you explore bullet point number three, who your business will benefit. Identifying your ideal customer and exploring a broader audience for your goods or services is essential in defining your sales and marketing strategies, plus it helps fine-tune what you offer.

There are many ways to research potential audiences, but a shortcut is to simply identify a problem that people have that your product or service can solve. If you start from the position of being a problem solver, it’s easy to define your audience and describe the wants and needs of your ideal customer for marketing efforts.

Using the cottage baker startup example, a problem people might have is finding fresh-baked gluten-free or keto-friendly sweets. Examining the wants and needs of these people might reveal a target audience that is health-conscious or possibly dealing with health issues and willing to spend more for hard-to-find items.

However, it’s essential to have a customer base that can support your business. You can be too specialized. For example, our baker startup can attract a broader audience and boost revenue by offering a wider selection of traditional baked goods alongside its gluten-free and keto-focused specialties.

4. Revenue Streams, Sales Channels and Marketing

Thanks to our internet-driven economy, startups have many revenue opportunities and can connect with target audiences through various channels. Revenue streams and sales channels also serve as marketing vehicles, so you can cover all three in this section.

Revenue Streams

Revenue streams are the many ways you can make money in your business. In your plan template, list how you’ll make money upon launch, plus include ideas for future expansion. The income possibilities just might surprise you.

For example, our cottage baker startup might consider these revenue streams:

• Product sales : Online, pop-up shops , wholesale and (future) in-store sales
• Affiliate income : Monetize blog and social media posts with affiliate links
• Advertising income : Reserve website space for advertising
• E-book sales : (future) Publish recipe e-books targeting gluten-free and keto-friendly dessert niches
• Video income : (future) Monetize a YouTube channel featuring how-to videos for the gluten-free and keto-friendly dessert niches
• Webinars and online classes : (future) Monetize coaching-style webinars and online classes covering specialty baking tips and techniques
• Members-only content : (future) Monetize a members-only section of the website for specialty content to complement webinars and online classes
• Franchise : (future) Monetize a specialty cottage bakery concept and sell to franchise entrepreneurs

Sales Channels

Sales channels put your revenue streams into action. This section also answers the “where will this happen” question in the second bullet of your vision.

The product sales channels for our cottage bakery example can include:

• Mobile point-of-sale (POS) : A mobile platform such as Shopify or Square POS for managing in-person sales at local farmers’ markets, fairs and festivals
• E-commerce platform : An online store such as Shopify, Square or WooCommerce for online retail sales and wholesale sales orders
• Social media channels : Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest shoppable posts and pins for online sales via social media channels
• Brick-and-mortar location : For in-store sales , once the business has grown to a point that it can support a physical location

Channels that support other income streams might include:

• Affiliate income : Blog section on the e-commerce website and affiliate partner accounts
• Advertising income : Reserved advertising spaces on the e-commerce website
• E-book sales : Amazon e-book sales via Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing
• Video income : YouTube channel with ad monetization
• Webinars and online classes : Online class and webinar platforms that support member accounts, recordings and playback
• Members-only content : Password-protected website content using membership apps such as MemberPress

Nowadays, the line between marketing and sales channels is blurred. Social media outlets, e-books, websites, blogs and videos serve as both marketing tools and income opportunities. Since most are free and those with advertising options are extremely economical, these are ideal marketing outlets for lean startups.

However, many businesses still find value in traditional advertising such as local radio, television, direct mail, newspapers and magazines. You can include these advertising costs in your simple business plan template to help build a marketing plan and budget.

5. Structure, Suppliers and Operations

This section of your simple business plan template explores how to structure and operate your business. Details include the type of business organization your startup will take, roles and responsibilities, supplier logistics and day-to-day operations. Also, include any certifications or permits needed to launch your enterprise in this section.

Our cottage baker example might use a structure and startup plan such as this:

• Business structure : Sole proprietorship with a “doing business as” (DBA) .
• Permits and certifications : County-issued food handling permit and state cottage food certification for home-based food production. Option, check into certified commercial kitchen rentals.
• Roles and responsibilities : Solopreneur, all roles and responsibilities with the owner.
• Supply chain : Bulk ingredients and food packaging via Sam’s Club, Costco, Amazon Prime with annual membership costs. Uline for shipping supplies; no membership needed.
• Day-to-day operations : Source ingredients and bake three days per week to fulfill local and online orders. Reserve time for specialty sales, wholesale partner orders and market events as needed. Ship online orders on alternating days. Update website and create marketing and affiliate blog posts on non-shipping days.

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6. Financial Forecasts

Your final task is to list forecasted business startup and ongoing costs and profit projections in your simple business plan template. Thanks to free business tools such as Square and free marketing on social media, lean startups can launch with few upfront costs. In many cases, cost of goods, shipping and packaging, business permits and printing for business cards are your only out-of-pocket expenses.

Cost Forecast

Our cottage baker’s forecasted lean startup costs might include:

Gross Profit Projections

This helps you determine the retail prices and sales volume required to keep your business running and, hopefully, earn income for yourself. Use product research to spot target retail prices for your goods, then subtract your cost of goods, such as hourly rate, raw goods and supplier costs. The total amount is your gross profit per item or service.

Here are some examples of projected gross profits for our cottage baker:

Bottom Line

Putting careful thought and detail in a business plan is always beneficial, but don’t get so bogged down in planning that you never hit the start button to launch your business . Also, remember that business plans aren’t set in stone. Markets, audiences and technologies change, and so will your goals and means of achieving them. Think of your business plan as a living document and regularly revisit, expand and restructure it as market opportunities and business growth demand.

Is there a template for a business plan?

You can copy our free business plan template and fill in the blanks or customize it in Google Docs, Microsoft Word or another word processing app. This free business plan template includes the six key elements that any entrepreneur needs to consider when launching a new business.

What does a simple business plan include?

A simple business plan is a one- to two-page overview covering six key elements that any budding entrepreneur needs to consider when launching a startup. These include your vision or mission, product or service offering, target audience, revenue streams and sales channels, structure and operations, and financial forecasts.

How can I create a free business plan template?

Start with our free business plan template that covers the six essential elements of a startup. Once downloaded, you can edit this document in Google Docs or another word processing app and add new sections or subsections to your plan template to meet your specific business plan needs.

What basic items should be included in a business plan?

When writing out a business plan, you want to make sure that you cover everything related to your concept for the business,  an analysis of the industry―including potential customers and an overview of the market for your goods or services―how you plan to execute your vision for the business, how you plan to grow the business if it becomes successful and all financial data around the business, including current cash on hand, potential investors and budget plans for the next few years.

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How to Write a One-Page Business Plan

Written by Dave Lavinsky

The one-page business plan is one of the most popular tools for entrepreneurs, startups, and established companies. It’s also one of the simplest to develop. This article will walk you through a description of a one-page business plan, the purpose of this type of plan, and how to create a one-page business plan for your company.  

What is a One-Page Business Plan?

A one-page business plan is a compressed version of a traditional business plan that fits neatly into a single page. Creating a one-page business plan requires significant research, strategizing and financial modeling on the front end to be effective. In that respect, rather than being easier or simpler to create than a full-length business plan, the single-page business plan actually requires an additional distillation effort for the entrepreneur.

Download our Ultimate Business Plan Template here >

As always, utilizing a business plan template provides the basis for you to clearly communicate your value proposition, business concept, business strategy, services, product offerings, etc., and improve your business planning process. ​  

Benefits of Using a One-Page Plan

A one-page plan is easier to read, share and understand.

By boiling down your business plan into one page with only the most important elements, you are better able to 1) focus on the key action items your business must accomplish and 2) present your vision and plan to your team in a way that won’t overwhelm them and will allow them to most easily understand it.

The reward is that the brevity of a 1 page business plan is very attractive to prospective investors, who are usually pressed for time. Because it is so brief, it is also an effective tool to share among your management team and employees to get your team motivated and working towards the same goals. A strong one-page business plan proves you grasp the crux of your business and appreciate what is most critical for audiences to quickly understand about it.

Below, we walk through the content of a one-page business planning template.  

The One-Page Business Plan Template

Whether you are starting a service business or a product-focused business, your one-page business plan should include the following 7 items:

• Business Model
• Market Analysis
• Competitor Analysis
• Financial Projections
• Funding Required & Uses of Funds

Each of these items are detailed below.

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How to Create a One-Page Business Plan

Each of the key elements included in a traditional business plan retains its position in the 1 page business plan. You need only provide a few words, phrases, or sentences in the description for each of the sections and move on to the next. The following are the essential elements:

For example, Netflix in its budding days identified a problem with video stores. It was time consuming and inconvenient to go to the video store every time you felt like watching a new movie.

2. Solution

Again, looking at Netflix, the company initially solved the problem of time consumption and inconvenience by delivering movies directly to customers’ homes.

3. Business Model

Consider the example of YouTube. YouTube’s business model hinges on users who by and large engage on the platform for free. YouTube leverages this ever-increasing user base to attract advertisers, which provides revenues.

4. Market Analysis

For example, Swedish furniture brand Ikea’s US target market could be described as urban young professionals who like the Scandinavian style and are willing to put in a little setup work themselves to save money on quality furnishings. These individuals spend, on average, $8,000 on furnishing when they move into a new home or apartment.

5. Competitive Analysis

Take the example of coffee giant Starbucks. Their competitor analysis would yield large brands like Dunkin’ Donuts, Panera Bread and McDonald’s McCafé, as well as boutique coffee shops on a neighborhood by neighborhood basis. Starbucks differentiates itself through providing specialty coffee products of consistent quality under a national brand.

6. Financial Plan & Projections

See below for example graphs that show a growth in topline revenues year over year as well as the projected revenue distribution by service area for a hair salon:

7. Funding Required & Uses of Funds

See below for an example table of fund uses for a startup hair salon:

Free Downloadable One-Page Business Plan Example PDF

Download our one page business plan template pdf here.

Download Growthink’s One-Page-Business-Plan-Template for Microsoft Word  

Final Thoughts

Remember to focus on your business’ strengths as much as you can. If your market analysis reveals you have a strong position then highlight it more in the single-page plan. Likewise, if your financial projections come out stronger then elongate the financial section.

Editing the enormity of a business plan into a single page is a daunting task but doing so will bring clarity to the core idea and value of your business and help you pitch well in front of potential investors.  

One-Page Business Plan FAQs

What are the benefits of one-page business plans.

Traditional business plans are sometimes 25-50 pages long. It's hard to read that many pages for one company, let alone dozens of them.

One-page business plans are more digestible. 

They provide key points on what you do, why you do it, and how you plan for growth. 

What is the difference between a one-page business plan and a lean business plan?

A one-page business plan is a reduced version of a traditional business plan that can be easily wrapped onto a single sheet of paper.

The key elements included in a one-page business plan are:

On the other hand, a lean business plan is a short-term planning method that allows you to more quickly and accurately develop your business plan based on actual customer feedback and interactions. A lean business plan is focused more on helping you build a better business and testing a variety of strategies to assess if they are effective for your chosen business model. 

Also in a single-page format, the key elements included in this type of plan are:

• Business Overview
• Value Proposition
• Key Partnerships
• Key Activities
• Key Resources
• Customer Relationships
• Customer Segments & Channels
• Cost Structure
• Revenue Streams

A typical rule of thumb for these types of plans is that every sentence should be meaningful and useful for orientation purposes in order to appease investors in an efficient way while retaining their interest long enough to make an informed decision about investing in your business. 

Looking for more information? Lean Business Plan: How-To Guide & Template

OR, Let Us Develop Your Plan For You

Since 1999, Growthink has developed business plans for thousands of companies that have gone on to achieve tremendous success.

Click here to see how Growthink’s professional business plan consulting services can create your business plan for you.

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Writing an Effective One-Page Business Plan: What You Need to Know (+ Free Template)

By Homebase Team

If you’ve started—or are starting—a small business, you’ve probably heard the words ‘business plan’ thrown around. That’s because a business plan is an important document with important information! Even a one-page business plan can help you address key questions early in the planning process.

That’s right—we said  one page. In many cases, there’s no need for a supermassive document that takes ages to create. In this article, we walk you through what a good business plan needs—and what a business plan one-pager should contain. 

Whether you’re writing your business plan for the first time or giving your existing plan a refresh, we’ve got your back. We’ve even got a free, downloadable business plan template to help you get started. Let’s get into it!

Why do you need a business plan?

A business plan is a blueprint for your business. It outlines everything your business needs, from goals to market to the steps you need to implement.

Business plans serve two main purposes:

• To help you set your business up for success. As you put together your business plan, you’ll be forced to think strategically about all your business goals and activities . Are they realistic? Is something likely to go wrong? What haven’t you thought of? The goal is for you to walk away feeling confident in the future of your business.
• To communicate the value of your business to others. It’s rare that entrepreneurs like yourself will go it 100% alone. You’ll likely work with partners, investors, or vendors to bring your small business to life. A business plan gives your collaborators confidence in you and your business and helps them support you in the best way possible.

Taking the time to create a business plan can feel like you’re wasting all-too-precious time, but it can help keep you focused and increase efficiency down the road. It’ll also help you make better business decisions off the bat so you can grow your small business quickly and wisely. 

What are the 7 main points in a business plan?

Every business plan is unique, which is part of the reason writing one can feel a tad overwhelming. You can’t just copy and paste the plan from another business—instead, you need to assess your business’s idea within its niche.

Luckily, the skeleton of every plan is usually very similar. Whether you’re creating a plan for a neighborhood daycare or that cool new bar down the street , here are a few main points to put into any comprehensive business plan.

1. Executive summary

Your executive summary is an overview of your business plan. 

Think about this section like a TL;DR or too long, don’t read . If someone wants to understand the gist of your business plan in just a few minutes, what information would they need to know?

2. Company overview and description

In this section, you should introduce your business to the reader. By the time they finish reading this section, they should have a good idea of who you are, what you do, and what you sell—in other words, your business’s niche.

Don’t be afraid to dive into your own background and why you decided to start this business. Building a small business is personal, and your story can go a long way in giving the reader some context.

3. Market and competitive analysis

Every business needs customers. Here’s where you’ll detail who they are and the potential target market of your business, including your ideal customer.

You’ll also want to take note of potential competitors that may impact your business. These might be direct competitors, but could also be similar businesses that may compete for your customers’ time and money. For example, if you’re opening a cycling studio, you might consider any other type of fitness studio to be a competitor.

Competition isn’t a bad thing, but being aware of your competition is one way to ensure your business stands out from the crowd. 

4. Business offerings

Here’s where you’ll outline what products or services your business will offer in more detail. It doesn’t have to be a complete laundry list, but it should give readers a general idea and show a certain degree of forethought and attention to details.

For example, if you’re opening a bakery , this might be a sample of your menu. Or if you’re an HVAC repair company , you might share an overview of the services you’ll offer your customers. This section might even mention the products or services you won’t offer and why, especially if it helps clarify how your business is unique.

5. Management and operational plan

From managing employees and inventory to securing equipment and a lease, there’s a lot that happens behind the scenes to keep things running smoothly. Every business plan should touch on how you’ll manage the day-to-day of your business.

This is also a great place to indicate key milestones and timelines so you know that you’re on track for a successful grand opening. 

6. Sales, marketing, and PR strategy

Now that you’ve got all the research and operational plans in place , it’s time to start attracting customers and securing those sales. Even with the best products or services in town, every business can use a little marketing boost. Feel free to get creative. From social media to paid ads, there are tons of ways you can spread the word about your budding business . 

7. Financial forecast and budget

No one loves to crunch financials, but when it comes to business, money talks. And a strong financial plan is key to the long-term success of your business.

This final section of your business plan should estimate the costs, revenue, and profits of your business in the short and long term. How do you plan to finance your business? What costs will you incur before opening day ? What are the ongoing costs?

Not only will this give your vendors and investors confidence in your business, but it helps you make sure that your business is profitable in the long run.

What is a one-page business plan?

A one-page business plan is essentially a condensed version of a full business plan.  

It covers all the core information about your business without overwhelming the reader with details. The goal is to summarize your business plan for yourself and potential stakeholders so they can understand your business at a glance.

Depending on your business needs, this concise document may even be all you need to get your business off the ground. Or it could serve as a stepping stone to a more robust plan in the future. 

Top benefits of a one-page business plan.

Bigger isn’t always better—and one-page business plans are here to prove it.

Here are some benefits and reasons why you might opt for a one-page business plan:

• To kickstart your business planning: A full business plan can be incredibly daunting. A one-page business plan gives you a place to start without feeling overwhelmed with the nitty gritty. 
• To share and distribute: Sometimes potential vendors, partners, or investors want to get more information about your business before they sign on officially. Instead of leaving them with a massive document, a one-page business plan helps you share the relevant need-to-know information easily.
• To focus on the key details: If you’re early on in the business ideation process and want to make sure you have all the important information, a one-page business plan can help you easily validate your business plan.
• To save time: In the long term, you may still expect to put together a full business plan at some point. However, if you’re in a time crunch, a one-page plan can help you get the important insights without the time commitment.
• To easily edit: In an ever-changing business environment, a one-page business plan is much easier to keep updated. 

Key details to include in a one-page business plan.

Above, we outlined the key components of any business plan. The key with a one-pager is to keep it brief without losing any of those important details. 

Let’s look at the sections of a business plan one-pager and dig into how you can adapt them to cover all the details of your business—all on one page. 

Summary and overview

Start your one-page plan by sharing the name of your business, what you do, and your main value proposition.

The problem—and your solution

In a few sentences, share the problem that your business solves and how you solve it. This clarifies why your business should exist, so it’s an important section!

Depending on your business, you may also want to share a few of your team members to help readers put a face to your business. Great examples include the executive chef for a restaurant, or the lead veterinarian for your vet clinic.

Target market

Briefly describe who you expect to be a customer and their characteristics. This could be in the form of a short “ideal customer” profile.

Competitor overview

Here, you’ll touch on potential competitors and what makes your business stand out.

Business timeline

Share the key milestones for your business. For example, pitch when you’ll start marketing your business, when you’ll hire employees , and when you expect to open.

Sales and marketing plan

Here, you’ll quickly highlight the key marketing activities that you’ll use to drive new customers to your business. Try to stick to the most interesting or high-value stuff, like a website or social media .

Financial projections

Outline your expected revenue , expenses, and profits to give the reader an idea of your financial future.

Our tips for creating a one-page business plan.

If you’ve ever written something with a limited word count, you know that sometimes keeping things concise can be easier said than done.

As you get writing your one-page business plan, here are some of our top tips so you can make the most of that one page.

• Focus on the need-to-know information.
• Avoid fluff and keep your sentences short.
• Link out to additional resources and material if more information is necessary.
• Don’t be afraid to strategically incorporate visuals to emphasize the important points.
• Feel free to up sections or have different versions of your one-page business plan based on who’s reading it. 
• Get creative with formatting to keep information organized.

One-page business plan example.

If you’re skeptical that all that information can fit on one page—we have proof!  Here’s an example that you can use to start thinking about your business plan.

Download our free one-page business plan template.

A one-page business plan is one of the most important pages you’ll write for your business. While there’s a lot to think about, it’s worth the effort to give both you and your partners peace of mind.

The good news is that we’ve done the heavy lifting for you! If the above one-pager looks good to you, we’ve pulled it together as a download for you. All that’s left for you to customize it for your unique business, fill in the sections, and get ready to launch your business.

Download your one-page business plan template PDF

Download your Homebase One-Page Business Plan Template Word document

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One-page business plan FAQs

Why should you create a business plan.

There are several reasons you should create a business plan, such as:

• Improving your decision-making as you start and grow your business.
• Setting realistic goals and timelines.
• Attracting top-notch suppliers, investors, and even employees.
• Keeping your business profitable and your financials in order.

What types of companies need a business plan?

From brand-new small businesses to established corporations, companies of all shapes and sizes need a business plan. It’s a key part of setting your business up for success and improving your business trajectory.

Even if you already have a business plan in place, revisiting it from time to time can help you stay on track with your goals and adapt as your business changes.

Can a business plan be one page?

Yes, in many cases a business page can be one page. The trick to creating an effective one-page business plan is making sure that you’re covering the most important pieces of information. 

Our top tips? Keep it as concise and organized as possible, so you can effectively communicate the value of your business to your audience.

Writing a one-page business plan is simple. You can create a business plan from scratch or use a free template like the one above to stay on track, but generally, the steps to writing a one-page business plan include:

• Start with a short executive summary and value proposition to introduce your business.
• Share the problem your business solves and your solution.
• Give an outline of top competitors and how your business compares.
• Create a timeline of key milestones.
• Outline your sales and marketing plan for attracting customers.
• Summarize your financial projections and funding plans.

Remember:  This is not legal advice. If you have questions about your particular situation, please consult a lawyer, CPA, or other appropriate professional advisor or agency.

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How to Write a Viable Business Plan on One Page

Posted march 10, 2021 by noah parsons.

If you’ve been putting off writing your business plan, you are not alone. Writing a business plan can seem like a daunting task and an easy one to avoid.

But, it doesn’t have to be. An easy way to start is with a one-page business plan .

Advantages of a one-page business plan

Narrowing down your business idea to a single page is a good exercise. It’s also a more useful way to create a viable business plan in under an hour. Still not convinced? Here are a few other benefits to starting with a single-page plan.

It’s faster to create and iterate

A one-page plan is designed to be done quickly and easily. The short format ensures that you don’t get too caught up in developing a lengthy explanation of your solution, and instead forces you to keep moving through the sections of your plan. 

It’s also a plan that’s not meant to be perfect, meaning you’ll likely revisit it. Luckily, keeping everything to one-page makes it fast and easy to update or adapt specific sections or even your entire plan. 

It provides the clearest picture of your business

There will be plenty of moments over the life of your business where you need to streamline your messaging. From advertisements to pitching to investors, you need to be clear and concise in order to get people on board. That can be difficult to do if you start with overly lengthy explanations of the different elements of your business.

This is why a one-page plan can be so beneficial. It encourages you to keep your descriptions brief and to think more critically about what you need to say about your business. You can always build up from there. 

How does a one-page plan differ from other business plan formats?

There’s really not much difference between developing a business plan on one page and a good executive summary . The only real possible difference is that if you set out to write a business plan on one page, it must absolutely fit on that one page and must be in a font that most people can still read. A traditional executive summary, on the other hand, can extend to two or three pages, but really should never be longer than that.

If you can condense your executive summary to one page, that’s great. Investors don’t have lots of time to read and a one-page executive summary will get the idea of your business across succinctly. It’s actually a very good exercise to trim down your executive summary to the absolute minimum. This will force you to trim needless words and communicate your business idea clearly and with minimal clutter.

In many ways, a one-page plan serves as the perfect starting point for developing a one-page plan. Starting with one page ensures that your points are brief, clear, and to the point. It also helps you identify what sections you need to elaborate on, whether it’s your milestones, operations strategy, or financial forecasts .

Who is a one-page business plan intended for?

Single-page business plans aren’t meant for just one type of person or business. They can actually be viable in multiple scenarios. Here are just a few business types that can benefit from starting with a simplified business plan:

Building a business plan on one page is ideal for companies that are in the early stages of figuring out how their idea might work. Instead of spending days on a detailed business plan, working through a simple, one-page plan will provide a solid overview of the business in a format that’s easy to change and adjust. 

As you learn more about your business and figure out how your idea is going to work, you’re going to be making lots of changes to your plan. So it’s much better, and easier to keep all your ideas on a single page.

Startups and pre-revenue businesses

Experimentation and testing are at the core of most startup organizations. It helps keep your organization agile, innovative and reduces risk. A traditional business plan doesn’t really allow for that methodology to thrive — it’s too hard to update and takes too long to write. But starting with a single page provides the flexibility to explore multiple options for your business.

The most important thing is to discover your ideal business strategy. A one-page plan helps you do that and can easily transition into a more refined growth plan.

Established businesses 

Even if you’re not a startup, a single-page business plan can be an extremely helpful tool for documenting your business strategy. You can guarantee that your business plan will be read by your team and get everyone on the same page quickly. Allowing you to spend more time on budgeting, forecasting, and tracking your key business numbers.

In many ways, you actually have a leg up on startups when developing a simple one-page plan. You already know your business, you have actual financial data to input, and can kickstart the process of tweaking and refining your strategy while measuring progress toward your goals.

Business expansions

Expanding your business is incredibly similar to starting one. You’re either launching in new locations, seeking new customers, or even launching a new product or service. And you can use your business plan to effectively plan for the expansion.

Think of it as a checklist for success. You’ve already used it once to launch your original business. With the right tweaks and focus you can use it again. Or if necessary just start fresh, after all, it’s only a single page.

How do I write a simple business plan?

When sitting down to write your business plan, there are a few things you can do to simplify the process. 

Outline the elements of a single-page business plan

First, outline the elements you need to include in your plan. The elements you need to cover include:

• Value proposition
• Market need
• Your solution
• Competition
• Target market
• Sales and marketing
• Budget and sales goals
• Team summary
• Key partners
• Funding needs

Knowing these pieces upfront ensures that you won’t miss any key components as you write your plan. It also helps enforce how much room you actually have to work with when writing out each section. If you’ve only covered four components and almost have a full page, you may need to simplify things. 

For more detailed instructions on how to fill out these sections, be sure to check out our step-by-step guide .

Stick to bullet points and short sentences

To help avoid the need for cutting material out of your plan be sure to stick to bullet points and single sentences. This is meant to be a streamlined strategy guide for yourself, your team, and any third party that needs to understand your business. So, at this point, it doesn’t need to be overly detailed, and eventually, you can elaborate on specific sections if necessary.

A good rule of thumb is to treat each section as a single tweet. How would you describe your value proposition in just 280 characters? Can you explain what marketing channels will you be using in just three bullet points? Challenge yourself here, and try to streamline your messaging as much as possible. It’s always easier to expand on something rather than having to cut elements out.

Focus on the content

Don’t forget, the content of your business plan is far more important than the formatting. Too many companies spend time focusing on the presentation and graphical display of their plans when what they are saying and how they are saying it is really the most critical aspect of your executive summary. Don’t get me wrong, you don’t want to have an ugly presentation, but focus on the content more than anything else.

Remember that you can always come back

If you’re in the early stages of your business you may not have exact ideas of who your larger team will be, what milestones you’ll need to hit in three years, or even an accurate expense budget. That’s perfectly ok. 

This one-page plan is meant to be an exercise for you to establish the core elements of your business. It doesn’t need to be perfect. You don’t need to have every single thing laid out. Just the general elements that can give you, and anyone else, a clear picture of what your business is and does. 

The intention is for you to come back and revisit this plan . To expand on necessary components and turn it into a one-page document that helps you manage your business . 

Start crafting your one-page business plan

Writing a business plan on one page is a great jumping-off point to work on a more detailed business plan. Once you have a summary of your idea figured out on one page, you’ll be ready to validate, expand and provide more details in a more thorough business plan—if you need to write one. 

For some businesses, a simple plan written on only one page might be enough. Especially if you’re just using it internally and don’t need to share lots of details with outsiders. For other businesses, especially those trying to get loans and investments, they’ll need to provide more details in a larger business plan.

If you need help putting together a simple business plan that you can fit on one page download our one-page business plan template . Or, if you’re looking for a more modern business planning option, you may want to try out a tool like LivePlan . It will walk you through every planning step and help you develop a plan that grows with your business.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in 2012. It was updated for 2021.

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Easy-to-use one-page business plan template

A one-age business plan is a useful tool for providing an overview of your goals and targets and how you and your team will achieve them. Before you get into the details, a one-page business plan can help you feel out your ideas, set priorities, and provide an outline for a more extensive standard business plan.

You can also keep your single-page plan on hand to keep you laser-focused on the scope and objectives of your business at all times.

In this article, we’ll show you how to use a one-page business plan to create a robust foundation for your business and share some ready-to-use business plan templates .

Get the template

What is a one-page business plan template?

A one-page business plan encompasses your entire business strategy condensed onto one-page. A one-page business plan template is a document that outlines a business’s strategies and goals.

A traditional business plan goes into great detail and could be dozens of pages long. With a one-pager, the idea is to condense all the important information into one high-level document.

However, if it’s a one-page business plan to hand out to prospective investors, you’ll likely focus more on something like financial projections .

In general, your one-page business plan can include:

• Vision statements and strategic objectives of your business
• Customer segments your business will serve
• Overview of the product or service you’ll provide
• Sales goals and marketing strategy
• High-level business overview of financial projections

Why use a one-page business plan template?

Understanding the benefits of writing a single-page business plan helps keep you focused when condensing lots of important information onto a one-page template.

Provide an overview of your business plan

A one-page plan provides you with an overview of everything you need to consider about your business venture. One-page plans provide a snapshot of multiple moving parts of your strategy and operations to keep you focused on what matters.

One-page business plan templates are a very useful starting point for developing a more detailed standard business plan . By creating a high-level document, you can begin to sketch out your ideas and assumptions and test them before spending lots of time developing a long business plan that you end up rewriting. Once you’re satisfied with your one-page plan, you have a step-by-step outline for a more in-depth version.

Manage operations and finances

As you grow your business, the operations and finances side of things often become more complex and difficult to manage. In times like these, when you need to make important decisions, a one-page business plan helps keep the core objectives of your venture in mind at all times. Nailing down your template means you don’t waste time deciding what the most important details are, so you can focus your time and energy into growing your business instead.

Synthesize business information

Another key benefit of having a one-page business plan on hand is the ability to provide anyone with a snapshot of your business whenever needed. This situation could apply to your management team, potential business partners, or potential investors who want a fast, easy-to-digest rundown of your business.

While you might have an elevator pitch ready, a one-page plan helps back up your claims, especially when it comes to items like financial projections or your cash flow statement . A one-page business plan template means it’s easy for you to quickly synthesize relevant information for the required audience. Simply drop the latest information into your template and get ready to present.

What are some examples of one-page business plans?

Before you write a one-page business plan, it’s helpful to get familiar with the various types of templates available and decide which one is best for your needs.

Startup one-page business plan template

Writing a business plan for a startup is a very different process than creating a plan for an established business. Startups are beginning from the very start of their journey with little historical data to go on. By nature, they need to be a lot more flexible with their ideas and decisions as they decide what works.

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So a one-page plan for startups is more about laying the groundwork for more in-depth strategic analysis and taking an agile approach to developing a business model.

Business model canvas

The business model canvas is a well-known template for business plans. A single page is divided into squares, with each square representing an important component of the business strategy.

With a business model canvas, you’ll be able to quickly outline items like your target markets, value proposition, and revenue streams. Writing and comparing these sections on one-page allows you to validate your business model against your market analysis and quickly iterate on different elements of your business strategy .

Business idea action plan template

While many business plan templates focus on strategy and high-level objectives, some businesses require more focus on operations and action right from the start. In those instances, a business idea action plan template can be more beneficial.

This type of one-page business plan focuses on what you are going to do and how you are going to do it, rather than analysis and projections. It enables business owners to develop tactics for how they’ll design, develop, market, and sell their products or services.

Small business plan template

Small businesses are often operating with limited funding and narrow profit margins. These constraints make revenue targets and cost-effective operations critically important to success, especially for a service business.

When this is the case, a shorter business plan template for small businesses which focuses on defining your business niche, setting clear targets, and creating detailed timelines keeps your strategy aligned to the bottom line at all times.

monday.com’s one-page business plan template

Building a one-page business planning template from scratch involves a lot of key elements for consideration, but it doesn’t have to be a tricky process. Having a template to keep you on track enables you to effectively shape your strategy, goals, key activities, and targets in one place.

monday.com has created a one-page business plan template to help you create an effective one-page business plan that will keep your goals and targets at the front of your mind as you grow your business. The monday.com template includes:

• Digital visualization of your entire business strategy in one location, so you can easily share your plan and make updates
• Extensive customization options so you can create a business plan that aligns fully with your company branding
• The ability to add your own visuals such as tables, images, and videos that are relevant to your business plan
• The ability to collaborate in real-time with business partners and senior management on the creation and development of your one-page plan
• Integrations with popular business tools such as Excel and Outlook so you can move your business plan seamlessly from creation to execution

Have your one-page business plan created quickly and seamlessly with monday.com. Sign up for our free trial and select the one-page business plan template to stay aligned with your business objectives and core goals.

One-page business plan tips & tricks

Although a one-page business plan is not as extensive as a full-length business plan, there are some best practices you should follow to get the most out of it. With these tips and tricks, you’ll have a one-page business plan that’s realistic, accurate, and functional.

Understand your target market

Before you start outlining your business activities and tactics, it’s imperative that you fully understand your target market and your product-market fit. This understanding includes considerations such as customer price sensitivity, buying preferences, demographics, and more.

Without understanding your target market, building a business model can lead to sales targets and timelines that don’t materialize, a marketing plan or marketing materials that miss the mark, and unrealistic financial projections.

Fine-tune your products and services

Another key element of your business plan is the outline of the products and services you’ll offer. In this area, business owners need to thoroughly understand the cost of production, how to price products and services so they remain profitable, and how your offering measures up against competitors in the market.

By getting a firm grasp of your value offering, you can more accurately project costs, revenue, and profitability over the long term.

Keep your goals and projections realistic

When creating your one-page business plan, use the hard numbers regarding costs and budget to remain realistic about your business goals.

This approach applies to your timelines, too. Although your goals and targets may be ambitious, there needs to be an achievable timeline and resource allocation attached to them.

FAQs about one-page business plans

How do you write a business plan in one page.

It might be more beneficial for some business owners to start with a long business plan and then work on synthesizing it into a one-page template. That way, you can gain a deep understanding of your strategy before selecting the most important highlights for your one-page business plan.

You can also use visuals in place of written text where appropriate to save on space. For example, you can condense the highlights of your financial projections onto a single graph that’s understandable at a glance.

What is the primary characteristic of a one-page business plan?

The primary characteristics of a one-page business plan are clarity and brevity. Anyone who picks up your one-page plan should quickly get a clear idea of what your business does, its goals, and how you plan to achieve them. So it’s essential to keep all the information extremely clear and concise. Using a template like one on monday.com already gives you a leg up with a helpful outline.

What should a simple business plan include?

While every business is unique in some way, there are fundamental pieces of information you should incorporate into all simple business plans, including:

• Business mission and objectives
• Target audiences
• Competitor analysis
• Products/services outline
• Key operational considerations
• Time-bound financial projections

Depending on the purpose of your plan, you might choose to leave some items off the page. For example, if it’s for internal use by a wider team, you might omit elements like business financing plans, income statements, cost structure, etc.

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Single Page Business Plan

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• Business Plan

A single page business plan is just as it sounds: a summary of business objectives displayed on a single page. Single page business plans are typically used to pitch ideas before writing longer, more detailed business plans for potential investors and partners. Instead of starting from scratch, use our free Single Page Business Plan PDF Template to outline company goals in a professional, accessible PDF document. Once you’ve filled out a simple form with details regarding your company’s overview, objectives, challenges, and strategies, this Single Page Business Plan Template will automatically convert that information into a professional PDF that can be read at a glance. With your single page business plan saved as a PDF, you can easily download it for your records, email the file to coworkers, or print out copies for company meetings.

This Single Page Business Plan Template already has a stunning design, but you can quickly customize it to meet your business needs with our drag-and-drop PDF Editor. Easily add fields for additional information such as milestones, market or competitive analysis, and financial summary. Don’t forget to represent your business by adding your logo and changing the fonts and colors to match your branding. No matter what modifications you make, your custom Single Page Business Plan Template will create an impressive, brief breakdown of business objectives to help steer your company in the right direction.

Single Page Business Plan FAQs

1) what is a single-page business plan.

A single-page business plan is a compressed version of a traditional business plan that is designed to fit on one page. It gives a succinct overview of your business concept to potential investors or partners so that they can quickly understand your key goals, strategies, and mission in a format that’s easily accessible.

2) Why should I use a single-page business plan?

Consider using a single-page business plan to pitch your business to investors, partners, or stakeholders more effectively by communicating your goals succinctly. The single-page business plan requires you to clarify and condense the key elements of your business so you can better articulate your vision, mission, and core values to important players — which helps you streamline your goals. While this short version can’t fully replace a long-form business plan, it’s useful for introductory meetings.

3) What are the key components of a single page business plan?

Every single-page business business plan should include these key components:

Mission and vision statement

Start your plan with a brief statement that describes the purpose and core values of your proposed business. This section typically also includes a comprehensive description that outlines exactly what your business will do and the target market it will reach.

Value proposition

This section outlines the problem that your business is trying to solve, its unique selling points, and its customer benefits. Be specific about the value that your business will provide.

Objectives overview

Lay out the specific short-term and long-term goals of your business. These goals should be reasonable based on the resources currently available to you. This section also includes key metrics, timelines, and cost structures.

Strategies and action plan

This area outlines your market analysis and marketing approach, as well as the key activities that will drive operations. The action plan may also include an overview of how your business will generate revenue.

4) How do I create a single-page business plan using a template?

Creating a single-page business plan with Jotform’s free template is beyond easy! Simply click Use Template , and fill out the form with your own information to populate the document. You can then add or edit sections, change fonts and colors, and add your own logo with our intuitive drag-and-drop form builder. Once you’ve adjusted the template to your liking, you can forward it via email or link, or save it as a PDF.

5) Can a single-page business plan template be used for any type of business?

The beauty of the single-page business plan template is that you can customize it to any type of business or industry. Whether you’re in technology, retail, entertainment, healthcare, or marketing, the single page business plan template will help you succinctly communicate your business to the world.

6) Is a single-page business plan template suitable for startups?

The single-page business plan template is perfect for startups. Companies that are in the early stages of development constantly need to pitch their concept to potential investors and venture capitalists — which is where the single-page business plan template comes in. Investors are busy people, and our template is useful for presenting your startup’s value proposition, market opportunity, and growth potential to these individuals.

Additionally, constantly recreating lengthy business plans for different audiences can be resource-intensive, especially for startups with few employees. But you can easily adapt the single-page business plan template to address feedback, changes in the market, or other circumstances.

7) How often should I update my single-page business plan?

You should update your single-page business plan any time there are changes to your mission, vision, goals, strategies, or market. The single-page business plan should accurately reflect the trajectory of your business, so consider doing periodic reviews, such as whenever you reach milestones.

8) What are the advantages of using a single-page business plan over a traditional business plan?

Ultimately, the single-page business plan is a time-saving tool for businesses that need to pitch their concept thoroughly and quickly. On top of that, the plan helps identify and distill the key elements of the business. The single-page business plan can be easily adapted to reflect changes in the market or feedback from periodic assessments. Lastly, because it’s only one page, the plan is easy to share and digest.

Strategic Plan Template

Focus on the future and keep your company moving forward with Jotform’s Strategic Plan Template. Simply fill in the attached form with your company overview, delve deeper with a SWOT analysis, and finish off by determining your strategic goals, actions, and financial plans. Our fully-customizable template converts submitted information into polished PDFs, which you can download, print, or share instantly.You don’t need a degree in design to build a professional strategic plan. Change fonts, update colors, and add your company’s logo in an instant — with Jotform’s drag-and-drop PDF Editor, customization is a breeze! Establish goals, set your priorities, and draw up solid action plans as polished PDFs with our Strategic Plan Template. By clearly defining your goals and the steps you’ll take to achieve them, you can keep your company on track and grow your business faster.

Operational Plan Template

A Business Operational Plan PDF Template encompasses critical details of a company or an organization. To put it simply, it is what the organization or company wants to achieve, such as financials, budget planning, etc. Accountants and managers in an institution or company often take so much time to create an operational plan template that they end up procrastinating other significant organizational events. This operational plan sample is structured with important details for your organization. It comes ready to print, but since most organizational details and structures are different, you can simply edit the fields by putting your own organization information. Also, using the Jotform PDF editor template, you can quickly add and delete fields, choose your own color options, etc. Finally, you can share your draft with your team members via email.

Marketing Brief Template

A marketing brief can make or break your campaign. But writing a brief for every new campaign eats up time you simply can’t afford to lose. With this free Marketing Brief Template, you can quickly and easily draft marketing briefs without ever having to start from scratch. Simply fill out this simple online form with client information and project details such as objectives, budget, and materials, and the template automatically creates overviews as PDFs — easy to download, print, and share with the rest of the marketing team. Since each marketing campaign is unique, why not make your marketing brief unique as well? Luckily for you, customizing your Marketing Brief Template is a breeze with our drag-and-drop PDF Editor. You’ll be able to change the text or any graphic element in just a few clicks. Feel free to get creative — change the fonts and colors, upload your own background image, or add your company logo for a professional touch. Each time you submit details about your new marketing campaign, your custom Marketing Brief Template will display those plans in easily-accessible PDFs. With PDF marketing briefs in hand, your marketing team can get right to work promoting your products and building your brand.

Glamping Business Plan Template

A Glamping Business Plan Template is a document containing case studies, strategies, and future plans of the company. A great business plan should discuss a problem and how to resolve it by creating specific goals, plans, and objectives.This Glamping Business Plan Template contains a cover page, company overview page, team or staff page, frequently asked questions page, financial analysis section, and a conclusion page. This template also shows the mission, vision, goals, and objectives of the company. This template explains the projected costs, revenue, profits, loss, and expenses of the company monthly, quarterly, and yearly. The data is displayed in a table format so that it is easy to read and to analyze. This template is also using Calculation widget and conditional logic in order to get the total revenue and expenses. You can fully customize this PDF by changing the image cover, logo, pictures of the staff, font format, layout and many more by using the PDF Editor.

SOP Template

A standard operating procedures (SOP) template is a document or memo that specifies the procedures for a specific issue, case, or scenario that all employees in an organization should follow. Establishing SOPs helps an organization become more organized and efficient. This sample SOP template outlines a hospital admissions process for managing and triaging COVID-19 patients. By following the process laid out in this document, employees will be more likely to avoid confusion and conflict with others.This SOP template shows the date the document was created; the effective date, title, and background of the process; the specific keywords, guidelines, and process flow; and the individuals assigned as reviewers or approvers. This PDF template displays a sample logo of a healthcare institution — users can easily customize the template to include their own logo. The template also includes an input table to show the process flow in an easy-to-understand format. The process flow includes a description of each step, the responsible personnel, and notes or remarks.

Lean Business Model Canvas Template

See your business from a new perspective with Jotform’s Lean Business Model Canvas Template. Simply fill in a short form with problems your business could solve, how they are currently being solved in the market, and how your company can uniquely work to solve these problems. Our template instantly converts the information into polished PDFs you can download or print for your next big meeting.Our Lean Business Model Canvas Template already looks professional, but you can personalize it further to match your business. Jotform PDF Editor lets you rearrange form fields or add your company logo at the touch of a button! By instantly converting your business model into an accessible PDF format, our Lean Business Model Canvas Template can help you see the bigger picture and determine how to take your business to the next level.

These templates are suggested forms only. If you're using a form as a contract, or to gather personal (or personal health) info, or for some other purpose with legal implications, we recommend that you do your homework to ensure you are complying with applicable laws and that you consult an attorney before relying on any particular form.

18 of My Favorite Sample Business Plans & Examples For Your Inspiration

Published: July 01, 2024

I believe that reading sample business plans is essential when writing your own.

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As you explore business plan examples from real companies and brands, it’s easier for you to learn how to write a good one.

So what does a good business plan look like? And how do you write one that’s both viable and convincing? I’ll walk you through the ideal business plan format along with some examples to help you get started.

Table of Contents

Business Plan Types

Business plan format, sample business plan: section by section, sample business plan templates, top business plan examples.

Ultimately, the format of your business plan will vary based on your goals for that plan. I’ve added this quick review of different business plan types that achieve differing goals.

For a more detailed exploration of business plan types, you can check out this post .

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1. Startups

Startup business plans are for proposing new business ideas. If you’re planning to start a small business, preparing a business plan is crucial. The plan should include all the major factors of your business.

You can check out this guide for more detailed business plan inspiration .

2. Feasibility Studies

Feasibility business plans focus on that business's product or service. Feasibility plans are sometimes added to startup business plans. They can also be a new business plan for an already thriving organization.

3. Internal Use

You can use internal business plans to share goals, strategies, or performance updates with stakeholders. In my opinion, internal business plans are useful for alignment and building support for ambitious goals.

4. Strategic Initiatives

A strategic business plan is another business plan that's often shared internally. This plan covers long-term business objectives that might not have been included in the startup business plan.

5. Business Acquisition or Repositioning

When a business is moving forward with an acquisition or repositioning, it may need extra structure and support. These types of business plans expand on a company's acquisition or repositioning strategy.

Growth sometimes just happens as a business continues operations. But more often, a business needs to create a structure with specific targets to meet set goals for expansion. This business plan type can help a business focus on short-term growth goals and align resources with those goals.

I’m going to focus on a startup business plan that needs to be detailed and research-backed as well as compelling enough to convince investors to offer funding. In my experience, the most comprehensive and convincing business plans contain the following sections.

Executive Summary

This all-important introduction to your business plan sets the tone and includes the company description as well as what you will be exchanging for money — whether that’s product lines, services, or product-service hybrids.

Market Opportunity

Information about gaps in your industry’s market and how you plan to fill them, focused on demand and potential for growth.

Competitive Landscape Analysis

An overview of your competitors that includes consideration of their strengths and how you’ll manage them, their weaknesses and how you’ll capitalize on them, and how you can differentiate your offerings in the industry.

Target Audience

Descriptions of your ideal customers, their various problems that you can solve, and your customer acquisition strategy.

Marketing Strategy

This section details how you will market your brand to achieve specific goals, the channels and tactics you’ll utilize to reach those goals, and the metrics you’ll be using to measure your progress.

Key Features and Benefits

This is where you’ll use plain language to emphasize the value of your product/service, how it solves the problems of your target audiences, and how you’ll scale up over time.

Pricing and Revenue

This section describes your pricing strategy and plans for building revenue streams that fit your audiences while achieving your business goals.

This is the final section, communicating with investors that your business idea is worth investing in via profit/loss statements, cash flow statements, and balance sheets to prove viability.

Okay, so now that we have a format established, I’ll give you more specific details about each section along with examples. Truthfully, I wish I’d had this resource to help me flesh out those first business plans long ago.

1. Executive Summary

I’d say the executive summary is the most important section of the entire business plan. It is essentially an overview of and introduction to your entire project.

Write this in such a way that it grabs your readers' attention and guides them through the rest of the business plan. This is important because a business plan can be dozens or hundreds of pages long.

There are two main elements I’d recommend including in your executive summary: your company description and your products and services.

Company Description

This is the perfect space to highlight your company’s mission statement and goals, a brief overview of your history and leadership, and your top accomplishments as a business.

Tell potential investors who you are and why what you do matters. Naturally, they’re going to want to know who they’re getting into business with up front. This is a great opportunity to showcase your impact.

Need some extra help firming up your business goals? I’d recommend HubSpot Academy’s free course to help you set meaningful goals that matter most for your business.

Products and Services

Here, you will incorporate an overview of your offerings. This doesn’t have to be extensive, as it is just a chance to introduce your industry and overall purpose as a business. I recommend including snippets of information about your financial projections and competitive advantage here as well.

Keep in mind that you'll cover many of these topics in more detail later on in the business plan. The executive summary should be clear and brief, only including the most important takeaways.

Executive Summary Business Plan Examples

This example was created with HubSpot’s business plan template . What makes this executive summary good is that it tells potential investors a short story while still covering all of the most important details.

Our Mission

Maria’s Gluten Free Bagels offers gluten-free bagels, along with various toppings, other gluten-free breakfast sandwich items, and coffee. The facility is entirely gluten free. Our team expects to catch the interest of gluten-free, celiac, or health-conscious community members who are seeking an enjoyable cafe to socialize. Due to a lack of gluten-free bagel products in the food industry currently, we expect mild competition and are confident we will be able to build a strong market position.

The Company and Management

Maria’s Gluten Free Bagels was founded in 2010 by Maria Jones, who first began selling her gluten-free bagels online from her home, using social media to spread the word. In 2012 she bought a retail location in Hamilton, MA, which now employs four full-time employees and six part-time employees. Prior to her bagel shop, Maria was a chef in New York and has extensive experience in the food industry.

Along with Maria Jones, Gluten Free Bagel Shop has a board of advisors. The advisors are:

• Jeni King, partner at Winding Communications, Ltd.
• Henry Wilson, president of Blue Robin, LLP.

Our Product

We offer gluten-free products ranging from bagels and cream cheese to blueberry muffins, coffee, and pastries. Our customers are health-conscious, community-oriented people who enjoy gluten-free products. We will create a welcoming, warm environment with opportunities for open mic nights, poetry readings, and other community functions. We will focus on creating an environment in which someone feels comfortable meeting a friend for lunch, or working remotely.

Our Competitive Advantages

While there are other coffee shops and cafes in the North Shore region, there are none that offer purely gluten-free options. This restricts those suffering from gluten-free illnesses or simply those with a gluten-free preference. This will be our primary selling point. Additionally, our market research [see Section 3] has shown a demand for a community-oriented coffee and bagel shop in the town of Hamilton, MA.

Financial Considerations

Our sales projections for the first year are $400,000. We project a 15% growth rate over the next two years. By year three, we project 61% gross margins.

We will have four full-time employees. The salary for each employee will be $50,000.

Start-up Financing Requirements

We are seeking to raise $125,000 in startup to finance year one. The owner has invested $50,000 to meet working capital requirements, and will use a loan of $100,000 to supplement the rest.

Example 2 :

Marianne and Keith Bean have been involved with the food industry for several years. They opened their first restaurant in Antlers, Oklahoma in 1981, and their second in Hugo in 1988. Although praised for the quality of many of the items on their menu, they have attained a special notoriety for their desserts. After years of requests for their flavored whipped cream toppings, they have decided to pursue marketing these products separately from the restaurants.

Marianne and Keith Bean have developed several recipes for flavored whipped cream topping. They include chocolate, raspberry, cinnamon almond, and strawberry. These flavored dessert toppings have been used in the setting of their two restaurants over the past 18 years, and have been produced in large quantities. The estimated shelf life of the product is 21 days at refrigeration temperatures and up to six months when frozen. The Beans intend to market this product in its frozen state in 8 and 12-ounce plastic tubs. They also intend to have the products available in six ounce pressurized cans. Special attention has been given to developing an attractive label that will stress the gourmet/specialty nature of the products.

Distribution of Fancy's Foods Whipped Dream product will begin in the local southeastern Oklahoma area. The Beans have an established name and reputation in this area, and product introduction should encounter little resistance.

Financial analyses show that the company will have both a positive cash flow and profit in the first year. The expected return on equity in the first year is 10.88%

Tips for Writing Your Executive Summary

• Start with a strong introduction of your company that showcases your mission and impact, then outline the products and services you provide.
• Clearly define a problem, explain how your product solves that problem, and show why the market needs your business.
• Be sure to highlight your value proposition, market opportunity, and growth potential.
• Keep it concise and support ideas with data.
• Customize your summary to your audience. For example, you might emphasize finances and return on investment for venture capitalists, whereas you might emphasize community benefits and minimal environmental impact for progressive nonprofits.

For more guidance, check out our tips for writing an effective executive summary .

2. Market Opportunity

This is where you'll detail the opportunity in the market. Ask and answer: Where is the gap in the current industry, and how will my product fill that gap?

To get a thorough understanding of the market opportunity, you'll want to conduct a TAM, SAM, SOM analysis , a SWOT analysis , and perform market research on your industry to get some insights for this section. More specifically, here’s what I’d include.

• The size of the market
• Current or potential market share
• Trends in the industry and consumer behavior
• Where the gap is
• What caused the gap
• How you intend to fill it

Market Opportunity Business Plan Example

I like this example because it uses critical data to underline the size of the potential market and what part of that market this service hopes to capture.

Example: The market for Doggie Pause is all of the dog owners in the metropolitan area and surrounding areas of the city. We believe that this is going to be 2/3 of the population, and we have a goal of gaining a 50% market share. We have a target of a 20% yearly profit increase as the business continues.

Tips for Writing Your Market Opportunity Section

• Focus on demand and potential for growth.
• Use market research, surveys, and industry trend data to support your market forecast and projections.
• Add a review of regulation shifts, tech advances, and consumer behavior changes.
• Refer to reliable sources.
• Showcase how your business can make the most of this opportunity.

3. Competitive Landscape Analysis

Since we’re already speaking of market share, you‘ll also need to create a section that shares details on who the top competitors are. After all, your customers likely have more than one brand to choose from, and you’ll want to understand exactly why they might choose one over another.

My favorite part of performing a competitive analysis is that it can help you uncover the following:

• Industry trends that other brands may not be utilizing.
• Strengths in your competition that may be obstacles to handle.
• Weaknesses in your competition that may help you develop selling points.
• The unique proposition you bring to the market that may resonate with customers.

Competitive Landscape Business Plan Example

I like how the competitive landscape section of this business plan shows a clear outline of who the top competitors are. It also highlights specific industry knowledge and the importance of location. This demonstrates useful experience in the industry, helping to build trust in your ability to execute your business plan.

Competitive Environment

Currently, there are four primary competitors in the Greater Omaha Area: Pinot’s Palette Lakeside (franchise partner), Village Canvas and Cabernet, The Corky Canvas, and Twisted Vine Collective. The first three competitors are in Omaha and the fourth is located in Papillion.

Despite the competition, all locations have both public and private events. Each location has a few sold-out painting events each month. The Omaha locations are in new, popular retail locations, while the existing Papillion location is in a downtown business district.

There is an opportunity to take advantage of the environment and open a studio in a well-traveled or growing area. Pinot’s Palette La Vista will differentiate itself from its competitors by offering a premium experience in a high-growth, influential location.

Tips for Writing Your Competitive Landscape

• Complete in-depth research, then emphasize your most important findings.
• Compare your unique selling proposition (USP) to your direct and indirect competitors.
• Show a clear and realistic plan for product and brand differentiation.
• Look for specific advantages and barriers in the competitive landscape. Then, highlight how that information could impact your business.
• Outline growth opportunities from a competitive perspective.
• Add customer feedback and insights to support your competitive analysis.

4. Target Audience

Use this section to describe who your customer segments are in detail. What is the demographic and psychographic information of your audience? I’d recommend building a buyer persona to get in the mindset of your ideal customers and be clear about why you're targeting them. Here are some questions I’d ask myself:

• What demographics will most likely need/buy your product or service?
• What are the psychographics of this audience? (Desires, triggering events, etc.)
• Why are your offerings valuable to them?

Target Audience Business Plan Example

I like the example below because it uses in-depth research to draw conclusions about audience priorities. It also analyzes how to create the right content for this audience.

The Audience

Recognize that audiences are often already aware of important issues. Outreach materials should:

• Emphasize a pollution-prevention practice
• Tell audience a little about how to prevent pollution
• Tell audience where they can obtain information about prevention.

Message Content

• Focus the content for outreach materials on cost savings, such as when and where pollution prevention is as cheap as or cheaper than traditional techniques. Include facts and figures.
• Emphasize how easy it is to do the right thing and the impacts of not engaging in pollution prevention.
• Stress benefits such as efficiency or better relations with government, for businesses not primarily concerned with public image.

Tips for Writing Your Target Audience Section

• Include details on the size and growth potential of your target audience.
• Figure out and refine the pain points for your target audience , then show why your product is a useful solution.
• Describe your targeted customer acquisition strategy in detail.
• Share anticipated challenges your business may face in acquiring customers and how you plan to address them.
• Add case studies, testimonials, and other data to support your target audience ideas.
• Remember to consider niche audiences and segments of your target audience in your business plan.

5. Marketing Strategy

Here, you‘ll discuss how you’ll acquire new customers with your marketing strategy. I think it’s helpful to have a marketing plan built out in advance to make this part of your business plan easier. I’d suggest including these details:

• Your brand positioning vision and how you'll cultivate it.
• The goal targets you aim to achieve.
• The metrics you'll use to measure success.
• The channels and distribution tactics you'll use.

Marketing Strategy Business Plan Example

This business plan example includes the marketing strategy for the town of Gawler. In my opinion, it works because it offers a comprehensive picture of how they plan to use digital marketing to promote the community.

You’ll also learn the financial benefits investors can reap from putting money into your venture rather than trying to sell them on how great your product or service is.

This business plan guide focuses less on the individual parts of a business plan, and more on the overarching goal of writing one. For that reason, it’s one of my favorites to supplement any template you choose to use. Harvard Business Review’s guide is instrumental for both new and seasoned business owners.

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550+ Business Plan Examples to Launch Your Business

Need help writing your business plan? Explore over 550 industry-specific business plan examples for inspiration.

Find your business plan example

Accounting, Insurance & Compliance Business Plans

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• Education Products

Business plan template: There's an easier way to get your business plan done.

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• Entertainment
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• Event Planning
• View All 17

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• Agri-tourism
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Nonprofit Business Plans

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Real Estate & Rentals Business Plans

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Retail & Ecommerce Business Plans

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Technology Business Plans

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Transportation, Travel & Logistics Business Plans

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View all sample business plans

Example business plan format

Before you start exploring our library of business plan examples, it's worth taking the time to understand the traditional business plan format . You'll find that the business plan samples in this library and most investor-approved business plans will include the following sections:

Executive summary

The executive summary is an overview of your business and your plans. It comes first in your business plan and is ideally only one to two pages. You should also plan to write this section last after you've written your full business plan.

Your executive summary should include a summary of the problem you are solving, a description of your product or service, an overview of your target market, a brief description of your team, a summary of your financials, and your funding requirements (if you are raising money).

Products & services

The products & services chapter of your business plan is where the real meat of your plan lives. It includes information about the problem that you're solving, your solution, and any traction that proves that it truly meets the need you identified.

This is your chance to explain why you're in business and that people care about what you offer. It needs to go beyond a simple product or service description and get to the heart of why your business works and benefits your customers.

Market analysis

Conducting a market analysis ensures that you fully understand the market that you're entering and who you'll be selling to. This section is where you will showcase all of the information about your potential customers. You'll cover your target market as well as information about the growth of your market and your industry. Focus on outlining why the market you're entering is viable and creating a realistic persona for your ideal customer base.

Competition

Part of defining your opportunity is determining what your competitive advantage may be. To do this effectively you need to get to know your competitors just as well as your target customers. Every business will have competition, if you don't then you're either in a very young industry or there's a good reason no one is pursuing this specific venture.

To succeed, you want to be sure you know who your competitors are, how they operate, necessary financial benchmarks, and how your business will be positioned. Start by identifying who your competitors are or will be during your market research. Then leverage competitive analysis tools like the competitive matrix and positioning map to solidify where your business stands in relation to the competition.

Marketing & sales

The marketing and sales plan section of your business plan details how you plan to reach your target market segments. You'll address how you plan on selling to those target markets, what your pricing plan is, and what types of activities and partnerships you need to make your business a success.

The operations section in our business plan examples covers the day-to-day workflows for your business to deliver your product or service. What's included here fully depends on the type of business. Typically you can expect to add details on your business location, sourcing and fulfillment, use of technology, and any partnerships or agreements that are in place.

Milestones & metrics

The milestones section is where you lay out strategic milestones to reach your business goals.

A good milestone clearly lays out the parameters of the task at hand and sets expectations for its execution. You'll want to include a description of the task, a proposed due date, who is responsible, and eventually a budget that's attached. You don't need extensive project planning in this section, just key milestones that you want to hit and when you plan to hit them.

You should also discuss key metrics, which are the numbers you will track to determine your success. Some common data points worth tracking include conversion rates, customer acquisition costs, profit, etc.

Company & team

Use this section of your business plan to describe your current team and who you need to hire. If you intend to pursue funding, you'll need to highlight the relevant experience of your team members. Basically, this is where you prove that this is the right team to successfully start and grow the business. You will also need to provide a quick overview of your legal structure and history if you're already up and running.

Financial projections

Your financial plan should include a sales and revenue forecast, profit and loss statement, cash flow statement, and a balance sheet. You may not have established financials of any kind at this stage. Not to worry, rather than getting all of the details ironed out, focus on making projections and strategic forecasts for your business. You can always update your financial statements as you begin operations and start bringing in actual accounting data.

Now, if you intend to pitch to investors or submit a loan application, you'll also need a "use of funds" report in this business plan section. This outlines how you intend to leverage any funding for your business and how much you're looking to acquire. Like the rest of your financials, this can always be updated later on.

The appendix isn't a required element of your business plan. However, it is a useful place to add any charts, tables, definitions, legal notes, or other critical information that supports your business plan. These are often lengthier or out-of-place information that simply didn't work naturally into the structure of your plan. You'll notice that in these business plan examples, the appendix mainly includes extended financial statements.

Types of business plans explained

While all business plans cover similar categories, the style and function fully depend on how you intend to use your plan. To get the most out of your business plan, it's best to find a format that suits your needs. Here are a few common business plan types worth considering.

Traditional business plan

The tried-and-true traditional business plan is a formal document meant to be used for external purposes. Typically this is the type of plan you'll need when applying for funding or pitching to investors. It can also be used when training or hiring employees, working with vendors, or in any other situation where the full details of your business must be understood by another individual.

Business model canvas

The business model canvas is a one-page template designed to demystify the business planning process. It removes the need for a traditional, copy-heavy business plan, in favor of a single-page outline that can help you and outside parties better explore your business idea.

The structure ditches a linear format in favor of a cell-based template. It encourages you to build connections between every element of your business. It's faster to write out and update, and much easier for you, your team, and anyone else to visualize your business operations.

One-page business plan

The true middle ground between the business model canvas and a traditional business plan is the one-page business plan . This format is a simplified version of the traditional plan that focuses on the core aspects of your business.

By starting with a one-page plan , you give yourself a minimal document to build from. You'll typically stick with bullet points and single sentences making it much easier to elaborate or expand sections into a longer-form business plan.

Growth planning

Growth planning is more than a specific type of business plan. It's a methodology. It takes the simplicity and styling of the one-page business plan and turns it into a process for you to continuously plan, forecast, review, and refine based on your performance.

It holds all of the benefits of the single-page plan, including the potential to complete it in as little as 27 minutes . However, it's even easier to convert into a more detailed business plan thanks to how heavily it's tied to your financials. The overall goal of growth planning isn't to just produce documents that you use once and shelve. Instead, the growth planning process helps you build a healthier company that thrives in times of growth and remains stable through times of crisis.

It's faster, keeps your plan concise, and ensures that your business plan is always up-to-date.

Download a free sample business plan template

Ready to start writing your own business plan but aren't sure where to start? Download our free business plan template that's been updated for 2024.

This simple, modern, investor-approved business plan sample is designed to make planning easy. It's a proven format that has helped over 1 million businesses write business plans for bank loans, funding pitches, business expansion, and even business sales. It includes additional instructions for how to write each section and is formatted to be SBA-lender approved. All you need to do is fill in the blanks.

How to use an example business plan to help you write your own

How do you know what elements need to be included in your business plan, especially if you've never written one before? Looking at business plan examples can help you visualize what a full, traditional plan looks like, so you know what you're aiming for before you get started. Here's how to get the most out of a business plan sample.

Choose a business plan example from a similar type of company

You don't need to find an example of a business plan that's an exact fit for your business. Your business location, target market, and even your particular product or service may not match up exactly with the business plans in our gallery. But, you don't need an exact match for it to be helpful. Instead, look for a business plan sample that's related to the type of business you're starting.

For example, if you want to start a vegetarian restaurant, a plan for a steakhouse can be a great match. While the specifics of your actual startup will differ, the elements you'd want to include in your restaurant's business plan are likely to be very similar.

Use a business plan example as a guide

Every startup and small business is unique, so you'll want to avoid copying an example of a business plan word for word. It just won't be as helpful, since each business is unique. You want your business plan to be a useful tool for starting a business —and getting funding if you need it.

One of the key benefits of writing a business plan is simply going through the process. When you sit down to write, you'll naturally think through important pieces, like your startup costs, your target market , and any market analysis or research you'll need to do to be successful.

You'll also look at where you stand among your competition (and everyone has competition), and lay out your goals and the milestones you'll need to meet. Looking at an example of a business plan's financials section can be helpful because you can see what should be included, but take them with a grain of salt. Don't assume that financial projections for a sample company will fit your own small business.

If you're looking for more resources to help you get started, our business planning guide is a good place to start. You can also download our free business plan template .

Think of business planning as a process, instead of a document

Think about business planning as something you do often , rather than a document you create once and never look at again. If you take the time to write a plan that really fits your own company, it will be a better, more useful tool to grow your business. It should also make it easier to share your vision and strategy so everyone on your team is on the same page.

Adjust your business plan regularly to use it as a business management tool

Keep in mind that businesses that use their business plan as a management tool to help run their business grow 30 percent faster than those businesses that don't. For that to be true for your company, you'll think of a part of your business planning process as tracking your actual results against your financial forecast on a regular basis.

If things are going well, your business plan will help you think about how you can re-invest in your business. If you find that you're not meeting goals, you might need to adjust your budgets or your sales forecast. Either way, tracking your progress compared to your plan can help you adjust quickly when you identify challenges and opportunities—it's one of the most powerful things you can do to grow your business.

Prepare to pitch your business

If you're planning to pitch your business to investors or seek out any funding, you'll need a pitch deck to accompany your business plan. A pitch deck is designed to inform people about your business. You want your pitch deck to be short and easy to follow, so it's best to keep your presentation under 20 slides.

Your pitch deck and pitch presentation are likely some of the first things that an investor will see to learn more about your company. So, you need to be informative and pique their interest. Luckily we have a round-up of real-world pitch deck examples used by successful startups that you can review and reference as you build your pitch.

For more resources, check out our full Business Pitch Guide .

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Now that you know how to use an example of a business plan to help you write a plan for your business, it's time to find the right one.

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How to Write a Business Plan in 9 Steps (+ Template and Examples)

Every successful business has one thing in common, a good and well-executed business plan. A business plan is more than a document, it is a complete guide that outlines the goals your business wants to achieve, including its financial goals . It helps you analyze results, make strategic decisions, show your business operations and growth.

If you want to start a business or already have one and need to pitch it to investors for funding, writing a good business plan improves your chances of attracting financiers. As a startup, if you want to secure loans from financial institutions, part of the requirements involve submitting your business plan.

Writing a business plan does not have to be a complicated or time-consuming process. In this article, you will learn the step-by-step process for writing a successful business plan.

You will also learn what you need a business plan for, tips and strategies for writing a convincing business plan, business plan examples and templates that will save you tons of time, and the alternatives to the traditional business plan.

Let’s get started.

What Do You Need A Business Plan For?

Businesses create business plans for different purposes such as to secure funds, monitor business growth, measure your marketing strategies, and measure your business success.

1. Secure Funds

One of the primary reasons for writing a business plan is to secure funds, either from financial institutions/agencies or investors.

For you to effectively acquire funds, your business plan must contain the key elements of your business plan . For example, your business plan should include your growth plans, goals you want to achieve, and milestones you have recorded.

A business plan can also attract new business partners that are willing to contribute financially and intellectually. If you are writing a business plan to a bank, your project must show your traction , that is, the proof that you can pay back any loan borrowed.

Also, if you are writing to an investor, your plan must contain evidence that you can effectively utilize the funds you want them to invest in your business. Here, you are using your business plan to persuade a group or an individual that your business is a source of a good investment.

2. Monitor Business Growth

A business plan can help you track cash flows in your business. It steers your business to greater heights. A business plan capable of tracking business growth should contain:

• The business goals
• Methods to achieve the goals
• Time-frame for attaining those goals

A good business plan should guide you through every step in achieving your goals. It can also track the allocation of assets to every aspect of the business. You can tell when you are spending more than you should on a project.

You can compare a business plan to a written GPS. It helps you manage your business and hints at the right time to expand your business.

3. Measure Business Success

A business plan can help you measure your business success rate. Some small-scale businesses are thriving better than more prominent companies because of their track record of success.

Right from the onset of your business operation, set goals and work towards them. Write a plan to guide you through your procedures. Use your plan to measure how much you have achieved and how much is left to attain.

You can also weigh your success by monitoring the position of your brand relative to competitors. On the other hand, a business plan can also show you why you have not achieved a goal. It can tell if you have elapsed the time frame you set to attain a goal.

4. Document Your Marketing Strategies

You can use a business plan to document your marketing plans. Every business should have an effective marketing plan.

Competition mandates every business owner to go the extraordinary mile to remain relevant in the market. Your business plan should contain your marketing strategies that work. You can measure the success rate of your marketing plans.

In your business plan, your marketing strategy must answer the questions:

• How do you want to reach your target audience?
• How do you plan to retain your customers?
• What is/are your pricing plans?
• What is your budget for marketing?

How to Write a Business Plan Step-by-Step

1. create your executive summary.

The executive summary is a snapshot of your business or a high-level overview of your business purposes and plans . Although the executive summary is the first section in your business plan, most people write it last. The length of the executive summary is not more than two pages.

Generally, there are nine sections in a business plan, the executive summary should condense essential ideas from the other eight sections.

A good executive summary should do the following:

• A Snapshot of Growth Potential. Briefly inform the reader about your company and why it will be successful)
• Contain your Mission Statement which explains what the main objective or focus of your business is.
• Product Description and Differentiation. Brief description of your products or services and why it is different from other solutions in the market.
• The Team. Basic information about your company’s leadership team and employees
• Business Concept. A solid description of what your business does.
• Target Market. The customers you plan to sell to.
• Marketing Strategy. Your plans on reaching and selling to your customers
• Current Financial State. Brief information about what revenue your business currently generates.
• Projected Financial State. Brief information about what you foresee your business revenue to be in the future.

The executive summary is the make-or-break section of your business plan. If your summary cannot in less than two pages cannot clearly describe how your business will solve a particular problem of your target audience and make a profit, your business plan is set on a faulty foundation.

Avoid using the executive summary to hype your business, instead, focus on helping the reader understand the what and how of your plan.

View the executive summary as an opportunity to introduce your vision for your company. You know your executive summary is powerful when it can answer these key questions:

• Who is your target audience?
• What sector or industry are you in?
• What are your products and services?
• What is the future of your industry?
• Is your company scaleable?
• Who are the owners and leaders of your company? What are their backgrounds and experience levels?
• What is the motivation for starting your company?
• What are the next steps?

Writing the executive summary last although it is the most important section of your business plan is an excellent idea. The reason why is because it is a high-level overview of your business plan. It is the section that determines whether potential investors and lenders will read further or not.

The executive summary can be a stand-alone document that covers everything in your business plan. It is not uncommon for investors to request only the executive summary when evaluating your business. If the information in the executive summary impresses them, they will ask for the complete business plan.

If you are writing your business plan for your planning purposes, you do not need to write the executive summary.

2. Add Your Company Overview

The company overview or description is the next section in your business plan after the executive summary. It describes what your business does.

Adding your company overview can be tricky especially when your business is still in the planning stages. Existing businesses can easily summarize their current operations but may encounter difficulties trying to explain what they plan to become.

Your company overview should contain the following:

• What products and services you will provide
• Geographical markets and locations your company have a presence
• What you need to run your business
• Who your target audience or customers are
• Who will service your customers
• Your company’s purpose, mission, and vision
• Information about your company’s founders
• Who the founders are
• Notable achievements of your company so far

When creating a company overview, you have to focus on three basics: identifying your industry, identifying your customer, and explaining the problem you solve.

If you are stuck when creating your company overview, try to answer some of these questions that pertain to you.

• Who are you targeting? (The answer is not everyone)
• What pain point does your product or service solve for your customers that they will be willing to spend money on resolving?
• How does your product or service overcome that pain point?
• Where is the location of your business?
• What products, equipment, and services do you need to run your business?
• How is your company’s product or service different from your competition in the eyes of your customers?
• How many employees do you need and what skills do you require them to have?

After answering some or all of these questions, you will get more than enough information you need to write your company overview or description section. When writing this section, describe what your company does for your customers.

The company description or overview section contains three elements: mission statement, history, and objectives.

• Mission Statement

The mission statement refers to the reason why your business or company is existing. It goes beyond what you do or sell, it is about the ‘why’. A good mission statement should be emotional and inspirational.

Your mission statement should follow the KISS rule (Keep It Simple, Stupid). For example, Shopify’s mission statement is “Make commerce better for everyone.”

When describing your company’s history, make it simple and avoid the temptation of tying it to a defensive narrative. Write it in the manner you would a profile. Your company’s history should include the following information:

• Founding Date
• Major Milestones
• Location(s)
• Flagship Products or Services
• Number of Employees
• Executive Leadership Roles

When you fill in this information, you use it to write one or two paragraphs about your company’s history.

Business Objectives

Your business objective must be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound.) Failure to clearly identify your business objectives does not inspire confidence and makes it hard for your team members to work towards a common purpose.

3. Perform Market and Competitive Analyses to Proof a Big Enough Business Opportunity

The third step in writing a business plan is the market and competitive analysis section. Every business, no matter the size, needs to perform comprehensive market and competitive analyses before it enters into a market.

Performing market and competitive analyses are critical for the success of your business. It helps you avoid entering the right market with the wrong product, or vice versa. Anyone reading your business plans, especially financiers and financial institutions will want to see proof that there is a big enough business opportunity you are targeting.

This section is where you describe the market and industry you want to operate in and show the big opportunities in the market that your business can leverage to make a profit. If you noticed any unique trends when doing your research, show them in this section.

Market analysis alone is not enough, you have to add competitive analysis to strengthen this section. There are already businesses in the industry or market, how do you plan to take a share of the market from them?

You have to clearly illustrate the competitive landscape in your business plan. Are there areas your competitors are doing well? Are there areas where they are not doing so well? Show it.

Make it clear in this section why you are moving into the industry and what weaknesses are present there that you plan to explain. How are your competitors going to react to your market entry? How do you plan to get customers? Do you plan on taking your competitors' competitors, tap into other sources for customers, or both?

Illustrate the competitive landscape as well. What are your competitors doing well and not so well?

Answering these questions and thoughts will aid your market and competitive analysis of the opportunities in your space. Depending on how sophisticated your industry is, or the expectations of your financiers, you may need to carry out a more comprehensive market and competitive analysis to prove that big business opportunity.

Instead of looking at the market and competitive analyses as one entity, separating them will make the research even more comprehensive.

Market Analysis

Market analysis, boarding speaking, refers to research a business carried out on its industry, market, and competitors. It helps businesses gain a good understanding of their target market and the outlook of their industry. Before starting a company, it is vital to carry out market research to find out if the market is viable.

The market analysis section is a key part of the business plan. It is the section where you identify who your best clients or customers are. You cannot omit this section, without it your business plan is incomplete.

A good market analysis will tell your readers how you fit into the existing market and what makes you stand out. This section requires in-depth research, it will probably be the most time-consuming part of the business plan to write.

• Market Research

To create a compelling market analysis that will win over investors and financial institutions, you have to carry out thorough market research . Your market research should be targeted at your primary target market for your products or services. Here is what you want to find out about your target market.

• Your target market’s needs or pain points
• The existing solutions for their pain points
• Geographic Location
• Demographics

The purpose of carrying out a marketing analysis is to get all the information you need to show that you have a solid and thorough understanding of your target audience.

Only after you have fully understood the people you plan to sell your products or services to, can you evaluate correctly if your target market will be interested in your products or services.

You can easily convince interested parties to invest in your business if you can show them you thoroughly understand the market and show them that there is a market for your products or services.

How to Quantify Your Target Market

One of the goals of your marketing research is to understand who your ideal customers are and their purchasing power. To quantify your target market, you have to determine the following:

• Your Potential Customers: They are the people you plan to target. For example, if you sell accounting software for small businesses , then anyone who runs an enterprise or large business is unlikely to be your customers. Also, individuals who do not have a business will most likely not be interested in your product.
• Total Households: If you are selling household products such as heating and air conditioning systems, determining the number of total households is more important than finding out the total population in the area you want to sell to. The logic is simple, people buy the product but it is the household that uses it.
• Median Income: You need to know the median income of your target market. If you target a market that cannot afford to buy your products and services, your business will not last long.
• Income by Demographics: If your potential customers belong to a certain age group or gender, determining income levels by demographics is necessary. For example, if you sell men's clothes, your target audience is men.

What Does a Good Market Analysis Entail?

Your business does not exist on its own, it can only flourish within an industry and alongside competitors. Market analysis takes into consideration your industry, target market, and competitors. Understanding these three entities will drastically improve your company’s chances of success.

You can view your market analysis as an examination of the market you want to break into and an education on the emerging trends and themes in that market. Good market analyses include the following:

• Industry Description. You find out about the history of your industry, the current and future market size, and who the largest players/companies are in your industry.
• Overview of Target Market. You research your target market and its characteristics. Who are you targeting? Note, it cannot be everyone, it has to be a specific group. You also have to find out all information possible about your customers that can help you understand how and why they make buying decisions.
• Size of Target Market: You need to know the size of your target market, how frequently they buy, and the expected quantity they buy so you do not risk overproducing and having lots of bad inventory. Researching the size of your target market will help you determine if it is big enough for sustained business or not.
• Growth Potential: Before picking a target market, you want to be sure there are lots of potential for future growth. You want to avoid going for an industry that is declining slowly or rapidly with almost zero growth potential.
• Market Share Potential: Does your business stand a good chance of taking a good share of the market?
• Market Pricing and Promotional Strategies: Your market analysis should give you an idea of the price point you can expect to charge for your products and services. Researching your target market will also give you ideas of pricing strategies you can implement to break into the market or to enjoy maximum profits.
• Potential Barriers to Entry: One of the biggest benefits of conducting market analysis is that it shows you every potential barrier to entry your business will likely encounter. It is a good idea to discuss potential barriers to entry such as changing technology. It informs readers of your business plan that you understand the market.
• Research on Competitors: You need to know the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors and how you can exploit them for the benefit of your business. Find patterns and trends among your competitors that make them successful, discover what works and what doesn’t, and see what you can do better.

The market analysis section is not just for talking about your target market, industry, and competitors. You also have to explain how your company can fill the hole you have identified in the market.

Here are some questions you can answer that can help you position your product or service in a positive light to your readers.

• Is your product or service of superior quality?
• What additional features do you offer that your competitors do not offer?
• Are you targeting a ‘new’ market?

Basically, your market analysis should include an analysis of what already exists in the market and an explanation of how your company fits into the market.

Competitive Analysis

In the competitive analysis section, y ou have to understand who your direct and indirect competitions are, and how successful they are in the marketplace. It is the section where you assess the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors, the advantage(s) they possess in the market and show the unique features or qualities that make you different from your competitors.

Many businesses do market analysis and competitive analysis together. However, to fully understand what the competitive analysis entails, it is essential to separate it from the market analysis.

Competitive analysis for your business can also include analysis on how to overcome barriers to entry in your target market.

The primary goal of conducting a competitive analysis is to distinguish your business from your competitors. A strong competitive analysis is essential if you want to convince potential funding sources to invest in your business. You have to show potential investors and lenders that your business has what it takes to compete in the marketplace successfully.

Competitive analysis will s how you what the strengths of your competition are and what they are doing to maintain that advantage.

When doing your competitive research, you first have to identify your competitor and then get all the information you can about them. The idea of spending time to identify your competitor and learn everything about them may seem daunting but it is well worth it.

Find answers to the following questions after you have identified who your competitors are.

• What are your successful competitors doing?
• Why is what they are doing working?
• Can your business do it better?
• What are the weaknesses of your successful competitors?
• What are they not doing well?
• Can your business turn its weaknesses into strengths?
• How good is your competitors’ customer service?
• Where do your competitors invest in advertising?
• What sales and pricing strategies are they using?
• What marketing strategies are they using?
• What kind of press coverage do they get?
• What are their customers saying about your competitors (both the positive and negative)?

If your competitors have a website, it is a good idea to visit their websites for more competitors’ research. Check their “About Us” page for more information.

If you are presenting your business plan to investors, you need to clearly distinguish yourself from your competitors. Investors can easily tell when you have not properly researched your competitors.

Take time to think about what unique qualities or features set you apart from your competitors. If you do not have any direct competition offering your product to the market, it does not mean you leave out the competitor analysis section blank. Instead research on other companies that are providing a similar product, or whose product is solving the problem your product solves.

The next step is to create a table listing the top competitors you want to include in your business plan. Ensure you list your business as the last and on the right. What you just created is known as the competitor analysis table.

Direct vs Indirect Competition

You cannot know if your product or service will be a fit for your target market if you have not understood your business and the competitive landscape.

There is no market you want to target where you will not encounter competition, even if your product is innovative. Including competitive analysis in your business plan is essential.

If you are entering an established market, you need to explain how you plan to differentiate your products from the available options in the market. Also, include a list of few companies that you view as your direct competitors The competition you face in an established market is your direct competition.

In situations where you are entering a market with no direct competition, it does not mean there is no competition there. Consider your indirect competition that offers substitutes for the products or services you offer.

For example, if you sell an innovative SaaS product, let us say a project management software , a company offering time management software is your indirect competition.

There is an easy way to find out who your indirect competitors are in the absence of no direct competitors. You simply have to research how your potential customers are solving the problems that your product or service seeks to solve. That is your direct competition.

Factors that Differentiate Your Business from the Competition

There are three main factors that any business can use to differentiate itself from its competition. They are cost leadership, product differentiation, and market segmentation.

1. Cost Leadership

A strategy you can impose to maximize your profits and gain an edge over your competitors. It involves offering lower prices than what the majority of your competitors are offering.

A common practice among businesses looking to enter into a market where there are dominant players is to use free trials or pricing to attract as many customers as possible to their offer.

2. Product Differentiation

Your product or service should have a unique selling proposition (USP) that your competitors do not have or do not stress in their marketing.

Part of the marketing strategy should involve making your products unique and different from your competitors. It does not have to be different from your competitors, it can be the addition to a feature or benefit that your competitors do not currently have.

3. Market Segmentation

As a new business seeking to break into an industry, you will gain more success from focusing on a specific niche or target market, and not the whole industry.

If your competitors are focused on a general need or target market, you can differentiate yourself from them by having a small and hyper-targeted audience. For example, if your competitors are selling men’s clothes in their online stores , you can sell hoodies for men.

4. Define Your Business and Management Structure

The next step in your business plan is your business and management structure. It is the section where you describe the legal structure of your business and the team running it.

Your business is only as good as the management team that runs it, while the management team can only strive when there is a proper business and management structure in place.

If your company is a sole proprietor or a limited liability company (LLC), a general or limited partnership, or a C or an S corporation, state it clearly in this section.

Use an organizational chart to show the management structure in your business. Clearly show who is in charge of what area in your company. It is where you show how each key manager or team leader’s unique experience can contribute immensely to the success of your company. You can also opt to add the resumes and CVs of the key players in your company.

The business and management structure section should show who the owner is, and other owners of the businesses (if the business has other owners). For businesses or companies with multiple owners, include the percent ownership of the various owners and clearly show the extent of each others’ involvement in the company.

Investors want to know who is behind the company and the team running it to determine if it has the right management to achieve its set goals.

Management Team

The management team section is where you show that you have the right team in place to successfully execute the business operations and ideas. Take time to create the management structure for your business. Think about all the important roles and responsibilities that you need managers for to grow your business.

Include brief bios of each key team member and ensure you highlight only the relevant information that is needed. If your team members have background industry experience or have held top positions for other companies and achieved success while filling that role, highlight it in this section.

A common mistake that many startups make is assigning C-level titles such as (CMO and CEO) to everyone on their team. It is unrealistic for a small business to have those titles. While it may look good on paper for the ego of your team members, it can prevent investors from investing in your business.

Instead of building an unrealistic management structure that does not fit your business reality, it is best to allow business titles to grow as the business grows. Starting everyone at the top leaves no room for future change or growth, which is bad for productivity.

Your management team does not have to be complete before you start writing your business plan. You can have a complete business plan even when there are managerial positions that are empty and need filling.

If you have management gaps in your team, simply show the gaps and indicate you are searching for the right candidates for the role(s). Investors do not expect you to have a full management team when you are just starting your business.

Key Questions to Answer When Structuring Your Management Team

• Who are the key leaders?
• What experiences, skills, and educational backgrounds do you expect your key leaders to have?
• Do your key leaders have industry experience?
• What positions will they fill and what duties will they perform in those positions?
• What level of authority do the key leaders have and what are their responsibilities?
• What is the salary for the various management positions that will attract the ideal candidates?

Additional Tips for Writing the Management Structure Section

1. Avoid Adding ‘Ghost’ Names to Your Management Team

There is always that temptation to include a ‘ghost’ name to your management team to attract and influence investors to invest in your business. Although the presence of these celebrity management team members may attract the attention of investors, it can cause your business to lose any credibility if you get found out.

Seasoned investors will investigate further the members of your management team before committing fully to your business If they find out that the celebrity name used does not play any actual role in your business, they will not invest and may write you off as dishonest.

2. Focus on Credentials But Pay Extra Attention to the Roles

Investors want to know the experience that your key team members have to determine if they can successfully reach the company’s growth and financial goals.

While it is an excellent boost for your key management team to have the right credentials, you also want to pay extra attention to the roles they will play in your company.

Organizational Chart

Adding an organizational chart in this section of your business plan is not necessary, you can do it in your business plan’s appendix.

If you are exploring funding options, it is not uncommon to get asked for your organizational chart. The function of an organizational chart goes beyond raising money, you can also use it as a useful planning tool for your business.

An organizational chart can help you identify how best to structure your management team for maximum productivity and point you towards key roles you need to fill in the future.

You can use the organizational chart to show your company’s internal management structure such as the roles and responsibilities of your management team, and relationships that exist between them.

5. Describe Your Product and Service Offering

In your business plan, you have to describe what you sell or the service you plan to offer. It is the next step after defining your business and management structure. The products and services section is where you sell the benefits of your business.

Here you have to explain how your product or service will benefit your customers and describe your product lifecycle. It is also the section where you write down your plans for intellectual property like patent filings and copyrighting.

The research and development that you are undertaking for your product or service need to be explained in detail in this section. However, do not get too technical, sell the general idea and its benefits.

If you have any diagrams or intricate designs of your product or service, do not include them in the products and services section. Instead, leave them for the addendum page. Also, if you are leaving out diagrams or designs for the addendum, ensure you add this phrase “For more detail, visit the addendum Page #.”

Your product and service section in your business plan should include the following:

• A detailed explanation that clearly shows how your product or service works.
• The pricing model for your product or service.
• Your business’ sales and distribution strategy.
• The ideal customers that want your product or service.
• The benefits of your products and services.
• Reason(s) why your product or service is a better alternative to what your competitors are currently offering in the market.
• Plans for filling the orders you receive
• If you have current or pending patents, copyrights, and trademarks for your product or service, you can also discuss them in this section.

What to Focus On When Describing the Benefits, Lifecycle, and Production Process of Your Products or Services

In the products and services section, you have to distill the benefits, lifecycle, and production process of your products and services.

When describing the benefits of your products or services, here are some key factors to focus on.

• Unique features
• Translating the unique features into benefits
• The emotional, psychological, and practical payoffs to attract customers
• Intellectual property rights or any patents

When describing the product life cycle of your products or services, here are some key factors to focus on.

• Upsells, cross-sells, and down-sells
• Time between purchases
• Plans for research and development.

When describing the production process for your products or services, you need to think about the following:

• The creation of new or existing products and services.
• The sources for the raw materials or components you need for production.
• Assembling the products
• Maintaining quality control
• Supply-chain logistics (receiving the raw materials and delivering the finished products)
• The day-to-day management of the production processes, bookkeeping, and inventory.

Tips for Writing the Products or Services Section of Your Business Plan

1. Avoid Technical Descriptions and Industry Buzzwords

The products and services section of your business plan should clearly describe the products and services that your company provides. However, it is not a section to include technical jargons that anyone outside your industry will not understand.

A good practice is to remove highly detailed or technical descriptions in favor of simple terms. Industry buzzwords are not necessary, if there are simpler terms you can use, then use them. If you plan to use your business plan to source funds, making the product or service section so technical will do you no favors.

2. Describe How Your Products or Services Differ from Your Competitors

When potential investors look at your business plan, they want to know how the products and services you are offering differ from that of your competition. Differentiating your products or services from your competition in a way that makes your solution more attractive is critical.

If you are going the innovative path and there is no market currently for your product or service, you need to describe in this section why the market needs your product or service.

For example, overnight delivery was a niche business that only a few companies were participating in. Federal Express (FedEx) had to show in its business plan that there was a large opportunity for that service and they justified why the market needed that service.

3. Long or Short Products or Services Section

Should your products or services section be short? Does the long products or services section attract more investors?

There are no straightforward answers to these questions. Whether your products or services section should be long or relatively short depends on the nature of your business.

If your business is product-focused, then automatically you need to use more space to describe the details of your products. However, if the product your business sells is a commodity item that relies on competitive pricing or other pricing strategies, you do not have to use up so much space to provide significant details about the product.

Likewise, if you are selling a commodity that is available in numerous outlets, then you do not have to spend time on writing a long products or services section.

The key to the success of your business is most likely the effectiveness of your marketing strategies compared to your competitors. Use more space to address that section.

If you are creating a new product or service that the market does not know about, your products or services section can be lengthy. The reason why is because you need to explain everything about the product or service such as the nature of the product, its use case, and values.

A short products or services section for an innovative product or service will not give the readers enough information to properly evaluate your business.

4. Describe Your Relationships with Vendors or Suppliers

Your business will rely on vendors or suppliers to supply raw materials or the components needed to make your products. In your products and services section, describe your relationships with your vendors and suppliers fully.

Avoid the mistake of relying on only one supplier or vendor. If that supplier or vendor fails to supply or goes out of business, you can easily face supply problems and struggle to meet your demands. Plan to set up multiple vendor or supplier relationships for better business stability.

5. Your Primary Goal Is to Convince Your Readers

The primary goal of your business plan is to convince your readers that your business is viable and to create a guide for your business to follow. It applies to the products and services section.

When drafting this section, think like the reader. See your reader as someone who has no idea about your products and services. You are using the products and services section to provide the needed information to help your reader understand your products and services. As a result, you have to be clear and to the point.

While you want to educate your readers about your products or services, you also do not want to bore them with lots of technical details. Show your products and services and not your fancy choice of words.

Your products and services section should provide the answer to the “what” question for your business. You and your management team may run the business, but it is your products and services that are the lifeblood of the business.

Key Questions to Answer When Writing your Products and Services Section

Answering these questions can help you write your products and services section quickly and in a way that will appeal to your readers.

• Are your products existing on the market or are they still in the development stage?
• What is your timeline for adding new products and services to the market?
• What are the positives that make your products and services different from your competitors?
• Do your products and services have any competitive advantage that your competitors’ products and services do not currently have?
• Do your products or services have any competitive disadvantages that you need to overcome to compete with your competitors? If your answer is yes, state how you plan to overcome them,
• How much does it cost to produce your products or services? How much do you plan to sell it for?
• What is the price for your products and services compared to your competitors? Is pricing an issue?
• What are your operating costs and will it be low enough for you to compete with your competitors and still take home a reasonable profit margin?
• What is your plan for acquiring your products? Are you involved in the production of your products or services?
• Are you the manufacturer and produce all the components you need to create your products? Do you assemble your products by using components supplied by other manufacturers? Do you purchase your products directly from suppliers or wholesalers?
• Do you have a steady supply of products that you need to start your business? (If your business is yet to kick-off)
• How do you plan to distribute your products or services to the market?

You can also hint at the marketing or promotion plans you have for your products or services such as how you plan to build awareness or retain customers. The next section is where you can go fully into details about your business’s marketing and sales plan.

6. Show and Explain Your Marketing and Sales Plan

Providing great products and services is wonderful, but it means nothing if you do not have a marketing and sales plan to inform your customers about them. Your marketing and sales plan is critical to the success of your business.

The sales and marketing section is where you show and offer a detailed explanation of your marketing and sales plan and how you plan to execute it. It covers your pricing plan, proposed advertising and promotion activities, activities and partnerships you need to make your business a success, and the benefits of your products and services.

There are several ways you can approach your marketing and sales strategy. Ideally, your marketing and sales strategy has to fit the unique needs of your business.

In this section, you describe how the plans your business has for attracting and retaining customers, and the exact process for making a sale happen. It is essential to thoroughly describe your complete marketing and sales plans because you are still going to reference this section when you are making financial projections for your business.

Outline Your Business’ Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

The sales and marketing section is where you outline your business’s unique selling proposition (USP). When you are developing your unique selling proposition, think about the strongest reasons why people should buy from you over your competition. That reason(s) is most likely a good fit to serve as your unique selling proposition (USP).

Target Market and Target Audience

Plans on how to get your products or services to your target market and how to get your target audience to buy them go into this section. You also highlight the strengths of your business here, particularly what sets them apart from your competition.

Before you start writing your marketing and sales plan, you need to have properly defined your target audience and fleshed out your buyer persona. If you do not first understand the individual you are marketing to, your marketing and sales plan will lack any substance and easily fall.

Creating a Smart Marketing and Sales Plan

Marketing your products and services is an investment that requires you to spend money. Like any other investment, you have to generate a good return on investment (ROI) to justify using that marketing and sales plan. Good marketing and sales plans bring in high sales and profits to your company.

Avoid spending money on unproductive marketing channels. Do your research and find out the best marketing and sales plan that works best for your company.

Your marketing and sales plan can be broken into different parts: your positioning statement, pricing, promotion, packaging, advertising, public relations, content marketing, social media, and strategic alliances.

Your Positioning Statement

Your positioning statement is the first part of your marketing and sales plan. It refers to the way you present your company to your customers.

Are you the premium solution, the low-price solution, or are you the intermediary between the two extremes in the market? What do you offer that your competitors do not that can give you leverage in the market?

Before you start writing your positioning statement, you need to spend some time evaluating the current market conditions. Here are some questions that can help you to evaluate the market

• What are the unique features or benefits that you offer that your competitors lack?
• What are your customers’ primary needs and wants?
• Why should a customer choose you over your competition? How do you plan to differentiate yourself from the competition?
• How does your company’s solution compare with other solutions in the market?

After answering these questions, then you can start writing your positioning statement. Your positioning statement does not have to be in-depth or too long.

All you need to explain with your positioning statement are two focus areas. The first is the position of your company within the competitive landscape. The other focus area is the core value proposition that sets your company apart from other alternatives that your ideal customer might consider.

Here is a simple template you can use to develop a positioning statement.

For [description of target market] who [need of target market], [product or service] [how it meets the need]. Unlike [top competition], it [most essential distinguishing feature].

For example, let’s create the positioning statement for fictional accounting software and QuickBooks alternative , TBooks.

“For small business owners who need accounting services, TBooks is an accounting software that helps small businesses handle their small business bookkeeping basics quickly and easily. Unlike Wave, TBooks gives small businesses access to live sessions with top accountants.”

You can edit this positioning statement sample and fill it with your business details.

After writing your positioning statement, the next step is the pricing of your offerings. The overall positioning strategy you set in your positioning statement will often determine how you price your products or services.

Pricing is a powerful tool that sends a strong message to your customers. Failure to get your pricing strategy right can make or mar your business. If you are targeting a low-income audience, setting a premium price can result in low sales.

You can use pricing to communicate your positioning to your customers. For example, if you are offering a product at a premium price, you are sending a message to your customers that the product belongs to the premium category.

Basic Rules to Follow When Pricing Your Offering

Setting a price for your offering involves more than just putting a price tag on it. Deciding on the right pricing for your offering requires following some basic rules. They include covering your costs, primary and secondary profit center pricing, and matching the market rate.

• Covering Your Costs: The price you set for your products or service should be more than it costs you to produce and deliver them. Every business has the same goal, to make a profit. Depending on the strategy you want to use, there are exceptions to this rule. However, the vast majority of businesses follow this rule.
• Primary and Secondary Profit Center Pricing: When a company sets its price above the cost of production, it is making that product its primary profit center. A company can also decide not to make its initial price its primary profit center by selling below or at even with its production cost. It rather depends on the support product or even maintenance that is associated with the initial purchase to make its profit. The initial price thus became its secondary profit center.
• Matching the Market Rate: A good rule to follow when pricing your products or services is to match your pricing with consumer demand and expectations. If you price your products or services beyond the price your customer perceives as the ideal price range, you may end up with no customers. Pricing your products too low below what your customer perceives as the ideal price range may lead to them undervaluing your offering.

Pricing Strategy

Your pricing strategy influences the price of your offering. There are several pricing strategies available for you to choose from when examining the right pricing strategy for your business. They include cost-plus pricing, market-based pricing, value pricing, and more.

• Cost-plus Pricing: This strategy is one of the simplest and oldest pricing strategies. Here you consider the cost of producing a unit of your product and then add a profit to it to arrive at your market price. It is an effective pricing strategy for manufacturers because it helps them cover their initial costs. Another name for the cost-plus pricing strategy is the markup pricing strategy.
• Market-based Pricing: This pricing strategy analyses the market including competitors’ pricing and then sets a price based on what the market is expecting. With this pricing strategy, you can either set your price at the low-end or high-end of the market.
• Value Pricing: This pricing strategy involves setting a price based on the value you are providing to your customer. When adopting a value-based pricing strategy, you have to set a price that your customers are willing to pay. Service-based businesses such as small business insurance providers , luxury goods sellers, and the fashion industry use this pricing strategy.

After carefully sorting out your positioning statement and pricing, the next item to look at is your promotional strategy. Your promotional strategy explains how you plan on communicating with your customers and prospects.

As a business, you must measure all your costs, including the cost of your promotions. You also want to measure how much sales your promotions bring for your business to determine its usefulness. Promotional strategies or programs that do not lead to profit need to be removed.

There are different types of promotional strategies you can adopt for your business, they include advertising, public relations, and content marketing.

Advertising

Your business plan should include your advertising plan which can be found in the marketing and sales plan section. You need to include an overview of your advertising plans such as the areas you plan to spend money on to advertise your business and offers.

Ensure that you make it clear in this section if your business will be advertising online or using the more traditional offline media, or the combination of both online and offline media. You can also include the advertising medium you want to use to raise awareness about your business and offers.

Some common online advertising mediums you can use include social media ads, landing pages, sales pages, SEO, Pay-Per-Click, emails, Google Ads, and others. Some common traditional and offline advertising mediums include word of mouth, radios, direct mail, televisions, flyers, billboards, posters, and others.

A key component of your advertising strategy is how you plan to measure the effectiveness and success of your advertising campaign. There is no point in sticking with an advertising plan or medium that does not produce results for your business in the long run.

Public Relations

A great way to reach your customers is to get the media to cover your business or product. Publicity, especially good ones, should be a part of your marketing and sales plan. In this section, show your plans for getting prominent reviews of your product from reputable publications and sources.

Your business needs that exposure to grow. If public relations is a crucial part of your promotional strategy, provide details about your public relations plan here.

Content Marketing

Content marketing is a popular promotional strategy used by businesses to inform and attract their customers. It is about teaching and educating your prospects on various topics of interest in your niche, it does not just involve informing them about the benefits and features of the products and services you have,

Businesses publish content usually for free where they provide useful information, tips, and advice so that their target market can be made aware of the importance of their products and services. Content marketing strategies seek to nurture prospects into buyers over time by simply providing value.

Your company can create a blog where it will be publishing content for its target market. You will need to use the best website builder such as Wix and Squarespace and the best web hosting services such as Bluehost, Hostinger, and other Bluehost alternatives to create a functional blog or website.

If content marketing is a crucial part of your promotional strategy (as it should be), detail your plans under promotions.

Including high-quality images of the packaging of your product in your business plan is a lovely idea. You can add the images of the packaging of that product in the marketing and sales plan section. If you are not selling a product, then you do not need to include any worry about the physical packaging of your product.

When organizing the packaging section of your business plan, you can answer the following questions to make maximum use of this section.

• Is your choice of packaging consistent with your positioning strategy?
• What key value proposition does your packaging communicate? (It should reflect the key value proposition of your business)
• How does your packaging compare to that of your competitors?

Social Media

Your 21st-century business needs to have a good social media presence. Not having one is leaving out opportunities for growth and reaching out to your prospect.

You do not have to join the thousands of social media platforms out there. What you need to do is join the ones that your customers are active on and be active there.

Businesses use social media to provide information about their products such as promotions, discounts, the benefits of their products, and content on their blogs.

Social media is also a platform for engaging with your customers and getting feedback about your products or services. Make no mistake, more and more of your prospects are using social media channels to find more information about companies.

You need to consider the social media channels you want to prioritize your business (prioritize the ones your customers are active in) and your branding plans in this section.

Strategic Alliances

If your company plans to work closely with other companies as part of your sales and marketing plan, include it in this section. Prove details about those partnerships in your business plan if you have already established them.

Strategic alliances can be beneficial for all parties involved including your company. Working closely with another company in the form of a partnership can provide access to a different target market segment for your company.

The company you are partnering with may also gain access to your target market or simply offer a new product or service (that of your company) to its customers.

Mutually beneficial partnerships can cover the weaknesses of one company with the strength of another. You should consider strategic alliances with companies that sell complimentary products to yours. For example, if you provide printers, you can partner with a company that produces ink since the customers that buy printers from you will also need inks for printing.

Steps Involved in Creating a Marketing and Sales Plan

1. Focus on Your Target Market

Identify who your customers are, the market you want to target. Then determine the best ways to get your products or services to your potential customers.

2. Evaluate Your Competition

One of the goals of having a marketing plan is to distinguish yourself from your competition. You cannot stand out from them without first knowing them in and out.

You can know your competitors by gathering information about their products, pricing, service, and advertising campaigns.

These questions can help you know your competition.

• What makes your competition successful?
• What are their weaknesses?
• What are customers saying about your competition?

3. Consider Your Brand

Customers' perception of your brand has a strong impact on your sales. Your marketing and sales plan should seek to bolster the image of your brand. Before you start marketing your business, think about the message you want to pass across about your business and your products and services.

4. Focus on Benefits

The majority of your customers do not view your product in terms of features, what they want to know is the benefits and solutions your product offers. Think about the problems your product solves and the benefits it delivers, and use it to create the right sales and marketing message.

Your marketing plan should focus on what you want your customer to get instead of what you provide. Identify those benefits in your marketing and sales plan.

5. Focus on Differentiation

Your marketing and sales plan should look for a unique angle they can take that differentiates your business from the competition, even if the products offered are similar. Some good areas of differentiation you can use are your benefits, pricing, and features.

Key Questions to Answer When Writing Your Marketing and Sales Plan

• What is your company’s budget for sales and marketing campaigns?
• What key metrics will you use to determine if your marketing plans are successful?
• What are your alternatives if your initial marketing efforts do not succeed?
• Who are the sales representatives you need to promote your products or services?
• What are the marketing and sales channels you plan to use? How do you plan to get your products in front of your ideal customers?
• Where will you sell your products?

You may want to include samples of marketing materials you plan to use such as print ads, website descriptions, and social media ads. While it is not compulsory to include these samples, it can help you better communicate your marketing and sales plan and objectives.

The purpose of the marketing and sales section is to answer this question “How will you reach your customers?” If you cannot convincingly provide an answer to this question, you need to rework your marketing and sales section.

7. Clearly Show Your Funding Request

If you are writing your business plan to ask for funding from investors or financial institutions, the funding request section is where you will outline your funding requirements. The funding request section should answer the question ‘How much money will your business need in the near future (3 to 5 years)?’

A good funding request section will clearly outline and explain the amount of funding your business needs over the next five years. You need to know the amount of money your business needs to make an accurate funding request.

Also, when writing your funding request, provide details of how the funds will be used over the period. Specify if you want to use the funds to buy raw materials or machinery, pay salaries, pay for advertisements, and cover specific bills such as rent and electricity.

In addition to explaining what you want to use the funds requested for, you need to clearly state the projected return on investment (ROI) . Investors and creditors want to know if your business can generate profit for them if they put funds into it.

Ensure you do not inflate the figures and stay as realistic as possible. Investors and financial institutions you are seeking funds from will do their research before investing money in your business.

If you are not sure of an exact number to request from, you can use some range of numbers as rough estimates. Add a best-case scenario and a work-case scenario to your funding request. Also, include a description of your strategic future financial plans such as selling your business or paying off debts.

Funding Request: Debt or Equity?

When making your funding request, specify the type of funding you want. Do you want debt or equity? Draw out the terms that will be applicable for the funding, and the length of time the funding request will cover.

Case for Equity

If your new business has not yet started generating profits, you are most likely preparing to sell equity in your business to raise capital at the early stage. Equity here refers to ownership. In this case, you are selling a portion of your company to raise capital.

Although this method of raising capital for your business does not put your business in debt, keep in mind that an equity owner may expect to play a key role in company decisions even if he does not hold a major stake in the company.

Most equity sales for startups are usually private transactions . If you are making a funding request by offering equity in exchange for funding, let the investor know that they will be paid a dividend (a share of the company’s profit). Also, let the investor know the process for selling their equity in your business.

Case for Debt

You may decide not to offer equity in exchange for funds, instead, you make a funding request with the promise to pay back the money borrowed at the agreed time frame.

When making a funding request with an agreement to pay back, note that you will have to repay your creditors both the principal amount borrowed and the interest on it. Financial institutions offer this type of funding for businesses.

Large companies combine both equity and debt in their capital structure. When drafting your business plan, decide if you want to offer both or one over the other.

Before you sell equity in exchange for funding in your business, consider if you are willing to accept not being in total control of your business. Also, before you seek loans in your funding request section, ensure that the terms of repayment are favorable.

You should set a clear timeline in your funding request so that potential investors and creditors can know what you are expecting. Some investors and creditors may agree to your funding request and then delay payment for longer than 30 days, meanwhile, your business needs an immediate cash injection to operate efficiently.

Additional Tips for Writing the Funding Request Section of your Business Plan

The funding request section is not necessary for every business, it is only needed by businesses who plan to use their business plan to secure funding.

If you are adding the funding request section to your business plan, provide an itemized summary of how you plan to use the funds requested. Hiring a lawyer, accountant, or other professionals may be necessary for the proper development of this section.

You should also gather and use financial statements that add credibility and support to your funding requests. Ensure that the financial statements you use should include your projected financial data such as projected cash flows, forecast statements, and expenditure budgets.

If you are an existing business, include all historical financial statements such as cash flow statements, balance sheets and income statements .

Provide monthly and quarterly financial statements for a year. If your business has records that date back beyond the one-year mark, add the yearly statements of those years. These documents are for the appendix section of your business plan.

8. Detail Your Financial Plan, Metrics, and Projections

If you used the funding request section in your business plan, supplement it with a financial plan, metrics, and projections. This section paints a picture of the past performance of your business and then goes ahead to make an informed projection about its future.

The goal of this section is to convince readers that your business is going to be a financial success. It outlines your business plan to generate enough profit to repay the loan (with interest if applicable) and to generate a decent return on investment for investors.

If you have an existing business already in operation, use this section to demonstrate stability through finance. This section should include your cash flow statements, balance sheets, and income statements covering the last three to five years. If your business has some acceptable collateral that you can use to acquire loans, list it in the financial plan, metrics, and projection section.

Apart from current financial statements, this section should also contain a prospective financial outlook that spans the next five years. Include forecasted income statements, cash flow statements, balance sheets, and capital expenditure budget.

If your business is new and is not yet generating profit, use clear and realistic projections to show the potentials of your business.

When drafting this section, research industry norms and the performance of comparable businesses. Your financial projections should cover at least five years. State the logic behind your financial projections. Remember you can always make adjustments to this section as the variables change.

The financial plan, metrics, and projection section create a baseline which your business can either exceed or fail to reach. If your business fails to reach your projections in this section, you need to understand why it failed.

Investors and loan managers spend a lot of time going through the financial plan, metrics, and projection section compared to other parts of the business plan. Ensure you spend time creating credible financial analyses for your business in this section.

Many entrepreneurs find this section daunting to write. You do not need a business degree to create a solid financial forecast for your business. Business finances, especially for startups, are not as complicated as they seem. There are several online tools and templates that make writing this section so much easier.

Use Graphs and Charts

The financial plan, metrics, and projection section is a great place to use graphs and charts to tell the financial story of your business. Charts and images make it easier to communicate your finances.

Accuracy in this section is key, ensure you carefully analyze your past financial statements properly before making financial projects.

Address the Risk Factors and Show Realistic Financial Projections

Keep your financial plan, metrics, and projection realistic. It is okay to be optimistic in your financial projection, however, you have to justify it.

You should also address the various risk factors associated with your business in this section. Investors want to know the potential risks involved, show them. You should also show your plans for mitigating those risks.

What You Should In The Financial Plan, Metrics, and Projection Section of Your Business Plan

The financial plan, metrics, and projection section of your business plan should have monthly sales and revenue forecasts for the first year. It should also include annual projections that cover 3 to 5 years.

A three-year projection is a basic requirement to have in your business plan. However, some investors may request a five-year forecast.

Your business plan should include the following financial statements: sales forecast, personnel plan, income statement, income statement, cash flow statement, balance sheet, and an exit strategy.

1. Sales Forecast

Sales forecast refers to your projections about the number of sales your business is going to record over the next few years. It is typically broken into several rows, with each row assigned to a core product or service that your business is offering.

One common mistake people make in their business plan is to break down the sales forecast section into long details. A sales forecast should forecast the high-level details.

For example, if you are forecasting sales for a payroll software provider, you could break down your forecast into target market segments or subscription categories.

Your sales forecast section should also have a corresponding row for each sales row to cover the direct cost or Cost of Goods Sold (COGS). The objective of these rows is to show the expenses that your business incurs in making and delivering your product or service.

Note that your Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) should only cover those direct costs incurred when making your products. Other indirect expenses such as insurance, salaries, payroll tax, and rent should not be included.

For example, the Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) for a restaurant is the cost of ingredients while for a consulting company it will be the cost of paper and other presentation materials.

2. Personnel Plan

The personnel plan section is where you provide details about the payment plan for your employees. For a small business, you can easily list every position in your company and how much you plan to pay in the personnel plan.

However, for larger businesses, you have to break the personnel plan into functional groups such as sales and marketing.

The personnel plan will also include the cost of an employee beyond salary, commonly referred to as the employee burden. These costs include insurance, payroll taxes , and other essential costs incurred monthly as a result of having employees on your payroll.

3. Income Statement

The income statement section shows if your business is making a profit or taking a loss. Another name for the income statement is the profit and loss (P&L). It takes data from your sales forecast and personnel plan and adds other ongoing expenses you incur while running your business.

Every business plan should have an income statement. It subtracts your business expenses from its earnings to show if your business is generating profit or incurring losses.

The income statement has the following items: sales, Cost of Goods Sold (COGS), gross margin, operating expenses, total operating expenses, operating income , total expenses, and net profit.

• Sales refer to the revenue your business generates from selling its products or services. Other names for sales are income or revenue.
• Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) refers to the total cost of selling your products. Other names for COGS are direct costs or cost of sales. Manufacturing businesses use the Costs of Goods Manufactured (COGM) .
• Gross Margin is the figure you get when you subtract your COGS from your sales. In your income statement, you can express it as a percentage of total sales (Gross margin / Sales = Gross Margin Percent).
• Operating Expenses refer to all the expenses you incur from running your business. It exempts the COGS because it stands alone as a core part of your income statement. You also have to exclude taxes, depreciation, and amortization. Your operating expenses include salaries, marketing expenses, research and development (R&D) expenses, and other expenses.
• Total Operating Expenses refers to the sum of all your operating expenses including those exemptions named above under operating expenses.
• Operating Income refers to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization. It is simply known as the acronym EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization). Calculating your operating income is simple, all you need to do is to subtract your COGS and total operating expenses from your sales.
• Total Expenses refer to the sum of your operating expenses and your business’ interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization.
• Net profit shows whether your business has made a profit or taken a loss during a given timeframe.

4. Cash Flow Statement

The cash flow statement tracks the money you have in the bank at any given point. It is often confused with the income statement or the profit and loss statement. They are both different types of financial statements. The income statement calculates your profits and losses while the cash flow statement shows you how much you have in the bank.

5. Balance Sheet

The balance sheet is a financial statement that provides an overview of the financial health of your business. It contains information about the assets and liabilities of your company, and owner’s or shareholders’ equity.

You can get the net worth of your company by subtracting your company’s liabilities from its assets.

6. Exit Strategy

The exit strategy refers to a probable plan for selling your business either to the public in an IPO or to another company. It is the last thing you include in the financial plan, metrics, and projection section.

You can choose to omit the exit strategy from your business plan if you plan to maintain full ownership of your business and do not plan on seeking angel investment or virtual capitalist (VC) funding.

Investors may want to know what your exit plan is. They invest in your business to get a good return on investment.

Your exit strategy does not have to include long and boring details. Ensure you identify some interested parties who may be interested in buying the company if it becomes a success.

Key Questions to Answer with Your Financial Plan, Metrics, and Projection

Your financial plan, metrics, and projection section helps investors, creditors, or your internal managers to understand what your expenses are, the amount of cash you need, and what it takes to make your company profitable. It also shows what you will be doing with any funding.

You do not need to show actual financial data if you do not have one. Adding forecasts and projections to your financial statements is added proof that your strategy is feasible and shows investors you have planned properly.

Here are some key questions to answer to help you develop this section.

• What is your sales forecast for the next year?
• When will your company achieve a positive cash flow?
• What are the core expenses you need to operate?
• How much money do you need upfront to operate or grow your company?
• How will you use the loans or investments?

9. Add an Appendix to Your Business Plan

Adding an appendix to your business plan is optional. It is a useful place to put any charts, tables, legal notes, definitions, permits, résumés, and other critical information that do not fit into other sections of your business plan.

The appendix section is where you would want to include details of a patent or patent-pending if you have one. You can always add illustrations or images of your products here. It is the last section of your business plan.

When writing your business plan, there are details you cut short or remove to prevent the entire section from becoming too lengthy. There are also details you want to include in the business plan but are not a good fit for any of the previous sections. You can add that additional information to the appendix section.

Businesses also use the appendix section to include supporting documents or other materials specially requested by investors or lenders.

You can include just about any information that supports the assumptions and statements you made in the business plan under the appendix. It is the one place in the business plan where unrelated data and information can coexist amicably.

If your appendix section is lengthy, try organizing it by adding a table of contents at the beginning of the appendix section. It is also advisable to group similar information to make it easier for the reader to access them.

A well-organized appendix section makes it easier to share your information clearly and concisely. Add footnotes throughout the rest of the business plan or make references in the plan to the documents in the appendix.

The appendix section is usually only necessary if you are seeking funding from investors or lenders, or hoping to attract partners.

People reading business plans do not want to spend time going through a heap of backup information, numbers, and charts. Keep these documents or information in the Appendix section in case the reader wants to dig deeper.

Common Items to Include in the Appendix Section of Your Business Plan

The appendix section includes documents that supplement or support the information or claims given in other sections of the business plans. Common items you can include in the appendix section include:

• Additional data about the process of manufacturing or creation
• Additional description of products or services such as product schematics
• Additional financial documents or projections
• Articles of incorporation and status
• Backup for market research or competitive analysis
• Bank statements
• Business registries
• Client testimonials (if your business is already running)
• Copies of insurances
• Credit histories (personal or/and business)
• Deeds and permits
• Equipment leases
• Examples of marketing and advertising collateral
• Industry associations and memberships
• Images of product
• Intellectual property
• Key customer contracts
• Legal documents and other contracts
• Letters of reference
• Links to references
• Market research data
• Organizational charts
• Photographs of potential facilities
• Professional licenses pertaining to your legal structure or type of business
• Purchase orders
• Resumes of the founder(s) and key managers
• State and federal identification numbers or codes
• Trademarks or patents’ registrations

Avoid using the appendix section as a place to dump any document or information you feel like adding. Only add documents or information that you support or increase the credibility of your business plan.

Tips and Strategies for Writing a Convincing Business Plan

To achieve a perfect business plan, you need to consider some key tips and strategies. These tips will raise the efficiency of your business plan above average.

1. Know Your Audience

When writing a business plan, you need to know your audience . Business owners write business plans for different reasons. Your business plan has to be specific. For example, you can write business plans to potential investors, banks, and even fellow board members of the company.

The audience you are writing to determines the structure of the business plan. As a business owner, you have to know your audience. Not everyone will be your audience. Knowing your audience will help you to narrow the scope of your business plan.

Consider what your audience wants to see in your projects, the likely questions they might ask, and what interests them.

• A business plan used to address a company's board members will center on its employment schemes, internal affairs, projects, stakeholders, etc.
• A business plan for financial institutions will talk about the size of your market and the chances for you to pay back any loans you demand.
• A business plan for investors will show proof that you can return the investment capital within a specific time. In addition, it discusses your financial projections, tractions, and market size.

2. Get Inspiration from People

Writing a business plan from scratch as an entrepreneur can be daunting. That is why you need the right inspiration to push you to write one. You can gain inspiration from the successful business plans of other businesses. Look at their business plans, the style they use, the structure of the project, etc.

To make your business plan easier to create, search companies related to your business to get an exact copy of what you need to create an effective business plan. You can also make references while citing examples in your business plans.

When drafting your business plan, get as much help from others as you possibly can. By getting inspiration from people, you can create something better than what they have.

3. Avoid Being Over Optimistic

Many business owners make use of strong adjectives to qualify their content. One of the big mistakes entrepreneurs make when preparing a business plan is promising too much.

The use of superlatives and over-optimistic claims can prepare the audience for more than you can offer. In the end, you disappoint the confidence they have in you.

In most cases, the best option is to be realistic with your claims and statistics. Most of the investors can sense a bit of incompetency from the overuse of superlatives. As a new entrepreneur, do not be tempted to over-promise to get the interests of investors.

The concept of entrepreneurship centers on risks, nothing is certain when you make future analyses. What separates the best is the ability to do careful research and work towards achieving that, not promising more than you can achieve.

To make an excellent first impression as an entrepreneur, replace superlatives with compelling data-driven content. In this way, you are more specific than someone promising a huge ROI from an investment.

4. Keep it Simple and Short

When writing business plans, ensure you keep them simple throughout. Irrespective of the purpose of the business plan, your goal is to convince the audience.

One way to achieve this goal is to make them understand your proposal. Therefore, it would be best if you avoid the use of complex grammar to express yourself. It would be a huge turn-off if the people you want to convince are not familiar with your use of words.

Another thing to note is the length of your business plan. It would be best if you made it as brief as possible.

You hardly see investors or agencies that read through an extremely long document. In that case, if your first few pages can’t convince them, then you have lost it. The more pages you write, the higher the chances of you derailing from the essential contents.

To ensure your business plan has a high conversion rate, you need to dispose of every unnecessary information. For example, if you have a strategy that you are not sure of, it would be best to leave it out of the plan.

5. Make an Outline and Follow Through

A perfect business plan must have touched every part needed to convince the audience. Business owners get easily tempted to concentrate more on their products than on other sections. Doing this can be detrimental to the efficiency of the business plan.

For example, imagine you talking about a product but omitting or providing very little information about the target audience. You will leave your clients confused.

To ensure that your business plan communicates your full business model to readers, you have to input all the necessary information in it. One of the best ways to achieve this is to design a structure and stick to it.

This structure is what guides you throughout the writing. To make your work easier, you can assign an estimated word count or page limit to every section to avoid making it too bulky for easy reading. As a guide, the necessary things your business plan must contain are:

• Table of contents
• Introduction
• Product or service description
• Target audience
• Market size
• Competition analysis
• Financial projections

Some specific businesses can include some other essential sections, but these are the key sections that must be in every business plan.

6. Ask a Professional to Proofread

When writing a business plan, you must tie all loose ends to get a perfect result. When you are done with writing, call a professional to go through the document for you. You are bound to make mistakes, and the way to correct them is to get external help.

You should get a professional in your field who can relate to every section of your business plan. It would be easier for the professional to notice the inner flaws in the document than an editor with no knowledge of your business.

In addition to getting a professional to proofread, get an editor to proofread and edit your document. The editor will help you identify grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, and inappropriate writing styles.

Writing a business plan can be daunting, but you can surmount that obstacle and get the best out of it with these tips.

Business Plan Examples and Templates That’ll Save You Tons of Time

1. hubspot's one-page business plan.

The one-page business plan template by HubSpot is the perfect guide for businesses of any size, irrespective of their business strategy. Although the template is condensed into a page, your final business plan should not be a page long! The template is designed to ask helpful questions that can help you develop your business plan.

Hubspot’s one-page business plan template is divided into nine fields:

• Business opportunity
• Company description
• Industry analysis
• Target market
• Implementation timeline
• Marketing plan
• Financial summary
• Funding required

2. Bplan’s Free Business Plan Template

Bplans' free business plan template is investor-approved. It is a rich template used by prestigious educational institutions such as Babson College and Princeton University to teach entrepreneurs how to create a business plan.

The template has six sections: the executive summary, opportunity, execution, company, financial plan, and appendix. There is a step-by-step guide for writing every little detail in the business plan. Follow the instructions each step of the way and you will create a business plan that impresses investors or lenders easily.

3. HubSpot's Downloadable Business Plan Template

HubSpot’s downloadable business plan template is a more comprehensive option compared to the one-page business template by HubSpot. This free and downloadable business plan template is designed for entrepreneurs.

The template is a comprehensive guide and checklist for business owners just starting their businesses. It tells you everything you need to fill in each section of the business plan and how to do it.

There are nine sections in this business plan template: an executive summary, company and business description, product and services line, market analysis, marketing plan, sales plan, legal notes, financial considerations, and appendix.

4. Business Plan by My Own Business Institute

My Own Business Institute (MOBI) which is a part of Santa Clara University's Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship offers a free business plan template. You can either copy the free business template from the link provided above or download it as a Word document.

The comprehensive template consists of a whopping 15 sections.

• The Business Profile
• The Vision and the People
• Home-Based Business and Freelance Business Opportunities
• Organization
• Licenses and Permits
• Business Insurance
• Communication Tools
• Acquisitions
• Location and Leasing
• Accounting and Cash Flow
• Opening and Marketing
• Managing Employees
• Expanding and Handling Problems

There are lots of helpful tips on how to fill each section in the free business plan template by MOBI.

5. Score's Business Plan Template for Startups

Score is an American nonprofit organization that helps entrepreneurs build successful companies. This business plan template for startups by Score is available for free download. The business plan template asks a whooping 150 generic questions that help entrepreneurs from different fields to set up the perfect business plan.

The business plan template for startups contains clear instructions and worksheets, all you have to do is answer the questions and fill the worksheets.

There are nine sections in the business plan template: executive summary, company description, products and services, marketing plan, operational plan, management and organization, startup expenses and capitalization, financial plan, and appendices.

The ‘refining the plan’ resource contains instructions that help you modify your business plan to suit your specific needs, industry, and target audience. After you have completed Score’s business plan template, you can work with a SCORE mentor for expert advice in business planning.

6. Minimalist Architecture Business Plan Template by Venngage

The minimalist architecture business plan template is a simple template by Venngage that you can customize to suit your business needs .

There are five sections in the template: an executive summary, statement of problem, approach and methodology, qualifications, and schedule and benchmark. The business plan template has instructions that guide users on what to fill in each section.

7. Small Business Administration Free Business Plan Template

The Small Business Administration (SBA) offers two free business plan templates, filled with practical real-life examples that you can model to create your business plan. Both free business plan templates are written by fictional business owners: Rebecca who owns a consulting firm, and Andrew who owns a toy company.

There are five sections in the two SBA’s free business plan templates.

• Executive Summary
• Company Description
• Service Line
• Marketing and Sales

8. The $100 Startup's One-Page Business Plan

The one-page business plan by the $100 startup is a simple business plan template for entrepreneurs who do not want to create a long and complicated plan . You can include more details in the appendices for funders who want more information beyond what you can put in the one-page business plan.

There are five sections in the one-page business plan such as overview, ka-ching, hustling, success, and obstacles or challenges or open questions. You can answer all the questions using one or two sentences.

9. PandaDoc’s Free Business Plan Template

The free business plan template by PandaDoc is a comprehensive 15-page document that describes the information you should include in every section.

There are 11 sections in PandaDoc’s free business plan template.

• Executive summary
• Business description
• Products and services
• Operations plan
• Management organization
• Financial plan
• Conclusion / Call to action
• Confidentiality statement

You have to sign up for its 14-day free trial to access the template. You will find different business plan templates on PandaDoc once you sign up (including templates for general businesses and specific businesses such as bakeries, startups, restaurants, salons, hotels, and coffee shops)

PandaDoc allows you to customize its business plan templates to fit the needs of your business. After editing the template, you can send it to interested parties and track opens and views through PandaDoc.

10. Invoiceberry Templates for Word, Open Office, Excel, or PPT

InvoiceBerry is a U.K based online invoicing and tracking platform that offers free business plan templates in .docx, .odt, .xlsx, and .pptx formats for freelancers and small businesses.

Before you can download the free business plan template, it will ask you to give it your email address. After you complete the little task, it will send the download link to your inbox for you to download. It also provides a business plan checklist in .xlsx file format that ensures you add the right information to the business plan.

Alternatives to the Traditional Business Plan

A business plan is very important in mapping out how one expects their business to grow over a set number of years, particularly when they need external investment in their business. However, many investors do not have the time to watch you present your business plan. It is a long and boring read.

Luckily, there are three alternatives to the traditional business plan (the Business Model Canvas, Lean Canvas, and Startup Pitch Deck). These alternatives are less laborious and easier and quicker to present to investors.

Business Model Canvas (BMC)

The business model canvas is a business tool used to present all the important components of setting up a business, such as customers, route to market, value proposition, and finance in a single sheet. It provides a very focused blueprint that defines your business initially which you can later expand on if needed.

The sheet is divided mainly into company, industry, and consumer models that are interconnected in how they find problems and proffer solutions.

Segments of the Business Model Canvas

The business model canvas was developed by founder Alexander Osterwalder to answer important business questions. It contains nine segments.

• Key Partners: Who will be occupying important executive positions in your business? What do they bring to the table? Will there be a third party involved with the company?
• Key Activities: What important activities will production entail? What activities will be carried out to ensure the smooth running of the company?
• The Product’s Value Propositions: What does your product do? How will it be different from other products?
• Customer Segments: What demography of consumers are you targeting? What are the habits of these consumers? Who are the MVPs of your target consumers?
• Customer Relationships: How will the team support and work with its customer base? How do you intend to build and maintain trust with the customer?
• Key Resources: What type of personnel and tools will be needed? What size of the budget will they need access to?
• Channels: How do you plan to create awareness of your products? How do you intend to transport your product to the customer?
• Cost Structure: What is the estimated cost of production? How much will distribution cost?
• Revenue Streams: For what value are customers willing to pay? How do they prefer to pay for the product? Are there any external revenues attached apart from the main source? How do the revenue streams contribute to the overall revenue?

Lean Canvas

The lean canvas is a problem-oriented alternative to the standard business model canvas. It was proposed by Ash Maurya, creator of Lean Stack as a development of the business model generation. It uses a more problem-focused approach and it majorly targets entrepreneurs and startup businesses.

Lean Canvas uses the same 9 blocks concept as the business model canvas, however, they have been modified slightly to suit the needs and purpose of a small startup. The key partners, key activities, customer relationships, and key resources are replaced by new segments which are:

• Problem: Simple and straightforward number of problems you have identified, ideally three.
• Solution: The solutions to each problem.
• Unfair Advantage: Something you possess that can't be easily bought or replicated.
• Key Metrics: Important numbers that will tell how your business is doing.

Startup Pitch Deck

While the business model canvas compresses into a factual sheet, startup pitch decks expand flamboyantly.

Pitch decks, through slides, convey your business plan, often through graphs and images used to emphasize estimations and observations in your presentation. Entrepreneurs often use pitch decks to fully convince their target audience of their plans before discussing funding arrangements.

Considering the likelihood of it being used in a small time frame, a good startup pitch deck should ideally contain 20 slides or less to have enough time to answer questions from the audience.

Unlike the standard and lean business model canvases, a pitch deck doesn't have a set template on how to present your business plan but there are still important components to it. These components often mirror those of the business model canvas except that they are in slide form and contain more details.

Using Airbnb (one of the most successful start-ups in recent history) for reference, the important components of a good slide are listed below.

• Cover/Introduction Slide: Here, you should include your company's name and mission statement. Your mission statement should be a very catchy tagline. Also, include personal information and contact details to provide an easy link for potential investors.
• Problem Slide: This slide requires you to create a connection with the audience or the investor that you are pitching. For example in their pitch, Airbnb summarized the most important problems it would solve in three brief points – pricing of hotels, disconnection from city culture, and connection problems for local bookings.
• Solution Slide: This slide includes your core value proposition. List simple and direct solutions to the problems you have mentioned
• Customer Analysis: Here you will provide information on the customers you will be offering your service to. The identity of your customers plays an important part in fundraising as well as the long-run viability of the business.
• Market Validation: Use competitive analysis to show numbers that prove the presence of a market for your product, industry behavior in the present and the long run, as well as the percentage of the market you aim to attract. It shows that you understand your competitors and customers and convinces investors of the opportunities presented in the market.
• Business Model: Your business model is the hook of your presentation. It may vary in complexity but it should generally include a pricing system informed by your market analysis. The goal of the slide is to confirm your business model is easy to implement.
• Marketing Strategy: This slide should summarize a few customer acquisition methods that you plan to use to grow the business.
• Competitive Advantage: What this slide will do is provide information on what will set you apart and make you a more attractive option to customers. It could be the possession of technology that is not widely known in the market.
• Team Slide: Here you will give a brief description of your team. Include your key management personnel here and their specific roles in the company. Include their educational background, job history, and skillsets. Also, talk about their accomplishments in their careers so far to build investors' confidence in members of your team.
• Traction Slide: This validates the company’s business model by showing growth through early sales and support. The slide aims to reduce any lingering fears in potential investors by showing realistic periodic milestones and profit margins. It can include current sales, growth, valuable customers, pre-orders, or data from surveys outlining current consumer interest.
• Funding Slide: This slide is popularly referred to as ‘the ask'. Here you will include important details like how much is needed to get your business off the ground and how the funding will be spent to help the company reach its goals.
• Appendix Slides: Your pitch deck appendix should always be included alongside a standard pitch presentation. It consists of additional slides you could not show in the pitch deck but you need to complement your presentation.

It is important to support your calculations with pictorial renditions. Infographics, such as pie charts or bar graphs, will be more effective in presenting the information than just listing numbers. For example, a six-month graph that shows rising profit margins will easily look more impressive than merely writing it.

Lastly, since a pitch deck is primarily used to secure meetings and you may be sharing your pitch with several investors, it is advisable to keep a separate public version that doesn't include financials. Only disclose the one with projections once you have secured a link with an investor.

Advantages of the Business Model Canvas, Lean Canvas, and Startup Pitch Deck over the Traditional Business Plan

• Time-Saving: Writing a detailed traditional business plan could take weeks or months. On the other hand, all three alternatives can be done in a few days or even one night of brainstorming if you have a comprehensive understanding of your business.
• Easier to Understand: Since the information presented is almost entirely factual, it puts focus on what is most important in running the business. They cut away the excess pages of fillers in a traditional business plan and allow investors to see what is driving the business and what is getting in the way.
• Easy to Update: Businesses typically present their business plans to many potential investors before they secure funding. What this means is that you may regularly have to amend your presentation to update statistics or adjust to audience-specific needs. For a traditional business plan, this could mean rewriting a whole section of your plan. For the three alternatives, updating is much easier because they are not voluminous.
• Guide for a More In-depth Business Plan: All three alternatives have the added benefit of being able to double as a sketch of your business plan if the need to create one arises in the future.

Business Plan FAQ

Business plans are important for any entrepreneur who is looking for a framework to run their company over some time or seeking external support. Although they are essential for new businesses, every company should ideally have a business plan to track their growth from time to time.  They can be used by startups seeking investments or loans to convey their business ideas or an employee to convince his boss of the feasibility of starting a new project. They can also be used by companies seeking to recruit high-profile employee targets into key positions or trying to secure partnerships with other firms.

Business plans often vary depending on your target audience, the scope, and the goals for the plan. Startup plans are the most common among the different types of business plans.  A start-up plan is used by a new business to present all the necessary information to help get the business up and running. They are usually used by entrepreneurs who are seeking funding from investors or bank loans. The established company alternative to a start-up plan is a feasibility plan. A feasibility plan is often used by an established company looking for new business opportunities. They are used to show the upsides of creating a new product for a consumer base. Because the audience is usually company people, it requires less company analysis. The third type of business plan is the lean business plan. A lean business plan is a brief, straight-to-the-point breakdown of your ideas and analysis for your business. It does not contain details of your proposal and can be written on one page. Finally, you have the what-if plan. As it implies, a what-if plan is a preparation for the worst-case scenario. You must always be prepared for the possibility of your original plan being rejected. A good what-if plan will serve as a good plan B to the original.

A good business plan has 10 key components. They include an executive plan, product analysis, desired customer base, company analysis, industry analysis, marketing strategy, sales strategy, financial projection, funding, and appendix. Executive Plan Your business should begin with your executive plan. An executive plan will provide early insight into what you are planning to achieve with your business. It should include your mission statement and highlight some of the important points which you will explain later. Product Analysis The next component of your business plan is your product analysis. A key part of this section is explaining the type of item or service you are going to offer as well as the market problems your product will solve. Desired Consumer Base Your product analysis should be supplemented with a detailed breakdown of your desired consumer base. Investors are always interested in knowing the economic power of your market as well as potential MVP customers. Company Analysis The next component of your business plan is your company analysis. Here, you explain how you want to run your business. It will include your operational strategy, an insight into the workforce needed to keep the company running, and important executive positions. It will also provide a calculation of expected operational costs.  Industry Analysis A good business plan should also contain well laid out industry analysis. It is important to convince potential investors you know the companies you will be competing with, as well as your plans to gain an edge on the competition. Marketing Strategy Your business plan should also include your marketing strategy. This is how you intend to spread awareness of your product. It should include a detailed explanation of the company brand as well as your advertising methods. Sales Strategy Your sales strategy comes after the market strategy. Here you give an overview of your company's pricing strategy and how you aim to maximize profits. You can also explain how your prices will adapt to market behaviors. Financial Projection The financial projection is the next component of your business plan. It explains your company's expected running cost and revenue earned during the tenure of the business plan. Financial projection gives a clear idea of how your company will develop in the future. Funding The next component of your business plan is funding. You have to detail how much external investment you need to get your business idea off the ground here. Appendix The last component of your plan is the appendix. This is where you put licenses, graphs, or key information that does not fit in any of the other components.

The business model canvas is a business management tool used to quickly define your business idea and model. It is often used when investors need you to pitch your business idea during a brief window.

A pitch deck is similar to a business model canvas except that it makes use of slides in its presentation. A pitch is not primarily used to secure funding, rather its main purpose is to entice potential investors by selling a very optimistic outlook on the business.

Business plan competitions help you evaluate the strength of your business plan. By participating in business plan competitions, you are improving your experience. The experience provides you with a degree of validation while practicing important skills. The main motivation for entering into the competitions is often to secure funding by finishing in podium positions. There is also the chance that you may catch the eye of a casual observer outside of the competition. These competitions also provide good networking opportunities. You could meet mentors who will take a keen interest in guiding you in your business journey. You also have the opportunity to meet other entrepreneurs whose ideas can complement yours.

Exlore Further

• 12 Key Elements of a Business Plan (Top Components Explained)
• 13 Sources of Business Finance For Companies & Sole Traders
• 5 Common Types of Business Structures (+ Pros & Cons)
• How to Buy a Business in 8 Steps (+ Due Diligence Checklist)

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Martin luenendonk.

Martin loves entrepreneurship and has helped dozens of entrepreneurs by validating the business idea, finding scalable customer acquisition channels, and building a data-driven organization. During his time working in investment banking, tech startups, and industry-leading companies he gained extensive knowledge in using different software tools to optimize business processes.

This insights and his love for researching SaaS products enables him to provide in-depth, fact-based software reviews to enable software buyers make better decisions.

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Draft One Page Business Plan

1. executive summary.

• Marketing and Sales Strategies
• Competitive Analysis
• Financial Analysis
• Business Plan Implementation
• Business Opportunity
• Business’ Team (Owner and Key Staff)
• Budget and Funding

2. Business/Company Description

• Business/Company Name
• Product/Service
• Target Market
• Goals for your Business
• Company/Business Location
• Vision Statement
• Mission Statement
• Business Structure
• Business Model
• Company/Business History

3. Products and Services

4. market analysis.

• Industry Description and Outlook
• Market Need
• Market Growth
• Market Trends
• Market Research Testing
• Barriers to Entry
• Regulations

5. Marketing Strategy

6. competitive analysis, 7. operations plan, 8. financial plan.

• Executive Summary
• Business/Company Description
• Products and Services
• Market Analysis
• Marketing Strategy
• Operations Plan
• Financial Plan

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