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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.

How to Write Your Business Plan to Secure Funding

Unlock funding for your business! Master the art of writing a funding-worthy business plan with our ultimate guide.

Introduction to Writing a Funding-Worthy Business Plan

When it comes to securing funding for your business, a well-written business plan plays a pivotal role. It serves as a roadmap that outlines your goals, strategies, and financial projections, giving potential investors or lenders a comprehensive understanding of your business. In this section, we will explore the importance of a well-written business plan and delve into the purpose it serves.

Importance of a Well-Written Business Plan

A well-crafted business plan is essential for multiple reasons. Firstly, it showcases your professionalism and commitment to your business idea. It demonstrates that you have thoroughly thought through every aspect of your venture and have a solid plan in place.

Additionally, a well-written business plan acts as a communication tool between you and potential investors or lenders. It allows you to effectively convey your business concept, market analysis, and financial projections, helping them understand the viability and potential of your business.

Moreover, a comprehensive business plan can help you identify any potential pitfalls or gaps in your strategy. By thoroughly analyzing your business model, market conditions, and financial projections, you can proactively address any weaknesses and make necessary adjustments.

Understanding the Purpose of a Business Plan

The purpose of a business plan extends beyond just securing funding. It serves as a strategic document that guides your business operations and helps you stay focused on your goals. Some key purposes of a business plan include:

• Attracting Investors and Lenders: A well-written business plan provides potential investors or lenders with the information they need to make an informed decision about whether to invest in your business or provide financial support. It showcases the potential return on investment and outlines the steps you will take to achieve success.
• Setting Clear Goals and Strategies: A business plan helps you define your short-term and long-term goals, as well as the strategies you will implement to achieve them. It provides a roadmap that keeps you on track and allows you to measure your progress along the way.
• Identifying Strengths and Weaknesses: By conducting a thorough market analysis and assessing your business's strengths and weaknesses, a business plan helps you identify areas where you excel and areas that require improvement. This enables you to develop strategies to leverage your strengths and mitigate any weaknesses.
• Guiding Financial Decision-Making: A business plan includes financial projections and analysis that help you make informed financial decisions. It provides a clear understanding of your revenue streams, costs, and potential profitability, enabling you to allocate resources effectively.
• Facilitating Collaboration and Communication: A business plan serves as a tool for collaboration and communication within your organization. It ensures that all team members are aligned with the business goals and strategies, fostering a cohesive and unified approach.

Understanding the importance and purpose of a well-written business plan is the first step towards creating a document that effectively communicates your vision and secures the funding you need. In the following sections, we will explore the key components, step-by-step guide, and best practices for crafting a funding-worthy business plan.

Key Components of a Funding-Worthy Business Plan

To create a business plan that attracts funding, it's essential to include key components that provide a comprehensive overview of your business. These components will help potential investors understand your business's potential and make informed decisions. Here are the key components you should include in your funding-worthy business plan:

Executive Summary

The executive summary is a concise overview of your entire business plan. It should provide a clear and compelling summary of your business, highlighting its unique selling proposition, market opportunities, and financial projections. This section should be written in a way that captures the attention of potential investors and encourages them to read further.

Company Overview

The company overview section provides an introduction to your business. It should include details about your company's mission, vision, and values. Additionally, this section should highlight key information such as the legal structure of your business, its history, location, and any notable achievements or milestones.

Market Analysis

The market analysis section presents a thorough examination of your target market, industry trends, and competitors. It should showcase your understanding of the market dynamics, customer needs, and competitive landscape. Including market research, data, and relevant statistics can strengthen your analysis and demonstrate the market opportunity your business intends to tap into.

Product or Service Description

In this section, you should provide a detailed description of your product or service. Explain how it addresses a need or solves a problem in the market. Include information about its features, benefits, and any unique selling points. Use this section to showcase the value proposition of your offering and differentiate it from competitors.

Marketing and Sales Strategy

The marketing and sales strategy section outlines how you plan to promote and sell your product or service. It should include your target market segmentation, pricing strategy, distribution channels, and promotional activities. Demonstrating a well-thought-out marketing and sales strategy can instill confidence in investors regarding your ability to reach and attract customers.

Organizational Structure and Management

In this section, provide an overview of your organizational structure, including key personnel and their roles. Highlight the qualifications and experience of your management team, as well as any advisors or board members. Investors want to see that your team has the expertise and capabilities to execute your business plan successfully.

Financial Projections and Analysis

The financial projections and analysis section is crucial for illustrating the financial viability of your business. Include projected income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements for at least the next three years. Additionally, provide a detailed analysis of your financial assumptions and key performance indicators. It's important to present realistic and well-supported financial projections.

Funding Request and Use of Funds

In this section, clearly state the amount of funding you are seeking and how you intend to use it. Break down the allocation of funds, highlighting specific areas such as product development, marketing, operations, or expansion. Providing a detailed breakdown of the use of funds demonstrates your ability to effectively utilize the investment.

The appendix section serves as a supplemental section that includes any additional information that supports your business plan. This may include market research data, product samples, patents, licenses, permits, or any other relevant documents. The appendix provides investors with access to more detailed information without overwhelming the main body of the business plan.

By including these key components in your funding-worthy business plan, you can present a comprehensive overview of your business and increase your chances of securing the funding you need to bring your entrepreneurial vision to life.

Step-by-Step Guide to Writing a Funding-Worthy Business Plan

Writing a business plan that is compelling and attractive to potential investors is a crucial step in securing funding for your venture. To help you navigate this process, here is a step-by-step guide to writing a funding-worthy business plan.

Research and Gather Information

Before diving into the writing process, it's essential to conduct thorough research and gather all the necessary information. This includes understanding your industry, target market, competitors, and potential investors. Collecting data and market insights will provide a solid foundation for your business plan.

Define Your Business and Goals

Clearly define your business and outline your goals. Describe the nature of your business, the products or services you offer, and what sets you apart from your competitors. Additionally, establish both short-term and long-term goals for your business, focusing on specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) objectives.

Conduct a Comprehensive Market Analysis

Perform a comprehensive market analysis to gain insights into your target market, customer demographics, and industry trends. Identify your target audience's needs, preferences, and purchasing behavior. Analyze your competitors to understand their strengths, weaknesses, and market positioning. Presenting this information in tables can help organize and present the data effectively.

Market Analysis Factors                                       Data

‍ Target Market Size

Customer Demographics

Industry Trends

Competitor Analysis

Develop a Strong Marketing and Sales Strategy

Outline a robust marketing and sales strategy that highlights how you plan to reach and attract customers. Define your unique selling proposition (USP) and outline your pricing strategy, distribution channels, and promotional activities. This section should demonstrate your understanding of your target market and how you plan to position your business in the competitive landscape.

Outline Your Organizational Structure and Management

Describe your organizational structure and management team. Provide an overview of key personnel, their roles, and their qualifications. Highlight any relevant industry experience, expertise, or accomplishments that make your team well-equipped to execute the business plan successfully. A clear and concise organizational chart can help visualize the structure.

Create Financial Projections and Analysis

Develop financial projections that estimate your business's future revenue, expenses, and profitability. Include a projected income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement. Use realistic assumptions based on your market research and industry benchmarks. Additionally, conduct a comprehensive financial analysis that evaluates the financial health and viability of your business.

Craft a Compelling Executive Summary

The executive summary is a concise overview of your entire business plan and should entice readers to continue reading. Summarize the key elements of your plan, including your business concept, market opportunity, competitive advantage, and financial projections. Craft a compelling and engaging executive summary that captures the attention of potential investors.

Polish and Revise Your Business Plan

Once you have completed the initial draft of your business plan, take the time to polish and revise it. Review the content for clarity, coherence, and accuracy. Ensure that your plan flows logically and presents a compelling case for investment. Proofread for grammar and spelling errors. Consider seeking feedback from trusted advisors or professionals to refine your plan further.

By following this step-by-step guide, you can create a comprehensive and compelling business plan that increases your chances of securing funding for your venture. Remember to tailor your plan to the specific needs and preferences of your target audience, providing them with all the necessary information to make an informed investment decision.

Tips and Best Practices for Writing a Funding-Worthy Business Plan

Writing a business plan that is compelling and effective in securing funding requires careful attention to detail and adherence to best practices. Here are some tips to help you create a funding-worthy business plan:

Keep it Clear and Concise

When writing your business plan, it's essential to communicate your ideas clearly and concisely. Avoid using unnecessary jargon or technical terms that may confuse your readers. Use straightforward language and structure your content in a logical manner. Remember, clarity and simplicity are key to ensuring that your business plan is easily understood by potential investors.

Tailor Your Plan to the Target Audience

Each business plan should be tailored to the specific needs and expectations of the target audience. Consider the preferences and priorities of potential investors or lenders and customize your plan accordingly. For example, venture capitalists may be more interested in growth potential and return on investment, while traditional lenders may focus on cash flow and collateral. Understanding your audience will allow you to highlight the aspects of your business that are most relevant to them.

Support Claims with Data and Research

To instill confidence in your business plan, it's important to back up your claims with data and research. Provide market research, industry trends, and competitive analysis to support your assertions about the viability and potential of your business. Including relevant statistics, market projections, and customer surveys can help validate your assumptions and demonstrate that your business plan is grounded in reality.

Seek Professional Help if Needed

Writing a funding-worthy business plan can be a complex and time-consuming task. If you are unsure about certain aspects or need assistance in crafting a compelling plan, consider seeking professional help. Business consultants, accountants, or industry experts can provide valuable insights and guidance to ensure that your business plan is comprehensive, accurate, and persuasive.

Remember, a well-written business plan is not only a tool for securing funding but also a roadmap for the success of your business. By following these tips and best practices, you can increase your chances of creating a business plan that effectively communicates your vision and attracts the attention of potential investors or lenders.

Q: What is a funding-worthy business plan?

A: A funding-worthy business plan is a comprehensive document that outlines your business concept, market opportunity, competitive advantage, financial projections, and other key components to attract potential investors or lenders.

Q: What are the key components of a funding-worthy business plan?

A: The key components of a funding-worthy business plan include an executive summary, company overview, market analysis, product or service description, marketing and sales strategy, organizational structure and management, financial projections and analysis, funding request and use of funds, and appendix.

Q: How long should my business plan be?

A: While there is no strict rule on the length of a business plan, it's generally recommended to keep it concise and focused. A typical business plan can range from 15 to 30 pages. However, the most important thing is to provide all the necessary information in a clear and compelling manner.

Q: Do I need professional help to write my business plan?

A: While you can certainly write your own business plan with careful research and attention to detail, seeking professional help can provide valuable insights and guidance. Business consultants, accountants or industry experts can offer specialized knowledge that can enhance the quality of your business plan.

Q: How often should I update my business plan?

A: Your business plan should be viewed as a living document that evolves over time. It's recommended to review and update your plan regularly to reflect changes in your industry or market conditions. You may need to update it annually or even more frequently if significant changes occur in your business operations or financial performance.

By addressing these frequently asked questions about writing a funding-worthy business plan in your document or during presentations with investors or lenders can demonstrate that you have thoroughly thought through the planning process.

As an entrepreneur seeking funding for your business, a well-crafted and comprehensive business plan is essential. By following the step-by-step guide outlined in this article, you can create a funding-worthy business plan that effectively communicates your vision, market opportunity, competitive advantage, and financial projections to potential investors or lenders. Remember to tailor your plan to the specific needs and expectations of your target audience, keep it clear and concise, support claims with data and research, and seek professional help if needed. With a compelling business plan in hand, you'll be one step closer to turning your entrepreneurial dreams into reality.

https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/how-to-write-business-proposal

https://www.etu.org.za/toolbox/docs/finances/proposal.html

https://www.mybusiness.com.au/how-we-help/grow-your-business/increasing-sales/how-to-write-a-funding-proposal

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How To Write the Funding Request for Your Business Plan

What goes into the funding request, parts of the funding request, important points to remember when writing your request, frequently asked questions (faqs).

MoMo Productions / Getty Images

A business plan contains many sections, and if you plan to seek funding for your business, you will need to include the funding request section. The good news is that this section of your business plan is only needed if you plan to ask for outside business funding. If you're not seeking financial help, you can leave it out of your business plan. There are a variety of  ways to fund your business  without debt or investors. Below, we'll cover how to write the funding request section of your business plan.

Key Takeaways

• The funding request section of your business plan is required if you plan to seek funding from a lender or investors.
• You'll want to include information on the business, your current financial situation, how the money will be used, and more.
• Tailor each funding request to the specific funding source, and make sure you ask for enough money to keep your business going.

The funding request section provides information on your future financial plans, such as when and how much money you might need. You will also include the possible sources you could consider for securing your funds, such as loans or crowdfunding. Later, you can update this section when you need outside funding again for business growth.

An Outline of the Business

Yes, you've done this already in past sections, but you want to give potential lenders and investors a recap of your business. In some cases, you might simply share the funding request section so you need to have your business details such as what you provide, information about your target market, your structure (i.e. LLC), owners' and members' information (for partnerships and corporations), and any successes you've had to date in your business.

Current Financial Situation

Again, you've provided some financial information in the financial data section , but it doesn't hurt to summarize. If you're submitting just the funding request, you'll need this information to help financial sources understand your money situation.

Provide financial details such as income and cash flow statements, and balance sheets in your funding request section.

Offer your projected financial information as well. If you're asking for a loan for which you'll be offering collateral, include information about the asset. If the business had debt, outline your plan for paying it off. Finally, share how you'll pay the loan or what sort of return on investment (ROI) investors can expect by investing in your business.

How Much Money Do You Need Now and in the Future?

Indicate what type of funding you're asking for such as a loan or investment. Outline what you need now and what you might need in the future as far as five years out. 

How Will the Funds Be Used?

Detail how you'll be using the money, whether it's for inventory, paying a debt, buying equipment, hiring help, and more. If you plan to use the money for several things, highlight each and how much money will go to each.

Most financial sources would rather invest in things that grow a thriving business than things that pay for debt or overhead expenses. 

Current and Future Financial Plans

Current and future financial plans include items such as loan repayment schedules or plans to sell the business. If you're getting a loan, outline your plans for repayment (although most lenders will have their own schedules). If you have plans to sell the business, let the lender know that and how it will affect them. Other issues to consider are relocation (if you move) or a buyout. Finally, let investors know how they can exit the deal, such as cashing out (and how long before they can do that).

You're asking for money, so you need to always be professional and know your business inside and out. Here are some other things to keep in mind:

• Tailor your funding request to each financial source : Lenders and investors need different information, such as loan repayment versus ROI, so create different reports for each. 
• Keep your funding sources in mind : Each resource will have different questions and concerns. Do a little research so you can address them in your report.
• Ask for enough to keep your business going : Don't be stingy, as you don't want your business to fail from a lack of money. At the same time, don't be greedy, asking for more than you need. 

How do you request funding for a nonprofit?

Most nonprofits seek funding in the form of grants. Write a grant proposal that includes information on the project or organization, preliminary budget needs, and more. Be sure to format it with a cover letter, proposal summary, the introduction of the organization, problem statement, objectives, methods, evaluation, future funding needs, and the budget.

What are three methods of funding?

Grants and scholarships, equity financing, and debt financing are the main three methods of funding for small businesses . Grants and scholarships do not need to be repaid and are often best for nonprofit organizations. Equity financing is when you receive money in exchange for ownership and profits. Debt financing is when you borrow money that needs to be repaid.

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Small Business Administration. " Fund Your Business ."

Congressional Research Service. " How To Develop and Write a Grant Proposal ."

Library of Congress Research Guides. " Types of Financing ."

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Blog Business 15+ Best Business Plan Examples for Entrepreneurs & Startups

15+ Best Business Plan Examples for Entrepreneurs & Startups

Written by: Jennifer Gaskin Jun 09, 2021

Not having a solid plan makes it unlikely for you to achieve the goals you seek, whether it’s getting your to-do list done or launching a successful organization.

In the early stages of a company, that means developing things like pitch decks, business plans, one-sheeters and more. With Venngage’s Business Plan Builder , you can easily organize your business plan into a visually appealing format that can help you win over investors, lenders or partners.

Learn more about how to create a business plan so you can hit the ground running after reading through this list for inspirational business plan templates .

15+ Best business plan examples for entrepreneurs and startups

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While your business plan should be supported by thorough and exhaustive research into your market and competitors, the resulting document does not have to be overwhelming for the reader. In fact, if you can boil your business plan down to a few key pages, all the better.

Simple business plan outline:

• Table of contents : List all sections and sub-sections within the business plan.
• Business review : Include an overview of the business’s purpose, history, and key objectives.
• The market : Analyze the target market, including customer demographics and market needs.
• The competition : Evaluate the main competitors and their strengths and weaknesses in the market.

The simple, bold visual aesthetic of this  business plan template  pairs well with the straightforward approach to the content and various elements of the business plan itself.

Use Venngage’s My Brand Kit  to automatically add your brand colors and fonts to your business plan with just a few clicks.

An essential startup business plan should include a clear and compelling value proposition, market analysis, competitive analysis, target audience identification, financial projections, and a well-defined marketing and operational strategy.

For a typical startup, the need to appear disruptive in the industry is important. After all, if you’re not offering anything truly new, why would an investor turn their attention toward your organization. That means establishing a problem and the ways in which you solve it right away.

Startup business plan outline:

• The problem : Identify the specific issue or pain point your startup aims to solve.
• Target market & opportunity : Define your customers and the potential market size.
• The solution : Describe the product or service that addresses the identified problem.
• Traction and validation/roadmap : Outline the progress made so far and the future milestones and goals.

Whether it’s a full-scale business plan or, in this case, a pitch deck, the ideal way for a startup to make a splash with its plans is to be bold. This successful business plan example is memorable and aspirational.

In the Venngage editor, you can upload images of your business. Add these images to your plans and reports to make them uniquely your own.

All businesses start out small at first, but that doesn’t mean their communications have to be small. One of the best ways to get investors, lenders and talent on board is to show that you’ve done your due diligence.

Small business plan outline:

• Table of contents : List down of all the sections and sub-sections in the business plan.
• Business overview : Include a quick overview of what your business is all about, including your mission and goals.
• The market : Analyzes who your customers are, what they need, and how big the market is.
• The competition : Look into your main competitors and what they’re good at (and not so good at).
• Sales and marketing plan : Lay out your game plan for attracting and keeping customers.
• Operating plan : Explain how you’ll run the day-to-day operations and manage the business.

In this small business plan example, the content is spread over many pages, which is useful in making lengthy, in-depth research feel less like a chore than packing everyone on as few pages as possible.

Organizations that set out to solve problems rather than earning profits also benefit from creating compelling business plans that stir an emotional response in potential donors, benefactors, potential staff members or even media.

Nonprofit business plan outline:

• Table of contents : Lists all sections and sub-sections of your nonprofit business plan.
• Introduction : Provide an overview of your mission and purpose.
• Goal : State the specific objectives your nonprofit organization aims to achieve.
• Impact & strategy : Explain how you plan to create positive change and the methods you will use.

Simplicity is the goal for nonprofits when it comes to business plans, particularly in their early days. Explain the crisis at hand and exactly how your organization will make a difference, which will help donors visualize how their money will be used to help.

Business plans are also helpful for companies that have been around for a while. Whether they’re considering new products to launch or looking for new opportunities, companies can approach business plans from the strategy side of the equation as well.

Strategic business plan outline:

• The problem, issue, or job at hand : Define the specific challenge or task the strategic plan addresses.
• Approach & methodology : Describe the methods and strategies that will be used to tackle the problem or achieve the objective.

Strategic business plans or strategy infographics should be highly focused on a single area or problem to be solved rather than taking a holistic approach to the entire business. Expanding scope too much can make a strategy seem too difficult to implement.

Easily share your business plan with Venngage’s multiple download options, including PNG, PNG HD, and as an interactive PDF.

One-page business plan example

For organizations with a simple business model, often a one-page business plan is all that’s needed. This is possible in any industry, but the most common are traditional ones like retail, where few complex concepts need to be explained.

This one-page strategic business plan example could be easily replicated for an organization that offers goods or services across multiple channels or one with three core business areas. It’s a good business plan example for companies whose plans can be easily boiled down to a few bullet points per area.

Especially when entering a saturated market, understanding the landscape and players is crucial to understanding how your organization can fit it—and stand out. That’s why centering your business plan around a market analysis is often a good idea.

Market analysis business plan outline:

• Table of contents : Lists all sections and sub-sections of the market analysis business plan.
• Executive summary : Provide a brief overview of the key points of the market analysis.
• Business overview : Summarize your business’s mission, vision and core activities.
• The market : Analyze the target market, including customer demographics and market trends.
• The competition : Review the main competitors and their market positioning.
• Sales & marketing plan : Outline strategies for reaching and engaging customers.
• Operating plan : Details the day-to-day operations and management structure.

In this example, the majority of the content and about half the pages are focused on the market analysis, including competitors, trends, pricing, demographics and more. This successful business plan example ensures the artwork and style used perfectly matches the company’s aesthetic, which further reinforces its position in the market.

You can find more memorable business plan templates to customize in the Venngage editor. Browse Venngage’s  business plan templates  to find plans that work for you and start editing.

Company description business plan example

Depending on the market, focusing on your company story and what makes you different can drive your narrative home with potential investors. By focusing your business plan on a company description, you center yourself and your organization in the minds of your audience.

Company description business plan outline:

• Executive summary : Briefly summarize the key components and objectives of the company description section.
• Approach & direction : Outline the company’s strategy, goals and the direction it intends to take in achieving them.

This abbreviated plan is a good business plan example. It uses most of the content to tell the organization’s story. In addition to background about the company, potential investors or clients can see how this design firm’s process is different from their rivals.

With Venngage Business , you can collaborate with team members in real-time to create a business plan that will be effective when presenting to investors.

Five-year business plan example

For most startups or young companies, showing potential investors or partners exactly how and when the company will become profitable is a key aspect of presenting a business plan. Whether it’s woven into a larger presentation or stands alone, you should be sure to include your five-year business plan so investors know you’re looking far beyond the present.

With Venngage’s Business Plan Builder , you can customize a schedule like this to quickly illustrate for investors or partners what your revenue targets are for the first three to five years your company is in operation.

The lifeblood of any company is the sales team. These are the energetic folks who bring in new business, develop leads and turn prospects into customers. Focusing your energy on creating a sales business plan would prove to investors that you understand what will make your company money.

Sales business plan outline:

• Table of contents : List all sections and subsections within the sales business plan.
• Target market : Identify the specific segment or segments of customers the sales efforts will focus on.
• Customer profile : Provide detailed descriptions of the ideal customers, including demographics, preferences and needs.
• Action plan : Outline the specific steps and strategies to be taken to reach and engage the target market and achieve sales objectives.

In this example sales business plan, several facets of ideal buyers are detailed. These include a perfect customer profile that helps to convey to your audience that customer relationships will be at the heart of your operation.

You can include business infographics in your plan to visualize your goals. And with Venngage’s gallery of images and icons, you can customize the template to better reflect your business ethos.

Company mergers and shakeups are also major reasons for organizations to require strong business planning. Creating new departments, deciding which staff to retain and charting a course forward can be even more complex than starting a business from scratch.

Organization and management business plan outline:

• Table of contents : List all sections and subsections within the organization and management business plan.
• About us : Provide an overview of the organization, its mission, vision and values.
• Project summary : Summarize the key details and objectives of the project.
• Project timeline : Outline the milestones and schedule for completing the project.

This organization and management business plan focuses on how the company can optimize operations through a few key organizational projects.

Executive summary for business plan example

Executive summaries give your business plan a strong human touch, and they set the tone for what’s to follow. That could mean having your executive leadership team write a personal note or singling out some huge achievements of which you’re particularly proud in a business plan infographic .

Executive summary business plan outline:

• Table of contents : Lists all sections and subsections within the executive summary business plan.
• Executive summary : Provide a concise overview of the entire business plan, highlighting key points and objectives.
• Statement of problem : Clearly define the specific issue or challenge the business aims to address.
• Approach & methodology : Outline the methods and strategies that will be employed to solve the stated problem or achieve the desired goals.

In this executive summary for a business plan, a brief note is accompanied by a few notable achievements that signal the organization and leadership team’s authority in the industry.

Marketing and sales are two sides of the same coin, and clever companies know how they play off each other. That’s why centering your business plan around your marketing and sales strategy can pay dividends when it comes time to find investors and potential partners.

Marketing and sales strategy business plan outline:

• Table of contents : List all sections and subsections within the marketing and sales strategy business plan.
• Positioning : Describe how the business intends to position its products or services in the market to stand out from competitors.
• Value prop : Highlight the unique value proposition that the business offers to its target customers, including its benefits and advantages.
• Marketing strategy : Outline the overall approach and tactics that will be used to promote the products or services and attract customers.

This marketing and sales business plan example is the picture of a sleek, modern aesthetic, which is appropriate across many industries and will speak volumes to numbers-obsesses sales and marketing leaders.

Do business plans really help? Well, here’s some math for you; in 1981, Apple had just gone public and was in the midst of marketing an absolute flop , the Apple III computer.  The company’s market cap, or total estimated market value,  could hit $3 trillion this year.

Did this Apple business plan make the difference? No, it’s not possible to attribute the success of Apple entirely to this business plan from July 1981, but this ancient artifact goes to show that even the most groundbreaking companies need to take an honest stock of their situation.

Apple’s 1981 business plan example pdf covers everything from the market landscape for computing to the products that founder Steve Jobs expects to roll out over the next few years, and the advanced analysis contained in the document shows how strategic Jobs and other Apple executives were in those early days.

Inviting strangers to stay in your house for the weekend seemed like a crazy concept before Airbnb became one of the world’s biggest companies. Like all disruptive startups, Airbnb had to create a robust, active system from nothing.

Airbnb business plan outline:

• Problem : Identify the specific challenge or need in the accommodation industry that the Airbnb business aims to address.
• Solution : Describe how Airbnb’s platform provides a solution to the identified problem by connecting hosts with guests.
• Market validation : Demonstrate through research or evidence that there is demand for Airbnb’s services.
• Market size : Estimate the total addressable market for Airbnb’s accommodation services.
• Product : Detail the features and functionalities of the Airbnb platform for both hosts and guests.
• Business model : Explain how Airbnb generates revenue and sustains its operations.
• Market adoption : Discuss the rate at which Airbnb’s services are being embraced by hosts and guests.
• Competition : Identify other players in the accommodation industry offering similar services to Airbnb.
• Competitive advantages : Highlight the unique strengths or advantages that set Airbnb apart from its competitors.

As this Airbnb business plan pitch deck example shows, for companies that are introducing entirely new concepts, it’s helpful not to get too into the weeds. Explain the problem simply and boil down the essence of your solution into a few words; in this case, “A web platform where users can rent out their space” perfectly sums up this popular company.

Sequoia Capital is one of the most successful venture capital firms in the world, backing startups that now have a combined stock market value of more than $1 trillion, according to a Forbes analysis .

For young companies and startups that want to play in the big leagues, tailoring your pitch to something that would appeal to a company like Sequoia Capital is a good idea. That’s why the company has a standard business plan format it recommends .

Sequoia capital business plan outline:

• Company purpose : Clarify the core reason for the business and its overarching goals.
• Problems : Identify specific challenges or pain points that the business aims to solve.
• Solution : Describe how the business addresses the identified problems with its products or services.
• Market potential : Assess the size and growth opportunities within the target market for the business.
• Competition : Analyze existing competitors and their strengths and weaknesses in the market.
• Business model : Outline how the business plans to generate revenue and sustain its operations.
• Our team : Introduce the key members of the team and their relevant expertise and experience.
• Financials : Provide projections and forecasts for the financial performance of the business.
• Vision : Articulate the long-term aspirations and goals that the business seeks to achieve.

Using Sequoia Capital’s business plan example means being simple and clear with your content, like the above deck. Note how no slide contains much copy, and even when all slides appear on the screen at once, the text is legible.

Use Venngage to design business plans that will impress investors

Not every business plan, pitch deck or one-sheeter will net you billions in investment dollars, but every entrepreneur should be adept at crafting impressive, authoritative and informative business plans.

Whether you use one of the inspirational templates shared here or you want to go old school and mimic Apple’s 1981 business plan, using Venngage’s Business Plan Builder helps you bring your company’s vision to life.

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How To Write A Business Plan: A Comprehensive Guide

A step-by-step guide on writing a business plan to catch an investor's attention & serve as a guiding star for your business..

July 13th, 2022    |    By: The Startups Team     |    Tags: Planning , Model , Pitch Deck

A comprehensive, step-by-step guide - complete with real examples - on writing business plans with just the right amount of panache to catch an investor's attention and serve as a guiding star for your business.

Introduction to Business Plans

So you've got a killer startup idea. Now you need to write a business plan that is equally killer.

You fire up your computer, open a Google doc, and stare at the blank page for several minutes before it suddenly dawns on you that,  Hm…maybe I have no idea how to write a business plan from scratch after all.

Don't let it get you down. After all, why would you know anything about business planning? For that very reason we have  4 amazing business plan samples  to share with you as inspiration.

For most founders,  writing a business plan  feels like the startup equivalent of homework. It's the thing you know you have to do, but nobody actually wants to do.

Here's the good news: writing a business plan doesn't have to be this daunting, cumbersome chore.

Once you understand the fundamental questions that your business plan should answer for your readers and how to position everything in a way that compels your them to take action, writing a business plan becomes way more approachable.

Before you set fingers to the keyboard to turn your business idea into written documentation of your organizational structure and business goals, we're going to walk you through the most important things to keep in mind (like company description, financials, and market analysis, etc.) and to help you tackle the writing process confidently — with plenty of real life business plan examples along the way to get you writing a business plan to be proud of!

Keep It Short and Simple.

There's this old-school idea that business plans need to be ultra-dense, complex documents the size of a doorstop because that's how you convey how serious you are about your company.

Not so much.

Complexity and length for complexity and length's sake is almost never a good idea, especially when it comes to writing a business plan. There are a couple of reasons for this.

1. Investors Are Short On Time

If your chief goal is using your business plan to secure funding, then it means you intend on getting it in front of an investor. And if there's one thing investors are, it's busy. So keep this in mind throughout writing a business plan.

Investors wade through hundreds of business plans a year. There's no version of you presenting an 80-page business plan to an investor and they enthusiastically dive in and take hours out of their day to pour over the thing front to back.

Instead, they're looking for you to get your point across as quickly and clearly as possible so they can skim your business plan and get to the most salient parts to determine whether or not they think your opportunity is worth pursuing (or at the very least initiating further discussions).

You should be able to refine all of the key value points that investors look for to 15-20 pages (not including appendices where you will detail your financials). If you find yourself writing beyond that, then it's probably a case of either over explaining, repeating information, or including irrelevant details in your business plan (you don't need to devote 10 pages to how you're going to set up your website, for example).

Bottom line: always be on the lookout for opportunities to “trim the fat" while writing a business plan (and pay special attention to the executive summary section below), and you'll be more likely to secure funding.

2. Know Your Audience

If you fill your business plan with buzzwords, industry-specific jargon or acronyms, and long complicated sentences, it might make sense to a handful of people familiar with your niche and those with superhuman attention spans (not many), but it alienates the vast majority of readers who aren't experts in your particular industry. And if no one can understand so much as your company overview, they won't make it through the rest of your business plan.

Your best bet here is to use simple, straightforward language that's easily understood by anyone — from the most savvy of investor to your Great Aunt Bertha who still uses a landline.

How To Format Your Business Plan

You might be a prodigy in quantum mechanics, but if you show up to your interview rocking cargo shorts and lime green Crocs, you can probably guess what the hiring manager is going to notice first.

In the same way,  how  you present your business plan to your readers equally as important as what you present to them. So don't go over the top with an extensive executive summary, or get lazy with endless bullet points on your marketing strategy.

If your business plan is laden with inconsistent margins, multiple font types and sizes, missing headings and page numbers, and lacks a table of contents, it's going to create a far less digestible reading experience (and totally take away from your amazing idea and hours of work writing a business plan!)

While there's no one  right  way to format your business plan, the idea here is to ensure that it presents professionally. Here's some easy formatting tips to help you do just that.

If your margins are too narrow, it makes the page look super cluttered and more difficult to read.

A good rule of thumb is sticking to standard one-inch margins all around.

Your business plan is made up of several key sections, like chapters in a book.

Whenever you begin a section (“Traction” for example) you'll want to signify it using a header so that your reader immediately knows what to expect from the content that follows.

This also helps break up your content and keep everything nice and organized in your business plan.

Subheadings

Subheadings are mini versions of headings meant to break up content within each individual section and capture the attention of your readers to keep them moving down the page.

In fact, we're using sub-headers right now in this section for that very purpose!

Limit your business plan to two typefaces (one for headings and one for body copy and subheadings, for example) that you can find in a standard text editor like Microsoft Word or Google Docs.

Only pick fonts that are easy to read and contain both capital and lowercase letters.

Avoid script-style or jarring fonts that distract from the actual content. Modern, sans-serif fonts like Helvetica, Arial, and Proxima Nova are a good way to go.

Keep your body copy between 11 and 12-point font size to ensure readability (some fonts are more squint-inducing than others).

You can offset your headings from your body copy by simply upping the font size and by bolding your subheadings.

Sometimes it's better to show instead of just tell.

Assume that your readers are going to skim your plan rather than read it word-for-word and treat it as an opportunity to grab their attention with color graphics, tables, and charts (especially with financial forecasts), as well as product images, if applicable.

This will also help your reader better visualize what your business model is all about.

Need some help with this?

Our  business planning wizard  comes pre-loaded with a modular business plan template that you can complete in any order and makes it ridiculously easy to generate everything you need from your value proposition, mission statement, financial projections, competitive advantage, sales strategy, market research, target market, financial statements, marketing strategy, in a way that clearly communicates your business idea.

Refine Your Business Plans. Then Refine Them Some More.

Your business isn't static, so why should your business plan be?

Your business strategy is always evolving, and so are good business plans. This means that the early versions of your business plans probably won't (and shouldn't be) your last. The details of even even the best business plans are only as good as their last update.

As your business progresses and your ideas about it shift, it's important revisit your business plan from time to time to make sure it reflects those changes, keeping everything as accurate and up-to-date as possible. What good is market analysis if the market has shifted and you have an entirely different set of potential customers? And what good would the business model be if you've recently pivoted? A revised business plan is a solid business plan. It doesn't ensure business success, but it certainly helps to support it.

This rule especially holds true when you go about your market research and learn something that goes against your initial assumptions, impacting everything from your sales strategy to your financial projections.

At the same time, before you begin shopping your business plan around to potential investors or bankers, it's imperative to get a second pair of eyes on it after you've put the final period on your first draft.

After you run your spell check, have someone with strong “English teacher skills” run a fine-tooth comb over your plan for any spelling, punctuation, and grammatical errors you may have glossed over. An updated, detailed business plan (without errors!) should be constantly in your business goals.

More than that, your trusty business plan critic can also give you valuable feedback on how it reads from a stylistic perspective. While different investors prefer different styles, the key here is to remain consistent with your audience and business.

Writing Your Business Plan: A Section-By-Section Breakdown

We devoted an entire article carefully breaking down the  key components of a business plan  which takes a comprehensive look of what each section entails and why.

If you haven't already, you should check that out, as it will act as the perfect companion piece to what we're about to dive into in a moment.

For our purposes here, we're going to look at a few real world business plan examples (as well as one of our own self-penned “dummy” plans) to give you an inside look at how to position key information on a section-by-section basis.

1. Executive Summary

Quick overview.

After your Title Page — which includes your company name, slogan (if applicable), and contact information — and your Table of Contents, the Executive Summary will be the first section of actual content about your business.

The primary goal of your Executive Summary is to provide your readers with a high level overview of your business plan as a whole by summarizing the most important aspects in a few short sentences. Think of your Executive Summary as a kind of “teaser” for your business concept and the information to follow — information which you will explain in greater detail throughout your plan. This isn't the place for your a deep dive on your competitive advantages, or cash flow statement. It is an appropriate place to share your mission statement and value proposition.

Executive Summary Example

Here's an example of an Executive Summary taken from a sample business plan written by the Startups.com team for a fictional company called Culina. Here, we'll see how the Executive Summary offers brief overviews of the  Product ,  Market Opportunity ,  Traction , and  Next Steps .

Culina Tech specializes in home automation and IoT technology products designed to create the ultimate smart kitchen for modern homeowners.

Our flagship product, the Culina Smart Plug, enables users to make any kitchen appliance or cooking device intelligent. Compatible with all existing brands that plug into standard two or three-prong wall outlets, Culina creates an entire network of Wi-Fi-connected kitchen devices that can be controlled and monitored remotely right from your smartphone.

The majority of US households now spend roughly 35% of their energy consumption on appliances, electronics, and lighting.  With the ability to set energy usage caps on a daily, weekly or monthly basis, Culina helps homeowners stay within their monthly utility budget through more efficient use of the dishwasher, refrigerator, freezer, stove, and other common kitchen appliances.

Additionally, 50.8% of house fires are caused in the kitchen — more than any other room in the home — translating to over $5 billion in property damage costs per year.  Culina provides the preventative intelligence necessary to dramatically reduce kitchen-related disasters and their associated costs and risk of personal harm.

Our team has already completed the product development and design phase, and we are now ready to begin mass manufacturing. We've also gained a major foothold among consumers and investors alike, with 10,000 pre-ordered units sold and $5 million in investment capital secured to date.

We're currently seeking a $15M Series B capital investment that will give us the financial flexibility to ramp up hardware manufacturing, improve software UX and UI, expand our sales and marketing efforts, and fulfill pre-orders in time for the 2018 holiday season.

2. Company Synopsis

Your Company Synopsis section answers two critically important questions for your readers: What painful  PROBLEM  are you solving for your customers? And what is your elegant  SOLUTION  to that problem? The combination of these two components form your value proposition.

Company Synopsis Example

Let's look at a real-life company description example from  HolliBlu * — a mobile app that connects healthcare facilities with local skilled nurses — to see how they successfully address both of these key aspects.  *Note: Full disclosure; Our team worked directly with this company on their business plan via Fundable.

Notice how we get a crystal clear understanding of why the company exists to begin with when they set up the  problem  — that traditional nurse recruitment methods are costly, inconvenient, and time-consuming, creating significant barriers to providing quality nursing to patients in need.

Once we understand the painful problem that HolliBlu's customers face, we're then directly told how their  solution  links back directly to that problem — by creating an entire community of qualified nurses and directly connecting them with local employers more cost-effectively and more efficiently than traditional methods.

3. Market Overview

Your Market Overview provides color around the industry that you will be competing in as it relates to your product/service.

This will include statistics about industry size, [growth](https://www.startups.com/library/expert-advice/the-case-for-growing-slowly) rate, trends, and overall outlook. If this part of your business plan can be summed up in one word, it's  research .

The idea is to gather as much raw data as you can to make the case for your readers that:

This is a market big enough to get excited about.

You can capture a big enough share of this market to get excited about.

Target Market Overview Example

Here's an example from HolliBlu's business plan:

HolliBlu's Market Overview hits all of the marks — clearly laying out the industry size ($74.8 billion), the Total Addressable Market or TAM (3 million registered nurses), industry growth rate (581,500 new RN jobs through 2018; $355 billion by 2020), and industry trends (movement toward federally-mandated compliance with nurse/patient ratios, companies offering sign-on bonuses to secure qualified nurses, increasing popularity of home-based healthcare).

4. Product (How it Works)

Where your Company Synopsis is meant to shed light on why the company exists by demonstrating the problem you're setting out to solve and then bolstering that with an impactful solution, your Product or How it Works section allows you to get into the nitty gritty of how it actually delivers that value, and any competitive advantage it provides you.

Product (How it Works) Example

In the below example from our team's Culina sample plan, we've divided the section up using subheadings to call attention to product's  key features  and how it actually works from a user perspective.

This approach is particularly effective if your product or service has several unique features that you want to highlight.

5. Revenue Model

Quite simply, your Revenue Model gives your readers a framework for how you plan on making money. It identifies which revenue channels you're leveraging, how you're pricing your product or service, and why.

Revenue Model Example

Let's take a look at another real world business plan example with brewpub startup  Magic Waters Brewpub .*

It can be easy to get hung up on the financial aspect here, especially if you haven't fully developed your product yet. And that's okay. *Note: Full disclosure; Our team worked directly with this company on their business plan via Fundable.

The thing to remember is that investors will want to see that you've at least made some basic assumptions about your monetization strategy.

6. Operating Model

Your Operating Model quite simply refers to how your company actually runs itself. It's the detailed breakdown of the processes, technologies, and physical requirements (assets) that allow you to deliver the value to your customers that your product or service promises.

Operating Model Example

Let's say you were opening up a local coffee shop, for example. Your Operating Model might detail the following:

Information about your facility (location, indoor and outdoor space features, lease amount, utility costs, etc.)

The equipment you need to purchase (coffee and espresso machines, appliances, shelving and storage, etc.) and their respective costs.

The inventory you plan to order regularly (product, supplies, etc.), how you plan to order it (an online supplier) and how often it gets delivered (Mon-Fri).

Your staffing requirements (including how many part or full time employees you'll need, at what wages, their job descriptions, etc.)

In addition, you can also use your Operating Model to lay out the ways you intend to manage the costs and efficiencies associated with your business, including:

The  Critical Costs  that make or break your business. In the case of our coffee shop example, you might say something like,

“We're estimating the marketing cost to acquire a customer is going to be $25.  Our average sale is $45.  So long as we can keep our customer acquisition costs below $25 we will have enough margin to grow with.”

Cost Maturation & Milestones  that show how your Critical Costs might fluctuate over time.

“If we sell 50 coffees a day, our average unit cost will be $8 on a sale of $10.  At that point we're barely breaking even. However as we scale up to 200 coffees a day, our unit costs drop significantly to $4, creating a 100% increase in net income.”

Investment Costs  that highlight strategic uses of capital that will have a big Return on Investment (ROI) later.

“We're investing $100,000 into a revolutionary new coffee brewing system that will allow us to brew twice the amount our current output with the same amount of space and staff.”

Operating Efficiencies  explaining your capability of delivering your product or service in the most cost effective manner possible while maintaining the highest standards of quality.

“By using energy efficient Ecoboilers, we're able to keep our water hot while minimizing the amount of energy required. Our machines also feature an energy saving mode. Both of these allow us to dramatically cut energy costs.”

7. Competitive Analysis

Like the Market Overview section, you want to show your readers that you've done your homework and have a crazy high level of awareness about your current competitors or any potential competitors that may crop up down the line for your given business model.

When writing your Competitive Analysis, your overview should cover  who  your closest competitors are, the chief  strengths  they bring to the table, and their biggest  weaknesses .

You'll want to identify at least 3 competitors — either direct, indirect, or a combination of the two. It's an extremely important aspect of the business planning process.

Competition Analysis Example

Here's an example of how HolliBlu lays out their Competitive Analysis section for just one of their competitors, implementing each of the criteria noted above:

8. Customer Definition

Your Customer Definition section allows you to note which customer segment(s) you're going after, what characteristics and habits each customer segment embodies, how each segment uniquely benefits from your product or service, and how all of this ties together to create the ideal portrait of an actual paying customer, and how you'll cultivate and manage customer relationships.

Customer Definition Example

HolliBlu's Customer Definition section is effective for several reasons. Let's deconstruct their first target market segment, hospitals.

What's particularly successful here is that we are explained why hospitals are optimal buyers.

They accomplish this by harkening back to the central problem at the core of the opportunity (when hospitals can't supply enough staff to meet patient demands, they have to resort on costly staffing agencies).

On top of that, we are also told how  big  of an opportunity going after this customer segment represents (5,534 hospitals in the US).

This template is followed for each of the company's 3 core customer segments. This provides consistency, but more than that, it emphasizes how diligent research reinforces their assumptions about who their customers are and why they'd open their wallets. Keep all of this in mind when you are write your own business plan.

9. Customer Acquisition

Now that you've defined who your customers are for your readers, your Customer Acquisition section will tell them what marketing and sales strategy and tactics you plan to leverage to actually reach the target market (or target markets) and ultimately convert them into paying customers.

marketing Strategy Example

Similar to the exercise you will go through with your Revenue Model, in addition to identifying  which  channels you're pursuing, you'll also want to detail all of relevant costs associated with your customer acquisition channels.

Let's say you spent $100 on your marketing plan to acquire 100 customers during 2018. To get your CAC, you simply divide the number of customers acquired by your spend, giving you a $1.00 CAC.

10. Traction

This one's huge. Traction tells investors one important thing: that you're business has momentum. It's evidence that you're making forward progress and hitting milestones. That things are happening. It's one of the most critical components of a successful business plan.

Why is this so important? Financial projections are great and all, but if you can prove to investors that your company's got legs before they've even put a dime into it, then it will get them thinking about all the great things you'll be able to accomplish when they do bankroll you.

Traction Example

In our Culina Traction section, we've called attention to several forms of traction, touching on some of the biggest ones that you'll want to consider when writing your own plan.

Have I built or launched my product or service yet?

Have I reached any customers yet?

Have I generated any revenue yet?

Have I forged any strategic industry relationships that will be instrumental in driving growth?

The key takeaway here: the more traction you can show, the more credibility you build with investors. After all, you can't leave it all on market analysis alone.

11. Management Team

Here's what your Management Team section isn't: it's not an exhaustive rundown of each and every position your team members have held over the course of their lives.

Instead, you should tell investors which aspects of your team's experience and expertise directly translates to the success of  this  company and  this  industry.

In other words, what applicable, relevant background do they bring to the table?

Management Team Example

Let's be real. The vast majority of startup teams probably aren't stacked with Harvard and Stanford grads. But the thing to home in on is how the prior experience listed speaks directly to how it qualifies that team member's current position.

The word of the day here is relevancy. If it's not relevant, you probably don't need to include it in your typical business plan.

12. Funding

Funding overview.

The ask! This is where you come out and, you guessed it,  ask  your investors point blank how much money you need to move your business forward, what specific milestones their investment will allow you to reach, how you'll allocate the capital you secure, and what the investor will get in exchange for their investment.

You can also include information about your  exit strategy  (IPO, acquisition, merger?).

Funding Example

While we've preached against redundancy in your business plan, an exception to the rule is using the Funding section to offer up a very brief recap that essentially says, “here are the biggest reasons you should invest in my company and why it will ultimately benefit you.”

13. Financials

Spreadsheets and numbers and charts, oh my! Yes, it's everybody's “favorite” business plan section: Financials.

Your Financials section will come last and contain all of the forecasted numbers that say to investors that this is a sound investment. This will include things like your sales forecast, expense budget, and break-even analysis. A lot of this will be assumptions, or estimates.

The key here is keeping those estimates as realistic as humanly possible by breaking your figures into components and looking at each one individually.

Financials Example

The balance sheet above illustrates the business' estimated net worth over a three-year period by summarizing its assets (tangible objects owned by the company), liabilities (debt owed to a creditor of the company), and shareholders' equity (source of financing used to fund the assets).

In plain words, the balance sheet is basically a snapshot of your business' financial status by laying out what you own and owe, helping investors determine the level of risk involved and giving them a good understanding of the financial health of the business.

If you're looking to up your game from those outdated Excel-style spreadsheets,  our business planning software  will help you create clean, sleek, modern financial reports the modern way. Plus, it's as easy to use as it is attractive to look at. You might even find yourself enjoying financial projections, building a cash flow statement, and business planning overall.

You've Got This!

You've committed to writing your business plan and now you've got some tricks of the trade to help you out along the way. Whether you're applying for a business loan or seeking investors, your well-crafted business plan will act as your Holy Grail in helping take your business goals to the next plateau.

This is a ton of work. It's not a few hours and a free business plan template. It's not just a business plan software. We've been there before. Writing your [business plan](https://www.startups.com/library/expert-advice/top-4-business-plan-examples) is just one small step in startup journey. There's a whole long road ahead of you filled with a marketing plan, investor outreach, chasing venture capitalists, actually getting funded, and growing your business into a successful company.

And guess what? We've got helpful information on all of it — and all at your disposal! We hope this guides you confidently on how to write a business plan worth bragging about.

About the Author

The startups team.

Startups is the world's largest startup platform, helping over 1 million startup companies find customers , funding , mentors , and world-class education .

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• May 7, 2024

Funding requests are one aspect where the “under promise and over deliver” phenomenon might not work.

Set your business valuation too high, and investors might not invest. In contrast, value it too low, and you might end up receiving way less than what you’re truly worth.

Moreover, if I were to invest in your business, I would want to know why you are raising funds and how they will be used.

In short, a well-planned funding request with the purpose of fund-raise and a realistic ask is key to securing funds. You cannot mess up.

Need help writing the funding request for your business plan ? Here’s our quick guide on writing a compelling and realistic funding request to ensure you don’t miss out.

Let’s dive right in.

What is the funding request?

The funding request section of a business plan is an official section for the organizations to ask for new funding. It outlines the amount of funding needed, the purpose of the funds, how they will be used, and in what timeline they will be used (generally for 5 years).

The main goal of a funding request is to secure the necessary capital to start or expand a business, fund a project, or achieve a specific objective.

How to write your business plan funding request

How you write your funding request heavily depends on why you’re raising funds—the purpose. So, before you start writing, be clear about your requirements and the purpose of fundraising.

Your purpose can be hiring new staff, getting the latest equipment, launching a new product, or starting or expanding a business.

Once you do that, you may start working on your funding request; follow these steps:

1. Provide business information

Start by providing a brief overview of your business. I know—you’ve already included all the information in the prior sections, but adding it here would be an opportunity for you to give your investors a little recap.

No, it does not get redundant—It doesn’t have to be. So don’t worry.

Moreover, sometimes, you only need to send the funding request, not the entire business plan. In such cases, such information makes sense and comes in handy.

So, here’s what you will have to explain in the funding request section of your business plan:

• Target Market
• Your business structure like LTD, LLC, or more
• Brief about your product/service
• Partners involved
• Business heir, if there exists.

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2. Present the current financial situation

You might have provided some financial information in the financial section. But, you have to add some figures here anyway. Not only will it be contextual but easier to have a clear picture in one place.

Here are some financial details that you will have to include in this section:

• Quarterly as well as yearly cash inflow and outflow
• Balance sheets
• P&L statement
• Expected financial condition in the upcoming quarter and year
• Include the list of assets and their ownership details if you are asking loan from the bank or applying for any grant
• Break-even point
• If your business is in debt, explain the situation in detail and brief plan for paying it
• Mention how much return on investment can they expect
• In the end, mention how will you pay off the loan or transfer the ownership of the business

3. Announce how much funds you need

When you explain the situation in brief and have all the facts and figures put aside, narrow it down to your requirements. Mention how much money you need.

For that, you will need to calculate your startup costs or the total costs of the activity for which you need funding.

Finally, justify your funding request by explaining how the investment will benefit your organization and contribute to its growth and success.

4. Discuss how you will use the money

Here, you have to narrow down what you need the money for and how you are going to use it. Just list down the details and put the figure for it—so much like how you do your billing. If you are taking the money for multiple things, highlight every detail.

Some examples of various areas where you might use the funding are:

• Product development
• Marketing and advertising
• Operational expenses
• Technological integration

5. Explain current and future financial planning

You must have explained a little about the inflow and outflow in the financial section of a business plan . But over here, you have to get into the details like:

• If you are getting a loan, outline your timelines for payments.
• If you are looking forward to selling, mention how it will affect the investors.
• And then, finally, mention the exit strategy. Your exit strategy includes how you will transfer the business ownership.

Key points to remember

As we now know what to include in the funding request, let’s see certain points that you need to keep in mind while writing it:

Target audience’s perspective . Applying for a loan is different from approaching an investor. Each of these situations involves different contract terms, types of funding, or amounts of money.

Clarity . Clearly explain with numbers how much funding is required, why you need it, and where you will use it. Also, keep your language for funding requests simple so that everyone can understand.

Realistic financial projections . Provide realistic financial projections so investors can feel confident about your business and trust you with an investment.

Call-to-action . Include a clear call-to-action that encourages investors to take the next steps, whether that’s scheduling a meeting or making an investment.

These may seem like simple tips, but they can help you write a strong funding request that gets investors interested in your business.

As a wrap-up, writing a compelling funding request requires a strategic approach and attention to detail. So, being carefully and include realistic projections.

If you are still confused about writing a funding request, you can leverage business planning software and make your business plan investment-ready.

Build your Business Plan Faster

with step-by-step Guidance & AI Assistance.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do i need a business plan to get funding.

Yes, a business plan is necessary for securing funding for a business. It allows investors and lenders to grasp the company’s vision and mission. A well-thought-out business plan increases your chances of securing funding.

How do I determine the amount of funding to request?

To determine the amount of funding, you will need to assess your organization’s startup costs, forecast cash flow, and consider growth plans.

Taking the help of an AI business plan generator or a financial advisor can help you determine a realistic funding amount based on your business’s needs and goals.

Do I need financial projections in my funding request?

Yes, including financial projections in a funding request is important. It provides potential investors or lenders with a clearer understanding of your finances. Usually, you should add a crux of your finances for at least three years.

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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Home > Business Plan > Funding Requirements in a Business Plan

Funding Requirements in a Business Plan

… our funding requirements are …

The summary given in the funding requirement section should be consistent with the rest of the business plan. The amount needed, and when it is needed should follow from the detailed financial projections, and the purpose of the funding, sales and marketing, hire of employees, to achieve a milestone etc. should again link in with the rest of the plan,

Funding Requirements Presentation

This is part of the financial projections and Contents of a Business Plan Guide , a series of posts on what each section of a simple business plan should include. The next post in this series is the final section, and deals with the planned exit for investors.

About the Author

Chartered accountant Michael Brown is the founder and CEO of Plan Projections. He has worked as an accountant and consultant for more than 25 years and has built financial models for all types of industries. He has been the CFO or controller of both small and medium sized companies and has run small businesses of his own. He has been a manager and an auditor with Deloitte, a big 4 accountancy firm, and holds a degree from Loughborough University.

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• Business plans

SBA Business Plan Template

Used 4,872 times

Use our free and fully customizable SBA business plan template to get started when writing a successful proposal for an SBA loan.

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Created by:

​ [Sender.FirstName] [Sender.LastName] ​

​ [Sender.Company] ​

Prepared for:

​ [Recipient.FirstName] [Recipient.LastName]

​ [Recipient.Company] ​

​ [Sender.Company] – SBA Business Plan

(company.tagline).

​ [Sender.Email] ​

​ [Sender.Phone] ​

(Company.Website)

​ [Sender.StreetAddress] [Sender.City] [Sender.State] [Sender.PostalCode] ​

Executive Summary

​ [Sender.PostalCode] is a new business focusing on providing (Product.Service) to residents located in the surrounding areas of (Location). The target market is (Target.Market), with the demographics of the target audience within (Number) miles of (Location) as follows:

(Number) residents

Average income of $(Income)

(Percentage)% married

(Percentage)% in professional/Mgt. Occupations

Median Age: (Number) years

The significant figures part of this start-up are (Owner.Name), the company owner, and (Shareholder.Name), (Shareholder.Name), and (Shareholder.Name) as shareholders of the company.

This business plan aims to reach the following goals:

(Goal) – (Basic.Description)

The requested SBA capital is $(Amount), while the income, expenses, and revenue predicted for this plan are as follows:

Projected annual income: $(Amount)

Projected annual expenses: $(Amount)

Projected annual revenue: $(Amount)

The predicted benefits of establishing this business in the area are:

(Benefit.One)

(Benefit.Two)

(Benefit.Three)

(Benefit.Four)

Company Description

​ [Sender.Company] is located at [Sender.StreetAddress] [Sender.City] [Sender.State] [Sender.PostalCode] and is an (Company.Type) (such as LLC, sole proprietorship, etc.). After in-depth research into the (Product.Type) market, we have identified several areas that could be improved:

(Market.Gaps) – (Description)

In response to these problems, we have created several solutions as part of our company aims:

(Solution.One) – (Description)

(Solution.Two) – (Description)

(Solution.Three) – (Description)

We are also planning to grow the company, eventually expanding into (Location), (Location), and (Location), where we have identified similar market gaps.

Management Organization

The following persons of interest fill these positions in [Sender.Company] ​

Hiring Plan

(Owner.Name) will serve as the overall manager for hiring new employees. We will fill the following positions during the start-up operations:

(Number) (Job.Positio)

Market Plan and Analysis

Industry analysis.

The following industry statistics and size facts show that the business will do well in (Location).

Market Size: (Size)

Market Growth: (Growth.Speed)

Market Trends

We have identified the following market trends and how they will impact our business plan positively:

(Market.Trend) – (Impact)

Competitive Landscape

Market reports show the following competitive landscape:

(Competition.Chart)

Our biggest competitor currently is (Primary.Competitor), which has (Strengths), but also critical weaknesses like (Weaknesses). Our business has the following strengths, enabling us to overcome the competition and gain an edge in the market.

​ [Sender.Company] will serve residents within (Number) miles of (Location). The following location demographics are present in the surrounding area:

Our primary focus groups are:

(Primary.FocusGroup) – (Reason)

(Secondary.FocusGroup) – (Reason)

(Tertiary.FocusGroup) – (Reason)

Goals, Objectives, and Operations

The goals of [Sender.Company] with this business are:

The objectives of [Sender.Company] with this business are:

Products and Services

​ [Sender.Company] focuses on selling (Products.Services) to the general public (Or retailers, fill this section with a broad idea of your primary target market). These products/services include:

(Description of products/services)

Marketing and Sales

The [Sender.Company] will focus on its unique value proposition, offering (Selling.Point) in a convenient location for customers. Besides excelling in customer service and building a trusted reputation in the community, we will reach out to the community via the following methods:

Email Campaign

We will blanket the surrounding neighborhoods with direct emails. This email campaign will share information on [Sender.Company] and give inducements to convince residents to try out the business.

Public Relations

​ [Sender.Company] will contact the community and local news outlets to explain our unique offering.

Advertising

We will advertise in the local area and newspapers to gain awareness among the community.

Social Media

Social media accounts will ensure we can gain a following in the market. The pamphlets, emails, and website will have direct links to these platforms to grow the interest in the brand.

Pre-Opening Events

​ [Sender.Company] will organize pre-opening events to attract prospective customers. We will invite press contacts and local merchants to these events to place attention on the brand.

Customer Communication

Continuous customer communications will be available through a website and monthly newsletter to tell the community about our deals, products, and services.

Financial Data and Forecast

Total funding required: $(Amoun)

Lease and renovation of retail store: $(Amount)

Working capital until break-even: $(Amount)

Funding received to date: $(Amount)

Budget still required: $(Amount)

Funding Request

The total funding [Sender.Company] ​ required to start up this business is $(Amount). We will use this funding as follows:

Capital Request and Repayment

We request $(Funding.Amount) to start up this business, and plan to repay it over the following period:

Appendix Documentation

Business licenses

Permits and certifications

Reference letters

Product photos

Business owner resumes

Contractual agreements pertaining to this business

Legal documents related to this business

​ [Recipient.FirstName] [Recipient.LastName] ​

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How to Create a Startup Funding Proposal: 8 Samples and Templates to Guide You

Being a founder is difficult. Managing the day-to-day as a founder while trying to secure capital for your business can almost feel impossible. Thankfully, there are different tools and techniques that founders can use to systemize their fundraise to focus on what truly matters, building their business.

One of those tools is a startup funding proposal. In this guide, we’ll break down what a startup funding proposal is and how you can leverage it to build momentum in your fundraise.

What Is a Startup Funding Proposal?

A startup funding proposal is a document that helps startup founders share an overview of their business and make the case for why they should receive funding. A startup funding proposal can be boiled down to help founders layout 3 things:

• What — what does your startup do
• How — how does your startup or product help customers accomplish what they are seeking
• Why — why does your startup need funding and why should an investor fund your business

Related Resource: How to Write a Business Plan For Your Startup

Types of Startup Funding Proposals

Like any business document, there are many ways to approach a startup funding proposal. Ultimately it will come down to pulling the pieces and tactics that work best for your business. Investors are seeing hundreds, if not thousands, of deals a month so it is important to have your assets buttoned up to move quickly and build conviction during a raise. Check out a couple of popular types of funding proposals below:

Traditional Startup Funding Proposal

The most traditional or “standard” standard funding proposal is generally a written and visual document that is created using word processing software and/or design tools.

A traditional proposal is great because it allows you to share context with every aspect of your business. For example, if you include a chart of growth you’ll be able to explicitly write out why that was and what your plan is for future growth.

This document is generally designed to fit your brand and will hit on the key components of your business is structured and predictable way. We hit on what to include in your proposal below.

Startup Funding Proposal Pitch or Presentation

The most common approach we see to a fundraise or proposal is the pitch deck. Pitch decks take the same components as any proposal and fit them into a visual pitch deck that can be easily navigated and understood by a potential investor.

Pitch decks are not required by investors by are generally expected and are a great tool that can help you efficiently close your round. To learn more about building your pitch deck, check out a few of our key resources below:

• Tips for Creating an Investor Pitch Deck
• 18 Pitch Deck Examples for Any Startup
• Our Teaser Pitch Deck Template

1-on-1 Proposals (Elevator Pitch)

A 1 on 1 proposal or an elevator pitch is the quickest version of any proposal. Every founder should have an elevator pitch in their back pocket and is a complementary tool to any of the other funding proposals mentioned here.

As the team at VestBee puts it, “Elevator pitch” or “elevator speech” is a laconic but compelling introduction that can be communicated in the amount of time it takes someone to ride an elevator, usually around 30 seconds. It can serve you for fundraising purposes, personal introduction, or landing a prospective client.”

Email Proposal

Another common way to share a startup funding proposal via email. While the content might be similar to what is seen in a “traditional” funding proposal this allows you to hit investors where they spend their time – their inbox.

The format will follow a traditional proposal with less emphasis on visual aspects and more emphasis on the written content. Check out an example from our Update Template Library below:

Related Resource: How to Write the Perfect Investment Memo

Investor Relationship Hub

Lastly, there is an investor relationship hub or data room that can be used to share your proposal with potential investors. A hub is a great place to curate multiple documents or assets that will be needed during your fundraise. For example, you could share your funding proposal and your financials if they are requested by a potential investor.

Related Resource: What Should be in an Investor Data Room?

What to Include in Your Startup Funding Proposal

How you share your funding proposal might differ but ultimately the components are generally closely related from one proposal to the next. However, be sure that you are building this for your business. There is no prescriptive template that will work for every business.

Project Summary

First things first, you’ll want to start with a summary of your project or your business. This can be a high-level overview of what your proposal encompasses and will give an investor the context they need for the rest of the proposal. A couple of ideas that are worth hitting on:

• What your company does and how it’s different from existing solutions to pressing problems.
• Existing market gaps and how your product covers them.
• The importance of your product in your industry and how it improves the industry.
• Existing resources and manpower, investment requirements, and potential limitations.

Current Performance and Financial Report

Of course, investors want to see how your business has been performing. The data and metrics around your business are generally how an investor builds conviction and further interest in your business. We suggest using your best judgment when it comes to the level of metrics or financials that you’d like to share. A couple examples of what you might share:

• Current assets and liabilities
• MVP presentation for companies still in the ideation stage
• Appendix with financial reports

Related Resource: ​​ Building A Startup Financial Model That Works

Existing Investors and Partners

Inevitably investors will want to know who else you have raised capital from and partnered with in the past. Include a brief description of the different investors you have on your cap table and be ready to field additional questions if they have any.

Pro tip: The first place an investor will go to when performing due diligence is your current investors. Make sure you have a strong relationship and good communication with your current investors.

Market Study and Sales Goals

Investors will also care about your customer acquisition efforts and want to make sure you can repeatably find and close new customers. A couple of things that might be important to include in this section:

• Product pricing and information
• Revenue targets and goals
• Customer acquisition model and efforts
• Sales and marketing related KPIs
• Stories or testimonials from happy customers

Current Valuation, Investment Requirements, and Expected Returns

This is an opportunity to lay out your cap table and explain your current valuation, investment requirements, and what future valuations could look like. As always, we suggest using your best judgment when it comes to what level of detail you’d like to share about your cap table.

Potential Pitfalls and Solutions

There is an inherent risk when investing in any startup. It is important to make sure potential investors are aware of this. Layout the common pitfalls your startup might face and stop you from achieving your goals. Next, lay out the solutions to these problems and how you plan to tackle them if/when they arise.

8 Startup Funding Proposal Samples and Templates

Below are 8 proposal templates to help you kick off your next fundraise. Note that some of these are technically investor updates and not designed for first-time fundraising. Keep in mind that a startup funding proposal could also be utilized for additional funding after the first round of funding.

1. An Investment Summary Template by Underscore VC

Underscore VC is a seed-stage venture fund based out of Boston. As the team at Underscore writes :

“As part of this, we strongly recommend you write out a pitch narrative before you start to build a pitch deck. “Writing the prose forces you to fill in the gaps that can remain if you just put bullets on a slide,” says Lily Lyman, Underscore VC Partner. “It becomes less about how you present, and more about what you present.”

This exercise can help you synthesize your thoughts, smooth transitions, and craft a logical, compelling story. It also helps you include all necessary information and think through your answers to tough questions.

Check out the template here .

2. The Visible “Standard” Investor Update Template

Our Standard investor update template is great for communicating with existing investors. If you are regularly sending Updates to their investors they should know when you are beginning to raise capital again and can almost be treated as an investment proposal.

Check out the template for our standard investor update template here .

3. Sharing a Fundraising Pitch via Video

Videos are a great way to give the right context to the right investors in a concise and quick way. Video is a great supporting tool for any other information or documents you might be sending over. For example, you can include a few charts or metrics and some company information and use the video to further explain the data and growth plans. Check out the template here .

4. Financial Funding Proposal

The team at Revv put together a plug-and-play financial funding proposal. As they wrote, “A funding proposal must provide details of your company’s financials to obtain the right amount of funding. Check out our funding proposal template personalized for your business.” Check out the template here .

5. Investor Proposal Template for SaaS Companies

The team at Revv put together a template to help founders grab the attention of investors. As they wrote, “With so many Investing Agencies, this Investor proposal will surely leave an impact on your company in the long run.” Check out the template here .

6. Startup Funding Proposal Sample

Template.net has created a downloadable funding proposal template that can be edited using any tool. As they wrote, “Get your business idea off the ground by winning investors for your business through this Startup Investment Proposal. Fascinate investors with how you are going to get your business into the spotlight and explain in vivid detail your goals or target for the business.” Check out the template here .

7. Simple Proposal Template

Best Templates has created a generic proposal template that can be molded to fit most use cases. As they wrote, “Use this Simple Proposal Template for any of your proposal needs. This 14-page proposal template is easily editable and fully customizable using any chosen application or program that supports MS Word or Pages file formats.”

8. Sample Investment Proposal for Morgan Stanley

Another example is from the team at Morgan Stanley. The template is commonly used by their team and can be applied to most proposal use cases.

Connect With More Investors and Tell Your Story With Visible

Being able to tie everything together and build a strategy for your fundraise will be an integral part of your fundraising success. Check out how Visible can help you every step of the way below:

Visible Connect — Finding the right investors for your business can be tricky. Using Visible Connect, filter investors by different categories (like stage, check size, geography, focus, and more) to find the right investors for your business. Give it a try here .

Pitch Deck Sharing — Once you’ve built out your target list of investors, you can start sharing your pitch deck with them directly from Visible. You can customize your sharing settings (like email gated, password gated, etc.) and even add your own domain. Give it a try here .

Fundraising CRM — Our Fundraising CRM brings all of your data together. Set up tailored stages , custom fields , take notes, and track activity for different investors to help you build momentum in your raise. We’ll show how each individual investor is engaging with your Updates, Decks, and Dashboards. Give it a try here .

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10 Free Business Plan Templates in Word, Excel, & ClickUp

Praburam Srinivasan

Growth Marketing Manager

February 13, 2024

Turning your vision into a clear and coherent business plan can be confusing and tough. 

Hours of brainstorming and facing an intimidating blank page can raise more questions than answers. Are you covering everything? What should go where? How do you keep each section thorough but brief?

If these questions have kept you up at night and slowed your progress, know you’re not alone. That’s why we’ve put together the top 10 business plan templates in Word, Excel, and ClickUp—to provide answers, clarity, and a structured framework to work with. This way, you’re sure to capture all the relevant information without wasting time. 

And the best part? Business planning becomes a little less “ugh!” and a lot more “aha!” 🤩

What is a Business Plan Template?

What makes a good business plan template, 1. clickup business plan template, 2. clickup sales plan template, 3. clickup business development action plan template, 4. clickup business roadmap template, 5. clickup business continuity plan template, 6. clickup lean business plan template, 7. clickup small business action plan template, 8. clickup strategic business roadmap template , 9. microsoft word business plan template by microsoft, 10. excel business plan template by vertex42.

A business plan template is a structured framework for entrepreneurs and business executives who want to create business plans. It comes with pre-arranged sections and headings that cover key elements like the executive summary , business overview, target customers, unique value proposition, marketing plans, and financial statements.  

A good business plan template helps with thorough planning, clear documentation, and practical implementation. Here’s what to look for:

• Comprehensive structure: A good template comes with all the relevant sections to outline a business strategy, such as executive summary, market research and analysis, and financial projections 
• Clarity and guidance: A good template is easy to follow. It has brief instructions or prompts for each section, guiding you to think deeply about your business and ensuring you don’t skip important details
• Clean design: Aesthetics matter. Choose a template that’s not just functional but also professionally designed. This ensures your plan is presentable to stakeholders, partners, and potential investors
• Flexibility : Your template should easily accommodate changes without hassle, like adding or removing sections, changing content and style, and rearranging parts 🛠️ 

While a template provides the structure, it’s the information you feed it that brings it to life. These pointers will help you pick a template that aligns with your business needs and clearly showcases your vision.

10 Business Plan Templates to Use in 2024

Preparing for business success in 2024 (and beyond) requires a comprehensive and organized business plan. We’ve handpicked the best templates to help you guide your team, attract investors, and secure funding. Let’s check them out.

If you’re looking to replace a traditional business plan document, then ClickUp’s Business Plan Template is for you!

This one-page business plan template, designed in ClickUp Docs , is neatly broken down into the following sections:

• Company description : Overview, mission, vision, and team
• Market analysis : Problem, solution, target market, competition, and competitive advantage
• Sales and marketing strategy : Products/services and marketing channels
• Operational plan : Location and facilities, equipment and tools, manpower, and financial forecasts
• Milestones and metrics: Targets and KPIs

Customize the template with your company logo and contact details, and easily navigate to different sections using the collapsible table of contents. The mini prompts under each section guide you on what to include—with suggestions on how to present the data (e.g., bullet lists, pictures, charts, and tables). 

You can share the document with anyone via URL and collaborate in real time. And when the business plan is ready, you have the option to print it or export it to PDF, HTML, or Markdown.

But that’s not all. This template is equipped with basic and enterprise project management features to streamline the business plan creation process . The Topics List view has a list of all the different sections and subsections of the template and allows you to assign it to a team member, set a due date, and attach relevant documents and references.

Switch from List to Board view to track and update task statuses according to the following: To Do, In Progress, Needs Revision, and Complete. 

This template is a comprehensive toolkit for documenting the different sections of your business plan and streamlining the creation process to ensure it’s completed on time. 🗓️

If you’re looking for a tool to kickstart or update your sales plan, ClickUp’s Sales Plan Template has got you covered. This sales plan template features a project summary list with tasks to help you craft a comprehensive and effective sales strategy. Some of these tasks include:

• Determine sales objectives and goals
• Draft positioning statement
• Perform competitive analysis
• Draft ideal customer persona
• Create a lead generation strategy

Assign each task to a specific individual or team, set priority levels , and add due dates. Specify what section of the sales plan each task belongs to (e.g., executive summary, revenue goals, team structure, etc.), deliverable type (such as document, task, or meeting), and approval state (like pending, needs revisions, and approved).

And in ClickUp style, you can switch to multiple views: List for a list of all tasks, Board for visual task management, Timeline for an overview of task durations, and Gantt to get a view of task dependencies. 

This simple business plan template is perfect for any type of business looking to create a winning sales strategy while clarifying team roles and keeping tasks organized. ✨

Thinking about scaling your business’s reach and operations but unsure where or how to start? It can be overwhelming, no doubt—you need a clear vision, measurable goals, and an actionable plan that every member of your team can rally behind. 

Thankfully, ClickUp’s Business Development Action Plan Template is designed to use automations to simplify this process so every step toward your business growth is clear, trackable, and actionable.

Start by assessing your current situation and deciding on your main growth goal. Are you aiming to increase revenue, tap into new markets, or introduce new products or services? With ClickUp Whiteboards or Docs, brainstorm and collaborate with your team on this decision.

Set and track your short- and long-term growth goals with ClickUp’s Goals , break them down into smaller targets, and assign these targets to team members, complete with due dates. Add these targets to a new ClickUp Dashboard to track real-time progress and celebrate small wins. 🎉

Whether you’re a startup or small business owner looking to hit your next major milestone or an established business exploring new avenues, this template keeps your team aligned, engaged, and informed every step of the way.

ClickUp’s Business Roadmap Template is your go-to for mapping out major strategies and initiatives in areas like revenue growth, brand awareness, community engagement, and customer satisfaction. 

Use the List view to populate tasks under each initiative. With Custom Fields, you can capture which business category (e.g., Product, Operations, Sales & Marketing, etc.) tasks fall under and which quarter they’re slated for. You can also link to relevant documents and resources and evaluate tasks by effort and impact to ensure the most critical tasks get the attention they deserve. 👀

Depending on your focus, this template provides different views to show just what you need. For example, the All Initiatives per Quarter view lets you focus on what’s ahead by seeing tasks that need completion within a specific quarter. This ensures timely execution and helps in aligning resources effectively for the short term.

This template is ideal for business executives and management teams who need to coordinate multiple short- and long-term initiatives and business strategies.

In business, unexpected threats to operations can arise at any moment. Whether it’s economic turbulence, a global health crisis, or supply chain interruptions, every company needs to be ready. ClickUp’s Business Continuity Plan Template lets you prepare proactively for these unforeseen challenges.

The template organizes tasks into three main categories:

• Priorities: Tasks that need immediate attention
• Continuity coverage: Tasks that must continue despite challenges
• Guiding principles: Resources and protocols to ensure smooth operations

The Board view makes it easy to visualize all the tasks under each of these categories. And the Priorities List sorts tasks by those that are overdue, the upcoming ones, and then the ones due later.

In times of uncertainty, being prepared is your best strategy. This template helps your business not just survive but thrive in challenging situations, keeping your customers, employees, and investors satisfied. 🤝

Looking to execute your business plan the “lean” way? Use ClickUp’s Lean Business Plan Template . It’s designed to help you optimize resource usage and cut unnecessary steps—giving you better results with less effort.

In the Plan Summary List view, list all the tasks that need to get done. Add specific details like who’s doing each task, when it’s due, and which part of the Business Model Canvas (BMC) it falls under. The By Priority view sorts this list based on priorities like Urgent, High, Normal, and Low. This makes it easy to spot the most important tasks and tackle them first.

Additionally, the Board view gives you an overview of task progression from start to finish. And the BMC view rearranges these tasks based on the various BMC components. 

Each task can further be broken down into subtasks and multiple checklists to ensure all related action items are executed. ✔️

This template is an invaluable resource for startups and large enterprises looking to maximize process efficiencies and results in a streamlined and cost-effective way.

The Small Business Action Plan Template by ClickUp is tailor-made for small businesses looking to transform their business ideas and goals into actionable steps and, eventually, into reality. 

It provides a simple and organized framework for creating, assigning, prioritizing, and tracking tasks. And in effect, it ensures that goals are not just set but achieved. Through the native dashboard and goal-setting features, you can monitor task progress and how they move you closer to achieving your goals.

Thanks to ClickUp’s robust communication features like chat, comments, and @mentions, it’s easy to get every team member on the same page and quickly address questions or concerns.

Use this action plan template to hit your business goals by streamlining your internal processes and aligning team efforts.

For larger businesses and scaling enterprises, getting different departments to work together toward a big goal can be challenging. The ClickUp Strategic Business Roadmap Template makes it easier by giving you a clear plan to follow.

This template is packaged in a folder and split into different lists for each department in your business, like Sales, Product, Marketing, and Enablement. This way, every team can focus on their tasks while collectively contributing to the bigger goal.

There are multiple viewing options available for team members. These include:

• Progress Board: Visualize tasks that are on track, those at risk, and those behind
• Gantt view: Get an overview of project timelines and dependencies
• Team view: See what each team member is working on so you can balance workloads for maximum productivity

While this template may feel overwhelming at first, the getting started guide offers a step-by-step breakdown to help you navigate it with ease. And like all ClickUp templates, you can easily customize it to suit your business needs and preferences.

Microsoft’s 20-page traditional business plan template simplifies the process of drafting comprehensive business plans. It’s made up of different sections, including:

• Executive summary : Highlights, objectives, mission statement, and keys to success
• Description of business: Company ownership and legal structure, hours of operation, products and services, suppliers, financial plans, etc.
• Marketing: Market analysis, market segmentation, competition, and pricing
• Appendix: Start-up expenses, cash flow statements, income statements, sales forecast, milestones, break-even analysis, etc.

The table of contents makes it easy to move to different sections of the document. And the text placeholders under each section provide clarity on the specific details required—making the process easier for users who may not be familiar with certain business terminology.

No business template roundup is complete without an Excel template. This business plan template lets you work on your business financials in Excel. It comes with customizable tables, formulas, and charts to help you look at the following areas:

• Highlight charts
• Market analysis
• Start-up assets and expenses
• Sales forecasts
• Profit and loss
• Balance sheet
• Cash flow projections
• Break-even analysis

This Excel template is especially useful when you want to create a clear and visual financial section for your business plan document—an essential element for attracting investors and lenders. However, there might be a steep learning curve to using this template if you’re not familiar with business financial planning and using Excel.

Try a Free Business Plan Template in ClickUp

Launching and running a successful business requires a well-thought-out and carefully crafted business plan. However, the business planning process doesn’t have to be complicated, boring, or take up too much time. Use any of the above 10 free business plan formats to simplify and speed up the process.

ClickUp templates go beyond offering a solid foundation to build your business plans. They come with extensive project management features to turn your vision into reality. And that’s not all— ClickUp’s template library offers over 1,000 additional templates to help manage various aspects of your business, from decision-making to product development to resource management .

Sign up for ClickUp’s Free Forever Plan today to fast-track your business’s growth! 🏆

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Writing the Ultimate One-Pager About Your Business: 8 Examples and How to Make One [+ Free Template]

Published: May 20, 2024

Whether you’re a business owner or a sales rep, you’re always pitching your services, telling potential clients what you offer as succinctly as possible. Trust me, I’ve been there myself, trying to sum up my copywriting business in as few words as I can. That’s where the business one-pager has come to my rescue.

I’ve created presentations about what I do and have a full website dedicated to my business . But, when potential clients need answers fast, I pull out a one-pager — my value proposition boiled into one hard-hitting page.

If your business is missing this helpful tool, don’t worry. I’ve done the leg work to help. You can see eight of my favorite business one-pagers. Then, I’ll discuss how you can make your own step-by-step and share a template to make the process easy. Let’s get started. You can boil your pitch down to one hard-hitting page that grabs attention and gets to the point.

What is a one-pager?

A one-pager is a document that summarizes an offer, process, concept, or policy in around 250 words. Its purpose is to capture the reader's interest and leave them wanting more. It aims to compel the reader to take action, such as scheduling a call, visiting a website, or signing a contract.

That being said, one-pagers aren't just for selling. They can also be educational tools. When sharing knowledge, the crisp, engaging format grabs attention and helps readers retain key information.

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The Anatomy of a One-Pager

Your one-pager should be tailored to your specific goals. For example, my one-pager focuses on my writing services and a crash course into neuromarketing, a field I specialize in. That would be wildly different than the one-pager for a SaaS company or a wedding cake bakery.

Regardless, no matter the business, there are seven essential elements that must be in each one pager. I’ll share each of these components below.

• Company logo. Include your company logo prominently on the page. This small image reinforces your brand and ensures readers know who is behind the offer.
• About. Provide a brief elevator pitch that covers who you are, what makes you unique, and why readers should care. This section should pique their interest in the main content on the sheet.
• Problem statement. Open with the problem you‘re solving. For sales one-pagers, speak directly to your customer’s pain points. If you‘re courting investors, describe the niche you’re filling. For an internal one-pager, provide a high-level roadmap of what's to come.
• Features and benefits. This section is where you highlight your unique value proposition. Clearly outline the key features and benefits of your product, venture, or concept. Keep it short. Focus on the most essential points.
• Social proof. Use social proof to back up your claims with evidence. Include client testimonials, industry stats, or awards to reinforce your credibility and build trust.
• Call to action. Include a clear call to action that leaves no doubt about what the reader should do next, such as calling, visiting your website, or taking the next step in the process.
• Contact info. Provide clean, clear contact information (website, email, phone, social media) at the bottom of your one-pager to ensure leads can easily get in touch with you.

While all of this information is essential in your one-pager, how you design the sheet will vary wildly. If you work in a buttoned-up, formal industry, you may opt for texts and clean graphs only. If your readers are busy, an infographic may be a more skimmable way to share information.

Download our one-pager business template now to communicate your vision clearly and effectively.

How to Make a One-Pager for Your Business [+Template]

Now that we know what goes into a one-pager, I’ll share the process of making one step-by-step. We’ll also work through the process using a one-pager template from HubSpot.

In my example, I’ll make a one-pager for a fictional puzzle subscription company — Puzzle Me This. I’ll share the value proposition for this business all on one page as a way to attract potential buyers.

1. List out the basics.

We discussed seven elements you need in your one-pager above. You’ll also need to condense your mission into short headlines, your value proposition into a brief overview, and your problem statement into a few sentences.

Before I start putting my one-pager together, I like to sit down and list it all out. That involves gathering my assets (like my logo) into a folder and writing out the text I want to include in an unformatted Google Doc.

Let’s take a look at HubSpot’s template.  We’ll need to gather the following:

• An about section.
• A mission statement and overview.
• Information about products or services.
• Contact information.
• Information about the problem, solution, and market.
• More about the product’s competitive edge and strategy.
• Two photos.
• A QR code that leads to our website.

For my sample puzzle business, I gathered all of the information into one folder. That involved creating an unformatted Pages document with all of my text. Having all of the pieces compiled cleanly will make formatting my document easier.

2. Consider your value proposition and look ahead.

Your one-pager will need to show what makes your offering unique and how it stands out. You’ll need to clearly outline the problem you're solving and preview how your solution addresses it.

You may even Define your target audience and speak directly to their needs and pain points.

From there, I recommend looking ahead. This is especially true if you’re pitching your business to investors. They’ll get a sense of what they can expect from you in the future.

Let’s circle back to Puzzle Me This. There are a few different subscription boxes on the market. However, my business focuses on picking the perfect puzzle for the person so they don’t have to choose one themselves. Beyond that, I want to partner with independent artists, so I made sure to highlight that in my one-pager.

3. Get designing.

Now that you have all of the pieces ready, it’s time to start designing. How you lay out your one-pager will depend on your industry and the access that you have to graphic design talent. If you have a designer on staff, you may ask them to create a custom layout on your behalf.

However, templates like this one from HubSpot make the process easy for everyone. I used the template for the Puzzle Me This example. I was able to get everything filled out in minutes. The longest part of the process was crafting the perfect text.

One-Pager Examples

One-pagers can be helpful for all types of businesses, so they vary widely in how they look and are presented. Taking a look at well-designed one-pagers can help you get inspired when you create your own. So, let’s dive in!

1. Business One-Pager

Image Source

Looking to create a one-pager with stats to back up your value proposition? This template from Awware has you covered. Text-heavy sections that cover the company’s missions, values, and progress can be found on the left side. Icons and all-caps make headings jump.

The right side focuses on data. Readers can see how the company performs at a glance, giving the impact of the business nice visual leverage. I also like how the template makes use of a consistent color palette to avoid clutter.

Pro tip: Incorporate storytelling, social proof, and value to demonstrate why your business is a strong potential partner.

2. Product One-Pager

Product one-pagers focus on the specs of a specific offering. What makes them different than alternatives, what are the core features, and what’s the price point? A product one-pager should answer these questions.

The one-pager above showcases a console that’s coming soon. I like that this example has a timeline of when the product is expected to hit the market. Beyond that, the console’s features are condensed into easy-to-skim bullet points.

Pro tip: Font size can help you navigate your reader’s attention. Put the most important information, like pricing and release date, in larger font.

3. Marketing One-pager

Marketing one-pagers are internal documents that align teams. They are snapshots of critical elements like logos, brand colors , fonts, voice, goals, and customer personas. If you are launching a new campaign, a one-pager ensures messaging, visuals, and tone remain consistent with your brand.

The one-pager above focuses on a video marketing campaign. The sheet specifies what the project is for, its objective, and then the branding elements that will be used in the video. As a marketer, this sheet would make it easy for me to understand what the team wants and how to make it.

What I like: If you have a specific vision, make the content of your one-pager specific as well. This page lists out the filters, adjustments, and hex code of the color palette.

4. One-Pager Pitch

One-pager pitches are beneficial for project managers with new initiatives and consultants competing for contracts. Use this document to capture the attention of your audience and pique their interest. A well-crafted one-page pitch document can increase your chances of landing that coveted client.

The one-pager above pitches a marketing consultancy. I like how this page keeps the value proposition simple. There’s a quick blurb about what the organization can do, then images of the people on the team. This helps create a personal touch.

Beyond that, I like how the team lists out recommendations for a successful partnership. This level of transparency creates a sense of trustworthiness.

Pro tip: Do you have impressive statistics? Feature them in your one-pager.

5. Startup One-Pager

For startups, a one-pager is your ultimate elevator pitch. Whether you’re seek funding, networking, or brand promotion, this document showcases your scrappiness. Startup one-pagers cover the essentials: a compelling pitch, team expertise, market insights, and a clear call to action.

The one pager above compiles all of the information an investor might need at a glance. The company’s value proposition and mission statement are boiled down into headings. In a few brief paragraphs, you can understand where the startup is at in its development and what’s coming next.

Pro tip: Include extra punches like media attention or social proof to validate your idea and details about your investment stage.

6. Sales Rep One-Pager

Some sales one-pagers are made for reps to help them more effectively communicate with prospects. The above one-pager lays out the different costs of each insurance plan. It also coaches reps on how to work with different types of customers.

Pro tip: Highlight your unique value proposition in this compact yet impactful piece, positioning your offering as the solution they've been seeking.

7. Sales One-Pager

A sales one-pager summarizes the key aspects of your company, product, or service in a single, brief document. It aims to engage potential customers by clearly demonstrating how you can address their challenges and encouraging them to take the next step in the sales process.

I like how the post above showcases the target market for the data agency’s services. This short customer persona makes it clear who would benefit from this offering.

Pro tip: If you’re looking to summarize all that you offer quickly, include a conclusion section in your one-pager.

8. Event One-Pager

A compelling event one-pager can be an invaluable tool for capturing the attention of your target audience and ensuring a successful turnout, whether you're hosting a conference, seminar, or corporate gathering.

This one-pager specifically focuses on sponsors, so all elements of the sheet speak directly to that audience. Your event will likely need multiple types of one-pagers for each audience you hope to reach.

Pro tip: Your one-pager should go beyond the basics. Whether it's a lineup of renowned speakers, exclusive networking opportunities, or cutting-edge industry insights, the one-pager should entice readers.

Tips for Creating Effective One-Pagers

Stuffing information on one page doesn’t guarantee success. Below, I’ll share some pearls of wisdom I’ve gathered from making one-pagers in the past.

Be concise and audience-focused.

A one-pager must strike a balance between impact and readability. Brevity is key. This asset should be concise. Tailor your language and content to your specific audience. Avoid corporate jargon when addressing customers, but prioritize numbers and data when pitching to investors.

Elevate your one-pager with strategic formatting.

Pay attention to formatting elements that make your one-pager easy to read. Embrace white space to create a visually appealing layout that avoids clutter and allows your content to shine. I also recommend crafting a compelling headline that captures your reader's attention and communicates the core value of your offering.

Tell a cohesive story.

Like any good narrative, your one-pager should have a distinct beginning, middle, and end. Each component should seamlessly connect, guiding your reader through a clear and engaging story. The cohesive flow keeps your audience interested and reinforces your main point.

Consider how your one-pager will be distributed.

Adhere to the “one” in one-pager. Stick to a single side of a standard 8.5 x 11" page. Using this format ensures easy physical and digital distribution.

Speaking of distribution, think creatively. While one-pagers make excellent handouts, explore sharing the content on your website, social media channels, or even as an email newsletter, ensuring your audience receives it through their preferred channels.

Boost Your Business With a One Pager

We live in a fast-paced business world, so grabbing your audience's attention and getting your message across is crucial. One-pagers are great for showcasing your business, product, or event in a concise, engaging way.

Use our one-page business template to get ahead. With this template, you'll be able to create a professional and persuasive one-pager in no time.

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Defining your ‘true north’: A road map to successful transformation

At every turn, companies are grappling with unprecedented disruption. At a time when macroeconomic and geopolitical turbulence  has become the norm, and businesses are deeply technology dependent and globally entwined, yesterday’s recipe for success falls short of even ensuring survival tomorrow. The imperative to adapt, evolve, and transform is clear. But business leaders must also shift their mindsets and approaches if they are to create sustainable, transformative change and meet the demands of today’s hypercompetitive environment.

“Transformation,” a well-worn term in the corporate vernacular, has come to mean many things to many people, diluting its significance and leading to transformation fatigue. Many organizations have grown used to viewing transformations as short-term efforts to “cut the way to greatness.” Such undertakings lack clear connections to a business’s longer-term strategic priorities. In extreme cases, they can lead to shortsighted decisions that compromise an enterprise’s competitive position and even viability.

Real transformative change goes beyond episodic efficiency efforts or organizational restructurings. It instead aims to reprogram an organization’s very DNA and embed a new operating model, guided by a bold strategy, to reach a company’s full potential. When done right, a transformation becomes a source of continual renewal, evolving and even revolutionizing a business over a series of horizons.

In 2016, McKinsey laid out transformation elements in “ Transformation with a capital T ,” defining transformation as an intense program to significantly enhance performance (an earnings improvement of 25 percent or more, for example) and boost the health of the entire organization. 1 Michael Bucy, Stephen Hall, and Doug Yakola, “ Transformation with a capital T ,” McKinsey Quarterly , November 7, 2016. Since then, our view has evolved. While cost reductions and operational excellence remain table stakes, best-in-class companies are expanding the scope of their transformations to include the reassessment and resetting of their strategies. They’re placing the focus on innovation and growth to take enterprise-wide performance to a new level.

Best-in-class companies are expanding the scope of their transformations to include the reassessment and resetting of their strategies.

To achieve this bigger impact, a transformation must be guided by what a company wants to become—a bold aspiration encapsulated in its strategy. This strategic “true north” should then determine the sequence of initiatives, along with the performance metrics used to track them, across four distinct work streams: cost optimization, growth, organizational effectiveness, and digital enablement. Finally, business leaders must fully integrate the transformation approach into the company’s day-to-day operations. This means making the transformation the new business as usual rather than treating it as a limited-scope side project.

Treating strategy as the true north

In McKinsey’s early experience in transformation work, going back to 2010, the majority of efforts revolved around delivering rapid performance improvement at companies facing significant operational and financial challenges. The focus was on survival—freeing up cash and resources to resolve liquidity and balance sheet issues. With cost efficiency as the primary aim, strategy rarely entered the discussion. Indeed, in the 2016 article, the word “strategy” appears only twice. 2 Michael Bucy, Stephen Hall, and Doug Yakola, “ Transformation with a capital T ,” McKinsey Quarterly , November 7, 2016. Today, CEOs are expanding the definition of transformation, aiming to turn middle-of-the-pack performers into dominant industry titans. In these ambitious transformations, strategy plays a leading role.

In ambitious transformations, strategy plays a leading role.

As the scope of the transformation grows, the approach to execution must also change. Most successful change programs move through several distinct horizons over multiple years. With each horizon comes a set of objectives plus defined resources and investments in capability building. The full strategic agenda is also sequenced in stages. This helps ensure that the organization isn’t overburdened at the start, which could stifle its ability to deliver the rapid impact critical to building internal momentum, as well as external confidence and support.

While each transformation context is distinct, the journey often begins with a focus on stabilizing and improving the fundamentals of the business. This is followed by accelerating growth, organizational design, and digital enablement, all of which lay the foundation for a strategic and operational repositioning:

• Horizon one: all about the fundamentals (first three to 12 months). The priorities during this period are typically grounded in tactical improvements, including cost optimization, cash flow generation, and filling capability gaps. Speed is of the essence : our research shows that in successful transformations, initiatives executed within the first six months deliver 57 percent of the total program’s value. 3 Kevin Laczkowski, Tao Tan, and Matthias Winter, “ The numbers behind successful transformations ,” McKinsey Quarterly , October 17, 2019. Companies must quickly prove to their boards and investors that their strategic plans have substance and can generate bottom-line impact. Being able to celebrate early improvements is also essential to building momentum and mobilizing the entire organization.
• Horizon two: growth and scalability (next 12 to 24 months). Having established early momentum, business leaders shift their focus from driving incremental improvements to fortifying their companies’ operating systems and setting up the conditions to fully realize the long-term strategic vision. Such initiatives typically have longer implementation road maps and timelines and substantial investment requirements. It’s critical to remain vigilant about timely execution and to validate impact. This is often the stage at which performance can regress, as the initiatives tend to be more complex and nuanced. Reacting quickly to correct the course as needed and invigorate the transformation plan with new ideas is essential to realizing the commitments and goals of the transformation.
• Horizon three: repositioning and reinvention (24 months and beyond). Achieving a company’s full potential typically involves a mix of specific actions executed in horizons one and two along with one or two strategy-guided big bets. These bets are likely to materially reshape, or even reinvent, the business over the longer term. Such initiatives might include geographic expansion, product innovation, or strategic M&A activity. This work requires a higher level of effort and resources than the first two phases do.

Setting out four performance work streams

We have learned over the past decade that companies have a better chance of reaching their full potential when transformations are directly linked to strategy. Companies should define the objectives based on an organization’s capabilities and performance across a set of impact and business reinvention metrics . The core transformation should focus on four aspects of performance:

• Cost optimization. Leading companies treat efficiency measures as merely a jumping-off point to the transformation—a way to free up capital to reinvest in the business. By eliminating waste and adjusting cost structure  to support the vision of the future organization, the company can improve its operating margins while also generating the funds to invest in higher-ROI projects across the other three work streams.
• Growth. Our latest internal analysis suggests that more than 50 percent of transformation value comes from growth initiatives, up from less than 40 percent two years ago. Companies undertaking transformations need to set clear priorities for how and where they will pursue profitable revenue growth , looking at organic paths, such as launching new products or entering new segments; M&A; and business building. To support such moves, leaders should constantly monitor the return on growth investments and relentlessly reprioritize and reallocate resources based on demonstrated results. Committing to a bold growth agenda can not only reshape the performance trajectory of the business but also energize the organization to persevere toward the transformation’s broader goal.
• Organizational effectiveness. At its core, transformation is about people. In the more than 15 years that McKinsey has conducted transformation surveys , respondents consistently put getting the people part right among the top predictors of success. Additionally, internal analysis suggests that the likelihood of transformation success increases 3.2 times when the full organization is focused on the right priorities. This focus should go beyond rethinking the organizational chart. It should include thoughtfully challenging the status quo and creating a culture that is nimble, embraces cross-enterprise collaboration, and does it all with speed.
• Digital enablement. Technology plays a role in every successful transformation. At a time when 85 percent of companies believe that they need to build digital businesses  or technologically enable their existing businesses to survive, strong digital capabilities are critical to staying competitive. 4 “ The new digital edge: Rethinking strategy for the postpandemic era ,” McKinsey, May 26, 2021. Yet most organizations have been underinvesting in technology , particularly in the cloud, agile operating models, technology talent, and generative AI. This work stream requires establishing a state-of-the-art enterprise-resource-planning system that can facilitate the execution of all the other performance work streams. Leading companies focus on improving the accuracy and speed of information and developing new customer and product insights from their data. Those that use digital transformations to fully rewire their organizations  improve their shareholder returns, P/E ratios, and returns on tangible equity more than competitors do, our research shows. 5 Eric Lamarre, Kate Smaje, and Rodney Zemmel, “ Rewired to outcompete ,” McKinsey Quarterly , June 20, 2023.

The core transformation should focus on four aspects of performance: cost optimization, growth, organizational effectiveness, and digital enablement.

Consider one consumer product company that followed this four-work-stream path to chart a successful new course. Historically, it focused on incremental improvements as part of its annual planning cycle. But as nimbler competitors with stronger balance sheets rapidly gained market share, the company’s leaders realized they needed to fundamentally rethink how they operated. The company expanded its manufacturing footprint through acquisitions, revamped its production and logistics operations, and leveraged data to predict changes in consumer demand. It also empowered executives and line managers to adopt an owner’s mindset that raised individual impact on the business. The transformation doubled the company’s EBITDA while reestablishing its standing as an industry shaper.

Making transformation business as usual

It’s common to see a transformation achieve its milestones and stated objectives only to have the underlying business underperform, eroding the delivered value. Too often, management views a transformation as separate and distinct from day-to-day operations, failing to maintain the same high bar of rigor and accountability across the enterprise. We have seen companies tackle this issue head-on by leveraging the transformation as a catalyst for improving performance, essentially creating a new operating model that applies to each aspect of the business.

The integration of transformation and daily operations fosters a mindset of one goal and one mission. It encourages impact-based prioritization of initiatives and resources and ensures alignment across the organization through consistent messaging. To achieve this alignment, the operating model and the performance management system should serve as the hardwiring that links a company’s transformation goals to its strategy. Without clear KPIs, for instance, executives won’t be able to determine how or whether the transformation investments create value.

The operating model and the performance management system should serve as the hardwiring that links a company’s transformation goals to its strategy.

This approach requires a shift in the execution cadence under the leadership of a chief transformation officer (CTO). The role of the CTO was originally an extension of the CEO (perhaps even a possible successor), with full authority to work across the entire organization and guide the business agenda. Over time, the role’s scope has diminished, with CTOs now tending to be two or three levels below the executive suite, serving as process managers rather than true change agents. In that structure, the day-to-day operations fall outside the CTO’s purview, separating the transformation agenda from the ordinary course of business. Additionally, with the CTO having to run most decisions through a committee of more senior leaders, the pace and impact of the transformation slows.

We believe that the role should expand even beyond its original incarnation, turning the CTO into a chief performance officer focused on not only setting the transformation agenda but also integrating it into the daily business operations. The CTO should ensure, for example, that any governance process, supported by the CEO and cascaded throughout the organization, covers all business activities—transformation related or otherwise. A single set of metrics should cover the full scope of financial and operational performance.

The chief transformation officer role should expand into a chief performance officer focused on not only setting the transformation agenda but also integrating it into the daily business operations.

The experience of an industrial company with operations in more than 150 countries bears out the value of this approach. A messy merger, on top of hundreds of previous acquisitions, had created a highly fragmented organization that lacked a clear strategy. After a 30 percent slump in stock price over 18 months, the company decided to launch a transformation. The CTO mobilized the entire organization, from top leaders to more than 7,000 frontline employees, and implemented rigorous weekly performance checks.

The initial phase of the program delivered more than $2 billion in bottom-line impact, and the company is now in horizon two. Those who led the work in horizon one are serving as recruiting and coaching leaders for the next phase, helping pass on the lessons that they learned. The company’s free-cash-flow conversion has improved to 90 percent, from 60 percent. And the organization has gone from an industry laggard to a leader, with its share price outperforming those of its peers by roughly 20 percent.

In an environment of deep uncertainty, companies need to constantly monitor their competitive positions and evolve to match changing conditions. By ensuring that transformation objectives reflect business strategies, pursuing four core performance work streams, and staying vigilant about embedding the changes into business as usual, business leaders can reap long-term benefits from their transformation investments.

Kevin Carmody is a senior partner in McKinsey’s Chicago office, Louisa Greco is a partner in the Toronto office, and Rob Montgomery is a partner in the Bay Area office.

The authors wish to thank Colleen Baum, Mary Lass Stewart, Meagan Hill, Michael Bucy, Michael Dillon, Rick Gold, Rob Cain, and Stephan Görner for their contributions to this article.

This article was edited by Joanna Pachner, an executive editor in the Toronto office.

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For Company applicants: Have a limited company incorporated in Hong Kong for less than 2 years by the application start date, OR

For Team applicants: Have a team (must incorporate a limited company in Hong Kong within 2 weeks once approved by the IDEATION admission panel)

A dedicated account manager to accompany and support you on your startup journey

Topics include market validation, business modelling, pitching, etc.

Centre Facilities

Co-working space access* *Subject to availability

Nomination to HKSTP ecosystem

Dedicated startup support to HKSTP Incubation Programme applications

Admission Timeline

The Ideation Programme is open for application every January, May, and September. In general, the process takes around 3 months to complete after the application deadline.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. do i need to give up my job or drop out from school to join ideation, 2. is there an admission limit for each ideation cohort, 3. do we need to incorporate a company if we apply as a team applicant fo ideation, 4. how long does the application and admission process take, 1. how can i get the hkd$100,000 seed funding after being admitted into ideation, 2. is ideation’s training mandatory can i skip part of the training if i have enough entrepreneurial knowledge already, 3. are there any other offerings i can get from ideation, 4. are there any other programmes that i can join after ideation.

40 Proven Ways to Fund Your Small Business

Angelique O'Rourke

22 min. read

Updated October 27, 2023

When it comes to funding, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach. Aside from every business having unique funding needs, each funding option differs in availability, terms, funding amounts, and eligibility criteria. We’ve compiled a list from a variety of places to help you research and narrow down the best option for your business.

Determine how much funding you’ll need

Estimating your startup costs is not only a  necessary element  of your financial plan, but it can help you determine how much  funding you really need . This can immediately give you a jumpstart on your financing search and narrow down potential options simply based on the amount they offer. 

Additionally, having a cohesive financial plan in place can improve your chances of actually being approved for funding. It showcases forward-thinking on your part and for traditional loans, investors, and any other funds that require a business plan or pitch, it’s necessary to even be considered. 

Once you’ve planned out how much you’ll need, it’s time to survey your options.

• Traditional loans

One of the most widely available options is a traditional business loan. And while the process and requirements may be fairly similar no matter the lender, there are different loan options you’ll want to consider.

1. SBA loans

Small Business Administration loans  are often one of the first places that small business owners in the United States think of looking for a loan, and they’re right to think this way. This can be a great option if you fit the criteria. 

If you’re unsure if you qualify,  take a look at this article  for details on the SBA Loan program. Or if you’ve applied and had your application rejected,  check out this article  for ways to improve your chances of being approved if you reapply.

2. Bank loans

Bank loans may be the most obvious solution for business owners looking for funding. While lending standards have become stricter over time, there are often funds set aside strictly for small businesses depending on the lender. 

Shop around and look for lenders that you can actually talk to a real person when applying. This helps ensure that you’re filling out the necessary paperwork and provides insight into what you can do to  improve your chances  of being approved. You’ll typically have better luck chatting with a real person at a local bank or credit union, so do your research and chat with multiple institutions to find the best fit.

3. Small Business Lending Fund 

This is a dedicated government fund that provides capital for small business loans through specific lenders in each U.S. state. The primary benefit of this program is that it’s designed to grow the economy. 

The more a bank increases its loan output the less it pays for funding. Giving access to loans to more businesses and potentially passing along better rates or terms to business owners. You can review which banks are participating and download an application through the  Treasury website , which is updated on a monthly basis as banks enter or exit the program. 

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Entrepreneurs can also look into various  grants  to support their budding idea. These are often difficult to acquire and include very specific eligibility requirements, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be a viable funding option. Here’s a list of places to find that perfect grant for your business.

4. National Association for the Self-Employed Grants

Since 2006 the  National Association for the Self-Employed  has given out $650,000 in grant money. Applicants can receive up to $4,000 and must use the money for marketing, advertising, hiring employees, or expanding facilities. You do have to be a member of the association to apply, which costs $120 a year.

5. Nav’s Small Business Grant

Nav is an online marketplace that matches small business owners with their best business financing options by using credit and finance data. Each quarter, Nav gives away 3 grants, with the top grant winner receiving $10,000. This is to provide relief to small businesses that are struggling right now and hopefully empower them to reach their next level of success.

The application is easy. Simply explain your business, the challenges you are facing, and how the grant money would help push you in the right direction. All details about Nav’s Small Business Grant can be found  here .

6. Small Business Innovation Research Program

One of the more lucrative federal grant programs is the  Small Business Innovation Research Program , which helps businesses with research and development projects.

The program, which is coordinated through the U.S. Small Business Administration, offers several kinds of grants: open, closed, future, and solicitation listing. You’ll want to research which option is best for your company.

Expect a lengthy qualification process and, if selected, a strict measurement plan to ensure the money is going to good use.

7. Amber Grant for Women

Female business owners can take advantage of the  Amber Grant . This grant was launched in 1998 by Womennet to help entrepreneurs succeed. Each month, one woman is selected for a $500 grant. At the end of the year, one of the winners is selected for a $2,000 grant.

It’s a simple application process. You just have to answer a few short-answer questions through an online form and pay a $7 application fee.

8. National Institute of Health Funding 

The  SBIR/STTR grants  provided by the National Institute of Health Funding are going to apply fairly specifically to technology or research-based businesses. If you fall within an eligible business-type, you can speak to a program manager before applying to discuss the technology or study you plan on using the grant for. This gives you an idea of what the institute is interested in and willing to fund, as well as guidance on how to develop your application.

9. Government Small Business Grants

Possibly the most widely available grants are provided by the U.S. government. However, these are typically industry-specific, meaning that you’ll need to look into what’s available for your business type. The SBA offers a convenient area on their website to  conduct research  about which may be right for you.

• Fintech funding options

Financial technology (fintech) lenders are institutions that provide loans or lines of credit as an alternative to traditional bank or government loans. More and more of these funding options are becoming available, and typically provide similar loan amounts and lending terms. 

That being said, you’ll want to check out a lenders track record, services, application requirements, and customer support, as well as loan terms, to find the best option. Here are just a few of the platforms currently available.

10. Kabbage 

If you run an eCommerce business through the likes of eBay or Amazon,  Kabbage  is a great option for you. Overlooking the traditional collateral and credit score criteria associated with most loans, Kabbage is more concerned with your status as an online seller. You still need well-documented accounting data and  cash flow statements , but the rest is determined by customer feedback, selling history, turnover, and other digital metrics. 

So as long as you have a solid history of selling online and have your financial documentation in order, you can easily be approved for unsecured cash advancements in just a few minutes.

11. OnDeck 

Similar to Kabbage,  OnDeck  awards loans based on alternative metrics regarding the health of your business. In this case, they look at the annual revenue of your business to determine eligibility and help tailor the loan and payments around your needs. They also give you the opportunity to apply for either a loan or a line of credit depending on your circumstances, meaning that you can potentially stick with one lender for your funding needs. 

12. PayPal 

PayPal  offers both working capital and traditional business loans and will lend based on an existing business’s earnings on its site. The primary limitation of this service is that you need to currently make sales using PayPal and/or operate using a PayPal Business account in order to apply. But if you already utilize PayPal, funding through them is incredibly fast, requires no collateral, and doesn’t penalize you for a low credit score.

One drawback is that a loan through PayPal does not build your business credit, meaning that you won’t be helping your chances of getting a different business loan later on. But if you want to stay within the PayPal ecosystem, it will improve your chances of getting more funding through additional PayPal loans.

Instead of serving as a direct lender,  Lendio  instead acts as a financing aggregate platform. Working with a network of over 300 lenders, including Kabbage and OnDeck, they match users with the best option for their needs. So rather than reviewing every single fintech organization and filling out different applications, you can simply review hundreds at once and apply with a simple form.

The only drawback of using a middleman like Lendio is that your funds will likely take longer to get to you. But if you’re looking for long-term funding that also provides excellent customer service, Lendio is worth checking out.

• Crowdfunding sites

On crowdfunding websites, you create promotional materials and set up a page for your business or project to accept financial backing from those who visit the site. Each site varies a little, so be sure to  read the fine print  as you decide which is right for you.

14. Indiegogo

Another option for crowdfunding is  Indiegogo . Similar to other crowdfunding sites, you create a profile, tell your story, set a fundraising goal, and ask for donations. However, Indiegogo’s fee structure is a little different—it’s not an all-or-nothing scenario. Indiegogo takes nine percent of your earnings if you don’t reach your goal, and four percent of your earnings if you do reach it. Here’s the  fee structure.  

15. Kickstarter 

Kickstarter  is the most popular crowdfunding site out there; since its inception in 2009, the site has raised $1.7 billion dollars, which funded 85,000 projects.

Like most crowdfunding sites, business owners create a profile page that outlines the business and sets a fundraising goal. Those who donate are promised some sort of reward, like being the first to try out the new product.

However, it’s an  all-or-nothing scenario on Kickstarter.  In other words, you have to hit your fundraising goal to keep the money. If you fall short, your donors get their money back. Even if you do reach your goal, Kickstarter takes five percent as a fee. Learn more about  Kickstarter’s guidelines here.

Kickstarter has the name recognition, but it also has a lot of campaigns. Everything from art projects to business ventures are actively competing for funding, so you’ll want to evaluate the site to make sure it’s the right fit for your business.

Causes  has been designed specifically to fund social, political, and cultural initiatives, making it perfect for nonprofit businesses. It’s entirely free to join and also acts as somewhat of a social platform for like-minded people looking to improve the world at large. That means this platform isn’t just useful for acquiring funding but is a great way to connect with donors, partners, and potentially even future employees. 

17. Patreon

If you operate a digital media business such as a podcast, web series, or blog, a monthly subscription-based model may be more appropriate for you. And luckily,  Patreon  was designed as a crowdfunding platform specifically for digital creators. Instead of a single upfront investment or financing round, Patreon lets you establish specific tiers at different price-points for your followers to subscribe to. 

You can offer exclusive content, merch, access, and other items that grow in cost or quality, basically allowing you to conduct user testing continuously. It’s a great platform to build and directly connect with your audience while still operating across other social channels outside your Patreon. 

Just make sure you keep to a schedule or your subscribers may end up finding somewhere else to spend their money.

18. Fundable

Think of  Fundable  as a cross between Kickstarter and traditional venture capital funding. Instead of just posting a single product or service, you promote your entire business on the site, geared toward attracting funding from venture capitalists and other accredited investors. You still post timeline updates and an overall funding goal, but you also need to showcase your overall business plan. 

It basically acts as an ongoing pitch, but with a bit of additional investment on your part. Unlike most crowdsourcing sites that typically take out a fee, Fundable charges a monthly payment to stay on the platform. Additionally, it acts as an all-or-nothing funding system, meaning that you need to reach your goal or lose it all.

• Peer-to-Peer Lending

It’s not always easy to  explain your business concept to a banker,  but explaining it to your peers is a whole different concept. A lot of startups chose to borrow money from their peers, but rather than asking your college buddy to cough up a few grand, try these websites instead.

19. Prosper

Prosper  is a well-known peer-to-peer lending site. It has the name recognition in the field, with $3 billion given out in loans.

With this resource, you’re given an interest rate based on an evaluation. You create a loan listing so investors can see what you’re all about and what you need the money for. Once an investor commits to funding your loan, you’ll get the cash and set up a payment plan. Rates start around seven percent but can go as high as 35 percent.

20. LendingClub

If you’ve been in business for a few years, but need some additional capital, check out  LendingClub . With LendingClub, loans are financed through investors. You need two years of business history, at least $75,000 in annual sales, and have a good personal credit score. There’s a five-year cap to pay back your loan, and as with any loan, you’ll face interest rates and additional fees.

21. Upstart

Upstart  is designed to help younger entrepreneurs get funding with little to no credit or financial history. It does so through an underwriting model, that utilizes AI and nontraditional data, to review and evaluate based on things like education level, job history, place of residence, etc. This means that their requirements are far less strict and that eligibility is based solely on forward momentum and potential.

While the loans themselves cap out at $50,000, using Upstart can be a great method to consolidate high-interest debt or fund expansions to your business. 

22. Funding Circle

Funding Circle  connects your small business with investors. Loans range from $25,000 to $500,000; you’ll speak with a loan manager who will walk you through the process, and you could get funding within two weeks.

Interest rates vary from six to 20 percent, depending on how quickly you pay back the loan. Plus, there are origination fees and late fees if you miss a payment. Check out the rates and fees before you apply.

23. Peerform

Peerform  is designed to be beneficial for both investors and small businesses. The online portfolio builder helps investors create unique and diversified portfolios specific to their financial goals and willingness to take on risks. For borrowers that have between a 600-700 credit score, it offers incredibly competitive rates, as low as six percent, on short-term loans up to $25,000. 

While not the strongest choice to fund a full-on business expansion or startup, it can be a great way for a relatively healthy business to pay off debt, make a large purchase, or cover operational costs for a time.

• Venture capital

If you have a strong initial interest in your business and a roadmap for long-term growth, you may want to pursue venture capital for funding. You can  utilize the SBA investment finder  to find potential investors or utilize one of the following platforms to pitch your business and connect with venture capitalists. 

24. FundersClub

FundersClub  was one of the earliest online venture capitalist crowdfunding platforms originally emerging from the YCombinator back in 2012. For businesses, you can either be solely funded by specific investors or be grouped in with similar businesses as a diversified fund to invest in. 

While it’s a great way to gain exposure to hundreds of accredited investors, actually getting on the platform itself is fairly difficult. They only accept around 2% of applicants and even recommend that your business be recommended by a founder before applying. But with a strong pitch and the willingness to make connections, it’s still a viable option for small businesses.

25. MicroVentures

MicroVentures  is the other original online venture capital platform with a long history of making funding available to early-stage startups. While they originally only offered traditional angel investment and venture capital options to accredited investors, they’ve adapted their platform to make specific investment opportunities available to anyone. This expansion is especially great for business owners pursuing funding as it simply means there are more people looking to invest.

Now, this open nature does have its drawbacks as there are simply so many businesses seeking investment on the site. This can make it easy to get lost in the shuffle if you don’t have a solid pitch or way to standout. But as far as an additional way to potentially seek out investors, MicroVentures is worth exploring even if it’s simply expanding your options.

• Angel investment

An  angel investor  is typically an individual or group that have spare cash available and are willing to provide capital for a start-up or expansion. The primary benefit of  having an angel investor fund your business  is that it is far less risky than a loan or venture capital as you typically don’t have to repay. Instead, an angel is looking for some sort of share in your business and is willing to look further ahead on seeing any sort of return. 

So if you’re willing to relinquish some control and want to seek investment from an angel investor, here are some great options to do so.

26. Gust 

Gust  operates as both an investment matching network and a tool to make your business more attractive to investors. No matter the stage of your startup, Gust helps you organize specific documentation, set benchmarks, identify gaps in your team, and a number of other methods to grow and improve your business. All with the intent of designing it to be an easy yes for angel investors.

27. CircleUp

If you own and operate a company focused on retail and consumer products,  CircleUp  is the perfect platform for you to seek funding. Utilizing their proprietary Helio machine learning platform, CircleUp seeks to provide funding to as many early-stage entrepreneurs as possible. 

Taking publicly available, partner, and private data (provided by entrepreneurs), it aggregates the information into a digestible scenario that represents the potential for a business. It even helps CircleUp identify business opportunities around an emerging trend, which can be useful for business owners that may not be aware of how to leverage it.

Offering both credit and equity financing, CircleUp is a diverse option that’s great for those seeking angel investment that also provides insight they can leverage to improve their business.

28. Angel Capital Association

Think of the  Angel Capital Association  (ACA) as the hub for a network of angel investment organizations across North America. Less of a virtual platform and more of an opportunity to connect with and build relationships with over 18,000 angel investors, the ACA was designed and currently operates by bringing in angel groups over individual investors. 

While it may be more traditional in nature, it’s still a great method for researching and learning from investors across various industries. It can be a great tool for growing your business even if you don’t end up seeking out funding in the end.

Microloans are simply just smaller business loans. In many ways, these smaller funding options kicked off the explosion of fintech organizations who eventually grew to offer traditional loans as well as microloans. While there are typically specific limitations in regards to how much you can get, a microloan may be a great option if you need a bit of capital to fund specific operational costs, expansions, or projects. 

Accion  operates as a global nonprofit with the primary goal of helping small businesses secure worthwhile funding partnerships. Aside from loans, they also provide advisory services and continuously lead the charge as thought leaders for financial inclusion.

Additionally, they offer funding opportunities focused on growing organizations that work to accelerate global financial inclusion. While it’s less of a traditional microlender, it does ensure that any investment or partnerships follow a specific methodology and goal. If that matches up with your organizations’ mission, Accion may be a great option for you.

30. LiftFund

LiftFund  runs the gambit in regards to loans. Not only do they offer microloans, but traditional and SBA options as well. This makes the range in loan amounts extremely vast, with the lowest option being just $500 and the maximum being up to one million. It acts as a great option for businesses that are either extremely new or don’t make enough monthly revenue to pursue traditional loan options. 

The only drawback is that LiftFund operates similarly to local SBA or credit union locations. This simply means that if they don’t operate in your area you’ll be out of luck and need to find a different option.

Kiva  is a great example of an online portal for microloans. The application is simple and the terms are great, with US small businesses being able to take out loans of up to $15,000 at a 0% interest rate. You can invite friends and family to help fund you and then set up a 30-day fundraiser to attract funding from the Kiva lending community. 

Once you receive funding, you then have up to 3-years to repay. But you can utilize Kiva as a marketing platform to help build your customer base and accelerate your road to repayment.

32. Opportunity Fund

The  Opportunity Fund  operates strictly as a microloan provider for small businesses owned by low-and-moderate-income immigrants, people of color, and women. Their goal as an organization is to promote growth in low-income communities by helping entrepreneurs that traditionally have difficulty acquiring funding. If you fall within any of these categories and have had difficulty acquiring a bank loan or even alternative funding, a microloan from the Opportunity Fund may be a better option.

• Pitch Competitions

Looking for a fun way to get your hands on some business capital? Enter a contest. There are several contests that happen throughout the year. If you miss the deadline this year, bookmark the site for a shot next year.

33. Hatch Pitch

If you’re creating a product or service based on innovative technology, you can pitch your idea during Hatch Pitch, an event that takes place each year at the South by Southwest (SXSW) event. You have four minutes to pitch your startup to judges. Learn more about how it works on the  Hatch Pitch site.

34. TechCrunch Disrupt

Traditionally an in-person event,  Disrupt  is going all digital this year. Sponsored by TechCrunch, this event is all about hearing from tech founders and networking to build your business. You’ll have opportunities to interact with individuals from similar industries, pitch your business to investors and founders, and gain insight from the best and the brightest from Silicon Valley.

While not necessarily a traditional pitch competition, this event provides a great opportunity for emerging businesses to make their mark and connect with founders. 

35. WebSummit PITCH

PITCH  provides an opportunity for startups that have received less than $3 million in funding to battle it out and pitch their businesses. The only criteria to actually apply for the competition is that you must be part of the WebSummit Startup Program before applying, which you can apply to  here . The primary benefit of being one of the 135 startups to participate is that even if you aren’t the winner, you get a ton of exposure to lenders and investors.

It also ensures that you’ve refined your pitch and get an incredible amount of practice presenting it in front of investors. There are some hoops to jump through to get involved, but it’s well worth the effort if you’re an early-stage startup.

• Bootstrapping methods

Bootstrapping: the time-honored tradition of doing basically any and everything you can think of to find money to use in your business. While any of the other funding options on this list are viable, you’ll likely find yourself doing some variation of bootstrapping to prepare your business. Here’s what you should be considering.

36. Friends and family

This is a tried and true method—the people in your life often believe in you and will put their money where their mouth is. Here are some suggestions on navigating  fundraising from friends and family. 

37. Business line of credit

This is an option for those who need cash quickly and have fairly good credit.  Check out this article  for more information.

38. Service or product presales

I have a friend who helped pay for massage school by pre-selling massages—she simply offered her massage services for  after  she would become an LMT (licensed massage therapist), in exchange for a contribution to her tuition. Once she graduated and got her licensure, those who contributed had a “pre-paid” massage waiting for them, which they could schedule at their convenience.

39. Using your savings/selling assets

Although this is also known as “betting the farm” and can certainly be risky, it is an option to use your personal savings and/or sell one of your existing assets and use that money to fund your business.

40. Using other income to fuel your business

As we’ve written about on Bplans previously, many people have  a side hustle  until they are able to go full time in the direction of their own business. Renting a room in your house using a popular site like  Airbnb  is a great example.

Angelique is a skilled writer, editor, and social media specialist, as well as an actor and model with a demonstrated history of theater, film, commercial and print work.

Table of Contents

• Determine how much funding you’ll need

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