10 critical questions for a business plan

135 Business Plan Questions

Embarking on the business journey of your dreams begins with a robust business plan. This plan is not just a document—it’s the roadmap to your success, painting a clear picture of where you’re headed and how you plan to get there.

Whether you’re a seasoned entrepreneur or a hopeful startup pioneer, the questions I’ve compiled are designed as your compass, guiding you through the intricate landscape of business strategy.

From your executive summary to the details of your financial projections, each question serves to dig deep into the essence of your vision, solidifying your plan with precision and care.

Table of Contents

Executive Summary

What is the core mission of your business?
How would you describe your company’s business model in simple terms?
What unique problem does your business solve for its customers?
What are the short-term and long-term goals of the company?
Who are the intended clients or customers of your business?
What is the vision statement for your business?
Who are the founders and key team members, and what are their roles?
How does your company set itself apart from the competition?
What are the main achievements or milestones of your business to date?
What key opportunities do you see in the market?
How much funding are you seeking, and how will it be used?
What are the main products or services your company offers?
What is the current stage of your business (concept, start-up, growth)?
How do you see your company evolving in the next five years?
Can you summarize the financial outlook and projections for your company?

Company Description Considerations

What is the legal structure of your business (e.g., sole proprietorship, LLC, corporation)?
How did the idea for the business originate, and how has it been developed?
Who are the target customers, and why will they choose your business?
What are the key elements of your business’s operations?
What are the specific advantages of your location or facilities, if any?
How does your company’s history and background set it up for success?
What business sector or industry does your company fall under?
How does your company contribute to the economy and community?
What partnerships or collaborations are essential to your business?
What are the core values and culture of your company?
How does your business respond to changes in the market?
What relevant certifications, licenses, or permits does your business hold?
What are the main risks and challenges your business faces?
What role does sustainability play in your company’s operations?
How does diversity and inclusion manifest in your company?

Market Analysis

Who is your primary target market, and what are their defining characteristics?
How large is the target market, and what is its projected growth?
What are the trends and themes currently shaping your target market?
Who are your top competitors, and what are their strengths and weaknesses?
What is your market share, or what market share do you project to capture?
How do your target customers make their purchasing decisions?
What factors influence the demand for your products or services?
What barriers to entry exist in your market, and how can they be overcome?
How does pricing play a role in your market position?
What is your value proposition to customers in comparison to competitors?
How might technology impact your market in the future?
What are the legal or regulatory factors affecting your market?
How have external factors like the economy affected your market historically?
How does geography affect your market and business model?
What are the risks associated with your target market?

Organization and Management Structure

Who comprises the leadership team, and what are their backgrounds?
What is the organizational structure of your business?
How will your management team help achieve the business’s goals?
What gaps exist in your current team, and how do you plan to fill them?
What are the roles and responsibilities of your management team members?
How does the management structure align with your business strategy?
How does your team make decisions and communicate internally?
What systems are in place for performance management and accountability?
What is your plan for recruiting and retaining skilled employees?
How do you approach leadership development and training?
How does the current team’s expertise align with the business goals?
What are the board of directors’ roles, if applicable?
How do you plan to create a productive company culture?
What external advisors or consultants does the business use, and why?
How have you planned for succession in key management roles?

Service or Product Line Inquiry

What are the main products or services your business offers?
How do these products or services fulfill customer needs?
What is unique about your products or services?
How does product/service quality compare to competitors?
What is the lifecycle of your products or services?
How is your product or service produced or delivered?
Are there any patents, copyrights, or trademarks involved?
What research and development activities are you pursuing?
How do you plan to expand your product or service range?
What customer feedback have you received about your product or service?
How does your product or service adapt to changes in the market?
What is the pricing strategy for your products or services?
How does your product or service contribute to your brand image?
What are the future plans for developing your product or service?
How do warranty or guarantee terms play into your offering?

Marketing and Sales Strategies

What marketing channels will you use to reach your target audience?
How will you position your company within the market?
What promotional strategies will you utilize to attract customers?
What is your sales forecast for the first year and beyond?
How will you set sales targets and measure success?
What sales tactics will you employ to enhance customer acquisition?
How will your marketing and sales strategies evolve as the business grows?
What is your approach to online and social media marketing?
What customer relationship management processes will you put in place?
How do you plan to establish your brand identity?
What partnerships or sponsorships will you leverage to enhance marketing?
What are your strategies for repeat business and customer loyalty?
What is your process for tracking marketing ROI?
How do customer service and support fit into your sales strategy?
How does your marketing strategy cater to different customer segments?

Funding Request Fundamentals

How much total funding is required to reach your business objectives?
What specific purposes will the funding be used for?
What is your proposed timeline for the utilization of funds?
What types of funding (e.g., equity, loan) are you pursuing?
How will investors or lenders get a return on their investment?
What is the current financial position of the business?
How much equity are you willing to exchange for investment?
What are the key financial milestones that the funding will help achieve?
What are the terms you’re seeking for any loans?
How do you plan to manage cash flow and ensure financial stability?
What collateral, if any, are you offering to back up your funding request?
How does the funding impact your business’s financial projections?
What is the exit strategy for investors?
How will additional funding influence your strategic business decisions?
What contingencies do you have in place if you don’t secure the expected funding?

Financial Projections and Feasibility

What are your financial forecasts for the next three to five years?
How did you arrive at your revenue and expense estimates?
What are the key assumptions underlying your financial projections?
What are the projected cash flow statements for the next few years?
What is your break-even analysis showing?
What are your strategies for maintaining a healthy profit margin?
How do you plan to monitor and manage financial risks?
What is your approach to pricing and cost control?
How will you balance reinvestment in the business with profitability?
What financial metrics will you use to gauge business performance?
How will you handle unexpected financial shortfalls or emergencies?
What is your strategy for financial record-keeping and accounting?
How do customer payment terms and cycles affect your cash flow?
What financial software or tools do you use for projections?
How will financial trends and economic conditions potentially impact your projections?

Appendix and Supporting Documents

What supporting documents will you include in the appendix?
How will these documents reinforce your business plan’s credibility?
What resumes or biographies of your team members will you present?
What legal documents are relevant to include (e.g., licenses, permits)?
How can we access extensive market studies mentioned in the plan?
What are your key technical product specifications or service descriptions?
How do your financial statements and accounting documents get audited?
What testimonials or case studies from customers can you showcase?
What press coverage or media mentions has your business received?
Can you provide industry endorsements or expert opinions?
How will technology prototypes or demos be made available for review?
What are your policies and procedures manuals like?
How do your charts, graphs, and tables support your plan’s data?
What correspondence or contracts with suppliers/partners are appropriate to include?
How does your intellectual property documentation reflect on your business’s value?

Frequently Asked Questions

Can i write a business plan myself, or should i hire a professional.

Writing a business plan yourself is possible, especially with the aid of specific questions that cover all business aspects. However, hiring a professional can provide expertise and a polished result, particularly if you seek significant funding.

How often should I update my business plan?

Regular updates are crucial—annually at minimum or more often if your business is rapidly changing. This keeps your business plan relevant and useful as a dynamic, guiding document.

What’s the most critical part of a business plan?

While all sections are important, the Executive Summary is critical as it’s often the first (and sometimes only) part read by potential investors or partners. Clear and compelling financial projections are also vital for potential funders.

Final Thoughts

As your blueprint comes together, remember that the strength of your business plan lies in its details and its ability to represent the vision and practicalities of your enterprise honestly.

The questions outlined will challenge you to think critically, anticipate future hurdles, and prepare for success. With these comprehensive inquiries as your cornerstone, you can turn your business from a dream into an actionable, thriving reality.

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30+ Business Plan Questions & Step-By-Step Business Plan Guide

25 April 2024

Table Of Contents

30+ Business Plan Question s

8 Steps to Creating a Full-Proof Business Plan

SurveySparrow: The Best Business Plan Tool

Whether in business, marketing, or sales, you know how crucial a solid business plan is to your success. It’s not just about getting started—it’s about setting a clear direction for growth and innovation. This blog is your first step toward clarity and strategy.

Creating a comprehensive business plan is critical for entrepreneurs and business owners. It serves as a roadmap for your business and helps secure funding from investors and banks.

A well-crafted business plan should address key areas of your business, providing a detailed overview of its objectives, strategies, and financial projections.

Here’s a guide structured around crucial categories, each followed by pertinent business plan questions that will help in developing a robust business plan

30 Critical Business Plan Questions to Ask

Whether you’re steering a startup toward uncharted territories, aiming to elevate an established brand, or driving relentless sales growth, your business plan is the compass that guides your strategy, operations, and financial foresight.

Understanding this, we’ve compiled 30 questions designed to ignite your planning process and refine your business strategy.

Here we go.

Executive Summary

What is your business’s mission statement?
What products or services does your business offer?
Who are the founders, and what is their background?
What is the current stage of the business (concept, start-up, expansion)?
What are the key financial highlights?

Market Analysis

6. Who is your target market, and how large is it? 7. What are the current trends and growth in your industry? 8. Who are your competitors, and what are their strengths and weaknesses? 9. How does your business fit into the market? 10. What is your unique value proposition?

Wait, wouldn’t you need a survey to run these questions and gather feedback? What if I told you that you can do that easily with Surveysparrow .

If you’re ready to chart your business path, grab our Free Business Plan Questionnaire Template . Begin your journey to success now.

Marketing and Sales Strategy

11. How will you reach your target market (marketing channels)? 12. What is your pricing strategy? 13. How do you plan to sell your product or service? 14. What is your sales forecast for the first year? 15. How will you measure the success of your marketing efforts?

Operations Plan

16. What is the location of your business, and why? 17. What facilities and equipment do you need? 18. Who are your suppliers, and what are your supply chain logistics? 19. What is the production process? 20. How will you ensure quality control and customer service?

Management and Organization

21. Who makes up the management team, and what are their roles? 22. How does your organizational structure look? 23. What are the backgrounds of your team members? 24. What gaps in expertise or knowledge exist in your team? 25. How will you fill these gaps (hiring, advisors, etc.)?

Financial Plan

26. What are your startup costs? 27. What is your break-even analysis? 28. What are your projected profit and loss statements for the first 1-3 years? 29. What are your cash flow projections? 30. What are the assumptions underlying your financial projections?

By carefully answering these questions, you can construct a thorough business plan that addresses all the critical components needed for your business’s success. Remember, a business plan is not a static document; it should evolve as your business grows and adapts to market changes.

A Journey Begins: Identifying the Problem
The Voyage of Discovery: Defining Your Customers
The Battle Plan: Reaching Your Customers
Understanding the Landscape: Identifying Your Competitors
The Strategy Map: Outlining Your Operational Plan
Charting the Course: Defining Your Business Structure
The Guardian of Your Venture: Creating a Risk Management Plan
Calculating the Costs: Budgeting and Financial Projections

1. Identify the Problem

Just as any memorable journey starts with a step, every successful business starts with identifying a problem.

The burning question to answer here is: what problem is your business attempting to solve? Remember, the more specific the issue, the better your chances of designing a unique solution that customers will flock to.

2. Define Your Customers

Identifying your target customer is crucial in the business planning process. This involves understanding and defining your potential customers’ specific demographics, psychographics, behaviors, and needs.

By doing this, you can tailor your products, services, and marketing strategies to meet their specific needs. The more precisely you can define your target audience , the more effectively you can serve them and set your business up for success.

3. Reach Your Customers

Now that You’ve discovered your target customers. Now comes the next challenge: How do you reach them?

Consider all possible marketing channels. Will it be social media? Email newsletters? Influencer partnerships? The choice is yours, but ensure it aligns with where your customers spend their time. After all, there’s no point in sending smoke signals if your customers are tuned into the radio.

4. Identify Your Competitors

Now you have your bearings; it’s time to study the lay of the land. This means understanding your competition. The question is: Who are they, and how do they solve the same problem?

Understanding your competitors will help you differentiate your business and position it uniquely in the market. After all, in the quest for customer loyalty, your unique selling proposition (USP) is your Excalibur.

5. Outline Your Operational Plan

So, you’ve identified the problem, defined your customers, planned your marketing, and sized up the competition. You’re almost ready to set sail. But first, there’s another significant piece of the business puzzle to put in place: your operational plan.

Your operational plan should include a detailed plan for sourcing deals. Using the Grata data deal sourcing platform can further help streamline this process and ensure you have access to the most relevant and up-to-date information.

How will your business function day-to-day? What resources will you need? Answering these business plan questions will help you create a clear blueprint of your business operations, ensuring your venture runs as smoothly as a well-oiled machine.

6. Define Your Business Structure

One question that’s often overlooked in the excitement of crafting business plans is this: What is your business structure? Sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, or LLC ?

Your business structure will significantly affect taxation, liability, and other legalities. It’s like choosing the right ship for your journey – you need one that will safely weather the storms of your entrepreneurial voyage.

7. Create a Risk Management Plan

In the entrepreneurship journey, bumps and detours are part of the course. Having a risk management plan is essential. The business plan question is: What potential obstacles might you face, and how will you mitigate them?

A well-thought-out risk management plan ensures you’re prepared for the challenges ahead.

8. Create Budget and Financial Projections

Now, onto the numbers. What will be the cost of starting and running your business? How soon before you break even? Financial forecasts might seem as daunting as navigating uncharted waters, but they’re vital in answering the essential business-related question : Will your venture be financially viable?

How Can SurveySparrow Help You in Critical Business Planning

With SurveySparrow by your side, you’re never alone in your business planning journey. Its extensive suite of customer and employee experience tools offers invaluable insights to help answer all these key questions in your business plan.

Use SurveySparrow to conduct comprehensive market research, understand customer behavior, and even keep tabs on employee satisfaction. With this trusty tool, you’re well-equipped to answer all your business plan questions, ensuring your entrepreneurial journey is successful.

Here’s how you can do it.

Market Research : SurveySparrow allows you to design and distribute surveys to gather insights about your market. You can explore potential customer needs, preferences, and pain points and evaluate market trends and size, all of which are critical inputs for your business plan.

Customer Segmentation and Profiling : Using SurveySparrow, you can categorize your potential customers based on their preferences, behavior, demographics, and more. This can help you define your target market, tailor your offerings, and devise effective marketing strategies.

Competitor Analysis : By surveying consumers, you can gain insights about your competitors – their strengths, weaknesses, and what customers think of them. This data can be vital in positioning your business uniquely in the market.

Pricing Strategy : You can use surveys to understand what customers are willing to pay for your product or service, helping you devise a suitable pricing strategy.

Risk Assessment : Use surveys to gather feedback about potential risks or barriers to your business. Understanding these risks in advance can help you form strategies to mitigate them.

Employee Engagement : If you plan to have employees, understanding their needs and expectations is crucial for crafting your operations plan and culture. SurveySparrow can assist with gathering employee feedback and gauging engagement .

Product Testing : Before launching, you can use SurveySparrow to get feedback on your product or service. This can help you fine-tune it according to your target market’s needs and preferences.

Financial Projections : The data you gather from customer and market surveys can help inform your sales forecasts and financial projections, key business plan components .

In short, SurveySparrow can offer a wealth of information, helping you answer the critical questions in your business plan. You’re better equipped to create a robust, data-driven business plan by leveraging these tools.

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That’s All of It.

Remember, every successful business starts with a comprehensive business plan. And every comprehensive business plan starts with answering the right questions. So, go ahead and take the plunge. Your entrepreneurial journey awaits, and with SurveySparrow as your co-pilot, you’re set for an exciting voyage.

After all, the sky’s the limit regarding what you can achieve in the business world. Onwards and upwards, future tycoons!

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6 Questions Every Business Plan Should Answer

An actionable business plan is crucial, whether your business is brand-new or an established player in its field. A business plan is especially vital for SMBs, which often must contend with lower name recognition, fewer loyal customers and other typical business challenges. While it doesn’t guarantee success, creating a business plan with research and care can help a business prepare for any future uncertainties.

Entrepreneurs and small business owners must ensure their business plans address six primary questions. Thinking through these questions and developing potential solutions helps set up your venture for success.

What is a business plan, and why does it matter?

A business plan is a formal document designed to help you set achievable business goals and outline how you’ll accomplish them. The business plan should include various road maps dedicated to the following operational elements:

Product creation
Operational goals

A business plan is a valuable tool internally and externally.

Internal business plan functions: Internally, a business plan helps align its decisions with an overall road map to help it stay on track. Businesses can also use road maps to help think through difficult choices, such as headcount decisions.
External business plan functions: Externally, a road map is critical for securing funding from outside investors like angel investors . A business must demonstrate to investors that it has a solid business plan with achievable goals and a road map to success.

What should a business plan include?

Typically, a business plan should include the following elements:

Executive summary. An executive summary highlights a business plan’s essential elements. Readers should be able to understand your business plan by reading your executive summary, even if they don’t read the rest of the document.
Budget. A small business budget should include overall operational and personnel costs. Consider your payroll budget , marketing budget and other departmental budgets.
Market analysis. A market analysis should include a thorough market assessment that identifies competitors, your target customer , customer buying habits, marketing demographics and what customers are willing to pay. A market analysis may include a competitive analysis that dives more deeply into direct and indirect competitors.
Product analysis. A product analysis outlines decisions about optimal product pricing. While you want to sell as many products as possible, low prices can scare off customers and eat into your profit margins, while prices that are too high will have customers turning to your competitors.
Marketing strategy. Your marketing plan should outline how best to market the business and its products or services. Consider digital marketing targeted to specific online and social platforms, email marketing and local marketing.

Business plans vary in length depending on your business’s size, industry and scope. An SMB typically has a shorter and more succinct business plan than a larger, established business that operates across industries.

Questions every business plan should answer

We spoke with six business leaders who shared their thoughts on the crucial questions a business plan should answer. Consider these six essential questions to optimize your business plan.

1. What is the competitive advantage?

Scott Locke, chair of the intellectual property department at Dorf and Nelson LLP, advises thoroughly researching copyright infringement issues when determining your competitive advantage.

“I always look for what will give the business a competitive advantage relative to businesses that want to offer the same or similar goods and services and an analysis of the competitive landscape,” Locke explained. “I pay particular attention as to whether there is valuable intellectual property, be it patents, trademarks, copyrights or trade secrets, that will serve as barriers to entry for competitors. Similarly, I like to see a discussion of the intellectual property of the most direct competitors and how the new business will avoid infringing on it.”

2. Is the business in a growth market?

Walter Recher, principal consultant at SmallBall Marketing, says your business plan should emphasize how you plan to grow your business .

“The key to any successful business is to be a growing company in a growth market. A business plan should articulate how the entrepreneurs will enter the market, apply their investment to prepare them to grow quickly, and participate in the expansion of an industry that is thriving, with a better-than-average growth trajectory,” Recher said. “As I have spent my career working for hyper-growth companies in rapidly expanding markets, a founder of several small businesses and adjunct professor of a course on entrepreneurship, this has been the common denominator.”

3. Will customers pay for it?

Andi Gray, founder and president of Strategy Leaders, advises examining the risks of entrepreneurship and determining what and how customers will pay for their products and services.

“When looking at business plans, I always want to know how the owners plan to get paying customers to engage at a fee and quantity that allows them, as owners, to be in business and sustain themselves,” Gray advised. “My frequently asked question is, ‘How do you plan to feed and clothe yourself, and where do you plan to sleep while you’re getting this venture off the ground?’ My hope is that it will cause the students to consider why they are planning to take the risks of entrepreneurship.”

4. How will the business be staffed?

Larry Holfelder, senior consultant at DJL Insurance Services Inc., emphasizes the importance of staffing considerations.

“In every business plan, I like to see the recognition of the need to cover and staff the production, sales and finance parts of the business. Roles should be established for the entity as if it were mature and successful,” Holfelder advised. “Multiple roles should be assigned at first, if necessary, and filled with the right people as the entity grows and the timing is right.”

Holfelder says thoughtful staffing coverage shows that the business owners are realistic. “I like to see that type of thought process because it shows me they recognize that they won’t be able to do it all themselves and that business success revolves around collaboration and management,” Holfelder said. “It also shows that they recognize their own limitations, their ability to focus on their strengths, and the need to bring in others who know what they don’t in order to reach the goals they envision.”

5. Is the product innovative?

Irwin Glenn, chief identity scientist at Hunova, stresses the importance of innovation and inventiveness as well as the team’s level of inspiration.

“Is the idea for the product or service innovative, a unique invention, or is the dream truly inspired? Glenn asked. “By innovative, I want to understand if the business plan is centered around a new twist on already-existing technology or services delivered in a new and compelling way. If inventive, can the idea be protected against new or existing competition? Finally, is the team assembled an excellent group that can’t be stopped from succeeding? Are they inspiring to me, each other, and their marketplace?”

6. Are the plans and goals realistic?

Charles North, former president and CEO of the Dutchess County Regional Chamber of Commerce, prioritizes a realistic business plan with reasonable expectations.

“I look for it to be a realistic business plan, not something that is pie-in-the-sky. I want to see reasonable expectations,” North explained. “I tend to look more on the conservative side, since I feel that is the safest way to go. The idea doesn’t have to be reasonable; the plan does. The idea can be anything.”

North also emphasizes the importance of sales forecasts . “I always look for projections on what the business will do in the first year, second year, third year and fourth year showing sales, expenses [and the] bottom line as the business progresses. Those assumptions have to be reasonable.”

How planning for success pays off

A great business idea is no guarantee of success, but a solid business plan is a way to start a new business off the right foot and prepare your venture for a lucrative future.

Business plans are a vital resource for businesses of all sizes. While business plans should, at minimum, lay out a series of goals and a road map for achieving them, a business plan should also help answer questions ranging from analyzing a business’ competitive advantages to considering if its goals are realistic.

If you think through these questions while creating your business plan, your business will be in a better position to achieve its goals and weather any challenges it may face.

David Mielach contributed to the reporting and writing in this article.

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Business Plan Questionnaire

Successful business plans clearly explain a company’s business model, objectives, strategies, and competitive advantages. Use our business plan questionnaire below for a list of the questions you should answer in each section of your business plan to ensure clarity and understanding of your business’s hopes and mission.

Download our Ultimate Business Plan Template here

What Questions Should Be Asked in a Business Plan?

The business plan questionnaire can help you with how to write your business plan . It will give you a concrete set of directions for the future and allow you to further examine and learn about the market you are entering. Be sure to provide answers to the following questions in each key section of your business plan.

Executive Summary Questions

You may ask yourself:

What is the issue your business is addressing?
How are you solving it?
What are your business’s strengths?
Why should an investor be interested in your business?

Company Analysis Questions

Ask yourself the following:

What is your business’ mission?
What is your history?
What are some of your past achievements?
What is your business’ legal structure?
Where is your business located?
Why did you start the business?
How do you measure your business success?

Industry Analysis Questions

Include the answers to the following questions:

What is the size of the market?
What are the characteristics of the market: growth trends, units sold, employment?
What factors are influencing growth or decline in the market?
Are there any barriers to entering the market?
Are there any government regulations that affect the market?

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Customer analysis questions.

Be sure to include the following in your analysis:

What is the size of the target customer market?
Where are these prospective customers located?
What are their desires and needs, and how will your business meet those needs?
In descriptive terms, who is your target market? (what motivates them to purchase, what influences their purchasing decisions)
Why will your target customers seek out your business?
What trends/purchasing shifts could occur in the market?
How will you monitor customer satisfaction? (e.g., surveys, reviews, etc.)

Competitive Analysis Questions

understand their weaknesses to help your company succeed

First, simply focus on your competition and what they are up to.

Address the following:

Who are your direct competitors? (e.g., other businesses in your genre) What percentage of market share do they occupy?
Who are your indirect competitors? (e.g., other companies that may not be specified in your business’s genre, but provide similar results to that of your business)
What are your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses?
What are their products and pricing like?

Then, look into your business’ competitive advantage to describe how your business will be better.

Will you offer more or better features?
Will you ensure better results for your users?
Will you offer better pricing?
Will your customer service be more efficient?
Will you offer a better overall customer experience?

Marketing Plan Questions

advertising strategy for your organization

A complete plan will include the following marketing plan sections:

How will you communicate to your target customers about your product or service?
Why are you choosing these specific avenues (e.g., website, Social Media, etc.)?
What materials do you have or need, and what will be the cost of this?
What do you plan to spend on marketing per prospect and per client?
How will you retain existing customers?
How will your business attract publicity?
What media will you target?
How will your product or service be delivered to the market?
How might future changes impact your marketing?
How will you price your product relative to others in the market to be competitive yet profitable?
What type of payment will you accept?
Overall, how will your marketing strategy be effective to your target customers?

Operations Plan Questions

operations process for your organization

Consider the following:

What equipment is needed, and what is the cost?
What are your hours of operation and number of shifts?
How many employees will you have?
What are the skill sets required when looking to hire new employees?
What are your practices for scheduling, managing, and hiring personnel?
What are the processes you will use to produce and sell your product or service?
What is your purchasing process?
How will finished goods be distributed?
How will quality be measured and improved over time?
What will your procedures to keep track of inventory look like?

Management Team Questions

keep things simple until you have more clients

In this section, answer the following:

Who are your founding members and what is their background?
Who are your support team members and what are their responsibilities? (include position title, person’s name, and role)
Do you offer any ownership options to attract key management?
Do you have any Board of Directors?
Do you have any outside consultants that will work with your business as it grows?
What is your business’ organizational structure?

Financial Plan Questions

Your financial plan should include:

Profit & Loss statement
Cash flow statement
Balance sheet
Sales volume forecast
Personnel plan
Break-even analysis

Here, you must gather data and convey just how much money your business will need and how much income you will earn, as well as when your business will be profitable.

Be sure to consider the following:

How were your numbers calculated?
Why are the salaries and office expenses you have calculated reasonable to your business?
Why are your expense estimates realistic?
How have you budgeted for unexpected costs?
Is there any debt the business currently has?
What is the amount of equity the owners and stockholders have?
What is your annual interest expense?
What is the percentage of sales issued for returns?
What is your average daily inventory value?
Are you using a fixed or variable inventory method?
What is the limit on your line of credit and the average interest rate?
What is your minimum checking account balance to have at all times?

Your financial plan should prove that you are informed and knowledgeable on the numbers around your business. It should prove that you are aware of all potential unexpected costs or other out-of-the-blue setbacks.

Appendix Questions

Appendices may be anywhere from just a few pages to a hundred or more.

Your appendix can include:

Resumes of key management, blurbs on other management members
Job descriptions/titles
Copies of any agreements having bearing on the business plan
Copies of licenses
Personal and business tax returns (if applying for a loan)
Marketing materials
Photos or sketches of the building, property, equipment, products
Industry studies or other information supporting industry trends
Summaries of secondary market studies

Business Plan Questionnaire Conclusion

The above sample survey questionnaire for a business plan should be a guide for you to use as an outline and checklist of items that will need to be addressed in your company’s business plan. Growthink’s fill in the blank business plan includes each of these key elements and more to help your business succeed.

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50 Questions Your Business Plan Should Answer

10 critical questions for a business plan

S adly, most investors don't read business plans. However, writing one is the only way you will be able to answer the following 50 questions which an investor will ask you:

1. What is the price of your product or service and why?

2. How much capital is required to execute your business plan?

3. How much is the company is worth?

4. What existing products/services does your company provide?

5. What is the use of the proceeds?

6. On a summary basis, what is the historical financial performance of the company (even if, and perhaps particularly if, you have no revenues)?

7. On a summary basis, what is the projected financial performance of the company?

8. What new products/services are being developed and when will they be ready for market?

9. What is the size of the market for your product in dollars?

10. What is the size of the market in terms of units?

11. How has the market for the product/service changed over the past 5 years and why?

12. How do you anticipate it will change going forward?

13. At what rate is the market for your product growing?

14. Is the competition highly concentrated or highly fragmented?

15. What is your distribution channel and why is it the best one?

16. On a broad level, what are the elements of your marketing strategy?

17. What does it cost to generate a lead, and what is the ratio of leads to sales?

18. What funding is being allocated to new product development from the financing and from ongoing operations?

19. How many potential customers have you talked to?

20. What are the gross and margins on your product/service? Why are they superior or inferior to a competitor?

21. What is your assumptions on the bad debt and collection period for outstanding receivables?

22. What are your working capital needs once sales take off and how will these needs be addressed?

23. What will happen to gross and operating margins as sales rise and why?

24. What percentage of your sales are recurring?

25. Who are your top five executives and what is their professional and educational background?

26. What regulatory or legal threats are present?

27. Are there international markets for this product and is the company positioned to take advantage of them?

28. Who is the largest competitor in your industry?

29. What criteria will be used to choose locations for geographic expansion?

30. How will you get this product into mass market distribution channels?

31. Is the product/service patented?

32. Who are your suppliers and or vendors?

33. Do you have more than one for each supplier/vendor of your basic raw materials or services?

34. What are your payment terms with vendors or suppliers?

35. What will cause gross and operating margins to improve as volume increases or decreases?

36. Where is the company located and how many square feet does it lease or own?

37. What is the length of the sales cycle?

38. How did you estimate returns and allowances?

39. How are sales personnel compensated? Incentivized?

40. What, as a percentage of sales, is the industry norm for R&D expenditures?

41. What is the earnings multiple of public companies like yours?

42. What is your immediate marketing objectives?

43. Does the company have a board of directors or advisors?

44. What is the ownership structure of the company? Who else is an owner?

45. How has the company been financed to date? What other financial transactions have occurred in the past?

46. Has the product generated any publicity? Where?

47. How old are the current liabilities on the balance sheet?

48. Who has prepared the historical financial statements and have they been compiled, reviewed or audited?

49. Is there any cyclically in sales?

50. What are the competitive advantages of your products?

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

David Evanson

David R. Evanson has more than 30 years working in the media, on Wall Street and in media relations. He has worked with investment banks, asset managers, private equity investors and institutional brokers on a variety of marketing and communications challenges. David is also a recognized financial writer, having authored five books on finance and economics, and articles in Barron’s, Forbes, Investment Dealers’ Digest, On Wall Street, Financial Planning and Entrepreneur, among others. David brings to the table a well-developed understanding of the capital markets, investments and corporate finance, and a talent for creating targeted media communications programs for financial services providers.

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3. Why is a business plan important and who should write it?

A business plan is important because it summarizes both your vision for the company and your blueprint for the company’s operating success. The business plan is a written guide that details the startup and the future direction of your company.Who should write the plan? You, the entrepreneur. No one else knows your business idea and goals better. Yes, there are services that can do the work for you, however, you are the one who must present this business idea to bankers or other investors. Therefore, it is best if you are very familiar and comfortable with the plan.

Although there’s no set format, a good business plan typically includes:

Cover page— Identifies your business
Table of contents— Organizes information for the reader
Executive summary— Provides a “big picture” view of the plan, highlighting the factors that will lead to success
Business background— If it is a brand-new business, include your background and skills
Marketing plan— Relates the business’s marketing strategy
Action plan— Summarizes how you will create and deliver your product or service
Financial statements and projections— Illustrates how the business will perform financially based on the plan’s assumptions
Appendix— Includes statistical analyses, marketing materials, and résumés.
4. If I am not planning to apply for a bank loan, why do I need a business plan?

The fact that a bank or lending institution requires a well-executed business plan is a secondary consideration. The primary purpose of the business plan is to guide the owner or manager in successfully operating the business. Preparing the plan forces the writer to consider all aspects of the business and to confront any problems the plan highlights. For example, a monthly compilation of all known costs, over time, will indicate the revenue necessary to support these costs, plus a profit. This leads to the question of whether or not this revenue number is reasonable. If not, it may cast doubt on the viability of the venture itself. The business plan is a vital management tool that enables the manager to anticipate situations before they become problems — or worse yet, emergencies.

5. How do I determine my startup costs and other expenses?

It is wise to find out what startup costs you will incur before starting the business. Many a budding entrepreneur takes his or her life savings, or will borrow on the equity on their home before figuring these financial factors, only to find that they don’t have enough money. There are many web sites and other resources (including SCORE offices and Business Information Centers) that provide guidelines and worksheets to help determine costs for your business. Each item on your proposed budget sheet should be researched. Closely estimated costs can be obtained from utility companies, trade associations, and networking with other business people who may have already gone through this experience. Do not start buying until the investigation shows this venture is viable and you have all the information needed.

6. What do I need to know about financial statements?

First, you need to know which financial statements are important. They are:

Balance Sheet—shows the financial conditions of your business at a point in time
Statement of Operations (Profit and Loss Statement)—shows whether you made a profit during a specific period of time
Cash Flow Statement—shows what happened to your cash position during a specific period of time

You should have a basic understanding of each of these statements. When compared with statements from prior periods, you can determine whether something is happening in your business that needs your special attention.

Your accountant can prepare these statements for you from the business data that you supply. There are also a number of computer software programs that will help you generate these statements from your input of regular transactions—such as sales, collections, purchases, payments and payroll.

A SCORE counselor can help you understand these statements and may be able to direct you to a workshop on this subject. In addition, most community and business colleges teach courses in financial statement analysis.

7. Why is it important to do a monthly cash flow analysis?

Your businesses cash-flow cycle may differ substantially from the income statement projections. Even if the projected income statement shows a profit, it is possible that the cash flow for the same period is actually negative.The analysis of monthly cash flow can indicate whether your business will collect sufficient cash to pay operating expenses. It will point out specific months during the year when the business may experience operating cash shortfalls and, therefore, either require additional capital or excess cash reserves for payment of expenses. It will also show when you may be able to make debt reductions and when there is excess cash to make major purchases or expand operations. By developing a monthly cash flow projection, you can time cash needs and quantify the amount needed. The cash flow projection is an important management tool and must be developed with very realistic expectations. Sufficient cash is critical for a business to pay its expenses and to enable it to expand. If your monthly cash flow projections indicate frequent cash shortfalls, you should review the type of products and services that you offer, the mix of sales, the pricing and terms of the sale, and your short-term borrowing needs.

8. How can I obtain cash to maintain and grow my business?

Develop a positive business relationship with your bank. Seek your banker’s advice even at times where you are not seeking funds. You may find that every time you go to your bank you speak to a different loan officer, so you should know them all.When the loan officer gets a promotion, you must start all over again with another person. If you want the bank to take an interest in your business, then you have to take an interest in theirs. How?

Know your banker— Take an interest in your banker as a person. Ask your banker to hold on to your account if he or she is promoted. When you go to see your banker, have your business plan and financial papers ready. Make it easy for your banker to see what you want and why. The bank wants to minimize its risk with regard to you and your business. This is where you have to sell yourself.
Know your bank— Know and understand your bank’s annual report. Know your bank’s business direction and plan. Know the bank’s lines of authority. Get on the bank’s mailing list. It’s an easy way to keep up with bank news.
Go to a bank-sponsored seminar— Go to your bank’s seminars on commercial lending. This will teach you how your bank operates in terms of lending policies. By doing this, you also prove that you have an interest in what the bank is doing. Finally, it affords you the opportunity to meet and make an impression on the loan committee.
9. Why is location the most important aspect of my business?

A good location can make the difference between a profitable and a bankrupt business. There are many questions to consider when choosing a business site. Use the questions below as a checklist for potential locations and then compare several sites.

Are there parking facilities?
Is transportation available and convenient?
Is the quality of police and fire service adequate?
Will it be a quality site for the future—not just five years from now, but in 10, or 25 years?
Is nearby housing readily available for management and employees?
Is there nearby competition? Are those sites better or worse than yours?
What is the general business climate in the area? Is this a prosperous market?
Are merchandise and raw materials available? Are your suppliers easily accessible?
How is the traffic flow—can your customers reach you quickly and inexpensively?
Is your building suitable to your kind of business—will it need any major renovations?
Is there an adequate community infrastructure for utilities (sewer, water, power, gas, etc.)?
What is the tax burden—town, city, county, state? Will this impede your business and growth?
What are the costs of operation in this location—will it be too high to offer you an adequate profit?
10. Why is competition important?

No business operates without direct competition. There also may be indirect competition, which has a significant impact on customer’s buying decisions in your market. Direct and non-direct competitors try to convince customers to buy their products or services instead of yours. It is in your best interest to learn more about the companies that are trying to reduce your take-home pay. List the strengths and weaknesses of each competitor. Talk with friends, visit your competition, call for information about their products and analyze how they advertise. Next, take a sheet of paper and list the major competitors. Give each a rating, on a scale of one to 10, for product quality, process, advertising, price and customer satisfaction. You can add other ratings that you feel are important.Your business can become more profitable by adopting practices you admire in competitor operations and by avoiding their mistakes. Some of your competitors have been in business successfully for many years. Certainly, as a new or relatively new business, you can learn a lot from them.

11. How can I better market my business?

To market your business, you must define your customer. To maintain consistent sales growth, you must become knowledgeable about your market. Develop an outline of your “typical” consumer:

What exactly is your market?
Where do the consumers come from (i.e. city centers, suburbs, tourists, international)?
What are customers buying patterns?
Why should they buy from you? Factors could include convenience, price, quality, service, etc.
Should you try to appeal to a niche market segment or the entire market?
Have you missed a new customer segment or special market?
How large is the potential target market (in units or dollars)? Is it growing, stable or decreasing? What percentage of the market do you have?

Research will provide answers that are not available from your business records and a financial analysis. Conduct research through trade associations, your local chamber of commerce, libraries or even ask for the help of a SCORE counselor. Pay attention to how competitors market to their customers. Perhaps, some of their marketing strategies can be adopted for your business, or you may find examples of what not to do.

12. What makes a successful marketing strategy?

When creating a marketing strategy, keep in mind the four P’s of marketing:

Product— What good or service will your business offer? How is that product better than those offered by competitors? Why will people buy/want it?
Price— How much can you charge? How do you find the balance between sales volume and price to maximize income?
Promotion— How will your product or service be positioned in the marketplace? Will your product carry a premium image with a price to match? Will it be an inexpensive, no-frills alternative to similar offerings from other businesses? What kinds of advertising and packaging will you use?
Place— Which sales channels will you use? Will you sell by telephone, or will your product be carried in retail outlets? Which channel will economically reach your market?

The marketing strategy should summarize your findings about the key target buyer description, market segments the company will compete in, the unique positioning of the company and its products compared to the competition, the reasons why it is unique or compelling to buyers, etc.

13. What do I need to know before creating a marketing brochure?

A marketing brochure can be long-lasting or short-term. It can represent your business to potential customers and it can be a referral piece for existing customers. Decide the purpose of and goals for the marketing brochure before you begin to design and write. Remember, this brochure represents you and your business, so be sure its look and feel complements your business.

Here are few tips for when you are ready to begin:

State your message up front—T he selling message should appear on the cover of the brochure. For instance, “The XYZ Company—Consultants on Doing Business Overseas.”
Include artwork— If you have space limitations, one large photograph or graphic is better than several small images that might not clearly portray your services or products.
Photo captions— Photo captions are read twice as often as the main copy.
Create a keeper— Make your brochure worth keeping. Include a calendar of events in your specific industry or some data that will be useful to potential clients in the future.
Quality is key— Your publications reflect you and your business. Using one to four colors in the brochure will make it stand out over one that is black and white. A good quality paper stock is also important (and comes in many colors and shades if you choose to use black ink). Remember to consider the weight of the paper stock in relationship to mailing costs.

It is wise to have your brochure professionally designed. Even if you have computer graphic skills, design is best left to professionals.

14. How can I improve customer service in my business?

Develop a strategy that puts the customer first. Customers will receive the best possible service when employees are empowered to make this happen. This is not to say that you should be lenient with your policies, but have a degree of flexibility. Just remember, a lost customer could spread the word of their discontent, resulting in more lost customers.Review the most common reasons for poor customer service. Use these insights as a way to improve your customer service:

Too many rules— Employees lack creativity in problem solving. Rules are followed and good solutions are not developed because employees do not want to jeopardize their jobs.
Lip service, not customer service— Customer service is really only a name for customer complaints. Time is spent trying to fix problems rather than preventing them from occurring in the first place.
Unempowered employees— Approval is needed by a manager for small problems that can easily be solved by a good employee. This problem leads to long lines and time-consuming waits by the customer, who then refuses to come back-business operations turns a small problem into a large one.
Unmotivated employees— Personnel are not encouraged to please the customer because there is no merit in it for them.
Bad communication— Coordination of functions does not exist-one person may write an order while another picks it off a warehouse shelf and someone else delivers it to the customer. This can result in miscommunication, incorrect goods or services, and time delays.
Arbitrary policies— Policies that are followed blindly without room for situational allowances may result in angry customers. For example, a store’s return policy of 30 days prevents a customer who, with good reason, could not get back to the store in time from receiving a refund. That customer will refuse to do business there anymore.
15. Is there anyone who can answer questions specific to my business?

SCORE “Counselors to America’s Small Business” provides free and confidential business advice and mentoring services to entrepreneurs nationwide. SCORE is a nonprofit association consisting of 10,500 business counselors who donate their time and business expertise to guide small businesses via face-to-face mentoring or online counseling.SCORE, a resource partner with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), has assisted millions of start-up and growing businesses since 1964.

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SCORE "Counselors to America's Small Business" is America's premier source of free and confidential small business advice for entrepreneurs. Formed in 1964, SCORE provides a public service to America by offering small business advice and training.

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Table of Contents

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Should Entrepreneurs Attend Business School?

12 Min. Read

30 Compelling Reasons to Start a Business

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The Pros and Cons of Being Your Own Boss

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What is a Solopreneur? 6 Key Differences From Entrepreneurs

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Small Business News & Information Sources

Questions You Should Answer

Industry Information

Market Analysis

Company/Competitor Information
What is your financial plan
Writing Business Plans
Business Plan Examples
Social Entrepreneurship
Citing Sources

Subject Guide

What is you company

Why do customers need your product or service?

What is your business concept or business model?

What are the conditions and overview of your industry?

Who is your target market / customer?

Who is your competition ?

Is your competition local or national?

Are there many or few competitors?

What is your Marketing Plan?

Describe your target market.

What is your product strategy?

What is your pricing strategy?

What is your distribution strategy?

How will you advertise or promote your product or service?

What is your sales forecast?

How will your company operate?

Location and facilities

How will you grow your business?

Development strategy

Who is the Management Team?

What risks does your business face?

Risks from competitors

Risks from changes in the marketplace or economy

Changing consumer needs or tastes

What type of financing and how much will you need?

Venture capital

What is your financial plan?

Gross and operating margins

Balance sheets

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Expensivity

Exploring the world of money and finance

50 Questions to Ask Before Starting a New Business

Starting a business is an inherently risky venture. Getting your business off the ground requires a plan, capital, and a whole lot of hard work. From coming up with a great business idea to creating the proper business structure to execute this idea; from raising the money to fund startup costs to conducting the market research to justify your company’s raison d’etre, there are tons of steps before you can even think about opening the doors (physical or virtual) to your customers.

If you’re looking for a quick pathway from idea to implementation, we strongly recommend jumping from here to our article highlighting the 10 Steps to Starting a Business.

On the other hand, if you’re still in the early planning stages, you’ve come to the right place. The best way to really get the ball rolling is to start by asking yourself all the tough questions first. While you may not have an exact answer for each of these questions, this collection of inquiries is a great way to get you thinking about everything–big and small–that goes into launching your own business.

50 Questions To Help You Start a Successful Business

There’s obviously a lot that goes into getting a business off the ground. So how can you be sure you’ve thought of everything first? Well, you can’t. Rule number one–be prepared for the unexpected as a business owner. That said, you can take every possible step to reduce the risk of the unexpected. We’ve devised 50 critical questions to help you do exactly that. Because there’s a lot here, we’ve divided these questions into specific areas. Read on to find out which questions you should be asking about your Business Idea and Structure, the Competition and Customers shaping the marketplace, the Financial and Organizational components you’ll need to address to build your business, and finally, the Brand that you’ll be working to establish.

The Business Idea

1. What problem are you solving?

This is the very first question you need to ask yourself, because it will ultimately tell you whether or not there’s an actual need for the product or service you plan to market. Where did your business idea come from? Have you observed an unsatisfied demand for a certain product or service, or the need for innovation or improvement in the way a product or service is delivered? Perhaps you’ve found a way to offer quality with greater affordability, or a faster delivery system, or simply with a more customer friendly approach than the industry standard. Whatever it is that roots your business idea, be sure it’s something that addresses an actual problem with a viable solution. Moreover, be sure that the solution you’re offering is also profitable. Indeed, your goal here is to identify the need for your idea as well as the ability of this idea to generate profit.

2. Do you have a business plan?

Of course, it’s one thing to say that you have a great idea that can render a profit. It’s another thing to show it. That’s what your business plan is for. This is your chance to explain your idea in its entirety–to conduct a SWOT (Strengths; Weaknesses; Opportunities; Threats) analysis; to elaborate on the key features of the broader marketplace including the competition and the customers; to present financial forecasts that demonstrate the idea’s profitability; and more. That said, there aren’t necessarily any formal rules on what must be in a business plan. As an article from the Small Business Administration (SBA) notes, “A business plan is a written tool about your business that projects 3-5 years ahead and outlines the path your business intends to take to make money and grow revenue. Think of it as a living project for your business, and not as a one-time document. Break it down into mini-plans – one for sales and marketing, one for pricing, one for operations, and so on.” Ultimately, this will be a valuable document for securing bank loans, investor funding, or just for giving yourself a set of meaningful benchmarks to pursue. Developed properly, your business plan should give you the chance to think objectively about the various moving pieces that must ultimately come together to transform your idea into a reality.

3. What is your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)?

What is the value that you will offer your customers? Is there really a demand for this value, and can you actually deliver it? And can you deliver that value in a way that betters the current offerings in the marketplace? The key behind a great idea is that it will likely resonate with prospective customers either because it provides something heretofore unseen in the marketplace, because it significantly improves upon something in the marketplace, because it improves the accessibility of something in the marketplace for which there is great demand, or because it otherwise represents a distinct value to the customer that cannot be obtained elsewhere. Make sure you fully understand what makes your product or service offering unique, and just as importantly, why these unique properties represent a chance for profitability.

4. Is there a proof of concept for your idea?

So you’ve established the unique value proposition implied by your idea. But how can you be sure that it’s something people will actually pay for? That’s where proof of concept comes in. According to the definition provided by the Gartner Glossary of business terms, a proof of concept “is a demonstration of a product, service or solution in a sales context. A POC should demonstrate that the product or concept will fulfill customer requirements while also providing a compelling business case for adoption.” In other words, is there some precedent to prove that people will pay for what you’re offering? While your offering may be a unique proposition, is there a track record of success for similar product or service offerings? Have you yourself experienced even anecdotal success selling others on your product or service? And is that anecdotal success compelling enough to justify the launching of an entire business? In short, you’re looking to find the perfect balance between something that is at once novel and proven–a unique value spin on a product or service with a proven track record.

5. Have you thought of a good business name?

Believe it or not, this is one of the toughest parts of the process. Coming up with the perfect name can be genuinely challenging. And that makes sense. After all, a lot rests on a business name. The right name effectively describes what your business does, conveys the identity of your business, and gives your target customers something memorable to latch onto. While an imperfect name may not doom your business idea to failure, the perfect name could be a real game changer in your pursuit of success. Don’t rush this stage. Take the time to brainstorm ideas, run them by people you know and trust, and don’t settle for something that doesn’t feel right. Once you come up with the right business name, you can move on to the clerical steps like registration, licensing, and tax filing.

6. Can you explain your business idea in just a few words?

There’s an old adage that says, “if you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” The quote is sometimes attributed to Albert Einstein, though historians have generally disputed this, especially in light of the actual complexity of his scientific theories. To wit, it may well have been coined by an unknown business magnate, because it applies brilliantly to the notion of a business startup. You need to be able to explain your business idea in as little as 30 seconds–the length of the so-called elevator pitch. This is important, because that’s about how long the attention span is of the average person. The attention span may be even shorter for the average venture capitalist. If you’re looking to excite others about your idea, perhaps even enough to net a few worthy investors, you need to be able to convey your business idea in a way that is at once compelling, clear and concise.

The Business Structure

7. What will be the legal structure of your business?

Now is the time to determine the best legal structure for your business based on the scale of your operation, the legal liabilities specific to your sector, and the nature of your product or service. Will your business be a sole proprietorship, a limited liability company, a partnership, or a corporation? Is your business intended as a non-profit entity, a religious organization seeking tax exempt status, or a traditional brick and mortar business in the retail space? Each of these entity types will come with its own specific rules for registration, licensing, tax status, operational regulations, and more. It’s up to you to determine which of these models makes the most sense for your product or service. If you’re not sure, this is a great time to consult a business attorney. You’ll want to be sure you get this step right as so many subsequent steps will hinge on making the right call here.

8. Do you need to register your business?

The answer to this question may be different for every aspiring business owner and will depend on factors like your locality, the nature of your business, and the intended scale of your operation. In most cases, registration will be pretty straightforward, but it may not always be necessary. As an article from the Small Business Administration (SBA) notes, “For most small businesses, registering your business is as simple as registering your business name with state and local governments. In some cases, you don’t need to register at all. If you conduct business as yourself using your legal name, you won’t need to register anywhere. But remember, if you don’t register your business, you could miss out on personal liability protection, legal benefits, and tax benefits.” As long as you’re speaking with a lawyer about the structure of your business, you’ll probably want to inquire about these protections and benefits. Determine whether or not it makes sense to register your business. But bear in mind that you’ll probably need to register your business in order to respond in the affirmative to the next question.

9. Do you have an Employer Identification Number (EIN)?

This is important because you’ll need this number for just about everything else that comes with starting a business. Your EIN is kind of like a social security number, but for your business. This is what the U.S. government uses to identify your business as an official taxpaying entity. As an article from the Small Business Administration notes, “Your Employer Identification Number (EIN) is your federal tax ID. You need it to pay federal taxes, hire employees, open a bank account, and apply for business licenses and permits. It’s free to apply for an EIN, and you should do it right after you register your business.” The SBA explains that you’ll need an EIN to do everything from operating as a corporation to establishing a partnership; from paying employees to filing tax returns for employment; from withholding income tax from employees to overseeing certain tax-deferred pension plans. In other words, getting an EIN should be among your first steps. The good news is that it’s pretty easy to get an EIN directly through the IRS EIN assistance portal .

10. Do you have a general business license? No matter what kind of business you plan to operate, you are required to have a business license. In the vast majority of cases, a General Business License will suffice, and this will usually be issued by your locality. According to an article from Investopedia, “ Any business, including home-based businesses, must obtain a local city or county business license. This is a basic license that allows the holder to engage in business activities within the local jurisdiction. If your city or county doesn’t have a specific business licensing department, you can obtain information on obtaining a basic business license at your local tax office.”

11. Does your business model require a special sales tax license?

Depending on where you plan to operate, this license may already be included as part of the general business license. But this is not always the case. And where it isn’t the case, you are legally liable for ensuring that you do carry this additional licensing. According to the article from Investopedia “A sales tax license may be part of the general business license in some areas. But a separate sales tax license is required in other areas in addition to a local business license. Not sure if you need a separate tax license? The local department from which you obtain a business license can tell you if you must obtain a separate sales tax license and where to get it at either the state or local level. Make sure that you have this covered before you open your business.” Indeed, failure to do so could actually make you criminally liable.

12. Do you require special permits to conduct your business?

However you slice it, you will need to get this license. However, there is also specialized permitting that you may need to get. This will largely depend on the nature of your business. Permits, as per their name, give you permission to engage in specific business activities within your locality, and will usually be granted by a professional association specific to your sector. For instance, say the article from Investopedia, “ Environmental licenses or health department permits are less common for home-based businesses. These documents are most generally required for businesses that engage in the wholesale or retail sale of food and beverage products. In any event, it’s easy enough to check with state environmental protection agencies or local health departments to find out if your business requires any type of environmental inspection or permit.”

13. Do you need specialized insurance?

The answer to this question will depend on the nature of your business, as well as the organization, resources, and personnel involved in this business. If you are a sole proprietorship selling a creative service like web design or digital marketing, you won’t likely require any special insurance coverage to operate out of your home office space. On the other hand, if you plan to rent or purchase property for the operation of your business, you plan to hire employees, you expect to operate vehicles or machinery in the production or delivery of your products or services, or you are manufacturing a retail item that will find its way into the homes of consumers, you may need to carry certain specialized insurance policies. This may include commercial property insurance, professional liability insurance, or general liability insurance. Some small business owners will choose to carry a generalized business insurance simply in order to mitigate unforeseen risks and legal entanglements. If you’re not sure which types of insurance are recommended or required in your sector, consult a business attorney.

14. Are there zoning requirements you need to be aware of?

Before you start a business in your locality, make sure you’re aware of any practical legal limitations on what you can and can’t do. If you’re planning to rent or purchase a property, be sure you understand all the zoning rules in your municipality and county. Will your business objectives be in compliance with these rules? Are there additional steps you’ll need to take, and expenses you’ll need to sustain, in order to achieve compliance? You may need to ask these same questions if you plan to run your business out of your own home. Be sure that you are aware of any rules or regulations imposed by your township or country regarding the operation of certain business types from spaces that are zoned as residential properties.

15. Does your Home Owners Association (HOA) have any rules about operating a home business?`

Speaking of operating a business out of your own home, many communities and developments are overseen by organizations called Home Owners Associations (HOA). HOAs often have pretty far reaching rules about how you can and can’t use your residential space. Some may even have restrictions on operating a business out of your home. This is something you’ll want to be aware of before you attempt to launch a business from your home office or backyard workshop. If your HOA forbids this type of commercial activity, you may be required to rent or purchase an alternative space for the operation of your business. Naturally, this means you’ll need to factor this cost into your operating expenses.

The Competition

16. Who are the leading competitors in the space you’re entering?

Find out everything you can about the businesses that are leading in your space. Which companies are dominating in sales and market share? Which companies have succeeded in establishing a sturdy reputation in the space, and which entrants have made the biggest splash as innovators? In addition to finding out who these competitors are, you should know how each one has built a successful business in the space you plan to enter. An article from Business News Daily advises exploring all aspects of your competitors’ business to achieve a comprehensive understanding of what has allowed them to succeed. According to Business News Daily, “these aspects could be pricing, distribution and delivery strategies, market share, new products or services coming to market, who their long-standing, highest-spending customers are, the quality of after-sales support, and which sales and marketing channels they use.”

17. Is there room for a new entrant?

Now that you understand a bit more about the competition, you should be in a better position to honestly assess this question. How much space is there in the market for a new entrant? Are you facing down a field in which the competition is endowed with billions of dollars in operating capital? Is the field saturated with other startup businesses looking to build their own reputations as trailblazers? (Cryptocurrency industry–I’m looking in your direction.) As you prepare to make your own splash in a selected marketplace, do some honest soul searching about how much space there really is for your idea in this sector. If you find a marketplace that is deeply tilted toward just a few monopolistic entities, or one that is absolutely teeming with would-be innovators, you may want to turn your attention elsewhere.

18. Are you looking to innovate in your field?

Speaking of innovators, are you among them? This ties directly into the question of your Unique Sales Proposition (USP). Are you preparing to offer a product that significantly enhances what has previously been available in the marketplace? Is your service offering a meaningful step forward from previous service offerings in the same space? If you are offering customers something that is truly a distinctive, first-of-its-kind purchasing opportunity, you may be in a position to transform the marketplace, and place yourself at the forefront of this transformation. Before you enter the field, determine whether you plan to work within the parameters already established by those who came before you or whether you plan to disrupt the industry with exciting new innovations.

19. How will you differentiate your business offering from the competition?

Of course, innovation isn’t the only way to differentiate your offering from others in the marketplace. You can find ways to make your products and services more affordable, more accessible, more efficient, or more functional. Even incremental improvements in what’s available could set your company apart. An article from Business News Daily asks, “Could you improve the quality of your products or services by adding or amending a feature, lowering the price to be more affordable or improving after-sales support? Could you achieve a better ROI on your marketing budget by investing in a more capable CRM for better lead management?” Determine how you will set yourself apart, both from those who have established themselves as leaders in the space, and from those who are going head to head with you at the startup tier.

20. Is there anybody else who can do what you plan to do?

Do you have an ace in the hole–something that your business will do or offer that nobody else can replicate? Have you invented an exciting proprietary technology, or created an unparalleled synergy with another business partner, or is your team simply loaded with the type of intellect and talent that other companies can’t match? Identify the greatest strengths that your business has to offer, whether these are features embodied in your personnel, your products, your structure, or all of the above. Once you know what these strengths are, do everything you can to magnify them. These strengths will be your greatest selling point when it comes to beating the competition.

21. How has this industry or space changed in the last several years? Where is it going in the future?

Beyond just studying the current players in your business, you should have a strong sense of the history of your space. What are the trends and innovations that have helped to shape your area of the market? Are there technological or conceptual developments that have been inflection points in this field? And how has the field evolved since these inflection points? Try to gain a full understanding of the leading trends in the marketplace, as well as the path that led to this point. The better you understand what came before, the more readily you will be able to anticipate future developments in your field. Naturally, this anticipation could be the key to tremendous success.

22. What do the success stories in your industry look like?

Speaking of success, it’s not a bad idea to get a firsthand glimpse at exactly what this looks like. You’ve already identified the leading competitors in the field. Now find out what got them to where they are today? What was the unique value proposition that each of these successful businesses offered? What innovations did these businesses bring to the market? In short, what were the keys to their success? Whether you hope to replicate, build on, or surpass that success, the first step is to fully understand how your competitors achieved it. Every company has a story. Explore these stories and think about how they can inform your success.

23. What do the failures in your industry look like?

Not to be negative, but you can also learn a lot from the failures in your midst. Just as the sector you plan to enter is populated with winners, the world of business must also have losers. Find out more about the also-rans, the companies that tried, failed, and folded. These are cautionary tales with tremendous value to you, as a new entrant into the field. What were the causes of their failure–a failure to differentiate themselves, a lack of capital, poor organization, or just bad luck? All are possibilities, and more. Before you launch your business, use these stories of disappointment and poor fortune to identify, anticipate and sidestep your own pitfalls.

The Customers

24. Who are your customers?

Now that you know the competition, it’s absolutely critical that you also identity your customer base. Which demographics do you expect to serve, and more importantly, how well do you know the real people who make up these demographics. You need to understand your target if you are to effectively market to these populations. One helpful exercise here is to actually create target customer personas as hypothetical use cases for your products or services. To clarify, we mean that you should literally write out 300 word descriptions of imaginary customers–who they are, what their needs are, and why they are likely to find your product or service offering to be the ideal solution to that need. Beyond identifying customers by what you perceive to be key demographics, this exercise should allow you to hone in on individual customer types. Create characters around these customers and do your best to put yourself in their shoes. The better you understand exactly who your customers are, the easier it will be for you to identify their needs and provide products and services that effectively meet these needs.

25. Is there a large enough market for your product or service to fuel a profitable business?

Identifying your target customers should naturally lend an answer to this subsequent question. Does the customer base that you’ve identified constitute a large enough population to support your product or service? In the section below, we’ll discuss some of the financial components of starting a business. These will make it a bit easier to address a question like this. But on its own, the purpose of this question is to determine whether there is realistically a large enough market for your offering to fuel a profitable business. Without enough prospective buyers, it won’t matter how innovative your idea is. It will still be unlikely to generate a profit.

26. How will you market yourself to your target customers?

Now that you know who your customers are, and how many of them are out there, you have to figure out how you’ll reach them. This means determining where your prospective customers hang out. Are they online, browsing store aisles, or doing a bit of both? Are they reading print ads, clicking onto products from various social media accounts, or making their purchasing decisions based on word of mouth? This offers further motivation for getting to know your intended target market on a deeper and more personal level. As an article from The Score explains, “Knowing your target audience will also help you know how to market your business. For example, younger audiences may be attracted to social media channels, such as Snapchat or Instagram, while B2B audiences may respond better to webinars and white papers. Do you want to focus on SEO and content marketing or do you want to spend time gaining reviews and word-of-mouth referrals? Before you start a business, it’s important to understand where and how you are going to market that company. The best brands in the world have figured out how to communicate their value proposition effectively.” You need to be able to draw the triangulating lines that connect your marketing strategy, your value proposition, and your customer.

27. What is your marketing budget?

On the one hand, there’s the strategy you plan to implement in order to reach your prospective customer base. On the other hand, there’s the actual amount of money that you have with which to do so. Again, we’ll address some of the financial components of your startup business in the section below. But the purpose of the question in this section is to incline you to think realistically about what it costs to reach your targets through the various channels where you are most likely to find them. Will you be budgeted for a robust marketing campaign right out of the gate, or will you opt for a soft launch while you raise additional funding? The latter option may even be preferable if you are still in the process of working out the kinks in your product or process. In other words, you’ll want to develop an initial marketing budget based both on your available resources and your readiness for an influx of new customers.

28. Are your customers local, online or both?

Speaking of new customers, where are you expecting to find them, and where are you most likely to complete transactions with these customers? Is your business a strictly online business with a national or even global customer demographic? Is your business a strictly local operation like a landscaping business, a wedding cake baker, or a dentist? If it’s the latter, your strategy for reaching customers will likely be quite different from the strategy of those in the former category. Geography matters when marketing to your customer base for a variety of reasons, including its impact on the channels you will use to reach them, the language and tone you will use to engage them, and the nature of the products and services you will make available to them. Make sure your product or service offerings, and your marketing strategy, match the practical geographical expectations of your target.

29. Are there underserved groups in this space, or gaps in the marketplace?

Have you identified a unique subset of your chosen marketplace that is not currently being reached by your anticipated competitors? This could represent the opportunity to fill a need in your space. Remember those target personas that you developed? Now let’s think of some personas that are not having their needs met in the current marketplace. Are there prospective customers who are being priced out by the cost of products and services in your industry? Are there customers who require a more specialized type of service that simply isn’t available? Is there a geographic or cultural enclave that isn’t being reached by the messaging and marketing of current competitors? Try to find gaps in the way the marketplace is being served. These gaps could represent a substantial opportunity both to address unmet customer needs and to facilitate the growth of your business. Depending on the nature of your business, carving out a specialized niche could be just as profitable as taking a lead position in the industry, writ large.

The Financial Components

30. What are the startup costs for your business idea?

Once you’re certain that there is both space for your ideas in the industry and customers to help make your idea marketable, it’s time to get down to dollars and cents. How much money do you need to get your ideas off the ground? Startup costs will usually include a variety of administrative fees for licensing, registration, permitting, zoning, etc. These costs will also include property rental or purchase, any necessary insurance coverage, contract labor, employment costs, production costs, marketing costs and more. Clearly, there’s a lot of expense that comes with the start of a new business. Make sure you have a full sense of what those costs are. Refer back to your business plan for specifics. Hopefully, those specifics will also help you pin down sources for funding, whether these startup costs come from angel investors, venture capitalists, bank lenders, or from your own pocket.

31. What does it cost to make your products or deliver your services?

In addition to start up costs, you’ll need to know the operational costs of your business before you start paying the bills. If you’re manufacturing a product, you’ll need to calculate the costs of materials, labor, and delivery on the supply chain. If you’re delivering a service, you’ll need to calculate the costs of personnel, transportation, and actual labor. Do some research on your competitors to find out what they’re spending on these line items. Before you can determine what to charge for your goods and services, you need to know what it will cost you to deliver them.

32. Are there commodities that you’ll require that come with fluctuating costs?

Of course, that is easier said than done. That’s because many of the key commodities that businesses rely upon for production or for the delivery of services can fluctuate dramatically in price. The most obvious example is gas. Countless factors can impact the price of gas from inflation and supply chain disruption to natural disasters and political unrest. Of course, these occurrences can be highly difficult to predict, which means the price of this essential commodity can be difficult to anticipate. This directly impacts businesses that rely upon gas-powered vehicles for delivery or gas powered machinery for manufacturing. And of course, this is just one example. Shifts in the cost of lumber can have rippling effects on costs for builders and contractors. Changes in the availability of corn, rice, wheat, or soy can impact prices across the food distribution and service industries. These pricing fluctuations can impact profit margins and ultimately shape the price that you pass along to consumers. These fluctuations can be quite unpredictable. As you initiate your business, take into consideration your reliance on commodities that tend to fluctuate in value. To the extent that is possible, you’ll want to prepare for these possibilities in both your budgeting and pricing structure.

33. How will you price your products or services?

Speaking of pricing structure, it’s important to establish a price point for your products and services that makes sense within the scope of your industry and the broader economy. An article from Forbes notes that pricing is a delicate balance. Forbes points out that “You don’t want to over priced, but you don’t want to price your products too low. This is where research comes in handy as you want to look at what your competitors’ price their products at. Are your items the same, more luxurious or more simple? You also want to take into consideration the packaging and postage costing as well as maintaining the business overall. Where do you fit in the market for your target consumers?” Make sure you establish a price that consumers are likely to accept, but one that also ensures the profitability of your business regardless of your operational costs and potential fluctuations in the cost of commodities.

34. What is the product life-cycle for the goods or services you plan to deliver?

Obviously, you want to provide high quality products and services. This is a great way to ensure customer loyalty. On the other hand, nothing lasts forever. Do your products have a relative expiration date? Does the impact of your services have a diminishing benefit over time? In other words, will your customers ultimately need to update or upgrade the products they’ve purchased from you? Will they need regular service visits to ensure the continued effectiveness of the services rendered? This is important to know, because the timeline from initial purchase to subsequent purchase or service visit may tell you a great deal about your company’s profitability. If the goods and services you offer do indeed have a finite lifespan, be sure you have positioned your company to provide the appropriate replacements or repairs when the time is right.

35. How will you define financial success?

We recognize that this is a fairly broad question, but it is worthwhile to identify some financial benchmarks by which to log your own successes. Before you launch your business, you should have a clear sense of the milestones that you will use to mark your progress. Will you be targeting a specific amount of annual revenue; a break even point based on your initial investment; or a certain degree of profitability? What financial achievements will you use to track your company’s progress? Identify these measures in advance so that you have some concrete financial goals to shoot for.

36. Will you be opening a separate business bank account?

This is a good idea even if you operate as a sole proprietorship. A designated business account can make it a great deal easier to conduct effective accounting, to keep your personal finances separate, and to process customer payments. Indeed, you can set your business account to feed inputs into your accounting software, to accept credit card payments, to make payments on your business credit card, and more. In the simplest terms, you really should have a separate business bank account even for the smallest and most independent of operations. It helps to keep things clear and organized while reducing your personal financial risk.

The Organization

37. What skills do you bring to the table? What skills will you need to source from others?

You’ve decided to launch your own business, so obviously you are enterprising and ambitious. But what other virtues do you bring to the table? Are you good at delegating responsibilities and communicating ideas to others? Or are you better at wheeling and dealing with other business leaders? Do you have a gift for understanding and connecting with clients or are your skill sets more technical? It’s important to identify the talents you bring to the table for a few reasons. First and foremost, you’ll want to channel your greatest strengths into helping get this company off the ground. But secondly, and just as importantly, you’ll want to identify the areas where you may not be as strong. These are areas where you might want to enlist engagement from others. If you excel at business planning but are less skilled at engaging personnel, you may wish to partner with somebody who has managerial skills. If you bring a ton of technical expertise to the table but you don’t really know how to crunch the numbers in order to turn a profit, bring in somebody with financial management experience. In short, identify the areas where you excel, and partner with those who excel in areas where you don’t.

38. Are you still planning to work your day job?

This is worth asking if only because it underscores just how much time you’ll be able to invest in launching your own company. It’s understandable that you wish (or need) to retain your paying income even as you work to get a new company off the ground. But if this is the case, you simply need to be realistic about how much time you have to invest in your new venture. Divided attention may delay or even stand in the way of establishing a successful business. Taking the leap from full time work into full startup mode can be scary, but it may also be the only way to make it really work. If you have a day job with flexibility, you may be able to do both. But if your daily work responsibilities are standing in the way of your ability to launch a new company, you may want to think very seriously about taking the full leap into your new venture, and if possible, paying yourself a salary from the startup funding or revenue generated by this business.

39. How many employees will be needed to make this business work?

Speaking of taking a salary, you may not be the only one that your new company must pay. If you are a sole proprietorship, this probably isn’t a concern for you. But most business enterprises require other people to succeed. How many people you need to succeed will depend entirely on the initial scale of your organization. To the point, an article from Forbes notes the importance of anticipating the startup scale of your organization. Realistically speaking, what are the labor requirements for making your idea into a reality? Forbes notes that you may be “starting this business solo or with a business partner, but you also want to consider how many employees you will need as the time goes on. This is important to consider if you are beginning a business with the idea that it will scale up in the future, and require a team for growth.”

40. Is your business idea scalable? Can your company grow, and if so, what will that mean?

Speaking of growth, what do you envision for the future of your company? Are you providing a product that can be manufactured and distributed en masse? Are you offering a service that can be made widely accessible? How realistic is it that your company could expand regionally, nationally, or even globally? And if it did, what would that mean for your overhead costs, the size of your labor pool, and the potential for profitability? While all of these ambitions may be well in the future, you’ll want to anticipate these possibilities even now, at the outset of your business venture. Are these ambitions possible? Does your business model allow for this level of growth? And if not, what must you do to make this type of growth possible? Take steps now to analyze and recognize the potential scalability of your business model. This consideration may prevent you from suddenly realizing at some future date that you’ve reached the limits of your company’s ability to grow.

41. What logistical challenges will you have to address?

While there is a lot that you can control as a business entrepreneur, you must also rely on the competence of others to carry out your work. This may include mail sorters, parcel delivery services, truck driving fleets, port workers and countless others in the supply chain who will contribute to the timeliness of your shipments. Whether you’re waiting for incoming supplies or banking on the expedient shipment of outgoing products, there are logistical factors that will contribute directly to your costs of operation and your organizational efficiency. Make sure you have a full understanding of these logistical factors, and that you’re prepared to manage the challenges that these factors can sometimes impose on your ability to serve customers effectively.

42. Are there political externalities to consider?

In addition to logistical concerns, there are some businesses that are directly at the mercy of external political factors. Are you entering into the type of business that relies on government funding, that requires the efforts of lobbyists, or that touches upon an area that is considered divisive in American politics? Some products and services may even fluctuate in popularity based on their political and cultural appeal. Does your business idea depend on the political dominance of one party or another? Is your business model vulnerable to fluctuations in prevailing political ideals? If this is the case, you should be aware of the potential ebbs and flows this could create in your company’s popularity and relevance. These factors could consequently cause ongoing volatility in your company’s bottom line.

43. Will it be possible to delegate leadership responsibilities to others?

What role do you see for yourself in this company? Will you be a hands-on, day-to-day business manager? Or are you more likely to delegate responsibilities and take a hands off approach? The answer to this question should depend on your skill sets. Some business managers prefer to oversee every detail of their company’s operations. But speaking with candor, the most successful business owners are those that can effectively hand business leadership responsibilities over to trusted employees. In an ideal world, you would be able to delegate most daily management tasks to trusted personnel in your organization.

44. Do you plan to exit your business at any time?

This may seem like kind of a funny question to ask when you’re literally at the very start of running your own business. But it may be valuable to consider this question before you get your business off the ground. Do you envision this as a family company, one that you will ultimately pass on to the next generation? Or is it merely a profitable idea that you would ultimately sell to the highest bidder? In short, do you see yourself running this company for the rest of your working life, or would you be just as happy (if not happier) to create a valuable enterprise that ultimately sells to a bigger company for a big price tag? If you chose the latter, we can’t say we blame you.

45. What is your company’s identity, and how does this connect to your target market?

Your brand refers to the way you present yourself. So how do you intend to present your company? This should be a function of your target market. If you’re pursuing a younger demographic, you’ll want to establish an identity that is at once informal and authentic. If you’re pursuing a demographic of business professionals, you’ll want to establish an identity that is polished and articulate. Such is to say that your intended audience will play a big role in defining your brand. Make sure you establish an identity–in your imagery, marketing material, and personnel–that reflects the desires of your target demographic.

46. What are your company values?

Your brand is more than just an abstract vibe. It’s also the foundation underlying your company’s values–the things that your organization stands for. Identify those values from the start and it can help you to better understand your own brand. Is your company focused on affordability, accessibility and inclusion? Do your values emphasize activism in the face of global climate change? Or are your company’s values simply focused on creating profits for your shareholders? Whatever demographics and priorities you serve, take time to articulate your company values now. This may help to create a brand that truly resonates with your target audience over the long haul.

47. Does your company have a mission and vision?

Your values are an indication of what your company stands for. By contrast, your mission and vision speak to what your company actually intends to do. What do you hope to accomplish as an organization? Is it innovation, equality, environmental justice, social progress, or technological advancement, just to name a few of the infinite possible answers to that question? Part of establishing your brand is articulating the mission that your company will actively pursue and the vision that your company will hold as its grandest ambition.

48. How will you convey this brand?

Now that you’ve pinned down your brand, how can you be sure that others will perceive the image that you’re putting out there? Do you have plans to build a website that captures your company’s identity, tone and vibe? Do you have a way to source a logo, color palette, and iconography that match your organization’s culture, energy, and intent? In most cases, these are tasks that you will want to outsource to qualified third-party providers. But you’ll need to establish your own clear sense of these things first. Take time to think about the aesthetic that you believe will best convey your company’s identity and find artists, copywriters and web designers who will work closely with you to capture this aesthetic

49. Do you need any special patents or trademark copyrights?

In addition to working with artists and web designers to create your company’s iconography, you’ll want to work with lawyers to ensure that this ephemera is protected from intellectual property theft. That’s why, according to our own Ultimate Guide to Starting a Business, “Many companies apply for trademarks to protect the unique components of their company. Trademarks can cover a specific brand, a logo, a catchphrase, or product design. Or anything else that sets your business apart from your competitors.” Make sure you apply for these protections in the early going. When your company achieves massive success, you’ll be glad that you secured your images and icons against misuse.

50. Does your company have a story to tell?

Part of your brand identity is your personal history, the history of your idea, and the history of the organization you’ve built to deliver that idea to your customers. Find a compelling way to tell this story in your company’s literature, on your website, and through your marketing materials. Your company’s story can help to personalize the purchasing experience for your customers, to make your brand more relatable, and to ultimately help you establish an identity with lasting commercial impact.

Looking for even more detail on how to succeed at business? Our Ultimate Guide to Starting a Business includes step by step details on how to create a business plan, a rundown of special business permits and licenses, and tons of other actionable tips on getting your business venture off the ground.

Seven Strategy Questions: A Simple Approach for Better Execution

Business leaders can't develop and execute effective strategy without first gathering the right information, says Harvard Business School professor Robert Simons. In his new book, Seven Strategy Questions: A Simple Approach for Better Execution , Simons explains how managers can identify holes in their planning processes and make smart choices. Here's an excerpt outlining the seven questions every manager should ask.

1. Who Is Your Primary Customer?

The first imperative—and the heart of every successful strategy implementation—is allocating resources to customers . Continuously competing demands for resources—from business units, support functions and external partners—require a method for judging whether the allocation choices you have made are optimal.

Therefore, the most critical strategic decision for any business is determining who it is you are trying to serve. Clearly identifying your primary customer will allow you to devote all possible resources to meeting their needs and minimize resources devoted to everything else. This is the path to competitive success.

It's easy to try to duck the tough choice implied by the adjective primary by responding that you have more than one type of customer. This answer is a guaranteed recipe for underperformance: the competitor that has clarity about its primary customer and devotes maximum resources to meet their specific needs will beat you every time.

2. How Do Your Core Values Prioritize Shareholders, Employees, and Customers?

Along with identifying a primary customer, you must also define your core values in a way that ranks the priority of shareholders, employees, and customers. Value statements that are lists of aspirational behaviors aren't good enough. Real core values indicate whose interest comes first when faced with difficult trade-offs.

Prioritizing core values should be the second pillar of your business strategy. For some companies, shareholders come first. For others, it may be employees. In other companies, it may be customers. There is no right or wrong, but choosing is necessary. To illustrate this point, I'll contrast Merck's $20 billion decision to pull Vioxx from the market with Pfizer's decision to continue marketing Celebrex.

3. What Critical Performance Variables Are You Tracking?

Once you're confident that the foundation of your implementation is sound—you've allocated resources correctly and provided guidance for tough decisions—it's time to get everyone who works for you focused on the job at hand.

Tracking performance goals —the third implementation imperative—requires you to set the right goals, assign accountability, and monitor performance. It's easy to fail this imperative by focusing on the wrong performance indicators or monitoring scorecards that have an overload of irrelevant measures. Underperformance is the result.

It's your job to ensure that your managers are tracking the right things by singling out those variables that spell the difference between strategic success and failure. Like the preceding two questions, the focus in this question is again on an adjective, this time the word critical. I will show you a simple but counterintuitive technique that you can use to be sure you're tracking the right things, and I will describe how companies such as Nordstrom and Apple illustrate some unorthodox performance measurement choices that provide the pathway to superior results.

4. What Strategic Boundaries Have You Set?

Every strategy brings with it the risk that an individual's actions will pull the business off course. Here again, it's easy to fail to inoculate the business against this risk. As we will see, the trick is in setting clear boundaries.

Controlling strategic risk is the fourth implementation imperative. Strategic boundaries—which are always stated in the negative—ensure that the entrepreneurial initiative of your employees aligns with the desired direction of the business. Strategic boundaries can also protect you from the types of errant actions that destroyed Enron and brought financial service firms such as Fannie Mae and Lehman Brothers to their knees.

5. How Are You Generating Creative Tension?

Once you're satisfied that you are tracking the right performance goals and controlling strategic risk, it's time to turn to the fifth implementation imperative: spurring innovation . This imperative is woven into the fabric of every healthy organization, and we all know that companies that fail to innovate will eventually die. No company is immune.

But sustaining ongoing innovation in organizations is notoriously difficult. People fall into comfortable habits, sticking with what they know and rejecting things that cause them to change their ways.

To overcome such inertia, you must push people out of their comfort zones and spur them to innovate. I will provide a menu of techniques you can use to generate creative tension to ensure that everyone is thinking and acting like a winning competitor.

6. How Committed Are Your Employees To Helping Each Other?

For most companies, it's critically important to build norms so that people will help each other succeed—especially when you're asking people to innovate. But there are exceptions. Some organizations can, and should, be built on self-interest, with every man or woman working for him- or herself.

I suspect that the choice between commitment to help others and self-interest is deeply ingrained in your organization, yet has never been discussed. But if you haven't addressed this choice explicitly—and worked to make it happen—you have increased the potential that your strategy implementation will fail.

Building commitment is the sixth implementation imperative. I will offer a menu of techniques to foster commitment to achieving shared goals. Or, if rewarding self-interest is more appropriate for your business, I will explore alternative approaches you should employ.

7. What Strategic Uncertainties Keep You Awake At Night?

No matter how good your current strategy is, it won't work forever. There will be booms and busts, customer preferences will change, competitors will introduce new products, and disruptive new technologies will emerge in unexpected places.

This brings us to the final implementation imperative: adapting to change . Adapting is critical to survival, but it's extremely difficult to do. With change constantly surrounding us, employees often do not know where to look or how to respond.

I will consider the techniques that companies such as Johnson & Johnson use to search for new information and ideas as markets inevitably change. Your personal attention is the critical catalyst to focus your entire organization on the strategic uncertainties that keep you awake at night. After all, everyone watches what the boss watches. I will discuss how you can use this principle to guide the emergence of new strategies for the future.

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1. What Problem Does Your Business Solve?

Customers with problems are seeking solutions, whether it’s finding a better-fitting swimsuit or an easier way to accomplish an annoying task. Companies should offer solutions that improve customers' lives. A great company creates value by filling a void in the marketplace.

Why it matters: Why does your product or service exist, and is it working? This is a fundamental question for every business owner, no matter what industry they are in. Being clear on your 'why' is an important element in building a brand. How to answer this: Nail down your 'why' before you even start. Practice explaining your business idea to people you trust, like advisors, mentors, family, and friends.

When your business is already rolling, ask your customers directly why they choose your brand. Doing so not only gives you valuable feedback, but can also help improve customer relations. Customers want to be heard, and this can help you form a long-lasting brand community.

2. How Does Your Business Generate Net Income?

A business needs to generate income in order to buy inventory , finance growth, become self-sustainable, and be profitable long-term. Without consistent income, a business can become insolvent and eventually fail.

Why it matters: This question can help you figure out where to focus your resources – and where to potentially cut back in order to remain profitable.

How to answer this: Review your monthly profit and loss statement, specifically comparing sales and expenses. Interpreting data analytics is key to keeping cash flowing.

3. Which Parts of Your Business Are Not Profitable?

Some products and services are bound to be more profitable than others. While some less profitable offerings may be worth keeping around, it’s important to manage ones that are losing money.

Why it matters: For many small businesses, resources are limited. Your business should only support creating and selling things that generate revenue.

How to answer this: Your monthly profit and loss statement can help you specifically compare your company's revenue, cost of goods sold, and net profit by item.

4. Is Your Cash Flow Positive Each Month?

Cash flow is crucial to understanding your company's overall financial performance.

Positive cash flow means your cash inflows (sales) exceed cash outflows (expenses), which puts you in a better position to settle debts, reinvest, and grow your business. Negative cash flow means you’re spending more than you take in, which can halt growth and might eventually put you out of business.

Why it matters: If there's an area of your business that’s generating negative cash flow, you may need to reevaluate your business plan and offerings.

5. What Is Your Pricing Strategy and Why?

Pricing is integral to selling a product or service. It can define the product's value in consumers' eyes and can drive or hinder profitability.

Why it matters: When is the last time you considered adjusting prices? It can be tempting to keep the same prices, especially if things are going well, but market shifts often require adjustments to your pricing strategy.

How to answer this: Analyze your profit and loss statement. Factor in how the costs of materials and labor have changed over time. Research inflation-related market shifts and how competitors may have adjusted their pricing as a result.

6. How Effectively Do Employees Generate Revenue?

Increasing employee headcount may be a sign of growth, but only if those employees are contributing to the company’s bottom line. Depending on the circumstances, a few highly-engaged employees can increase productivity, revenue, and profit margins more than hiring extra hands.

Why it matters: Is each team member providing a true business value? If not, it’s important to figure out why and how to make changes. You might consider ways to improve your work culture to boost productivity and to help recruit better candidates to join your team. How to answer this: Review your payroll and categorize each employee as income-generating or overhead. Be honest. Tracking revenue per employee can help you get a sense of how much money each employee generates versus what it costs to keep them on the team. Employees are more than numbers, so you'll want to complete this process thoughtfully before making any drastic decisions.

7. What Is Your Customer Retention Rate?

Customer retention plays a key role in a business’s long-term success. The goal should be to build a loyal group of customers from which you continue to generate incremental revenue. After all, it costs more to acquire a new customer than it does to retain an existing one.

Why it matters: If previous customers leave as you attract new ones, you are not building a stable company. Aim to increase both new and repeat customers. Losing customers can be a sign of major issues such as poor customer service or a disappointing product. That's why customer feedback is so important.

How to answer this: Track KPIs such as:

Customer attrition rate: the number of customers you lose in a specific time frame
Customer retention rate: the number of acquired customers who stay with your company over a specific time frame
Repeat customer rate: the chances an existing customer will make more than one purchase
Purchase frequency: the average number of orders per customer

8. Will Your Customers Make Referrals?

Referrals are a highly effective way to attract new customers. When customers have a great experience, they’re more likely to recommend your business to people they know and share on social channels. People are more likely to opt for a solution that others have already recommended.

Why it matters: Marketing is expensive. Referrals from existing customers is a cost-effective alternative that requires minimal financial investment. If you choose to invest a little more, referral programs can also be a great way to reward and incentivize loyal customers to make referrals and boost customer relationships.

How to answer this: Ask your customers for referrals, either directly or through anonymous surveys. Make sure to encourage follows, engagement, and shares on social media as well. Ensure you have a way to keep track of all customers acquired through referrals.

9. Who Are Your Most Valuable – and Most Costly – Customers?

Some customers provide more revenue than others, but that doesn’t always mean they’re more profitable. High-revenue customers can be expensive to keep if there’s a high cost associated with serving them. Maybe they stock up only on sale items or discounted goods, or maybe they eat up resources by requiring constant attention or assistance.

Why it matters: Just because a customer adds to your top line doesn’t mean they’re helping your bottom line. Revenue-generating customers can still incur costs by monopolizing your resources, ultimately preventing you from being able to service others and increase profitability.

How to answer this: Review your gross profit by customer, and ask your employees to help evaluate which customers require the most resources. Keep in mind that helping customers is a key part of running a business, but it shouldn't overburden how the business operates. Calculate KPIs such as customer lifetime value , or the amount of profit you can expect to generate from a customer over the time they are a customer. This will help you get a sense of the most profitable customers.

10. Is Your Social Media Strategy Effective?

Social media can be a great way to reach customers where they spend their time. A strong social media strategy with engaging content can help build brand awareness, generate leads, and grow your audience.

Why it matters: Social media can be a time suck if you’re posting without rhyme or reason – especially if you’re not seeing a return on those efforts. That's why a thoughtful strategy is important.

How to answer this: An effective strategy looks at more than vanity metrics such as 'likes.' Engagement is the key. Use social listening tools to determine what's driving engagement and website traffic.

The Takeaway

A business that isn’t constantly evaluating crucial questions risks missing key opportunities for positive change and growth. Routinely revisiting these 10 business questions can help you identify the actions necessary to help increase both short- and long-term success.

A version of this article was originally published on October 13, 2011.

Photo: Getty Images-

I've Co-founded Over 20 Firms — These Are the Five Critical Questions You Need to Ask to Evaluate Your Startup's Health Have you checked your startup's pulse recently? If not, here are five questions to assess how your company is doing and which areas need more attention.

By Hilt Tatum IV • May 10, 2024

Key Takeaways

Ask yourself the following five questions: How are my employees doing and how can I improve their well-being? How are we handling failure? Are we attracting the correct type of people to hire? How well do you understand where you're spending money? Are your employees taking initiative?

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

If you ask me, entrepreneurship is one of the most challenging roles you could ever undertake. The stress and burden of starting and building a successful business — not to mention the pressure of keeping people gainfully employed — falls squarely on your shoulders.

It can be far too easy to become distracted by growing your revenue and sales to appease your investors that you forget to look at your company's health. The bigger your company gets, the heavier that load becomes. Yet, for those who have the fortitude to take it on, it's an exciting and rewarding experience, full of daily joys and challenges.

Regardless of your business type, every entrepreneur must take a step back from the daily grind and evaluate where their company is and if it is healthy . As an entrepreneur and venture capitalist, I always try to judge the overall well-being of a startup and focus on these five areas to make it a healthier company.

Related: I Wish I Received This Advice as a Young Entrepreneur

1. How are my employees doing and how can I improve their well-being?

No healthy startup stays that way if the people who keep it moving aren't healthy. If the pandemic showed us anything, it's that providing support and resources for health and wellness can positively impact employee morale .

A startup's commitment to creating a supportive and healthy work environment can help reduce stress and improve employee motivation, increasing engagement and productivity. I'm not talking about a general, one-size-fits-all approach that will simply be seen as a half-measure. Every person on your team is different, and each person's wellness needs differ.

Improving employee wellness

If your startup is still small, don't be afraid to talk to your employees directly to ask them how they're doing and to understand their wellness routines. These conversations will help you develop an informed strategy for the company to support their needs better.

For larger companies, reach out to an employee wellness consulting firm. Ask them to collect employee feedback, find out what your competitors are doing and use these data points to build a customized plan for your workforce. Don't exclude your own health in this area, either. As a leader, you must be on top of your game, setting an example for others to do the same.

2. How are we handling failure?

Depending on your personality type, risking failure may be the best or worst part of your startup life.

Most entrepreneurs realize that failure can be a good thing, but only if it's handled in the right way. While this can be hard to measure, here are a few probing questions to help get a clearer picture:

Do I or my team dwell on failures longer than we should?
Are we consistently repeating the same mistakes?
Does fear of failure impact our motivation or creativity?

Strong leadership is critical

Ultimately, it falls on the leadership team to encourage a culture of learning from failure and implementing structures to leverage these lessons while preventing reoccurrences.

Encouraging leaders and employees to think critically and evaluate where things went wrong is vital. Meet with your teams and discuss these questions:

What was in their control vs. out of their control?
Looking back, were there any early signs that now seem apparent this would be a failure?
What can we change in our process to better detect issues earlier?

Related: The Difference Between Startup Success and Failure Comes Down to This One Thing

3. Are we attracting the correct type of people to hire?

There are generally two types of employees: those working for a bigger paycheck and those working because they believe in the direction and culture . Is your business built for one type over the other?

It is vital to focus on building a business where people want to work rather than those who will just work there because they get paid above market rates. With younger employees, compensation is essential, but role and company fit are equally if not more important. This is another challenging area to check the status of, but a good sign is that you regularly receive inbounds on LinkedIn and directly from job seekers.

Hiring the best fits for your startup

So, where can you find suitable candidates?

Your employees are your greatest advocates , and while you need to be careful, you often find high-quality candidates from within their networks. Encourage your employees to take some ownership and let them be more involved in the hiring process, especially if your team is smaller.

4. How well do you understand where you're spending money?

You would be shocked at how often companies do not know how much money they spend per month, quarter or year. If you find yourself in this category — and it's okay to admit it — or you want to understand your financial picture more clearly, here are a few questions to ask yourself and your team:

Do you have a budget, and is it realistic? Have other people in the organization sanity-checked it?
How are you currently tracking compared to your budget?
How well is spending aligned with your core strategy compared to new opportunities or potential distractions?

These are simple questions, but they can help you uncover significant flaws in your financial process.

An early focus on finances

Building a robust financial function early in the company's life cycle may cost more upfront. Still, it saves you and your startup headaches and costs in the future, especially when you start dealing with investors and auditors.

If your company is more mature and making significant financial progress, it may be time to invest in a strong CFO if you haven't done so already. You'll want to bring someone in who can tie company strategy back to your budget and spending and support the finance team.

5. Are your employees taking initiative?

Earlier, I mentioned the importance of hiring the right people for your organization. This aspect becomes solidified when you examine how often employees step up and take ownership — and whether you, as a leader, are encouraging it. As they experience the ins and outs of company life daily, your employees likely know the inner workings of your business better than you do. This is a good thing. It means they're deeply involved and invested.

However, it's essential to recognize whether your employees are bringing you new ideas of their own volition or simply obeying orders. Are they expressing their thoughts and opinions in meetings or sitting silently and listening only?

Promoting a culture of initiative

One of the best things you can do as a leader is to take the initiative yourself and speak with your employees, encouraging them to be critical of operations and providing them with a safe environment in which to do so. On certain occasions, this is better done through an external firm or using an anonymous method. As an investor, I've found more success speaking with employees directly and communicating feedback to management.

Related: 7 Easy Steps for Encouraging Employees to Take Initiative

A healthy perspective

Evaluating the overall health of your startup means paying attention to details beyond financial metrics. An entrepreneur must consistently assess the company's well-being and adjust as necessary to ensure long-term success. These five questions aren't comprehensive, but they are essential to building a healthy and sustainable business.

All of these require a keen sense of self-awareness as a leader. Leaders often operate isolated with "blinders on" in pursuit of their goals or revenue objectives, sacrificing the broader foundation of the business and how it will affect future scalability. As a long-term investor, I firmly believe in building a solid foundation, even if it means taking things a bit slower.

Entrepreneur Leadership Network® Contributor

CEO of Dale Ventures Group of Companies

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A 102-year-old doctor still does consulting work and plans to live at least another 10 years. Here is her daily routine.

Gladys McGarey is 102 years old and still has a 10 year plan for her life's ambitions.
She's developed a "simple" daily routine that involves prune juice, salad, and consulting work.
McGarey also knits to keep her hands busy so she won't be tempted into picking up her cell phone.

At age 102, Gladys McGarey has seen a lot of lives begin and end.

As a trained physician and birthing expert, she's witnessed the births of thousands of babies worldwide. She's also lived through the death of her ex-husband, and some of her own five children have died too.

Now, living in a sunny home in her daughter's backyard in Arizona, she has developed a practice that she says will help her accomplish her 10-year plan. She wrote about it in her new book, " The Well Lived Life: A 102-year-old doctor's six secrets to health and happiness at every age, " and walked Insider through her daily routine. While the doctor doesn't have a license to practice medicine anymore, "they didn't tell me I had to stop talking," she said.

She starts the day with prayer, Raisin Bran, and prune juice

McGarey begins most days in the same simple way: She gets up, greets the new day with a morning prayer, climbs down the stairs, and enjoys Raisin Bran and prune juice for breakfast.

Later in the day, "I have salad for lunch and some kind of soup or something for dinner," she told Insider. "It's the routine, and I think it works for me. It's important for each one to find what works for us."

Throughout the day she keeps her hands and her mind busy

To keep her hands busy throughout the day, McGarey continues a regular knitting practice.

She says creating a 10-year plan is critical for healthy aging

Finally, McGarey says, the most critical part of aging well is finding your central purpose, a life "juice" that is your mission and what you will endeavor to do with your time on Earth.

These days, she uses her own "juice" to think about how to create better ways for people to live together and care for each other. Her own 10-year plan — something she thinks everyone should have — includes creating a village for "living medicine" where elders, babies, and everyone in between can live together and care for each other more harmoniously.

"A 10 year plan makes space for everything," she wrote in the book. "It's a far enough reach that it keeps our life force activated. Yet it's close enough that we can achieve it, dust ourselves off, and plan anew."

She doesn't worry about what her own final "number" of years on Earth may end up to be. Instead, she keeps her eyes trained on what's coming next.

"I still think I've got work to do, and I'm gonna keep on working at it," she said.

Main content

Ukraine war latest: Ukraine sacks commander amid fierce battles with Russian forces; Putin reshuffle 'may hint he is preparing for future confrontation with NATO'

Fierce fighting is taking place in Ukraine's Kharkiv region, with Moscow claiming to have seized nine border villages in the area. And in Moscow, Vladimir Putin has replaced a long-time ally. Submit your question on the war for our experts below.

Monday 13 May 2024 16:03, UK

Residential houses on fire after Russian airstrikes in Vovchansk. Pic: AP

Big picture: Everything you need to know as war enters a new week
Russia claims control of nine villages after shock advance
Threat of fighting spreading, says Kharkiv governor | Commander sacked
Moscow forces walked 'freely' across border, Ukrainian soldier claims
Putin reshuffle indicates he may be preparing for future confrontation with NATO - analysts
Eyewitness: Deborah Haynes reports from town 'flattened' in offensive
Analysis: Putin's 'baffling' reshuffle explained
Who is Andrei Belousov, Putin's new pick for defence minister?

Ask a question or make a comment

That's all our coverage for what has been an important day on the battlefield and beyond.

If you're just checking in, here is a recap of the key developments that took place since this morning.

You can scan the key points above or scroll back through our posts to find out more details.

We'll be back tomorrow with more updates and analysis on the war in Ukraine.

Russian forces claimed to have captured nine villages northeastern Ukraine, having opened a second front in the Kharkiv region on Friday;
The governor of Kharkiv said there was a threat of fighting spreading to other settlements;
The military commander for the Kharkiv region was sacked;
Hundreds of people were evacuated from towns near the border;
Ukraine said it thwarted Russian agents plotting to set off a series of bomb attacks in Kyiv and the Western city of Lviv;
Russia's acting foreign minister said the country was prepared if the West wanted to fight for Ukraine on the battlefield;
Analysts said Vladimir Putin's choice of defence minister indicated he was preparing Russia for a protracted war.

As fighting continues in northeastern Kharkiv, its governor has issued some updates.

Russian forces struck a farm in the town of Korotychy, killing a civilian and wounding three others, said Oleh Syniehubov.

Another attack on Liptsiy injured a 71-year-old woman, who was rushed to hospital, he said.

The regional defence council has ordered the mandatory evacuation of 113 orphans from three settlements, said Oleh Syniehubov.

Plans have been laid out to evacuate a total of 1,600 residents today.

Just 200 to 300 people remain in the embattled town of Vovchansk, he said, which had a population of 2,500 before the assault and 17,000 before the war.

Russian agents plotted to set off a series of bomb attacks in Kyiv and the Western city of Lviv, Ukraine says.

The prosecutor general's office said authorities arrested two military agents over plans to blow up markets and a site near a cafe in the capital, as well as a defence enterprise in Lviv, seizing 19 explosive devices.

Four of the bombs were intended for Kyiv on Thursday, the day when Russia celebrates the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in 1945, according to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).

"According to the plan of the Russian special service, the explosives were supposed to detonate during the supermarkets' peak hours to cause maximum damage to the civilian population," the agency said.

'Disguised as tea boxes'

The explosives intended for the Kyiv builders' markets were disguised as packages of tea, while a bomb was placed in a car for the cafe, according to the SBU.

The Lviv attack was meant to happen last February, the SBU said.

An unidentified defence enterprise was the target, according to prosecutors.

There was no immediate comment from Russia.

Last week, the SBU said it had caught two agents within the state protection department plotting the assassination of Volodymyr Zelenskiy and the head of military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov.

The Ukrainian military says Russia has had a "partial success" near a village in northern Kharkiv.

But Ukrainian soldiers stopped Russian forces from moving further near Lukyantsi, the general staff said.

It said Russian troops have continued offensive actions, and Ukraine will build up its forces in the area depending on the situation.

Russia launched an incursion from the Belgorod region in Russia across the border into northern Kharkiv on Friday.

Analysts have warned it could stretch Ukrainian forces between two fronts, creating opportunities on the main frontline that Russia may exploit.

Echoing the analysis we featured earlier from the Insitute for the Study of War (see our 11.18am post), a senior Ukrainian official has said Vladimir Putin's reshuffle shows he wants to scale up the war effort.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said: "Russia is finally isolating itself and will try to scale up the war, expand its formats while reconfiguring the economy."

In a surprise move, Vladimir Putin sacked his defence minister of 12 years Sergei Shoigu and named economist Adrei Belousov as Mr Shoigu's successor.

The Institute for the Study of War said Mr Belousov, who has no military experience, will be charged with integrating the defence industrial base into wider domestic policy, further placing Russia on a war footing.

It suggests the Kremlin is preparing for a protracted conflict with Ukraine - or even possibly a future confrontation with NATO, the ISW said.

Approximately 40 miles from the fighting in northeastern Kharkiv, children in the region's namesake city are undertaking their first lessons at an underground school.

The classrooms - the first of their kind - are heavily fortified in an effort to allow some pupils to return to in-person teaching out of reach of Russia's bombs.

Kharkiv's schools have been forced to teach online throughout the war as some Russian missiles can reach the city in under a minute.

Metro stations are playing host to dozens of classrooms, while others have been welded together from layers of steel reinforcing wire and poured cement.

Russia has been increasingly carrying out off-road motorbike attacks under the cover of darkness, according to British intelligence.

Lighter, faster, all-terrain vehicles have highly likely been used since the start of this year to hit Ukrainian positions, transport personnel to the frontlines and conduct reconnaissance, the UK defence ministry has said.

It said Russia reportedly purchased 2,100 Chinese off-road vehicles named Desertcross 1000-3, some of which were personally inspected by Vladimir Putin in November.

"Since the start of 2024, Russia has highly likely increased its use of light vehicles, such as all-terrain vehicles and off-road motorbikes, to transport personnel to the frontlines and conduct attacks on Ukrainian positions, particularly at night."

But the army has sacrificed armour and firepower for mobility, with light vehicles "far more vulnerable than their armoured counterparts", the UK MoD said.

Ukrainian drones have "already demonstrated their ability to effectively target" the vehicles, it added.

As we covered in some detail here earlier this year, Sweden dropped more than two centuries of historic neutrality by joining NATO.

The Baltic Sea, which includes maritime access to the Russian city of St Petersburg and the Kaliningrad enclave, is now almost surrounded by members of the alliance.

Today, Swedish prime minister Ulf Kristersson said Nordic and Baltic cooperation was "deeper than at any time in modern times", underpinned by increasing security threats from Russia.

He is hosting German chancellor Olaf Scholtz and the prime ministers of Denmark, Norway, Finland and Iceland in Stockholm, with security policy and NATO's July summit in Washington topping the agenda.

"We have long appreciated our neighbours, but at the same time underestimated the importance of concrete, operational cooperation," Mr Kristersson wrote in an op-ed in Swedish business paper Dagens Industri.

Meanwhile, the three Baltic prime ministers have been meeting in Lithuania to reaffirm that Moscow's intimidation is not going to dissuade them from supporting Ukraine.

Estonia's prime minister Kaja Kallas said that "Russia has also intensified the shadow war against all of European countries. It wants to really scare and intimidate the free world to scare us away from helping Ukraine".

"We shouldn't be scared," she added.

With a second front opening in the war and a surprise reshuffle in Vladimir Putin's cabinet, it's been an important week for the war in Ukraine.

Readers have been sending in their questions to our senior correspondents and military experts for their take on the changing battlefield environment.

Today, Jeanie asked:

Is Russia taking advantage and conducting an offensive in the border region due to the fact that several Western countries don't allow their weapons to be used on Russian soil?

Military analyst Sean Bell had this to say...

Thanks, Jeanie, for this very topical question.

Russia claims to have seized nine border settlements as part of a major offensive in the Kharkiv region. Although Ukraine has known for months that Russia was amassing military forces in the region - between 30,000 to 50 000 troops - the scale and ferocity of the attack appears to have caught Ukraine by surprise.

Although only Vladimir Putin and his senior military leadership will know the details of Russia's military strategy, most military analysts believe that Russia does not have the military resources to mount a significant and enduring second front without compromising the offensive in the Donbas - widely believed to be Russia's main effort.

However, Putin is well aware that Russia has a window of opportunity to capitalise on Ukraine's shortage of weapons, and by opening a second front, it forces Ukraine to spread its resources even more thinly, leaving Ukraine more vulnerable on the frontline in the Donbas.

Russia's military objectives for this new offensive appear to be to create a "buffer zone" to protect the Russian border town of Belgorod. This logistics hub for the Russian military effort is just within artillery range of Ukraine, and Putin has long promised to push the Ukrainian forces outside artillery range - around 30km.

In addition, Russia wants to threaten Kharkiv, so it's pushing forward to enable its own artillery to be within range of this major Ukrainian city.

Moving large quantities of military personnel and equipment from the frontline cannot easily be done discreetly - which under normal circumstances would leave Russian forces vulnerable to Ukrainian attack.

However, in an effort to limit the potential for escalation, the West has precluded the use of Western-provided weapons to target Russian forces on Russian territory. This significantly limits Ukraine's ability to target Russia's forces as they prepare for a fresh offensive.

However, although we can speculate on Putin's objectives, a battlefield is a dynamic environment, and Russia has considerable forces in reserve to capitalise on any momentum achieved during its current offensive.

Vladimir Putin's surprise choice of new defence minister Andrei Belousov has been speaking to a parliamentary committee as part of his confirmation process.

In his first public comments since being appointed to the post, he called for greater care for soldiers, including better access to housing, hospitals and welfare benefits.

State media quoted him as saying there was too much bureaucracy surrounding the payment of benefits to military personnel.

"I think it's a mess when participants in the special military operation who come back on holiday are driven from civilian medical institutions to hospitals which are often simply overcrowded. This issue needs to be resolved," Mr Belousov said.

The comments appeared to be aimed at demonstrating to members of the armed forces that he understands their concerns and will work to improve their conditions.

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Top 10 Questions Every Business Plan Should Answer
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135 Business Plan Questions

Executive Summary

Company Description Considerations

Market Analysis

Organization and Management Structure

Service or Product Line Inquiry

Marketing and Sales Strategies

Funding Request Fundamentals

Financial Projections and Feasibility

Appendix and Supporting Documents

Frequently Asked Questions

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What’s the most critical part of a business plan?

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Marketing and Sales Strategy

Operations Plan

Management and Organization

Financial Plan

1. Identify the Problem

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3. Reach Your Customers

4. Identify Your Competitors

5. Outline Your Operational Plan

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Questions every business plan should answer

1. What is the competitive advantage?

2. Is the business in a growth market?

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5. Is the product innovative?

6. Are the plans and goals realistic?

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Executive Summary Questions

Company Analysis Questions

Industry Analysis Questions

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50 Questions Your Business Plan Should Answer

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