business plan beispiel word

Kostenlose Businessplan-Vorlage und -Muster nutzen sowie Businessplan-Beispiele lesen

Unser Businessplan-Muster dient zur Orientierung, wie das Geschäftskonzept für Ihr Unternehmen aussehen kann. Direkt erstellen können Sie den Businessplan mit unserer Businessplan-Vorlage kostenlos, die als Word und PDF zum Download oder auch digital für Ihr Gründungskonzept zur Verfügung steht. 

Inspiration bietet ein Businessplan-Beispiel . Wir haben fertige Businessplan-Beispiele als PDF inkl. Finanzplan aus unterschiedlichen Branchen (u. a. Handwerk und Gastronomie) zum kostenlosen Download vorbereitet. 

Von René Klein Chefredakteur

René Klein verantwortet als Chefredakteur seit über 10 Jahren die Inhalte auf dem Portal und aller Publikationen von Für-Gründer.de. Er ist regelmäßig Gesprächspartner in anderen Medien und verfasst zahlreiche externe Fachbeiträge zu Gründungsthemen. Vor seiner Zeit als Chefredakteur und Mitgründer von Für-Gründer.de hat er börsennotierte Unternehmen im Bereich Finanzmarktkommunikation beraten.

Businessplan schreiben: Gliederung, Leitfragen und Beispiel inklusive. Ebenso ein Beispiel für die Gründerperson, ein Muster für die Umsatzplanung und eine Excutive Summary.

Businessplan-Gliederung und Erklärungen einzelner Kapitel als Word-Datei. Die Businessplan Word Vorlage enthält auch Hinweise zum Finanzplan.

  | Businessplan-Muster für das Geschäftskonzept

Damit Gründer nicht mit einem leeren Blatt Papier starten müssen, haben wir ein Businessplan-Muster entwickelt. Das Geschäftsplan-Muster zeigt, wie der Businessplan für die Selbstständigkeit aufgebaut und was enthalten sein sollte, damit das Firmenkonzept bei Banken (Stichwort bankfähig) oder der Arbeitsagentur gut angekommt. Was das Businessplan-Muster bietet, zeigt der Businesslan-Muster Aufbau:

• Businessplan-Deckblatt Vorlage
• Komplettes Inhaltsverzeichnis und Kapitelstruktur (u.a. Gründerperson, Marktanalyse, Marketing-Beispiel, SWOT, Finanzplan)
• Übersicht zu Kapitelinhalten und Links zu vertiefenden Informationen
• Professionelles Layout & Design-Vorlage

Das Businessplan-Muster PDF ist kostenlos und kann ganz einfach für Ihr Firmen- und Unternehmenskonzept genutzt werden. Bevor Sie das Businessplan-Muster kostenlos herunterladen können, stellen wir die Gliederung vor:

Gliederung für den Muster-Businessplan

Wer im Internet nach Businessplänen-Mustern sucht, findet viele verschiedene Gliederungen. Die nachfolgende Gliederung haben wir mit Kapitalgebern, Gründerberatern und aus Gesprächen mit zahlreichen Gründern in den vergangenen Jahren entwickelt.

Wie Sie im Businessplan-Muster sehen, hängt der Umfang des Geschäftsplans von der jeweiligen Gründung ab. Dabei spielen die Komplexität des Vorhabens und die Branche eine wichtige Rolle. Nehmen Sie sich bei der Erstellung des Planwerks genügend Zeit - ein paar Wochen können für das Schreiben durchaus angebracht sein. Der Geschäftsplan ist nicht nur die Grundlage für die Gründung, sondern auch für die ersten drei Jahre der Selbstständigkeit. Noch mehr Details zu jedem Gliederungspunkt finden Sie auf der Seite Businessplan-Gliederung .

Businessplan-Muster PDF kostenlos

Tipp: Businessplan-Muster richtig einsetzen

Es gibt zwar nicht das "eine" Businessplan-Muster. Doch es lohnt sich bei der Businessplanerstellung an einem etablierten Standard festzuhalten. So finden sich bspw. Kapitalgeber schnell im Geschäftsplan zu recht.

Sie können ein Businessplan-Muster als Grundlage verwenden, wenn Sie den persönlichen, auf Ihre Geschäftsidee angepassten, Businessplan schreiben. Sei es als Vorlage für den Gründungszuschuss oder für die Bank. Wir raten dazu, die Planung auf jeden Fall selbst zu erstellen - Ihre Geschäftsidee ist einzigartig und das sollte im Businessplan berücksichtigt werden! Es spricht jedoch grundsätzlich nichts dagegen, ein Businessplan-Beispiel bzw. ein Businessplan-Muster (von Für-Gründer.de oder von der IHK) vor der Erstellung ihres eigenen Geschäftsplans durchzulesen.

Wir haben eine Reihe an Vorlagen und Tools entwickelt, die Gründer und Selbstständige kostenfrei nutzen können. Neben dem digitalen Businessplan-Tool , mit dem Sie Schritt für Schritt einen professionellen Businessplan erstellen, haben wir z.B. ein Finanzplan Tool entwickelt, ein Tool für die Konkurrenzanalyse , für die Preiskalkulation sowie ein Tool für die SWOT Analyse .

  | Businessplan erstellen per Vorlage

Die Businessplan-Vorlage im Word-Format ist weiterhin eine beliebte Starthilfe für die Businessplanerstellung. Im Netz gibt es die Word-Vorlage in unterschiedlichsten Varianten zum kostenfreien (u.a. eine IHK Businessplan-Vorlage, ein KfW Businessplan-Muster) oder kostenpflichtigen Download.

Eine Vorlage für den Businessplan aus dem Internet zeichnet sich durch einige Vorteile aus. Hat aber auch Nachteile:

• Hilfreicher Ausgangspunkt
• Einfach zu bedienen
• Formatierungsaufwand
• Schlechte Teamfähigkeit, Versionierungschaos
• Integration des Finanzplans schwierig
• Je nach Anbieter nicht aktuell

Auf Für-Gründer.de bieten wir die Vorlage mit allen wichtigen Kapitel und Detailinformationen kostenlos an. 

Tipp: Businessplansoftware statt Word nutzen

Der Trend geht von der Word-Vorlage eindeutig in Richtung Businessplansoftware . Diese digitale Businessplan-Vorlage bietet gegenüber Word zahlreiche Vorteile. Unsere Lösung für den Online-Businessplan finden Sie in unserer Software-Lösung Unternehmerheld. Die Businessplan-Vorlage können Sie kostenfrei nutzen. Enthalten ist ein Inhaltsverzeichnis, das alle relevanten Bereiche des Geschäftsplans enthält. Zu jedem Punkt finden Sie mit einem Klick Leitfragen und Beispiele, die Ihnen Schritt für Schritt aufzeigen, welche Inhalte in der Planung für das Firmenkonzept nicht fehlen dürfen.

Kostenfrei starten mit dem Businessplan-Tool im Unternehmerheld

Für den Unternehmerheld können Sie sich kostenfrei registrieren und anhand von wertvollen Leitfragen und Praxis-Beispielen Ihren Geschäftsplan erstellen. Sie profitieren außerdem von folgenden Aspekten:

Übersichtlich, kostenfrei, sicher: Wenn Sie die digitale Businessplan-Vorlage in der Onlinelösung Unternehmerheld nutzen, profitieren Sie von mehr Übersichtlichkeit. Die Nutzung der Businessplan-Vorlage ist kostenfrei - dabei garantieren wir strengen Datenschutz.

Einfache Zusammenarbeit im Team: Über die Teamfunktion in unserem Unternehmerheld können Sie Mitgründer, Berater sowie weitere Vertraute dazu einladen, gemeinsam an Ihrem Geschäftsplan zu feilen. Ob Lesen, Kommentieren oder Bearbeiten – die individuellen Benutzerrechte liegen ganz in Ihrer Hand.

Druckfähig & exportierbar: Wenn Sie Ihren Businessplan mit der Onlinelösung Unternehmerheld fertiggestellt haben, können Sie diesen als PDF-Dokument herunterladen.

Businessplan-Tool kostenfrei nutzen

  | Business- und Finanzplan-Beispiele: Branchen-Pakete zum Download

Bevor Sie als Gründer oder Selbstständiger bei Ihrer Hausbank einen Kredit beantragen, müssen Sie einen Businessplan für die Bank erstellen. Sonst gibt es in der Regel kein Darlehen. Nutzen Sie am besten eine Businessplan-Vorlage. Diese hilft bei der Strukturierung des Inhaltes und stellt eine gute Grundlage für den eigenen Geschäftsplan dar.

Je nach Branche sind besondere Aspekte zu beachten, die in einer allgemeinen Businessplan-Vorlage oft nicht zu finden sind. Daher empfiehlt es sich, beim Schreiben des Geschäftsplans auch eine beispielhafte Businessplan-Vorlage aus der jeweiligen Branche als Hilfsmittel zu nutzen. Ein solches Businessplan-Muster gibt nicht nur die Strukturierung vor, sondern liefert auch branchenspezifische Inhalte. Ob Sie nun im Einzelhandel, in der Gastronomie oder mit einem Onlineshop gründen – wir bieten Ihnen nachfolgend einen Überblick über die die wichtigsten Branchen und verweisen jeweils auf tiefergehende Informationen sowie fertige Businessplan-Beispiele als PDF zum Download.

Damit Sie sich einen Eindruck über Business- und Finanzpläne Ihrer Branche verschaffen können, haben wir Ihnen unsere vom Unternehmensberater geprüften Geschäftsplane mit Finanzteil als branchenspezifische Pakete zusammengeschnürt. So haben Sie alle wichtigen Informationen in einem Dokument.

Jedes Dokument beinhaltet unsere Business- sowie die Finanzpläne für verschiedene Geschäftsideen aus der Branche.

Businessplan-Beispiele inkl. Finanzplan für Handel (stationär & online)

Unser Business- und Finanzplan-Paket "Handel" beinhaltet vier typische Geschäftsmodelle, an denen Gründer sich orientieren können, wenn sie ihren eigenen Businessplan schreiben.

• Fahrradshop inkl. Gründerperson, Marktanalyse, Meilensteine
• Frischemarkt inkl. Marketing-Beispiel, Unternehmensziele, Investitionsplan
• Brautmoden inkl. Executive Summary, Umsatzplanung, Vertrieb
• Onlineshop inkl. Finanzplan, Gründerperson, Geschäftskonzept

Jetzt herunterladen

Häufige Fragen

Wenn Sie eine Existenzgründung im Einzelhandel planen ( Leitfaden Laden eröffnen ), dann helfen unsere Businessplan-Beispiele aus dem Einzelhandel. Dazu gehören bspw. ein Fahrradgeschäft und ein Lebensmittelladen. Diese enthalten neben den allgemeinen Informationen viele wichtige Punkte, auf die Sie in einem Businessplan für den Einzelhandel besonders eingehen sollten. So spielt die Standortwahl beispielsweise eine große Rolle. Außerdem geht unser Muster-Businessplan für den Einzelhandel auf die handelsspezifischen Marketinginstrumente ein, erläutert die Kalkulation Ihrer Verkaufspreise und hilft bei der Berechnung des benötigten Startkapitals – inklusive der Startkosten für den erstmaligen Warenbestand.

Unser Businessplan-Muster PDF für einen Onlineshop unterscheidet sich in einigen Punkten zu den Businessplan-Beispielen für den stationären Einzelhandel. Bei einem Onlineshop spielt die Wahl des Standorts nämlich keine Rolle. Wollen Sie einen  Onlineshop eröffnen , ist für Sie der Aspekt Marketing zentral. Wie wollen Sie inmitten der Masse der bestehenden Onlineshops Sichtbarkeit generieren? Zudem können Ihre Kunden im Gegensatz zum stationären Handel nicht über Ihren Onlineshop "stolpern".

Alle Businessplan-Beispiele wurden mit unserer Businessplansoftware erstellt. Nutzen Sie diese kostenfrei.

Businessplan-Beispiele mit Finanzplan für Dienstleister

In unserem Finanz- und Businessplan-Paket "Diensteister" finden Sie zwei Beispiele für Geschäftsmodelle in der Service-Branche. An diesen können Sie sich orientieren, wenn Sie in der Dienstleistungsbranche gründen wollen und noch Inspiration benötigen:

• Unternehmensberater inkl. Gründerpersion, Marktanalyse und Marketing-Beispiel
• Fitnessstudio inkl. Finanzplan-Beispiel, Executive Summary, Meilensteine
• Fotograf inkl. Markt- und Konkurrenzanalyse, Finanzplan und Gründerperson
• Hochzeitsplaner inkl. Wettbewerbsbetrachtung, Marketing & Finanzplan

Als Dienstleister sind andere Dinge wichtig für den Businessplan als in anderen Branchen, ganz unabhängig davon, ob Sie Freiberufler sind oder nicht. Im Falle unserer Businessplan-Beispiele für stationäre Dienstleistungen kommen dazu noch Standort-Aspekte hinzu. Dienstleister sollten auf jeden Fall ihr Leistungsangebot in den Fokus des Businessplans stellen, wie in unserem Businessplan-Muster für Unternehmensberater dargestellt.

Finanz- und Businessplan-Beispiele für die Gastronomie

Mit unserem Starter-Paket für Gründer erhalten Sie ein realitätsnahes Business- und Finanzplan-Beispiel eines französischen Restaurants. Anhand von diesem können Sie alle Detailaspekte, die ein Gastro-Businessplan benötigt, eingehend betrachten und sich frische Ideen für Ihren eigenen Businessplan holen.

• Businessplan-Beispiel Restaurant inkl. Investitionsplan, Executive Summary, Gründerperson

Ein Restaurant eröffnen , eine Bar oder ein Café zu gründen  mag unkompliziert klingen, wird jedoch nur mit einem durchdachten Gastronomie-Businessplan ein richtiger Erfolg. Ein guter Beispiel-Businessplan für die Gastronomie beantwortet die Frage nach der Standortwahl und geht insbesondere auf die Zielgruppen-Definition ein. Denn je nach Zielgruppe müssen die Inneneinrichtung, die Produktauswahl und die Preise gestaltet werden. Außerdem sollte die Kundenbindung ein wichtiger Aspekt der Planung sein. Unsere fertigen Businessplan-Muster für die Gastronomie decken all dies ab.

Businessplan-Beispiele für Handwerker

Unser Businessplan-Muster "Handwerk" enthält Beispiele zweier Businesspläne mit Finanzteil. Wenn Sie sich als Handwerker selbstständig machen möchten, empfehlen wir, einen Blick darauf zu werfen. So gewinnen Sie einen Eindruck, wie der Businessplan für diese Branche aussehen muss und welche Inhalte nicht fehlen dürfen.

• Büromöbel-Manufaktur inkl. Marktanalyse, Unternehmensziele, Umsatzplanung
• Kinderfriseur inkl. Liquiditätsplanung, Meilensteine, Gründerpersonen

Unser Businessplan-Muster fürs Handwerk enthält auch diejenigen Punkte, die individuell für eine Gründung im Handwerk bezeichnend sind (Leitfäden Friseursalon eröffnen , Bäckerei eröffnen ). Dazu gehören beispielsweise die Zugangsvoraussetzungen, wie etwa die Meisterprüfung oder die Besonderheiten bei der Preiskalkulation im Handwerk. Außerdem werden in unserem Beispiel- Geschäftsplanplan fürs Handwerk die besonderen rechtlichen Rahmenbedingungen sowie der Schutz durch Versicherungen angesprochen.

Noch mehr Branchen-Tipps für Ihren Businessplan

• Einzelhandel
• Freiberufler
• Gastronomie

Sie möchten einen professionellen Businessplan erstellen?

Mit unserer kostenfreien Online-Lösung Unternehmerheld erstellen Sie Ihren professionellen Geschäftsplan ganz schnell und einfach online - inklusive interaktiver Businessplanvorlage, 1 Businessplan-Beispiel, Leitfragen, Teamfunktionalität und und und...!

Jetzt kostenfrei Businessplan-Tool nutzen

  | Weitere Excel-Tools für verschiedene Businessplan-Kapitel

Damit Sie die einzelnen Kapitel der Businessplan-Vorlage aussagekräftig bearbeiten können, haben wir für Gründer zahlreiche Tools auf Excel-Basis entwickelt. Diese können Sie kostenfrei nutzen und die Ergebnisse per Screenshot in Ihren Geschäftsplan integrieren.

Vergleichen Sie Standorte und finden den passenden für Ihr Geschäft!

Legen Sie die optimale Positionierung Ihres Angebots fest. 

Bestimmen Sie das optimale Preis-Leistungsverhältnis.

Noch mehr kostenfreie Excel-Tools

Zur Unterstützung der Arbeit mit einer Businessplan-Vorlage stellen wir weitere Tools auf Excel-Basis zur Verfügung.

• SWOT Analyse
• Gründungskosten
• Konkurrenzanalyse
• Umsatzpotenzial
• Marktanteilsberechnung
• Marketingbudget

Mit dem kostenlosen Businessplan-Tool von Unternehmerheld schreiben Sie einen Geschäftsplan ganz einfach und unkompliziert online. Am Ende können Sie Ihren bankfähigen Businessplandokument einfach als PDF downloaden.

  | Offene Fragen

Eine Businessplan-Vorlage ist eine Hilfe, einen Geschäftsplan zu erstellen. Das Businessplan-Muster gibt sämtliche Kapitel vor, der der Gründer einfach ausfüllen kann. Die Businessplan-Vorlage von Für-Gründer.de stellt zusätzlich umfangreiche Informationen zur Texterstellung zur Verfügung und ist damit als Muster für den Gründungszuschuss oder die Bank geeignet. Eine Word-Vorlage für den Businessplan ist aber kein fertiger Businessplan, sondern sollte stets individuell auf das eigene Geschäftskonzept angepasst werden.

Businessplan-Muster bzw. Businessplan-Vorlagen gibt es bei Jobcentern der Arbeitsagentur, bei örtlichen IHKs oder auch bei Förderbanken wie der KfW. In der Regel handelt es sich hier um statische Vorlagen, die teils mehrere Jahre alt sind. Der Trend geht weg von reinen Mustern zur dynamischen Businessplansoftware, wie sie der Unternehmerheld bietet.

Die beste Businessplan-Vorlage ist die, mit der der Gründer einen Businessplan erstellt, der zu einer erfolgreichen Finanzierung führt. Sie sollte gut bedienbar sein, sowie mit Leitfragen zu jedem Kapital Hilfe und Inspiration bei der Erstellung liefert. Idealerweise bindet die Vorlage auch gleich den Finanzplan ein, der letzten Endes über die Finanzierung entscheidet. Ideal für die Erstellung ist interaktives Online-Businessplantool, mit dem der Gründer viel Zeit spart.

Es gibt statische Vorlagen, die Gründer als Word-Datei, PDF im Web herunterladen können. Und es gibt interaktive Businessplan-Vorlagen. Sie werden als Online-Businessplan benutzt und bieten interaktive Hilfen beim Erstellen der einzelnen Businessplan-Kapitel. Auch die Fertigstellung und Formatierung des Businessplans erfolgt automatisch. Das Businessplan-Tool "Unternehmerheld" ist so eine interaktive Businessplan-Vorlage.

Ein Musterbeispiel hilft als Anregung und Anschauungsmaterial. Hilfreich sind beispielsweise Businessplan-Beispiele für bestimmte Branchen (Gastronomie, Handwerk, Dienstleistungen). Damit bekommt der Gründer häufig bereits erste Informationen zu allgemeinen Marktdaten und wichtigen Erfolgsfaktoren einer Branche. So ein Branchen-Businessplan ist immer nur Ausgangspunkt: Branchendaten sollten überprüft werden und Erfolgsfaktoren sollten auf das eigenen Konzept in Form von Alleinstellungsmerkmalen übertragen werden.

Zum bloßen Kopieren der Kapitel, wenn also nur die Daten ausgetauscht werden. In der Regel leiden dann vor allem die Abschnitte zu Alleinstellungsmerkmalen und Wettbewerbern darunter. Ein fertiges Businessplan-Beispiel soll zur aktiven Arbeit anregen und nicht zum passiven Abkupfern.

Es gibt keinen Unterschied, beide Begriffe meinen das gleiche.

  | Unser Fazit

Ein Beispiel Businessplan ist eine riesige Hilfe – keine Frage. Allerdings verleiten solche Businessplan-Vorlagen dazu, vorhandene Inhalte zu übernehmen, ohne sich selbst intensiv mit der eigenen Geschäftsidee zu befassen. Stellen Sie sich vor, Sie sitzen beim Finanzierungsgespräch und der Bankberater stellt tiefergehende Fragen, die Sie nicht beantworten können, da Ihr gesamter Businessplan fast ausschließlich auf einer Vorlage basiert.

Diese Situation lässt sich vermeiden, indem Sie ein Businessplan-Muster als Hilfe und Inspiration nutzen, die Kapitel des Geschäftsplans selbst zu formulieren, Alleinstellungsmerkmale herauszuarbeiten und den Markt und die Wettbewerber darzustellen. Zwar ist der Zeitaufwand deutlich größer, sie beschäftigen sich dadurch jedoch so umfassend mit Ihrer Existenzgründung, dass viele Fehler beim Businessplan von Beginn an vermieden werden - den Businessplan selbst zu schreiben lohnt sich! Zumal es mit interaktiven Businessplan-Vorlagen wertvolle Hilfen gibt.

Kostenloses Businessplan-Tool kennenlernen

frage[at]fuer-gruender.de

Businessplan Vorlage und Muster

Hier findest du deine passende businessplan vorlage: tipps und beispiele.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

• Businessplan Vorlage
• Vorlage PDF
• Vorlage Word
• Vorlage Excel
• Businessplan Muster

Businessplan Beispiel

• Alle Beispiele ansehen

Businessplan-Vorlage nutzen und erfolgreich durchstarten

Mit einer kostenlosen Registrierung kannst du dir schon jetzt unsere Vorlagen herunterladen oder gleich online loslegen! Entdecke jetzt diese und viele weitere Vorteile bei deinem Partner für Gründung und Startphase. 

Businessplan Vorlage PDF

• Businessplan Vorlage “Dienstleistung: Lektorat” auf 19 Seiten
• Einblicke in das exzellente Geschäftskonzept von Susanne 
• präzise durchgeplant

Businessplan Vorlage Excel

• Businessplan Vorlage in Excel mit Umsatzplanung
• enthält u.a. Formblätter für Kosten und Aufstellung deines Kapitalbedarfs
• samt Finanzierungsübersicht und mehr

Businessplan Vorlage Word

• Businessplan Vorlage Word mit kompletter Kapitelgliederunginkl. entscheidenden Leitfragen pro Kapitel
• Schritt für Schritt zu deinem eigenen Geschäftsplan

Vorlagen helfen durch inspirierende Fragestellungen

Eine richtig gute Businessplan-Vorlage erkennst du daran, dass du mit ihr sofort losarbeiten kannst . Du erhältst im Prinzip eine Gussform und kannst direkt deine eigenen Inhalte hineingießen – deine Geschäftsidee, deine Planung. Kein leeres Blatt zum Start, sondern die perfekte Vorlage für deinen erfolgreichen Businessplan!

Was bringt die Businessplan-Vorlage der Gründerplattform mit?

• INHALTSVERZEICHNIS: Mit unserer Vorlage erhältst du (neben vielen anderen Inhalten) kostenlos das komplette Inhaltsverzeichnis. Es wurde gemeinsam mit Fachleuten von Banken, Sparkassen und Wirtschaftsförderern entwickelt. Mit Hilfe von tausendfachen Erfahrungen mit Geschäftskonzepten haben wir das optimale Inhaltsverzeichnis aufgebaut, das in erprobter Reihenfolge die wichtigsten Aspekte deines Businesses präsentiert.  
• LEITFRAGEN: In jedem Kapitel findest du Leitfragen , mit deren Beantwortung du die Anforderungen an einen kompletten Businessplan erfüllst. Natürlich kannst du noch mehr Aspekte berücksichtigen, wenn du willst.  
• UNTERSTÜTZUNG FÜR DEINEN FINANZTEIL: In unserer komfortablen Unterstützung für die Finanzplanung kannst du nicht nur die Zahlen komfortabel mit Assistenten eingeben. Du findest sogar die gängigsten Fixkosten, automatische Rechnungstools für deine monatliche Kreditzinsen und -tilgungen und vieles mehr: eine starke Finanzplan-Vorlage!  
• SCHNELLCHECK DEINER DATEN: Du kannst deinen Businessplan automatisch auf sieben wichtige Qualitätskriterien prüfen lassen. Diese Kriterien schauen sich auch die Mitarbeiter*innen der Banken an. So kannst du überprüfen, wo Verbesserungsbedarf besteht.  
• PDF-DOWNLOAD: Wenn du deinen Businessplan fertig hast, lade ihn dir als PDF herunter.

Nutze jetzt kostenlos unsere Businessplan-Vorlagen!

Investiere nur eine Minute Zeit und du erhälst Sofortzugang zur kompletten Vorlage und kannst online loslegen. Geschützt in deinem eigenen Account kannst du mit der Arbeit an deinem eigenen Businessprojekt starten. Ohne versteckte Kosten, denn die starke Businessplanvorlage wird unterstützt von KfW und BmWK.

Starte mit klaren Vorstellungen: Nutze unseren Vorlagen, um deine Geschäftsidee zu entwickeln

Das gesamte Angebot der Gründerplattform ist öffentlich gefördert und daher kostenlos: Weniger Hürden, mehr Chancen!

In deinem persönlichen Account ist dein ganzes Projekt inkl. Businessplan vor Zugriff geschützt. Serverstandort ist Deutschland.

Vertrauenswürdig

Das Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie, die KfW und hunderte von Partnern unterstützen die Gründerplattform - als digitale Startrampe für deine Geschäftsidee.

Businessplan-Muster: Schritt für Schritt zum Geschäftskonzept

Ein Businessplan-Muster soll dir vor allem eins schnell zeigen: Welche Inhalte gehören überhaupt in deinen Businessplan hinein und wie ist das Ganze aufgebaut? Das hilft dir, von Anfang an sehr strukturiert vorzugehen. Wir haben in der Vergangenheit immer wieder das Feedback bekommen, dass mit unserem Businessplan-Muster viele Gründer*innen Schritt für Schritt alle wichtigen Kapitelinhalte erstellt haben. Am Ende hielten sie ihr eigenes Geschäftskonzept in der Hand.

Layout, Tabellen und vieles mehr

Unser Businessplan-Muster bringt dir sofort den benötigten Businessplan-Inhalt. Bankberater*innen wollen keinen Roman auf ihrem Schreibtisch. Nach kurzer Lesezeit muss sich ihnen das Geschäftsmodell und die Machbarkeit erschließen – dann erhältst du den gewünschten Kredit oder die Fördermittel. Genau das kannst du mit unserem Muster erreichen. Das gesamte Layout ist bereits fertig und sieht modern und ansprechend aus. Es gibt viele Tabellen, z.B. für Investitionen oder Ausgaben, wo du bereits Beispieleinträge findest. So kannst du nichts vergessen.

Gib deinem Businessplan Struktur

Mit der vielfach erfolgreich erprobten Gründerplattform-Struktur erhältst du kostenlos die komplette Kapitelgliederung für deinen Businessplan. Sie ist mit Fachleuten abgesprochen und orientiert sich an dem, was bei Entscheider*innen von einem Businessplan erwartet wird.

Hier unten siehst du einen Auszug unserer Businessplan-Struktur.

Hol dir jetzt kostenlos unser Businessplan-Muster und erstelle damit einen richtig guten Businessplan!

• Zusammenfassung
• Kernfähigkeiten
• Vertrieb und Kommunikation
• Markt & Wettbewerb
• Gründer / Team
• Produktion (Kernaktivitäten)
• Rechtsform & Vorschriften
• Ertragsquellen/Umsatz
• Privatentnahmen
• Kapitalbedarf & Finanzierung
• Rentabilität
• Liquidität

Eines der stärksten Features der Gründerplattform: Mit deinem kostenlosen Account hast du Zugriff auf echte Businessplan-Beispiele . Sie umfassen alles, was zu einem „richtigen“ Businessplan dazugehört . Unsere Beispiele wurden erfolgreich finanziert , haben also alle Kredite oder Fördermittel eingeworben. Damit wurden erfolgreiche Gründungen ermöglicht .

Auswahl aus unterschiedlichen Branchen

Wir bieten Zugriff auf komplette Businesspläne für verschiedenste Branchen :

• Modeboutique
• Produktion & Verkauf eigener Produkte
• Vermittlungsportal
• Software Etablierung & Vertrieb
• Gastronomie
• Handwerk / Friseursalon
• Taxi-Unternehmen
• Kita Eröffnung & Betrieb
• Beratung zum Thema Kommunikation
• Dienstleistung / Lektorat von zu Hause aus
• Beratung zum Thema Nachhaltigkeit
• Freiberuflicher Motion Designer 
• Social Media Managerin
• Beratung zum Thema Outplacement
• Ernährungsberatung
• und viele andere mehr

Die Gründer*innen beschreiben darin jeden Aspekt ihres geplanten Businessprojekts! Zu jedem Thema wartet ein fertiger Beispiel-Businessplan auf dich.

Mehrere Blickwinkel statt eine Meinung

Du kannst aus jedem der zahlreichen Businessplan-Beispiele wichtige Aspekte herausgreifen – damit dein eigenes Projekt von Anfang an performt. Wenn du z.B. einen Onlineshop eröffnen willst, haben wir das passende Beispiel für dich. Doch auch in Blick in andere Branchen lohnt . Wie haben andere Gründer*innen z.B. den Markt analysiert? Wie optimistisch wurden Umsätze geplant, wie detailliert Investitionen aufgeschlüsselt?

Mit den vielen Businessplan-Beispielen der Gründerplattform bekommst du viel Inspiration – ganz bequem auf deinem eigenen Bildschirm zu Hause.

Echte Businesspläne geschrieben von echten Menschen

Du bekommst hier die seltene Chance, wirklich echte Businesspläne zu lesen, die erfolgreich finanziert und umgesetzt wurden. Es stehen immer echte Menschen hinter den Seiten. Sie haben sich genau so an ihre Businessplanung gesetzt, wie du das jetzt machst.

Inspiration und Unterstützung an der richtigen Stelle

Du kommst einmal nicht weiter beim Schreiben? Kein Problem: Lies einfach nach , was andere zu dem Thema geschrieben haben , an dem du gerade sitzt. Über den Reiter „Echte Beispiele“ werden dir die passenden Kapitel unserer Beispiel-Unternehmer*innen angezeigt. Probiere es doch direkt aus.

Hol dir kostenlosen Zugriff auf unsere Businessplan-Beispiele und schau, wie erfolgreiche Businesspläne aussehen!

Alle kostenlosen Beispiele auf einen Blick

Businessplan friseur.

Der eigene Friseurladen im Zentrum Berlins performt seit Jahren. Erfahre in diesem Businessplan-Beispiel, mit welchen Ideen der Autor für höhere Umsätze sorgen will.

Businessplan Hotel

Dieser Businessplan beschreibt die Errichtung und Unterhaltung eines Hotelkomplexes mit vier Gebäuden. Schau dir jetzt die umfassende Markt- und Wettbewerbsanalyse an!

Businessplan Kita

Hier bieten wir dir eine realistische Planung für die Eröffnung einer Kita. Sie zeigt die großen Kostenverursacher und enthält viele clevere Tipps! 

Businessplan Modelabel

Der Autor warb mit diesem Businessplan erfolgreich Startgeld der KfW ein. Damit konnte er sein hochspezialisiertes Modelabel gründen. Klick hier zum Lesen!

Businessplan Catering

Das Hamburger Catering-Unternehmen Stullenbauer floriert. Dieser Businessplan garantierte die Wachstumsfinanzierung. Schau jetzt in die detaillierte Finanzplanung!

Businessplan Modeboutique

Lies den kompletten Businessplan der Modeboutique AUST inkl. allen Kapiteln und dem Finanzteil! Wertvolle Insights für alle, die sich für Franchise interessieren!

Businessplan Produktion

Dieses Beispiel beschreibt anschaulich die Meilensteine einer Serienproduktion und konzipiert den erfolgreichen Produktverkauf eines innovativen Outdoor-Zelts.

Businessplan Taxi

Eine Kölnerin fuhr jahrelang Taxi - und gründete dann ihr eigenes Taxiunternehmen! Die Startfinanzierung erhielt sie dank diesem solidem Businessplan.

Businessplan Internetplattform

Die Gründung eines Online-Marktplatzes für Sportsponsoring wurde mit diesem Businessplan-Beispiel geplant und erfolgreich durchgezogen. Lies hier den Erfolgsplan!

Businessplan Kommunikations­beratung

Nach der Umsetzung dieses Businessplans erlangte die Autorin mehr Work-Life-Balance und Selbstbestimmung. Der Finanzteil zeigt dir die Tücken "überraschender" Steuerzahlungen!

Businessplan Röntgenkamera

Hier erfährst du, wie eine hochspezialisierte, technische Lösung konsequent zu einem marktreifen Produkt entwickelt werden kann. Ein spannender Beispiel-Businessplan!

Businessplan Innovative Technologien

MindModel aus Bremen druckt detailreiche 3D-Modelle. Finde hier heraus, wie du aus der Entdeckung einer Marktlücke ein lukratives Geschäft machen kannst.

Businessplan Bistro

Ein Paar möchte eine Lücke im Gastronomie-Angebot ihrer Stadt mit ihrem eigenen Bistro füllen. Lies nach, wie sie sich vorbereitet haben.

Businessplan Lektorat

Dieser Businessplan  ist ein gutes Beispiel für Gründungen in freien Berufen. Lies hier, wie du mit dem Gründungszuschuss eine nebenberufliche Selbstständigkeit planst.

Businessplan Wollhandel

Stricken verbindet sämtliche Generationen - das weiß auch die Gründerin eines Wollhandels. Für einen Förderkredit schrieb sie diesen Businessplan. Schau ihn dir an!

Businessplan Nachhaltigkeitsberatung

Mit diesem Businessplan hat Kurt einen Gründerzuschuss bekommen und konnte sich als Berater zum Thema Nachhaltigkeit selbstständig machen.

Businessplan freiberuflicher Motion Designer

Mit seiner langjährigen Erfahrung in den Bereichen Motion Design und 3D-Animation hat sich Max freiberuflich selbstständig gemacht. Mit diesem Businessplan bekam er einen Kredit dafür.

Businessplan Social Media Managerin

Laura hat sich mit diesem Businessplan einen Gründungszuschuss gesichert und bietet nun ihren Kunden professionelle Unterstützung rund um Social Media an.

Businessplan Outplacement-Beratung

Die Trennung von Arbeitgeber*innen und Arbeitnehmer*innen gehört zum Arbeitsleben. Besonders in Krisenzeiten passiert das häufiger. Die Brüder Mathias und Paul beraten während dieses schwierigen Prozesses beide Seiten. Lies ihren Businessplan für mehr Infos zum Aufbau ihres Beratungsunternehmens als GbR.

Wie hat dir diese Seite gefallen? Über 6.000 Nutzer haben uns bereits mit

von 5 möglichen Sternen bewertet. Bewerte auch du uns!

Alle Bewertungen ansehen

Businessplan Vorlage – mit Muster zur seriösen Planung

Sie möchten Ihre Geschäftsidee verwirklichen, aber sind sich noch nicht sicher, wie und ob diese sich überhaupt lohnt? Ein Businessplan kann hier weiterhelfen. Wenn Sie einen Businessplan erstellen, können Sie nicht nur eine detailreiche Finanzplanung vornehmen, sondern auch die Strategie für die Vermarktung und den Vertrieb eines Produktes oder einer Dienstleistung entwickeln.

Nicht nur für die eigene Planung kann ein sachgerecht erstellter Businessplan sinnvoll sein. Für die Vorlage bei einer Bank, oder das Beantragen öffentlicher Fördergelder kann eine konkrete Ausarbeitung des Unternehmenskonzeptes genauso notwendig sein, wie für die Vorlage des Businessplans bei der IHK.

Korrektes Muster – was gehört in einen Businessplan?

Das Herzstück Ihres Businessplans ist die Finanzplanung. Um zu wissen, wie Sie später Kunden gewinnen möchten, sind jedoch auch eine Ausformulierung des Geschäftsmodells und eine anschließende Markt-/Zielgruppenanalyse notwendig. Abschließend sollten Sie so die Chancen und Risiken bewerten können. Je nach Art der Unternehmung unterscheidet sich auch der Umfang eines Businessplans. Entsprechende Businessplan Beispiele finden Sie auf unserer Seite.

Die Word-Vorlage für die kleine Geschäftsidee

Wenn Sie sich selbst erstmals einen Überblick verschaffen wollen, reicht ein einfacher Businessplan in Word. Mit der vorhandenen Vorlage können Sie so schnell und einfach einen eigenen Plan erstellen und in Word beispielsweise Ihren fertigen Businessplan als PDF ausgeben.

Die Vorlage entspricht den Ansprüchen eines BMWi Businessplans (Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie) und ist individuell anpassbar. Je nach Umfang beinhaltet das Muster:

• Deckblatt & Inhaltsverzeichnis
• Gründerprofil
• Geschäftsidee
• Markt- und Zielgruppenanalyse
• Unternehmensorganisation
• Finanzplanung
• Risikoanalyse

Die Vorlagen für den Businessplan in Word eignen sich für Freiberufler und Gewerbetreibende, die Ihre Vision konkretisieren und präsentieren möchten. Für eine gründliche Finanz- und Unternehmensplanung wird eine Vorlage für Excel empfohlen.

Mit einer Excel-Vorlage zur strunkturierten, umfangreichen Planung

Sie möchten bei Ihrer Bank einen Kredit beantragen, oder eine Bescheinigung von einer fachkundigen Stelle für die öffentliche Förderung der Geschäftsidee? Dann benötigen Sie eine genaue Aufstellung Ihrer Finanzplanung. Mit einer passenden Vorlage für Excel können Sie alle Einnahmen und Ausgaben übersichtlich und für jeden nachvollziehbar auflisten.

Die Muster beinhalten folgende Teilbereiche:

• Kapitalbedarf und Finanzierung
• Liquiditätsplanung
• Privatbedarf
• Rentabilitätsvorschau

Die Muster für Excel können so als Ergänzung für die Word-Vorlage genutzt werden. Auch größere Unternehmungen können so umfangreich geplant und mit der entsprechenden Businessplan-Vorlage kostenlos erstellt werden.

Das Businessplan-Muster richtig verwenden

Die Wahl der passenden Vorlage ist genau wie bei der betriebswirtschaftlichen Auswertung (BWA) entscheidend. Wenn Sie zum Beispiel einen zukünftigen Geschäftspartner von Ihrem Konzept überzeugen möchten, dann muss dieser nicht im Detail über Ihre Unternehmensorganisation oder Ihre Finanzierung Bescheid wissen. Entscheiden ist hier das Geschäftsmodell und das angebotene Produkt oder eine Dienstleistung.

Haben Sie vor, mit Ihrem Businessplan einen Gründerzuschuss zu beantragen? Dann benötigen Sie eine umfangreichere Darstellung der Struktur und Organisation. Zudem soll ein Businessplan in dem Fall auch von der Rentabilität überzeugen.

Achtung: Das Arbeiten mit Mustern und Vorlagen ist nicht GoBD-konform!

Mit sevDesk kannst du ganz einfach online Rechnungen schreiben und deine Buchhaltung GoBD-konform erledigen!

Free Microsoft Word Business Plan Templates

By Joe Weller | September 22, 2020

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We’ve compiled a variety of expert-approved business plan templates and samples for Microsoft Word. There are options for organizations of any size and type — from coffee shops and hair salons to professional services, and everything in between.

Included on this page, you’ll find Word business plan templates for small businesses , startup businesses , product and service businesses , and more.

Simple Business Plan Word Templates

These customizable business plan templates come professionally designed and ready to use, and are available to download in Microsoft Word format.

Simple Business Plan Template

Use this template as a basis for creating an organized and thorough business plan. Customize the built-in table of contents to suit your needs, and use the space included to detail the nature of your business, the solution to the problem you’re solving, a market analysis, key performance indicators (KPIs), financial forecasts, and more.

Download Simple Business Plan Template — Word

Simple 30-60-90 Business Plan Template

This template is ideal for developing a 90-day action plan to create and implement your business plan in manageable, 30-day chunks. Use the document to outline your main goals and deliverables, and then assign key business activities and deadlines to ensure your plan stays on track. 

Download Simple 30-60-90-Day Business Plan Template

Word  | Smartsheet

For more 30-60-90 business plan templates, visit our "Free 30-60-90-Day Business Plan Templates and Samples" article.

Simple Business Plan Outline Template

This template provides a standard outline for a traditional business plan, which you can use to guide your research and develop your plan. Easily modify the provided information to include information that is relevant to your business. 

Download Simple Business Plan Outline Template — Word

For additional downloadable resources in a variety of formats, visit, “ Simple Business Plan Templates .”

One-Page Business Plan Word Templates

These single page business plan templates in this section provide a useful way to organize ideas. Companies can use these templates to develop a pitch document for potential partners and investors.

One-Page Business Plan Template

Use this template to capture the main details of your business concept, including your product or service offering, who it benefits, how it helps your target buyer, the pricing structure, income streams, and key milestones. There’s also room at the bottom to include a SWOT analysis .

Download One-Page Business Plan Template

Word | Smartsheet

One-Page Lean Business Plan

This template utilizes a Lean approach to help you showcase the core concepts of your business idea in a scannable format. Provide a brief overview of your company and industry, the unique benefits your product or service possesses, distribution strategy, key objectives and success metrics, and a financial plan. Use the visual timeline at the bottom to display dates and milestones.

Download One-Page Lean Business Plan Template - Word  

One-Page 30-60-90 Day Business Plan Template

A 30-60-90-day template is useful for developing an actionable plan. Simply add your main goals and the activities required to achieve them in 30-day increments. Update the status of each goal regularly to ensure your plan stays on track.

Download One-Page 30-60-90 Day Business Plan Template

For additional single page plans, along with an example of a business plan , visit " One-Page Business Plan Templates with a Quick How-To Guide ."

Small Business Plan Word Templates

These customizable business plan templates are especially useful for small businesses to develop a roadmap for structuring, operating, and growing their organization.

Small Business Plan Template

This comprehensive business plan template is ideal for small businesses that want to thoroughly document key goals and the associated activities. Add essential information to each section to keep your plan clear and concise — and pay special attention to the financial section and provide details that will validate your plan.

Download Small Business Plan Template — Word

Fill-In-the-Blank Small Business Plan Template

This fill-in-the-blank template is useful for small business owners that need some guidance adding details to the various elements of their business plan. Each section of this standard business plan comes with pre-filled content that you can expand on and customize to reflect the specific needs and details of your business. 

Download Fill-In-the-Blank Small Business Plan Template — Word

Additional Fill-in-the-Blank Business Plan templates can be found here . 

One-Page Small Business Plan Template

Small businesses can use this template to articulate business ideas in a succinct, easily digestible manner. There is space to include a business overview, key team members, a market analysis, marketing and sales plans, objectives and success metrics, and a financial plan.

Download One-Page Business Plan for Small Business — Word

Startup Business Plan Word Templates

These business plan templates are ideal for entrepreneurs to assess the viability of their idea and gain buy-in from prospective investors and stakeholders.

Startup Business Plan Template

Use this startup business plan template to create a strong and detailed roadmap of your concept and related goals. The template includes space for an executive summary, business description, summary of product or service offerings, pricing structure, marketing strategy, competitive analysis, startup expenses, funding sources, and more to ensure you have a thorough plan in place.

Download Startup Business Plan Template

Sample 30-60-90-Day Business Plan for Startup

This 30-60-90-day business plan template is versatile, and can be used to develop an actionable plan for virtually any business activity. This sample contains pre-filled information to help you explain the organization’s main goals and deliverables, as well as to assign key tasks, ownership, and deadlines. 

‌Download Sample 30-60-90 Day Business Plan for Startup Template

For additional resources to create your plan, visit “ Free Startup Business Plan Templates and Examples .”

Product and Service Business Plan Word Templates

These business plan templates are designed for a product or service-focused business to use to develop a workplan that articulates its vision and objectives.

Business Plan Template for Professional Services

Entrepreneurs offering professional services can use this document to outline the main goals and objectives associated with their business, as well as how they plan to achieve them. This template comes with a built-in table of contents and includes all the components of a traditional business plan, including the company background, market and industry analysis, competitive analysis, service offering details, promotional plan, sales forecasts, financial statements, and more.

Download Business Plan Template for Professional Services — Word

One-Page Business Plan for Service Business

This business plan template is ideal for a service-type business owner who needs a basic plan to jot down core business concepts. This single-page template has room to include the business mission and vision, service provided, target market, competitive advantage, marketing and sales plan, and key objectives. There is also a visual timeline of milestones included at the bottom of the template for tracking progress.

Download One-Page Business Plan Template for Service Business — Word

One-Page Business Plan for a Product Business

Use this one-page business plan to outline the key details related to your product-focused idea. Articulate the purpose and vision of your business, the problem your product solves, potential customers, how you will get your product to buyers, pricing strategy, main objectives, and success metrics. The timeline of milestones at the bottom of the template automatically creates a visual display of noteworthy activities. 

Download One-Page Business Plan for Product Business — Word

Fill-In-the-Blank Business Plan Word Templates

Use these pre-filled business plan templates as a basis to build a thorough plan that keeps your strategy aligned with sales, promotional, and financial objectives.

Simple Fill-In-the-Blank Business Plan

This fill-in-the-blank template features a traditional business plan layout, and includes pre-filled content in each section. Outline the key components of a well-rounded business plan, and add a company overview, market analysis, marketing and sales plan, operations plan, financial statements, supporting documentation, and more.

Download Simple Fill-In-the-Blank Business Plan Template — Word

Lean Fill-In-the-Blank Business Plan

This Lean business plan has all the necessary parts to articulate your business vision and strategy. Add information about the problem you aim to solve, your product or service offering, unique value proposition, target customers, cost structure, revenue streams, and a timeline of milestones.

Download Fill-In-the-Blank Lean Business Plan Template — Word

For additional resources, visit " Free Fill-In-the-Blank Business Plan Templates ."

For more free, downloadable templates for all aspects of your business, take a look at “ Free Business Templates for Organizations of All Sizes .”

Empower Your Teams to Implement Your Business Plan with Smartsheet

Empower your people to go above and beyond with a flexible platform designed to match the needs of your team — and adapt as those needs change. 

The Smartsheet platform makes it easy to plan, capture, manage, and report on work from anywhere, helping your team be more effective and get more done. Report on key metrics and get real-time visibility into work as it happens with roll-up reports, dashboards, and automated workflows built to keep your team connected and informed. 

When teams have clarity into the work getting done, there’s no telling how much more they can accomplish in the same amount of time.  Try Smartsheet for free, today.

Discover why over 90% of Fortune 100 companies trust Smartsheet to get work done.

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

Praburam Srinivasan

Growth Marketing Manager

February 13, 2024

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

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

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

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

What is a Business Plan Template?

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

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

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

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

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

10 Business Plan Templates to Use in 2024

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The template organizes tasks into three main categories:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Try a Free Business Plan Template in ClickUp

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

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Free Business Plan Template

One of the reasons that so many small businesses fail is that they don't do the necessary up front work to create an accurate and realistic business plan. Creating a business plan doesn't guarantee success, but the process of writing a plan is critical for any successful new business. It isn't our goal to try to tell you everything you need to know about creating a business plan. Instead, our goal is to make the process easier by providing a professionally designed business plan template that you can edit easily using Word and Excel .

Business Plan Template

License : Private Use (not for distribution or resale)

Authors : Jon Wittwer and Jim Wittwer

Update (7/22/2016) : We've added a basic break-even analysis worksheet to the companion Excel workbook.

Description

This template provides a business plan outline with sample questions, tables, and a working table of contents. It was created for newer versions of Word and Excel (Office 2007 or later) so that you can easily change the fonts and color scheme and the file will be compatible with the mobile and web-based Word & Excel apps.

It is best to use Excel for financial statements, data tables and charts. So, we have provided a companion Excel workbook with these sample financial statements and other tables and graphs that you can copy and paste into your Word document.

The companion workbook combines many of the different spreadsheets you can find on Vertex42.com, but customized specifically for inclusion in a business plan.

Using the Business Plan Template

Editing headings and table of contents.

Word allows you to assign format Styles to text and paragraphs, and we've designed the template to use these Styles for defining headings, sub-headings, and figure captions.

If you want to add a new section so that the Table of Contents updates correctly, just add a new heading in the body of the document and assign it the Heading 1 or Heading 2 style.

To update the Table of Contents, go to the References tab and within the Table of Contents group of buttons, click on Update Table and then "Update entire table."

Copy/Paste From Excel to Word

For simple tables, you can use Copy/Paste (Ctrl+c / Ctrl+v) to copy a table from Excel to Word. This will typically paste the data as a formatted and editable table in Word, though none of the formulas will be functional within Word (and the table will not be linked to Excel). If you don't want the table to be editable in Word, you can "Paste as a Picture" using Paste Special or by choosing the "Picture" option when you right-click in Word to paste the table.

Important : When you paste a chart object into your business plan, make sure to "Paste as a Picture" because pasting the chart as an embedded object means that the entire spreadsheet becomes embedded in your Word document (even though what you see is only the chart).

If you want to insert a table into Word as a "Linked Object" so that when you edit Excel, the table in Word will update automatically, you may have a more difficult time preserving the formatting of the original. However, at the least the entire spreadsheet won't be embedded within your business plan Word document.

More Related Templates

Resources for Writing a Business Plan

• Write Your Business Plan at SBA.gov - Anybody starting a business should become familiar with the SBA (small business association). SBA.gov also has an online tool for creating a business plan .
• YouTube: How to Write a Business Plan - Business Wales (3 minutes) - This video offers a quick overview and tips for the essential parts of a business plan.
• YouTube: How to Write a Business Plan - Berkeley-Haas (71 minutes) - This presentation offers both the venture capitalist and entrepreneur perspective on how to write a business plan that can successfully attract funding.
• Write Your Business Plan at Entrepreneur.com - A book written by the staff of a company that should know what they are talking about.
• Sample Business Plans at bplans.com - Finding a business plan for similar businesses in your industry is a great way to get ideas for what to include in your plan. This site is a great resource for not only finding sample plans, but also for creating a business plan online using their step-by-step approach.

Other Free Business Plan Templates

• Business Planning Template Gallery at SCORE.org - This nonprofit organization (supported by the SBA) has provided expertise and free mentorship for millions of small business owners. They also have a useful collection of templates.
• Develop Your Business Plan at business.gov.au - This Australian Government site provides a really good business plan template for Word, including a detailed guide, questions to answer, and sample financial statements.

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Simple Business Plan Template for Word, PDF

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Template Highlights

• Ten sections: Company description, Opportunity, Industry Analysis, Target Market, Management Team, Marketing Strategy, Timeline, Financial Plan, Conclusion. Bonus Appendices section, if you want to get fancy
• Detailed instructions for each section
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Simple business plan template.

Business Plan Template

Executive Summary

Begin with a brief description of your company to give background and context. Tell the reader why you have embarked on this new venture.

Then, move into a description of the opportunity. Explain your project from the broadest to most narrow context. Tell readers what product or service you plan to offer, how it fits into the industry you’ll operate within, who your target customers are, and what you expect from the market in the future. Explain your value proposition, and give an overview of the market.

Briefly describe your management team to help potential investors understand the skills and experience your company brings to the table. Next, move into a description of how your business will operate on a day-to-day basis.

Then, describe how you will promote your new product/service. You don’t need to go into detail here, but you should provide enough information to illustrate the marketing methods you will use and how you will attract new customers.

Describe the cost structure and financial aspects of the business. You’ll need to explain the kind and amount of investment that you need, what you will use the money for, and how you envision your business becoming profitable.

Next, you should move into a description of how you will implement your business plan. How will you roll out your new business? What is the expected timeline?

Finally, close this section with a clear, pithy explanation of your project, why it is needed, and how it will benefit future customers and investors.

HubSpot Tip: Write this section last, after you have written all of the other sections. It should summarize your entire business plan in a page or two (at most).

Company Description

Provide a description of your organization. Include the company’s name, what type of entity it is, who owns it, and note any significant assets.

This is a good place to talk about why you do what you do. What is your company’s mission statement? What are your goals and objectives?

What product or service do you provide? Who are your customers? Do you have a geographic focus? If so, where?

Briefly describe the industry, the opportunities it offers, and the growth it is experiencing.

Note some of your company’s main strengths and briefly explain where you fit into the industry. You will delve more deeply into this later.

HubSpot Tip: Keep this section brief. You will have plenty of time to talk about the details of your company and the business opportunity later in the document.

The Opportunity

Describe the need in the market that your business idea will fill. How did this need arise and why has it not been filled yet?

Explain how you identified the need and how your product/service will meet it.

Describe your products/services here. You can include diagrams or pictures to help illustrate your offering.

You should also include a description of the features and benefits of your product/service to your customer. Consider capturing this in a simple table like the one below.

Product/Service Feature

Benefit to the Customer

HubSpot Tip: Be sure to include your value proposition in this section – describe how your service/product is attractive to customers.

Industry Analysis

In this section, you’ll want to talk about the key environmental trends in your industry. What are the barriers to entry (e.g., high production or marketing costs, tariff barriers, regulatory challenges, extensive training)? How is the industry progressing? What is changing?

Then think about your business’ competitive advantage. Are there other companies providing the same good/service that you will be offering? If so, are customers likely to switch to your product/service? How do you compare with your competitors?

HubSpot Tip: Note the key factors for success in this industry, and show that your company has them.

Target Market Research and Definition

Based on the market research that you previously conducted, provide an explanation of the market in which your business will reside. How big is the market? How fast is it growing? Will your product/service be a major factor in the market?

Define your target customers. Who do you expect to buy your product/service?

You should identify and describe your major competitors in this section, as well.

Identify what defines your product/service in the marketplace. What distinctive competencies or offerings do you offer that other companies do not?

HubSpot Tip: Though you want to mention some competitors, make sure the focus is on your business and how it will serve your target customers.

Management Team & Organization

Your readers will want to know that your team has the skills and qualifications to implement what you have outlined in the business plan. Include brief biographical sketches of your leadership, including the board of directors (if you have one) and any high-level external advisors that your company uses.

Include their educational credentials and a description of the relevant work they have done and accomplishments they have achieved. You can also personalize this section with headshots of your staff to help put faces to the names.

If you have a complicated management structure, consider including an organizational chart like the one shown below. Tailor it to include the names and roles of your leadership team.

HubSpot Tip: You don’t need to include descriptions of every position in the company, just high-level management.

Operations Plan

In this section, describe how you will manage your business and what daily operations will look like. You should cover at least the following topics, and any other relevant information that might be unique to your industry:

• Staffing – How many employees will you have? Where will they be located? What kinds of skills and certifications do they need?

• Infrastructure – What kind of physical space will your company occupy? Describe your business locations. What kinds of technologies will you require?

• Legal Structure – Legal issues are important in every industry. Describe the unique aspects of yours and how you will address them.

• Regulatory – Regulations also play a key role in most businesses. Include a discussion of the regulatory issues faced in your industry and how you will handle them.

• Certifications or Accreditations - Does your company require any special documentation to do business? If so, describe how you’ll attain the required certification or accreditation.

• Product/Service Delivery Process – Describe your business processes. These might include inventory, supply chain, and accounts payable and receivable.

HubSpot Tip: This list is not exhaustive, so be sure to include enough information to help potential investors understand how your business will operate.

Marketing Strategy

Marketing is a crucial to the success of any business. Building on what you described in the Target Market Research and Definition section, define the components of your strategy to market your product/service.

Describe any challenges, including barriers to entering the market. What potential problems do you foresee? How will you address them?

Explain why you have chosen to operate your business in the selected location. Are there cost savings involved in choosing this location? Does it bring you closer to your customer base?

What is your pricing strategy? Explain and provide clear evidence for why the pricing structure you selected will lead customers to buy your products/services and will, at the same time, result in a profit for your business and investors.

Describe your plan for promoting your new business, product, or service. Will you use print, radio, television, or social media? Will you hire a marketing manager?

Be sure to indicate the budget for your marketing strategy and where you will obtain the funding for this important aspect of your business. You may need to employ consultants or an advertising agency – be sure to include these costs.

HubSpot Tip: Consider including a few mockups of your logos, packaging, and even advertisements to give potential investors a preview of your company’s marketing materials.

Implementation Plan And Timeline

Describe the phases in which your business will be rolled out. Indicate which phase you are in currently, and how long it will take to bring your product/service to market.

Consider including a timeline like the one below to illustrate the steps in the process. Customize it with your dates and the specific steps for your business.

HubSpot Tip: While aiming to please potential investors, be sure to set reasonable deadlines that you are able to meet.

Financial Plan

Tell your potential investors the amount of funds you have received thus far and who provided them. How much more funding do you require?

Describe how you will use each part of the funding you are requesting. Investors often feel more comfortable if they know exactly how their money will be used.

Give readers a peek into your company’s projected financial future. Include the following as appendices, but describe them in this section:

• Cash flow projection – An estimate of how much money you expect to flow in and out of your business.

• Capitalization plan – Lists the sources and uses of capital that your business plans to amass.

• Break-even analysis – A determination of what you need to sell in order to cover the costs of doing business.

In addition to the above, you’ll need to include an income statement and balance sheet. Since these could be long and were likely developed in Excel or an accounting software, you should reference them here and include them in an appendix.

You will also want to explain any assumptions that you have made that affect your financial information. Later you will be able to point to these to explain why something may have turned out differently than expected.

HubSpot Tip: This is one of the most important sections of your business proposal. If you are not an expert in finance, be sure to seek assistance from someone who is.

In a few sentences, summarize the main point that you would like the reader to understand about your business. Aim to convince them that they should invest!

Describe the next steps, and give detailed contact information so that they can get in touch with you easily.

HubSpot Tip: This section should incite the reader to act. Make it easy for your potential investors by including in this section all of the information they need to move forward.

Include any supporting documents for the previous sections here. You can reference them in the text and use them to provide additional detail without breaking up the flow of your business plan text.

HubSpot Tip: Some items you could include are: marketing materials, maps of the business location, background research, articles that have been written about the company, and financial documents.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do i write a simple business plan, is this template free, can i edit this template, related tags:.

• Business Plans

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6+ FREE Multipage Business Plan Templates: Your Path to Business Excellence

Why is a business plan called the “foundation” of a business, download business plan templates in ms word format.

#1 – General Business Plan Format

#2 – Business Plan Template with Sample Data

Helpful Video Tutorial

#3 – nonprofit business plan.

#4 – Small Business Plan

#5 – Startup Business Plan

#6 – Business Continuity Plan

How does a business plan help you start and manage your business?

Serves as your light in the tunnel:, earns you triple the outcomes:, helps you in proving your efficacy:, helps you in securing investments and funding:, brings the right team on board:, how does one jump into the process of business plan designing.

• The Concept and idea behind your business
• Identifying your potential Clients or Customers
• Carving the Cashflow trails that can be expected

How do we organize a business plan for maximum efficiency?

• Executive summary – company’s goals (short-term as well as long-term), missions, and objectives
• Company and enterprise description – the structure, nature, history, mission, goals, and strategies. Explain what your enterprise aims to achieve and the industry it operates in.
• Products/services – What offerings will you provide to your market?
• Market Analysis – Understand your targeted customer base, industry knowledge, marketing data, and insights into your competitors.
• SWOT analysis – Analyzing your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to refine your strategy.
• Strategy and Implementation – Craft a sales and marketing strategy, plan for business promotion, navigate market entry, manage production and delivery, and outline your workforce strategies.
• Legal considerations – Address the legal matters essential for legitimizing your enterprise.
• Financial plans and projections – Detail profit and funding generation, strategies for sales maximization, cash flow management, and income statement projections.
• Timeline – Establish a timeline to track milestones and goals for your enterprise’s development.
• Appendix – Include additional supporting documents and resources.

How to choose the most appropriate plan for one’s business?

• A strategic plan can be chosen when you specifically want to focus on the organization’s vision and properties.
• A traditional plan can be selected when you wish to stick to the basic, standard template
• A lean plan can be your out-of-the-box thinking, helping you formulate a document based on new ideas. It takes less time to be formulated and is a summarized document.

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Free Business Plan Template

Download a free business plan template for Word. Includes frequently asked questions about business plans.

Updated on September 17th, 2023

The SMB Guide is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more

A business plan template is a pre-formatted business plan that contains an outline for a synopsis of your business details, goals, and measurable steps you are planning to take to achieve these. A business plan is vital to obtain financing for your business and should be the foundation of your pitch deck.

Below is our free downloadable business plan template. This plan can be tailored to your specific business and the stage it is in, as well as for the intended audience.

Business Plan Template - Free Download

Download this blank business plan template in Word format and create your own business plan.

Benefits of Using a Business Plan Template:

• Ensure that your plan is presented in a standard format.
• Uncover the right information before your business is launched.
• Create a professional document without outsourcing.

See our template .

Why You Should Use a Business Plan Template:

Business plan templates allow entrepreneurs and small business owners to save time by working off of a pre-formatted document. With a professional template, you can add specific information about your business without having to start from scratch.

Writing a business plan is a time-consuming process, even if you use a template. However, using a template ensures that you add all of the content that you need before you make your business pitch. Working through a template one section at a time can help you to gather all of the information that you need.

Generally, it's a good idea to write your Executive Summary last. This way, you will have a much better idea of how to summarize and describe your business.

Download our template to get started.

Business to Business

Discover more about Business to Business (B2B) - what it means and how it affects your business. Includes an overview and frequently asked questions.

Nov 28, 2023

How do you write a business plan?

You can use a template , or start from scratch. Either way, your business plan should include a summary of your business, financial projections, details about marketing, a description of your products/services, and a SWOT analysis.

What is a business plan template?

A business plan template is a pre-formatted document that already contains an outline and basic details. You can customize a template to create a business plan for your own business.

How do I write a business plan for a startup?

Planning for a startup is the same as planning for any new business venture. You need a detailed business plan that is focused primarily on the financial needs of your new business. This will help to attract investors and give you a realistic picture of how much capital you need to succeed.

How do I write a 5-year business plan?

A 5-year business plan is typically written the same way as a normal business plan, except the financial projections from one year to the next may go into more detail. The plan may also include special projects/developments that you want to invest in during the first five years of operation.

What are the three main purposes of a business plan?

• Create a roadmap for the growth of your business.
• Demonstrate to lenders and investors that you have a path to success.
• Gather and evaluate all of the information needed to make decisions.

What should a business plan include?

• Executive Summary.
• Business Overview.
• Operations.
• Market Analysis.
• Products and Services.
• Competition.
• Management.
• Financial Plan.
• Projected Revenue.
• Appendices.

How do you write a successful business plan?

Successful business plans are well researched, including supporting documentation (financial statements, graphs, etc), demonstrate a keen understanding of the target market, and have a multi-faceted marketing strategy.

What do you title a business plan?

Business plans usually have a cover page with a prominent title that includes the company name and the words "Business Plan" either above or below the name. The cover page may also include contact information or a business address.

What are the types of business plans?

• Startup business plan.
• Growth business plan.
• Strategic business plan.
• Feasibility business plan.
• Internal business plan.
• Operations business plan.

How long is a business plan?

The length of your business plan is less important than the quality of the content that is contained within it. However, business plans generally vary in length from 20 to 50 pages depending on the spacing, size of the font, visual elements, and detail of each section.

How much does it cost to get a business plan written?

On the low end, freelancers may charge several hundred dollars to write a business plan, while professionals and consultants may charge several thousand. If you are going to outsource the creation of your business plan, make sure you hire someone who has lots of experience.

How do you write an executive summary for a business plan?

An executive summary should contain the following:

• Introduction.
• Company strengths.
• Explanation of product/service and how it meets a need or solves a problem.
• Conclusion emphasizing the importance/value of the business.

You should try to be concise when you're writing your executive summary since the rest of your business plan will provide more explanation for readers. The point is to draw people in and give them a 1000-foot view of what you are doing. It is generally agreed that the executive summary should make up no more than 5 - 10% of your entire business plan.

35+ Best Business Plan Templates for Word 2024

Are you writing a business plan for a brand new startup? Or updating an old business plan for an established brand? Then this collection of MS Word business plan templates will definitely come in handy.

The key to making an effective business plan brochure that wins over investors and inspires employees is to use a modern and attractive design.

No one wants to read through a 100-page brochure that looks like a VCR manual from the 1960s. Today, people prefer cleaner brochure layouts with proper paragraph formatting that offer a much smoother reading experience.

Designing such modern business plan documents is not that difficult. In fact, you can easily create them using Word templates.

In this post, we showcase high-quality business plan templates for Word that have been designed by professionals. They feature modern designs and clean layouts that are perfect for all kinds of startups, businesses, and corporate companies. Have a look.

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Explore Word Templates

Education Business Plan Word Template

This Word template is designed for making business plan documents related to educational brands and businesses. However, you can easily customize the design to make business plans for various other industries. The template includes 20 unique page layouts with modern designs.

Business Plan & Proposal Template for Word

You can use this Word template to make both business proposals and business plans. It has a very flexible page design that you can change to make brochures for startups, agencies, and other businesses. There are 20 pages in this template in A4 size.

Bold Business Plan Word Template

If you want to make a bold business plan with a high-end luxury feel, this Word template will come in handy. It features a dark color theme that will fit in nicely with luxury brands, hotels, corporate agencies, and more. The template has 56 different page layouts. It comes in Word, Apple Pages, and InDesign formats.

Big Business Plan Brochure Template for Word

Get started with this Word template to make business plan documents with clean and minimal design. It includes 28 unique pages with easily editable layouts. You can change its colors, fonts, and images with ease. The template is available in multiple formats, including Word, InDesign, Affinity Publisher, and more.

Free Simple Business Plan Word Template

While this free business plan template only has 4 page layouts and a simple design, it’s more than enough for making a basic business plan document for a small business. It comes in Word and Apple Pages formats.

Tropo – Minimalist Business Plan for Word

Tropo is a minimalist business plan template designed for Microsoft Word. It’s user-friendly, designed with organized files for effortless customization, and is suitable for creating business proposals. Tropo offers 32 editable pages, customizable fonts, and colors, well-organised layers, and is print-ready.

Business Proposal Template for Word

This is a professional-quality business proposal template for Word that offers flexibility and ease of customization. This 20-page template can be easily edited to suit your unique business needs without jeopardizing the layout or the readability. It’s fully customizable, well-layered, and organized.

This is an adaptable template, perfect for showcasing your unique services and business plans to new clients. It’s a user-friendly, customizable template, enabling designers to express their brand and work competence professionally. The pack includes a 20-page InDesign and Microsoft Word templates.

Business Proposal Template for Word & InDesign

A versatile business proposal template ideal for constructing thorough business plans or proposals. Compatible with Microsoft Word 2010 and higher, as well as Adobe InDesign CS4 and above, the template offers a comprehensive 16-page document that can adapt for print or digital output.

Business Plan & Project Proposal Template

This is a comprehensive business proposal template for Word. Boasting 40 pages of editable sections such as company details, project timelines, budget specifics, and more, the template utilizes a structured editorial layout to organize information efficiently.

Multipurpose Business Brochure Word Template

This brochure template features multipurpose page layouts. This means you can edit and customize each page to make many different types of documents, including business plans and proposals. It has 20 unique pages in A4 size.

Creative Business Plan Template for Word

This is a massive business plan template that comes with more than 60 different page layouts to choose from. It’s especially suitable for agencies and startups for making a high-quality business plan document. The template is available in Word and InDesign formats.

Company Proposal & Business Plan Word Template

Whether you want to make a business plan or a proposal document, this Word template can handle both. It features a modern and professional layout for making documents for corporate businesses. The template includes 20 pages in A4 size.

Education School Plan Template for Word

You can use this Word template to make a stylish business plan or educational plan for a school. The template has fully customizable paragraph styles, editable colors, fonts, images, and much more. It has 20 page custom layouts.

Free Agency Business Plan Word Template

This free business plan template includes 5 page layouts with very simple and basic designs. You can use it to make business plan documents for advertising and design agencies. It’s available in Apple Pages format too.

Modern Business Plan Template for Word

A business plan document is about presenting your goals, missions, and vision for the company in an appealing way. Having a great-looking design is a must for achieving that task. This Word template will help you create such a business plan document. It includes 20 different page layouts with modern designs. And you can edit it using either MS Word or InDesign.

Clean Business Plan Microsoft Word Template

If you want to make sure your business plan looks more professional, a clean and minimal design is the best choice for your brochure. With this template, you can design a clean and professional-looking business plan to showcase your business goals. It includes 16 page layouts with fully customizable designs. You can also choose from 3 different color schemes to design your document.

Simple Business Plan Template for Word

This Word business plan template uses a very simple design. It doesn’t have too many design elements, images, or lots of colors. Instead, the design puts more focus on the contents of the document. This approach makes it a great template for designing a highly effective business plan for many different types of businesses. It includes 12 page layouts as well.

Business Plan Brochure Template for Word

If you want to make an impressive and attractive business plan brochure for a big company or a corporate brand, this Word template will come in handy. It features 48 different page layouts with modern and stylish designs. The template is available in both MS Word and InDesign formats. And, as a bonus, you also get letterhead and business card templates.

One Page Business Plan Template for Word

Sometimes a simple one-page document is more than enough to highlight the key points of a business plan. This template is ideal for making such brochures. The template comes with 4 page layouts but you can easily customize it to create one-page or even multi-page documents.

Professional Services Free Business Plan Word Template

This free business plan template for Word comes directly from the official MS Office templates directory. It’s free to download and features page layouts with modern designs. It’s ideal for creating a business plan for small agencies.

Free Word Business Plan Template for Freelancers

Another free Word business plan template from the Office directory. This template is designed with freelancers and agencies that specialize in home-based professional services. It includes a fully editable layout as well.

Editable Business Plan Template for Word

Every Word template should give you the freedom to edit, customize, and do anything you want with the design. This template lets you do all that and more. It features a fully editable layout that you can customize to your preference. The template also includes 40 page layouts that come in A4 and US Letter sizes.

Minimal Business Plan Word Template

Looking for a clean, simple, and minimalist business plan template? Then this Word template is made just for you. It has a very light and simple layout that allows you to showcase all elements of your business plan in a professional way. The template includes 32 page layouts and it’s available in Word and InDesign formats.

Startup Business Plan Word Template

This Word business plan template is designed specifically for startups and agencies. It features a set of modern page layouts, 20 custom page designs to be exact. You can also customize each page layout by changing colors and fonts. It comes in US Letter and A4 sizes as well.

4-Page Business Plan Template for Word

You can create a powerful four-page business plan using this Word template. It features an effective page design that is ideal for creating a summary of your business plan. The template is fully customizable and it’s available in Word, IDML, and INDD formats.

One Page Simple Business Plan Word Template

This simple and minimal business plan template is perfect for making a one-page brochure or even a two-page document. The template comes with 2 page layouts that you can use to create a simple double-sided one-page business plan. Or you can print them separately too. It’s very basic but quite effective at the same time.

Free Simple Business Plan Template for Word

A free business plan template that you can edit and customize in Word. This template has a very basic and blank design that you can use however you like. You can make this template your own by adding a few design elements as well.

Free One-Page Business Plan Template for Word

This is a free one-page business plan template that has a minimal layout for making a straightforward business plan brochure. It includes multiple sections for detailing different aspects of your business plan.

Marketing & Sales Plan Word Template

Marketing and sales plans are also part of a business plan, especially for marketing agencies. With this Word template, you can design an effective sales plan for your business. The template features 32 different page layouts in A4 size. It comes in Word and InDesign versions as well.

Real Estate Business Plan Template for Word

This Word template features a very clean and visual-centric design that’s ideal for making business plans for real estate and rental property businesses. There are more than 30 unique page layouts in this template with easily editable designs. You can change colors, fonts, and paragraphs however you like to fit your brand.

Basic Microsoft Word Business Plan Template

If you want to make a simple and basic business plan for a small company, this Word template is for you. It features a minimal layout with a basic design for making a small brochure. You can use 4 different page layouts to create your business plan. And it’s fully customizable too.

Simple Word Business Plan Template

This business plan template also features a simple design. It’s ideal for startups, agencies, and even small businesses for making a business plan to motivate employees and even set goals for your future. The template includes 4 page designs in A4 size.

A creative business plan Word template that comes with more than 50 different page designs. With this template, you can make all kinds of business plan brochures for various types of brands. The template also includes editable colors, paragraphs, objects, free fonts, and so much more.

Business Project Plan Template for Word

A simple business plan template for small brands. This template includes 3 unique page layouts for crafting a basic business plan. It’s ideal even for solopreneurs and freelancers for creating a strategy for your business. It comes in A4 size.

Free Healthcare Business Plan Word Template

This free business plan template is made with businesses and companies in the healthcare industry. It features a clean design with several page layouts you can use to craft an effective business plan.

Free Editable Business Plan Template for Word

Another blank and basic business plan Word template you can download for free. This template has very simple page layouts but they are ideal for creating an effective business plan brochure for small businesses.

Be sure to check out our best Word templates collection for more design inspiration.

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Dreaming of launching your business or taking it to the next level? A strong business plan is your roadmap to success, and we’re here to equip you with the tools to build it!  Our FREE Business Plan Template Word document offers a comprehensive framework to guide you through the entire process.  Whether you’re searching for “business plan templates word” or “financial planning business plan,” this template tackles it all, helping you craft a plan that aligns perfectly with your vision and financial goals.

Fill the Form to Download Free Business Plan Template

With sections covering everything from market analysis to financial projections, our free template will give you the tools you need to turn your business ideas into a reality.

This business plan template is the product of Wise Business Plan’s 13+ years of experience in business plan research and development to help entrepreneurs attract investors.

You will be able to write a professional business plan by using our lender-proven business plan format .

How Can Our Business Plan Template Help You?

Nothing is scarier than a blank page. A business plan template saves you from that freighting blank page. 

• Clear roadmap: A business plan template gives you a clear roadmap for creating a business plan. It gives you clear directions on every stage of business plan writing with examples.
• Minimal chances of mistakes: A business plan template is written according to the standard business plan writing practice. The chances of you getting your business plan wrong with a business plan template are slim.
• Saves time and effort: Using a pre-designed template can save your time that they can easily customize with their own information.
• Cost-effective: Using a template can be a cost-effective option compared to paying for expensive business plan software or hiring a consultant to create a plan from scratch.
• Professionalism: A well-designed business plan template can give your business plan a professional and polished look, which can be important if you plan to use the plan as investor business plan to attract investors or lenders.

Limitations of Using Business Plan Templates:

While business simple plan templates can be a helpful starting point, they come with limitations. Here’s what to consider:

• One-size-fits-all approach: Each business is unique, and a generic template might not capture your specific needs and vision.
• Lack of detail: Templates might provide basic sections but lack in-depth guidance on crucial aspects like financial projections or marketing strategies.
• Limited creativity: Templates can restrict your ability to present your ideas in a way that stands out to potential investors or lenders.
• Potentially outdated information: Ensure the template uses current industry standards and regulations.
• Focus on format over substance: Don’t prioritize filling sections just because they exist within the template.

Filling Up a Business Plan Template with Ease:

Even with limitations, templates can offer a framework. Here are tips to fill one out effectively:

• Research your industry: Tailor the template to your specific industry by adding relevant details and competitor analysis. We have 45+ specifically tailored business templates, you can choose the best fit among them.
• Focus on your unique selling proposition (USP): Highlight your business’s competitive advantage and set it apart.
• Use clear and concise language: Avoid jargon and present your plan in a way that is easy to understand for both financial and non-financial audiences.
• Prepare strong financials: Invest time in creating realistic financial projections, even if the template offers basic sections.
• Edit and customize: Don’t be afraid to add or remove sections depending on your specific needs. Remember, it’s your business plan.
• Seek professional guidance: Consider consulting a business advisor or financial expert for feedback and support.

By understanding the limitations and leveraging these tips, you can utilize a business plan template as a springboard to craft a compelling and informative document that represents your unique business effectively.

Get Free Business Plan Template

BUSINESS PLAN TEMPLATE OUTLINE

• Business Plan Template
• 1. Cover Page
• 2. Executive Summary
• 3. Company Overview
• 4. Market Analysis
• 5. Competitive Analysis
• 6. Marketing Plan
• 7. Operations Plan
• 8. Management Team
• 9. Financial Plan
• 10. Appendix
• Business Plan Summary

Writing a Business Plan FAQs

Yes, our business plan template is customizable, allowing you to add, remove, or modify any sections to fit the needs of your business.

Yes, our business plan template comes with detailed instructions and guidance on how to use it effectively.

Yes, our business plan template is designed to be flexible and adaptable to any type of business. You can customize it to fit the specific needs and requirements of your business.

 Our business plan template is suitable for both startups and established businesses. It includes all the key sections and components necessary for a comprehensive business plan.

Yes, our business plan template can be used by multiple people to collaborate on the same plan. It can be easily shared and edited in real-time using popular collaboration tools such as Google Docs or Microsoft Teams.

Yes, our business plan template is compatible with different software and devices, including Microsoft Word, Google Docs, and PDF readers.

Yes, our business plan template can be used to secure financing or investment for your business. It includes all the necessary information and analysis required by investors or lenders, such as market analysis, financial projections, and business strategy.

Yes, our business plan template is suitable for use in different industries or sectors, as it can be customized to fit the specific needs and requirements of any business.

Executive Summary : A brief summary of the key points in the business plan, including the company's mission statement, product/service, target market, financial projections, and management team.

Company Overview: An introduction to the company, including its legal structure, history, and current status. This section should also highlight the company's unique selling proposition and any competitive advantages.

Industry Analysis : A thorough examination of the industry the company operates in, including market size, growth potential, trends, and key players.

Customer Analysis: An analysis of the target market, including demographics, psychographics, and consumer behavior. This section should also include a discussion of the company's customer needs and how the product/service meets those needs.

Competitive Analysis : An examination of the company's competitors, including their strengths, weaknesses, and market share. This section should also include a discussion of the company's competitive advantage and how it differentiates itself from competitors.

Marketing Plan : A detailed plan for how the company will promote and sell its product/service, including pricing, distribution channels, and marketing tactics.

Operations Plan : A description of how the company will manufacture, distribute, and deliver its product/service, including supply chain management, production processes, and logistics.

Management Team: An overview of the company's management team, including key personnel and their qualifications and experience.

Financial Plan : A detailed financial projection for the company, including revenue, expenses, and cash flow. This section should also include a discussion of the company's funding requirements and how it plans to use the funds.

Appendix : Any additional information that supports the business plan, such as market research data, resumes of key personnel, and legal documents.

Yes, a business plan is required for funding, especially if you are seeking funding from investors or lenders. A business plan is a written document that outlines your business goals, strategies, and financial projections, and demonstrates to potential investors or lenders that you have a clear plan for success. Even if you are not seeking external funding, having a business plan is important for the success of your business as it helps clarify goals, identify potential challenges, and create a roadmap for achieving objectives.

The process of writing a business plan for a startup is similar to that for an established business, but there is a key difference. Established businesses should emphasize past accomplishments and use historical data for financial projections, while startups must focus on validating future forecasts since there is no hard data to rely on. To write a thorough business plan, follow a step-by-step process for how to write a comprehensive business plan . 

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Business Plan Template

Use this free Business Plan Template for Word to manage your projects better.

To start your business journey on the right foot, download our free business plan template and break down your business goals into actionable components.

Before you can start your business, you need to find your niche, seek financial backing and create a business plan to bring your idea to fruition. Our free business plan template will guide you through every step of the way. But first, let’s quickly define what a business plan is.

What Is a Business Plan?

A business plan is a document that explains how a business will operate and establish itself in the market to generate profits. Business plans are usually created before a new business starts, to make sure there are no loose ends that could affect its profitability or ability to operate. They can also be created for business improvement purposes.

Business plans are also crucial for raising funds for new business ventures, as they’re used to provide the key details an investor should know to determine whether or not a business is a sound investment.

What Is a Business Plan Template?

Our business plan template outlines the business, product or service that you want to launch. It also details the market you’re targeting, the goals and objectives of the venture and how you propose to achieve them.

The business plan is one of the three pillars that any new idea must stand on to be successful. The other two are a marketing plan and a financial plan. These will be touched upon in part within the business plan template and included in full as supporting documents.

What Should Be Included In a Business Plan Template?

Business plans vary from one organization to another. However, there are key elements that any business plan should have to provide a clear picture of a business, especially if you’re creating a business plan to request funding from investors. Here’s an outline that includes some of the most fundamental aspects to add to your business plans.

• Executive summary
• Company description
• Market analysis
• Marketing & sales strategy
• Operational plan
• Financial projections
• Organizational structure and management
• Legal structure

While you can decide how thorough you want your business plan to be, you’ll want to provide as many details as possible. A detailed business plan can reveal significant flaws in your business model. Business planning flaws such as ignoring industry trends can cost your company money, or could even lead to bankruptcy, so it’s important that you take your time when making a business plan.

How to Use This Free Business Plan Template

Now, let’s dive into each of those sections to have a better idea of how to use this business plan template for Word.

Executive Summary

Here’s where you lay out your idea. Your executive summary is the elevator pitch, something that encapsulates your business plan contents in just one page or a couple of paragraphs.

The main purpose of your executive summary is to highlight the key elements from your business plan thatyou wish to communicate to investors or stakeholders such as the market opportunity, an overview of how you’ll manage the venture, competitive advantages, key aspects of the company background, etc.

Company Description

This section explains what your company does and what it intends to achieve.

• Mission statement: The mission statement is a short action declaration that explains the purpose of your business and what it does. It should be one or two sentences long.
• Vision statement: The vision statement is similar to your mission statement in terms of length, but the vision statement states the future goals of the organization.
• Value proposition: The value proposition explains how your company will offer value to customers in a unique way that differentiates it from the competition.
• Core values: The core values are the guiding principles that shape your company’s organizational culture, such as integrity, innovation and collaboration.

Market Analysis

This section should explain to readers how your company intends to compete and position itself in a particular market. To do so, you should include the following:

• Industry analysis: Provide an overview of your business industry. Briefly explain if there are any current trends that might affect your business, either positively or negatively, such as new competitors, new technologies or any other changes. You should include statistics to explain how your industry has grown over the years to convince stakeholders of its value.
• Target market: The target market section should explain the ideal customer for your products. Your marketing activities will be focused on this type of customer, so it should be the most profitable customer to serve. You can easily express what your target market is by creating buyer personas.
• Direct competitors: Direct competitors are businesses that offer exactly the same type of product you do and also serve the same target market. For this reason, you should use your unique value proposition to differentiate from them. Think about two different brands of soda. They offer the exact same product to the same market, at the same place.
• Indirect competitors: Indirect competitors are businesses that offer substitute products to your target market, which means they don’t offer the same product as you do, but their product could also be used to satisfy the same customer need. Now think about butter and margarine. While the product isn’t exactly the same, it can be purchased by customers to satisfy the same need.
• SWOT analysis: SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. A SWOT analysis is a very important part of a business plan because it allows you to do a quick assessment of your current competitive position by looking at the internal strengths and weaknesses of your business while also considering any opportunities and threats from the external environment, such as the risk of new competitors or the opportunity of an underserved market.

Marketing & Sales Strategy

The purpose of this section is to explain how your company will market the product to your customers. It uses the 4 Ps of marketing as the guiding principle.

• Product: Explain what your product is, how it works and how it’s meant to be used. Also, explain some of the main attributes or features that make it superior to other products on the market. This can be anything such as lower production costs , durability or ease of use.
• Price: Pricing is an important part of your marketing strategy. Use this template to indicate your estimated profit margin along with a general description of the expected costs.
• Place: Place simply refers to two main things. Your sales channels, which are the methods you use to sell your product, such as online e-commerce platforms or brick-and-mortar locations and your distribution channels, which are the methods of transportation you’ll use to bring your product from the production line to the final customer.
• Promotion: Use this section to explain the various methods you’ll use to advertise your product, such as websites, social media platforms or traditional methods such as TV, newspaper or radio ads.

Operational Plan

This section should provide a quick overview of how your business will operate by outlining the following areas:

• Day-to-day operations: Briefly explain how your business will serve customers or manufacture products. The goal is to provide a quick overview of the daily operations of your business for stakeholders and investors.
• Supply chain: Every business needs to purchase raw materials, parts and components to deliver products or services to its target market. Use this section to explain the key steps in your supply chain , and who are your key suppliers.
• Permits and regulatory compliance: Use this section to list any permits or regulatory compliance standards your products should meet, if any.

Financial Projections

Use this section to attach any financial documents you might have. If you’re starting a new business you can use financial forecasts. Here are some of the financial documents you can include.

• Income statements
• Balance sheets
• Cash flow statements
• Capital expenditure budgets
• Cost forecasts
• Gross profit projections
• Profit & loss statement
• Projected balance sheet

In addition to these documents, it’s advisable to include an exit strategy. The exit strategy is a contingency plan that’s executed to minimize losses for investors and business owners in the event of bankruptcy or if the business must be terminated at some point. Use this section to briefly explain how you’d execute your exit strategy.

Management Team and Key Personnel

It helps to build confidence and give investors a sense of the risk they’re dealing with if you can provide profiles of your executive and management team. In fact, anyone who will be instrumental in executing the business plan should be included. Their skills and experience can go a long way to realizing your business plan.

Legal Structure

Last but not least, use this section to explain whether your business is a sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation or any other type of legal structure.

While you can decide how thorough you want your business plan to be, the more details you provide the better, as a detailed business plan can reveal significant flaws in your business model. Business planning flaws such as ignoring industry trends can cost your company money, or could even lead to bankruptcy, so it’s important that you take your time when making a business plan.

Why Should You Use a Business Plan Template?

The main reason for a business plan template is to show off your idea in the best possible way to attract investors by collecting the points that show why your business, product or service is viable.

The other reason is that nothing is possible without a plan. Launching a new business, product or service is a project, and a project without a plan is like a boat without a rudder. It might not sink, but it’s unlikely to get where you want it to go.

There are more detailed reasons to take the time and effort required to fill in our business plan template. For example, a bank and investors won’t let you in the door without a business plan. The same is true for any potential partners.

On top of that, the template provides broad strokes as to how to implement your idea . This is vitally important if you sway your investors and need to make the plan a reality.

Once you have investors on board, you need to turn your business plan into a viable project. Project management software like ProjectManager can help. Our Gantt charts can organize tasks, track costs, allocate resources and more. Plus, live dashboards give you a high-level view of performance to catch issues before they become problems. With project management software, you can plan, track and report on everything that matters. We’ll help you make your business plan a successful venture.

When Should You Use This Free Business Plan Template for Word?

You should use a business plan template when you’re getting ready to shop your idea for the bank, investors or a partner. Before using our template, you’ll want to have done all the necessary due diligence.

In other words, once you have an idea for the business, product or service, you need to do market research to see where it fits in the larger commercial landscape. Then, you’ll need to figure out how much capital you’ll need to realize the idea.

Once you have all the work done for your proposal, then you can start the process of filling in the business plan template. The more thorough your preparation, the more convincing your plan and the more likely you’ll get it off the ground.

Who Should Use This Free Business Plan Template for Word?

Anyone who is planning to run a business needs to use our business plan template. It’s your roadmap  and provides you with a plan forward by outlining objectives, establishing priorities and more.

You’ll also need this business plan template if you already have an established business and are looking for buyers to sell it to. This is also true if you’re looking to determine the value of your business says for taxes or estate planning.

How to Track the Execution of Your Business Plan With ProjectManager

ProjectManager is award-winning software that helps you organize your plan and execute it more effectively. Once you’ve filled in your business plan template, the real work begins. Our tool helps you create a schedule and manage your resources to successfully deliver your plan.

Gantt Charts to Plan

Use our Gantt chart project view to input your tasks or import the task list from any spreadsheet. You can also use one of the many industry-specific templates loaded into the tool to get you started. Then add durations for your tasks and they’ll populate the timeline side of the Gantt, giving you a full picture of the plan laid out chronologically.

Dashboards to Track Progress

When you execute your plan, you need to monitor its actual progress to make sure you’re on track. Our real-time dashboard collects status updates and automatically monitors your schedule, costs and other vital metrics, displaying them in easy-to-read graphs and charts. This high-level view helps you catch issues before they become problems.

Reports for Your Stakeholders

Keeping executives and other stakeholders in the loop is important. One-click reporting makes it simple to get data on the performance of your plan as it’s executed and then share those reports. They can even be filtered to give stakeholders the only information they want.

There’s so much more that ProjectManager does to make sure your plan is a success. From unlimited file storage to resource and team management, we allow you to make your business plan and implement it successfully.

What Other Free Excel Templates Can Help You Build a Business Plan?

Our business plan template collects a lot of information, but in order to have a thought-through plan, you’ll want to use some of the other free project management templates we have free on our website.

Project Charter Template

For your plan to work, you need to have a project charter. Our free project charter template helps you figure out the scope of your project, identify objectives and deliverables and even start figuring out the tasks, resources and costs for the work to come.

Statement of Work Template

The statement of work outlines the course of your project plan, including activities, deliverables and the timetable. It defines these essential components of any plan and acts as the first step in your journey to creating a project plan. The free statement of work (SOW) template lays it all out for you.

Project Proposal Template

Before the plan comes the proposal. It’s the pitch to get your project approved so you can then create a plan. The free project proposal template sets the stage and all you have to do is add the details. When approved you have already made the first step towards a plan, which makes it that much easier.

Related Business Planning Resources

If you’re looking for more information about business and planning, then check out the resources page on our website. We have tutorial videos, blog posts and guides that address every aspect of project management. Here are just a few relevant articles.

• 15 Free Word and Excel Templates for Business 
• Strategic Planning in Business
• Why You Need a Reliable Business Continuity Plan
• How to Choose a Project Planner That’s Right for You

ProjectManager is an online tool that gives you real-time data to make better decisions when managing your project. Organize your teams, help them collaborate and drive your project more efficiently to a successful end. Join the tens of thousands of teams that already use ProjectManager and take your free 30-day trial today.

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The 7 Best Business Plan Examples (2024)

As an aspiring entrepreneur gearing up to start your own business , you likely know the importance of drafting a business plan. However, you might not be entirely sure where to begin or what specific details to include. That’s where examining business plan examples can be beneficial. Sample business plans serve as real-world templates to help you craft your own plan with confidence. They also provide insight into the key sections that make up a business plan, as well as demonstrate how to structure and present your ideas effectively.

Example business plan

To understand how to write a business plan, let’s study an example structured using a seven-part template. Here’s a quick overview of those parts:

• Executive summary: A quick overview of your business and the contents of your business plan.
• Company description: More info about your company, its goals and mission, and why you started it in the first place.
• Market analysis: Research about the market and industry your business will operate in, including a competitive analysis about the companies you’ll be up against.
• Products and services: A detailed description of what you’ll be selling to your customers.
• Marketing plan: A strategic outline of how you plan to market and promote your business before, during, and after your company launches into the market.
• Logistics and operations plan: An explanation of the systems, processes, and tools that are needed to run your business in the background.
• Financial plan: A map of your short-term (and even long-term) financial goals and the costs to run the business. If you’re looking for funding, this is the place to discuss your request and needs.

7 business plan examples (section by section)

In this section, you’ll find hypothetical and real-world examples of each aspect of a business plan to show you how the whole thing comes together. 

• Executive summary

Your executive summary offers a high-level overview of the rest of your business plan. You’ll want to include a brief description of your company, market research, competitor analysis, and financial information. 

In this free business plan template, the executive summary is three paragraphs and occupies nearly half the page:

• Company description

You might go more in-depth with your company description and include the following sections:

• Nature of the business. Mention the general category of business you fall under. Are you a manufacturer, wholesaler, or retailer of your products?
• Background information. Talk about your past experiences and skills, and how you’ve combined them to fill in the market. 
• Business structure. This section outlines how you registered your company —as a corporation, sole proprietorship, LLC, or other business type.
• Industry. Which business sector do you operate in? The answer might be technology, merchandising, or another industry.
• Team. Whether you’re the sole full-time employee of your business or you have contractors to support your daily workflow, this is your chance to put them under the spotlight.

You can also repurpose your company description elsewhere, like on your About page, Instagram page, or other properties that ask for a boilerplate description of your business. Hair extensions brand Luxy Hair has a blurb on it’s About page that could easily be repurposed as a company description for its business plan. 

• Market analysis

Market analysis comprises research on product supply and demand, your target market, the competitive landscape, and industry trends. You might do a SWOT analysis to learn where you stand and identify market gaps that you could exploit to establish your footing. Here’s an example of a SWOT analysis for a hypothetical ecommerce business: 

You’ll also want to run a competitive analysis as part of the market analysis component of your business plan. This will show you who you’re up against and give you ideas on how to gain an edge over the competition. 

• Products and services

This part of your business plan describes your product or service, how it will be priced, and the ways it will compete against similar offerings in the market. Don’t go into too much detail here—a few lines are enough to introduce your item to the reader.

• Marketing plan

Potential investors will want to know how you’ll get the word out about your business. So it’s essential to build a marketing plan that highlights the promotion and customer acquisition strategies you’re planning to adopt. 

Most marketing plans focus on the four Ps: product, price, place, and promotion. However, it’s easier when you break it down by the different marketing channels . Mention how you intend to promote your business using blogs, email, social media, and word-of-mouth marketing. 

Here’s an example of a hypothetical marketing plan for a real estate website:

Logistics and operations

This section of your business plan provides information about your production, facilities, equipment, shipping and fulfillment, and inventory.

Financial plan

The financial plan (a.k.a. financial statement) offers a breakdown of your sales, revenue, expenses, profit, and other financial metrics. You’ll want to include all the numbers and concrete data to project your current and projected financial state.

In this business plan example, the financial statement for ecommerce brand Nature’s Candy includes forecasted revenue, expenses, and net profit in graphs.

It then goes deeper into the financials, citing:

• Funding needs
• Project cash-flow statement
• Project profit-and-loss statement
• Projected balance sheet

You can use Shopify’s financial plan template to create your own income statement, cash-flow statement, and balance sheet. 

Types of business plans (and what to write for each)

A one-page business plan is a pared down version of a standard business plan that’s easy for potential investors and partners to understand. You’ll want to include all of these sections, but make sure they’re abbreviated and summarized:

• Logistics and operations plan
• Financials 

A startup business plan is meant to secure outside funding for a new business. Typically, there’s a big focus on the financials, as well as other sections that help determine the viability of your business idea—market analysis, for example. Shopify has a great business plan template for startups that include all the below points:

• Market research: in depth
• Financials: in depth

Your internal business plan acts as the enforcer of your company’s vision. It reminds your team of the long-term objective and keeps them strategically aligned toward the same goal. Be sure to include:

• Market research

Feasibility 

A feasibility business plan is essentially a feasibility study that helps you evaluate whether your product or idea is worthy of a full business plan. Include the following sections:

A strategic (or growth) business plan lays out your long-term vision and goals. This means your predictions stretch further into the future, and you aim for greater growth and revenue. While crafting this document, you use all the parts of a usual business plan but add more to each one:

• Products and services: for launch and expansion
• Market analysis: detailed analysis
• Marketing plan: detailed strategy
• Logistics and operations plan: detailed plan
• Financials: detailed projections

Free business plan templates

Now that you’re familiar with what’s included and how to format a business plan, let’s go over a few templates you can fill out or draw inspiration from.

Bplans’ free business plan template

Bplans’ free business plan template focuses a lot on the financial side of running a business. It has many pages just for your financial plan and statements. Once you fill it out, you’ll see exactly where your business stands financially and what you need to do to keep it on track or make it better.

PandaDoc’s free business plan template

PandaDoc’s free business plan template is detailed and guides you through every section, so you don’t have to figure everything out on your own. Filling it out, you’ll grasp the ins and outs of your business and how each part fits together. It’s also handy because it connects to PandaDoc’s e-signature for easy signing, ideal for businesses with partners or a board.

Miro’s Business Model Canvas Template

Miro’s Business Model Canvas Template helps you map out the essentials of your business, like partnerships, core activities, and what makes you different. It’s a collaborative tool for you and your team to learn how everything in your business is linked.

Better business planning equals better business outcomes

Building a business plan is key to establishing a clear direction and strategy for your venture. With a solid plan in hand, you’ll know what steps to take for achieving each of your business goals. Kickstart your business planning and set yourself up for success with a defined roadmap—utilizing the sample business plans above to inform your approach.

Business plan FAQ

What are the 3 main points of a business plan.

• Concept. Explain what your business does and the main idea behind it. This is where you tell people what you plan to achieve with your business.
• Contents. Explain what you’re selling or offering. Point out who you’re selling to and who else is selling something similar. This part concerns your products or services, who will buy them, and who you’re up against.
• Cash flow. Explain how money will move in and out of your business. Discuss the money you need to start and keep the business going, the costs of running your business, and how much money you expect to make.

How do I write a simple business plan?

To create a simple business plan, start with an executive summary that details your business vision and objectives. Follow this with a concise description of your company’s structure, your market analysis, and information about your products or services. Conclude your plan with financial projections that outline your expected revenue, expenses, and profitability.

What is the best format to write a business plan?

The optimal format for a business plan arranges your plan in a clear and structured way, helping potential investors get a quick grasp of what your business is about and what you aim to achieve. Always start with a summary of your plan and finish with the financial details or any extra information at the end.

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Templates and examples for drawing up a business plan

Entrepreneurs can use a preexisting template to draw up their business plan. Here are some examples.

Muster Businessplan (only in German) (DOC, 62 kB, 14.11.2019) Template business plan development for small companies

Vorlage Businessplan (only in German) (DOC, 59 kB, 14.11.2019) Template for creating a business plan for small businesses

Template business plan development (PDF, 215 kB, 14.11.2019) Template business plan development (short version)

Muster Businessplan KMU (only in German) (PDF, 175 kB, 14.11.2019) Example for small and medium-sized businesses (short version)

Template business plan development (PDF, 500 kB, 14.11.2019) Template business plan development (full version)

Muster Businessplan KMU (only in German) (PDF, 207 kB, 14.11.2019) Example of a business plan for small companies (full version)

Muster Businessplan mittelgrosses Unternehmen (only in German) (PDF, 302 kB, 14.11.2019) Example for medium-sized companies (full version)

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The above sentences clearly depict that planning is everything. Successful organizations credit 90% of their victory for planning. Rest all is to implement the same. They consider the business plans as their most reliable and robust strategic management tool. If a business plan templates is taking much time, that means it will reduce the effort in accomplishing the project.

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> business model canvas, what is a business plan template, how to make a business plan template, what is the format of a business plan, what is the process of business planning, what needs to be included in a business plan, what are the key elements of a business plan.

• 1. Business overview
• 2. Executive summary
• 3. Market analysis
• 4. Organizational and management plans
• 5. Marketing strategies and sales plans
• 6. Product line
• 7. Financial details
• 8. Team description

How to Write a Business Plan Step by Step?

• 1. First things first, conduct an extensive research of the industry and the market to get a clear picture of what you are getting into and the kind of costs you will have to incur.
• 2. Start by writing a summary of your business plan like what it offers, its benefits etc.
• 3. This should be followed by the company description and what all it will entail.
• 4. Next give an elaborate account of the market analysis and your findings as far as competition, customers and prospects are concerned.
• 5. This should be followed by the structure of your business and how you intend to go about managing it.
• 6. Give a description of your product or service line and how it will be different from the competitor products or services.
• 7. Next, give a detailed account of the strategy that you intend to follow to market your business and get enough sales.
• 8. This should be followed by the details of the finances that you have handy and the requirements.
• Acquiring finances for the business
• Creating alliances in the business arena with experts
• Recruiting expertise for the firm
• Giving a detailed account of the business idea

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Simple Business Plan Template (2024)

Updated: May 4, 2024, 4:37pm

Table of Contents

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

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

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

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

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

Download free template as .docx

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

1. Your Mission or Vision

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

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

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

2. Offer and Value Proposition

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

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

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

3. Audience and Ideal Customer

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

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

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

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

4. Revenue Streams, Sales Channels and Marketing

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

Revenue Streams

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

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

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

Sales Channels

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

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

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

Channels that support other income streams might include:

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

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

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

5. Structure, Suppliers and Operations

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

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

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

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6. Financial Forecasts

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

Cost Forecast

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

Gross Profit Projections

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

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

Bottom Line

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

Is there a template for a business plan?

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

What does a simple business plan include?

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

How can I create a free business plan template?

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

What basic items should be included in a business plan?

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

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Krista Fabregas is a seasoned eCommerce and online content pro sharing more than 20 years of hands-on know-how with those looking to launch and grow tech-forward businesses. Her expertise includes eCommerce startups and growth, SMB operations and logistics, website platforms, payment systems, side-gig and affiliate income, and multichannel marketing. Krista holds a bachelor's degree in English from The University of Texas at Austin and held senior positions at NASA, a Fortune 100 company, and several online startups.

How to Write a Business Plan: Step-by-Step Guide + Examples

Noah Parsons

24 min. read

Updated May 7, 2024

Writing a business plan doesn’t have to be complicated. 

In this step-by-step guide, you’ll learn how to write a business plan that’s detailed enough to impress bankers and potential investors, while giving you the tools to start, run, and grow a successful business.

• The basics of business planning

If you’re reading this guide, then you already know why you need a business plan . 

You understand that planning helps you: 

• Raise money
• Grow strategically
• Keep your business on the right track 

As you start to write your plan, it’s useful to zoom out and remember what a business plan is .

At its core, a business plan is an overview of the products and services you sell, and the customers that you sell to. It explains your business strategy: how you’re going to build and grow your business, what your marketing strategy is, and who your competitors are.

Most business plans also include financial forecasts for the future. These set sales goals, budget for expenses, and predict profits and cash flow. 

A good business plan is much more than just a document that you write once and forget about. It’s also a guide that helps you outline and achieve your goals. 

After completing your plan, you can use it as a management tool to track your progress toward your goals. Updating and adjusting your forecasts and budgets as you go is one of the most important steps you can take to run a healthier, smarter business. 

We’ll dive into how to use your plan later in this article.

There are many different types of plans , but we’ll go over the most common type here, which includes everything you need for an investor-ready plan. However, if you’re just starting out and are looking for something simpler—I recommend starting with a one-page business plan . It’s faster and easier to create. 

It’s also the perfect place to start if you’re just figuring out your idea, or need a simple strategic plan to use inside your business.

Dig deeper : How to write a one-page business plan

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• What to include in your business plan

Executive summary

The executive summary is an overview of your business and your plans. It comes first in your plan and is ideally just one to two pages. Most people write it last because it’s a summary of the complete business plan.

Ideally, the executive summary can act as a stand-alone document that covers the highlights of your detailed plan. 

In fact, it’s common for investors to ask only for the executive summary when evaluating your business. If they like what they see in the executive summary, they’ll often follow up with a request for a complete plan, a pitch presentation , or more in-depth financial forecasts .

Your executive summary should include:

• A summary of the problem you are solving
• A description of your product or service
• An overview of your target market
• A brief description of your team
• A summary of your financials
• Your funding requirements (if you are raising money)

Dig Deeper: How to write an effective executive summary

Products and services description

This is where you describe exactly what you’re selling, and how it solves a problem for your target market. The best way to organize this part of your plan is to start by describing the problem that exists for your customers. After that, you can describe how you plan to solve that problem with your product or service. 

This is usually called a problem and solution statement .

To truly showcase the value of your products and services, you need to craft a compelling narrative around your offerings. How will your product or service transform your customers’ lives or jobs? A strong narrative will draw in your readers.

This is also the part of the business plan to discuss any competitive advantages you may have, like specific intellectual property or patents that protect your product. If you have any initial sales, contracts, or other evidence that your product or service is likely to sell, include that information as well. It will show that your idea has traction , which can help convince readers that your plan has a high chance of success.

Market analysis

Your target market is a description of the type of people that you plan to sell to. You might even have multiple target markets, depending on your business. 

A market analysis is the part of your plan where you bring together all of the information you know about your target market. Basically, it’s a thorough description of who your customers are and why they need what you’re selling. You’ll also include information about the growth of your market and your industry .

Try to be as specific as possible when you describe your market. 

Include information such as age, income level, and location—these are what’s called “demographics.” If you can, also describe your market’s interests and habits as they relate to your business—these are “psychographics.” 

Related: Target market examples

Essentially, you want to include any knowledge you have about your customers that is relevant to how your product or service is right for them. With a solid target market, it will be easier to create a sales and marketing plan that will reach your customers. That’s because you know who they are, what they like to do, and the best ways to reach them.

Next, provide any additional information you have about your market. 

What is the size of your market ? Is the market growing or shrinking? Ideally, you’ll want to demonstrate that your market is growing over time, and also explain how your business is positioned to take advantage of any expected changes in your industry.

Dig Deeper: Learn how to write a market analysis

Competitive analysis

Part of defining your business opportunity is determining what your competitive advantage is. To do this effectively, you need to know as much about your competitors as your target customers. 

Every business has some form of competition. If you don’t think you have competitors, then explore what alternatives there are in the market for your product or service. 

For example: In the early years of cars, their main competition was horses. For social media, the early competition was reading books, watching TV, and talking on the phone.

A good competitive analysis fully lays out the competitive landscape and then explains how your business is different. Maybe your products are better made, or cheaper, or your customer service is superior. Maybe your competitive advantage is your location – a wide variety of factors can ultimately give you an advantage.

Dig Deeper: How to write a competitive analysis for your business plan

Marketing and sales plan

The marketing and sales plan covers how you will position your product or service in the market, the marketing channels and messaging you will use, and your sales tactics. 

The best place to start with a marketing plan is with a positioning statement . 

This explains how your business fits into the overall market, and how you will explain the advantages of your product or service to customers. You’ll use the information from your competitive analysis to help you with your positioning. 

For example: You might position your company as the premium, most expensive but the highest quality option in the market. Or your positioning might focus on being locally owned and that shoppers support the local economy by buying your products.

Once you understand your positioning, you’ll bring this together with the information about your target market to create your marketing strategy . 

This is how you plan to communicate your message to potential customers. Depending on who your customers are and how they purchase products like yours, you might use many different strategies, from social media advertising to creating a podcast. Your marketing plan is all about how your customers discover who you are and why they should consider your products and services. 

While your marketing plan is about reaching your customers—your sales plan will describe the actual sales process once a customer has decided that they’re interested in what you have to offer. 

If your business requires salespeople and a long sales process, describe that in this section. If your customers can “self-serve” and just make purchases quickly on your website, describe that process. 

A good sales plan picks up where your marketing plan leaves off. The marketing plan brings customers in the door and the sales plan is how you close the deal.

Together, these specific plans paint a picture of how you will connect with your target audience, and how you will turn them into paying customers.

Dig deeper: What to include in your sales and marketing plan

Business operations

The operations section describes the necessary requirements for your business to run smoothly. It’s where you talk about how your business works and what day-to-day operations look like. 

Depending on how your business is structured, your operations plan may include elements of the business like:

• Supply chain management
• Manufacturing processes
• Equipment and technology
• Distribution

Some businesses distribute their products and reach their customers through large retailers like Amazon.com, Walmart, Target, and grocery store chains. 

These businesses should review how this part of their business works. The plan should discuss the logistics and costs of getting products onto store shelves and any potential hurdles the business may have to overcome.

If your business is much simpler than this, that’s OK. This section of your business plan can be either extremely short or more detailed, depending on the type of business you are building.

For businesses selling services, such as physical therapy or online software, you can use this section to describe the technology you’ll leverage, what goes into your service, and who you will partner with to deliver your services.

Dig Deeper: Learn how to write the operations chapter of your plan

Key milestones and metrics

Although it’s not required to complete your business plan, mapping out key business milestones and the metrics can be incredibly useful for measuring your success.

Good milestones clearly lay out the parameters of the task and set expectations for their execution. You’ll want to include:

• A description of each task
• The proposed due date
• Who is responsible for each task

If you have a budget, you can include projected costs to hit each milestone. You don’t need extensive project planning in this section—just list key milestones you want to hit and when you plan to hit them. This is your overall business roadmap. 

Possible milestones might be:

• Website launch date
• Store or office opening date
• First significant sales
• Break even date
• Business licenses and approvals

You should also discuss the key numbers you will track to determine your success. Some common metrics worth tracking include:

• Conversion rates
• Customer acquisition costs
• Profit per customer
• Repeat purchases

It’s perfectly fine to start with just a few metrics and grow the number you are tracking over time. You also may find that some metrics simply aren’t relevant to your business and can narrow down what you’re tracking.

Dig Deeper: How to use milestones in your business plan

Organization and management team

Investors don’t just look for great ideas—they want to find great teams. Use this chapter to describe your current team and who you need to hire . You should also provide a quick overview of your location and history if you’re already up and running.

Briefly highlight the relevant experiences of each key team member in the company. It’s important to make the case for why yours is the right team to turn an idea into a reality. 

Do they have the right industry experience and background? Have members of the team had entrepreneurial successes before? 

If you still need to hire key team members, that’s OK. Just note those gaps in this section.

Your company overview should also include a summary of your company’s current business structure . The most common business structures include:

• Sole proprietor
• Partnership

Be sure to provide an overview of how the business is owned as well. Does each business partner own an equal portion of the business? How is ownership divided? 

Potential lenders and investors will want to know the structure of the business before they will consider a loan or investment.

Dig Deeper: How to write about your company structure and team

Financial plan

Last, but certainly not least, is your financial plan chapter. 

Entrepreneurs often find this section the most daunting. But, business financials for most startups are less complicated than you think, and a business degree is certainly not required to build a solid financial forecast. 

A typical financial forecast in a business plan includes the following:

• Sales forecast : An estimate of the sales expected over a given period. You’ll break down your forecast into the key revenue streams that you expect to have.
• Expense budget : Your planned spending such as personnel costs , marketing expenses, and taxes.
• Profit & Loss : Brings together your sales and expenses and helps you calculate planned profits.
• Cash Flow : Shows how cash moves into and out of your business. It can predict how much cash you’ll have on hand at any given point in the future.
• Balance Sheet : A list of the assets, liabilities, and equity in your company. In short, it provides an overview of the financial health of your business. 

A strong business plan will include a description of assumptions about the future, and potential risks that could impact the financial plan. Including those will be especially important if you’re writing a business plan to pursue a loan or other investment.

Dig Deeper: How to create financial forecasts and budgets

This is the place for additional data, charts, or other information that supports your plan.

Including an appendix can significantly enhance the credibility of your plan by showing readers that you’ve thoroughly considered the details of your business idea, and are backing your ideas up with solid data.

Just remember that the information in the appendix is meant to be supplementary. Your business plan should stand on its own, even if the reader skips this section.

Dig Deeper : What to include in your business plan appendix

Optional: Business plan cover page

Adding a business plan cover page can make your plan, and by extension your business, seem more professional in the eyes of potential investors, lenders, and partners. It serves as the introduction to your document and provides necessary contact information for stakeholders to reference.

Your cover page should be simple and include:

• Company logo
• Business name
• Value proposition (optional)
• Business plan title
• Completion and/or update date
• Address and contact information
• Confidentiality statement

Just remember, the cover page is optional. If you decide to include it, keep it very simple and only spend a short amount of time putting it together.

Dig Deeper: How to create a business plan cover page

How to use AI to help write your business plan

Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT can speed up the business plan writing process and help you think through concepts like market segmentation and competition. These tools are especially useful for taking ideas that you provide and converting them into polished text for your business plan.

The best way to use AI for your business plan is to leverage it as a collaborator , not a replacement for human creative thinking and ingenuity. 

AI can come up with lots of ideas and act as a brainstorming partner. It’s up to you to filter through those ideas and figure out which ones are realistic enough to resonate with your customers. 

There are pros and cons of using AI to help with your business plan . So, spend some time understanding how it can be most helpful before just outsourcing the job to AI.

Learn more: 10 AI prompts you need to write a business plan

• Writing tips and strategies

To help streamline the business plan writing process, here are a few tips and key questions to answer to make sure you get the most out of your plan and avoid common mistakes .  

Determine why you are writing a business plan

Knowing why you are writing a business plan will determine your approach to your planning project. 

For example: If you are writing a business plan for yourself, or just to use inside your own business , you can probably skip the section about your team and organizational structure. 

If you’re raising money, you’ll want to spend more time explaining why you’re looking to raise the funds and exactly how you will use them.

Regardless of how you intend to use your business plan , think about why you are writing and what you’re trying to get out of the process before you begin.

Keep things concise

Probably the most important tip is to keep your business plan short and simple. There are no prizes for long business plans . The longer your plan is, the less likely people are to read it. 

So focus on trimming things down to the essentials your readers need to know. Skip the extended, wordy descriptions and instead focus on creating a plan that is easy to read —using bullets and short sentences whenever possible.

Have someone review your business plan

Writing a business plan in a vacuum is never a good idea. Sometimes it’s helpful to zoom out and check if your plan makes sense to someone else. You also want to make sure that it’s easy to read and understand.

Don’t wait until your plan is “done” to get a second look. Start sharing your plan early, and find out from readers what questions your plan leaves unanswered. This early review cycle will help you spot shortcomings in your plan and address them quickly, rather than finding out about them right before you present your plan to a lender or investor.

If you need a more detailed review, you may want to explore hiring a professional plan writer to thoroughly examine it.

Use a free business plan template and business plan examples to get started

Knowing what information to include in a business plan is sometimes not quite enough. If you’re struggling to get started or need additional guidance, it may be worth using a business plan template. 

There are plenty of great options available (we’ve rounded up our 8 favorites to streamline your search).

But, if you’re looking for a free downloadable business plan template , you can get one right now; download the template used by more than 1 million businesses. 

Or, if you just want to see what a completed business plan looks like, check out our library of over 550 free business plan examples . 

We even have a growing list of industry business planning guides with tips for what to focus on depending on your business type.

Common pitfalls and how to avoid them

It’s easy to make mistakes when you’re writing your business plan. Some entrepreneurs get sucked into the writing and research process, and don’t focus enough on actually getting their business started. 

Here are a few common mistakes and how to avoid them:

Not talking to your customers : This is one of the most common mistakes. It’s easy to assume that your product or service is something that people want. Before you invest too much in your business and too much in the planning process, make sure you talk to your prospective customers and have a good understanding of their needs.

• Overly optimistic sales and profit forecasts: By nature, entrepreneurs are optimistic about the future. But it’s good to temper that optimism a little when you’re planning, and make sure your forecasts are grounded in reality. 
• Spending too much time planning: Yes, planning is crucial. But you also need to get out and talk to customers, build prototypes of your product and figure out if there’s a market for your idea. Make sure to balance planning with building.
• Not revising the plan: Planning is useful, but nothing ever goes exactly as planned. As you learn more about what’s working and what’s not—revise your plan, your budgets, and your revenue forecast. Doing so will provide a more realistic picture of where your business is going, and what your financial needs will be moving forward.
• Not using the plan to manage your business: A good business plan is a management tool. Don’t just write it and put it on the shelf to collect dust – use it to track your progress and help you reach your goals.
• Presenting your business plan

The planning process forces you to think through every aspect of your business and answer questions that you may not have thought of. That’s the real benefit of writing a business plan – the knowledge you gain about your business that you may not have been able to discover otherwise.

With all of this knowledge, you’re well prepared to convert your business plan into a pitch presentation to present your ideas. 

A pitch presentation is a summary of your plan, just hitting the highlights and key points. It’s the best way to present your business plan to investors and team members.

Dig Deeper: Learn what key slides should be included in your pitch deck

Use your business plan to manage your business

One of the biggest benefits of planning is that it gives you a tool to manage your business better. With a revenue forecast, expense budget, and projected cash flow, you know your targets and where you are headed.

And yet, nothing ever goes exactly as planned – it’s the nature of business.

That’s where using your plan as a management tool comes in. The key to leveraging it for your business is to review it periodically and compare your forecasts and projections to your actual results.

Start by setting up a regular time to review the plan – a monthly review is a good starting point. During this review, answer questions like:

• Did you meet your sales goals?
• Is spending following your budget?
• Has anything gone differently than what you expected?

Now that you see whether you’re meeting your goals or are off track, you can make adjustments and set new targets. 

Maybe you’re exceeding your sales goals and should set new, more aggressive goals. In that case, maybe you should also explore more spending or hiring more employees. 

Or maybe expenses are rising faster than you projected. If that’s the case, you would need to look at where you can cut costs.

A plan, and a method for comparing your plan to your actual results , is the tool you need to steer your business toward success.

Learn More: How to run a regular plan review

Free business plan templates and examples

Kickstart your business plan writing with one of our free business plan templates or recommended tools.

Free business plan template

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One-page plan template

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Sample business plan library

Explore over 500 real-world business plan examples from a wide variety of industries.

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How to write a business plan FAQ

What is a business plan?

A document that describes your business , the products and services you sell, and the customers that you sell to. It explains your business strategy, how you’re going to build and grow your business, what your marketing strategy is, and who your competitors are.

What are the benefits of a business plan?

A business plan helps you understand where you want to go with your business and what it will take to get there. It reduces your overall risk, helps you uncover your business’s potential, attracts investors, and identifies areas for growth.

Having a business plan ultimately makes you more confident as a business owner and more likely to succeed for a longer period of time.

What are the 7 steps of a business plan?

The seven steps to writing a business plan include:

• Write a brief executive summary
• Describe your products and services.
• Conduct market research and compile data into a cohesive market analysis.
• Describe your marketing and sales strategy.
• Outline your organizational structure and management team.
• Develop financial projections for sales, revenue, and cash flow.
• Add any additional documents to your appendix.

What are the 5 most common business plan mistakes?

There are plenty of mistakes that can be made when writing a business plan. However, these are the 5 most common that you should do your best to avoid:

• 1. Not taking the planning process seriously.
• Having unrealistic financial projections or incomplete financial information.
• Inconsistent information or simple mistakes.
• Failing to establish a sound business model.
• Not having a defined purpose for your business plan.

What questions should be answered in a business plan?

Writing a business plan is all about asking yourself questions about your business and being able to answer them through the planning process. You’ll likely be asking dozens and dozens of questions for each section of your plan.

However, these are the key questions you should ask and answer with your business plan:

• How will your business make money?
• Is there a need for your product or service?
• Who are your customers?
• How are you different from the competition?
• How will you reach your customers?
• How will you measure success?

How long should a business plan be?

The length of your business plan fully depends on what you intend to do with it. From the SBA and traditional lender point of view, a business plan needs to be whatever length necessary to fully explain your business. This means that you prove the viability of your business, show that you understand the market, and have a detailed strategy in place.

If you intend to use your business plan for internal management purposes, you don’t necessarily need a full 25-50 page business plan. Instead, you can start with a one-page plan to get all of the necessary information in place.

What are the different types of business plans?

While all business plans cover similar categories, the style and function fully depend on how you intend to use your plan. Here are a few common business plan types worth considering.

Traditional business plan: The tried-and-true traditional business plan is a formal document meant to be used when applying for funding or pitching to investors. This type of business plan follows the outline above and can be anywhere from 10-50 pages depending on the amount of detail included, the complexity of your business, and what you include in your appendix.

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

One-page business plan: This format is a simplified version of the traditional plan that focuses on the core aspects of your business. You’ll typically stick with bullet points and single sentences. It’s most useful for those exploring ideas, needing to validate their business model, or who need an internal plan to help them run and manage their business.

Lean Plan: The Lean Plan is less of a specific document type and more of a methodology. It takes the simplicity and styling of the one-page business plan and turns it into a process for you to continuously plan, test, review, refine, and take action based on performance. It’s faster, keeps your plan concise, and ensures that your plan is always up-to-date.

What’s the difference between a business plan and a strategic plan?

A business plan covers the “who” and “what” of your business. It explains what your business is doing right now and how it functions. The strategic plan explores long-term goals and explains “how” the business will get there. It encourages you to look more intently toward the future and how you will achieve your vision.

However, when approached correctly, your business plan can actually function as a strategic plan as well. If kept lean, you can define your business, outline strategic steps, and track ongoing operations all with a single plan.

Noah is the COO at Palo Alto Software, makers of the online business plan app LivePlan. He started his career at Yahoo! and then helped start the user review site Epinions.com. From there he started a software distribution business in the UK before coming to Palo Alto Software to run the marketing and product teams.

Table of Contents

• Use AI to help write your plan
• Common planning mistakes
• Manage with your business plan
• Templates and examples

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