If you need to write a business plan I recommend you start with an outline. I found a dozen free templates and have included them below with links to dig deeper. Good luck!
1) Ongig’s Business Plan Outline
The business plan outline I wrote for Ongig (below) was geared towards raising an angel round of funding.The 3 biggest sections were Business Model, Sales & Distribution and Financials.
- Why Should Someone Care (“The Grab” or Executive Summary)
- Company Purpose (In one sentence: the vision/mission stuff)
- The Problem You Are Addressing
- The Solution You Provide
- Why Is This Important Right Now?
- Market Size
- Competition
- The Product
- Business Model
- Pricing
- Target Customers
- Average Customer Size
- Sales & Distribution
- How your product is sold
- Customer Acquisition
- Other Distribution Partners
- Barriers To Entry
- The Team (Full bios of our 3 co-founders)
- Financials (I included a summary of 3 to 5 year projections of revenue, operating expenses and profit in the MS Word-based business plan itself and then had a separate more in-depth Excel spreadsheet with details of financials (month to month with all assumptions).
- Financing/Uses Of Cash (Money you are trying to raise/how you’ll use it)
Note: I found the Sequoia Capital 10-Point Business Plan (see below) to be the most useful to borrow from.
2) Sequoia Capital’s 10-Point Business Plan
Sequoia prefers to see a business plan described in slide format with these 10 sections:
- Company Purpose
- Problem
- Solution
- Why Now?
- Market Size
- Competition
- Product
- Business Model
- Team
- Financials
3) Guy Kawasaki’s Thoughts On What A VC Wants
Guy’s classic piece on The 10/20/30 Rule of Powerpoint includes a section about the 10 topics that a venture capitalist cares about:
- Problem
- Your solution
- Business model
- Underlying magic/technology
- Marketing and sales
- Competition
- Team
- Projections and milestones
- Status and timeline
- Summary and call to action
4) GrowThink’s “How To Write A Business Plan” For VC
GrowThink’s piece on how to write a business plan for Raising Venture Capital is useful because it includes a goal for each section (e.g. the goal of the executive summary is “to stimulate and motivate the investor to learn more.”
- Executive Summary
- Company Analysis
- Industry Analysis
- Customer Analysis
- Competitive Analysis
- Marketing Plan
- Operations Plan
- Financial Plan
5) Inc. Magazine’s Summary Business Plan
Inc. recommends these biz plan sections:
- Executive Summary
- Description
- Vision Statment
- Mission Statement
- Values
- Goals
- Market Research
- Market Differentiation
- Marketing Message
- Marketing Mix/Methods
- Measurement
- Sales
- Operations Plan
- Personnel Plan
- Financial Plan
6) Adam Hoeksema’s Business Plan Executive Summary
Adam suggested a good executive summary outline in the Quora posting “What Are The Essential Components Of A Business Plan.”and “What Do Angel Investors Expect In A Business Plan For An Internet Startup.”
- “The Grab” (2 or 3 sentences about why the business is special)
- Big Problem
- Unique Solution
- Market Potential
- Business Model
- Management Team
- Traction
- Request (i.e. for a loan, selling stock, sales contract, etc.)
…and the same Quora posting had this recommendation:
7) Rajesh Sri Ramulu’s Business Plan Outline
- Innovative Business Model
- Unique Product Features
- Mass Appeal
- High Competitive Advantage
- Well Built Core Team
8) Microsoft’s Guide To Writing A Business Plan
Microsoft Business recommends these 9 business plan steps:
- An executive summary outlining goals and objectives.
- A brief account of how the company began.
- Your company’s goals.
- Biographies of the management team. T
- The service or product you plan to offer.
- The market potential for your service or product.
- A marketing strategy.
- A three- to five-year financial projection.
- An exit strategy.
9) SBF’s “Short-Form Business Plan” Outline
SmallBusinessTipsFinance.com recommends these 7 steps for a short-form business plan:
- What is the Business name? Give a brief history of its formation, and how the current owners came to be the owners.
- What exactly does the business do?
- What is the exact market and size the business operates in?
- What are the key opportunites to be taken in that market, and how will the company make the most of those opportunities?
- Financial projections
- Who is in the management team?
- Funding requirement. How much do you need to deliver this great business opportunity anyway
10) The BBC’s 6-Part Business Plan
The BBC’s How To Write A Business Plan includes these 6 sections:
- Executive summary
- Overview of the business’ aims
- Product or service
- Management team
- Financial forecasts
- Appendix
11) Business Plan Write’s Super-Detailed Outline
There’s a business plan template at Business Plan Write that includes 13 sections with 5 to 10 sub-sections. This might give you ideas on particular sections you want to beef up.
12) UXPin’s One-Page Business Summary
And if you’re into a simple One-Pager to describe your business, the CEO of UXPin (yes, they have startups in Poland!), Marcin Treder, was kind enough to share this one-page biz plan PDF with me.