- Business Plans
Professional Business Plan Template to Customize
Create Your Business Plan
- Create a comprehensive business plan.
- Easily customize your slides to fit your needs.
- Showcase data with 40+ chart options.
Chosen by brands large and small
Our business plan maker is used by over 27,500,000 marketers, communicators, executives and educators from over 133 countries that include:
Powerful Presentation Features That Help You Shine
Professional business plan templates.
Create a presentation or document business plan quickly and easily with Visme's template options. Customize each page or slide to fit your vision and information to pitch to cofounders or investors. Get started today.
Data visualization made easy
Tell your story with the data to match using easy-to-customize charts and graphs. Select from 40+ chart and graph visualizations and find the one that proves your point clearly. Upload static data or connect to Google sheets for live data.
Customize every aspect of your presentation with your own images and text
Convey the exact mood you desire for your business plan with over a million images, thousands of icons, dozens of charts and data widgets to visualize information in an engaging way. Apply a color scheme to all your slides with one click. Add animation effects, transitions, interactivity, pop-ups, rollovers and third-party content to support your business case.
Speed things up with Visme AI Designer
Go from a text prompt to a ready-to-use design in mere minutes with Visme AI Designer (Beta). Do you need to create a business plan but lack the time? Let Visme AI Designer help you save time and effort. Describe your desired project to our AI Designer Chatbot, choose a style, and relax as AI Designer generates your project.
Apply our simple business plan template to give you a head start.
Meet the Team
Mission Statement
Product Overview
Value Propositions
Industry Landscape
Market Size
Customer Descriptions
Market Growth
Competitive Comparison
Competitive Advantage
Business Growth Projections
Marketing Mix
Conversion Funnels
Funding Needed
Share Your Business Plan
Finished your business plan and ready to share with the world? Visme’s business plan template makes it easy to publish, download and get feedback on your design. Simply download as a high resolution image or PDF, or publish it to the web and send a link to access it.
LEARN ABOUT BUSINESS PLANS
What is a Business Plan ?
A business plan is a written document or presentation that allows business leaders to share the business potential and goals, as well as your plans for the future. The business plan is a key step in working towards getting investors looking at your product.
If you're looking to flesh out a new business idea or venture in order to get cofounders or investors on board, you need a business plan. Get started with one of our templates to give you a starting point and framework for your own plan.
Why do I need a business plan?
Writing a business plan is a key step in securing funding and convincing high level executives that your business is worth their time. A well-executed business plan is crucial to the success of a business and it’s one of the first steps you should take.
EVERYTHING YOU NEED + MORE
Make Your Business Plan Stand Out
Take your business to new heights with a beautifully designed business plan. Our tools put the power of visual communication in the hands of entrepreneurs and business owners, no matter their level of design skills.
MAKE IT ENGAGING
Interactivity
Highlight your business’ unique selling point with interactive hotspots and rollover effects. Capture the attention of investors and stakeholders with interactive content.
VISUALIZE YOUR DATA
Charts & Graphs
Showcase in-depth data, statistics, and financial projections in a unique way. Harness the power of data visualization with Visme’s professional infographics, charts and graphs.
MEASURE THE IMPACT
Gain insight into the impact of your business plan with an analytics report. Track how many people have viewed your business plan and gauge its effectiveness.
HOW IT WORKS
How to Make a Business Plan in 5 Steps
If you are wondering how to write a business plan, you’ve come to the right place. Instead of starting your business plan from scratch, use our business plan templates to get you going in no time.
Learn more about creating your own business plan presentation or document by going through our step-by-step tutorial below or watching this quick video.
- Log into your Visme dashboard or create a new account, then click Create New Project.
- Access our business plan templates by searching for “Business Plan” in the search box.
- Select the template, then customize the content for your business.
- Update any charts and graphs to reflect your business goals.
- Once all your content is added, customize colors, logos, icons and more.
Questions About the Business Plan Template
How much does it cost to create a business plan with the business plan template, what types of charts and graphs are available in visme, can i use my brand kit to create my business plan with visme, is the business plan template completely customizable, can i use any photo in the image library in my business plan, your business plans deserve to be beautiful and so does the rest of your content.
Sign Up Free
| You might be using an unsupported or outdated browser. To get the best possible experience please use the latest version of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Microsoft Edge to view this website. |
- Best Business Plan Software
10 Best Business Plan Software In 2024
Updated: May 3, 2024, 5:15pm
Writing a business plan not only helps you stay on track as you start a new business but it can also help you secure funding. You can create one from scratch with a simple template, but business plan software often has features to make it easier, more nuanced and overall better. It could even make the difference between bringing investors on board and going it alone. So, Forbes Advisor found the best business plan software that has the features you need at an affordable price.
- Best Project Management Software
- Best Construction Project Management Software
- Best Project Portfolio Management Software
- Best Gantt Chart Software
- Best Task Management Software
- Best Kanban Software
The Best Business Plan Software of 2024
Forbes advisor ratings, methodology, how to choose a business plan software, benefits of business plan software, frequently asked questions (faqs), next up in business.
Featured Partners
From $8 monthly per user
Zoom, LinkedIn, Adobe, Salesforce and more
On monday.com's Website
Yes, for one user and two editors
$9 per user per month
Google Drive, Slack, Tableau, Miro, Zapier and more
On Smartsheet's Website
Yes, for unlimited members
$7 per month
Slack, Microsoft Outlook, HubSpot, Salesforce, Timely, Google Drive and more
On ClickUp's Website
$9.80 per user per month
Salesforce, Adobe, Miro, Netsuite, Quickbooks, SAP
On Wrike's Website
- Wrike: Best overall
- Smartsheet: Best for goal management
- LivePlan: Best for financial forecasting
- Aha!: Best for roadmapping
- Bizplan: Best for beginners
- IdeaBuddy: Best for ideation
- iPlanner: Best for no-frills business planning
- Enloop: Best for automatic business plan creation
- AchieveIt: Best for consultant groups
- Business Sorter: Best for teams
Best Overall
Starting price
Free; $9.80 per user
Team messaging
Roadmapping
Wrike is a project management (PM) tool that works well as business plan software because it gives you tools to help you gather and compare your data. Wrike makes it easy to start your business plan with its collaboration tools, business plan templates , drag-and-drop interface and goal management features. Another benefit of using Wrike to build your plan is that you see your ideas and goals from multiple views: Gantt chart, calendar or board views.
There are a few reasons why it’s a good idea to use Wrike for your business plan. First, you can map out exactly what your business goals are in a project, invite teammates to collaborate and message business partners to discuss everything. Plus, you can export your data when you’re ready to put all the details into a presentation to hand over to potential investors.
Wrike offers a free plan that’s good for putting your vision down in task and project form, but you may want to upgrade to a paid plan to invite collaborators, get custom workflows and add more views and automations. Paid plan pricing ranges from $9.80 per user, per month, to $24.80 per user, per month, both billed annually.
Learn more: Read our full Wrike review .
Who should use it:
Wrike makes it easy for any new business owner to create a business plan and collaborate with others on the financial and operational goals. Plus, it provides value after you finalize your business plan because it’s a good pick for a PM tool.
- Roadmapping ability
- Multiple views (Gantt, calendar and board)
- Business plan templates included
- Goal management via projects and tasks
- Free plan available
- Affordable plans
- No pitching tools
- No financial tools
Best for Goal Management
$7 per user, per month
(billed annually)
(added cost)
Using PM software like Smartsheet is a good idea for starting a business plan because it includes all the tools you need to collaborate and plan across multiple teams or stakeholders. It’s especially good for real-time goal management. Get your ideas in place, go over market and competitive research from other teammates and finalize everything together.
Smartsheet won’t help you write your business plan, but it does give you a place to compile all the data and then you can use one of its free business plan templates. As you figure out your milestones, you can invite an unlimited number of viewers to see how it’s going. The only downsides are that Smartsheet doesn’t have a native messaging app (you’ll have to use an integration), only commenting allowed and there’s no free plan.
Paid plans from Smartsheet cost $7 per user, per month, or $25 per user, per month (billed annually for both). The low-priced Pro plan limits you to 10 editors, but the Business plan allows unlimited editors (but it also has a three-user minimum).
Learn more: Read our full Smartsheet review .
Smartsheet lets you make changes in real time, so it’s a good option for those who are just starting to piece together a plan and looking for a way to manage ideas and goals before finalizing a business plan.
- Discounts for nonprofits available
- Automations on every plan
- Popular integrations allowed on low-tier plan
- 30-day free trial
- No free plan
- Only 10 viewers allowed on low-tier plan
- Three-user minimum on Business plan
Best for Financial Forecasting
$15 per month
One of the strongest cases for using LivePlan to create your business plan is its financial forecasting. It isn’t just a single feature, rather it’s a tool that lets you turn your balance sheet and cash flow statements into charts, graphs and what-if situations to help you show possible investors the best- and worst-case scenarios for your business.
There are two plans available: Standard or Premium (there is no free plan). The low-priced plan, which costs $15 per month (billed annually), doesn’t limit your contributors or guests and includes instructions to help you complete a business plan. It even includes the financial forecasting features and more than 500 sample plans to get you started.
The Premium plan costs $30 per month (billed annually), but it’s full-featured. You get a milestone planner and industry benchmark data, which can save you research time. Another timesaver: At this plan level, you can integrate QuickBooks or Xero to add your financial data seamlessly.
LivePlan is business plan software that includes prompts and accounting software integrations, making it great for new business owners that want easy financial forecasting.
- Unlimited guests and contributors
- Export finished business plan as PowerPoint presentation
- Includes step-by-step instructions with prompts
- 35-day money-back guarantee
- No free trial
Best for Roadmapping
$59 per user, per month
Every business plan starts with strategy and Aha! makes it easier to map out what you plan to do to get from point A to point Z. Aha! is primarily roadmapping software that product teams use to plan features, products or bug fixes. Any business in any industry can use it to shape ideas and strategy into plans and milestones.
Much like product development, business plans have phases and Aha! is ideal for the first few phases of business planning. Although you won’t find a scorecard feature with Aha! Roadmaps, you can score and prioritize your business vision and goals. Finally, you can present your plan to viewers (stakeholders) before you create your official business plan and secure funding.
There are three plans from which you can choose: Premium at $59 per user, per month; Enterprise at $99 per user, per month; and Enterprise+ at $149 per user, per month, all billed annually. The only reasons to upgrade to either Enterprise plan is if you want to add on automation, development tools and custom worksheets and tables.
Aha! Roadmaps is a great tool to help you strategize and get your ideas for your business in one place. You can use the presentation feature to share your business’s roadmap on your way to creating your finalized business plan.
- User-friendly interface
- Ability to score and prioritize ideas
- Share roadmaps with others
- Expensive for business plan creation
- Has a bit of a learning curve
Best for Beginners
$20.75 per month
Bizplan is specifically for business plan creation. It offers a guided walkthrough of each section you need for a complete business plan to use for funding or pitching to partners. Plug in the information, from your mission and goals to financial forecasts, and Bizplan will do the math and create the visual charts you need to get your point across.
Bizplan is very easy to use because it includes prompts and questions that take away the manual effort of figuring out what you need, so you can simply focus on providing the answers. When you’re satisfied you included all the data needed, you can invite stakeholders and consultants to look it over and add comments for approval or change requests. A unique feature of Bizplan is it gives you access to Fundable, a crowdfunding platform, on which you can share your business plan to try to generate funding.
Monthly pricing costs $29, but you can opt for annual pricing that averages to $20.75 per month. If you expect to need business plan software for much longer than a year, there’s a lifetime access option for $349 flat. All plans come with all features and access, including business courses, business planning tools and a route to investors.
If it’s your first time creating a business plan, Bizplan is a great choice to help guide you through all the sections you need to include in your plan for potential investors and partners.
- Monthly, annual and lifetime plans
- Unlimited business plans
- Unlimited collaborators
- Step-by-step instructions
- Modular, drag-and-drop interface
- Online business courses
- Access to Fundable
- Financial forecasting
- No roadmapping tools
- Lack of customization
- Only integrates with Xero
Best for Ideation
Free; $6 per month
IdeaBuddy is a basic business plan tool that lets you start for free, which is great for beginners who aren’t quite ready to create a plan. The idea plan feature is great because it lets you lay out your business plan on one page, giving you an overview. There are built-in sticky notes for brainstorming and custom templates to start you off with a bit of a guide (or just create your own).
Another great feature of IdeaBuddy is the whiteboard, which lets you drag and drop various elements, draw on it and collaborate with others to come up with your perfect business idea. That feature is locked behind the highest tier, so you’ll have to pay $22 per month (billed annually) to use it. However, that plan also gives you up to 10 collaborators and 10 ideas.
Other plans are more limiting: The free plan is for a solopreneur who has a single idea to work on and the Dreamer plan is $6 per month while the Founder plan is $12 per month, both billed annually. The Dreamer plan is also limited to one idea, but you get one collaborator while the Founder plan gives you up to three ideas and three collaborators. Plus, you’ll get access to the paid plans to export and share your plan with viewers.
IdeaBuddy is just what it sounds like: It’s best for ideation. You can create a full-fledged business plan, but this program is best suited for the very beginning stages of business creation.
- Free forever plan
- Affordable paid plans
- Monthly and annual billing options
- Easy to use
- Export to Word, Excel or as PDF
- Flexible whiteboard feature
- May be too basic for some users
- Doesn’t offer much guidance
Best for No-Frills Business Planning
$55 for one year
Business plan software doesn’t have to be fancy to be effective, and iPlanner certainly fits that bill. It’s been around since 2007 and it doesn’t appear to have updated its look or functions. The browser-based business planning software gives you a place to build out your business model and a business plan.
There are two different software options from iPlanner: Strategy Designer and Startup Framework. The Strategy Designer costs $59 for three plans, but it’s a one-time fee for the year. Choose it if you want a more condensed and no-frills kind of business plan. You can export it to Word or as a PDF.
The iPlanner Startup Framework is $55 per year, which gives you one plan to create. It’s similar to the Designer version, but you can create a business model, separate financials and build a team with various roles (view only, project owner or consultant).
iPlanner is best for those who have created a business plan before and don’t need hand-holding or fancy features.
- Business modeling option
- Samples on site for demoing
- Export to Word or as PDF
- No free plan or trial
- Not a lot of guidance
- Outdated interface
Best for Automatic Business Plan Creation
$11 per month
Enloop is a unique business plan app that generates a business plan for you based on information you provide. You can edit the text Enloop writes for you to make it more specific or change numbers in your financial forecasts as you see fit. Enloop offers a scorecard that updates as you change things, finish sections and make your business plan overall better.
Then Enloop compares your financial forecasts to industry standards, so you don’t have to do the research. The software shows you up to 16 ratios, such as sales, inventory and payables and then shows you what the average is for your industry as it compares to your financials. Enloop then gives you either a pass or fail so that you can modify your plan before you put anything into play.
Although Enloop doesn’t offer a free plan, there is a free trial for one week so you can see if it’s right for you. The Detailed plan costs $11 per month while the Performance plan is $24 per month, both billed annually. The biggest difference between the two plans is how many financial ratios Enloop analyzes: The Detailed plan only gets three ratios and Performance plan gets 16.
Enloop is best for those who have some experience creating business plans, not necessarily for those who are starting from scratch as there are no brainstorming or strategizing tools included. Use Enloop to create business plans quickly.
- Three business plans for each tier
- Generates a business plan automatically
- Compares your financials to industry standards
- Seven-day free trial available
- Scorecards indicate odds of success
- No messaging team members through app
- Not meant for strategizing
Best for Consultant Groups
$80 per, user per month
Not everyone wants to go it alone when creating business plans and consultants are often hired for industry expertise and business plan creation. AchieveIt offers generous plans that won’t limit the number of plans and projects you can create, so you can work on multiple business plans at one time.
Specifically, AchieveIt is planning software meant for medium to large teams to work on projects simultaneously. For business planning, it’s a great option for those strategizing and analyzing a variety of data points with multiple people—all of AchieveIt’s plans have a minimum requirement of 20 users.
Plans are pricey, especially when you consider the user minimum. Core, the lowest-priced plan, costs $80 per user, per month, and Plus is $90 per user, per month, both billed annually. So, it’s going to cost $1,600 per month, at least, which puts this software out of reach for most small businesses.
AchieveIt is a good choice for large businesses that need planning software and for business plan purposes, it makes most sense for established consultant groups.
- Unlimited plans and projects
- Collaboration tools
- Goal management
- 20-user minimum
- Pricier than most competitors
- Integrations at added cost
Best for Teams
Business sorter.
$10 per month
When you’re ready to craft your business plan, it can help immensely to have business planning software like Business Sorter. The cloud-based app makes it easy for you to start a plan and kicks off your business planning with a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats). Then, you can follow a guide to build your plan with each section divided by areas. After which, you can choose cards to help steer you toward the right objectives and goals for your business.
You won’t find roadmapping tools in Business Sorter, but the card system keeps you on track (and even gives you goals you may not have considered). As you prioritize goals, you’ll find steps you need to take that guide you to completing your business plan. Every plan allows multiple users, so you can collaborate on what takes precedence.
Plans start at $10 per month, billed annually, and allows you to have three users on board. For 10 users, the Medium plan costs $30 per month, billed annually, and if you need 30 users, the Large Team plan will run you $80 per month, billed annually. It’s one of the most affordable business planning apps for teams.
Although Business Sorter doesn’t offer a messaging tool, it’s still one of the best options for teams. You don’t have to pay per person, but you can add multiple people to the account to work on creating business plans.
- Easy-to-use business plan templates
- Free trial available
- Card system helps guide your goal setting
- Create up to 40 business plans
- Plans limit user count
- No messaging in app
- Very limited integrations
| Company | Company - Logo | Forbes Advisor Rating | Forbes Advisor Rating | Starting Price | Team messaging | Roadmapping | Learn More CTA text | Learn more CTA below text | LEARN MORE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wrike | 5.0 | Free; $9.80 per user, per month | Yes | Yes | On Wrike's Website | ||||
| Smartsheet | 5.0 | $7 per user, per month (billed annually) | Yes (added cost) | Yes | On Smartsheet's Website | ||||
| LivePlan | 4.8 | $15 per month (billed annually) | Yes | Yes | |||||
| Aha! | 4.3 | $59 per user, per month (billed annually) | Yes (added cost) | Yes | |||||
| Bizplan | 4.0 | $20.75 per month (billed annually) | Yes | No | |||||
| IdeaBuddy | 3.9 | Free; $6 per month (billed annually) | No | No | |||||
| iPlanner | 3.8 | $55 for one year | No | No | |||||
| Enloop | 3.5 | $11 per month (billed annually) | No | Yes | |||||
| AchieveIt | 3.4 | $80 per, user per month (billed annually) | No | No | |||||
| Business Sorter | 3.2 | $10 per month (billed annually) | No | No |
| Section | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Executive Summary | Brief overview of the business plan | Overview of EcoTech and its mission |
| Overview & Objectives | Outline of company's goals and strategies | Market leadership in sustainable technology |
| Company Description | Detailed explanation of the company and its unique selling proposition | EcoTech's history, mission, and vision |
| Target Market | Description of ideal customers and their needs | Environmentally conscious consumers and businesses |
| Market Analysis | Examination of industry trends, customer needs, and competitors | Trends in eco-friendly technology market |
| SWOT Analysis | Evaluation of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats | Strengths and weaknesses of EcoTech |
| Competitive Analysis | In-depth analysis of competitors and their strategies | Analysis of GreenTech and EarthSolutions |
| Organization & Management | Overview of the company's structure and management team | Key roles and team members at EcoTech |
| Products & Services | Description of offerings and their unique features | Energy-efficient lighting solutions, solar chargers |
| Marketing & Sales | Outline of marketing channels and sales strategies | Digital advertising, content marketing, influencer partnerships |
| Logistics & Operations | Details about daily operations, supply chain, inventory, and quality control | Partnerships with manufacturers, quality control |
| Financial Projections | Forecast of revenue, expenses, and profit for the next 3-5 years | Projected growth in revenue and net profit |
| Income Statement | Summary of company's revenues and expenses over a specified period | Revenue, Cost of Goods Sold, Gross Profit, Net Income |
| Cash Flow Statement | Overview of cash inflows and outflows within the business | Net Cash from Operating Activities, Investing Activities, Financing Activities |
Tips on Writing a Business Plan
4. Focus on your unique selling proposition (USP): Clearly articulate what sets your business apart from the competition. Emphasize your USP throughout your business plan to showcase your company’s value and potential for success.
FREE Business Plan Template
To help you get started on your business plan, we have created a template that includes all the essential components discussed in the “How to Write a Business Plan” section. This easy-to-use template will guide you through each step of the process, ensuring you don’t miss any critical details.
What is a Business Plan?
Why you should write a business plan.
Understanding the importance of a business plan in today’s competitive environment is crucial for entrepreneurs and business owners. Here are five compelling reasons to write a business plan:
What are the Different Types of Business Plans?
| Type of Business Plan | Purpose | Key Components | Target Audience |
|---|---|---|---|
| Startup Business Plan | Outlines the company's mission, objectives, target market, competition, marketing strategies, and financial projections. | Mission Statement, Company Description, Market Analysis, Competitive Analysis, Organizational Structure, Marketing and Sales Strategy, Financial Projections. | Entrepreneurs, Investors |
| Internal Business Plan | Serves as a management tool for guiding the company's growth, evaluating its progress, and ensuring that all departments are aligned with the overall vision. | Strategies, Milestones, Deadlines, Resource Allocation. | Internal Team Members |
| Strategic Business Plan | Outlines long-term goals and the steps to achieve them. | SWOT Analysis, Market Research, Competitive Analysis, Long-Term Goals. | Executives, Managers, Investors |
| Feasibility Business Plan | Assesses the viability of a business idea. | Market Demand, Competition, Financial Projections, Potential Obstacles. | Entrepreneurs, Investors |
| Growth Business Plan | Focuses on strategies for scaling up an existing business. | Market Analysis, New Product/Service Offerings, Financial Projections. | Business Owners, Investors |
| Operational Business Plan | Outlines the company's day-to-day operations. | Processes, Procedures, Organizational Structure. | Managers, Employees |
| Lean Business Plan | A simplified, agile version of a traditional plan, focusing on key elements. | Value Proposition, Customer Segments, Revenue Streams, Cost Structure. | Entrepreneurs, Startups |
| One-Page Business Plan | A concise summary of your company's key objectives, strategies, and milestones. | Key Objectives, Strategies, Milestones. | Entrepreneurs, Investors, Partners |
| Nonprofit Business Plan | Outlines the mission, goals, target audience, fundraising strategies, and budget allocation for nonprofit organizations. | Mission Statement, Goals, Target Audience, Fundraising Strategies, Budget. | Nonprofit Leaders, Board Members, Donors |
| Franchise Business Plan | Focuses on the franchisor's requirements, as well as the franchisee's goals, strategies, and financial projections. | Franchise Agreement, Brand Standards, Marketing Efforts, Operational Procedures, Financial Projections. | Franchisors, Franchisees, Investors |
Using Business Plan Software
Upmetrics provides a simple and intuitive platform for creating a well-structured business plan. It features customizable templates, financial forecasting tools, and collaboration capabilities, allowing you to work with team members and advisors. Upmetrics also offers a library of resources to guide you through the business planning process.
| Software | Key Features | User Interface | Additional Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| LivePlan | Over 500 sample plans, financial forecasting tools, progress tracking against KPIs | User-friendly, visually appealing | Allows creation of professional-looking business plans |
| Upmetrics | Customizable templates, financial forecasting tools, collaboration capabilities | Simple and intuitive | Provides a resource library for business planning |
| Bizplan | Drag-and-drop builder, modular sections, financial forecasting tools, progress tracking | Simple, visually engaging | Designed to simplify the business planning process |
| Enloop | Industry-specific templates, financial forecasting tools, automatic business plan generation, unique performance score | Robust, user-friendly | Offers a free version, making it accessible for businesses on a budget |
| Tarkenton GoSmallBiz | Guided business plan builder, customizable templates, financial projection tools | User-friendly | Offers CRM tools, legal document templates, and additional resources for small businesses |
Business Plan FAQs
What is a good business plan.
A good business plan is a well-researched, clear, and concise document that outlines a company’s goals, strategies, target market, competitive advantages, and financial projections. It should be adaptable to change and provide a roadmap for achieving success.
What are the 3 main purposes of a business plan?
Can i write a business plan by myself, is it possible to create a one-page business plan.
Yes, a one-page business plan is a condensed version that highlights the most essential elements, including the company’s mission, target market, unique selling proposition, and financial goals.
How long should a business plan be?
What is a business plan outline, what are the 5 most common business plan mistakes, what questions should be asked in a business plan.
A business plan should address questions such as: What problem does the business solve? Who is the specific target market ? What is the unique selling proposition? What are the company’s objectives? How will it achieve those objectives?
What’s the difference between a business plan and a strategic plan?
How is business planning for a nonprofit different.
Home > Business > Business Startup
- 5 Best Business Plan Software and Tools in 2023 for Your Small Business
Data as of 3 /13/23 . Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change.
We are committed to sharing unbiased reviews. Some of the links on our site are from our partners who compensate us. Read our editorial guidelines and advertising disclosure .
A business plan can do a lot for your business. It can help you secure investors or other funding. It can give your company direction. It can keep your finances healthy. But, if we’re being honest, it can also be a pain to write.
Luckily, you don’t have to start from scratch or go it alone. Business plan software and services can help you craft a professional business plan, like our top choice LivePlan , which provides templates, guidance, and more.
You’ve got quite a few choices for business plan help, so we’re here to help you narrow things down. Let’s talk about the best business plan tools out there.
- LivePlan : Best overall
- BizPlanBuilder : Most user-friendly
- Wise Business Plans : Best professional service
- Business Sorter : Best for internal plans
- GoSmallBiz.com : Most extra features
- Honorable mentions
Business plan software 101
The takeaway, business plan software faq, compare the best business plan software.
| Cloud-based software | $12.00/mo. | 60-day money back guarantee | ||
| Windows app and cloud-based software | $20.75/mo. | 60-day money back guarantee | ||
| Professional service | Custom quote | N/A | ||
| Cloud-based software | $10.00/mo. | 14 days | ||
| Cloud-based software | $39.00/mo. | N/A |
By signing up I agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy .
LivePlan: Best overall business plan software
Data as of 3 /13/23 . Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change. *With annual billing
LivePlan has been our favorite business plan software for a while now, despite the stiff competition.
There’s a lot to like about LivePlan. It has pretty much all the features you could want from your business plan software. LivePlan gives you step-by-step instructions for writing your plan, helps you create financial reports, lets you compare your business’s actual financials to your plan’s goals, and much more. And if you ever need inspiration, it includes hundreds of sample business plans that can guide your writing.
LivePlan software pricing
| $12.00/mo. | $15.00/mo. | ||
| $24.00/mo. | $30.00/mo. |
But the best part? You get all that (and more) at a very competitive price. (You can choose from annual, six-month, or monthly billing.) While LivePlan isn’t quite the cheapest business plan builder out there, it’s not too far off either. And if comes with a 60-day money back guarantee. So there’s no risk in trying LivePlan out for yourself.
With a great balance of features and cost, LivePlan offers the best business plan solution for most businesses.
BizPlanBuilder: Most user-friendly
Need something easy to use? BizPlanBuilder fits the bill.
BizPlanBuilder doesn’t have a flashy, modern user interface―but it does have a very clear, intuitive one. You’ll be able to see your plan’s overall structure at a glance, so you can quickly navigate from your title page to your market trend section to that paragraph on your core values. And as you write, you’ll use a text editor that looks a whole lot like the word processing programs you’re already familiar with.
BizPlanBuilder software pricing
| $20.75/mo. | $29.00/mo. | $349.00 |
|---|
Data effective 3/13/23. At publishing time, amounts, rates, and requirements are current but are subject to change. Offers may not be available in all areas.
BizPlanBuilder also offers lots of helpful guidance for actually writing your plan. It gives you pre-written text, in which you just have to fill in relevant details. It offers explanations for what information you need to include in each section of your plan and way. It even gives you helpful tips from experts, so you’ll have all the information you need to plan like a pro.
So if you want planning software with almost no learning curve, you’ll like BizPlanBuilder.
Wise Business Plans: Best professional service
- Custom quote
Unlike all the other companies on this list, Wise Business Plans doesn’t offer software. Instead, it offers professional business plan writing services―meaning someone does all the hard work for you.
Now, you might think that sounds expensive―and you’re probably right (you have to request a custom quote for your plan). But there’s a lot to be said for expertise, and Wise Business Plans has plenty of that. Your business plan will get written by an experienced writer (with an MBA, no less). They’ll get information from you, do their own research, and then write your plan. You get one free revision, and you can always pay for more.
Wise Business Plans service pricing
| N/A | N/A | Custom quote |
|---|
Your end result will be a polished, entirely original business plan. (You can even get printed copies.) And best of all, you won’t have to spend your precious time working on the plan yourself. Wise Business Plans takes care of all the hard parts, and makes your business look good while doing it. Sounds like a service worth paying for, right?
Put simply, if you want the most professional business plan possible, we recommend using Wise Business Plans’s writing service.
Business Sorter: Best for internal plans
Many businesses need plans to show to people outside the company (to get financing, for example). But what if you just need a plan for internal use? In that case, we suggest Business Sorter.
Business Sorter uses a unique card-based method to help you craft the perfect business plan. (You can watch a demo video to see how it works.) You’ll plan some of the usual things, like finances and marketing. But Business Sorter also lets you make plans for specific teams and team members. It also emphasizes more internal matters, like operations, that might get overlooked in a business plan for outsiders.
Business Sorter software pricing
| $10.00/mo. | $80.00/yr. | ||
| $30.00/mo. | $240.00/yr. | ||
| $80.00/mo. | $640.00/yr. | ||
| Custom pricing | Custom pricing |
After you’ve made your business plan, Business Sorter also helps you stay accountable to it. You can create tasks, give them deadlines, and assign them to team members―giving you basic project management tools to make sure your business plans become business actions. (Oh, and did we mention that Business Sorter has the lowest starting prices of any software on this list?)
It all adds up to a business plan software that works great for internal planning.
GoSmallBiz: Most extra features
Want to get way more than just business planning software? Then you probably want GoSmallBiz.
See, GoSmallBiz offers business plan software as part of its service―but it’s just one part of a much bigger whole. You also get everything from discounts on legal services to a website builder to a CRM (customer relationship manager) to business document templates. And more. In other words, you get just about everything you need to get your startup off the ground.
GoSmallBiz software pricing
| $39.00/mo. | ||
| $49.00/mo. | ||
| $199.00/mo. |
Don’t worry though―you still get all the business planning help you need. GoSmallBiz gives you business plan templates, step-by-step instructions, and the ability to create financial projections. And if you get stuck, GoSmallBiz will put you in touch with experts who can offer advice.
If you want business planning and much, much more, give GoSmallBiz a try.
- PlanGuru : Best financial forecasting
- EnLoop : Cheapest tool for startups
We recommend the software above for most business planning needs. Some businesses, though, might be interested in these more specialized planning software.
Honorable mention software pricing
| $899.00/yr. | $99.00/mo. | N/A | ||
| $11.00/mo. | $19.95/mo. | N/A |
PlanGuru: Best financial forecasting features
PlanGuru is pretty pricey compared to our other picks, but you might find its forecasting features worth paying for. It has more forecasting methods than other software (over 20) plus it lets you forecast up to 10 years.
EnLoop: Cheapest tool for startups
EnLoop doesn’t have our favorite features or interface, but it does have really, really low pricing plus a seven-day free trial. It's the most affordable software for startup business planning and still provides all the essential features like financial analysis, team collaboration, charting, and more.
Data as of 3 /13/23 . Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change. * With annual billing
Several of our previous favorite planning software, including BusinessPlanPro and StratPad, seem to have gone out of business.
A business plan is a written, living document that tells the story of your business and what you plan to do with it. It serves as the source of truth for you—the business owner—as well as potential partners, employees, and investors, but it also serves as a roadmap of what you want your business to be.
Why you need a business plan
While some small-business owners don’t see the point of creating a formal business plan, it can have some concrete benefits for your business. For example, one 2016 study found that business owners with written plans are more successful than those that don’t. 1
Still too vague? Then let’s get specific.
If you ever seek business funding (from, say, banks, angel investors , or venture capitalists ), you’ll have to prove that your business deserves the money you want. A formal business plan―complete with financial data and projections―gives you a professional document you can use to make your case. (In fact, most potential investors will expect you to have a business plan ready.)
Even if you’re not seeking funding right now, a business plan can help your business. A formal plan can guide your business’s direction and decision making. It can keep your business accountable (by, for example, seeing if your business meets the financial projections you included). And a formal plan offers a great way to make sure your team stays on the same page.
What to include in your business plan
Not all business plans are created equal. To make a really useful business plan, you’ll want to include a number of elements:
- Basic information about your business
- Your products/services
- Market and industry analysis
- What makes your business competitive
- Strategies and upcoming plans
- Your team (and your team’s background)
- Current financial status
- Financial and market projections
- Executive summary
Of course, you can include more or fewer elements―whatever makes sense for your business. Just make sure your business plan is comprehensive (but not overwhelming).
How business plan software can help
With so many elements to include, business plan creation can take a while. Business plan software tries to speed things up.
Most business plan software will include prompts for each section. In some cases, you can just fill in your business’s specific information, and the software will write the text for you. In other cases, the software will give you specific guidance and examples, helping you write the text yourself.
Plus, business plan software can help you stay organized. You’ll usually get intuitive menus that let you quickly flip through sections. So rather than endlessly scrolling through a long document in a word processor, you can quickly find your way around your plan. Some software even lets you drag and drop sections to reorganize your plan.
Sounds way easier than just staring at a blank page and trying to start from scratch, right?
Choosing business plan software
To find the right business plan builder for your business, you’ll want to compare features. For example, would you rather write your own text, getting prompts and advice from your software? Or would you rather go with a fill-in-the-blank method?
Likewise, think about the elements you need. If your plan will have a heavy focus on finances, you’ll want to choose business plan software with robust financial projection features. If you care more about market and competitor analysis, look for software that can help with that research.
You may also want to find business plan software that integrates with your business accounting software . Some plan builders will import data from Xero, QuickBooks, etc. to quickly generate your financial data and projections.
And of course, you’ll want to compare prices. After all, you always want to end up with software that fits your business budget.
The right business plan software can make your life easier. With LivePlan ’s wide breadth of features and online learning tools, you can’t go wrong. Plus, BizPlanBuilder 's one-time pricing makes it easy to invest while Business Sorter has a low starting cost. And if you're business is looking to grow, GoSmallBiz and Wise Business Plans will scale with you.
But of course, different companies have different needs. So shop around until you find the software that’s best for you and your business.
Now that you've got a business plan, take a look at our checklist for starting a small business. It can help you make sure you have everything else you need to get your startup off to a good start!
Related content
- 7 Steps to Build a Successful Project Management Sales Plan
- Best Project Management Software and Tools in 2023
- 4 Cost Management Techniques for Small Businesses
Creating a business plan can take anywhere from a couple hours to several weeks. Your timeline will depend on things like the elements you choose to include, whether you use software or hire a writing service, and how much research goes into your plan.
That said, much of the business plan software out there brags that it can help you create a fairly detailed plan in a few hours. So if you’re going the software route, that can help you set your expectations.
If you want to get the most out of your business plan, you should update it on a regular basis―at least annually. That way, you can continually refer to it to inform your company’s strategies and direction.
At the very least, you should update your business plan before you start looking for a new round of funding (whether that’s with investors or lenders).
Thanks to business plan software, you can easily write your own business plan rather than pay someone to do it for you. And in most cases, software will cost you less than a professional business plan service.
There are some times you might want to go with a service though. If time is tight, you might find that it’s worth the cost of a service. Or if you’ve got big investor meetings on the horizon, you might want the expertise and polish that a professional service can offer.
Ultimately, you’ll have to decide for yourself whether business plan software or a business plan service will work better for your company.
Methodology
We ranked business plan software and tools based on features, pricing and plans, and connections to project management and other services. The value of each plan and service, along with what it offers, was a big consideration in our rankings, and we looked to see if what was offered was useful to small businesses or just extra. The final thing we looked at was the ease of use of the software to see if it's too complex for small businesses.
At Business.org, our research is meant to offer general product and service recommendations. We don't guarantee that our suggestions will work best for each individual or business, so consider your unique needs when choosing products and services.
Sources 1. Harvard Business Review, “ Research: Writing a Business Plan Makes Your Startup More Likely to Succeed .” Accessed March 13, 2023.
5202 W Douglas Corrigan Way Salt Lake City, UT 84116
Accounting & Payroll
Point of Sale
Payment Processing
Inventory Management
Human Resources
Other Services
Best Small Business Loans
Best Inventory Management Software
Best Small Business Accounting Software
Best Payroll Software
Best Mobile Credit Card Readers
Best POS Systems
Best Tax Software
Stay updated on the latest products and services anytime anywhere.
By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy .
Disclaimer: The information featured in this article is based on our best estimates of pricing, package details, contract stipulations, and service available at the time of writing. All information is subject to change. Pricing will vary based on various factors, including, but not limited to, the customer’s location, package chosen, added features and equipment, the purchaser’s credit score, etc. For the most accurate information, please ask your customer service representative. Clarify all fees and contract details before signing a contract or finalizing your purchase.
Our mission is to help consumers make informed purchase decisions. While we strive to keep our reviews as unbiased as possible, we do receive affiliate compensation through some of our links. This can affect which services appear on our site and where we rank them. Our affiliate compensation allows us to maintain an ad-free website and provide a free service to our readers. For more information, please see our Privacy Policy Page . |
© Business.org 2024 All Rights Reserved.
We use essential cookies to make Venngage work. By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts.
Manage Cookies
Cookies and similar technologies collect certain information about how you’re using our website. Some of them are essential, and without them you wouldn’t be able to use Venngage. But others are optional, and you get to choose whether we use them or not.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
These cookies are always on, as they’re essential for making Venngage work, and making it safe. Without these cookies, services you’ve asked for can’t be provided.
Show cookie providers
- Google Login
Functionality Cookies
These cookies help us provide enhanced functionality and personalisation, and remember your settings. They may be set by us or by third party providers.
Performance Cookies
These cookies help us analyze how many people are using Venngage, where they come from and how they're using it. If you opt out of these cookies, we can’t get feedback to make Venngage better for you and all our users.
- Google Analytics
Targeting Cookies
These cookies are set by our advertising partners to track your activity and show you relevant Venngage ads on other sites as you browse the internet.
- Google Tag Manager
- Infographics
- Daily Infographics
- Popular Templates
- Accessibility
- Graphic Design
- Graphs and Charts
- Data Visualization
- Human Resources
- Beginner Guides
Blog Business 8 Best Business Plan Software for 2024
8 Best Business Plan Software for 2024
Written by: Krystle Wong Jan 01, 2024
Gone are the days of staring at blank pages and struggling to structure a business plan effectively. With user-friendly interfaces and a wide range of business plan templates catering to various industries, creating business plans that are polished, professional and data-driven can now be done in a fraction of the time.
For startups, business plan software guides them through the crucial early stages with comprehensive business plan templates and financial modeling tools. Established businesses on the other hand benefit from the software’s collaborative features, enabling seamless teamwork as they pivot, innovate and pursue new growth opportunities.
In this article, let’s delve into exploring the seven best business plan software for 2024. Whether you’re an aspiring entrepreneur with a groundbreaking idea or a seasoned business owner ready to elevate your enterprise to new heights, these software solutions have all you need to create a solid business plan.
Click to jump ahead:
What is a business plan software?
- 7 Best business plan software for 2024
Factors to consider when choosing a business plan software
7 steps to create your own business plan, business plan software faq, key takeaway.
A Business plan software is a specialized digital tool designed to assist entrepreneurs, startups and established businesses in creating, organizing and presenting comprehensive business plans.
Business plan software significantly reduces the time and effort required to create a comprehensive business plan . The availability of business plan templates, financial modeling tools and automated features streamlines the process of business planning and eliminates the need for starting from scratch.
Some advanced business planning software even integrates market research capabilities. This feature provides users with access to market trends, industry benchmarks and relevant data. Access to such data helps users make informed decisions and demonstrate a thorough understanding of their target market.
8 Best business plan software for 2024
1. venngage.
Venngage specializes in transforming traditional business plans into captivating visual stories. Visuals can communicate complex information effectively, ensuring your ideas stand out and resonate with your audience.
When it comes to business planning, conveying your ideas with impact is just as important as the content itself. In this digital age, visual storytelling has emerged as a powerful way to captivate audiences and leave a lasting impression. That’s where Venngage steps in.
With a rich library of templates, Venngage offers a variety of themes and styles to suit different industries and business types. Customize your business plans with our user-friendly drag-and-drop tools by adding your brand elements, customizing colors, fonts and visuals to make your business plan truly unique. Check out our library of sample business plans to get started today.
However, while Venngage excels in visual storytelling, it might not be the go-to tool for in-depth financial forecasts and analysis. Users seeking extensive financial modeling might want to complement Venngage with a comprehensive business planning tool.
Pricing options:
Create your first 5 designs with Venngage for free and upgrade to a premium or business plan for $10/month per user and $24/month per user respectively to enjoy premium features. For larger teams who need extra support, controls and security, the enterprise plan starts from $499/month for 10+ seats.
Can I collaborate with team members using this business plan software?
Yes, absolutely! Venngage offers collaborative features that allow you to work seamlessly with multiple team members when creating business plans. You can invite team members to join your Venngage account and they can contribute to the design process in real time.
Can I export my business plan to different file formats?
Upgrade to a premium or business plan on Venngage to export your professional business plan to different file formats. After designing your business plan, you can choose to export it as a high-quality PDF document, which is ideal for sharing and printing. Additionally, Venngage allows you to export your business plan as an image file (PNG or JPG), making it easy to use in presentations or on your website.
Is this business plan software suitable for startups or established businesses?
Venngage is great for entrepreneurs and businesses looking to enhance their business plans with visually engaging infographics and visual assets.
Instead of sharing a lengthy, 50-page document that may bore your audience and fail to effectively convey your message — present your business plan with infographics. Here’s how you can create a business plan infographic that will wow your readers and showcase your business at its best.
2. LivePlan
Source: Screenshot from LivePlan
In the realm of business planning software, LivePlan stands out as a reliable and user-friendly tool. With a focus on seamless financial forecasting and budgeting capabilities, LivePlan streamlines the planning process, helping businesses transform their visions into reality.
The software’s financial forecasting tools provide users with the ability to project revenue, expenses and cash flow accurately. This financial insight is invaluable for making informed decisions and setting realistic goals.
For hassle-free data integration, the business plan software offers seamless integration with accounting software . This feature allows users to import financial data effortlessly, saving time and reducing manual data entry.
While LivePlan excels in financial planning and user-friendliness, some users may find the customization options for design and layout to be limited. For businesses seeking highly tailored visual aesthetics, LivePlan’s template-based approach might be less ideal.
The standard plan is available at $20/month for monthly billing and $15/month for annual billing. For businesses seeking extensive financial tools to support their operations and growth, the Premium plan costs $20 for the first month and $40/month (monthly billing) or $30/month (annual billing) for subsequent months.
LivePlan facilitates seamless collaboration among users within your account, allowing multiple individuals to work on the same plan concurrently. To prevent conflicting edits, LivePlan restricts access to specific sections, allowing only one user to edit at a time while others observe the locked section.
You can export your business plan by using the print to PDF feature. This generates your plan content in a standard file format compatible with Adobe Reader and other free reader programs. Alternatively, you can export your plan to Microsoft Word (2007 or later).
A great tool for small businesses, startups and entrepreneurs looking for easy-to-use software with solid financial planning tools.
3. Upmetrics
Upmetrics is an AI-powered business planning software that helps businesses of all sizes and industries write their business plan.
With Upmetrics AI Assistant, you can write your plan faster, get answers to any business-related queries, and prepare financial forecasts in no time.
Besides, the subscription includes access to 400+ sample business plans, various informative guides, and video tutorials to keep your business plan writing process on track.
Additionally, it has collaborative features, so that everyone on the team can share their insights. Not just that, the software provides you with an AI pitch deck generator, so you can make a stellar pitch.
As an AI business plan builder , Upmetrics is suitable for entrepreneurs, startups, and small businesses to write their plans at any stage. Although it has various cover page designs and immense customization options, it might still lack visual appeal.
Pricing plan options
- Starter plan – $7 monthly
- Premium plan – $14 monthly
Yes, you can collaborate with your team members while using Upmetrics. It offers collaboration tools that allow you to work effortlessly with your team on the business plan. You can invite team members to collaborate, assign tasks, and track the progress together.
You can download your business plan as a PDF or directly as a document in Word. Besides, you can share the business plan directly to any email, and they will get the viewer access to the plan.
Upmetrics is a versatile business planning software suitable for startups and established businesses. But its financial planning features, step-by-step guidance, and AI Assistant make it more useful for startups writing business plans for the first time.
4. BizPlan by Startups.com
Source: Screenshot from BizPlan
If you’re a startup aiming to raise investments, BizPlan is the one for you. As a universal professional business plan builder, BizPlan offers the added advantage of seamless integration with all the tools within the Startups.com network.
Designed with startups in mind, BizPlan’s step-by-step approach allows you to break down the entire scope of work into manageable steps and the built-in Progress Tracker tool keeps you on track towards success.
Once you subscribe, BizPlan opens the door to utilizing all the tools offered by Startups.com, making it a one-stop shop for your entrepreneurial needs. Whether it’s lifetime access to the service, connectivity to Findable to attract financial investments, a wealth of online educational programs or the ability to connect multiple owners to a single account, BizPlan delivers comprehensive support.
While the business plan software offers an array of benefits, it’s essential to consider the possible downsides. The absence of a free version and a mobile app, along with a lack of industry-specific templates for business plans may be worth considering before making your decision
Pricing plan options:
- Monthly plan ($29 per month)
- Annual plan ($20.75 per month or $249/year)
- Lifetime access (one-time fee of $349)
Bizplan encourages collaboration with partners, team members, advisors and subject matter experts by allowing threaded comments throughout the entire plan. It provides control over who can access sensitive financial data and enables convenient cloud-based access from anywhere.
Bizplan provides multiple options for sharing your business plan with others. You can generate an online version of your plan, which can be set as private by default or made publicly accessible through a unique shareable URL. Additionally, Bizplan offers the option to create a custom-branded PDF of your business plan.
BizPlan is great for entrepreneurs and small businesses who value a vast collection of resources and need support in financial analysis.
Source: Screenshot from Enloop
Enloop emerges as one of the best business plan tools for startups, catering to entrepreneurs who crave a streamlined planning process. With the ability to automatically generate basic text for each section of your plan, Enloop saves time and effort in crafting your business vision.
A highlight of the business plan tool is its automatic generation of financial projections, offering accurate insights based on your entered data. This powerful feature empowers entrepreneurs to make informed decisions and project future outcomes with confidence.
For those with a penchant for strategic thinking, Enloop’s “what-if” scenario analysis becomes an invaluable tool. It allows users to explore various business strategies and assess their potential impact on plan outcomes, enabling sound decision-making.
Enloop doesn’t stop at generating numbers; it goes a step further by providing a business plan grading system. This insightful feature assesses plan quality, giving users valuable feedback to refine and enhance their business plans.
However, it’s essential to consider the software’s limitations as customization and design options are relatively limited. Additionally, the basic version of Enloop might not meet the needs of all users, as it lacks certain advanced features.
- Seven day free trial (no credit card required)
- Detailed plan ($19.95/month or $11/month when billed annually)
- Performance plan ($39.95/month or $24/month when billed annually)
Enloop’s online business plan writing app lets you invite and collaborate with anyone on your business plans using the ‘Invite & Share’ feature.
Enloop allows you to download your business plan in PDF format whenever you’re ready. The plans remain accessible in your paid account, encouraging regular updates to keep track of your business’s health and have an up-to-date plan ready for financing needs.
Suitable for entrepreneurs seeking a tool that simplifies financial forecasting and scenario analysis.
6. PlanGuru
Source: Screenshot from PlanGuru
PlanGuru’s standout feature lies in its ability to forecast all three financial statements – income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement so that users can make data-driven decisions.
Creating detailed analyses becomes a breeze with PlanGuru’s general ledger import utilities, allowing seamless historical data import. The software facilitates budget vs actual reporting and enables building rolling forecasts with just a few clicks each month.
Unlimited budgeting flexibility is another advantage offered by the business plan builder. Users can craft simple high-level small business budgets or delve into intricate multi-department operating budgets with ease.
With scenario analysis capabilities, PlanGuru empowers users to interpret the financial impact of specific events accurately. This feature enables making critical investments and strategic decisions with confidence, knowing thorough due diligence has been performed.
Given its sophisticated features, PlanGuru may be more suitable for financial professionals and analysts looking for in-depth financial analysis and budgeting tools. Users not familiar with financial modeling may face a steeper learning curve when utilizing Enloop’s robust capabilities.
- Single entity ($99/month or $75/month when billed annually)
- Multi-department consolidations ($299/month or $225/month when billed annually)
You can add up to 3 users with the multi-department consolidation plan. Additionally, all plans allow you to add on $29/month (billed monthly) or $25/month (billed annually) for each extra user.
What other apps does PlanGuru integrate with?
The cloud-based platform is also accessible as a Windows-based desktop version, giving you the freedom to choose the format that suits you best. Additionally, PlanGuru seamlessly integrates with MS Excel, QuickBooks Online and Xero, providing further flexibility and convenience in using the software.
The cloud-based version is suitable for SMBs or nonprofits budgeting for a single entity while the multi-department consolidations plan is for companies with multiple departments needing consolidated budgets.
7. Business Sorter
Source: Screenshot from Business Sorter
With Business Sorter’s card sort system, crafting the foundation of your plan becomes a breeze. Featuring 273 cards covering various business situations, the business plan generator offers flexibility, allowing users to customize their plan by adding their cards or modifying existing ones, tailoring the plan to their specific needs.
The platform also provides the convenience of viewing your plan on any device, including smartphones, which not many business plan apps have. Additionally, guidance is at hand with Business Sorter as the software provides valuable tips and advice for every key step, empowering users to implement their business strategy with confidence.
While Business Sorter excels in its interactive features, it may not offer as extensive financial analysis tools as other business plan software. For businesses requiring advanced financial modeling capabilities, Business Sorter might not fully meet their requirements.
- For small teams with up to 3 users ($10/month or $80/year)
- For medium teams with up to 10 users ($30/month or $240/year)
- For large teams with up to 30 users ($80/month or $640/year)
- For enterprises with unlimited users (custom pricing)
Your business plan can be edited by only one user at a time. When a user opens a plan, it automatically locks to prevent any data loss and remains locked until the user finishes their work and exits the plan.
You can print each business plan directly from the plan summaries on your dashboard.
Suitable for both entrepreneurs and businesses looking for an interactive and visually appealing planning approach.
9. AchieveIt
Source: Screenshot from AchieveIt
AchieveIt stands as a versatile software for business plans, designed to simplify the planning process for businesses of all sizes and planning methods. With AchieveIt, you can easily build plans, ensuring alignment and engagement among your employees and optimizing plans for seamless execution.
Regardless of your preferred planning method, AchieveIt empowers you to construct plans effortlessly, providing a flexible solution for any planning use case. The software ensures your plans are well-aligned with your organization’s objectives, engaging all team members for successful plan execution.
The business plan tool provides robust tracking and reporting features, allowing businesses to monitor the progress of their plans and measure performance against set goals. Users can create customized dashboards to visualize key performance metrics, making it easier to identify trends and insights.
That said, In comparison to most business plan software, AchieveIt’s pricing might be relatively higher with its extensive features. On top of that, for users new to strategic planning software, AchieveIt may present a learning curve during the initial adoption phase.
The business plan software packages for AchieveIt varies based on factors like organization size, required functionality and the number of users. AchieveIt being an enterprise-level software offers custom pricing to cater to the specific needs of each business. For accurate pricing details, it’s best to contact their sales or customer support team.
AchieveIt allows team members, stakeholders and advisors to have shared access to the platform, providing them with visibility into the latest updates and progress on the plans. Users can assign tasks to team members and track their progress within the platform.
Can AchieveIt integrate with existing systems?
AchieveIt’s Data Integration API lets you import key metric data from existing systems, saving time and reducing errors by eliminating the need for data entry in multiple places.
AchieveIt is best suited for medium to large-sized businesses and organizations that require a comprehensive and collaborative strategic planning platform. It caters to teams and enterprises seeking to improve their planning processes, track performance and drive organizational alignment to achieve business objectives effectively.
No idea what your business plan should look like? Check out these business plan examples for inspiration.
When searching for the best business planning software, you may be wondering — what features should I look for in business plan software? You want to make sure it meets your specific requirements and streamlines the planning process effectively. Here are the top six factors to consider:
Ease of use
The software should have a user-friendly interface that simplifies the process of creating a business plan. Look for intuitive navigation, clear instruction and a layout that makes it easy to input and organize your information.
Features and business plan templates
Check the range of features and business plan templates the software offers. Look for a diverse selection of business plan templates catering to various industries and business types. The software should provide essential sections like executive summaries, market analysis, financial projections and more.
Financial modeling tools
Your business plan software should allow you to input financial data and generate accurate and comprehensive financial projections. These business plan creation tools are vital for assessing the financial viability of your business.
Collaboration and sharing
If you’ll be working with a team or seeking feedback from others, consider software that enables real-time collaboration and easy sharing. The ability to work together seamlessly can enhance productivity and improve the quality of your business plan.
Built for fast-moving teams that need to be on the same page, Venngage’s real-time collaboration enables you to polish your design with your team in real time, leave comments on each other’s work,and save your designs in one shared folder. With your Venngage Business account, you can easily invite and manage your team members to collaborate on a design, all in real time.
Security and data protection
Since a business plan contains sensitive information, prioritize software that prioritizes security. Ensure that the software uses encryption and data protection measures to keep your data safe from unauthorized access.
Exporting and sharing options
Check the software’s export options. You’ll likely want to share your business plan with others, so ensure it can be exported in popular formats like PDF or PowerPoint.
Are you an entrepreneur starting a new business or expanding your existing business? This guide on how to create a small business plan might come in handy for you.
Creating business plans can be a crucial step in setting your entrepreneurial vision on the right track. To help you through the process, here are 7 steps to guide you in crafting a comprehensive business plan:
Step 1: Executive summary
Start with an attention-grabbing executive summary. This section provides an overview of your business. In your executive summary, make sure to highlight your mission, goals, products or services, target market and the unique value you offer. Keep it concise, yet compelling.
Step 2: Company description
Give a detailed description of your company. Explain your business’s history, its legal structure (e.g. sole proprietorship, LLC, corporation) and the reasons why your business will succeed in the market.
Step 3: Market analysis
Conduct thorough market research to understand your industry, target market and competition. Identify your ideal customers, their needs and preferences. Analyze your competitors and highlight your competitive advantages.
Step 4: Products and Services
Describe your products or services in depth. Explain their features, benefits and how they meet the needs of your target customers. Emphasize what sets your offerings apart from the competition.
Step 5: Marketing and sales strategy
Outline your marketing and sales strategies to reach your target audience. Explain your promotional activities, pricing strategies, distribution channels and sales tactics. Detail how you plan to acquire and retain customers.
Step 6: Financial projections
Project your financial performance over the next three to five years. Include estimated revenue, expenses and cash flow. Detail your startup costs and funding requirements if applicable. Be realistic and supported by market research.
Step 7: Implementation plan
Create a detailed roadmap for executing your business plan. Set specific goals and milestones. Break down tasks and assign responsibilities. Include timelines and a plan for measuring progress.
A great tip here is to start with a well-structured outline. This guide on how to create a business plan outline will help you in creating your blueprint to easily identify your business’ resource needs, including finances, personnel and equipment.
Is my business data safe with business plan software?
Most reputable business plan software providers prioritize data security and employ encryption and other measures to keep your business data safe from unauthorized access.
What are the benefits of using business planning tools?
Business planning tools offer time efficiency, professional presentation, error reduction, collaborative features and accessibility, making it easier to create a comprehensive business plan that impresses investors and stakeholders.
Do I need any specific skills or expertise to use business plan software?
No, many business plan software solutions are designed to be user-friendly, requiring no specific skills or expertise. They often come with templates and step-by-step guidance to assist you through the planning process.
In the dynamic landscape of 2024, businesses are on the lookout for innovative tools to stay ahead of the curve and drive their growth. These 7 business plan software picks for 2024 offer a wide range of features, from user-friendly interfaces and real-time collaboration to sophisticated financial analysis tools and customizable dashboards.
Whether you’re looking for user-friendly platform business planning tools that aligns with your business planning processes or a business plan writing software that allows you to tailor the business plan according to your industry, goals and unique requirements — I’m quite certain I’ve got them all covered.
The value of these business plan software options lies not only in their efficiency but also in their ability to save time and reduce errors. By integrating with existing systems through Data Integration APIs, users can seamlessly import key metric data, eliminating redundant data entry and streamlining the process.
If you’re still unsure about which is the right business plan software for your business, you can always take advantage of free trials or video tutorials and demos offered by software providers. Testing the platform firsthand will give you a practical understanding of its usability and suitability for your business.
Discover popular designs
Infographic maker
Brochure maker
White paper online
Newsletter creator
Flyer maker
Timeline maker
Letterhead maker
Mind map maker
Ebook maker
How to Write a Business Plan: Step-by-Step Guide + Examples
Noah Parsons
24 min. read
Updated July 29, 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
Brought to you by
Create a professional business plan
Using ai and step-by-step instructions.
Secure funding
Validate ideas
Build a strategy
- 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
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
Related Articles
5 Min. Read
How To Write a Business Plan for a Life Coaching Business + Free Example
7 Min. Read
How to Write a Bakery Business Plan + Sample
3 Min. Read
What to Include in Your Business Plan Appendix
1 Min. Read
How to Calculate Return on Investment (ROI)
The LivePlan Newsletter
Become a smarter, more strategic entrepreneur.
Your first monthly newsetter will be delivered soon..
Unsubscribe anytime. Privacy policy .
The quickest way to turn a business idea into a business plan
Fill-in-the-blanks and automatic financials make it easy.
No thanks, I prefer writing 40-page documents.
Discover the world’s #1 plan building software
IMAGES
VIDEO
COMMENTS
Try Now. Apply our simple business plan template. to give you a head start. Our business plan software lights the way as you sort through the important elements of creating a business plan. Inject your own creativity into your presentation using our vast library of icons, photos and animations, or keep it simple and clean.
The Best Business Plan Software of 2024. Wrike: Best overall. Smartsheet: Best for goal management. LivePlan: Best for financial forecasting. Aha!: Best for roadmapping. Bizplan: Best for ...
The free business plan generator is a free-to-use version of Upmetrics' business plan software. It uses AI-powered features to help users create a business plan. Since it can only create a lean business plan, you need Upmetrics' advanced features for detailed planning.
Business Glossary. Definitions for common terminology and acronyms that every small business owner should know. Bplans offers free business plan samples and templates, business planning resources, how-to articles, financial calculators, industry reports and entrepreneurship webinars.
More Than A Business Plan Template Claim Your Business Plan. Plannit.ai is an AI-driven business planning platform that helps entrepreneurs, business owners, students and business consultants create professional business plans in minutes. Answer questions about your vision and generate a full professional business plan.
1. LivePlan. Best overall business plan software. If you want template-rich, modern-feeling business plan software, then LivePlan may be the right pick for you. LivePlan excels with their user ...
Best Free Business Plan Software. Explore these highest-rated tools to discover the best option for your business. Based on ratings and number of reviews, Capterra users give these tools a thumbs up. Select a product to learn more. Business Base, Klyck, Productboard, ESM+Strategy, Causal, Vistaly, Workee, BizPlanBuilder, InPhase, and Leanspots.
Download a free fill-in-the-blank business plan template in Google Doc, Microsoft Word, and PDF formats. Includes expert guidance to help fill out each section. ... Get an exclusive 14 day free trial to the world's #1 business planning software. Try LivePlan Free - 14 Days Build a Better Business Plan. Explore. Business Planning; Starting a ...
PlanSnack is a 100% free online tool that guides you through a simple, five-step process to create a one page business plan. You can use pre-written examples, download, print and share your plan easily.
Compare the features, pricing, and benefits of five free business plan software tools for startups and small businesses. Learn how to create, manage, and share your business proposals with these online platforms.
LivePlan contains a number of powerful tools packed into one easy-to-use software. With LivePlan you can: Build a pitch, write and share a business plan, hammer out financial forecasts, build a one-page business plan, compare your performance against industry benchmarks, and so much more.
Compare 8 free business plan software products based on user satisfaction, features, and market segment. See exclusive offers, product descriptions, and ratings from G2, a trusted software platform.
Compare and choose from different business plan templates offered by Bplans, SBA, SCORE, PandaDoc, Canva, ClickUp, Smartsheet, and LivePlan. Learn the pros and cons of each template and how to edit and use them.
Create a professional and compelling business plan online with Venngage's easy-to-edit templates and online business plan generator. Customize your design, data, branding and collaboration with Venngage's features and download or share your plan for free.
Free business plan software options 1. StratPad. StratPad is a cloud-based business plan software solution. There are a few different versions, depending on how many business plans you want to make, but for one plan, you can get a free account. As an additional little bonus, if you happen to teach business at a high school or university ...
FREE Business Plan Template. ... Enloop is a robust business plan software that automatically generates a tailored plan based on your inputs. It provides industry-specific templates, financial forecasting, and a unique performance score that updates as you make changes to your plan. Enloop also offers a free version, making it accessible for ...
5 Best Business Plan Software and Tools in 2023 for Your Small Business. Entrepreneurs who write formal business plans are 16% more likely to achieve success than entrepreneurs who don't. 1 This software can help. Data as of 3/13/23. Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change.
The 10 online business plan software solutions examined in this roundup —Atlas Business Solutions Ultimate Business Planner 5.0, Enloop, EquityNet, NetEkspert iPlanner.NET, OnePlace, Palo Alto ...
Download a free download free business plan examples template with SBA-approved format. Includes pre-filled examples and step-by-step guides for a successful start. What You'll Get: A complete business plan Unlike other blank templates, our business plan examples are complete business plans with all of the text and financial forecasts already ...
Start your business plan with our free business plan template. It will show you the general layout of a standard business plan and keep you from getting… Library Sample Business Plans. View our gallery of over 550 free sample business plans, and get inspired to write your own! ... Discover the world's #1 plan building software.
3. Upmetrics. Upmetrics is an AI-powered business planning software that helps businesses of all sizes and industries write their business plan. With Upmetrics AI Assistant, you can write your plan faster, get answers to any business-related queries, and prepare financial forecasts in no time.
Use a free business plan template and business plan examples to get started. ... 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 ...