an actual business plan

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Blog Business

15+ Business Plan Examples to Win Your Next Round of Funding

By Jennifer Gaskin , Jun 09, 2021

“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail,” according to words of wisdom dubiously attributed to Benjamin Franklin. While there’s no solid evidence that Franklin actually coined this phrase, the sentiment rings true for any business.

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

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

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

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Simple business plan example, startup business plan example, small business plan example, nonprofit business plan example, strategic business plan example, market analysis business plan example, sales business plan example, organization and management business plan example, marketing and sales strategy business plan example, apple business plan example, airbnb business plan example, sequoia capital business plan example.

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

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

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

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

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

CREATE THIS PRESENTATION TEMPLATE

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

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

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

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

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

CREATE THIS REPORT TEMPLATE

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

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

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

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

One-page business plan example

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

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

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

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

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

Company description business plan example

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

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

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

Five-year business plan example

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

CREATE THIS PROPOSAL TEMPLATE

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

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

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

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

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

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

Executive summary for business plan example

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In summary: Use Venngage to design business plans that will impress investors

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

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

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What Is a Business Plan?

Understanding business plans, how to write a business plan, common elements of a business plan, how often should a business plan be updated, the bottom line, business plan: what it is, what's included, and how to write one.

Adam Hayes, Ph.D., CFA, is a financial writer with 15+ years Wall Street experience as a derivatives trader. Besides his extensive derivative trading expertise, Adam is an expert in economics and behavioral finance. Adam received his master's in economics from The New School for Social Research and his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in sociology. He is a CFA charterholder as well as holding FINRA Series 7, 55 & 63 licenses. He currently researches and teaches economic sociology and the social studies of finance at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

A business plan is a document that details a company's goals and how it intends to achieve them. Business plans can be of benefit to both startups and well-established companies. For startups, a business plan can be essential for winning over potential lenders and investors. Established businesses can find one useful for staying on track and not losing sight of their goals. This article explains what an effective business plan needs to include and how to write one.

Key Takeaways

• A business plan is a document describing a company's business activities and how it plans to achieve its goals.
• Startup companies use business plans to get off the ground and attract outside investors.
• For established companies, a business plan can help keep the executive team focused on and working toward the company's short- and long-term objectives.
• There is no single format that a business plan must follow, but there are certain key elements that most companies will want to include.

Investopedia / Ryan Oakley

Any new business should have a business plan in place prior to beginning operations. In fact, banks and venture capital firms often want to see a business plan before they'll consider making a loan or providing capital to new businesses.

Even if a business isn't looking to raise additional money, a business plan can help it focus on its goals. A 2017 Harvard Business Review article reported that, "Entrepreneurs who write formal plans are 16% more likely to achieve viability than the otherwise identical nonplanning entrepreneurs."

Ideally, a business plan should be reviewed and updated periodically to reflect any goals that have been achieved or that may have changed. An established business that has decided to move in a new direction might create an entirely new business plan for itself.

There are numerous benefits to creating (and sticking to) a well-conceived business plan. These include being able to think through ideas before investing too much money in them and highlighting any potential obstacles to success. A company might also share its business plan with trusted outsiders to get their objective feedback. In addition, a business plan can help keep a company's executive team on the same page about strategic action items and priorities.

Business plans, even among competitors in the same industry, are rarely identical. However, they often have some of the same basic elements, as we describe below.

While it's a good idea to provide as much detail as necessary, it's also important that a business plan be concise enough to hold a reader's attention to the end.

While there are any number of templates that you can use to write a business plan, it's best to try to avoid producing a generic-looking one. Let your plan reflect the unique personality of your business.

Many business plans use some combination of the sections below, with varying levels of detail, depending on the company.

The length of a business plan can vary greatly from business to business. Regardless, it's best to fit the basic information into a 15- to 25-page document. Other crucial elements that take up a lot of space—such as applications for patents—can be referenced in the main document and attached as appendices.

These are some of the most common elements in many business plans:

• Executive summary: This section introduces the company and includes its mission statement along with relevant information about the company's leadership, employees, operations, and locations.
• Products and services: Here, the company should describe the products and services it offers or plans to introduce. That might include details on pricing, product lifespan, and unique benefits to the consumer. Other factors that could go into this section include production and manufacturing processes, any relevant patents the company may have, as well as proprietary technology . Information about research and development (R&D) can also be included here.
• Market analysis: A company needs to have a good handle on the current state of its industry and the existing competition. This section should explain where the company fits in, what types of customers it plans to target, and how easy or difficult it may be to take market share from incumbents.
• Marketing strategy: This section can describe how the company plans to attract and keep customers, including any anticipated advertising and marketing campaigns. It should also describe the distribution channel or channels it will use to get its products or services to consumers.
• Financial plans and projections: Established businesses can include financial statements, balance sheets, and other relevant financial information. New businesses can provide financial targets and estimates for the first few years. Your plan might also include any funding requests you're making.

The best business plans aren't generic ones created from easily accessed templates. A company should aim to entice readers with a plan that demonstrates its uniqueness and potential for success.

2 Types of Business Plans

Business plans can take many forms, but they are sometimes divided into two basic categories: traditional and lean startup. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) , the traditional business plan is the more common of the two.

• Traditional business plans : These plans tend to be much longer than lean startup plans and contain considerably more detail. As a result they require more work on the part of the business, but they can also be more persuasive (and reassuring) to potential investors.
• Lean startup business plans : These use an abbreviated structure that highlights key elements. These business plans are short—as short as one page—and provide only the most basic detail. If a company wants to use this kind of plan, it should be prepared to provide more detail if an investor or a lender requests it.

Why Do Business Plans Fail?

A business plan is not a surefire recipe for success. The plan may have been unrealistic in its assumptions and projections to begin with. Markets and the overall economy might change in ways that couldn't have been foreseen. A competitor might introduce a revolutionary new product or service. All of this calls for building some flexibility into your plan, so you can pivot to a new course if needed.

How frequently a business plan needs to be revised will depend on the nature of the business. A well-established business might want to review its plan once a year and make changes if necessary. A new or fast-growing business in a fiercely competitive market might want to revise it more often, such as quarterly.

What Does a Lean Startup Business Plan Include?

The lean startup business plan is an option when a company prefers to give a quick explanation of its business. For example, a brand-new company may feel that it doesn't have a lot of information to provide yet.

Sections can include: a value proposition ; the company's major activities and advantages; resources such as staff, intellectual property, and capital; a list of partnerships; customer segments; and revenue sources.

A business plan can be useful to companies of all kinds. But as a company grows and the world around it changes, so too should its business plan. So don't think of your business plan as carved in granite but as a living document designed to evolve with your business.

Harvard Business Review. " Research: Writing a Business Plan Makes Your Startup More Likely to Succeed ."

U.S. Small Business Administration. " Write Your Business Plan ."

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The 7 Best Business Plan Examples (2024)

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

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Example business plan

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

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

7 business plan examples (section by section)

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

• Executive summary

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

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

• Company description

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

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

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

• Market analysis

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

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

• Products and services

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

• Marketing plan

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

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

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

Logistics and operations

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

Financial plan

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

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

It then goes deeper into the financials, citing:

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

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

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

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

• Logistics and operations plan
• Financials 

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

• Market research: in depth
• Financials: in depth

Internal 

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

• Market research

Feasibility 

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

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

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

Free business plan templates

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

Bplans’ free business plan template

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

PandaDoc’s free business plan template

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

Miro’s Business Model Canvas Template

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

Better business planning equals better business outcomes

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

Business plan FAQ

What are the 3 main points of a business plan.

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

How do I write a simple business plan?

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

What is the best format to write a business plan?

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

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What Is a Business Plan? Definition and Planning Essentials Explained

Posted february 21, 2022 by kody wirth.

What is a business plan? It’s the roadmap for your business. The outline of your goals, objectives, and the steps you’ll take to get there. It describes the structure of your organization, how it operates, as well as the financial expectations and actual performance. 

A business plan can help you explore ideas, successfully start a business, manage operations, and pursue growth. In short, a business plan is a lot of different things. It’s more than just a stack of paper and can be one of your most effective tools as a business owner. 

Let’s explore the basics of business planning, the structure of a traditional plan, your planning options, and how you can use your plan to succeed. 

What is a business plan?

A business plan is a document that explains how your business operates. It summarizes your business structure, objectives, milestones, and financial performance. Again, it’s a guide that helps you, and anyone else, better understand how your business will succeed.  

Why do you need a business plan?

The primary purpose of a business plan is to help you understand the direction of your business and the steps it will take to get there. Having a solid business plan can help you grow up to 30% faster and according to our own 2021 Small Business research working on a business plan increases confidence regarding business health—even in the midst of a crisis. 

These benefits are directly connected to how writing a business plan makes you more informed and better prepares you for entrepreneurship. It helps you reduce risk and avoid pursuing potentially poor ideas. You’ll also be able to more easily uncover your business’s potential. By regularly returning to your plan you can understand what parts of your strategy are working and those that are not.

That just scratches the surface for why having a plan is valuable. Check out our full write-up for fifteen more reasons why you need a business plan .  

What can you do with your plan?

So what can you do with a business plan once you’ve created it? It can be all too easy to write a plan and just let it be. Here are just a few ways you can leverage your plan to benefit your business.

Test an idea

Writing a plan isn’t just for those that are ready to start a business. It’s just as valuable for those that have an idea and want to determine if it’s actually possible or not. By writing a plan to explore the validity of an idea, you are working through the process of understanding what it would take to be successful. 

The market and competitive research alone can tell you a lot about your idea. Is the marketplace too crowded? Is the solution you have in mind not really needed? Add in the exploration of milestones, potential expenses, and the sales needed to attain profitability and you can paint a pretty clear picture of the potential of your business.

Document your strategy and goals

For those starting or managing a business understanding where you’re going and how you’re going to get there are vital. Writing your plan helps you do that. It ensures that you are considering all aspects of your business, know what milestones you need to hit, and can effectively make adjustments if that doesn’t happen. 

With a plan in place, you’ll have an idea of where you want your business to go as well as how you’ve performed in the past. This alone better prepares you to take on challenges, review what you’ve done before, and make the right adjustments.

Pursue funding

Even if you do not intend to pursue funding right away, having a business plan will prepare you for it. It will ensure that you have all of the information necessary to submit a loan application and pitch to investors. So, rather than scrambling to gather documentation and write a cohesive plan once it’s relevant, you can instead keep your plan up-to-date and attempt to attain funding. Just add a use of funds report to your financial plan and you’ll be ready to go.

The benefits of having a plan don’t stop there. You can then use your business plan to help you manage the funding you receive. You’ll not only be able to easily track and forecast how you’ll use your funds but easily report on how it’s been used. 

Better manage your business

A solid business plan isn’t meant to be something you do once and forget about. Instead, it should be a useful tool that you can regularly use to analyze performance, make strategic decisions, and anticipate future scenarios. It’s a document that you should regularly update and adjust as you go to better fit the actual state of your business.

Doing so makes it easier to understand what’s working and what’s not. It helps you understand if you’re truly reaching your goals or if you need to make further adjustments. Having your plan in place makes that process quicker, more informative, and leaves you with far more time to actually spend running your business.

What should your business plan include?

The content and structure of your business plan should include anything that will help you use it effectively. That being said, there are some key elements that you should cover and that investors will expect to see. 

Executive summary

The executive summary is a simple overview of your business and your overall plan. It should serve as a standalone document that provides enough detail for anyone—including yourself, team members, or investors—to fully understand your business strategy. Make sure to cover the problem you’re solving, a description of your product or service, your target market, organizational structure, a financial summary, and any necessary funding requirements.

This will be the first part of your plan but it’s easiest to write it after you’ve created your full plan.

Products & Services

When describing your products or services, you need to start by outlining the problem you’re solving and why what you offer is valuable. This is where you’ll also address current competition in the market and any competitive advantages your products or services bring to the table. Lastly, be sure to outline the steps or milestones that you’ll need to hit to successfully launch your business. If you’ve already hit some initial milestones, like taking pre-orders or early funding, be sure to include it here to further prove the validity of your business. 

Market analysis

A market analysis is a qualitative and quantitative assessment of the current market you’re entering or competing in. It helps you understand the overall state and potential of the industry, who your ideal customers are, the positioning of your competition, and how you intend to position your own business. This helps you better explore the long-term trends of the market, what challenges to expect, and how you will need to initially introduce and even price your products or services.

Check out our full guide for how to conduct a market analysis in just four easy steps .  

Marketing & sales

Here you detail how you intend to reach your target market. This includes your sales activities, general pricing plan, and the beginnings of your marketing strategy. If you have any branding elements, sample marketing campaigns, or messaging available—this is the place to add it. 

Additionally, it may be wise to include a SWOT analysis that demonstrates your business or specific product/service position. This will showcase how you intend to leverage sales and marketing channels to deal with competitive threats and take advantage of any opportunities.

Check out our full write-up to learn how to create a cohesive marketing strategy for your business. 

Organization & management

This section addresses the legal structure of your business, your current team, and any gaps that need to be filled. Depending on your business type and longevity, you’ll also need to include your location, ownership information, and business history. Basically, add any information that helps explain your organizational structure and how you operate. This section is particularly important for pitching to investors but should be included even if attempted funding is not in your immediate future.

Financial projections

Possibly the most important piece of your plan, your financials section is vital for showcasing the viability of your business. It also helps you establish a baseline to measure against and makes it easier to make ongoing strategic decisions as your business grows. This may seem complex on the surface, but it can be far easier than you think. 

Focus on building solid forecasts, keep your categories simple, and lean on assumptions. You can always return to this section to add more details and refine your financial statements as you operate. 

Here are the statements you should include in your financial plan:

• Sales and revenue projections
• Profit and loss statement
• Cash flow statement
• Balance sheet

The appendix is where you add additional detail, documentation, or extended notes that support the other sections of your plan. Don’t worry about adding this section at first and only add documentation that you think will be beneficial for anyone reading your plan.

Types of business plans explained

While all business plans cover similar categories, the style and function fully depend on how you intend to use your plan. So, to get the most out of your plan, it’s best to find a format that suits your needs. 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 for external purposes. Typically this is the type of plan you’ll need when applying for funding or pitching to investors. It can also be used when training or hiring employees, working with vendors, or any other situation where the full details of your business must be understood by another individual. 

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. We recommend only starting with this business plan format if you plan to immediately pursue funding and already have a solid handle on your business information. 

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. 

The structure ditches a linear structure in favor of a cell-based template. It encourages you to build connections between every element of your business. It’s faster to write out and update, and much easier for you, your team, and anyone else to visualize your business operations. This is really best for those exploring their business idea for the first time, but keep in mind that it can be difficult to actually validate your idea this way as well as adapt it into a full plan.

One-page business plan

The true middle ground between the business model canvas and a traditional business plan is the one-page business plan. This format is a simplified version of the traditional plan that focuses on the core aspects of your business. It basically serves as a beefed-up pitch document and can be finished as quickly as the business model canvas.

By starting with a one-page plan, you give yourself a minimal document to build from. You’ll typically stick with bullet points and single sentences making it much easier to elaborate or expand sections into a longer-form business plan. This plan type is 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.

Now, the option that we here at LivePlan recommend is the Lean Plan . This 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 holds all of the benefits of the single-page plan, including the potential to complete it in as little as 27-minutes . However, it’s even easier to convert into a full plan thanks to how heavily it’s tied to your financials. The overall goal of Lean Planning isn’t to just produce documents that you use once and shelve. Instead, the Lean Planning process helps you build a healthier company that thrives in times of growth and stable through times of crisis.

It’s faster, keeps your plan concise, and ensures that your plan is always up-to-date.

Try the LivePlan Method for Lean Business Planning

Now that you know the basics of business planning, it’s time to get started. Again we recommend leveraging a Lean Plan for a faster, easier, and far more useful planning process. 

To get familiar with the Lean Plan format, you can download our free Lean Plan template . However, if you want to elevate your ability to create and use your lean plan even further, you may want to explore LivePlan. 

It features step-by-step guidance that ensures you cover everything necessary while reducing the time spent on formatting and presenting. You’ll also gain access to financial forecasting tools that propel you through the process. Finally, it will transform your plan into a management tool that will help you easily compare your forecasts to your actual results. 

Check out how LivePlan streamlines Lean Planning by downloading our Kickstart Your Business ebook .

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Free Business Plan Template (With Examples)

• 2 years ago

Have you ever found it difficult to get other people to agree to your entrepreneurial ideas? If so, consider writing a business plan. We’ve created a business plan template to help you meet your business goals, but it makes sense to give some background information.

I (Brandon Boushy) grew up in a unique family. I was the oldest of six kids and my parents are highly successful. One of the things I had to do growing up was write business proposals for anything that was different from the standard operating procedure. (Yes, our family ran like a business.)

That made me pretty proficient at creating a business plan format. We’re going to share some of the lessons I learned growing up with a dad that managed a multi-billion dollar merger and a mom that had a double major in psychology and philosophy. Along the way, we hope to help you understand what people look for in a business plan.

What makes a good business plan template?

A business plan template should be based on your audience. If it’s just you, then it needs to be enough to keep you honest and focused on your goals, but if there are other people who will be viewing it, it should give them enough information to buy into the business plans.

Whether you use ours, someone else’s, or make your own template, you’ll want to make sure a business plan template includes the following:

• An executive summary

Your mission and goals

• Your strategies 
• Your strengths and weaknesses

How you fit in the external environment

Call to action.

• Documentation

If you’re interested just in a template, you may download it here .

This outline is partially inspired by the book Writing Winning Business Plans by Garrett Sutton, Esq.

If you prefer YouTube videos, check out our interview with Mike about how to create a business plan :

Let’s look at how each of these plays into a great business plan template.

The Executive Summary in a Business Plan Template

A good business plan should start with a story. All stories have three major parts:

That’s what your executive summary will be. It will be your story. It will basically tell why your company exists. The sole purpose of the executive summary is to get your audience to say:

“I want to know more.”

If you look at UpFlip’s YouTube page, you can see our story right at the top.

When you write a business plan, you want the executive summary to be as easy to digest as possible. If this were in an actual business plan, it would look something like this:

We’ve all heard the statistics that eight out of 10 businesses fail in the first five years. Can you imagine what the world would be like if we flipped those numbers?

That’s our goal at UpFlip. Make it where 80% of businesses succeed. To do that, business owners need the best information possible in the format that they prefer. That’s what we’re doing.

UpFlip is a team of business owners who believe in educating and inspiring people to achieve success. UpFlip does this by using content marketing best practices, case studies, and data analysis to bring business owners content that helps them succeed.

Do you want to hear more? 

You might want to include a couple of paragraphs about the team, the market, where the business is now, and how you are going to accomplish the goals. At this point, it’s just high-level ideas to get them interested.

You also want to include what you’re asking for in the executive summary. That will change based on the viewer. Here are some common requests:

• Looking for funding : How much? Do you want a loan or to sell equity?
• Looking for employees : What do you want from them? What values should they hold dear to their hearts?
• Looking for a partnership with another company : Why would the two be a good fit?
• Just for you : An executive summary might be enough.

While this will be the first thing the viewer sees, it will normally be the last thing you write.

Company Description

The next section of our business plan template is the company description. It covers the following:

• Your company mission and goals : Why does your company matter?
• Your product and target market : What are you selling and to whom?
• Your team : Who is going to help you succeed? You might want to create an organizational chart with your management team, including their skill sets and the gaps you need to fill.
• Your legal structure : Will how you’re structured lead you to succeed? Don’t even bother applying for financing if you are a sole proprietorship. They won’t take you seriously. Register as an LLC or a Corporation.

These are the high-end goals of a business. The mission statement is simply what you want to achieve. For instance, Boxabl has the mission to, “Significantly lower the cost of homeownership for everyone.”

Your goals should be highly measurable. They should be focused on accomplishing your mission and should be:

• S pecific: What are you trying to achieve? In Boxabl’s case, it is lowering the cost of homeownership for everyone.
• M easurable: How can you measure it? With Boxabl, you might measure against HomeAdvisor’s estimate to build in an area and the median home sale price in the area.
• A chievable: Can it be done? For Boxabl, their factory claims to have a production capacity of 30,000 homes annually for $50,000 each (plus land costs). That’s a substantial savings, but it only covers .5% of the US housing sales in 2021 .
• R ealistic: Can you actually do what needs to be done? In Boxabl’s case, it could reduce the costs in a single city based on current capacity. 30,000 sales would be equal to 60% of Las Vegas home sales in 2021 . 
• T ime-Oriented: How long will it take? With Boxabl’s design, it could dramatically lower rates in Las Vegas in a year but would need to ramp up production to meet the nationwide levels. It would need to ramp up 120X capacity to reach 60% of all home sales. That means years down the road.

You might want to have a roadmap or graphics in this section to help people visualize them. Here’s an example of what a good roadmap looks like:

You can see the rest of it on Presearch’s website . 

Notice how many references I have in this section. A well documented business plan will be full of references because you have to prove all assumptions are reasonable.

With a business plan someone views online, you can use hyperlinks. Otherwise, you’ll want to include your links in an appendix or as footnotes. I recommend using IBIS World for most of your statistics because many banks use them to analyze how accurate your reports are. I’ll cover this more in the section on documentation.

This section of our business plan template focuses on the industry. You’ll want to start at the highest macroeconomic level and work your way down to the company level. This will include aspects like:

• Whole Economy : Consider GDP growth or shrinkage, interest rates, consumer spending, and anything else that has the ability to impact your business from the highest market analysis standpoint.
• Industry : What is the industry outlook over the next five to 10 years? How many total businesses are in your industry (both nationwide and locally)? Who are the major players? What percent of the market do the major players service? How much is left for smaller players? How is the industry changing?
• Individual Companies : What are they doing? What gaps are they leaving? What can you do better? What do their 401K and quarterly reports show?

All this data matters; it shows whether you know what you are talking about or whether you are just chasing dreams. Don’t get me wrong it’s fun to chase dreams, but it’s better if your management team knows what it is talking about.

If you’re focused on local work, you might want to include a map of all your competitors in this section, for instance, the picture below is a map from Gas Buddy of all the local gas stations in a city. You’ll want to update it with opportunities for locations in the next section on strengths and weaknesses. 

Next, you’ll want to compare your experience with this information.

Include strengths and weaknesses in a business plan template

You’ll want to perform a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis. This section of our business plan template includes questions about:

• Your team : Include an organizational chart that outlines your management team, their skill sets, and the gaps you need to fill.
• Divisions : Do you have divisions that are really strong or weak? How are you going to fix this?
• Funding : How are your monetary or cash flow scenarios?
• Vendors: Do you have special vendor scenarios that give you an advantage or disadvantage?
• Industry : Do you have competitive advantages or disadvantages that other companies don’t have? Does that leave holes for you to fill a service area? Check out the map below for potential holes in the market for gas stations:

Opportunities For Gas Stations

Check out this video by Project Manager to understand SWOT analysis better.

Your strategies (Operations)

This section details how you plan to meet the goals you have set. The business strategies section includes concepts like:

• Risk Management
• Mergers and Acquisitions

Logistics show that you’ve really thought about how you plan to achieve your goal. I think the history of Ford, ExxonMobil, Tesla Motors, and previous electric vehicles really shows how the logistics of something matter.

Before the Model T, the majority of cars were electric vehicles. Unfortunately, it was far easier to go to a gas station than to have to charge your electric car. It still is, but part of Elon Musk’s plan to make electric vehicles achievable was nationwide charging stations . 

He had to start by strategically placing them so that a Tesla wouldn’t have to risk running out of power while traveling along major highways. If his business plan hadn’t included over 3,000 superchargers, do you think they’d have sold over 3.23 million vehicles ?

Of course not. You have to think about what can go wrong and how you’ll address it. That’s how logistics work in your favor––before you have a problem.

This section of the business plan should be focused on what you’ll be doing to get word out about your products and services. This section should include:

• Target market data
• Brand assets like logos
• How you’ll be communicating with potential customers
• Your marketing channels and budget
• Examples of your ads if they are truly impressive

Financial History and Projections

Lenders, equity providers, and governments offering you relocation initiatives will care about the financial prospects. They’ll want to know the following:

• Your assumptions

Your past performance

• Your current year forecast 
• Longer-term outlook (three, five or ten-year outlook)

Even if you’re not trying to make a deal, these can help you plan better. Let’s look at each.

Assumptions

You’ll want to start the financial projections section with a list of assumptions that are backed by valid resources. Assumptions are everything that could go wrong. They may include:

• Wage growth
• Industry growth
• Market share growth
• Financing rates
• Production timelines
• Marketing metrics

Anticipating everything that could go wrong helps you be prepared and shows your willingness to problem-solve. In Writing Winning Business Plans, the author recommends reviewing the SEC forward-looking statement guidelines because investors are used to reading them. I’d also recommend reading some 401Ks on EDGAR .

If you’re an existing business, you’ll also want to show the past history according to your tax returns for at least two years, but three to five years is better. This lets others see whether growth is steady, accelerating, or slowing.

Don’t try to minimize your taxes if you are trying to get a loan. Try to maximize your net income and cash flow. Think ahead and make it easy for the people to approve you. Also, remember that asset-light businesses have higher profit margins than if you have a billion-dollar plant (it might help with secured loans, though).

Your current year forecast

Create financial projections for the current year. These will show whether or not you have a solid business plan that can actually take on business loans or get equity investors. You’ll want to include at least:

• Profit & Loss Statement : This is similar to a Net Income Statement but is made up. It’s for a one-year minimum and may be called a P&L statement.
• Cash Flow Statement : Here you will show the annual flow of funds in and out of the business.
• Balance Sheet : Give a comparison of the assets and receivables to the liabilities and owners’ equity.

I normally start with monthly spreadsheets because it makes it easier to predict where cash flow imbalances will occur.

Longer-term outlook (three, five, or ten-year outlook)

In addition, you may want to create three-year, five-year, or ten-year projections. Be careful with these, though. The economic environment can change fairly quickly, and in 30 to 90 days a lot of economic reports are released.

This part should change based on who will be viewing it, but it should stay similar. A call to action may be:

• A request for financing for equipment, inventory, or other business needs
• An offer to schedule a meeting to discuss equity purchases
• Linking to employment applications for applicants
• A link to a quiz to make sure employees processed the information
• A request for a tax subsidy from a government

Each of these should stay true to the rest of the document, but you’ll only want to include a call to action for that specific goal. I would suggest saving a separate copy of the template for each type of action.

Here’s what the Appendix will look like for APA-style references. You can use online citation-creating sites like Purdue Owl to create them. 

About Us . (n.d.). Retrieved May 17, 2022, from https://www.boxabl.com/about-us

A Better Search Engine for We the People. (n.d.). Retrieved May 17, 2022, from https://presearch.io/roadmap

Brewer, R. (2022, January 06). Record number of homes sold in 2021 in Las Vegas Area. Retrieved May 17, 2022, from https://vegasinc.lasvegassun.com/business/real-estate/2022/jan/06/record-number-of-homes-sold-in-2021-in-las-vegas-a/

Business Plan Template. (2021, April 19). Retrieved May 17, 2022, from https://www.upflip.com/learn/business-plan-template

Published by Statista Research Department, & 4, A. (2022, April 04). Total home sales in the United States from 2011 to 2021 with a forecast for 2022 and 2023. Retrieved May 17, 2022, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/275156/total-home-sales-in-the-united-states-from-2009/

Research and Documentation

Now that we’ve covered the sections of our business plan template, let’s discuss how to research and document your findings. We can all use Google search, but will it give you the best answer? 

Maybe, maybe not.

You have to use real data, and there are two ways to get it. You can either go directly to the source or you can buy it. 

Get the Primary Data Set

For anyone on a budget or who might prefer to do data analysis themselves, this section is for you. You’ll need the data for many of the sections of your business plan, primarily the industry analysis and the financial modeling.

If you’ve never downloaded a massive dataset, you should try it sometime. They are huge and hard to process. Start by downloading the 50.4 MB spreadsheet to analyze your NAICS code from census.gov . It’s a pain. I’ve had one nearly crash my computer.

After you get the data, you’ll have to process it, create graphs, and cite it in your Appendix. If you have time to do all that, awesome! You’ll want to get data from .gov sites or major organizations. Check out this list of free datasets .

If that sounds like a lot of work, try buying the data from trusted sources instead.

Buy the Processed Data from a Trusted Source

Fortunately, there are plenty of great resources that make it easy to document your statistics in a business plan. You have to pay for them, but they are worth it. Two of the ones I really like are IBIS World and Statista. 

They do the research for every NAICS code and all you have to do is buy their report. It even comes with sourced charts for you to use. If you think you’ll need the data long-term, I suggest getting one of their subscriptions.

You’ll be able to pull everything you need out of it and package it nicely in your business plan. Be sure to add your citations into our business plan template, though.

Add Citations to the Business Plan Template

There are a variety of ways to add citations to a business plan, but the most common are:

• Appendix : Save the documents and add them at the end of your business plan. Make sure you label them well. You might want to use this in combination with footnotes to mark which citation goes with which statement.
• Footnotes : You’ll want to add a footnote, then put the reference at the bottom of the page using The Chicago Manual of Style . Check the footnote below for how it looks.
• Hyperlinks : These only work for digital copies, but they send the reader right to the website where the information was retrieved. Just make sure it’s not pay protected. Use these in conjunction with an appendix so you can use the same business plan for both print and digital.

I’ve put all the references to this blog in the Appendix section to give you an easy example.

In addition to The Chicago Manual of Style , you can also use:

• American Psychological Association Style
• Modern Language Association Style

I personally like the APA style, but everyone has their preferences. Just make sure you stay consistent throughout your business plan. Use Purdue Owl if you aren’t familiar with research and citation rules.

Free Business Plan Templates

There are a lot of places where you can get a business plan template. Some of the best places are:

• UpFlip : Download the  template that follows this blog.
• Score : View three Score templates .
• Oprah : Oprah offers three templates for business owners.
• My Own Business Institute : (That’s the name; I don’t own it.) Other than ours, I like this free business plan best. Check it out .
• BizGym : Want a lean business plan, BizGym is a good one.

In any of them you’ll want to make sure it has something comparable to the parts in our list. All of them do, but rearrange the order.

Brandon Boushy

Brandon Boushy lives to improve people’s lives by helping them become successful entrepreneurs. His journey started nearly 30 years ago. He consistently excelled at everything he did, but preferred to make the rules rather than follow him. His exploration of self and knowledge has helped him to get an engineering degree, MBA, and countless certifications. When freelancing and rideshare came onto the scene, he recognized the opportunity to play by his own rules. Since 2017, he has helped businesses across all industries achieve more with his research, writing, and marketing strategies. Since 2021, he has been the Lead Writer for UpFlip where he has published over 170 articles on small business success.

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Crafting a comprehensive business plan could be challenging, particularly when it comes to structuring and content. To ease this process, we’ve curated a collection of real-world business plan examples spanning various industries. These examples serve as invaluable inspiration and guidance, aiding in the creation of your own plan. Whether you’re launching a new venture, expanding an existing one, or seeking investor support, you’ll discover relevant and insightful examples tailored to your needs and goals.

By exploring these diverse business plan examples, you’ll gain a comprehensive understanding of how to compose various plan components. This includes drafting a compelling executive summary, conducting thorough market analysis, outlining products and services, strategizing marketing and sales, and presenting financial performance.

Below, you’ll find a selection of business plan examples meticulously crafted for our clients.

Start your online store with a proven plan 

How to launch a successful ecommerce business in 2023 with these ready-made template? If you want to start or grow your own online store, you need a solid ecommerce business plan.

 But writing one from scratch can be time-consuming and challenging. That’s why we offer you a collection of ecommerce business plan examples that you can use as inspiration or customize to fit your needs. These examples cover different niches, markets, and strategies, and they include all the essential components of a successful ecommerce business plan.

 Whether you want to sell clothing, electronics, books, or anything else, you’ll find a template that suits your goals and vision. Plus, you’ll get access to expert tips and advice on how to execute your plan and achieve your desired results. Don’t waste time and money on trial and error. Start your online store with a proven plan today.

• Save time and money: Use ready-made templates
• Learn from the best: Follow real success stories.
• Get expert guidance: Access helpful resources and tools.
• Stand out from the competition: Showcase your uniqueness and value.
• Achieve your goals: Set and follow a clear roadmap.

Turn your passion for food into a profitable business

If you love food and want to start your own restaurant, you need a solid restaurant business plan. But writing one from scratch can be daunting and complicated. That’s why we offer you a comprehensive restaurant business plan example that you can use as inspiration or customize to fit your needs.

 This example covers all the essential components of a successful restaurant business plan, such as cuisine, location, concept, budget, menu design, financials, employee training, and a lot more. It also includes expert tips and advice on how to plan and forecast every element of restaurant management and operations. 

Whether you want to open a fine dining, casual, fast food, or delivery restaurant, this example will help you turn your goals and vision into a reality. Don’t let your passion for food go to waste. Turn it into a profitable business today. This example covers everything you need to know about planning and launching a successful restaurant, such as:

• Cuisine: Food type, sourcing, quality, freshness
• Location: Restaurant site, customer attraction, differentiation
• Concept: Theme, style, space design, dining experience
• Budget: Startup and operating costs, funding, cash flow
• Menu design: Dish selection, pricing, profitability, satisfaction
• Financials: Income and expense projections, performance measurement
• Employee training: Staff hiring, training, retention, service quality
• And more: Marketing, customer loyalty, health, safety, risks

If you are passionate about coffee and want to start your own coffee shop, you need a reliable coffee shop business plan. But creating one from scratch can be difficult and time-consuming. That’s why we provide you with a comprehensive coffee shop business plan example that you can use as a guide or adjust to fit your needs. 

This example covers all the important components of a successful coffee shop business plan, such as products, services, location, design, marketing, operations, and finances. It also includes expert tips and advice on how to plan and forecast every aspect of coffee shop management and operations.

 Whether you want to open a cozy, trendy, specialty, or franchise coffee shop, this example will help you accomplish your goals and vision. Don’t let your passion for coffee go to waste. Turn it into a profitable business today.

• Write professional coffee shop plan with example
• Customize and edit example to fit goals
• Follow instructions and examples for each section
• Get tips and advice from experts

If you are interested in starting your own printing shop, you need a thorough and practical printing shop business plan. But creating one from scratch can be tough and time-consuming. 

That’s why we provide you with a comprehensive printing shop business plan example that you can use as a template or modify to fit your needs. This example covers all the important components of a successful printing shop business plan, such as products, services, location, equipment, marketing, operations, and finances.

 It also includes expert tips and advice on how to plan and forecast every aspect of printing shop management and operations. Whether you want to open a small, medium, or large printing shop, this example will help you accomplish your goals and vision. Don’t let your passion for printing go to waste. Turn it into a profitable business today.

• Write professional printing shop plan with example
• Download example today and open printing shop

Are you dreaming of starting your own food truck business? Do you need a professional and comprehensive business plan to guide you through the process? Look no further than our food truck business plan example!

Our food truck business plan examples are designed to help you launch and grow your food truck business with confidence and ease. They cover all the key aspects of a food truck business plan, such as your concept, menu, target market, location, branding, marketing, operations and financial plan. They are based on real-life examples of successful food truck businesses in different cities and cuisines. They are easy to customize and adapt to your own vision and goals. 

They will also help you attract potential investors, customers and partners by showcasing your professionalism and passion.

Don’t wait any longer! Download our food truck business plan examples today and get ready to start your food truck journey!

• Learn from real-life examples of successful food truck businesses
• Cover all the essential aspects of a food truck business plan
• Customize and adapt to your own vision and goals
• Save time, money and hassle by using a ready-made template
• Attract potential investors, customers and partners with a professional and compelling business plan

An SBA business plan is a document that describes the purpose, goals, and strategies of your business. It shows how you plan to start, manage, and grow your business, and how you will use the funds from an SBA loan.

 Our SBA business plan example covers the following sections: executive summary, company description, market analysis, organization and management, product or service line, marketing and sales, funding request, financial projections, and appendix. An SBA business plan helps you to clarify your vision, communicate your value proposition, and demonstrate your feasibility to lenders and investors. 

A nonprofit business plan is a document that outlines the goals, strategies, and activities of a nonprofit organization. A nonprofit business plan can help attract donors, volunteers, and partners, as well as guide the decision-making and operations of the organization. Our nonprofit business plan example might include the following sections: executive summary, mission and vision statement, market analysis, program description, marketing plan, financial plan, and organizational structure. 

Some benefits of our example are:

• It demonstrates our commitment to our mission and vision
• It shows our understanding of the needs and opportunities in our market
• It highlights our unique value proposition and competitive advantage
• It provides a clear roadmap for achieving our short-term and long-term objectives
• It helps us measure our progress and impact

Doing Well in the Legal Cannabis Business

You can find opportunities in the legal cannabis industry in certain U.S. states. States like California, Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Nevada, Massachusetts, Illinois, Michigan, Vermont, Maine, and Washington, D.C. allow cannabis for medical or recreational use. But, keep in mind, the federal government still considers cannabis illegal. So, it’s important to follow the rules in your state, and you may need legal advice to navigate the federal and state laws. This will help you succeed in the cannabis business while staying within the law.

Our cannabis business plan example is made just for cannabis businesses. We know the laws and challenges, and we help you follow them. 

• New Cannabis Business Owners
• Investors Interested in Cannabis
• Cannabis Startups
• People Who Want to Learn About the Cannabis Business
• Info about the Cannabis Market
• Help with Following the Law
• Money Predictions That Follow the Rules
• Ideas to Attract Investors

L1 Visa Business Plan Example

Unlock Your Path to the U.S. with an L-1 Visa Business Plan

Dreaming of expanding your business operations to the United States? The L-1 Visa may be your key, and WiseBusinessPlans is your trusted partner. Our L-1 Visa Business Plan is meticulously crafted to showcase your business’s potential and meet the requirements for this unique visa category.

Our expert team understands the complexities of the L-1 Visa application process. We create comprehensive L1 Visa business plan example that not only fulfill immigration requirements but also present a compelling case for your business expansion. 

• Entrepreneurs Expanding to the U.S.
• Managers and Executives Transferring Within Their Company

L-1 Visa Business Plan in achieving your American business goals and emphasizes WiseBusinessPlans’ expertise in creating plans tailored to immigration requirements. You’ll be well-prepared to navigate the immigration process successfully and embark on your American business journey. Download our plan today and take the first step toward realizing your U.S. business aspirations!

Key Features :

• Detailed Business Description
• Financial Projections for U.S. Operations
• Job Creation Plans
• Compliance with U.S. Immigration Standards

Get Your E-2 Visa with Our Business Plan Example

Dreaming of running a business in the USA? The E-2 Visa can make it happen. Our E-2 Visa Business Plan Examples are made just for you. It’s like a blueprint to get your visa and start your American business adventure.

Our example fits what the visa folks want to see. We know what they like, and we’ve got you covered. Download it now and start your American business journey! 

• International Entrepreneurs
• Business Owners Wanting to Invest in the USA

What You Get :

• Detailed Business Plan
• Money Predictions That Meet Visa Rules
• Plans to Create Jobs
• Follows U.S. Immigration Rules

Get Your U.S. Green Card with Our Business Plan Example

If you want to live in the USA with your family, the EB-5 Investor Visa can make it happen. Check out our EB-5 Regional Center Business Plan Example. It’s like a roadmap to get your green card and fulfill your American dream.

Our example is made to fit the EB-5 program’s requirements. We know what they need, and we’ve got you covered. 

• Investors Who Want U.S.
• Green Cards
• Families Looking for U.S.
• Residency through Investment

What You Get:

• Detailed Business Plan that EB-5 likes
• Predictions about Jobs Your Investment Will Create
• Analysis of How Your Investment Will Impact the Economy

Succeed in Buying or Selling a Business with Our Example Plan

Thinking about buying or selling a business? WiseBusinessPlans can help make it smoother. Take a look at our Merger & Acquisition Business Plan Example. It’s like a guide to help you through the process and make sure it works out.

Our example is made to fit your business needs. It helps you plan and succeed in buying or selling a business. 

• Business Owners Thinking
• About Mergers or Sales
• People Who Want to Invest in Businesses
• Executives Handling Business Transitions
• Detailed Business Plan Tailored for Mergers & Acquisitions
• Financial Predictions to Support Your Plans
• Help Identifying and Dealing with Risks
• Customized for Your Specific Goals

Attract Investors with Our Business Plan Example

Seeking investment to fuel your business growth? WiseBusinessPlans is your partner in creating a compelling Investor Business Plan Example. Explore our sample plan, thoughtfully crafted to showcase your business potential and attract the attention of potential investors.

Our Investor Business Plan Example is designed to make your business stand out in the eyes of investors. We understand what investors are looking for and can help you create a persuasive case for your business.

Entrepreneurs Seeking Investment Startups Looking for Funding Established Businesses Expanding Operations

• Comprehensive Business Description
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19 Best Sample Business Plans & Examples to Help You Write Your Own

Published: August 21, 2023

Reading sample business plans is essential when you’re writing your own. As you explore business plan examples from real companies and brands, you’ll learn how to write one that gets your business off on the right foot, convinces investors to provide funding, and confirms your venture is sustainable for the long term.

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But what does a business plan look like? And how do you write one that is viable and convincing? Let's review the ideal business plan formally, then take a look at business plan templates and samples you can use to inspire your own.

Business Plan Format

Ask any successful sports coach how they win so many games, and they’ll tell you they have a unique plan for every single game. The same logic applies to business. If you want to build a thriving company that can pull ahead of the competition, you need to prepare for battle before breaking into a market.

Business plans guide you along the rocky journey of growing a company. Referencing one will keep you on the path toward success. And if your business plan is compelling enough, it can also convince investors to give you funding.

With so much at stake, you might be wondering, "Where do I start? How should I format this?"

Typically, a business plan is a document that will detail how a company will achieve its goals.

Free Business Plan Template

The essential document for starting a business -- custom built for your needs.

• Outline your idea.
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You're all set!

Click this link to access this resource at any time.

Fill out the form to get your free template.

Most business plans include the following sections:

1. Executive Summary

The executive summary is arguably the most important section of the entire business plan. Essentially, it's the overview or introduction, written in a way to grab readers' attention and guide them through the rest of the business plan. This is important, because a business plan can be dozens or hundreds of pages long.

Most executive summaries include:

• Mission statement
• Company history and leadership
• Competitive advantage overview
• Financial projections
• Company goals

Keep in mind you'll cover many of these topics in more detail later on in the business plan. So, keep the executive summary clear and brief, including only the most important takeaways.

Executive Summary Business Plan Examples

This example was created with HubSpot’s business plan template:

And the executive summary below tells potential investors a short story that covers all the most important details this business plan will cover in a succinct and interesting way.

Image Source

Tips for Writing Your Executive Summary

• Clearly define a problem, and explain how your product solves that problem, and show why the market needs your business.
• Be sure to highlight your value proposition, market opportunity, and growth potential.
• Keep it concise and support ideas with data.
• Customize your summary to your audience. For example, emphasize finances and return on investment for venture capitalists.

Check out our tips for writing an effective executive summary for more guidance.

2. Market Opportunity

This is where you'll detail the opportunity in the market. Where is the gap in the current industry, and how will your product fill that gap?

In this section, you might include:

• The size of the market
• Current or potential market share
• Trends in the industry and consumer behavior
• Where the gap is
• What caused the gap
• How you intend to fill it

To get a thorough understanding of the market opportunity, you'll want to conduct a TAM, SAM, and SOM analysis and perform market research on your industry. You may also benefit from creating a SWOT analysis to get some of the insights for this section.

Market Opportunity Business Plan Example

This example uses critical data to underline the size of the potential market and what part of that market this service hopes to capture.

Tips for Writing Your Market Opportunity Section

• Focus on demand and potential for growth.
• Use market research, surveys, and industry trend data to support your market forecast and projections.
• Add a review of regulation shifts, tech advances, and consumer behavior changes.
• Refer to reliable sources.
• Showcase how your business can make the most of this opportunity.

3. Competitive Landscape

Speaking of market share, you'll need to create a section that shares details on who the top competitors are. After all, your customers likely have more than one brand to choose from, and you'll want to understand exactly why they might choose one over another. Performing a competitive analysis can help you uncover:

• Industry trends that other brands may not be utilizing
• Strengths in your competition that may be obstacles to handle
• Weaknesses in your competition that may help you develop selling points
• The unique proposition you bring to the market that may resonate with customers

Competitive Landscape Business Plan Example

The competitive landscape section of the business plan below shows a clear outline of who the top competitors are. It also highlights specific industry knowledge and the importance of location, which shows useful experience in this specific industry. This can help build trust in your ability to execute your business plan.

Tips for Writing Your Competitive Landscape

• Complete in-depth research, then emphasize your most important findings.
• Compare your unique selling proposition (USP) to your direct and indirect competitors.
• Show a clear and realistic plan for product and brand differentiation.
• Look for specific advantages and barriers in the competitive landscape. Then, highlight how that information could impact your business.
• Outline growth opportunities from a competitive perspective.
• Add customer feedback and insights to support your competitive analysis.

4. Target Audience

This section will describe who your customer segments are in detail. What is the demographic and psychographic information of your audience?

If your immediate answer is "everyone," you'll need to dig deeper. Ask yourself:

• What demographics will most likely need/buy your product or service?
• What are the psychographics of this audience? (Desires, triggering events, etc.)
• Why are your offerings valuable to them?

It can be helpful to build a buyer persona to get in the mindset of your ideal customers and be clear on why you're targeting them.

Target Audience Business Plan Example

The example below uses in-depth research to draw conclusions about audience priorities. It also analyzes how to create the right content for this audience.

Tips for Writing Your Target Audience Section

• Include details on the size and growth potential of your target audience.
• Figure out and refine the pain points for your target audience , then show why your product is a useful solution.
• Describe your targeted customer acquisition strategy in detail.
• Share anticipated challenges your business may face in acquiring customers and how you plan to address them.
• Add case studies, testimonials, and other data to support your target audience ideas.
• Remember to consider niche audiences and segments of your target audience in your business plan.

5. Marketing Strategy

Here, you'll discuss how you'll acquire new customers with your marketing strategy. You might consider including information on:

• The brand positioning vision and how you'll cultivate it
• The goal targets you aim to achieve
• The metrics you'll use to measure success
• The channels and distribution tactics you'll use

It can help to already have a marketing plan built out to help you with this part of your business plan.

Marketing Strategy Business Plan Example

This business plan example includes the marketing strategy for the town of Gawler. It offers a comprehensive picture of how it plans to use digital marketing to promote the community.

Tips for Writing Your Marketing Strategy

• Include a section about how you believe your brand vision will appeal to customers.
• Add the budget and resources you'll need to put your plan in place.
• Outline strategies for specific marketing segments.
• Connect strategies to earlier sections like target audience and competitive analysis.
• Review how your marketing strategy will scale with the growth of your business.
• Cover a range of channels and tactics to highlight your ability to adapt your plan in the face of change.

6. Key Features and Benefits

At some point in your business plan, you'll review the key features and benefits of your products and/or services. Laying these out can give readers an idea of how you're positioning yourself in the market and the messaging you're likely to use . It can even help them gain better insight into your business model.

Key Features and Benefits Business Plan Example

The example below outlines products and services for this business, along with why these qualities will attract the audience.

Tips for Writing Your Key Features and Benefits

• Emphasize why and how your product or service offers value to customers.
• Use metrics and testimonials to support the ideas in this section.
• Talk about how your products and services have the potential to scale.
• Think about including a product roadmap.
• Focus on customer needs, and how the features and benefits you are sharing meet those needs.
• Offer proof of concept for your ideas, like case studies or pilot program feedback.
• Proofread this section carefully, and remove any jargon or complex language.

7. Pricing and Revenue

This is where you'll discuss your cost structure and various revenue streams. Your pricing strategy must be solid enough to turn a profit while staying competitive in the industry. For this reason, you might outline:

• The specific pricing breakdowns per product or service
• Why your pricing is higher or lower than your competition's
• (If higher) Why customers would be willing to pay more
• (If lower) How you're able to offer your products or services at a lower cost
• When you expect to break even, what margins do you expect, etc?

Pricing and Revenue Business Plan Example

This business plan example begins with an overview of the business revenue model, then shows proposed pricing for key products.

Tips for Writing Your Pricing and Revenue Section

• Get specific about your pricing strategy. Specifically, how you connect that strategy to customer needs and product value.
• If you are asking a premium price, share unique features or innovations that justify that price point.
• Show how you plan to communicate pricing to customers.
• Create an overview of every revenue stream for your business and how each stream adds to your business model as a whole.
• Share plans to develop new revenue streams in the future.
• Show how and whether pricing will vary by customer segment and how pricing aligns with marketing strategies.
• Restate your value proposition and explain how it aligns with your revenue model.

8. Financials

This section is particularly informative for investors and leadership teams to figure out funding strategies, investment opportunities, and more. According to Forbes , you'll want to include three main things:

• Profit/Loss Statement - This answers the question of whether your business is currently profitable.
• Cash Flow Statement - This details exactly how much cash is incoming and outgoing to give insight into how much cash a business has on hand.
• Balance Sheet - This outlines assets, liabilities, and equity, which gives insight into how much a business is worth.

While some business plans might include more or less information, these are the key details you'll want to include.

Financials Business Plan Example

This balance sheet example shows the level of detail you will need to include in the financials section of your business plan:

Tips for Writing Your Financials Section

• Growth potential is important in this section too. Using your data, create a forecast of financial performance in the next three to five years.
• Include any data that supports your projections to assure investors of the credibility of your proposal.
• Add a break-even analysis to show that your business plan is financially practical. This information can also help you pivot quickly as your business grows.
• Consider adding a section that reviews potential risks and how sensitive your plan is to changes in the market.
• Triple-check all financial information in your plan for accuracy.
• Show how any proposed funding needs align with your plans for growth.

As you create your business plan, keep in mind that each of these sections will be formatted differently. Some may be in paragraph format, while others could be charts or graphs.

Business Plan Types

The formats above apply to most types of business plans. That said, the format and structure of your plan will vary by your goals for that plan. So, we’ve added a quick review of different business plan types. For a more detailed overview, check out this post .

1. Startups

Startup business plans are for proposing new business ideas.

If you’re planning to start a small business, preparing a business plan is crucial. The plan should include all the major factors of your business. You can check out this guide for more detailed business plan inspiration .

2. Feasibility Studies

Feasibility business plans focus on that business's product or service. Feasibility plans are sometimes added to startup business plans. They can also be a new business plan for an already thriving organization.

3. Internal Use

You can use internal business plans to share goals, strategies, or performance updates with stakeholders. Internal business plans are useful for alignment and building support for ambitious goals.

4. Strategic Initiatives

Another business plan that's often for sharing internally is a strategic business plan. This plan covers long-term business objectives that might not have been included in the startup business plan.

5. Business Acquisition or Repositioning

When a business is moving forward with an acquisition or repositioning, it may need extra structure and support. These types of business plans expand on a company's acquisition or repositioning strategy.

Growth sometimes just happens as a business continues operations. But more often, a business needs to create a structure with specific targets to meet set goals for expansion. This business plan type can help a business focus on short-term growth goals and align resources with those goals.

Sample Business Plan Templates

Now that you know what's included and how to format a business plan, let's review some templates.

1. HubSpot's One-Page Business Plan

Download a free, editable one-page business plan template..

The business plan linked above was created here at HubSpot and is perfect for businesses of any size — no matter how many strategies we still have to develop.

Fields such as Company Description, Required Funding, and Implementation Timeline give this one-page business plan a framework for how to build your brand and what tasks to keep track of as you grow. Then, as the business matures, you can expand on your original business plan with a new iteration of the above document.

Why We Like It

This one-page business plan is a fantastic choice for the new business owner who doesn’t have the time or resources to draft a full-blown business plan. It includes all the essential sections in an accessible, bullet-point-friendly format. That way, you can get the broad strokes down before honing in on the details.

2. HubSpot's Downloadable Business Plan Template

We also created a business plan template for entrepreneurs.

The template is designed as a guide and checklist for starting your own business. You’ll learn what to include in each section of your business plan and how to do it. There’s also a list for you to check off when you finish each section of your business plan.

Strong game plans help coaches win games and help businesses rocket to the top of their industries. So if you dedicate the time and effort required to write a workable and convincing business plan, you’ll boost your chances of success and even dominance in your market.

This business plan kit is essential for the budding entrepreneur who needs a more extensive document to share with investors and other stakeholders. It not only includes sections for your executive summary, product line, market analysis, marketing plan, and sales plan, but it also offers hands-on guidance for filling out those sections.

3. LiveFlow’s Financial Planning Template with built-in automation

This free template from LiveFlow aims to make it easy for businesses to create a financial plan and track their progress on a monthly basis. The P&L Budget versus Actual format allows users to track their revenue, cost of sales, operating expenses, operating profit margin, net profit, and more.

The summary dashboard aggregates all of the data put into the financial plan sheet and will automatically update when changes are made. Instead of wasting hours manually importing your data to your spreadsheet, LiveFlow can also help you to automatically connect your accounting and banking data directly to your spreadsheet, so your numbers are always up-to-date.

With the dashboard, you can view your runway, cash balance, burn rate, gross margins, and other metrics. Having a simple way to track everything in one place will make it easier to complete the financials section of your business plan.

This is a fantastic template to track performance and alignment internally and to create a dependable process for documenting financial information across the business. It’s highly versatile and beginner-friendly. It’s especially useful if you don’t have an accountant on the team. (We always recommend you do, but for new businesses, having one might not be possible.)

4. ThoughtCo’s Sample Business Plan

One of the more financially oriented sample business plans in this list, BPlan’s free business plan template dedicates many of its pages to your business’s financial plan and financial statements.

After filling this business plan out, your company will truly understand its financial health and the steps you need to take to maintain or improve it.

We absolutely love this business plan template because of its ease-of-use and hands-on instructions (in addition to its finance-centric components). If you feel overwhelmed by the thought of writing an entire business plan, consider using this template to help you with the process.

6. Upmetrics’ Sample Business Plans

If you are looking for an industry-specific business plan template for your business, Upmetrics has a library of 400+ sample business plans has templates for almost every business type.

This template helps you create a detailed plan without missing out on any critical information. Simply download the sample plan, import it into your editor/doc, and follow the step-by-step instructions to write your plan.

This library of sample business plans is an excellent choice for small business owners with limited resources and no prior business or financial planning experience. The well-structured template has all the essential sections as well as step-by-step instructions to prepare a comprehensive business plan.

7. Harvard Business Review’s "How to Write a Winning Business Plan"

Most sample business plans teach you what to include in your business plan, but this Harvard Business Review article will take your business plan to the next level — it teaches you the why and how behind writing a business plan.

With the guidance of Stanley Rich and Richard Gumpert, co-authors of " Business Plans That Win: Lessons From the MIT Enterprise Forum ", you'll learn how to write a convincing business plan that emphasizes the market demand for your product or service. You’ll also learn the financial benefits investors can reap from putting money into your venture rather than trying to sell them on how great your product or service is.

This business plan guide focuses less on the individual parts of a business plan, and more on the overarching goal of writing one. For that reason, it’s one of our favorites to supplement any template you choose to use. Harvard Business Review’s guide is instrumental for both new and seasoned business owners.

8. HubSpot’s Complete Guide to Starting a Business

If you’re an entrepreneur, you know writing a business plan is one of the most challenging first steps to starting a business. Fortunately, with HubSpot's comprehensive guide to starting a business, you'll learn how to map out all the details by understanding what to include in your business plan and why it’s important to include them. The guide also fleshes out an entire sample business plan for you.

If you need further guidance on starting a business, HubSpot's guide can teach you how to make your business legal, choose and register your business name, and fund your business. It will also give small business tax information and includes marketing, sales, and service tips.

This comprehensive guide will walk you through the process of starting a business, in addition to writing your business plan, with a high level of exactitude and detail. So if you’re in the midst of starting your business, this is an excellent guide for you. It also offers other resources you might need, such as market analysis templates.

9. Panda Doc’s Free Business Plan Template

PandaDoc’s free business plan template is one of the more detailed and fleshed-out sample business plans on this list. It describes what you should include in each section, so you don't have to come up with everything from scratch.

Once you fill it out, you’ll fully understand your business’ nitty-gritty details and how all of its moving parts should work together to contribute to its success.

This template has two things we love: comprehensiveness and in-depth instructions. Plus, it’s synced with PandaDoc’s e-signature software so that you and other stakeholders can sign it with ease. For that reason, we especially love it for those starting a business with a partner or with a board of directors.

10. Small Business Administration Free Business Plan Template

The Small Business Administration (SBA) offers several free business plan templates that can be used to inspire your own plan. Before you get started, you can decide what type of business plan you need — a traditional or lean start-up plan.

Then, you can review the format for both of those plans and view examples of what they might look like.

We love both of the SBA’s templates because of their versatility. You can choose between two options and use the existing content in the templates to flesh out your own plan. Plus, if needed, you can get a free business counselor to help you along the way.

Top Business Plan Examples

Here are some completed business plan samples to get an idea of how to customize a plan for your business. We’ve chosen different types of business plan ideas to expand your imagination. Some are extensive, while others are fairly simple.

Take a look.

1. LiveFlow

One of the major business expenses is marketing. How you handle your marketing reflects your company’s revenue. We included this business plan to show you how you can ensure your marketing team is aligned with your overall business plan to get results. The plan also shows you how to track even the smallest metrics of your campaigns, like ROI and payback periods instead of just focusing on big metrics like gross and revenue.

Fintech startup, LiveFlow, allows users to sync real-time data from its accounting services, payment platforms, and banks into custom reports. This eliminates the task of pulling reports together manually, saving teams time and helping automate workflows.

When it came to including marketing strategy in its business plan, LiveFlow created a separate marketing profit and loss statement (P&L) to track how well the company was doing with its marketing initiatives. This is a great approach, allowing businesses to focus on where their marketing dollars are making the most impact.

"Using this framework over a traditional marketing plan will help you set a profitable marketing strategy taking things like CAC, LTV, Payback period, and P&L into consideration," explains LiveFlow co-founder, Lasse Kalkar .

Having this information handy will enable you to build out your business plan’s marketing section with confidence. LiveFlow has shared the template here . You can test it for yourself.

2. Lula Body

Sometimes all you need is a solid mission statement and core values to guide you on how to go about everything. You do this by creating a business plan revolving around how to fulfill your statement best. For example, Patagonia is an eco-friendly company, so their plan discusses how to make the best environmentally friendly products without causing harm.

A good mission statement should not only resonate with consumers but should also serve as a core value compass for employees as well.

Outdoor clothing retailer, Patagonia, has one of the most compelling mission statements we’ve seen:

"Together, let’s prioritise purpose over profit and protect this wondrous planet, our only home."

It reels you in from the start, and the environmentally friendly theme continues throughout the rest of the statement.

This mission goes on to explain that they are out to "Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, and use business to protect nature."

Their mission statement is compelling and detailed, with each section outlining how they will accomplish their goal.

4. Vesta Home Automation

This is the kind of business plan you need when applying for business funds. It clearly illustrates the expected future of the company and how the business has been coming along over the years.

This executive summary for a smart home device startup is part of a business plan created by students at Mount Royal University . While it lacks some of the sleek visuals of the templates above, its executive summary does a great job of demonstrating how invested they are in the business.

Right away, they mention they’ve invested $200,000 into the company already, which shows investors they have skin in the game and aren’t just looking for someone else to foot the bill.

5. NALB Creative Center

This fictional business plan for an art supply store includes everything one might need in a business plan: an executive summary, a company summary, a list of services, a market analysis summary, and more. Due to its comprehensiveness, it’s an excellent example to follow if you’re opening a brick-and-mortar store and need to get external funding to start your business .

One of its most notable sections is its market analysis summary, which includes an overview of the population growth in the business’ target geographical area, as well as a breakdown of the types of potential customers they expect to welcome at the store. This sort of granular insight is essential for understanding and communicating your business’s growth potential. Plus, it lays a strong foundation for creating relevant and useful buyer personas .

It’s essential to keep this information up-to-date as your market and target buyer changes. For that reason, you should carry out market research as often as possible to ensure that you’re targeting the correct audience and sharing accurate information with your investors.

6. Curriculum Companion Suites (CSS)

If you’re looking for a SaaS business plan example, look no further than this business plan for a fictional educational software company called Curriculum Companion Suites. Like the business plan for the NALB Creative Center, it includes plenty of information for prospective investors and other key stakeholders in the business.

One of the most notable features of this business plan is the executive summary, which includes an overview of the product, market, and mission. The first two are essential for software companies because the product offering is so often at the forefront of the company’s strategy. Without that information being immediately available to investors and executives, then you risk writing an unfocused business plan.

It’s also essential to front-load your company’s mission if it explains your "Why?" In other words, why do you do what you do, and why should stakeholders care? This is an important section to include if you feel that your mission will drive interest in the business and its offerings.

7. Culina Sample Business Plan

Culina's sample business plan is an excellent example of how to lay out your business plan so that it flows naturally, engages readers, and provides the critical information investors and stakeholders need. You can also use this template as a guide while you're gathering important details. After looking at this sample, you'll have a better understanding of the data and research you need to do for your own business plan.

8. Plum Sample Business Plan

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How to Write a Business Plan

• Written By Dave Lavinsky

A business plan is an essential part of starting your own business. It’s a roadmap that outlines your business goals and how you plan to achieve them. A well-written business plan can help you secure funding, attract customers, and establish yourself as a credible business owner.  

5 Reasons You Need a Business Plan

Writing a business plan may seem like a daunting task, but there are several reasons why it’s important to have one. Here are five of them:  

1. It helps you focus on your business goals.

A business plan forces you to think through your goals and how you plan to achieve them. This can help you stay focused and avoid getting sidetracked.  

2. It improves your chances of securing funding .

If you need to borrow money to start or grow your business, a business plan can help increase your chances of getting approved for a business loan. Potential investors and lenders will want to see how you plan to use their money and how you’ll generate a return on their investment.  

3. It helps you attract customers.

Customers want to know how your product or service will benefit them. In a business plan, you can show how your business meets customers’ needs and how it fits into the current market.  

4. It establishes you as a credible business owner.

A well-written business plan shows potential customers, investors, lenders, and even staff members that you’re a serious business owner with a solid business sense who has thought through how to achieve business success. For some people, this is just as important as how the actual business makes money.  

5. It forces you to research your competitors and market trends.

Writing a business plan forces you to do your homework on the competition and understand how demand for certain products and services may change in the future.

Here’s how to write one that will help you succeed.  

When you write a business plan, you can write it from scratch or use an AI business plan generator . In either case, incorporate these 9 key elements to give your business the best chance of success.  

Executive Summary

A business plan executive summary is where you impress the reader by highlighting your business’s strengths and success. In one-to-two pages, establish a reason for the investor or lender to consider your funding request. Because the executive summary is an overview, you’ll write it last.

An effective business plan executive summary defines how capable your business is and lays out how well your business will be doing in the market. It also explains how an investor or lender can benefit from what you want them to do with your business. But most of all, the executive summary captivates the reader’s attention and persuades them to strongly consider becoming invested in how well your company will do so that you receive the capital you need.  

Company Description

When describing your business, you’ll want to capture the essence of what you do and how you do it. This includes your company’s history, structure, and achievements. You’ll also want to highlight what makes your company unique and how you can help achieve your customer’s goals.

You may also want to include a mission statement in your company description. This statement tells what your business is about and how it affects other people. 

For example, you may find the following mission statement in a record label business plan :

“We focus on finding talented artists, providing them with an excellent management team, and capturing their stories through design to reach new audiences across the world.”

When writing a business plan, it is important to include a section on your company history. This includes key information such as your inception date and location. The value of this section lies in sharing your origin story with investors. They are interested in knowing how you developed the business concept and took it to market. For start-ups, this section may be brief. Established organizations can expand this section to highlight major accomplishments since inception.

This company overview is where you will also specify the legal structure of your company. A business can be a sole-proprietorship, a partnership, a corporation, a limited liability firm, or a non-profit organization.  

Industry Analysis

When writing a business plan, it’s important to remember that your company is not operating in a vacuum. Your business’s success or failure will be affected by socio-economic factors in the marketplace. That’s why it’s important to conduct a market analysis as part of your business plan.

This section will outline how your business is performing compared to other companies in the same industry. It will also identify recent developments that must be considered when creating your business strategy. To research this information, be sure to consult credible sources. Review both past and present reports to form the broadest understanding of all external factors.

Include statistics on the total and relevant market sizes, as well as historical and future growth estimates. You’ll also need to estimate your market share. While many sources report on the total market size, you’ll need to calculate the relevant market size based on your niche or market segment.

Your relevant market size for a business is an estimate of the annual revenue that could be attained if the business realized 100% market share. This is calculated by multiplying the number of people who might be interested in purchasing the products or services each year by the dollar amount these customers might be willing to spend on products or services annually.

Let’s examine a sample industry analysis from a startup food truck business plan :

“The food truck industry is an expanding market that has seen substantial growth in recent years. This growth is supported by the rising popularity of “street food” and the increased demand for healthier, on-the-go dining options. While some food trucks are operated with traditional restaurant equipment, most use small cooking equipment designed for lighter-duty usage with limited space.

The current industry size for mobile food trucks is estimated at $2 billion annually, but there’s plenty of room to grow. As the population continues to migrate to urban areas over the coming decades, consumers will need more convenient access to healthy foods than what they can find at home or in traditional brick-and-mortar restaurants. The convenience and affordability of mobile food trucks combined with the variety of menu options will continue to drive growth in the industry.”  

Customer Analysis

An effective customer analysis should be done to determine how well you know your customers. The first step is determining the buying behaviors and patterns of your customers. Potential funding sources will also ask about the proximity of your business to them, as well as the size of the potential customer pool.

The customer analysis section answers two key questions: what is the problem your customer is experiencing and how are you solving it? Problems, or pain points, can be multifaceted. You’ll need to identify what will make them feel most satisfied with your products or services. For instance, customers may want to reduce time or cost in projects, or they may want to work with an organization that has a good reputation for customer service.

One approach to understanding your customer base is developing an ideal client persona. This involves creating a figure that represents your average customer- typically by age, business experience, values, and needs. Doing so allows you to better understand their behaviors and how to appeal to them.

Here’s an example of a client persona from a nail salon business plan :

“Marie is a woman in her 20s who works as a receptionist. She lives in the city and has been looking for a new salon because her last one closed down. She’s looking for a salon that is close to her work, has an easy-to-follow menu, and provides services at a reasonable price.”  

Competitive Analysis

A competitive landscape analysis is a key section of any complete business plan. This section outlines your strengths in comparison to other similar companies targeting the same market, and answers the question, “why this business?” for prospective customers and investors.

Your competitive analysis should include a review of your direct and indirect competitors, as well as an evaluation of each competitor’s strengths and weaknesses. It should also identify what opportunities exist in the market that you can capitalize on.

In order to create an effective competitive analysis, you need to thoroughly research both your direct and indirect competition. This means gathering data on things like their marketing efforts, target markets, and product offerings. You’ll also want to know about their financial stability and how they’re perceived by customers.

Once you have this information, you’ll want to create a table that outlines each competitor’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as the opportunities and threats they pose to your business.

You will use this information to determine your competitive advantages. These are strengths that you will use to beat your competition. Here’s how we recommend using this information in your business plan:

Think about the problems, needs, and wants of your customers and how you solve them better than any other business. You can refer back to your ideal client persona for inspiration when identifying these points, which should appear throughout the rest of the business plan in your marketing and sales plan.

Here’s an example of a competitor profile from a real estate agent business plan :

“XYZ Realty is a local real estate company that has been in business for over 30 years. They have been able to maintain a steady customer base due to their expert knowledge of the area and the fact that they have received positive reviews from previous customers. XYZ Realty is considered one of the frontrunners in the real estate industry due to its dedication to quality service and attention to detail.

The main competitors for XYZ Realty are larger national companies that have expanded into smaller areas with a limited number of agents on staff. These big-box companies offer cheaper rates but cannot provide the same level of expertise as XYZ Realty due to their lack of local information or customer support team. One advantage that these bigger companies do have is their economies of scale, which allows them to offer lower prices.”  

Marketing Strategy & Plan

Creating a marketing plan is essential for letting people know about your business. The plan should outline your strategy for communicating information about your products and services to potential customers. It can also help convince investors and lenders that you have a solid understanding of how to reach your target market and generate sales. In some cases, your marketing plan may be a separate document from your detailed business plan.

In a marketing plan, you’ll need to include details on your target audience and how you will reach them. This includes discussing the competition within your industry and what makes you unique in comparison to other companies.

You should also list out specific business objectives for things like developing a brand identity, creating a website, reaching out to customers through email campaigns, and more. You may also want to discuss your pricing strategy that capitalizes on the strengths of your business.

Here’s a partial marketing plan example from a daycare business plan :

“Sunshine Daycare provides care for children ages 8 months to 5 years.

We offer the children the chance to have fun and be educated in a nurturing environment with lots of space to learn and play. Our hours are from 7:00 AM-6:00 PM Monday through Saturday, closed Sundays except by appointment only. We also offer a low price; a one-time registration fee of $100 and weekly fees start at just $180 for an infant and decrease incrementally as the child gets older. We also provide a discount for siblings.

One of our nearest competitors is ABC Daycare, which is open 6:00 AM-6:00 PM Monday through Friday and charges $40/day for a single child or $75/day for two children. They do not offer discounts for siblings.

Our marketing strategy is to emphasize our lower prices, extended hours, sibling discount, and focus on the nurturing and educational environment.

Objectives :

• Create an online presence via a website and social media platforms
• Generate word-of-mouth referrals from current and past customers
• Recruit families to attend our open houses/workshops

Target Market

Age: infants, toddlers, children up to 5 years old

Parents looking for a safe and affordable child care option in the area

Families who may work a nonstandard schedule, such as parents in the service industry or students with part-time jobs. These groups often face difficulty finding infant care due to limited availability during evening hours when they’re working.”  

Operations Plan

A strong operations foundation is essential for any business. As a result, your operations plan is a key part of the business planning process and your traditional business plan.

Processes, metrics, and milestones define how you will effectively manage the business and its associated costs. A thorough operations plan conveys to investors that your business results are intentional. It also demonstrates that you’ve considered what could go wrong and have preventative and recovery plans in place.

Your operations plan should include the following:

• Description of your business model
• How you will produce or deliver your products or services
• Details on your organizational structure, including an organizational chart
• Plans for human resources, including hiring, training, and retention
• Information on systems and technology needed to support your business
• Policies and procedures in place to ensure quality control and compliance

Here’s a partial operations plan excerpt from a juice bar business plan :

“Maple Juice Bar has one key goal in its operations plan: provide the freshest, highest-quality juice in the city. Juice is made fresh every morning to ensure quality and taste. Our retail store hours are from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM Monday through Friday because of this production schedule. We also offer online ordering via our website so that customers have access to our range of products regardless of their location or the time of day.

Human Resources

We have 5 employees that work part-time (16 hours/week) at Maple Juice Bar. This allows us to keep labor costs low while still maintaining a relatively high level of customer service. All employees receive on-the-job training during their first week, with additional training provided as needed. Employee retention has not been an issue to date.

Systems and Technology

We have a Square credit card reader to accept debit/credit cards for all transactions. We also have a computer on-site so that customers can access our website or social media platforms if they don’t feel comfortable using their mobile device in-store. All employees are trained on the website interface so that they can assist any customer with online orders.”  

Management Team

Investors are looking for businesses to invest in, and it’s of extreme importance for you to show them that your company is of good standing. One way to assure investors that your business is worth investing in is by providing plans of what you plan to do with the money. While the execution of these plans falls on your employees, this doesn’t mean that investors aren’t interested in who you have on your team. Investors need to know about your team members, their credentials, and what expertise they bring to the table.

You’ll include the names and biographies of your management team members as well as any managerial gaps below. You may also recognize your Board of Directors if appropriate. The background information may cover things like an individual’s educational achievements, work experience, abilities, and accomplishments. It allows investors to get to know your team members in addition to providing another level of transparency.

It’s possible to have openings on your team at the time you write your business plan. In this instance, you’ll describe the job duties and specify the essential qualifications for a successful applicant.

For example, the background for a residential cleaning company’s president may read:

“Jane Doe is a lifelong resident of the Hampton Roads area and has over 12 years of experience in residential cleaning. Jane understands that businesses need to provide top-notch customer services while saving time, energy, and money. She was born with an eye for detail, which she applies to her cleaning activities each day.”  

Financial Plan & Projections

A financial plan is a key element of your business plan that provides strategies for acquiring financing and making it sustainable. In addition to presenting your revenue model, projections, and funding requirements, the financial plan also outlines ways to procure financing.

The revenue model is a way that you make money. There are many different kinds of revenue models, including subscription, advertising, affiliate marketing, markup, direct sales, and commissions.

Financial projections are important for your business plan. Your plan should include a three-to-five-year financial forecast that outlines your projected income and expenses while realistically portraying your profitability. This section will showcase several reports with details included in your Appendix. The financial statements include your projected income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement. Established businesses may choose to include historical financial data. Charts and graphs are an effective way of depicting your financial highlights.

Finally, you’ll describe your funding request. Describe how much money you’ll need and how you’ll use it. Some potential applications include, among other things, purchasing equipment, paying bills and salaries, leasing office space, researching the market for product development, and conducting market research for product creation.

Here’s an example financial plan summary from a  car rental business plan :

Income Statement

Balance sheet, cash flow statement, planbuildr makes writing a successful business plan easy.

Finish your business plan quickly with our business plan software , PlanBuildr. PlanBuildr is a simple and easy way to create a professional business plan that will help you raise funding for your company. Get started today!

Looking for a traditional business plan template instead? Visit Growthink for a wide selection of sample business plans and business plan templates for over 100+ industries.

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How Plan Vs Actual Comparison Helps You Manage Your Business

10 min. read

Updated October 24, 2023

Planning is not just about the plan — it’s about the management. And plan vs. actual analysis, also called variance analysis, is essential to better business management. That’s where you track results, review progress, and make regular course corrections depending on performance. 

At the heart of it is our favorite quote about planning, from former president and military strategist Dwight D. Eisenhower: 

The plan is useless, but planning is essential

And planning means tracking the actual results , comparing them to the original plan, and managing the difference. 

• What is plan vs actual?

To put it simply, plan vs actual is just the active review and adjustment of financial forecasts based on your real-world financial results. During this process, you’ll also be reviewing your actions during that period to better contextualize your results. In accounting, this is also known as variance analysis, which is just a different term for the same concept.

It’s all about comparing what really happened to what you thought would happen. Your plan sets down strategy, tactics, essential numbers, and execution. Tracking progress and results gives you what actually happened. And dealing with the difference between plan and actual is just you steering your business with better, and more direct, management. 

• Example of plan vs actual

The practice of comparing predictions to results seems pretty simple, right? But to truly understand the benefit of plan vs actual comparison, we should look at an example. 

Start with your plan

The illustration below shows a view of the sales forecast for a bicycle store. It’s an educated guess, done by the owner, based on past results and expected changes. She forecasts sales by forecasting units, the average price per unit, and sales as the product of unit times price.

Compile your actual results

The following illustration shows a sample of the actual results, from the accounting reports of the same bicycle store shown above. Without even diving into a detailed comparison, you can immediately see some differences. 

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Compare the two financial statements 

In this sample case, which is about sales, more is good: more units, higher price, or higher sales. And less is bad: fewer units, lower price, or lower sales. Good is called positive variance and bad is called negative variance. You can see the results in the following illustration. 

Comparing your forecasts to actual accounting data should be fairly straightforward. Specifically, when looking at individual line items, you should be able to subtract your actual results from your forecasts. The trick is keeping these documents up to date and automatically producing the variance between them. 

Positive variance vs. negative variance

To see how positive and negative variances work let’s compare the plan, results, and variance for New Bicycles sales in March. There is a negative variance of 5 for unit sales because the plan was 36 and actual sales were only 31 units. But there is also a positive $115 variance for the average price because the plan was $500 per bicycle sold, and actual sales brought in $615 per unit. And the sales variance overall is a positive $1,053, because the estimated total sales were $18,000 and the actual sales came out to $19,053. 

Positive or negative changes by context

We can see in all the above examples that with sales, generally more is good and less is bad. But even in the March example, it’s a bit complicated. Sure, fewer units were sold than anticipated but they were sold for a higher price. Ideally, you would have also sold more units at that higher price point and saw positive variance across the board, but it was just a tradeoff for that month.

Now that reverses with the variance analysis of costs, expenses, and spending. In those cases, spending more than planned (or budgeted) is by definition bad, so you’d view that as negative variance; and spending less than planned is by definition good, so positive variance. 

Let’s check out another example, in this case, we’ll check out the expenses for that same bike shop. First, let’s look at the expense budget also known as the expense forecast.

And then we see the actual expenses, as they come from your accounting statement, after the fact.

And from there, we compare the two to find the variance. Notice in this illustration how spending more than budgeted creates negative variance, and less than budgeted is positive variance. That’s exactly the opposite of what happens with sales.

Take the rows for marketing expense, as an example. Marketing spending was less than planned in March and April, so those variances are positive ($41 and $326, respectively). And marketing spending was more than planned in May, so that variance is negative. While on the surface this may seem complicated, thankfully you’ll look at each statement separately to avoid any confusion.

Why you need to compare your plan to actual results 

All of this work is about actual better business management, not just an exercise in accurate accounting. This is about steering your business. Gathering the numbers together and finding the variances, is just the beginning. What comes next is turning those differences in forecasting and performance into practical management strategy. 

It may just look like detailed accounting management but it truly represents the lifeblood of your business.

A deeper look at your sales numbers

Take, for example, the plan vs. actual analysis in the sales example above. We see we sold five units less than planned, so that’s bad. But on the other hand, we got a lot more per unit than what we’d planned. So the most important number there is that total sales are more than $1,000 above what we expected. 

Those numbers should be the starting point for thought and discussion. It generates important questions, such as: How did we get the price higher? Was it worth it? Should we refocus marketing to take advantage of what this tells us? Should we revise the plan for future months, to look for higher prices even if that means lower units? 

These discussions are where you get the value in the planning process. They give managers a better understanding of ongoing results, and can often lead to course corrections. 

A deeper look at your expenses

Now let’s look at the plan vs. actual analysis for marketing expenses. We can see in the illustrations that there was positive variance — spending less than budgeted — for marketing expenses in March and April ($41 and $326, respectively). And there was a negative variance of $265 in May. 

And, once again, this should have you start asking questions to uncover the reason why that occurred. 

For example, was spending $326 less than planned a good thing? It’s a positive variance, but what if the lower spending was due to poor management and a failure to execute? What if the spending was down because ads weren’t done? Promotions weren’t running? Maybe the marketing manager got behind and didn’t get enough done. 

And the May spending of $265 more than planned? It’s negative variance. It’s overspending. But maybe it was just catching up on the execution that fell short in April. The idea is a discussion that leads to better vision, and better business management. 

Insights between your plan vs actual comparisons

Now some of the answers to these questions simply can’t be found within the analysis of just one financial statement. You’ll likely need to compare results between the likes of your sales and expenses to truly uncover why certain things occurred. 

Looking back at our examples, we saw diversions in sales and spending in April. Are those results related? Could the lack of spending on advertising have led to bikes needing to be sold at a lower price?

Objectively, it’s not clear, right? You need to have insights from each plan vs actual review to bring to the table to see where they do and do not connect. 

• What financial components can plan vs actual help you review?

We covered just a simple example of what a plan vs actual review can help uncover. But there are more financial elements of your business that you can review with this process.

Like in the example above, you can easily compare your revenue and sales to identify specific buying trends month-to-month. 

Again, as we covered in our bike store example, looking at your expenses across various departments is a necessary review you should be doing. It can help you identify poor management processes, overly expensive projects, and what kind of return you’re actually getting for your investment.

Possibly even more vital to your business is accurately comparing and updating your cash flow forecasts based on your cash flow statements . Cash is the lifeblood of your business and your cash flow can tell you how healthy it is, what your cash runway looks like, and any areas where you may be bleeding money. 

Profit & loss

Somewhat of a combination of much of these statements, looking at your overall profit or loss can help give you a broader picture of the performance of your business. This moves you outside of specific sales or costs and allows you to truly understand if your business is profitable.

• What to look for in your plan vs actual review

Like we said before, strictly comparing your numbers isn’t enough. You need to have context to fully understand what any differences between actual results and your forecasts really mean. To help guide your review process, these are the primary elements you should be looking for.

Positive variance

As we explored in our sales and expenses examples, a positive variance is any situation where you outperformed what you planned. This can be an increase in sales, units sold, a decrease in expenses, or an influx of cash flow. 

Just keep in mind that depending on which statements your viewing, a positive variance can represent optimized performance instead of an increase. The clearest example of this is a decrease in expenses. 

Negative variance

The opposite of positive variance, a negative variance is any case where you underperformed compared to your projected plan. This can be a decrease in sales, units sold, cash flow, or an increase in expenses. Just like positive variance, this can be flipped into an increase depending on the statement you’re looking at with an increase in expenses being the most obvious example.

Customer interest

Possibly the most important aspect of what you should be looking for is overall customer interest. This element spurs discussion, exploration, and defined context for any variance found between your plan and actual results. 

This isn’t a straightforward numerical metric and is relatively complicated to define. To successfully understand how customer’s are reacting it’s best to approach analysis with specific initiatives in mind. 

Did you start a new advertising initiative? Did you change your pricing model or offer a discount? Maybe you introduced a new product line or feature?

Starting with what you executed, adapted or changed and looking at your expectations versus reality can provide keen insight into how well you actually know your audience. It can also ensure that any successful strategy or negative results are addressed quickly and help you adjust expectations moving forward.

• Conducting a regular plan vs actual review meeting is crucial

If it wasn’t clear throughout this article, a plan vs actual analysis must be done regularly. It’s worthless to do it once and expect positive results or a successful management strategy to emerge. Typically, you’ll do this once a month so that your forecasts for the following month will be more accurate, but during times of growth or in a crisis it may be necessary to do it more often.

To make this review process more efficient and easy to do, you’ll need to build out spreadsheets with specific equations and manually add up-to-date accounting information. You can get a headstart on building your own data sheets with our sales forecast and balance sheet templates. Or if you want a simpler solution that you can directly connect to your accounting software , you may want to try out LivePlan .

LivePlan helps you easily forecast and compare results with automatic financials, and simplifies comparing your plan to actual by housing it all under one platform. But no matter which option you choose, either manually or with a tool like LivePlan, this is a process you should begin implementing as soon as possible. It will help you take a deeper look at your results, more accurately predict performance and better manage your business.

See why 1.2 million entrepreneurs have written their business plans with LivePlan

Tim Berry is the founder and chairman of Palo Alto Software , a co-founder of Borland International, and a recognized expert in business planning. He has an MBA from Stanford and degrees with honors from the University of Oregon and the University of Notre Dame. Today, Tim dedicates most of his time to blogging, teaching and evangelizing for business planning.

Table of Contents

• Why you need to compare your plan to actual results 

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Market update – April 9, 2024

Atos announces the parameters of its refinancing framework, based on its full business perimeter of tech foundations and eviden:, €600 million of cash needed to fund the business over the 2024-25 period. funds to be provided in the form of debt and/or equity by existing stakeholders or third-party investors, €300 million in new revolving credit facility and €300 million in additional bank guarantee lines, targeting bb credit profile by 2026, which assumes a financial leverage [1] below 3x by year-end 2025 and below 2x by year-end 2026 and implies a gross debt reduction of €2.4 billion, remaining debt maturities extended by 5 years, existing stakeholders of atos se and third-party investors can submit financing proposals including new money by april 26, 2024. given the group’s needs, a global refinancing agreement will trigger significant dilution of existing shareholders., targeting to reach a refinancing agreement with financial creditors by july 2024, agreement in-principle with a group of banks, a group of bondholders and the french state on interim financing of €450 million for additional liquidity until refinancing agreement is reached, refinancing framework based on a new long-range business plan, with the following assumptions:, for 2024: revenue of circa €9.9 billion, with organic revenue evolution at circa -2%; operating margin at circa 4% and free cash flow of €-0.4 billion before the unwinding of about €1.8 billion working capital actions as of december 2023, in 2027: revenue of approximately €11.4bn, with an operating margin of around 10% and free cash flow of about €0.5 billion, paris, france – april 9, 2024.

Further to its press release dated April 2, 2024, and as part of the discussions initiated by Atos SE with its financial creditors under the aegis of the conciliator appointed on March 25, 2024, Atos SE presented its updated business plan and the parameters of its refinancing framework to its financial creditors on Monday April 8, 2024.

2024-2027 business plan of the Atos Group

Atos SE provided key strategic and prospective financial information about the Group’s 2024-2027 business plan, the details of which can be found on the Company’s website [2] .

The 2024-2027 business plan has been analyzed by the independent consulting firm Accuracy.

Key highlights 2024 [3]

The Group 2024 revenue of €9.9 billion represents an organic revenue evolution of circa -2% compared with 2023:

• Eviden revenue of €5.0 billion represents an organic growth of about +2%, reflecting the current market slowdown notably in Americas and the uncertainty facing the Group, with Digital revenue of €3.5 billion and BDS revenue of €1.6 billion.
• Tech Foundations revenue of €4.9 billion represents an approximately -6% organic decline, reflecting the impact of the financial situation of the Company on its sales momentum, which may include a slow-down of contract renewals and new client acquisitions, as well as potential termination or rescoping of existing contracts. The revenue decline also reflects the deliberate reduction of non-core activities such as Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and Value-Added Resell (VAR).

Operating margin of €0.4 billion or 4.3% of revenue:

• Eviden operating margin of €0.3 billion represents 6.0% of revenue, a slight improvement compared with 2023 pro forma and consisting in Digital operating margin at €0.2 billion and BDS operating margin at €0.1 billion.
• Tech Foundations operating margin rate of €0.1 billion represents 2.5% of revenue, slightly below 2023 pro forma, reflecting the impact of lower revenues.

Free cash flow after interest and taxes of €-0.4 billion excludes the full unwind of the working capital actions of circa €1.8 billion, as of December 31, 2023, which will be covered from cash on the balance sheet.

Free cash flow after interest and taxes for 2024 based on the Accuracy analysis is expected to be €-0.6 billion.

Key highlights 2027 [4]

The Group’s revenue of €11.4 billion in 2027 represents a revenue CAGR [5] of +3.1% over the 2023PF [6] – 2027 period, in line with the market and reflects a recovery in commercial activities starting from the end of 2024.

• Strong market demand for generative AI solutions and cloud HPC computing capabilities;
• Increased demand, including for AI-powered cyber offerings, due to regulatory compliance and greater cyber threat intensity;
• Growth from indirect channels and marketplace for SaaS sales;
• Demand driven by continued cloud adoption and hyperscaler platform consumption;
• New controlled, trusted or sovereign cloud offerings boosted by increasing regulatory compliance and data security focus;
• Accelerated demand for digital transformation;
• New industry solutions powered by generative AI and big data analytics;
• Digital revenue growth of 5.9% CAGR and BDS growth of 12.0% CAGR.
• Tech Foundations’ revenue of €4.8 billion in 2027 represents a revenue CAGR of -1.9% over the 2023PF – 2027 period.
• Negative organic growth in 2024 and 2025 with a turnaround from 2026 onwards;
• Redefined core portfolio addressing key customer priorities, including sustainability, and capitalizing on market trends such as distributed workforce post-Covid, fast move to multi-cloud and hybrid configurations, and heightened importance of sovereign cloud and AI.

The Group’s operating margin of €1.2 billion in 2027 represents 10.3% of revenue.

• Shift to higher-margin activities, including generative AI solutions, digital cyber offerings and technology consulting;
• Increased share of subscription and maintenance revenue;
• Value based pricing, particularly on generative AI platforms, sovereign cloud capabilities and IP differentiated offerings;
• Improvement in workforce management, with labor pyramid optimization, best-shore delivery model and span of control optimization;
• Productivity improvements driven by notably to higher utilization and billability of resources, reduction of indirect support costs and tighter supply chain management;
• Digital operating margin of €0.5 billion represents 12.2% of revenue and BDS operating margin of €0.3 billion represents 12.0% of revenue.
• Delivery modernization, including restructuring in high-cost locations and data-driven autonomous operations;
• Turnover of under-performing accounts and deployment of AI-based contract management;
• Supplier consolidation and renegotiation;
• Rationalization of SG&A, including increased self-service and automations.

Free cash flow after interests and taxes of €0.5 billion in 2027 reflects a €0.9 billion improvement compared with 2024 from:

• €0.7 billion operating margin improvement;
• €0.3 billion reduction in capex;
• €-0.2 billion negative contribution from change in working capital requirements;
• €0.2 billion reduction in cash out related to other operating expenses, acquisition and separation costs;
• €0.1 increase in interests and taxes.

Group Free cash flow after interest and taxes based on Accuracy analysis is €0.3 billion in 2027.

The evolution of the Group’s revenue, operating margin, and free cash flow is summarized in the table below:

Free cash flow may vary based on interest expense related to the new refinancing solution. Please refer to the disclaimer in this press release.

Parameters of Atos’ refinancing framework

As indicated in its press release of March 26 th , 2024, Atos SE has entered into an amicable conciliation procedure in order to frame discussions with its financial creditors. This is to facilitate the emergence of a global agreement regarding the restructuring of its financial debt within a short and limited timeframe of four months, which could be further extended by one month if needed.

In this context, Atos SE presented on Monday April 8, 2024 to its financial creditors the Company’s key parameters of its refinancing framework, which included:

• €600 million of cash needed to fund the business over the 2024-25 period. Funds to be provided in the form of debt and/or equity by existing stakeholders or third party investors;
• €300m revolving credit facility, and €300m of guarantee lines;
• Targeting a BB credit profile by 2026, which implies a financial leverage [7] below 3x by year-end 2025 and below 2x by year-end 2026 and a gross debt reduction of €2.4 billion;
• A 5-year maturity extension for the residual financial debt.

These parameters are based on the Group’s current perimeter, which includes the assets of Eviden and Tech Foundations without taking into account the impact of any potential asset disposals.

These parameters act as guidelines for all interested parties who will ultimately present their proposals to the company and the conciliator.

The Group’s refinancing framework aims to achieve the following objectives:

• To protect the social interest of the Company, including its employees, clients, suppliers, shareholders, and other stakeholders and preserve the strategic interests of the French State
• Ensure business continuity of the Group and its long-term sustainability;
• Reassure clients, employees and suppliers on Atos’ counterparty credit worthiness;
• Provide adequate time to implement Atos’ strategic plan and deliver results;
• Have a fully funded business plan over the 2024-2027 period;
• Align capital structure with Company’s future cash flow generation;
• Implement a debt structure that will support future successful refinancing;
• Consistent with Atos’ quality of assets;
• Enhance access to capital markets.

The main figures of Atos’ financial debt and the coming maturities of Atos SE’s borrowings are detailed in Appendix 1 of this press release and in the presentation.

Interim financing

Atos has reached an agreement in principle with a group of banks and a group of bondholders regarding an interim financing in the amount of €400 million, consisting of:

• €300 million factoring facility provided by the banks;
• €100 million revolving credit facility provided by the bondholders.

In addition, provided the Group’s financing banks grant a waiver, the French State has agreed in principle to extend a €50 million loan through the FDES (Fonds de Développement Economique et Social) to a subsidiary of Atos, Bull SA, which controls sovereign sensitive activities. This loan shall be reimbursed in full at the closing of the refinancing.

Atos will commit, in return, to sign an agreement at the level of Bull SA for the benefit of the French State which together with the issuance of a preferred share ( action de préférence ) by Bull SA will give the French State protection rights on such sovereign sensitive activities, under a legal documentation to be finalized. This agreement in principle provides for a right for the French State to purchase sovereign sensitive activities if a third-party has acquired 10% or a multiple of 10% of Atos’ share capital or voting rights and Atos and the French State have not reached a reasonable agreement on how to protect national interests in relation to these sovereign sensitive activities (without prejudice to the application of the French FDI regime). It also provides for governance rights for the French State at the level of Bull SA (with no voting rights at this stage).

With these new facilities, Atos believes it has adequate liquidity until its long-term refinancing plan is set up.

Next steps and refinancing discussions’ process

Existing stakeholders of Atos SE and third-party investors can submit proposals for new money by April 26, 2024 in order to allow a global agreement on the new capital structure of the Company to be finalized by July 2024.

Atos will evaluate all proposals, under the aegis of the conciliator Maître Hélène Bourbouloux in the best corporate interest of the Company including its employees, clients, suppliers, shareholders, and other stakeholders, while maintaining an attractive business mix. Atos will also take into consideration the sovereign imperatives of the French state.

Atos will inform the market in due course of the progress of the refinancing discussions, which will result in a change in its capital structure arising from a final global refinancing agreement, including the potential issuance of new equity which will result in a dilution of the existing shareholders.

Shareholders and financial creditors will be consulted in compliance with French legal requirements.

Atos SE confirms that information that could be qualified as inside information within the meaning of Regulation No. 596/2014 of 16 April 2014 on market abuse and that may have been given on a confidential basis to its financial creditors in the context of the presentation held on Monday April 8, 2024 has been published to the market, either in the past or in the context of this press release, with the aim of re-establishing equal access to information relating to the Atos Group between the investors.

Conference call

Atos’ Management invites you to an international conference call on Tuesday, April 9, 2024 at 08:00 am (CET – Paris) .

You can join the webcast of the conference:

• via the following link: https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/r4mhigey
• by telephone with the dial-in, 10 minutes prior the starting time. Please note that if you want to join the webcast by telephone, you must register in advance of the conference using the following link: https://register.vevent.com/register/BIbb8cac21bc124265adae510d10eeb672 Upon registration, you will be provided with Participant Dial In Numbers, a Direct Event Passcode and a unique Registrant ID. During the 10 minutes prior to the beginning of the call, you will need to use the conference access information provided in the email received upon registration.

After the conference, a replay of the webcast will be available on atos.net , in the Investors section.

The debt structure of the Group as of 31 December 2023, taking into account drawings on the remaining available RCF (drawn in January 2024) is as follows:

(1) Pro Forma €320M RCF draw and maturity extension of Term Loan A to January 2025 (2) Excluding accrued interest on LT Borrowing

Note: the €1.5 billion term loan A, maturing in July 2024, provides for another 6-month extension option until January 2025 available to Atos SE under standard conditions (notably no event of default and payment of an extension fee); it should be noted that under French law, any events of defaults triggered by the opening of mandat ad hoc or conciliation proceedings are considered void.

The debt principal schedule of the Group from 31 December 2023, taking into account drawings the remaining available RCF and assuming TLA second extension option exercised would be as follows:

Maturity Profile of Gross Debt as of 31 Dec. 2023, Pro Forma(1)

(1) Pro Forma €320M RCF draw and maturity extension of Term Loan A to January 2025

Appendix 2 : expected guarantee needs

Appendix 3: fy23 actual – fy23 proforma revenue and operating margin reconciliation.

The tables below present the reconciliation between the FY 2023 actual revenue and operating margin and the 2023 pro forma revenue and operating margin, for the Group, Eviden, Tech Foundations and the two components of Eviden, Digital and BDS. Elements in reconciliation correspond to businesses disposed in 2023.

(in € million)

Appendix 4: Free cash flow reconciliations

Download the PDF document

This document contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including references, concerning the Group’s expected growth and profitability in the future which may significantly impact the expected performance indicated in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties are linked to factors out of the control of the Company and not precisely estimated, such as market conditions or competitor’s behaviors. Any forward-looking statements made in this document are statements about Atos’s beliefs and expectations and should be evaluated as such. Forward-looking statements include statements that may relate to Atos’s plans, objectives, strategies, goals, future events, future revenues or synergies, or performance, and other information that is not historical information. Actual events or results may differ from those described in this document due to a number of risks and uncertainties that are described within the 2022 Universal Registration Document filed with the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) on April 21st, 2023 under the registration number D.23-0321 and within the 2023 Consolidated financial statements published by Atos SE on March 26, 2024. Atos does not undertake, and specifically disclaims, any obligation or responsibility to update or amend any of the information above except as otherwise required by law. This document does not contain or constitute an offer of Atos’s shares for sale or an invitation or inducement to invest in Atos’s shares in France, the United States of America or any other jurisdiction.

This document includes information on specific transactions that shall be considered as projects only. In particular, any decision relating to the information or projects mentioned in this document and their terms and conditions will only be made after the ongoing in-depth analysis considering tax, legal, operational, finance, HR and all other relevant aspects have been completed and will be subject to general market conditions and other customary conditions, including governance bodies and shareholders’ approval as well as appropriate processes with the relevant employee representative bodies in accordance with applicable laws.

Atos is a global leader in digital transformation with c. 95,000 employees and annual revenue of c. € 11 billion. European number one in cybersecurity, cloud and high-performance computing, the Group provides tailored end-to-end solutions for all industries in 69 countries. A pioneer in decarbonization services and products, Atos is committed to a secure and decarbonized digital for its clients. Atos is a SE (Societas Europaea), and listed on Euronext Paris.

The purpose of Atos is to help design the future of the information space. Its expertise and services support the development of knowledge, education and research in a multicultural approach and contribute to the development of scientific and technological excellence. Across the world, the Group enables its customers and employees, and members of societies at large to live, work and develop sustainably, in a safe and secure information space.

Investor relations : David Pierre-Kahn | [email protected] | +33 6 28 51 45 96

Individual shareholders : 0805 65 00 75

Press contact : [email protected]

[1] Ratio net debt pre-IFRS16 over EBITDA pre-IFR16; EBITDA computed as OMDA pre-IFRS16 minus anticipated RRI (restructuring, rationalization, interagtion) costs and Other changes

[2] Investors – Atos

[3] Please refer to the disclaimer of this press release

[4] Please refer to the disclaimer of this press release

[5] CAGR : Compound annual growth rate

[6] PF : Pro forma

[7] ratio net debt pre-IFRS16 over EBITDA pre-IFR16; EBITDA computed as OMDA pre-IFRS16 minus anticipated RRI costs and Other changes