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Write a business plan
Download free business plan templates and find help and advice on how to write your business plan.
Business plan templates
Download a free business plan template on The Prince’s Trust website.
You can also download a free cash flow forecast template or a business plan template on the Start Up Loans website to help you manage your finances.
Business plan examples
Read example business plans on the Bplans website.
How to write a business plan
Get detailed information about how to write a business plan on the Start Up Donut website.
Why you need a business plan
A business plan is a written document that describes your business. It covers objectives, strategies, sales, marketing and financial forecasts.
A business plan helps you to:
- clarify your business idea
- spot potential problems
- set out your goals
- measure your progress
You’ll need a business plan if you want to secure investment or a loan from a bank. Read about the finance options available for businesses on the Business Finance Guide website.
It can also help to convince customers, suppliers and potential employees to support you.
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How to write a business plan (and business plan template download)
6-minute read
Sam Bromley
10 November 2022
It’s important to know how to write a business plan, because it helps you answer questions about your business and recognise potential obstacles before you set it up properly. Our guide explains more, plus you can download a free business plan template too.
While not all new businesses start out by writing a business plan, for many it’s an important step. It acts as your guiding document, helping you establish and grow your business, and it has a life well beyond just setting up or applying for finance.
But how to make a business plan, exactly? The first thing to know is that it doesn’t have to be detailed – and in fact being too long and descriptive can put your readers off. You should be able to explain your idea clearly, structuring your plan into sections including:
- the problem – what gap or need is your business answering?
- the solution – how will your business meet those needs?
- competitor analysis – what other businesses are you up against?
- SWOT analysis – SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats – can you identify those for your business?
Download a free business plan template UK
Our article below explains how to write a business plan. Why not download your free business plan template, which you can fill in as you work your way through our step-by-step guide?
Keep in mind that a business plan can take several weeks to write. It’s worth doing it properly – let us know how you get on, and if you have any questions.
What is a business plan?
But a business plan isn’t something you write down when you’re setting up and never look at again. You’ll refer back to it often, making sure you’re hitting your goals and getting the best from the brilliant ideas you come up with at the beginning.
And if you’re looking for funding, your business plan needs to convince people to back your idea.
So it’s not an overstatement to call your business plan the ‘bible’ you’ll use to help establish your company.
And while business plans come in different formats, most of them include the same core sections. If you want to read an example business plan before you get stuck in, find out where to get one below.
Business plan examples
Before you start writing, it might be useful to get some inspiration from other business plans.
Whether you're looking to start a business as a candle maker or dog walker , read some business plan examples to familiarise yourself with how to approach your type of business.
Once you’ve got an idea of how other businesses have written their business plan, it’s time to start writing your own.
How to write a business plan: step-by-step
H ow to write an executive summary for a business plan.
The executive summary goes at the beginning of your business plan. As it’s a snapshot of your plan, it’s often best to write it last.
This section is common in many business documents, from client reports to business proposals for new projects.
It’s designed to hook readers with your idea, giving an overview of your plan – including what makes you different, how you’re going to market your ideas, and how much money you expect to make (and spend).
As the executive summary is at the beginning of the document, it’s important to make a good impression on your readers. We’ve got a guide on how to write an executive summary , with a quick six-paragraph plan you can use to structure yours effectively.
Your business
This is where you jump in and start talking about your idea. This section should include:
- the problem – what’s the need for your business? What’s the problem you’re solving, or what’s the opportunity? Why would people want what you’re selling?
- the solution – how are you solving the problem? What will your business do? How does it meet the needs you’ve identified? And importantly, how is it different?
- your history – how long has your business been established? If it’s new, what’s your experience in the sector or industry?
- business structure – who are its owners and what is its legal structure ?
Here you explain industry trends and the competitors you’re up against. It’s where you include the market research you’ve carried out.
This research can be quantitative (based on measurable data and statistics), qualitative (based on gathering individual experiences and opinions), or ideally both. This section should answer:
- where you’re selling (and who to) – who are your potential customers and what are their characteristics? How will you target them? How many customers are you targeting? Will that number grow? Where do those customers shop at the moment? Do you have any existing customers, or confirmed orders?
- market trends – how is the market changing? Is it growing? Are tastes changing? What are the reasons?
- the competition – a competitor analysis answers questions about your competition. How will you attract customers from your competitors? What advantages and disadvantages do you have against them? How do you think your competitors will react when you start out? How will you respond?
SWOT analysis
SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. This is a very important part of your business plan, because it helps you drill down into your idea. You usually format a SWOT analysis in a grid on one page – four squares, one for each section. Then you make notes in each square.
Formatting the SWOT analysis in a grid helps you see how the different elements of your idea interact. For example:
- how will your strengths help you capitalise on opportunities?
- how will your weaknesses amplify threats – and what strengths can help you overcome them?
Completing SWOT charts for your competitors too should help you see how to win business from them.
Read more about creating a SWOT analysis .
Strategy and execution
Now that you’ve done some analysis, in this section you can explain how you’re actually going to run your business.
Here you’ll include a number of sub-sections:
- marketing and sales – explain more about your product and service, including its features and benefits. Talk about your pricing strategy, and how you’re going to promote your product. And how exactly are you going to sell? Which channels will you use – is it direct to the customer, online, or through other retailers?
- operations – where’s your location and what premises are you looking at? Is it suitable for long-term growth? How are you going to keep accurate records (for example, of stock , sales, accounts and quality control)?
- your team – are you the only one running your business or are you planning on hiring staff? How will you structure your team? Outline each team member’s experience, and what they bring. You might also want to include any outside advisors and experts you’re using, like accountants
Here you detail the numbers – especially important if you’re looking for investment. The financials need to be realistic, accurate and watertight.
Here’s what to include, presented in raw figures and charts:
- sales forecasts and the cost of goods sold – estimate what your sales will be in the future, listing the goods or services you’re selling as well as the cost of each unit. From this, you can estimate profit
- a profit and loss forecast – an overview of sales, cost of sales, overheads, profit and loss
- cash flow statement – cash flow is what keeps you afloat – with no money coming in, you can’t run your business. The cash flow statement shows you how much money you generate over a specific time period, as well as what you’re paying out. Read more about writing a cash flow forecast
- balance sheet – shows an overall picture of your financials at a specific point in time. It summarises your assets (what you own), liabilities (what you owe) and equity (the net difference when you subtract liabilities from assets)
The detail you need here depends on what stage you’re at with your business, as well as the size of your business. You might want to ask for expert help and advice on crunching the forecasts.
While the business plan itself shouldn’t be long and complicated, there might be information you choose not to include in the body of the plan itself that people should refer to.
This can include graphs, tables and notes. You can signpost the relevant appendices people should look at throughout the body of the business plan.
Top tips for writing a business plan
When you’re using business plan templates, keep the following in mind.
Know your audience . Remember who you’re writing for – is the business plan primarily for your own use, or are you looking for a loan, or even equity investment? Keeping your audience in mind will help you stay on track.
Keep it concise . Keep your plan snappy. While you don’t want to miss out crucial detail, you should also bear in mind people’s attention spans. Don’t turn in a 100-page plan.
Keep it simple . It’s likely your plan will be seen by people who don’t have intimate knowledge of your industry, so you need to make sure that it’s written in language that’s accessible to people without specialist experience.
Don’t forget the presentation . Tables, graphs and charts can help you get information across better than blocks of text. It’s also worth thinking about how to ‘pitch’ your plan to investors, potentially in a presentation that gives the toplines from your plan .
All ready to go? Now insure your new business
It’s important to look at business insurance when you’re starting out, because it helps protect you if anything goes wrong.
Most businesses should consider public liability insurance , which covers you if a member of the public gets ill or injured and blames your business.
Other covers to think about include employers’ liability insurance (usually a legal requirement if you have staff) and professional indemnity insurance , if you give advice as part of your business.
Read more articles about starting your business :
Going self-employed in the UK: a guide to get started
Which bank has the best business bank account?
How to register as self-employed
What is business insurance?
Get your business insurance sorted
We have over 800,000 customers plus a 9/10 satisfaction score. Why not take a look at our expert business insurance options – including public liability insurance and professional indemnity – and run a quick quote to get started?
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- Write a business plan: step-by-step
What a business plan should include
Your business plan should provide details of how you are going to develop your business, when you are going to do it, who's going to play a part and how you will manage the finances.
Clarity on these issues is particularly important if you're looking for finance or investment. The process of building your plan will also focus your mind on how your new business will need to operate to give it the best chance of success.
Your plan should include:
- An executive summary - this is an overview of the business you want to start. It's vital. Many lenders and investors make judgments about your business based on this section of the plan alone - read business plan executive summary .
- Your vision and business idea - a short description of who you are, what you plan to sell or offer, why and to whom, your business goals and key selling points - see your business, its products and services .
- Your marketing and sales strategy - provides details on customers, competitors, market trends and tactics (eg pricing, distribution and promotion) - see your business markets and competitors and marketing and sales .
- Your management team and personnel - your credentials and the people you plan to recruit to work with you - see business plan: your team's skills .
- Your operations - your premises, production facilities, your management information systems and IT - see business plan: your operations .
- Financial forecasts - this section provides details of cash flow forecasts, profit and loss accounts and balance sheets - see financial forecasts for your business plan .
Download our business plan template (DOC, 874K) .
Watch the short video below for an overview of what to include in your business plan.
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Essential guide to writing a business plan
Your business plan outlines what your business does and what you are trying to achieve. It explains what the market opportunity is, what makes your business special and how you will make it a success.
Writing a business plan helps you:
- check that your idea makes sense
- plan your sales, marketing and business operations
- identify problems and how to overcome them
- set out your objectives and the financial return you expect
- work out what financing you need
- convince other people to back your business
Why write a business plan?
How to write a business plan
Business and products
Market and competition
Marketing and sales
Management and personnel
Financial performance
SWOT analysis
1. Why write a business plan?
Writing a business plan helps you think about what you are doing.
- The plan sets out your strategy and action plan for the next one to three years, or sometimes longer.
- As part of the process you set concrete objectives and plan how you will achieve them.
- Writing a business plan helps you focus and develop your ideas. Priorities are identified. Non-priorities are dropped, saving precious time.
- Putting the plan in writing makes it easier to spot any gaps where you have more to do.
- Once written, the plan is a benchmark for the performance of the business.
- By involving your employees in the complete planning process, you continue to build up a successful, committed team.
You may need a plan to explain your business to other people
- A business plan is essential if you are raising finance from a bank or outside investors.
- A good plan can help you attract new senior management, or business partners such as distributors and agents.
- You should tailor your plan to the target audience. For example, you may want the plan to 'sell' the business to your bank manager or investors.
- Ask the intended recipient if there are any specific issues they want the plan to address or a template you should follow.
2. How to write a business plan
Base your business plan on detailed information where possible. But do not include all the detail in the plan. Leave the detail for operational or marketing plans.
Keep the plan short
- Focus on what the reader needs to know.
- Cut out any waffle.
- Make sure there are no spelling mistakes.
- Detailed business plans are often quickly shelved, because they are difficult to use on an ongoing basis.
Include any detailed information you need in an appendix
For example, you might want:
- detailed financial forecasts and assumptions
- market research data that backs up what you say
- CVs of key personnel (essential if you are seeking outside funding)
- product literature or technical specifications
Base your business plan on reality, or it may be counterproductive
- Over-optimistic forecasts can lead to increased overheads followed by a cash flow crisis and drastic cost-cutting.
- Be realistic, even if you are selling the business to a third party. Financiers, business partners and employees will see through over-optimistic plans that ignore weaknesses or threats. Management credibility can be damaged.
Make the plan professional
- Put a cover on it.
- Include a contents page, with page and section numbering.
- Start with an executive summary. This summarises the key points, starting with the purpose of the business plan.
- Use charts, if helpful.
Even if the plan is for internal use only, write it as if it were aimed at an outsider
- Include company or product literature as an appendix.
- Give details about the history and current status of the business.
Review your business plan
- Read through the plan from your target reader's point of view. For example, try to imagine the impression the plan will make on your bank manager.
- Check the plan is realistic. Make sure it includes the evidence to back up what you say (perhaps in an appendix) or that you can provide evidence if needed.
- Make sure you assess the risks. What might go wrong (eg if your main supplier closes down or you lose a key customer) and what would you do about it?
- Concentrate on the executive summary. People often make provisional judgements based on this. Only then do they read the rest of the plan to confirm their decision.
- Show the plan to friends and expert advisers for comments. Which parts did they not understand or find unconvincing?
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3. Your business and products
Explain the history of the business.
- When did it start trading and what progress has it made to date?
- If the business is a new start-up, what is your personal industry background and what progress towards launching the business has been made?
- Who owned the business originally?
- What is the current ownership structure?
Describe what your product or service is, avoiding technical jargon if possible
- In general, what makes your product or service different ?
- What benefits does it offer? What are its disadvantages and how will you address these?
- What changes and improvements are you planning?
Explain any key features of the industry
- For example, any special regulations, whether the industry is dominated by a few large companies or any major changes in technology.
4. Your market and competition
Describe the market in which you sell.
- Highlight the segments of the market in which you compete. What are the key characteristics of customers in each segment and what influences their purchasing decisions?
- How large is each market segment? What is your market share?
- What are the important trends, such as market growth or changing tastes? Explain the reasons behind the trend.
- What is the outlook for each important market segment?
Describe the nature and distribution of existing customers
- Do they fit the profile of the chosen market segment? If not, why not?
- Is there a heavy concentration of sales around one or two large customers?
- If you are a new start-up, do you have any confirmed orders and who are your best prospects?
Outline the main competition
- What are the competing products or services ? Who supplies them?
- What are their advantages and disadvantages compared to you? For example, price, quality, distribution.
- Why will customers buy your product or service instead? How will your competitors react to losing business and how you will respond?
- Never openly criticise or underestimate competitors.
5. Your marketing and sales strategy
Where do you position your product or service in the market.
- Is it high quality and high price?
- Is it marketed as a specialist product due to a particular feature?
- What unique benefits do you offer customers? For example, product reliability or customer service.
- Which of these benefits are you going to concentrate on?
What is your pricing policy?
- Explain how price-sensitive your customers are.
- Look at each product or market segment in turn. Identify where you make your profits and where it may be possible to increase margins or sales. Set your pricing accordingly.
How do you promote your product or service?
- Each market segment will have one or two promotional methods that work best. For example, direct marketing, advertising or PR.
- If you are considering using a new marketing method, start on a small scale. A failed investment in marketing can be costly.
What sales channels do you use to reach your target customers?
- For example, do you sell directly to the customer, or through retailers or agents? Do you sell online?
- Compare your current channels with the alternatives. Note the distribution channels used by your competitors.
- Look at the positive and negative trends in your chosen distribution channels.
How do you do your selling?
- Look at the cost-efficiency of each of your sales methods . For example, telesales, a direct sales force, through an agent or over the internet.
- Include all the hidden costs, such as management time.
- Explain how long it takes to make sales (and to get paid for them), what the average sales value is and how likely customers are to give repeat orders.
Sell more to existing customers
Customer relationship management systems (CRMs) record customers' preferences, spending patterns and demographics, allowing you to build a detailed picture of their tastes, needs and buying habits so you can target then with tailored messages and offers.
Looking for CRM software? Take a look below at some CRM software options for small businesses*.
6. Management and personnel structure
Set out the structure and key skills of the management team and the staff.
- Clarify how you cover the key areas of production, sales, marketing, finance and administration.
- Address any areas of deficiency, and your plans to cover this weakness.
- Explain your recruitment and training plans, including timescales and costs.
Analyse the workforce in terms of total numbers and by department
- Compare the efficiency ratios with competitors, or with similar industries. Useful figures might be sales, average salaries, employee retention rates and measures of productivity.
Be realistic about the commitment and motivation of the workforce
- Show how committed you and other members of the management team are. For example, how much you have invested in the business.
- Consider how you would survive the loss of a key worker.
- Note any unusual upward pressure on pay levels.
- Spell out any plans to improve or maintain motivation.
7. Your business operations
Look at the capacity and efficiency of your operations, and the planned improvements.
What premises does the business have?
- Do your business premises meet your current and future needs? What are your long-term commitments to property?
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of the present location? Should the business expand or move?
What production facilities do you have and how is production organised?
- How modern is the equipment?
- What is the capacity of the current facilities compared with existing and forecast demand?
- Who are your key suppliers? How do you select and manage them?
What management information systems are in place?
- For example, management accounts, sales, stock control and quality control.
- Are they reliable? Can they deal with any proposed expansion?
- A financier will be very concerned if management information systems are inadequate. Management of a business is always limited by the quality of the information available.
Are your IT systems reliable?
- Is IT is a key strength (or weakness) of your business? The development of IT systems to help your business is usually an important issue.
What quality or regulatory standards does the business conform to?
- For example, ISO 9000 or CE approval.
8. Financial forecasts
Your financial forecasts translate what you have said about your business into numbers.
Set out historical financial information for the last three to five years, if available
- Break total sales figures down into component parts. For example, sales of different types of product or to different groups of customers.
- Show the gross margin for each sales component. List what costs are included as direct costs for each component.
- Show the movement in the key working capital items of stock, trade debtors and creditors. Use ratios such as stock turnover (in months), debtors period (in days), and creditors period (in days).
- Highlight any major capital expenditure made.
- Provide an up-to-date balance sheet, and a profit and loss account .
- Explain the reasons for movements in profitability, working capital and cash flow . Compare them with industry norms.
Provide forecasts for the next three (or even five) years
- The sophistication of your forecasts should reflect the sophistication of your business. A small business may only need sales, profit and cash flow budgets .
- A more complex, asset-based business - or one with complex working capital requirements - will need balance sheet forecasts as well.
- Use the same format as for the historical information, to make comparison easier.
- Clearly state the assumptions behind the forecasts. These should tie in with what you say in the rest of the plan. For example, if the plan says that the market is becoming more competitive, profit margins should probably be falling.
- Be realistic about forecasts in new markets. For example, how much resource can you devote to selling, what success rate can you expect and how long will it take to convince new customers ?
- Look at the overall trends of historical and forecast numbers. Are they believable? Do the forecasts allow for the possibility of problems and delays in payments that could affect cash flow?
- Consider 'what-if' scenarios. For example, consider what will happen to your cash flow if sales are 20% lower than forecast (or 15% higher).
Put detailed financial forecasts in an appendix at the end
Include a detailed list of assumptions. For example:
- the profit margin on each product
- how long it takes to collect payment from debtors
- what credit suppliers will offer you
- what financing you are expecting and the interest rate you will pay
Use the cash flow forecast to predict any financing requirements
- Add an extra contingency element onto the funding requirement shown in the forecast (perhaps 10-20%). Think about what mid-month peaks might be.
- Identify what types of financing you want. For example, long-term loans or an increased overdraft facility.
- Include the likely interest or dividend costs of any new finance.
- Carry out sensitivity tests on the cash required by changing key items, such as sales or margin. Note the outcomes.
- Explain why the financing is required and what it will be used for.
If necessary, get help
- Small business advisers at banks and business support organisations may help you put together financial forecasts free of charge.
9. SWOT analysis
A SWOT analysis helps show that you really understand your business and the key external factors that you need to deal with.
Set out a one-page analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats
- Strengths might include brand name, quality of product, or management experience.
- Weaknesses might be lack of finance, or reliance on just a few customers.
- Opportunities might be increasing demand or a competitor going bust.
- Threats might be a downturn in the economy or a new competitor.
Be honest about your weaknesses and the threats you face
- Spell out mitigating circumstances and the defensive actions you are taking.
Driving your business forward
Identify what makes you better than the competition.
- Think also about what the key ingredients of your future success will be and how you will strengthen your position in the market.
Establish your overall business aims
- Where do you realistically intend to be in three years' time?
Decide on half a dozen key objectives that will make a significant difference
Many businesses think in terms of:
- income - more sales, better margins
- customers - new customers, higher levels of customer satisfaction
- products - improving existing products, launching new ones
- human resources - recruiting new employees, developing new skills
Set clear targets
- You should know exactly what you want to achieve, by when.
Work out how you will reach these targets
- Look at each aspect of your business in turn and create a step-by-step action plan for it.
- Find your local enterprise agency through the National Enterprise Network for help preparing a business plan and financial forecasts for a start-up or smaller business.
- Find an ICAEW chartered accountant or an ACCA accountancy firm for help with financial forecasting and business planning.
- Find a trade association relevant to your sector through the Trade Association Forum.
Browse topics: Business planning
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How To Write the Perfect Business Plan in 9 Steps (2023)
- by Desirae Odjick
- Dec 3, 2022
- 25 minute read
A great business plan can help you clarify your strategy, identify potential roadblocks, decide what you’ll need in the way of resources, and evaluate the viability of your idea or your growth plans before you start a business .
Not every successful business launches with a formal business plan, but many founders find value in taking time to step back, research their idea and the market they’re looking to enter, and understand the scope and the strategy behind their tactics. That’s where writing a business plan comes in.
Table of Contents
What is a business plan?
Why write a business plan, business plan formats, how to write a business plan in 9 steps, tips for creating a small business plan, common mistakes when writing a business plan, prepare your business plan today, business plan faq.
A business plan is a document describing a business, its products or services, how it earns (or will earn) money, its leadership and staffing, its financing, its operations model, and many other details essential to its success.
We had a marketing background but not much experience in the other functions needed to run a fashion ecommerce business, like operations, finance, production, and tech. Laying out a business plan helped us identify the “unknowns” and made it easier to spot the gaps where we’d need help or, at the very least, to skill up ourselves. Jordan Barnett, Kapow Meggings
Investors rely on business plans to evaluate the feasibility of a business before funding it, which is why business plans are commonly associated with getting a loan. But there are several compelling reasons to consider writing a business plan, even if you don’t need funding.
- Strategic planning: Writing out your plan is an invaluable exercise for clarifying your ideas and can help you understand the scope of your business, as well as the amount of time, money, and resources you’ll need to get started.
- Evaluating ideas: If you’ve got multiple ideas in mind, a rough business plan for each can help you focus your time and energy on the ones with the highest chance of success.
- Research: To write a business plan, you’ll need to research your ideal customer and your competitors—information that will help you make more strategic decisions.
- Recruiting: Your business plan is one of the easiest ways to communicate your vision to potential new hires and can help build their confidence in the venture, especially if you’re in the early stages of growth.
- Partnerships: If you plan to approach other companies to collaborate, having a clear overview of your vision, your audience, and your business strategy will make it much easier for them to identify whether your business is a good fit for theirs—especially if they’re further along than you in their growth trajectory.
- Competitions: There are many business plan competitions offering prizes such as mentorships, grants, or investment capital. To find relevant competitions in your industry and area, try Googling “business plan competition + [your location]” and “business plan competition + [your industry].”
If you’re looking for a structured way to lay out your thoughts and ideas, and to share those ideas with people who can have a big impact on your success, a business plan is an excellent starting point.
Free: Business Plan Template
Business planning is often used to secure funding, but plenty of business owners find writing a plan valuable, even if they never work with an investor. That’s why we put together a free business plan template to help you get started.
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Business plans can span from one page to multiple pages with detailed graphs and reports. There’s no one way to create a business plan. The goal is to convey the most important information about your company for readers.
Common types of business plans we see include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Traditional. These are the most common business plans. Below, we’ll cover the standard elements of a business plan and go into detail for each section. Traditional business plans take longer to write and can be dozens of pages long. Venture capitalist firms and lenders ask for this plan.
- Lean. A lean business plan is a shorter version of a traditional business plan. It follows the same format, but only includes the most important information. Businesses use this plan to onboard new hires or modify existing plans for a specific target market.
- Nonprofit. A nonprofit business plan is for any entity that operates for public or social benefit. It covers everything you’ll find in a traditional business plan, plus a section describing the impact the company plans to make. For example, a speaker and headphone brand that aims to help people with hearing disabilities. Donors often request this plan.
Check out real-world examples of different business plans by reading The Road to Success: Business Plan Examples to Inspire Your Own .
- Draft an executive summary
- Describe your company
- Perform a market analysis
- Outline the management and organization
- List your products and services
- Perform customer segmentation
- Define a marketing plan
- Provide a logistics and operations plan
- Make a financial plan
Few things are more intimidating than a blank page. Starting your business plan with a structured outline and key elements for what you’ll include in each section is the best first step you can take.
Since an outline is such an important step in the process of writing a business plan, we’ve put together a high-level overview you can copy into your blank document to get you started (and avoid the terror of facing a blank page). You can also start with a free business plan template and use it to inform the structure of your plan.
Once you’ve got your business plan outline in place, it’s time to fill it in. We’ve broken it down by section to help you build your plan step by step.
1. Draft an executive summary
A good executive summary is one of the most crucial sections of your plan—it’s also the last section you should write.
The executive summary’s purpose is to distill everything that follows and give time-crunched reviewers (e.g., potential investors and lenders) a high-level overview of your business that persuades them to read further.
Again, it’s a summary, so highlight the key points you’ve uncovered while writing your plan. If you’re writing for your own planning purposes, you can skip the summary altogether—although you might want to give it a try anyway, just for practice.
An executive summary shouldn’t exceed one page. Admittedly, that space constraint can make squeezing in all of the salient information a bit stressful—but it’s not impossible. Here’s what your business plan’s executive summary should include:
- Business concept. What does your business do?
- Business goals and vision. What does your business want to do?
- Product description and differentiation. What do you sell, and why is it different?
- Target market. Who do you sell to?
- Marketing strategy. How do you plan on reaching your customers?
- Current financial state. What do you currently earn in revenue?
- Projected financial state. What do you foresee earning in revenue?
- The ask. How much money are you asking for?
- The team. strong> Who’s involved in the business?
2. Describe your company
This section of your business plan should answer two fundamental questions: who are you, and what do you plan to do? Answering these questions with a company description provides an introduction to why you’re in business, why you’re different, what you have going for you, and why you’re a good investment bet. For example, clean makeup brand Saie shares a letter from its founder on the company’s mission and why it exists.
Clarifying these details is still a useful exercise, even if you’re the only person who’s going to see them. It’s an opportunity to put to paper some of the more intangible facets of your business, like your principles, ideals, and cultural philosophies.
Here are some of the components you should include in your company description:
- Your business structure (Are you a sole proprietorship, general partnership, limited partnership, or incorporated company?)
- Your business model
- Your industry
- Your business’s vision, mission, and value proposition
- Background information on your business or its history
- Business objectives, both short and long term
- Your team, including key personnel and their salaries
Some of these points are statements of fact, but others will require a bit more thought to define, especially when it comes to your business’s vision, mission, and values. This is where you start getting to the core of why your business exists, what you hope to accomplish, and what you stand for.
This is where you start getting to the core of why your business exists, what you hope to accomplish, and what you stand for.
To define your values, think about all the people your company is accountable to, including owners, employees, suppliers, customers, and investors. Now consider how you’d like to conduct business with each of them. As you make a list, your core values should start to emerge.
Once you know your values, you can write a mission statement . Your statement should explain, in a convincing manner, why your business exists, and should be no longer than a single sentence.
As an example, Shopify’s mission statement is “Making commerce better for everyone.” It’s the “why” behind everything we do and clear enough that it needs no further explanation.
What impact do you envision your business having on the world once you’ve achieved your vision?
Next, craft your vision statement: what impact do you envision your business having on the world once you’ve achieved your vision? Phrase this impact as an assertion—begin the statement with “We will” and you’ll be off to a great start. Your vision statement, unlike your mission statement, can be longer than a single sentence, but try to keep it to three at most. The best vision statements are concise.
Finally, your company description should include both short- and long-term goals. Short-term goals, generally, should be achievable within the next year, while one to five years is a good window for long-term goals. Make sure all your goals are SMART: specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound.
3. Perform a market analysis
No matter what type of business you start, it’s no exaggeration to say your market can make or break it. Choose the right market for your products—one with plenty of customers who understand and need your product—and you’ll have a head start on success. If you choose the wrong market, or the right market at the wrong time, you may find yourself struggling for each sale.
Market analysis is a key section of your business plan, whether or not you ever intend for anyone else to read it.
This is why market research and analysis is a key section of your business plan, whether or not you ever intend for anyone else to read it. It should include an overview of how big you estimate the market is for your products, an analysis of your business’s position in the market, and an overview of the competitive landscape. Thorough research supporting your conclusions is important both to persuade investors and to validate your own assumptions as you work through your plan.
How big is your potential market?
The potential market is an estimate of how many people need your product. While it’s exciting to imagine sky-high sales figures, you’ll want to use as much relevant independent data as possible to validate your estimated potential market.
Since this can be a daunting process, here are some general tips to help you begin your research:
- Understand your ideal customer profile . If you’re targeting millennial consumers in the US, you first can look for government data about the size of that group. You also could look at projected changes to the number of people in your target age range over the next few years.
- Research relevant industry trends and trajectory. If your product serves retirees, try to find data about how many people will be retiring in the next five years, as well as any information you can find about consumption patterns among that group. If you’re selling fitness equipment, you could look at trends in gym memberships and overall health and fitness among your target audience or the population at large. Finally, look for information on whether your general industry is projected to grow or decline over the next few years.
- Make informed guesses. You’ll never have perfect, complete information about the size of your total addressable market. Your goal is to base your estimates on as many verifiable data points as necessary for a confident guess.
Some sources to consult for market data include government statistics offices, industry associations, academic research, and respected news outlets covering your industry.
SWOT analysis
A SWOT analysis looks at your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. What are the best things about your company? What are you not so good at? What market or industry shifts can you take advantage of and turn into opportunities? Are there external factors threatening your ability to succeed?
These breakdowns often are presented as a grid, with bullet points in each section breaking down the most relevant information—so you can probably skip writing full paragraphs here. Strengths and weaknesses—both internal company factors—are listed first, with opportunities and threats following in the next row. With this visual presentation, your reader can quickly see the factors that may impact your business and determine your competitive advantage in the market.
Here’s an example:
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Competitive analysis.
There are three overarching factors you can use to differentiate your business in the face of competition:
- Cost leadership. You have the capacity to maximize profits by offering lower prices than the majority of your competitors. Examples include companies like Mejuri and Endy .
- Differentiation. Your product or service offers something distinct from the current cost leaders in your industry and banks on standing out based on your uniqueness. Think of companies like Knix and Qalo .
- Segmentation. You focus on a very specific, or niche, target market, and aim to build traction with a smaller audience before moving on to a broader market. Companies like TomboyX and Heyday Footwear are great examples of this strategy.
To understand which is the best fit, you’ll need to understand your business as well as the competitive landscape.
You’ll always have competition in the market, even with an innovative product, so it’s important to include a competitive overview in your business plan. If you’re entering an established market, include a list of a few companies you consider direct competitors and explain how you plan to differentiate your products and business from theirs.
You’ll always have competition in the market, even with an innovative product.
For example, if you’re selling jewelry, your competitive differentiation could be that, unlike many high-end competitors, you donate a percentage of your profits to a notable charity or pass savings on to your customers.
If you’re entering a market where you can’t easily identify direct competitors, consider your indirect competitors—companies offering products that are substitutes for yours. For example, if you’re selling an innovative new piece of kitchen equipment, it’s too easy to say that because your product is new, you have no competition. Consider what your potential customers are doing to solve the same problems your product solves.
4. Outline management and organization
The management and organization section of your business plan should tell readers about who’s running your company. Detail the legal structure of your business. Communicate whether you’ll incorporate your business as an S corporation or create a limited partnership or sole proprietorship.
If you have a management team, use an organizational chart to show your company’s internal structure, including the roles, responsibilities, and relationships between people in your chart. Communicate how each person will contribute to the success of your startup.
5. List your products and services
Your products or services will feature prominently in most areas of your business plan, but it’s important to provide a section that outlines key details about them for interested readers.
If you sell many items, you can include more general information on each of your product lines; if you only sell a few, provide additional information on each. For example, bag shop BAGGU sells a large selection of different types of bags, in addition to home goods and other accessories. Its business plan would list out those bags and key details about each.
Describe new products you’ll launch in the near future and any intellectual property you own. Express how they’ll improve profitability.
It’s also important to note where products are coming from—handmade crafts are sourced differently than trending products for a dropshipping business, for instance.
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6. perform customer segmentation.
Your ideal customer, also known as your target market, is the foundation of your marketing plan , if not your business plan as a whole. You’ll want to keep this person in mind as you make strategic decisions, which is why an overview of who they are is important to understand and include in your plan.
To give a holistic overview of your ideal customer, describe a number of general and specific demographic characteristics. Customer segmentation often includes:
- Where they live
- Their age range
- Their level of education
- Some common behavior patterns
- How they spend their free time
- Where they work
- What technology they use
- How much they earn
- Where they’re commonly employed
- Their values, beliefs, or opinions
This information will vary based on what you’re selling, but you should be specific enough that it’s unquestionably clear who you’re trying to reach—and more importantly, why you’ve made the choices you have based on who your customers are and what they value.
For example, a college student has different interests, shopping habits, and pricing sensitivity than a 50-year-old executive at a Fortune 500 company. Your business plan and decisions would look very different based on which one was your ideal customer.
7. Define a marketing plan
Your marketing efforts are directly informed by your ideal customer. Your marketing plan should outline your current decisions and your future strategy, with a focus on how your ideas are a fit for that ideal customer.
If you’re planning to invest heavily in > Instagram marketing , for example, it might make sense to include whether Instagram is a leading platform for your audience—if it’s not, that might be a sign to rethink your marketing plan.
Most marketing plans include information on four key subjects. How much detail you present on each will depend on both your business and your plan’s audience.
- Price. How much do your products cost, and why have you made that decision?
- Product. What are you selling and how do you differentiate it in the market?
- Promotion. How will you get your products in front of your ideal customer?
- Place. Where will you sell your products?
Promotion may be the bulk of your plan since you can more readily dive into tactical details, but the other three areas should be covered at least briefly—each is an important strategic lever in your marketing mix.
8. Provide a logistics and operations plan
Logistics and operations are the workflows you’ll implement to make your ideas a reality. If you’re writing a business plan for your own planning purposes, this is still an important section to consider, even though you might not need to include the same level of detail as if you were seeking investment.
Cover all parts of your planned operations, including:
- Suppliers. Where do you get the raw materials you need for production, or where are your products produced?
- Production. Will you make, manufacture, wholesale , or dropship your products? How long does it take to produce your products and get them shipped to you? How will you handle a busy season or an unexpected spike in demand?
- Facilities. Where will you and any team members work? Do you plan to have a physical retail space? If yes, where?
- Equipment. What tools and technology do you require to be up and running? This includes everything from computers to lightbulbs and everything in between.
- Shipping and fulfillment. Will you be handling all the fulfillment tasks in-house, or will you use a third-party fulfillment partner?
- Inventory. How much will you keep on hand, and where will it be stored? How will you ship it to partners if required, and how will you approach inventory management ?
This section should signal to your reader that you’ve got a solid understanding of your supply chain and strong contingency plans in place to cover potential uncertainty. If your reader is you, it should give you a basis to make other important decisions, like how to price your products to cover your estimated costs, and at what point you plan to break even on your initial spending.
9. Make a financial plan
No matter how great your idea is, and regardless of the effort, time, and money you invest, a business lives or dies based on its financial health. At the end of the day, people want to work with a business they expect to be viable for the foreseeable future.
The level of detail required in your financial plan will depend on your audience and goals, but typically you’ll want to include three major views of your financials: an income statement, a balance sheet, and a cash-flow statement. It also may be appropriate to include financial data and projections.
Here’s a spreadsheet template that includes everything you’ll need to create an income statement, balance sheet, and cash-flow statement, including some sample numbers. You can edit it to reflect projections if needed.
Income statement
Your income statement is designed to give readers a look at your revenue sources and expenses over a given time period. With those two pieces of information, they can see the all-important bottom line or the profit or loss your business experienced during that time. If you haven’t launched your business yet, you can project future milestones of the same information.
Balance sheet
Your balance sheet offers a look at how much equity you have in your business. On one side, you list all your business assets (what you own), and on the other side, all your liabilities (what you owe). This provides a snapshot of your business’s shareholder equity, which is calculated as:
Assets - Liabilities = Equity
Cash flow statement
Your cash flow statement is similar to your income statement, with one important difference: it takes into account when revenues are collected and when expenses are paid.
When the cash you have coming in is greater than the cash you have going out, your cash flow is positive. When the opposite scenario is true, your cash flow is negative. Ideally, your cash flow statement will help you see when cash is low, when you might have a surplus, and where you might need to have a contingency plan to access funding to keep your business solvent .
It can be especially helpful to forecast your cash-flow statement to identify gaps or negative cash flow and adjust operations as required. Here’s a full guide to working through cash-flow projections for your business.
Download your copy of these templates to build out these financial statements for your business plan.
Know your audience
When you know who will be reading your plan—even if you’re just writing it for yourself to clarify your ideas—you can tailor the language and level of detail to them. This can also help you make sure you’re including the most relevant information and figure out when to omit sections that aren’t as impactful.
Have a clear goal
You’ll need to put in more work and deliver a more thorough plan if your goal is to secure funding for your business versus working through a plan for yourself or even your team.
Invest time in research
Sections of your business plan will primarily be informed by your ideas and vision, but some of the most crucial information you’ll need requires research from independent sources. This is where you can invest time in understanding who you’re selling to, whether there’s demand for your products, and who else is selling similar products or services.
Keep it short and to the point
No matter who you’re writing for, your business plan should be short and readable—generally no longer than 15 to 20 pages. If you do have additional documents you think may be valuable to your audience and your goals, consider adding them as appendices.
Keep the tone, style, and voice consistent
This is best managed by having a single person write the plan or by allowing time for the plan to be properly edited before distributing it.
Use a business plan software
Writing a business plan isn’t the easiest task for business owners. But it’s important for anyone starting or expanding a business. Fortunately, there are tools to help with everything from planning, drafting, creating graphics, syncing financial data, and more. Business plan software also have templates and tutorials to help you finish a comprehensive plan in hours, rather than days.
A few curated picks include:
- LivePlan : the most affordable option with samples and templates
- Bizplan : tailored for startups seeking investment
- GoSmallBiz : budget-friendly option with industry-specific templates
For a more in-depth look at the available options, read Get Guidance: 6 Business Plan Software to Help Write Your Future .
Other articles on business plans would never tell you what we’re about to tell you: your business plan can fail. The last thing you want is for time and effort to go down the drain. Avoid these common mistakes:
- Bad business idea. Not every idea is going to win. Sometimes your idea may be too risky and you won’t be able to get funding for it. Other times it’s too expensive or there’s no market. Aim for small business ideas that require little money and bypass traditional startup costs.
- No exit strategy. Investors reading your business plan want to know one thing: will your venture make them money? If you don’t show an exit strategy, or a plan for them to leave the business with maximum profits, you’ll have little luck finding capital.
- Unbalanced teams. A great product is the cost of entry to starting a business. But an incredible team will take it to the top. Unfortunately, many business owners overlook a balanced team. They assume readers want to see potential profits, without worrying about how you’ll get it done. If you’re pitching a new software idea, it makes sense to have at least one developer or IT specialist on your team.
- Missing financial projections. Your numbers are the most interesting part for readers. Don’t leave out your balance sheet, cash flow statements, P&L statements, and income statements. Include your break-even analysis and return-on-investment calculations to create a successful business plan.
- Spelling and grammar errors. Some businesses think hiring a professional editor is overkill. The reality is, all the best organizations have an editor review their documents. If someone spots typos while reading your business plan, how can they believe you’ll run a successful company?
Read through the following business plan example. You can download a copy in Microsoft Word or Google Docs and use it to inspire your own business planning.
Download sample business plan example (.doc)
A business plan can help you identify clear, deliberate next steps for your business, even if you never plan to pitch investors—and it can help you see gaps in your plan before they become issues. Whether you’ve written a business plan for a new online business idea , a retail storefront, growing your established business, or purchasing an existing business , you now have a comprehensive guide and the information you need to help you start working on the next phase of your own business.
Illustrations by Rachel Tunstall
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How do i write a business plan.
- Executive summary
- Company description
- Market analysis
- Management and organization
- Products and services
- Customer segmentation
- Marketing plan
- Logistics and operations
- Financial plan
What is a good business plan?
What are the 3 main purposes of a business plan, what are the different types of business plans, about the author.
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Business plans
If you’re thinking about setting up your own company, getting your business plan right is crucial. Check out our top tips on how to write a business plan.
A business plan gives an outline of your business, the market in which it will operate and how it aims to make money - and should answer this question: why will your business succeed when so many others fail?
We can help you answer this during our Enterprise programme, which provides you with the skills, tools and confidence you need to become your own boss. But, there's no reason why you can't start crafting your business plan today.
- Business plan pack (pdf, 1mb)
- Business plan template (Word) (doc, 393kb)
- Business plan template (PDF) (pdf, 3mb)
- Business plan financial tables (Excel) (xls, 52kb)
Apply for our Enterprise programme today .
It’s really important that potential investors can understand what your business is all about from a quick glance at your plan. Make sure you include a summary of your business, and how it will make money right from the start, and use simple language throughout.
Be specific
Being specific is just as important as being concise. The details will help you drill down into how you will actually deliver your plan.
Know your market
A big part of knowing whether your business will be successful is understanding your audience. Make sure your plan is clear about your target market – who will you be selling to and how many other companies are already selling similar products?
Know your finances
The other essential part of a business plan is the finance section. If your business isn’t going to make any money, it won’t be successful so you need to be very clear on how you will make a profit. Use it to your advantage – y our plan will be incredibly useful when it comes to securing loans and investment, but that’s not its only use. It’s also a personal tool to help you understand your objectives.
Did you know that we can give you access to start-up funding support with low interest personal loans for business purposes, from £500 to £25,000, offered through the Start Up Loans Company? We also offer small start-up business grants in special circumstances. Please note, failure to meet loan repayments may affect your credit score.
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Free Business Plan Template
Our experts
Our independent reviews are funded in part by affiliate commissions, at no extra cost to our readers.
Got a brilliant idea for a new business? Then congratulations, the hardest part is over. Now comes the most crucial: putting it down on paper.
Your business plan is the document that adds structure to your proposal and helps you focus your objectives on an achievable and realistic target. It should cover every aspect of what your business journey will look like, from licensing and revenue, to competitor and sector analysis.
Writing a business plan doesn't need to be a difficult process, but it should take at least a month to be done properly.
In today's capricious business climate there's a lot to consider, such as the impact of political challenges like Brexit. These details are especially important in today's bad economy. Investors are looking for entrepreneurs who are aware of the challenges ahead and how to properly plan for them.
Below, you'll find everything you need to create a concise, specific and authoritative business plan. So let's get started turning your idea into a reality!
Our below guide will give you detailed advice on how to write a quality business plan. But first, you need to know what to include – and that's where a high quality template can help.
We recommend creating an account with monday to use this free template – doing so means you can start your entrepreneurial journey on the right foot.
What to include in your business plan:
There's a lot of information online about how to write a business plan – making it a confusing task to work out what is and isn't good advice.
We're here to cut through the noise by telling you exactly what you need to include for a business plan that will satisfy stakeholders and help develop a key identity for your brand. By the end, you'll have a plan to make even Alan Sugar proud and can get started with the most exciting part – running your business.
- Executive Summary
- Personal summary
- Business idea
- Your product or service
- Market analysis
- Competitor analysis
- Cash forecast
- Operations and logistics
- Backup plan
- Top tips for writing a business plan
- Business plan template FAQs
1. Executive summary
This section is a summary of your entire business plan. Because of this, it is a good idea to write it at the end of your plan, not the beginning.
Just as with the overall business plan, the executive summary should be clearly written and powerfully persuasive, yet it should balance sales talk with realism in order to be convincing. It should be no more than 1,000 words.
It should cover:
- Mission statement – what is your company's purpose?
- Business idea and opportunity – what unique selling point (USP) will you provide?
- Business model – how will your business operate?
- Business objectives – what are you aiming to achieve?
- Target market – who is your customer base?
- Management team – who are the owners/senior staff?
- Competition – who are you competing against?
- Financial summary – can you prove the business will be profitable?
- Marketing strategy – what is your marketing plan and associated costs?
- Timeline – how long will it take to launch/grow your new business?
2. Personal summary
Remember, investors want to know who they're investing in, as much as what. Outline your general contact details first, giving your telephone number, email address, website or portfolio, and any professional social media profiles you might have.
Run through this checklist to tell the reader more about yourself, and put your business ambitions into context.
- What skills/qualifications do you have?
- What are you passionate about?
- What is/are your area(s) of industry expertise?
- Why do you want to run your own business?
Richard Osborne, founder and CEO of UK Business Forums, says personality is important in a business plan.
“Having a strong, personal reason at the heart of your business model will help keep you going and give you the motivation to carry on,” he affirms.
3. Business idea
Here, you should include your general company details, such as your business name and a one-line summary of your business idea known as an elevator pitch. This section should also list a few key business objectives to show how you plan to scale over the next 1-3 years.
We also recommend carrying out a SWOT analysis to tell investors what the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats are for your business idea. Think about:
- Strengths: ie. why is this a good time to enter the sector?
- Weaknesses: ie. what market challenges might you encounter?
- Opportunities: ie. what demand is your product/service meeting in today's market?
- Threats: ie. how will the business be financed to maintain liquidity?
Need a business idea? We've crunched the numbers and come up with a list of the best business ideas for startup success in 2023 based on today's most popular and growing industries.
4. Your products or services
Use this section to answer all of the below questions and explain what you plan to sell and how. Just like your business idea outline, your answers should be concise and declarative.
- What product(s) or service(s) will you sell?
- Do you plan to offer new products or services in the future?
- How much does the product or service cost to produce/deliver?
- What is your pricing strategy?
- What sales channels will you use?
- Are there legal requirements to start this business?
- What about insurance requirements?
- What is the growth potential for the product or service?
- What are the challenges? eg. if you're looking to sell abroad, acknowledge the potential delays caused by post-Brexit regulations.
What insurance and licensing requirements do you need to consider?
Depending on what your business offers, you might need to invest in insurance or licensing. Our How To Start guides have more details about sector-specific insurance or licensing.
Public Liability, Professional Indemnity, and Employers' Liability are the most well-known types of business insurance. We've listed some other common other licensing and insurance requirements below:
5. Market analysis
This section pulls all of your target market and customer research together to indicate to stakeholders that you are knowledgable about the sector and how to succeed in it.
- Who is your typical customer and where are they are based? Describe the profile of your expected customers eg. average age, location, budget, interests, etc.
- How many customers will your business reach? Outline the size of your market, and the share of the market that your business can reach.
- Have you sold any products/services to customers already? If yes, describe these sales. If no, have people expressed interest in buying your products or services?
- What have you learned about the market from desk-based research? What are the industry's current challenges, and how has it been affected by the economic downturn?
- What have you learned about the market from field research? (eg. feedback from market testing like customer questionnaires or focus group feedback).
What is your marketing strategy?
Once you've highlighted who your rivals are in the market, you can provide details on how you plan to stand out from them through your marketing strategy.
Outline your business' USP, your current marketing strategy, and any associated advertising costs.
6. Competitor analysis
This section demonstrates how well you know the key players and rivals in the industry. It should show the research you have carried out in a table format.
List the key information about your competitors:
- Business size
- Product/service offering
- Sales channels
- Strengths/weaknesses
Competitors will take two forms, either direct or indirect. Direct competitors sell the same or similar products or services. Indirect competitors sell substitute or alternative products or services.
Check out our list of the top competitor analysis templates to download free resources for your business, plus advice on what to include and how to get started.
7. Cash forecast
All of your considered costs can be put into one easy-to-read document called a monthly cash forecast. Cash forecasts contain:
1. Incoming costs such as sales revenue, customer account fees, or funding.
2. Outgoing costs such as staff wages or operating expenses. The latter can cover everything from advertising costs to office supplies.
For those firms which have already started trading, include any previous year's accounts (up to three years) as well as details of any outstanding loans or assets.
Annual cash forecast: what is it?
By conducting 12 monthly cash forecasts, you can create an annual cash forecast to work out when your company will become profitable (also known as breakeven analysis) . You will break even when total incoming costs = total outgoing costs.
In your annual cost budget, make sure to also include month opening/closing balance. This is important to monitor for accounting, particularly for year-end.
- Opening balance = the amount of cash at the beginning of the month
- Closing balance = the amount of cash at the end of the month
The opening balance of any month will always be the same as the closing balance of the previous month. If you are repeatedly opening months with a negative closing balance, you need to adjust your spending.
8. Operations and logistics
This section gives investors a tangible idea of how your day-to-day business activities will be run, including key business partnerships around production and delivery.
1. Production
- Management team – who do you plan to hire as senior staff and why?
- Premises – where will you be based? What will be the cost?
- Materials – what materials/equipment will you need to make your product/service?
- Staffing – how many employees will you hire? How much will they cost?
- Insurance – what insurance do you need for production?
2. Delivery
- Distribution – how will you sell your product to customers?
- Transport – how will you transport the product/service to customers or partners?
- Insurance – what insurance do you need for delivery?
3. Supplier analysis
Lastly, you should carry out a supplier analysis. Write down 2-3 suppliers you plan to use as part of your business operations and evaluate them on factors like location and pricing.
9. Backup plan
In the event that your business does not go to plan, there will be costs to incur. A backup plan outlines to potential investors how you will pay back any outstanding loans or debt.
In the short-term:
If your cash-flow temporarily stalls, what steps could you take to quickly raise money or make savings? For example, by negotiating shorter payment terms with your customers.
In the long-term:
If you've noticed a drop in sales that seems to be persisting, what changes can you make that would improve cash flow longer term? For example, can you do more of your business online to reduce rent fees?
To placate investors even further, it's a good idea to include details about potential support channels you can utilise (eg. a business network or contact) who might be able to help if you get caught in a sticky cash-flow situation.
Startups' 5 top tips for writing a business plan
- Keep your predictions realistic. Your business plan should showcase your knowledge of the sector and what's achievable. It's not about impressing investors with big numbers or meaningless buzzwords.
- Don't go over 15 pages. Business plans should be engaging, which means sticking to the point and avoiding a lot of long-winded sentences. Keep your executive summary to less than 1,000 words, for example.
- End with supporting documents. Use your appendix to include product diagrams or detailed research findings if these are helpful to your business case.
- Get a second pair of eyes. Everyone misses a spelling error or two – invite a trusted business contact or associate to look over your business plan before you send it anywhere.
- Leave enough time to write! It's exciting to think about getting your business up and running – but planning is an important step that can't be rushed over. Spend at least a month on writing to get all the details correct and laid-out.
Now that you're up to speed on everything a business plan needs to include, we recommend using the free monday.com business plan template to jot down your ideas.
At Startups.co.uk, we're here to help small UK businesses to get started, grow and succeed. We have practical resources for helping new businesses get off the ground – use the tool below to get started today.
Designing a business plan is very important for laying the foundation of your business. Ensure you spend an appropriate amount of time filling it out, as it could save you many headaches further down the line.
Once your plan is complete, you'll then be ready to look at other aspects of business set-up, such as registering your company. Sound daunting? Don't worry!
Our experts have pulled together a simple, comprehensive guide on How to Start a Business in 2023, which will tell you everything you need to know to put your new plan into action.
- Can I write a business plan myself? Absolutely! There are plenty of resources available to help, but the truth is a business plan needs to reflect the owner's personal ambitions and passion - which is why entrepreneurs are best-placed to write their own.
- How long should a business plan be? We recommend your business plan is kept to a maximum of 15 pages. Keep it short and concise - your executive summary, for example, should be no more than 1,000 words.
- Is it OK to copy a business plan? While not technically illegal, copying a business plan will leave you in a poor position to attract investment. Customising your plan to your unique business idea and industry specialism is the best way to persuade stakeholders that you have a winning startup formula.
Startups.co.uk is reader-supported. If you make a purchase through the links on our site, we may earn a commission from the retailers of the products we have reviewed. This helps Startups.co.uk to provide free reviews for our readers. It has no additional cost to you, and never affects the editorial independence of our reviews.
- Essential Guides
Written by:
Helena is a Senior Writer at Startups. As resident people and premises expert, she's an authority on topics such as business energy, office and coworking spaces, and project management software. With a background in PR and marketing, Helena also manages the Startups 100 Index and is passionate about giving early-stage startups a platform to boost their brands. From interviewing Wetherspoon's boss Tim Martin to spotting data-led working from home trends, her insight has been featured by major trade publications including the ICAEW, and news outlets like the BBC, ITV News, Daily Express, and HuffPost UK.
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What is a business plan?
Every small business needs a detailed business plan. Find out how your business plan can help your business grow and succeed, why it's so important and how to get started.
Get started on your business journey. This article is part of our start-up hub , which is home to even more tips and expert advice on starting your own small business.
A business plan is one of the most integral steps in your journey to running a successful small business, whether as a sole trader, partnership or limited company. It's where you'll turn your dreams into an action plan. We’ll look at what a business plan is, why you need one and how it can shape your business.
What is a business plan and why do I need one?
A business plan is an essential written document that provides a description and overview of your company’s future. All businesses should have a business plan. The plan should explain your business strategy and your key goals to get from where you are now to where you want to be in the future.
How will you make your business more profitable, gain more resources or increase your assets?
What are your plans for growth in your target market?
Where do you see your business in one, three or five years?
Anyone who sets up a new company should have a business plan. It can also be an important tool for an established company that’s moving in a new direction.
What should your business plan aim to do?
At its most basic, your business plan outline should explain what you intend to do and how you are going to do it. You should outline your strategies across the business, including financial projections, marketing and operational plans.
An overview of your business
Your business plan should aim to give a good outline of your company, your business strategy and your action plan.
- How will you make money and what do you need to do to achieve your goals?
- What are your targets and how will you meet them?
Knowing your long-term goals will help you to take steps towards them in the day-to-day running of your business.
It should also act as a benchmark for the performance of your company. Look at your competition in your industry and think about why your business will succeed where others might fail. You might want to carry out a competitor analysis to give you a greater understanding of your space and where there have been recent changes or innovations.
You know your business best
Your business plan will show that you have a clear understanding of your business and the market it will operate in. It should set out how you expect it to perform in the coming years and how you will overcome any potential obstacles. It should also be a useful tool to:
- Focus and develop ideas
- Identify your business priorities
- Think through options, identify opportunities and make the most of them
I want to start a business, but I don’t know where to begin...
Start with our free guide for start-ups . Learn about the basics of business with our step-by-step guide to starting a business.
Explaining your funding requirements
Most banks and lenders will require a detailed business plan for loans, including start up loans, so financial planning is a must. An in-depth plan will help you to convince banks, potential investors and other key contacts to support and fund you to grow your business. Our guide to finance for start ups takes you through what you’ll need to consider when writing a plan with finance in mind.
Attracting talent
As you grow, you might look to hire employees and expand your resources. The plan can also be important for attracting new senior management, business partners and distributors.
- What is your company’s vision?
- What is your mission statement?
- Why would someone want to work with you?
What should your business plan include?
A business plan should include seven key sections:
- an executive summary
- a business description
- details of market strategies
- competitor analysis
- a design and development plan of your products and services
- information about your operations and management plan
- financial information, planning and factors
The section containing your financial factors should include your income statement, cash flow forecast or statement , and balance sheet. This should aim to provide an accurate picture of your company’s current value and your ability to pay bills and earn a profit.
I’ve already got a business plan, why do I need to change it?
A business plan one of the big steps when you start a business, but it shouldn’t be forgotten. By revisiting and updating your plans regularly, it becomes a tool for measuring your success or supporting you in moving in a new direction.
Ready to start your business plan?
Get your business off to a flying start with FSB. Our members get access to a detailed business plan template as well as round-the-clock legal advice and over 1,200 legal documents, templates and guides.
Visit our dedicated start up hub for more free resources and advice for new businesses.
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What should a business plan include?
1. the executive summary, 2. a description of the business, 3. the market(s) the business will operate in, 4. a swot analysis.
5. Management team and personnel
6. The products or services offered
7. marketing.
8. A financial plan
The contents of a business plan
This is placed as number one on our list of components of a business plan , but it can easily be the final stage. That's because sometimes it's easiest to write your summary after you've covered all the other details.
A great summary is one of the key features of a business plan. It serves as an overview of your entire business and the elements surrounding it.
Be sure to outline succinctly the 5 "W"s (Who, What, Why, When, Where) as well as the mission statement . Think about why you started the business along with where you would like it to be in the future, how will you get there? Your mission statement is the start of creating a culture that people in your organisation will live and work by.
This section should contain details of things such as your goals and the customers you will service. What are the products and services you will offer to your customers? You'll need to provide an overview of them and how they will address customers' needs and wants?
You've come up with this great business idea , but how will it do in the market? Or, more importantly, what is the market for it? How well do you know the market? What does a typical buyer look like, what is their income level? Does the business have the hallmarks of disruptive innovation ?
This is the time to research and determine who your target market is and ask specific questions that relate to your product or service. Put you idea to the test. What have others done before you and what can you do differently and better? Analyse what information you've uncovered and outline it's potential impact in your plan.
Create a detailed list of your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. This needs to be done with an open and honest approach, keep emotions out of it, focus on being objective when analysing your business and those of your competitors.
Any strengths you uncover will represent internal, positive factors in your business that are within your control. Weaknesses are also internal, but are negative factors that need to be improved.
Both opportunities and threats are external factors. While opportunities will potentially positively impact on your business, threats represent negative factors beyond your control. For example, are there high barriers to entering the market? Does a competitor have the market cornered due to brand loyal customers? These could harm your enterprise, so you need to strategise for it in your plan.
5. The management team and personnel
Who will run the business, who are the directors in the business? What are the skills of the management team and how do their different responsibilities make maximum use of their abilities. What is the chain of command in terms of decision making?
Also use this section to identify how the management team, and taking on employees will help maximise strengths, while addressing identified weaknesses to help improve the business.
Finally, which of the UK's business structures will you choose to operate through?
- Limited company
- Partnership
- Limited liability partnership
In this section you need to detail what will be produced and how it will be sold. You should explain how your product or service will meet a particular need in the marketplace, and how you'll get customers returning to make repeat purchases. Repeat custom is after all the lifeblood of many a good business.
Who will you rely on, in terms of suppliers, to help you assemble your products? What intellectual property, patents or copyright do you own, or might you be at risk of potentially infringing?
What is the branding to your business? What are the key messages you want to communicate with your target market and how will you go about reaching them? How will you achieve market share and at what cost in terms of your budget?
8. Let's talk money: A financial plan
Ideas are great, but how will you make them a reality and sustain a viable business. Creating a financial plan will give you the opportunity to address your financial concerns and talk money, think about start-up costs, financial projections , funding and investor pitches.
You'll need to list how much your start-up will cost, everything from stationary to leases should be outlined and balanced against your financial projections.
Don't fear change, your business plan isn't written in stone
It’s important to remember that your business plan isn’t written in stone. This is a document that you and your staff can improve and update as the business grows and changes. Your plan should be reviewed regularly.
Consider implementing a monthly review to track progress or make adjustments to your strategy. Accountability and motivation are key in making sure your goals are met, think about the people involved and what can you do to keep them inspired.
This post was created on 26/06/2018 and updated on 18/02/2022.
Please be aware that information provided by this blog is subject to regular legal and regulatory change. We recommend that you do not take any information held within our website or guides (eBooks) as a definitive guide to the law on the relevant matter being discussed. We suggest your course of action should be to seek legal or professional advice where necessary rather than relying on the content supplied by the author(s) of this blog.
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What are you looking for, how to write a business plan uk | free uk business plan template.
- Brought to you by AAT Business Finance Basics
- 1. What is a business plan?
- 2. Download: Free UK business plan template
- 3. Getting started on a business plan
- 4. How to structure a business plan step-by-step
- 5. Business plan examples
- 6. Business plan writing tips
You’ve got the brilliant business idea, you might have even started setting up or running your business, but writing a business plan and creating business proposals are vital for the launch and growth of any venture. It’s a document where you can organise all your ideas, create a company description, make sure that you’ve considered and researched everything, and ultimately decide that the business is viable. Commitment to making a business plan is a commitment to the business. Read our guide and download your free business plan template.
What is a business plan?
A business plan is a document that details all the future plans and predictions for your business. It will explain your ideas, map out how they’ll be put into practice and provide relevant information and facts including the business details, management plan, operating plan, marketing and sales strategy , financial projections, and operational and team specifics.
A business plan is essential in helping you:
The business plan is a living, working document that should be read and reviewed regularly. If there are multiple directors or partners in the business then they should all be in agreement with what the plan outlines, the detailed information in the plan, and what is written in the plan. You will also need to share it with potential investors. The business plan will formalise all the ideas and assumptions, keep you focused, and ensure that everyone is on the same page.
How long writing your business plan should take will depend on your business size, the complexities of it and what stage you’re at. The most important thing is that it’s user-friendly and doesn’t include any waffle. Get straight to the nitty-gritty so that your stakeholders are engaged when reading it and so that you are more likely to use and update it regularly. Your business plan will probably cover the first three to five years. It’s important to include all the right information (see the checklist below) but it’s not a document to spend too long on. It’s more important that you are spending time running the business.
There are lots of business plan examples out there but typically yours should include:
- What your business will do
- The business structure and operations
- Team members and their expertise
- Market analysis to see current and projected state of the market and industry
- How your business will sell and market
- Startup costs and funding required
- Financial projections
- Legal requirements
Writing a business plan will allow you to take a step back and look at the business more objectively, predicting potential issues in advance, such as financial forecasts, and coming up with solutions or a shift in how you originally thought that you would do something.
Download: Free UK business plan template
We want to take the stress out of writing a business plan. Our free downloadable UK business plan template will guide you on everything you need to include and get your business primed for success.
Download: Please login or register to get your download.
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Getting started on a business plan
Before you begin to make your business plan, keep these three things at the forefront of your mind.
Focus on what makes you unique
Be creative with your plan, shout about your unique selling proposition (USPs) and what makes you different. Represent your brand using language and visuals, and talk about why you and your team are best to run this business.
Don’t over complicate it
Keep it concise so that you can get on with running the business and so the business plan is an easily readable and usable document. Too much detail in the plan can become confusing.
Be realistic and honest
The business plan will give you an indication of where you’re supposed to be. Review it every few months, update it as you go and change your activities in line with it. It will be impossible for you to predict everything so just give it your best shot and be prepared to be flexible.
How to structure a business plan step-by-step
The business plan should follow this format with these six sections.
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The executive summary should always be written last. Think of it as a one-pager giving an overview of all the best bits of your plan. If the executive summary doesn’t captivate and interest the reader then it’s unlikely that they will read the rest of your plan.
Describe your what, where, who and why - including your product/service, brand, location, business model and size.
This section will involve the most amount of research as you study the current and projected conditions of the market and the industry, and look at what your competition is doing , before making your own marketing plans .
Explain the experience, skills and credentials of all the people involved. Why are they the right people to make this a success?
Detail your required facilities, premises, systems and software.
This section translates everything into numbers - your startup and running costs, funding , revenue projections with a cash flow forecast .
Business plan examples
Take a look at these business plan sections in more detail to see examples of the sort of details you should include, depending on your type of business.
1. The executive summary
Give a topline description of:
- In the most basic terms, what is the business? Is it a product or service? What does it do and how?
- Why is there a need for this business?
- What does this business do better than similar existing businesses?
- What experience or skills do you have that will help make this business a success?
- How will it make money?
- Who will your customers be?
- Who are your main competitors?
- How will people find out about you?
- What is the opportunity for investors?
2. Business details and description
- Describe your what, where, who and why – including your product/service, brand, location, business model and size.
- Food (lunch / dinner)
- Private hire for meetings / parties / events
- Putting on own events (music, comedy)
- Classes (e.g. cocktail making)
- What will the legal structure of your company be (LTD, PLC, sole trader, partnership, charity, social enterprise)?
3. Marketing and sales strategy
4. management and employees.
- Who will make up your team and what relevant skills and experience do they have?
- Do you need to employ people?
- What friends/family/business contacts do you have with skills that might be able to help you (preferably for free)?
- Do you need to outsource anything?
5. Operational set up
- What premises do you need? Where will they be? Where will you work from?
- What assets/tools do you require (and which of these do you already have)?
- Are there any licences that you require? Any other legal considerations?
6. Financial plan and projections
Business plan writing tips.
Writing a business plan can take some time and some areas of the plan will be easier to tackle than others.
- Make initial notes every time you think of something and don’t worry if you can’t cover all points at the start.
- When you are ready to start to write the plan, make sure you use sections and these are in a logical order.
- It is important that your plan is simple, accurate and easy to follow if you are going to ask others to look at it.
- Try to avoid jargon or terms that only people in your type of industry will understand.
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Why you need a business plan ... A business plan is a written document that describes your business. It covers objectives, strategies, sales, marketing and
Know your audience. Remember who you're writing for – is the business plan primarily for your own use, or are you looking for a loan, or even
What a business plan should include · An executive summary - this is an overview of the business you want to start. · Your vision and business idea - a short
check that your idea makes sense · plan your sales, marketing and business operations · identify problems and how to overcome them · set out your objectives and
Business plans can span from one page to multiple pages with detailed graphs and reports. There's no one way to create a business plan. The goal
Top Tips · Be concise · Be specific · Know your market · Know your finances · Don't try and do everything on your own, join our Enterprise programme today.
1. Executive summary. This section is a summary of your entire business plan. · 2. Personal summary. Remember, investors want to know who they're
What should your business plan include? · an executive summary · a business description · details of market strategies · competitor analysis · a design and
What should a business plan include? · 1. The executive summary · 2. A description of the business · 3. The market(s) the business will operate in.
In the most basic terms, what is the business? · Why is there a need for this business? · What does this business do better than similar existing businesses?