A business plan is a written statement that describes and analyzes

your business and gives detailed projections about its future. A

business plan also covers the financial aspects of starting or
expanding your business—how much money you need and how
you’ll pay it back
A business plan is a written statement that describes and analyzes
your business and gives detailed projections about its future. A
business plan also covers the financial aspects of starting or
expanding your business—how much money you need and how
you’ll pay it back
A business plan can highlight varying time periods, depending on
the stage of your company and its goals. That said, a typical
business plan will include the following benchmarks:
• Product goals and deadlines for each month
• Monthly financials for the first two years
• Profit and loss statements for the first three to five years
• Balance sheet projections for the first three to five years
Startups, entrepreneurs, and small businesses all create business
plans to use as a guide as their new company progresses. Larger
organizations may also create (and update) a business plan to keep
high-level goals, financials, and timelines in check. While you
certainly need to have a formalized outline of your business’s goals
and finances, creating a business plan can also help you determine
a company’s viability, its profitability (including when it will first
turn a profit), and how much money you will need from investors.
In turn, a business plan has functional value as well: Not only does
outlining goals help keep you accountable on a timeline, it can
also attract investors in and of itself and, therefore, act as an
effective strategy for growth.
So why take the time to write one?
Helps You Get Money Helps You Decide to Proceed or Stop
Lets You Improve Your Business Concept Improves Your Odds of Success
Helps You Keep on Track Issues Beyond the Plan
Bookkeeping and Accounting Taxes
Securities Laws
The specific information in your business plan will vary, depending
on the needs and goals of your venture, but a typical plan includes
the following ordered elements:

• Executive summary
• Description of business
• Market analysis
• Competitive analysis
• Description of organizational management
• Description of product or services
• Marketing plan
• Sales strategy
• Funding details (or request for funding)
• Financial projections
Your business’s stage and intended audience dictates the
level of detail your plan needs. Corporations require a
thorough business plan — up to 100 pages. Small
businesses or startups should have a concise plan focusing
on financials and strategy.
In order to identify which type of business plan you need to create, ask: “What
do we want the plan to do?” Identify function first, and form will follow. Use the
chart below as a guide for what type of business plan to create:
There is no set order for a business plan, with the
exception of the executive summary, which should always
come first. Beyond that, simply ensure that you organize
the plan in a way that makes sense and flows naturally.
Traditional Business Plan Lean Business Plan
In general, you should use a traditional model for a legacy company, a large company, or any
business that does not adhere to Lean (or another Agile method). Use Lean if you expect the
company to pivot quickly or if you already employ a Lean strategy with other business operations.
Additionally, a Lean business plan can suffice if the document is for internal use only. Stick to a
traditional version for investors, as they may be more sensitive to sudden changes or a high degree
of built-in flexibility in the plan.
Writing a strong business plan requires research and attention to detail for each section. In this
presentation, you’ll find a 10-step guide to researching and defining each element in the plan.

Step 1: Executive Summary ( can be 1 page or 2 pages)

The executive summary will always be the first section of your business plan.
The goal is to answer the following questions:
1. What is the vision and mission of the company?
2. What are the company’s short- and long-term goals?
3. Short Description
4. Financial Information, Projection and Funding
Writing a strong business plan requires research and attention to detail for each section. In this
presentation, you’ll find a 10-step guide to researching and defining each element in the plan.

Step 2: Description of Business

The goal of this section is to define the realm, scope, and intent of your venture.
To do so, answer the following questions as clearly and concisely as possible: Include Business
Location
1. What business are we in?
2. What does our business do?
Writing a strong business plan requires research and attention to detail for each section. In this
presentation, you’ll find a 10-step guide to researching and defining each element in the plan.

Step 3: Market Analysis

In this section, provide evidence that you have surveyed and understand the current marketplace,
and that your product or service satisfies a niche in the market.
To do so, answer these questions:
1. Who is our customer? (Population, Demographic of Target Market)
2. What does that customer value?
Writing a strong business plan requires research and attention to detail for each section. In this
presentation, you’ll find a 10-step guide to researching and defining each element in the plan.

Step 4: Competitive Analysis

In many cases, a business plan proposes not a brand-new (or even market-disrupting) venture, but a
more competitive version — whether via features, pricing, integrations, etc. — than what is currently
available. In this section, answer the following questions to show that your product or service stands
to outpace competitors:
1. Who is the competition? (Create a Pie Chart)in percentage direct/indirect
2. What do they do best?
3. What is our unique value proposition? Unique Selling Point(Edge of Product/Services)
Writing a strong business plan requires research and attention to detail for each section. In this
presentation, you’ll find a 10-step guide to researching and defining each element in the plan.

Step 5: Description of Organizational Management (Manpower)

In this section, write an overview of the team members and other key personnel who are integral to
success. List roles and responsibilities, and if possible, note the hierarchy or team structure.
Note : include No. of Manpower / Qualification / Salaries
Writing a strong business plan requires research and attention to detail for each section. In this
presentation, you’ll find a 10-step guide to researching and defining each element in the plan.

Step 6: Description of Products or Services

In this section, clearly define your product or service, as well as all the effort and resources that go
into producing it. The strength of your product largely defines the success of your business, so it’s
imperative that you take time to test and refine the product before launching into marketing, sales,
or funding details.
Questions to answer in this section are as follows:
1. What is the product or service? (Detailed product – prices, process, / Service )
2. How do we produce it, and what resources are necessary for production?
Writing a strong business plan requires research and attention to detail for each section. In this
presentation, you’ll find a 10-step guide to researching and defining each element in the plan.

Step 7: Marketing Plan

In this section, define the marketing strategy for your product or service. This doesn’t need to be as
fleshed out as a full marketing plan, but it should answer basic questions, such as the following:
1. Who is the target market (if different from existing customer base)?
2. What channels will you use to reach your target market?
3. What resources does your marketing strategy require, and do you have access to them?
4. If possible, do you have a rough estimate of timeline and budget?
5. How will you measure success?
Writing a strong business plan requires research and attention to detail for each section. In this
presentation, you’ll find a 10-step guide to researching and defining each element in the plan.

Step 8: Sales Plan

Write an overview of the sales strategy, including the priorities of each cycle, steps to achieve these
goals, and metrics for success. For the purposes of a business plan, this section does not need to be
a comprehensive, in-depth sales plan, but can simply outline the high-level objectives and strategies
of your sales efforts.
Writing a strong business plan requires research and attention to detail for each section. In this
presentation, you’ll find a 10-step guide to researching and defining each element in the plan.

Step 8: Sales Plan

Start by answering the following questions:
1. What is the sales strategy?
2. What are the tools and tactics you will use to achieve your goals?
3. What are the potential obstacles, and how will you overcome them?
4. What is the timeline for sales and turning a profit?
5. What are the metrics of success?
Writing a strong business plan requires research and attention to detail for each section. In this
presentation, you’ll find a 10-step guide to researching and defining each element in the plan.

Step 9: Funding Details (or Request for Funding)

This section is one of the most critical parts of your business plan, particularly if you are sharing it
with investors. You do not need to provide a full financial plan, but you should be able to answer the
following questions:
1. How much capital do you currently have?
2. How much capital do you need?
3. How will you grow the team (onboarding, team structure, training and development)?
4. What are your physical needs and constraints (space, equipment, etc.)?
Writing a strong business plan requires research and attention to detail for each section. In this
presentation, you’ll find a 10-step guide to researching and defining each element in the plan.

Step 10: Financial Projections(Include financial ratio at least 5)

Apart from the fundraising analysis, investors like to see thought-out financial projections for the
future. As discussed earlier, depending on the scope and stage of your business, this could be
anywhere from one to five years.
While these projections won’t be exact — and will need to be somewhat flexible — you should be
able to gauge the following:
1. How and when will the company first generate a profit?
2. How will the company maintain profit thereafter?
Writing a strong business plan requires research and attention to detail for each section. In this
presentation, you’ll find a 10-step guide to researching and defining each element in the plan.

Step 11: Milestone

1. How you execute your business process
2. Make a Gantt Chart

Step 12: Appendices (Optional) but highly welcome

A business plan — both the exercise of creating one and the
document — can grow your business by helping you to refine your
product, target audience, sales plan, identify opportunities, secure
funding, and build new partnerships.
Outside of these immediate returns, writing a business plan is a
useful exercise in that it forces you to research the market, which
prompts you to forge your unique value proposition and identify
ways to beat the competition. Doing so will also help you build
(and keep you accountable to) attainable financial and product
milestones. And down the line, it will serve as a welcome guide as
hurdles inevitably arise.