Startup Business Plan Template

A Business Plan is a blueprint of where you want your business to be in the next three to five years and how you want to make that happen.

If you are looking to start a business, this comprehensive business plan should help you write out everything you need on paper, which will serve as a road map for your business. This business plan has everything and the main points to add to your business plan so that it serves as the genesis of your business, and you can go back to it and adjust as your company grows. 

This business plan format includes an executive summary, company description, market analysis, organization, product/service line, and many more that we will discuss later in the article.  

Here Is The Format You Can Use For Your Business Plan.

Executive Summary: The executive summary of your plan is the overall view of what your business will look like; Your executive summary should include details such as your mission statement, vision statement, your company core values, details about your service or product, your company leadership team, your financial information, and your high-level growth plan. The executive summary is the cover letter of your business plan because it put the rest of your company plan into perspective. 

Company Description: Your company description should include information about your company, the problems your business is going to solve; you can also put your target consumer in this section of your business plan. This section should explain what makes your business different from your competitor; this is where your unique selling point comes into play. If you have experts on your team, you should disclose them in this section. You should reveal if you plan to have a brick-and-mortar store, or you will be online or both. Talk about your company’s strength in this section. 

Market Analysis: As you start planning and executing your business plan, I suggest you add market analysis to the first steps you take as you work on your business. You want to do market analysis early on in your business and not after you have launched your product or service because it helps with innovation. As you plan the best service or product to introduce onto the market, you want to involve your target audience early. You want to have their input in whatever you plan to present to the market. Because it will be crushing if you think you have the best product or service, only to launch it and realize that your target audience is not as enthusiastic about your product as you are about your product. So, I think doing your market analysis before you start working on your prototype is very crucial. 

With market analysis, you should know your industry, target market, and outlook. You should perform competitive research to know what other businesses are doing right or wrong and their weaknesses; look for trends and themes. Look for what successful competitors do and why it works, and ask your self can you do it better. When you launch your business, you want to have a better and an innovative product/service for your target audience. 

Organization And Management: In this section, you want to write about how you will organize your business and manage it; I think it is pretty self-explanatory. Here, you will discuss how you will structure your company; will it be an LLC or a Sole Proprietorship. 

Service Or Product Line: In this section, you will describe what you will sell, either it’s a service or a product. Explain how it will benefit the consumer. Discuss what your product life cycle will look like; How long will your product efficacy last, or talk about the payment structure of your service. Talk about your unique selling point; in other words, what makes your product or service different from your competitors. Share your intellectual property plans if your business will have any, such as copyright, patent fillings, or any such things. If you do research and development for a service or product, explain it in detail. 

Marketing And Sales: In this section, you will plan out your marketing strategies and explain how you will attract and retain your customers. Describe how you will sell your product or service. When you make your financial projections, you can refer to this section again. 

Funding Request: I encourage people to avoid taking a loan when they start a business. In my next post, I will blog about how to start a business without money, even if your business requires tangible products. I don’t advise taking loans from investors or banks because it puts pressure on you, and what if you take the loan and manufacture your product, and it fails (I am sorry if I am being a pessimist; we have to be realists as well)? It is better to start your business with a clean slate and without “sharks,” I am looking at you, shark tank. Here is Elon Musk’s story – He started his companies with no loans. He made money from Paypal and used the money he got from PayPal to fund his other businesses. Another brand is a skincare retailer called Peach And Lily; the owner Alicia Yoon started her business with not loans or investors. 

Financial Projections:

1. Provide a future monetary outlook for the next five years.
2. Include forecasted income statement, balance sheets, cash flow statement, and capital expenditure budgets.
3. For the first year, be even more specific and use quarterly or even monthly projections.

You can use graphs or charts to tell the financial story of your business. 

These are comprehensive and detailed steps you can take to write your business plan. Remember, as your company grows, you will revisit your business plan from time to time to update it and refresh it for changes to your business and current and future projections. 

If you want to start your business and are looking for guidance, you can contact me for a free consultation.