What information needs to be in your business plan? What is the order of information that will make the most sense to lenders and investors? You can answer these questions with the business plan outlines provided below.
What are the standard elements of a business plan? If you do need a standard business plan to seek funding — as opposed to a plan-as-you-go approach for running your business, which I describe below — there are predictable contents of a standard business plan outline.
For example, a business plan normally starts with an Executive Summary, which should be concise and interesting. People almost always expect to see sections covering the Company, the Market, the Product, the Management Team, Strategy, Implementation, and Financial Analysis. The precise business plan format can vary.
Is the order important? If you have the main components, the order doesn’t matter that much, but here’s the sequence I suggest for a business plan. I have provided two outlines, one simple and the other more detailed.
Simple business plan outline
- Executive Summary: Write this last. It’s just a page or two of highlights.
- Company Description: Legal establishment, history, start-up plans, etc.
- Product or Service: Describe what you’re selling. Focus on customer benefits.
- Market Analysis: You need to know your market, customer needs, where they are, how to reach them, etc.
- Strategy and Implementation: Be specific. Include management responsibilities with dates and budgets. Make sure you can track results.
- Web Plan Summary: For e-commerce, include discussion of website, development costs, operations, sales and marketing strategies.
- Management Team: Describe the organization and the key management team members.
- Financial Analysis: Make sure to include at the very least your projected Profit and Loss and Cash Flow tables.
Build your plan, then organize it. I don’t recommend developing the plan in the same order you present it as a finished document. For example, although the Executive Summary obviously comes as the first section of a business plan, I recommend writing it after everything else is done. It will appear first, but you write it last.
Standard tables and charts
There are also some business tables and charts that are normally expected in a standard business plan.
Cash flow is the single most important numerical analysis in a plan, and should never be missing. Most plans will also have Sales Forecast and Profit and Loss statements. I believe they should also have separate Personnel listings, projected Balance Sheet, projected Business Ratios, and Market Analysis tables.
I also believe that every plan should include bar charts and pie charts to illustrate the numbers.
Expanded business plan outline
Here’s an expanded full business plan outline, with details you might want to include in your own business plan.
1.0 Executive Summary
1.1 Objectives
1.2 Mission
1.3 Keys to Success
2.0 Company Summary
2.1 Company Ownership
2.2 Company History (for ongoing companies) or Start-up Plan (for new companies)
2.3 Company Locations and Facilities
3.0 Products and Services
3.1 Product and Service Description
3.2 Competitive Comparison
3.3 Sales Literature
3.4 Sourcing and Fulfillment
3.5 Technology
3.6 Future Products and Services
4.0 Market Analysis Summary
4.1 Market Segmentation
4.2 Target Market Segment Strategy
4.2.1 Market Needs
4.2.2 Market Trends
4.2.3 Market Growth
4.3 Industry Analysis
4.3.1 Industry Participants
4.3.2 Distribution Patterns
4.3.3 Competition and Buying Patterns
4.3.4 Main Competitors
5.0 Strategy and Implementation Summary
5.1 Strategy Pyramids
5.2 Value Proposition
5.3 Competitive Edge
5.4 Marketing Strategy
5.4.1 Positioning Statements
5.4.2 Pricing Strategy
5.4.3 Promotion Strategy
5.4.4 Distribution Patterns
5.4.5 Marketing Programs
5.5 Sales Strategy
5.5.1 Sales Forecast
5.5.2 Sales Programs
5.6 Strategic Alliances
5.7 Milestones
6.0 Web Plan Summary
6.1 Website Marketing Strategy
6.2 Development Requirements
7.0 Management Summary
7.1 Organizational Structure
7.2 Management Team
7.3 Management Team Gaps
7.4 Personnel Plan
8.0 Financial Plan
8.1 Important Assumptions
8.2 Key Financial Indicators
8.3 Break-even Analysis
8.4 Projected Profit and Loss
8.5 Projected Cash Flow
8.6 Projected Balance Sheet
8.7 Business Ratios
8.8 Long-term Plan
Business plan outline advice
Size your business plan to fit your business. Remember that your business plan should be only as big as what you need to run your business. While everybody should have planning to help run a business, not everyone needs to develop a complete formal business plan suitable for submitting to a potential investor, or bank, or venture contest. So don’t include outline points just because they are on a big list somewhere, or on this list, unless you’re developing a standard business plan that you’ll be showing to somebody else who expects a standard business plan.
Consider plan-as-you-go business planning. I’ve done a lot of work on this idea lately, resulting in my new “Plan As You Go” business planning, which is a now a book published by Entrepreneur Press, available through Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, and Borders, and bundled as an eBook with Business Plan Pro. I’ve also added a short video here to the right, illustrating how the outline could be simpler with a new approach.
More business planning resources
Sometimes an outline just isn’t enough to write your business plan. Do you want to view sample business plans from real businesses? Would seeing a business plan template that banks prefer be useful to you? These valuable resources can help:
Sample business plans – Over 500 free sample business plans from various industries
Business plan template – This fill-in-the-blank business plan template is in the format preferred by the SBA and banks
Start a business – An easy to follow six-step process for starting a new business
Business Plan Pro – My company’s step-by-step software makes it fast and easy to create a business plan, regardless of your business planning experience



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I beleive this site is very good for some of us who do not have the finanacial wherewithal to go for consultations tostart small businesses
this site is so relevant for those who want to be an entrepreneur and also for the mba students.
Have anyone purchased the business plan pro and if so was it worth buying and is it helpful like it say’s?
The basic outline will be quite useful and will save us from having to pay someone to produce.
I have started my cake business at home, however I would like to take it to the step and branch out with my business. What would be my first step?
I’m a student & mom. I wish to start my business online. I would like to know if it would be easier to get a building verses an online Audio Production Development Company? This is all a new experience as well as adventure for me. What should be my first step? I have my product already, just need to get it out to the public.
I am a Female Veteran looking at opening my own government contracting business. I would be purchasing government bids for everything from tp to compasses. I would like to make a business plan before I get started and would like some advice from anyone who is in the same industry.
Thanks for this Great article. Business planning is well explained.
Thanks to the outline given t has given me a better outlook, some key lesson on financial analysis would really help like creating a base case scenario, assumptions, and projections.
starting a new business and just wanted to write out a plan all the exspenses would be from raymond all money made would go into an account to pay the bills for the company and antoinette would over see the business in other words raymond wants to be a silent party and do all the funded as well as repairs we have agreeded that if one person no longer wants to be a part the business would have to bebought out by the other
I’ve been struggling to come up with a perfect bussiness plan for a PR and Customer Service project, hopefully with this outline, I could actually get something going..
Hello I’m interested in starting my own home day care business, so me and my business partner planning on renting out a house, we want to use the basement and the first floor for the daycare services and the other two rooms for office space, I wonder if I can get the right funding for my daycare for supplies and other things we may need, I do have a business plan, but I wonder who do I show my plan to in order to get funding for the business.
Great to see you include Web Marketing in a business plan. I think having a sound web marketing plan in place is an absolute requirement in a company’s success in this web friendly age. I see so many business plans and marketing plans with out a thought on web development and marketing. To compete and be successful in today’s ultra-competitive business environment, a good web strategy is an absolute must.
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Frank,
There’s a great article on bplans.com called The Right Funding for Your Business Type.
That would be a good place to start. Also, check out your local SBDC office or make an appointment with your bank to check out some options.
I need further advice in writing up a business marketing plan for my overseas and local clients.I also intend to conduct a workshop for both my overseas and local clients.I am a Professional Dog Groomer and also a Qualified Pet Relocation Specialists.I had drafted my business marketing plan 2 years ago and lately I had wanted to give another shot again as most of my clients says that my content of my previous plan is not good enough for consumers and associations to understand me enough.
I have come to the last part of my business plan so I can apply for a mircoloan ($6000). I am stuck on the financial area and unsure how detailed I need to get. Sample business plans aren’t enough help for me as none are similar to what I am selling. I am having difficulties on describing cash/financial info needed to share with the bank/lender. My business will be a same, home-based antique shop from my attached barn, about 300sf. My products will be bought directly from auctions I attend, repricing for profit sales with 50% to 400% mark-up. Can you please assist? Thank you!
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This is where checking out your local resources is key. Small Business Development Centers or even business consultants, offline or in person, are great places to start when you’re stuck or need assistance with your financials.
does a start up business plan need graphs and charts, since all the information is going to be projections and not real life data?
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William,
Charts and graphs are not required, but they’re extremely handy to help the person reading your business plan to get a quick snapshot of the financial detail. When faced with a spreadsheet vs a pie chart of information, the chart is always going to be easier to digest.
The caveat being, this is a preference and extremely subjective.
I’ve been struggling to come up with a perfect business plan for an outdoor catering service, hopefully with this outline, I could actually get something going..
Hi,
you are doing a great job, keep it up. Our generation needs such information in the fight against poverty and joblessness. I strongly belief that several lives will be positively impacted through this site.
I am planning to audition for Dragons’ Den and I need some sort of business plan. I am a nurse. I have an idea for Christmas lights…to make them easy and quick to put up as well as easy to take down and store. They could be used year round in the yard, patio. So…I have an Invention and I am unsure of the next step. I do have a patent – pending. I also have a digital creation of the lights but I do not have a prototype. What should my next step be?
Cool post, Building a solid business plan puts all your thoughts and ideas down on paper instead of just trying to keep them in your head. I wouldn’t have been able to build my business without a business plan.
i bought business plan pro.im not that good on a computor but i wrote a bplan and it was a eye opening experiance.it open my mind up to things i had not considered and it gave me a better understanding of what i was getting into . At the end i had a much better picture of what a good plan i had. my problem is getting someone to reveiw it for me to be sure it is good enough to get a grant,and where can i get a grant. lots of scams out there!
great stuff,it helped me a lot with this huge business plan assignment i’m doing right now.keep the good work up
The outline was of great assistance! hit two birds with one stone, my college assignment and presentation of my ideas to seek capital!
I have been struggling to write business plans but thanks to you I find it easy now when writing it.
Thank u so much for the information . I am so challenged , to write a business plan . We are getting graded in my Entrepreneurship class , we are to have a business plan . You helped me to be more confident . Thank u again .
Thank you for your not only informative but very educative and insipiring site. For sometime now I’ve been struggling to put together my business plan for possible funding but with the tips from your site I’m confident that I’m going to make it. I would suggest the tips are available in printable format.
Thank you
Thanks very much for giving these tips on bplanning and marketing strategy. l’m Graphic Designer and will like to startup my own business when l finish my University education.
To me, you have demystified business plan writing. Good show keep it up
This website is great help. Have benefited greatly. Thanks to all the people funding and working. Franklin
this is an amazing site keep up the phenomenal work!
This is a site that has rely help my research on how to write a business plan.
Thanks .
this website is a great help in making my business plan,,, “,)
This site is amazing. Thank you. You really helped me out. Continue your doing good works.
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