We’re dedicated to giving our readers the most relevant and useful information on how to start a business. For the past 15 years, Bplans has been one of the top small business resources for entrepreneurs and business owners all over the world.

More than a million people visit us each month looking for business planning and small business management advice, and more than 100,000 of our readers subscribe to our weekly and daily email newsletters.

What we’re looking for from you and your writing

We’re always looking for new contributors to Bplans. Here is what we’re looking for in a guest author.

Expertise

You are the expert on your topic and your writing subtly proves it. If you’re not the expert, you reach out to one directly to leverage their expertise. You need to source and give credit for ideas and statistics that aren’t your own.

Solid writing

You can craft an interesting, well-organized argument and back it up with data and personal anecdotes. Your take on the subject is surprising and refreshing—it’s not the typical, generic, run-of-the-mill advice on a topic. Tip: Use the search function on Bplans to take a look at what’s already been published.

An educational aim

Your article should provide useful and tested information and advice for entrepreneurs. We’re not a platform for marketing products or services. We don’t allow spammy backlinks (such as linking keywords like “business construction software” to your website that sells business construction software) and we won’t allow any blatant advertising.

We would be happy to link to your company website in your author bio and will consider inline links within the article as long as they provide value for our readers.

You know who you’re talking to

Our readers are in the early stages of starting a business and are looking to grow. Some of them are students taking business classes looking for resources to help them do their assignments.

The right voice and tone

Our readers are smart. We want even the most serious, high-stakes parts of starting a business to feel straightforward and approachable. Our voice is human and friendly, and we keep our language plain and simple. We strive to be informal and positive, but also authoritative. 

Planet Money, an NPR podcast, does for economics what Bplans wants to do for small business: make complex topics easy to understand and even fun.

Here’s an article we like: How to Use Growth Hacking to Increase Revenue 20x in Just 12 Months. This author incorporates his own experience, sites sources, and avoids jargon. It all works together to leave the reader with the sense that they might be able to actually use some of the advice to grow their revenue.

Note: If your pitch is accepted by our editorial team, we will provide a version of our voice, tone, and writing guidelines for reference.

Pitch topics we’re looking for

While we will consider all topics related to small business operations, the following are more likely to be accepted:

  • Coming up with business ideas (and inspiration), and figuring out how to test and validate those ideas.
  • Creating business plans that are functional and useful—living documents that help businesses be nimble and accountable.
  • Pitching business ideas to investors.
  • Understanding business plan financials.
  • Funding a business and getting investments.
  • Marketing best practices for small business owners (Digital, SEO, copywriting, etc.).
  • Industry trends, technology, and best practices.

Please keep in mind that we are looking for writers that specialize on a given topic. If your writing samples and experience do not line up with the topics you are submitting, we are less likely to accept your submission.

How to submit a pitch:

To submit a pitch for an article you’d like to write, email editor@bplans.com with the following information. Please know that if any pitches are submitted without all of the following information, it will not be considered.

  • Full name
  • Qualifications and experience: Provide a brief summary of your professional experience, and any supporting material, as it relates to the topic you are pitching.
  • Links to work samples: Provide references to 2-3 previously published articles. A portfolio or active personal website can supplement this.
  • Article pitch summary: Provide a 1-paragraph summary of the topic you are pitching and a rough outline (a bulleted list of headings is enough) that demonstrates how you will cover it. Please only pitch two topics maximum.
  • Author Bio: 2-4 sentences
  • Twitter and/or LinkedIn profile (Optional)

Be specific. Tell us how your article will be different from all the other articles on a topic. If we are interested, we will reach out to you to share our full editorial guidelines and ask for a draft. 

Before filling out the pitch form, please review the Palo Alto Software Guest Author Agreement.