Business Plan Overview
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Be concise
A business plan is the cornerstone of your company, but that doesn't mean it has to be a tome. In fact, the best business plans take only 20 pages or so to provide concise descriptions of the company, the product or service, the unique value proposition, the market opportunity, the market challenges, and other relevant information.
- Executive summary
- Company purpose and objectives
- Market description and analysis
- Description of products/services
- Product plan/strategy
- Marketing/sales strategy and deployment
- Organizational structure
- Overview and analysis of competition
- Resumes for key management
- Historical & projected three-year financials
- Financing requirements and use of funds
Pay attention to the executive summary
The executive summary is one of the most important—and most challenging—components of your business plan. It should also be the last part of the plan you write.
Try and keep your executive summary to four pages or fewer. Here are key elements to consider:
- Definition of your market opportunity
- Brief overview of your product or service and a description of its unique selling proposition
- Date the business was founded
- Names, roles and backgrounds of key employees and advisors
- Overview of the company potential including financial, market, product/service and organizational growth projections
- Overview of future plans
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