Ask any successful sports coach how they win so many games and they will tell you that they have a unique plan for every single game they coach. To have a chance against one of their opponents, they need to create a specific game plan tailored to their opponents’ strengths and weaknesses. Otherwise, they will be crushed.
The same logic applies to business. If you want to build a thriving business that can differentiate yourself from the competition, you need to prepare for the battle before entering any market. Because companies that find gaps in their business model will quickly learn to close these gaps and solve your customers’ problems better than you.
The business world is fast moving and there are many ambitious companies out there trying to capture most of their industry’s market share. How are you? Writing a workable business plan and following it religiously is one of the most important first steps.
Business plans lead you on the rocky road to growing a company. Referring to a reference during your journey will keep you on the path to success. And if your business plan is convincing enough, it can also convince investors to fund you.
But how do you actually write a viable and convincing business plan?
Below, let’s review the format of a business plan and create examples of business plans that you can use to inspire your own.
Business plan format
Before you begin your business plan, you may be asking yourself: “Where do I start? How do I format this?”
Typically, a business plan is a document detailing how a company will achieve its goals.
Most business plans include the following sections:
- Summary: This section provides an overview of the company, your unique value proposition, and a team overview.
- Market opportunity: Here you describe the market opportunity. Where is the void in the current industry and how will your product fill that void?
- Key Features and Benefits: At some point in your business plan, you will review the key features and benefits of your products and / or services.
- Pricing and Revenue: This is where you discuss your cost structure and various sources of income.
- Audience: This section details who your customer segments are. What is your audience’s demographic and psychographic information?
- Marketing strategy: Here you discuss how you can win new customers with your marketing strategy.
- Competitive Landscape: Find out who the top competitors are here.
- Finances: This is where you will detail the financial resources required and discuss investment opportunities.
While some business plans may have more or less information, these are the key details that you will want to include.
Note that each of these sections is formatted differently. Some can be in paragraph format while others are in charts.
Now that you know what’s included and how to format a business plan, let’s look at a few templates.
Sample business plan templates
1. HubSpot’s unilateral business plan
The business plan linked above was created here at HubSpot and is perfect for companies of all sizes – regardless of how much strategy they still have to develop.
This one-sided business plan includes fields such as company description, required funding, and timeline for implementation, and provides a framework for companies to build their brand and the tasks they must follow as they grow. As the business matures, it can expand its original business plan with a new iteration of the above document.
2nd The downloadable business plan template from HubSpot
We made one Business plan template for entrepreneurs.
Download a free, editable version.page Business plan template.
The template serves as a guide and checklist for starting your own business so that you can learn what to include in each section of your business plan and how to do it. There’s also a list to check off once you’ve completed each section of your business plan.
Strong fixtures help coaches win games and help companies get to the top of their industries. So if you invest the time and effort it takes to create a viable and compelling business plan, you will increase your chances of success and even your dominance in your market.
3. Sample business plan from ThoughtCo
If you want to refer to an actual business plan when writing your own business plan, ThoughtCo is the place for you. They started a fictional company called Acme Management Technology and wrote a full business plan for it.
Using the sample business plan as a guide as you fill out your own will allow you to capture small but important details and include in your business plan that you might not otherwise have noticed.
4th BPlans free business plan template
BPlan’s free business plan template is one of the more financially focused sample business plans on this list. She devotes many of her pages to your company’s financial plan and financial statements.
After you’ve completed this business plan, your company will truly understand its financial health and the steps you need to take to maintain or improve it.
5. Harvard Business Reviews “How Do I Write a Successful Business Plan?”
Most of the sample business plans tell you what to include in your business plan. However, this Harvard Business Review article takes your business plan to the next level. He’ll show you why and how to create a business plan.
Under the direction of Stanley Rich and Richard Gumpert, co-authors of Successful Business Plans: Lessons from the MIT Enterprise ForumYou will learn how to create a compelling business plan that highlights market demand for your product or service and the financial benefits investors can get from putting money into your business rather than trying to sell it to see how your product or service is good.
6. HubSpot’s Complete Guide to Starting a Business
If you are an entrepreneur you know that writing a business plan is one of the toughest first steps in starting a business. Fortunately, HubSpot’s comprehensive guide to starting a business will teach you how to map out all the details of your business by understanding what to include in your business plan and why it is important to include them. The guide will also create a complete business plan for you.
If you need more guidance on starting a business, the HubSpot guide can help you learn how to legalize your business, choose and register your business name, fund your business, provide information about small business tax, and provide marketing, sales, and service tips.
7. The free business plan template from Panda Doc
Panda Doc’s free business plan template is one of the more detailed and detailed sample business plans on this list. It describes what to include in each section so that you don’t have to invent everything from scratch.
Once filled in, you will fully understand the key details of your business and how all the moving parts should work together to make your business successful.
8th. Free business plan template for small business management
The Small Business Administration offers several free business plan templates that you can use to create your own plan. Before you get started, it’s up to you to decide what type of business plan you need – traditional or lean startup plan.
You can then review the format for both plans and see examples of what they might look like.
9. Culina sample business plan
Culina’s sample business plan is a great template if you just want to fill in your information. You can also use this template as a guide as you gather key details. After looking at this example, you will have a better understanding of the data and research you need to do for your own business plan.
10th Plum Sample Business Plan
This is one of my favorite business plans as you can see how implementing graphics can help tell your brand’s story. The images in this template are up to date, which makes sense for an innovative company like Plum. When creating your own business plan, make sure that the images and designs you use make sense for your branding.
Additionally, the included financial charts are incredibly helpful when you are unsure of what financial information to include.
11. LiveShopBuy sample business plan
With this business plan, the focus is on the investment opportunity. This is a great template if you want to use your business plan as a means of obtaining funding. The investment opportunities section is at the very front and is several pages long. The plan then goes into more detail on the industry analysis of the company synopsis.
The first time you start your business plan it can be daunting. Because of this, it is important that you understand the format and information that you want to include. You can then use a template to guide your process.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in November 2018 and has been updated for completeness.