How to Write a Business Plan: A General

Overview
As the mastermind of your small business, you probably have all the ideas in your head about how to
make your business into a thriving, successful company. However, there are often many obstacles
and bumps along the road to success. The best way to face those issues head-on is with a well-
developed business plan.

By taking the time to write a business plan, you’ll have an informational document to refer back to as
often as necessary as your business progresses. Plus, if you’re planning to raise money from
investors or small business lenders, a business plan is essential.

With this in mind, let’s get started with our guide on how to write a business plan, beginning with the
basics:

What Is a Business Plan?

Ultimately, a business plan is a strategic map. It lays out where you and your business currently stand
today—your resources, abilities, and goals—and maps out where you will be in the future and how
you’ll get there. You can also think of it this way: A business plan shows how you’ll get from point A to
point B in three to five years.

Although the general gist of a business plan is relatively straightforward, writing a business plan isn’t
quite so simple. To explain how you’ll get from point A to point B—effectively, concisely, and
convincingly—you’ll have to take a detailed look into the small business marketing, organizational,
and financing strategies for your company.

Initial Steps to Take When Writing a Business Plan

Therefore, before we dive into the deep, more thorough steps involved with writing a business plan,
there are a few initial steps you can take to make the process easier.
 First, you can do some research regarding different business plan templates and get a sense of what
type of business plan you want to write for your company. Although there is a relatively standard
process, as we’ll discuss shortly, for how to write a business plan, you may also decide to opt for a
more industry-specific business plan, or, if you need to expedite the process, you might choose to
write your business plan in what the SBA calls a “lean” or “startup” format.

According to Deborah Sweeney, CEO of MyCorporation, a lean business plan can be about a page
long and cover key areas such as your business’s value proposition, key partnerships, customer
segments and channels, and revenue streams. This format may not be sufficient if you need to
present your business plan to lenders or investors, but it can be an efficient format to use if you’re
short on time or if you think you’ll be changing your business plan frequently.

Secondly, you can decide if you want to use business plan software. Business plan software can give
you guided and structured assistance with writing your business plan. This software will also likely
include examples of business plan templates for you to consult. On the other hand, you may choose
to simply write your business plan using an easily editable writing tool like Google Docs.

Finally, before you get started writing your business plan, you’ll want to keep in mind two important
pointers that will be crucial to your development process:

 Keep it around 30 to 50 pages – The SBA suggests that a business plan should be 30 to 50 pages
long—anything longer won’t get read by potential lenders and investors, and anything shorter likely
isn’t comprehensive enough.
 Tailor it to your audience – Although you only need to write one business plan, you might need to
adapt the master version slightly based on who’s reading it. For instance, lenders will be most
interested in financial projections, and therefore, the copy for lenders might be adjusted slightly to
highlight these projections. On the other hand, investors might place more emphasis on your product,
service, and marketing plans, and your copy for them should reflect this. This being said, you may
decide to create one master version of your business plan, duplicate it, and label each copy based on
the intended audience.
How to Write a Business Plan: A Step-by-Step
Guide
Now that we’ve discussed these initial steps, you’re ready to start actually writing and putting your
business plan together. Although your business plan and the process you go through to create it will
be unique, there are a set of traditional steps you can follow to tackle this project. Generally, a
business plan can be broken into eight core sections. The best way to approach these sections,
especially if this is your first time writing a business plan, is to take each section as a step to walk
through one at a time.

Max Babych, CEO at SpdLoad, agrees with this approach on how to write a business plan, saying:
“A business plan can simply be considered as answers to a number of questions. Try to answer only
a few questions at a time. Preparing a small part of a business plan at a time is easier than locking
yourself in your office for several weeks to complete the job immediately and completely.”
 Then, once you’ve completed each section, step by step, your end result will be a comprehensive
analysis of your company, as it is now and as you hope it will be in the future. Let’s dive into the
details.

Step 1. Create Your Executive Summary

The first step you’ll want to take when writing a business plan is to create your executive summary.
This executive summary will be the first chapter in your business plan—it will explain what your
business does, where your business currently stands, where you want to take your business in three
to five years, and why you’ll be successful.

Although this seems like a significant amount of information, the executive summary doesn’t need to
be more than one or two pages in length. However, just because this is a short section of your
business plan doesn’t mean it’s unimportant. In fact, it might be the most important part of your
business plan. Some investors might only ask for your executive summary when deciding whether to
work with your business—so you’ll want to ensure that it can stand on its own.

So, how do you include all the necessary information about your business, while also keeping to a
one or two-page maximum?

First, you can keep in mind that any information that doesn’t answer the “what, where, and why”
questions we listed above shouldn’t be in your executive summary. Second, you can make this step
of your business plan simpler by sticking to the following six pieces of information, as recommended
by the SBA:

 Mission statement: In no more than a paragraph, explain what your business is and the overarching
goals you have.
 General company information: State when your business was formed, the name of any founders
and their roles, the number of employees, and any locations.
 Highlights: Next, include examples (with graphs and charts) of any growth you’ve seen since starting
the business. This could be financial market highlights or key milestones of the business. You should
think of this part of your executive summary as evidence supporting why you’ll be successful. If you’re
a startup, you might not have any numbers to show here. If that’s the case, give information on your
experiences and highlights from your past endeavors.
 Products and services: Briefly describe what you actually sell, and who you sell it to. If you don’t
have a product just yet, describe your plans for your product offering.
 Financial information: If you’re looking for business financing, you’ll want to include your funding
goals at the end of your executive summary. Be sure to include any information about banks or
lenders you’ve worked with so far.
 Future plans: Summarize where you’re planning on taking your business in the future.

Remember—although it may seem extensive, this is first and foremost, a summary, so you’ll want to
keep it short and sweet. At this point, you still have seven steps left to complete, so you’ll have plenty
of time to get into the details later. With this first step, you’re showing readers what they’re getting
into. However, it’s also important to remember that as the first step—and a brief one—every word of
your executive summary counts. If you haven’t put enough thought into your business plan, it will
show.

As a pro tip, if you’re struggling with writing your executive summary right off the bat, try working on
it after you’re done writing your business plan from start to finish—that way, you’ll have a solid grasp
of the details and will be better equipped to summarize them.

Step 2. Add Your Company Overview

The second step you’ll want to take when writing a business plan is to add your company overview.
Although this step may sound similar to what you just wrote in the executive summary, the company
overview is a top-level look into the structure of your business and what you do.

When writing your company overview, therefore, you can think about breaking it down like this:

 What does your business do: Start your company overview section with a few sentences describing
what your business does. You can think of this part as your elevator pitch in writing. The first piece of
your company overview is intended to give readers and investors a general sense of your business.
 Industry and marketplace of your business: Next, you’ll want to explain the nature of the industry
and marketplace that your business services. Where do you fit in? What is the need that your
business is specifically serving, and how do you meet that need? Again, your explanation of your
marketplace offering should be brief and concise.
 The legal structure of your business: Once you’ve given your elevator pitch and explained your
value proposition, you’ll want to describe the legal structure of your business. Are you an S-Corp or
C-Corp, or LLC? Be sure to explain what kind of business entity your company is and provide an
overview of your ownership structure as well.

Remember, just like the executive summary, you’ll want to keep your company overview short—
again, this isn’t the section to dive deep into the details. Essentially, a business plan’s company
overview gives a quick—but catchy—pitch about what you do, who you serve, and why you’ll be able
to serve them. Plus, this section also includes a brief look into the existing legal and ownership
structure of your business so potential investors know what they’re getting into.

Step 3. Perform Your Market Analysis

Moving further along describing the process of how to write a business plan, your next step is to
perform an in-depth analysis of your industry, market, and competitors. Whereas the first two sections
were high-level overviews, this section is where you’ll start to get into the details.

The purpose of the market analysis section is to allow readers and investors to come away feeling
confident that you, the business owner, have a solid understanding of the dynamics of your industry,
market, and competitors.

To display this understanding, your market analysis should include the following sections:

 Industry description: Give the reader a look into your industry. Describe how big it is, how it’s grown
in the past, how industry leaders predict it will grow in the future, and other important trends and
characteristics. Then, list out the important players in your industry.
 Target market overview: You’ve looked at your industry as a whole, now you’ll want to zoom into
discussing your target market.
 Target market characteristics: Who are the customers in your target market, and what are their
needs? Who is currently trying to serve those needs? Where is your target market located? What’s
the key demographic you’re serving? These are the questions you should be answering as you give
in-depth information on your target market.
 Target market size and growth: You should also give readers a look into how big your target market
is. Try to give as much data as possible into how your target market makes purchases in the overall
 industry—how many, how often, and at what time of the year. Once you’ve looked into the current
state of your target market, give a sense of the projected growth of your market. You can reference
the SBA’s guide for more information on how to conduct market research to get these numbers.
 Your market share potential: Now that you know what your target market looks like without you,
what will it look like with you? How much market share do you expect to gain in your targeted
geographic area?
 Market pricing: By conducting this market research, you can give the best estimate of where you
should be pricing your products, how you should distribute your product, and how you can get ahead
with promotional strategies.
 Barriers: Be sure to include any barriers to market entry you might come across. This might be
regulation, changing technology, high investment outlays, or lack of personnel in the area.
 Competitor research: Now that you’ve looked into your target market as a whole, you can narrow in
on your top competitors. Look at their market share, strengths and weaknesses, any barriers they
present, partnerships, and so on.

Due to the data, research, and amount of information involved in this section, when you’re writing a
business plan, this step may very well take the longest. However, as such a crucial piece to your
overall business plan, you’ll want to be sure it contains all the necessary details, is well-researched,
and will show readers that you’re knowledgable about your specific market and your business’s role
in that market.

When we talked to business owner Athan Slotkin, about his top tips on how to write a business plan,
he highlighted the importance of this section: “You need to clearly spell out the logic for why you are
attacking a market opportunity in a certain way—part of that is derived from customers’ needs—and
the other part from the fact that your competitors aren’t meeting these needs. Help your audience see
what you see.”
Step 4. Define Your Business’s Organization

What’s the next step in our how to write a business plan guide? Defining your business’s organization
and management structure.

This section explains who does what in your business, what everyone’s background is, and what their
past experiences bring to the team.

Here’s what you need to break down:

 Organizational structure: Before you dive into the details of each stakeholder, explain where they fit
into the whole picture. The start of this section should include an organizational chart showing how
your business is structured. This will illustrate that you know who is managing what aspect of your
business.
 Ownership structure: You’ve mentioned this before in your company overview, but here, you should
go into a little more depth on how your company is legally structured. Explain who owns what, and
how much they own.
 Background of owners and board of directors: Next, explain the background of your team,
managers, partners, and board of directors. These backgrounds will prove to potential investors that
you’ve surrounded yourself with individuals who can and will make your business a success. There’s
a substantial amount of information to include here, so you may want to refer to the organization
section of the SBA’s how to write a business plan guide when completing this part.
 Hiring need: If your team isn’t that big right now, you’ll probably need to expand in the future. List out
any key hires you’ll need to make in order to achieve your goals.

Step 5. Lay out Your Products and Services

After you’ve described your business’s organizational structure, it’s time to dive into the product or
service your business provides. With this step, your goal is to lay out your plans for positioning your
product.

When writing a business plan, you can start off this part by describing your service or product and
who it’s intended for. What need does it specifically fulfill?

To break this down further, here’s exactly what this section should contain:

 A general description of your product or service: Include the details of your product here, and
highlight what makes your product or service stand out. Be sure to speak toward how your product
serves the needs of your customers and how it’s different than your competitors. This is all about
framing the problem as well as the solution your business is offering.
 Current status of products: Explain where your offering currently stands. Is it just in the idea stage
or do you have a final product ready to go to market? Give a realistic and honest picture of how
developed your core product or service is.
 Product development research and goals: If your product is still in the ideation or creation phase,
describe how you’ll bring it to a finalized product. What research and development activities need to
be done before you get to market? Also, if you have any plans for future products you’d like to
research and develop, note them here.
 Intellectual property: This mostly applies to technology or scientific companies, but if you
have intellectual property that is proprietary to your business and is crucial for your success, you
should explain that in your product development section. Note if you have patents or are in the patent
application process.
 Sourcing and fulfillment: Do you rely on other vendors to provide your product or service? If so, be
sure to make that clear when you’re writing a business plan. Include information about where any
inventory or materials are coming from, how you receive them, and how often you need fulfillment.

Ultimately, this is the section of your business plan reserved for letting the core of your business—
your product or service—shine.

Step 6. Explain Your Marketing and Sales Plan

Now that you’ve given all the crucial details of your core product offering, the next step in writing a
business plan is to explain how you’ll market and sell your product or service.

Let’s start with the marketing side. How will you create customers and get them interested in your
business?

In general, here’s what the marketing part of this section might look like:

 Positioning: The first part of your marketing plan covers how you’re positioning your business and
products. The way you position your brand determines how customers find and interact with you. Are
you a free service? Or the service that can guarantee quality? This is what makes you stand out
against your competitors in a branding sense.
 Promotion: After you’ve explained how you’ll uniquely position yourself, now explain where you’ll get
the word out and how you’ll reach your customers. This involves any plans you have for packaging
your product, advertising the product (online or in traditional media sources), dealing with public
relations, or engaging in content marketing practices.
 Once you have a marketing framework explained, now dive into your sales plan:

 Sales force: Describe who will be selling your product. Do you need a sales force? If so, how big
does your sales team need to be? Who will train your sales force? Now’s the time for you to put on
the hat of a chief sales officer.
 Selling strategy: Give an overview of how you will sell your product or service. Will your team be
cold-calling potential customers? Or attend sales meetings in person? This is how you’ll start and
close the deal. Be sure to describe what the sales funnel looks like for your business.

Although you might not know exactly how your sales and marketing will play out just yet, or which
channels will be most successful for you, you’ll nevertheless want to give a clear and concise
overview of how you plan on selling your product.

As Phil Strazzulla, founder of SelectSoftware, told us with regard to his top tip for how to write a
business plan: “The most important part of any business plan is listing the key hypothesis that need to
be proven for the new venture to work, as well as the tests that will be run to prove or disprove these
hypotheses.” Therefore, as your business progresses and can test your sales and marketing
hypothesis and as you learn more, you can come back to this section and change or adjust
information as necessary.

Step 7. Detail Your Financial Plan and Projections

Although this section comes at the end of your business plan, it can be the most important part of the
entire document. With this step, therefore, you’ll detail your financial plan and projections—giving a
look into the current state of your finances and mapping out where you’d like to be financially in the
future.

If you’ve been in business for a little while now, you’ll use financial data from past performance in this
section. If you have previous data to show, you should include the following financial statements:

 Income statements
 Cash flow statements
 Balance sheets
 Accounts receivable statements (if applicable)
 Accounts payable statements (if applicable)
 Documentation of debt obligations (if applicable)

Even if you don’t have any previous financial data from your company, you need to include financial
projections in this section. Financial projections are either supported by your past data, or they’re
determined by research and analysis on the industry and your top competitors.

This being said, when you’re forecasting your business’s financials, you’ll want to include these
essential documents:

 Statements of projected income

 Cash flow forecasts
 Balance statements
 Capital expenditure budgets

Typically, a thorough business plan has financial projections for the first 12 months of business, but
also takes a longer outlook and illustrates a plan for the next three to five years. To get into all of the
details involved with creating a financial projection, you might decide to consult a business
accountant or other financial advisor.

The last part of your financial plan should include any funding needs your business has or will have in
the future.

Whether you plan to get funding through equity financing with angel investors or venture capital firms,
or through debt financing with small business loans, here’s what you need to include in a funding
request:

 The funding amount you need right now

 Any funding you’ll need in the future
 The purpose and impact of the funds (working capital, equipment purchases, franchising fees,
acquiring a business, etc.)

With this piece of your financial plan, a potential investor reading your business plan will be able to
determine exactly how any financial contributions they make will impact the business.
Finally, as the SBA reminds us in their guide on how to write a business plan, this is also the section
where you’ll want to include graphs and charts to visually illustrate your business’s current financial
situation and plans for the future.

Step 8. Add an Appendix

When you look at all of the steps involved in how to write a business plan, this final step may seem
inconsequential—however, that’s not the case. Although the appendix will be at the very end of your
business plan, it will also hold all of the supporting information you didn’t include thus far in your
document.

Specifically, if you have any additional data points, charts, footnotes, or further explanations that are
essential to creating a complete business plan, you’ll include those in the appendix. You might also
add any contracts, legal documents, permits, and product pictures in this section.

Moreover, the appendix is also a great place to insert your own resume and resumes of any key
members of your management team—that way your readers can refer to the appendix if they need
more—but aren’t distracted by long text explanations or confusing numbers while parsing through the
plan.

As small business expert and consultant Sophia Sunwoo explained to us with regard to how to write a
business plan: “Remember that you are telling a story of your unique vision. There’s nothing more
disruptive to a great story than a bunch of tables, graphs, historical context, and images that snap the
reader out of the world your story is creating. Any additional information that is ‘nice to have’ but not
completely aligned with the core purpose of the business plan should be pushed to the Appendix,
where the reader can choose to digest this additional information at will.”

Logistically, therefore, the appendix should begin with a table of contents that breaks down the
sections of your business plan, followed by the additional information that corresponds to each
section.
Writing a Business Plan: Examples to Reference
Now that we’ve gone through our step-by-step guide on how to write a business plan, let’s discuss
some examples.

Sometimes, the best way to get inspiration for writing a business plan is to see examples from other
businesses. One of the benefits, therefore, of using business plan software is that most of these
platforms include a library of business plan samples representing a range of industries. However,
 even if you don’t use business plan software, there are numerous examples you can research and
find from different resources online.

Here are a few examples showing how to write a business plan for particular, popular industries:

 Restaurant business plan sample

 Software company business plan sample
 Retail store business plan sample
 Ecommerce store business plan sample
 Real estate business plan sample

Or, if you want to look at a business plan example that’s not industry-specific, you can also download
Fundera’s own business plan template here.

Even if you use these or another online template as a starting point, you’ll always want to seek input
from business partners, management, key employees, and industry experts when writing a business
plan. Although you ultimately might be the one who’s actually putting the words on paper, writing a
business plan is a team effort. After all, your team members might know certain parts of the business
better than you—by talking to them, you’ll make sure you hit all the key points in your business plan.

How to Write a Business Plan: The Bottom Line

There you have it—as we’ve broken down our eight sections, step-by-step, you now know how to
write a business plan. Plus, you not only know how to write a business plan, but how to write one
that’s complete, comprehensive, and hopefully, effective.

As we mentioned earlier, although writing a business plan might seem overwhelming at first, it can be
much more manageable if you take it one step at a time. After all, this is going to be the roadmap that
your business uses and continues to refer to as you progress, and therefore, you should make sure
that you give it the time and attention it needs.

This being said, the best place to start is to thoroughly research your industry, competitors, and
financials so that you’ll have the bulk of information you’ll need to reference and include in your
business plan available as sit down to write it.
 Finally, if all else fails, you can remember these three tips with regard to how to write a business plan:

 Be efficient and concise: When you’re writing a business plan, think word economy. Every sentence
and section should be written in the most concise way possible.
 Keep your audience in mind: You know the terms and acronyms that are related to your industry
and business, but your readers don’t necessarily. Make sure all the information is easily digestible by
your target audience. Again, you might decide to create different versions of your master document
and edit each one for a specific audience.
 You don’t need to go it alone: Plenty of software tools exist to help business owners through the
task of writing a business plan. Plus, you should always feel free to consult your fellow business
owners, members of your team, and other business experts for their tips and advice regarding how to
write a business plan.