HOW TO WRITE A BUSINESS PLAN

Business Plan Template

Executive Summary

Summary of all the key points of your business plan – This section should be done last. This should not exceed 2 pages.

Business Description

Provide an overview about your business, idea or concept etc.

Value Proposition

What is the USP of your idea/concept/ service/ etc (i.e. makes it better than anything else). This should not be price, as you will have difficulties defending this.

Industry Analysis

What are the dynamics of the industry ? What is the trend? What are the customers demographics- age, location, education, income, sex, preferences etc. The more detail you have the better your chances of success.

Competition

Who are the competitors? How much market share do they  capture? Are there any other

companies, parties, etc that could be competitors.

Even if there are no “direct” competitors, there will ALWAYS be some that are close.

Marketing Strategies

How will you get your product into the marketplace? Think of non-conventional (viral

marketing) methods that are cheaper than traditional (TV, radio, print) and have a higher

impact like online advestising, Social media marketing to create a customer base and apread awareness.

Barriers to Entry

What are the barriers to entry? Whether your industry has High or Low barrier to entry ? Regulations, monopoly or lobbies if any. Also how will you setup your own barriers to entry for other potential entrants into the marketplace?

Distribution Channel

How will you get your product / service to the intended market?

Team Summary

Often this can be the most important part of your business plan as investors want to see

who else believes in the idea and the experience of your team in the various areas

(technical, business, commercialisation, etc.)

  

SWOT Analysis

Strengths, Opportunities,Weaknesses,Threats

This section deals with the conditions in which your product /service operates. Strengths

and weaknesses are internal (team, company, product), whereas opportunities and threats

are external (market place, trends, etc)

Financial Analysis

Insert all the financial aspects about your product in here. Cash flow, income statements,

balance sheet, as well as start-up income required. This is arguably the most important

part of your business plan, spend plenty of time on this and be able to justify any

assumptions.

Critical Success Factors

What needs to be achieved that will enhance chances of success? Also insert the

possibility of these things happening

Exit Strategies

How will you (or any investors) exit out of this project (if you want to) and make

excellent return or to move onto your next “big idea”?

Future Developments

What are the future plans for your product / service (if any)?

Appendices

Include any additional information here that may not fit into the sections above (quotes,

recommendations, statistics, etc)

extract-businessinsider