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Business Plan Template

Used 10,558 times

Reviewed by Yauhen Zaremba

This business plan template is a great tool for your startup to customize to reflect your strong qualifications, experienced team, and marketable business idea.

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Business Plan

1. executive summary.

The Executive Summary is where you explain the general idea behind your company; it’s where you give the reader (most likely an investor, or someone else you need on board) a clear indication of why you’ve sent this Business Plan to them. This is a souped-up “elevator pitch,” a couple of pages that summarizes what your business is all about.

Note that, while the entire Business Plan should be well-written, this section must really demonstrate excellent composition and grammar. This is the first part of your Business Plan that anyone will read, so it’s important that it really “sing.”

The header section of the Executive Summary can benefit from flexible treatment, as well. You can use a company logo, or any other design you’d like, but you want to be sure you include the name of your business, right at the start of the Business Plan.

In the Business Plan section, you will want to get the reader’s attention by letting them know what you do. Try to answer some (or all) of the following questions:

• What products or services do you offer?
• What sector do you operate within?
• Who is your target audience?
• What is the future outlook of the marketplace?
• What makes your offer unique?
• Who’s the boss?
• Why did your company start?

The Executive Summary is the place to succinctly describe your business. It’s also appropriate to address why you’ve created your proposal, answering questions like these, briefly, in addition to those above:

• Do you need investment?
• How much money do you need?
• What is the money to be used for?
• How will your business become profitable?
• What’s in it for the recipient?

The last question is perhaps the most important. Already, only having read as far into your business plan as the Executive Summary, your reader is wondering “what’s in it for me?” And your challenge is to offer them a preview (remember this is a “summary”) of the benefits of accepting your business plan, while not giving away the whole story.

2. Business Description

This next section gives all the must-have details about your business. Here you are looking to answer questions like “when did you start?”; “Why?”; “By whom?”

This is the place for your “origin story.” This section should be just as well-written as the Executive Summary, of course. What is your interest in the market? How’d you get to this point?

As you can tell, the Business Description section amounts to backstory – and that’s essential to any Business Plan.

This is where you tell them where you’re coming from, before you get to “why” you’re in need of an investment, in a nutshell.

3. Mission Statement

The Mission Statement section of your Business Plan expands on some of what you talked about in the Executive Summary.

Here are the major points you will want to make in the Mission Statement.

Explain the end-result you seek from the business venture. Connect it to your customers and readers, in turn.

B) Objectives

Explain the steps you will take to reach your goal. Be specific; demonstrate that you have a good idea of what it will realistically take to achieve your goals.

C) Customers

Your target audience has to be well-defined. Here you need to explain exactly who your customer is. You should define your customer as specifically as possible. Is your customer the 18-24 year old customer base? How about the 18 -24 year old music consumers, as an example? Describe them to the finest level of detail possible.

D) Industry

Why is your niche attractive? Is your industry growing? Will you shake it up with your offer? Are you a disruptor? Explain thoroughly in this section.

E) Strengths

Here you want to outline what makes your company special. Answer why your business is different from the rest of the competition. Who’s on your team? The best tip we’ve got is: investors love a top-notch team.

F) Status of Ownership

Here you want to tell your prospective investors the legal status of your company. Is it a limited liability company (LLC)? Is it a sole proprietorship, or partnership? Whatever the case may be, you’ll want to explain it to your prospect.

4. Products and Services

This section is extremely important to a successful Business Plan. This is where you describe what it is that you have to offer the world.

Be sure to include:

• Detailed descriptions of your Products and/or Services. Feel free to include pictures, as you deem appropriate. Don’t forget to add the pricing and/or fees.
• Next, you’ll want to spend some time extolling the features and benefits of your products and/or services. Break it down. Remember that customers love benefits, and prospective investors want to know that you understand those benefits.

The Products/Services you offer are the core of your business. You really can’t afford to omit anything relevant here. Your prospective investor will surely want to know what you have to offer, and they’ll want to know enough about those things to be able to believe in them.

5. Marketing Plan

The Marketing Plan is one of the most essential parts of your Business Plan; marketing is the thing that brings your business to its audience.

The first thing to do in the Marketing Plan section is to prove that you know your target audience. Put the research, market analyses, and industry knowledge that you possess to work in this section. You are illustrating to your recipient that you know your audience better than anyone, and that makes yours the ideal business to serve the audience.

This section can be broken into six distinct parts, as follows:

• Clearly define and explain your target audience
• Briefly describe your competition – particularly what makes you better at what you do than them
• Detail your niche. What particular area of your industry to you fit? Where do you squeeze in, in light of the innovation?
• List your distribution channels.
• Describe how you will promote the business. What media outlets will you use for advertisement? How much is your marketing budget? Your prospective investor will surely want to know.
• State your image or message. How will you present your business to the public? Tell your reader how your customers will see your business.

The Marketing Plan is essential. Make sure you give it plenty of attention, in your Business Plan.

6. Operations Plan

This section of your Business Plan should detail your day-to-day operation. This is important; your prospective investors want to know that you’ve given some thought to the daily operation of your business.

Here, you’ll want to describe the various resources, personnel, and real estate involved in the execution of your business activities.

Here are some of the things you will want to include in the Operations Plan section:

Location-- for either service or product, where do you work out of? (Be specific, with dimensions, cost of utilities etc.)

Transportation-- how do you get your product to your clients? third-party store? Legal requirements -- Do you need permits? licenses? etc. What are the regulations you follow? Work with unions? etc.

Personnel-- Describe the type of positions you already have, plus what you may need to expand on.

Inventory-- Do you keep things in stock? Where? How much does that cost? What is the value of it? Providers/Suppliers -- Who do you lease work out to? List names, addresses, websites.

Timing for Accounts Receivable/Accounts Payable-- Investors want to know about anything that could keep them from making a quick profit.

7. Management Organization

In this section, detail the management structure inside your organization. Your prospective investors will be keen to know who’s calling the shots and to whom at your business.

Here are the things you will want to make sure you list here:

• Board of Directors
• Accountants
• Consultants

Remember, you don’t have to list everyone, down to the janitors, but you do want to be thorough in this section. Let your prospect know that you’re not just winging it, and that you have a team in place.

8. Financial Plan

The Financial Plan is one of the most important, if not the absolute most important, parts of your Business Plan. This is a section that your reader will be eyeing closely, and they will expect you to have put a lot of love into this one, too.

Begin this section by telling the prospective investor about the funding you’ve received so far. Where has it come from? How much does it total? Be forthcoming about your capital and its sources, first and foremost.

This section is also the place where you plan your Profit and Loss (P&L) for at least the next 12 months. This spreadsheet can be used in connection to the cash flow spreadsheet. If your business plans to run a loss for the first year (or two, or three), you should clarify this point in this section, and add a model profitable year for good measure. Just be sure to explain that your Business Plan doesn’t always project a loss.

Cash Flow Spreadsheet Example

Cell and section names:.

CashReceivedB, Expenditures, etc are the names of the sections. To name the cell of section of cells - highlight it and then rename in the upper left corner. Changing the name afterwards, if misspelled or deleting it completely, if reverting back to original cell name is done through “Insert -> Name -> Define”.

Fiscal Year and PV of Cash Flows

Dates will be change automatically if the date in the “Fiscal Year Begins” is changed. Another section where investors would look is the present value of cash flows. It’s the sum of all cash flows discounted back 1 period using company’s annual rate of return, which is set by the company. A number was made up.

Cash Received, Expenditures, Net Cash Flow

Cash Received is a section where someone would record all the cash inflow from different activities like operating or financial. Cash outflows are recorded in Expenditures. Both of these sections are summed in the subtotals: (=SUBTOTAL(109,CashReceivedB)). 109 – specifies the function that should be done by the subtotal, other could be used too, such as averaging; there are numbers from 1 to 11.

With these two sections it is easy to find: Net Cash Flow = Cash inflow – Cash outflow. I also added two sections, which show how much money was in the beginning of the month, and how much is available at the end. That cash balance from previous month is transferred to the next month Cash Available section.

Profit/Loss Analysis Spreadsheet Example

Formulas for this spreadsheet:.

• Gross Profit = Revenue – Cost of production
• GP Margin = Gross Profit / Revenue
• Profit before taxes = Gross Profit + Other Income – Other Expenses
• Profit loss after tax = Profit before tax * (1 – Tax Rate) *However if loss was incurred, tax won’t be applied. To accommodate for that write the IF statement: if Profit Before Taxes > 0, then apply the formula above to that number, otherwise the negative number will be transferred to this cell.
• Net profit margin = Profit after tax / Revenue

Sparklines:

Overview is done with Sparklines. Select the cell where you would want to see the graph then Insert -> Sparklines. The window will pop up where you can choose the data to be shown.

To customize the graph, click on one of them and the ribbon will show up, where you can choose different styles of presentation.

Graphs for Profit/Loss Analysis Example

Creating a chart:.

Go to Insert -> Charts, highlight the data you are trying to present. Charts ribbon has variety of options that will help you improve the look and style of graphs.

Transferring chart to another spreadsheet

In order to move the chart to a new or existing sheet, press control or right click on it and choose “Move”:

Since the charts reference the same cells in the profit/loss analysis spreadsheet, updates in that table will automatically be reflected on the graph.

Break-Even Analysis Spreadsheet

Finding sales mix %:.

In this part, the goal is to find current products sales mix, which will be used in the analysis. You need to input the price and number of units sold/services provided. Sales mix % is then found for each product. These numbers should be transferred by hand to the second table.

Break-Even Analysis:

• Contribution Margin Per Unit = Price per Unit – Variable Cost Per Unit
• Average CM per Unit = CM per Product 1 * Sales Mix % Product 1 + CM per Product 2 * Sales Mix % Product 2+ ...
• Break-Even number of Units to Sell = Fixed Costs / Average CM per Unit. *This is the total number of all products, to find how many units of each product you need to sell:
• B-E units of Product 1 = (Fixed Cost / Average CM per Unit) * Sales Mix of Product 1
• Product Sales in $ = B-E units of Product 1 * Price

This table is useful to quickly assess how different scenarios would affect the break-even points. You can copy the analysis table and paste it right next to each other for easier comparison.

9. Conclusion/Call to Action

The last part of your Business Plan is a conclusion, which ideally should contain a call to action (CTA). Your CTA here is a bit different from a CTA on something like a Web-based landing page. A Business Plan CTA simply clarifies the next step. Is it a phone call or a meeting? Perhaps it’s a phone call to schedule a meeting. Whatever your CTA may be, you’ll want to make it clear, in this section.

10. Confidentiality Statement

Your Business Plan is top secret, right? If that’s the case, it’s up to you to make sure that’s clearly stated to those who receive the Business Plan. One way to protect your business and its intellectual property (IP), is to include a confidentiality, or nondisclosure (NDA) statement in your Business Plan.

11. Addendums

Here is where you add extra information, including but not limited to:

• -- less interesting information, that someone might like to know (positive, of course)
• -- graphs, technical drawings, etc
• -- citations: sometimes you may include a statistic in your proposal, about your industry, your competitive market, etc., but you must cite it.
• -- business studies
• -- city plans, office plans
• -- list of assets for collateral; financial backgrounds of key investors
• -- CVs/resumes, credentials of key players
• -- key collaborators, etc

[Sender.Company]

MM / DD / YYYY

[Client.Company]

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Free Business Plan Template

Running your own business might be a real challenge. And even if you know exactly every single step of your company, you need a proper business plan to attract investors, employees, and potential partners. Creating one is easy with PandaDoc free business plan templates.

What Is a Business Plan Template?

A business plan template is an opportunity to find a simple and convenient tool that will grant you a proper start for your business. Using even a simple business plan will be a universal solution for all types of companies, especially startups or small ventures.

By providing all the essential facts in your business plan, you will be able to show its most beneficial parts. And with a proper sample of a business plan template, you will avoid all the possible mistakes.

What Is Included In a Free Business Plan Template?

Working with a template for a business plan, you will be able to include all the essential things about development and running your business.

The following chapters are the most important ones:

• The idea of your company. This is the very first thing that shows the purpose and the benefits of your venture. Here, you need to concisely explain your aims, ideally in one-two sentences. 
• The description of your business. Here you can show the basic data about your company and the expanded version of your global aims. 
• Your business mission. When you want to express the local goals of your company and show all your working aims, you have to use the page with the mission. Include the most important aspects. Goals, objectives, the targeted audience of your projects, the place you are going to take on a market, advantages of your company, and information for investors, who will be able to attend your business. 
• Your products and services. Show the beneficial services that you are going to use as your main tool to attract customers and succeed. 
• A detailed marketing plan. Here you can show the proper chain of business solutions with an expanded explanation of each and every step of your business. A marketing strategy might include both your potential income and costs. 
• Operations plan. Here you can state all the essential tasks you have to do in order to run your project or manage it. 
• Management. Show the hierarchy of your employees. It will give the clearest image of how many people your company will accept. 
• Financial plan. Giving the clearest and the most expanded vision of all of your costs will be the most important part for your potential investors. Completing this chapter properly might be extremely challenging, but with a proper free business plan template, you will face no trouble with it.

As you can see, there will be more than enough solutions for your business plan. And with a proper conclusion, you will find it simple to show even more beneficial parts of your company to all your investors.

How To Write a Business Plan Template?

To write a proper business plan you can use a sample of a business plan template provided by PandaDoc. When filling it out, you need to include the following information:

• Facts about your company. You can expand it with numbers or achievements like the state of your client base, years of expertise in the market, or anything that attracts the attention of potential investors.
• State the costs and income of your company. It will be essential to calculate everything for investors to have a clear picture of the current state.
• Use the employee tab. With a proper business plan template sample, you will see that you can add employees to the chosen chapter in order to show the levels of responsibility in your company.

And also, you should keep in mind that all the information about your goals, aims, and tools to work on your project has to be clear for any single person that is going to read your business plan. But with PandaDoc tips PandaDoc, you will be able to see all the nuances and fill in your sample.

When To Use a Simple Business Plan Template?

A simple business plan template is ideal for startups or small business owners who just consider starting their path. Individual entrepreneurs can benefit from it too, as it’s a great way to put all the aspects of the job together and spot a range of opportunities to improve.

Having a template for a business plan lets you focus on the main aspects of your business operation, making it full and detailed for your investors. And PandaDoc will help a lot with this task, while such features as eSignature will help with making this small business plan template a real and verified source of the information.

Small Business Trends

How to create a business plan: examples & free template.

Whether you’re a seasoned entrepreneur or launching your very first startup, the guide will give you the insights, tools, and confidence you need to create a solid foundation for your business.

Table of Contents

How to Write a Business Plan

Executive summary.

It’s crucial to include a clear mission statement, a brief description of your primary products or services, an overview of your target market, and key financial projections or achievements.

Our target market includes environmentally conscious consumers and businesses seeking to reduce their carbon footprint. We project a 200% increase in revenue within the first three years of operation.

Overview and Business Objectives

Example: EcoTech’s primary objective is to become a market leader in sustainable technology products within the next five years. Our key objectives include:

Company Description

Example: EcoTech is committed to developing cutting-edge sustainable technology products that benefit both the environment and our customers. Our unique combination of innovative solutions and eco-friendly design sets us apart from the competition. We envision a future where technology and sustainability go hand in hand, leading to a greener planet.

Define Your Target Market

Market analysis.

The Market Analysis section requires thorough research and a keen understanding of the industry. It involves examining the current trends within your industry, understanding the needs and preferences of your customers, and analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors.

Our research indicates a gap in the market for high-quality, innovative eco-friendly technology products that cater to both individual and business clients.

SWOT Analysis

Including a SWOT analysis demonstrates to stakeholders that you have a balanced and realistic understanding of your business in its operational context.

Competitive Analysis

Organization and management team.

Provide an overview of your company’s organizational structure, including key roles and responsibilities. Introduce your management team, highlighting their expertise and experience to demonstrate that your team is capable of executing the business plan successfully.

Products and Services Offered

This section should emphasize the value you provide to customers, demonstrating that your business has a deep understanding of customer needs and is well-positioned to deliver innovative solutions that address those needs and set your company apart from competitors.

Marketing and Sales Strategy

Discuss how these marketing and sales efforts will work together to attract and retain customers, generate leads, and ultimately contribute to achieving your business’s revenue goals.

Logistics and Operations Plan

Inventory control is another crucial aspect, where you explain strategies for inventory management to ensure efficiency and reduce wastage. The section should also describe your production processes, emphasizing scalability and adaptability to meet changing market demands.

We also prioritize efficient distribution through various channels, including online platforms and retail partners, to deliver products to our customers in a timely manner.

Financial Projections Plan

This forward-looking financial plan is crucial for demonstrating that you have a firm grasp of the financial nuances of your business and are prepared to manage its financial health effectively.

Income Statement

Cash flow statement.

A cash flow statement is a crucial part of a financial business plan that shows the inflows and outflows of cash within your business. It helps you monitor your company’s liquidity, ensuring you have enough cash on hand to cover operating expenses, pay debts, and invest in growth opportunities.

Tips on Writing a Business Plan

4. Focus on your unique selling proposition (USP): Clearly articulate what sets your business apart from the competition. Emphasize your USP throughout your business plan to showcase your company’s value and potential for success.

FREE Business Plan Template

To help you get started on your business plan, we have created a template that includes all the essential components discussed in the “How to Write a Business Plan” section. This easy-to-use template will guide you through each step of the process, ensuring you don’t miss any critical details.

What is a Business Plan?

Why you should write a business plan.

Understanding the importance of a business plan in today’s competitive environment is crucial for entrepreneurs and business owners. Here are five compelling reasons to write a business plan:

What are the Different Types of Business Plans?

Using Business Plan Software

Upmetrics provides a simple and intuitive platform for creating a well-structured business plan. It features customizable templates, financial forecasting tools, and collaboration capabilities, allowing you to work with team members and advisors. Upmetrics also offers a library of resources to guide you through the business planning process.

Business Plan FAQs

What is a good business plan.

A good business plan is a well-researched, clear, and concise document that outlines a company’s goals, strategies, target market, competitive advantages, and financial projections. It should be adaptable to change and provide a roadmap for achieving success.

What are the 3 main purposes of a business plan?

Can i write a business plan by myself, is it possible to create a one-page business plan.

Yes, a one-page business plan is a condensed version that highlights the most essential elements, including the company’s mission, target market, unique selling proposition, and financial goals.

How long should a business plan be?

What is a business plan outline, what are the 5 most common business plan mistakes, what questions should be asked in a business plan.

A business plan should address questions such as: What problem does the business solve? Who is the specific target market ? What is the unique selling proposition? What are the company’s objectives? How will it achieve those objectives?

What’s the difference between a business plan and a strategic plan?

How is business planning for a nonprofit different.

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Top 5 Business Plan Chart Example Templates with Samples

Kavesh Malhotra

Tim Fargo once said,  " Good intentions might sound nice, but it’s positive actions that matter. "  

This quote highlights the importance of not only creating a business plan but also executing it effectively. This is where business plan charts come in; they provide a roadmap for businesses to follow which ensures that they stay on track in achieving their goals.

There is no doubt that business planning is an essential element of any successful venture, and a well-executed plan can make a significant difference to business success. As mentioned above, one of the most critical components of a business plan is the use of charts to display information in a visually appealing and easy-to-understand manner. 

SlideTeam is delighted to present its selection of the Top 5 Business Plan Chart Templates with Samples . These templates are designed to assist owners, managers, and other professionals involved in business management to create a comprehensive and effective business plan that fulfills the needs of end-users and stakeholders alike.

Utilizing these top 5 business plan chart templates can help companies in prioritizing tasks, creating a clear and concise communication plan , focusing on their strategy and critical goals, tracking their progress toward achieving their revenue targets, and expanding into new markets. 

Unlock your true potential as a business manager with our pre-designed PowerPoint Slides. These templates are the ultimate solution to all your business needs, providing you with the power to customize your tasks and plans in ways you never thought possible. With our structured content-ready slides, you'll have everything you need at your fingertips to streamline your workflow and optimize your productivity. 

We're here to have a closer look at each of our business plan ppt templates and help you choose the one that suits your specific business requirements. So, what are you waiting for? Download one of these templates today and become a master in designing a breakthrough plan!

Check Out our Top 5 Business Plan Chart Templates

Template 1: initial six-month business plan gantt chart.

This PowerPoint Slide presents a comprehensive roadmap for developing a successful business plan. It covers critical areas such as strategy, finance, personnel, customers, and finances. This PPT Template allows you to create a clear project plan by outlining important details like project start and end dates, status updates, and assigned teams. This chart facilitates effective collaboration among team members, enables you to share your product plans, and provides a platform for discussing project progress with executives. Additionally, the task management chart helps align your activities efficiently, while the template's versatility allows for high-level resource planning and flexible implementation, benefiting your business. Seize the opportunity to elevate your business plan with this top-rated template.

Download Now!

Template 2: Strategic Business Plan Flow Chart with Key Goals

This chart is an essential tool for an organization's strategic business planning. Its comprehensive set of slides covers key areas such as marketing strategy, SWOT analysis , and other vital tools that can help businesses identify their target customers and develop a successful business strategy . With this chart, companies can create a clear and concise communication plan that outlines their process and how it aligns with their target customers and market evaluation . Download this set of slides and take your business to the next level.

Template 3: Marketing Gantt Chart for Business Plan

This chart is ideal for businesses focusing on their digital marketing strategy and revenue sources . With this chart, companies can create a timeline for their marketing initiatives, such as advertising campaigns and social media promotions, and track their progress in achieving the revenue targets. This PowerPoint Template is a valuable tool for digital managers and social media team members for monitoring project progress and highlighting key milestones. It features a Gantt chart design that effectively showcases different social channels, timelines, and progress percentages. This template is a must-have for anyone looking to stay organized and efficiently manage their social marketing projects.

Template 4: New Business Development Planning Chart with Market Evaluation

This PPT Chart is perfect for enterprises looking to expand into fresh markets or launch new products or services. With this PPT Layout, businesses can conduct a SWOT analysis to identify their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats and create a clear plan for entering new markets. It also clearly defines the New Business snapshot , Market evaluation , Expense Sources, and expected Revenue Sources . Download now and unleash the full potential of your new business development efforts.

Template 5: Business Plan Chart for Data Flat PowerPoint Design

This chart is perfect for businesses wanting to create a snapshot that provides a quick overview of their business plan. With this chart, businesses can display key information such as their target customers, revenue sources , and market evaluation in a visually appealing and easy-to-understand format. Download these templates via the link below, and start executing your business plan with confidence.

Bottom Line

Business plan charts are crucial for any business owner or manager looking to create a roadmap for success. Whether you're looking to visualize your business strategy, set key goals , conduct a SWOT analysis , plan a task timeline , develop strategies, or communicate plans to team members and stakeholders, we have a business plan chart template that can help you achieve your goals. By incorporating these templates into business planning, professionals can easily create visual representations of their plans, track progress, and make informed decisions based on their business snapshot , market evaluation , and revenue sources .

Professional Note:

Please visit here for more information on strategic business plan templates, business approaches, and other related topics. These templates incorporate many resources, including samples, descriptions, and USPs (unique selling points), to help professionals develop effective business plans and management strategies.

FAQs on Business Plan Chart

How do i make a business plan chart.

Making a business plan chart involves several steps that can be streamlined using pre-designed PowerPoint templates. Start by identifying the purpose of your business plan and defining key goals and objectives. Then, create a task timeline and identify the resources needed to achieve those goals. This can be done using a Gantt or flow chart, which helps you visualize your plan and track progress.

What Are The Four Types of Business Plans?

There are four types of business plans: strategic plans, operational plans, internal plans, and growth plans. 

Each plan serves a different purpose, such as outlining the company's business strategy , setting key goals , or evaluating market opportunities. A business plan often includes a SWOT analysis to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

Why is a Business Plan Important?

A business plan is vital because it is a roadmap for the company's success. It outlines the company's key goals , strategies, and revenue sources and helps in identifying potential challenges and risks. A business plan also serves as a communication plan , allowing stakeholders to understand the company's vision and goals.

What Are the Elements of Business Plan?

The key elements of a business plan include:

• Business snapshot- It outlines the company's mission and values. 
• Market evaluation - It analyzes the target customers and competitors.
• Revenue sources - It identifies the company’s sources of income. 
• Marketing Gantt - It outlines the company's marketing strategy and task timeline.  

Other essential elements include financial, operational, and risk management plans. 

Related posts:

• Top 10 Business Development Strategy Templates with Samples and Examples
• Top 5 Business Plan Timeline Template with Samples and Examples
• Top 7 Corporate Strategy Templates with Samples and Examples
• Must-Have Freelance Business Plan Template to Achieve Long Term Success

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Simple Business Plan Templates

By Joe Weller | April 2, 2020

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In this article, we’ve compiled a variety of simple business plan templates, all of which are free to download in PDF, Word, and Excel formats.

On this page, you’ll find a one-page business plan template , a simple business plan for startups , a small-business plan template , a business plan outline , and more. We also include a business plan sample and the main components of a business plan to help get you started.

Simple Business Plan Template

Download Simple Business Plan Template

This simple business plan template lays out each element of a traditional business plan to assist you as you build your own, and it provides space to add financing information for startups seeking funding. You can use and customize this simple business plan template to fit the needs for organizations of any size.

One-Page Business Plan Template

Download One-Page Business Plan Template

Excel | Word | PDF  | Smartsheet

Use this one-page business plan to document your key ideas in an organized manner. The template can help you create a high-level view of your business plan, and it provides easy scannability for stakeholders. You can use this one-page plan as a reference to build a more detailed blueprint for your business. 

For additional single page plans, take a look at " One-Page Business Plan Templates with a Quick How-To Guide ."

Simple Fill-in-the-Blank Business Plan Template

Download Simple Fill-in-the-Blank Business Plan Template

Use this fill-in-the-blank business plan template to guide you as you build your business plan. Each section comes pre-filled with sample content, with space to add customized verbiage relevant to your product or service.

For additional free, downloadable resources, visit " Free Fill-In-the-Blank Business Plan Templates ."

Simple Business Plan for Startup

‌ Download Startup Business Plan Template — Word

This business plan template is designed with a startup business in mind and contains the essential elements needed to convey key product or service details to investors and stakeholders. Keep all your information organized with this template, which provides space to include an executive summary, a company overview, competitive analysis, a marketing strategy, financial data, and more. For additional resources, visit " Free Startup Business Plan Templates and Examples ."

Simple Small-Business Plan Template

Download Simple Small-Business Plan Template

This template walks you through each component of a small-business plan, including the company background, the introduction of the management team, market analysis, product or service offerings, a financial plan, and more. This template also comes with a built-in table of contents to keep your plan in order, and it can be customized to fit your requirements.

Lean Business Plan Template

Download Lean Business Plan Template

This lean business plan template is a stripped-down version of a traditional business plan that provides only the most essential aspects. Briefly outline your company and industry overview, along with the problem you are solving, as well as your unique value proposition, target market, and key performance metrics. There is also room to list out a timeline of key activities.

Simple Business Plan Outline Template

Download Simple Business Plan Outline Template

Word  | PDF

Use this simple business plan outline as a basis to create your own business plan. This template contains 11 sections, including a title page and a table of contents, which details what each section should cover in a traditional business plan. Simplify or expand this outline to create the foundation for a business plan that fits your business needs.

Simple Business Planning Template with Timeline

Download Simple Business Planning Template with Timeline

Excel | Smartsheet

This template doubles as a project plan and timeline to track progress as you develop your business plan. This business planning template enables you to break down your work into phases and provides room to add key tasks and dates for each activity. Easily fill in the cells according to the start and end dates to create a visual timeline, as well as to ensure your plan stays on track.

Simple Business Plan Rubric Template

Download Simple Business Plan Rubric

Excel | Word | PDF | Smartsheet

Once you complete your business plan, use this business plan rubric template to assess and score each component of your plan. This rubric helps you identify elements of your plan that meet or exceed requirements and pinpoint areas where you need to improve or further elaborate. This template is an invaluable tool to ensure your business plan clearly defines your goals, objectives, and plan of action in order to gain buy-in from potential investors, stakeholders, and partners.

Basic Business Plan Sample

Download Basic Business Plan Sample

This business plan sample serves as an example of a basic business plan that contains all the traditional components. The sample provides a model of what a business plan might look like for a fictional food truck business. Reference this sample as you develop your own business plan.

For additional resources to help support your business planning efforts, check out “ Free Strategic Planning Templates .”

Main Components of a Business Plan

The elements you include in your business plan will depend on your product or service offerings, as well as the size and needs of your business. 

Below are the components of a standard business plan and details you should include in each section:

• Company name and contact information
• Website address
• The name of the company or individual viewing the presentation
• Table of Contents
• Company background and purpose
• Mission and vision statement
• Management team introduction
• Core product and service offerings
• Target customers and segments
• Marketing plan
• Competitive analysis
• Unique value proposition
• Financial plan (and requirements, if applicable)
• Business and industry overview
• Historical timeline of your business
• Offerings and the problem they solve
• Current alternatives
• Competitive advantage
• Market size
• Target market segment(s)
• Projected volume and value of sales compared to competitors
• Differentiation from competitors
• Pricing strategy
• Marketing channels
• Promotional plan
• Distribution methods
• Legal structure of your business
• Names of founders, owners, advisors, etc.
• Management team’s roles, relevant experience, and compensation plan
• Staffing requirements and training plans
• Physical location(s) of your business
• Additional physical requirements (e.g., warehouse, specialized equipment, facilities, etc.)
• Production workflow
• Raw materials and sourcing methods
• Projected income statement
• Projected cash flow statement
• Projected balance sheet
• Break-even analysis
• Charts and graphs
• Market research and competitive analysis
• Information about your industry
• Information about your offerings
• Samples of marketing materials
• Other supporting materials

Tips for Creating a Business Plan

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed at the thought of putting together a business plan. Below, you’ll find top tips to help simplify the process as you develop your own plan. 

• Use a business plan template (you can choose from the variety above), or refer to the previous section to create a standard outline for your plan.
• Modify your outline to reflect the requirements of your specific business. If you use a standard business plan outline, remove sections that aren’t relevant to you or aren’t necessary to run your business.
• Gather all the information you currently have about your business first, and then use that information to fill out each section in your plan outline.
• Use your resources and conduct additional research to fill in the remaining gaps. (Note: It isn’t necessary to fill out your plan in order, but the executive summary needs to be completed last, as it summarizes the key points in your plan.)
• Ensure your plan clearly communicates the relationship between your marketing, sales, and financial objectives.
• Provide details in your plan that illustrate your strategic plan of action, looking forward three to five years.
• Revisit your plan regularly as strategies and objectives evolve.
• What product or service are we offering?
• Who is the product or service for?
• What problem does our product or service offering solve?
• How will we get the product or service to our target customers?
• Why is our product or service better than the alternatives?
• How can we outperform our competitors?
• What is our unique value proposition?
• When will things get done, and who is responsible for doing them?
• If you need to obtain funding, how will you use the funding?
• When are payments due, and when do payments come in?
• What is the ultimate purpose of your business?
• When do you expect to be profitable?

To identify which type of business plan you should write, and for more helpful tips, take a look at our guide to writing a simple business plan .

Benefits of Using a Business Plan Template

Creating a business plan can be very time-consuming, especially if you aren’t sure where to begin. Finding the right template for your business needs can be beneficial for a variety of reasons. 

Using a business plan template — instead of creating your plan from scratch — can benefit you in the following ways:

• Enables you to immediately write down your thoughts and ideas in an organized manner
• Provides structure to help outline your plan
• Saves time and valuable resources
• Helps ensure you don’t miss essential details

Limitations of a Business Plan Template

A business plan template can be convenient, but it has its drawbacks — especially if you use a template that doesn’t fit the specific needs of your business.

Below are some limitations of using a business plan template:

• Each business is unique and needs a business plan that reflects that. A template may not fit your needs.
• A template may restrict collaboration with other team members on different aspects of the plan’s development (sales, marketing, and accounting teams).
• Multiple files containing different versions of the plan may be stored in more than one place.
• You still have to manually create charts and graphs to add to the plan to support your strategy.
• Updates to the plan, spreadsheets, and supporting documents have to be made in multiple places (all documents may not update in real time as changes are made).

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Blog Business What is A Business Plan & How To Design It?

What is A Business Plan & How To Design It?

Written by: Midori Nediger Jul 11, 2023

A business plan outlines the goals of your business and how it plans to achieve them.

Real important – because without it, it’s like running a business in the dark. It’s like a roadmap that guides your company’s direction and helps everyone stay on track.

Gone are the days when designing a business plan from scratch was a time-consuming and challenging task. Today, business plan templates offer a convenient solution by providing pre-designed layouts that simplify the process.

In this blog, I’m going to break it down for you. I’ll share the six things you need to know to put together a compelling, engaging business plan. Ready to get started now? Venngage’s online Business Plan Maker  lets anyone create a winning business plan quickly and easily.

Click to jump ahead:

• How to format your business plan

Startup business plan templates

Simple business plan templates.

• How to write your business plan
• How to design an engaging executive summary
• How to use charts and graphs to present data
• How to communicate growth strategies in your business plan

How to present financial data in your business plan

How to format your business plan.

To format your business plan:

• Start with a clear title page.
• Include an executive summary.
• Provide a company description.
• Conduct a market analysis.
• Describe your product or service offering.
• Outline your marketing and sales strategy.
• Include organizational or business structure and management information.

A typical business plan is an in-depth document and covers every facet of your business (present and future). Creating a traditional business plan makes sense when you have a clear growth plan for the next three to five years, are in need of major funding, or want to attract long-term partners.  

A professional business plan typically has the following sections: 

• Table of Contents
• Executive summary
• Company description
• Market analysis
• Organization and management
• Service or product line
• Marketing and sales
• Funding request
• Financial projections
• An appendix

A business plan can span a dozen or more pages because it presents the big picture, as complete as possible, to reassure others to invest in you. Investment can mean a few different things – usually financial, but also as partners or employees. 

The sections that can take a lot of research and add to the bulk of your business plan are your market analysis, marketing and sales plans, and financial projections. 

These are the sections that demonstrate your business acumen, your long-term vision, and your accountability. Whereas, sections like the executive summary are meant to grab attention, inspire and get people excited about your business. 

Start with a business plan template

To get started on your business plan, save yourself some time and use a template.

Most business plan templates will include things like a cover page, table of contents and the main sections you need. It will also have pre-formatted pages with placeholder text and charts that you can swap out. 

It takes time to do market research, present growth plans, put together financial projections, analyze your customer base, create competitor breakdowns…the list goes on.

The last thing you want to do is spend precious time formatting the resulting document. 

Save time by building your business plan from an existing business plan template, and customize it with your own content.

With a clean, consistent structure and clear headings, this template is the perfect starting point:

Then you’re free to customize the template with helpful visual elements like charts, tables, and diagrams, that will make your business pitch impossible to resist.

A Venngage business plan template is designed to help you communicate visually  and explain complex ideas easily. The right business plan template for you depends on the length and detail of your business plan, your brand and style, and the different sections you want to cover.

If your small business doesn’t have a dedicated design team, but you still need to learn how to write a business plan to present to investors–build off of a pre-designed business plan template:

There are just a handful of our business plan templates that can be customized in the Venngage editor. Browse more business plan templates,  choose one that’s best for you and start editing right away.

Structuring your startup business plan involves organizing it into sections such as executive summary, company description, market analysis, product/service offering, marketing and sales strategy, financial projections, and operational plan.

Here are some business plan template examples:

Short Business Plan Template

Number your pages and include a table of contents

A table of contents is crucial to help readers navigate your document and quickly find specific sections that are of interest to them.

It’s a good idea to include page numbers, main section headings, and section subheadings here for easy reference.

Keeping these tips in mind will ensure that your business plan design feels clean and professional and doesn’t distract from your content. You want your information, not your formatting, to be the focus!

How to write your business plan 

Here are three tips for writing your business plan to ensure it’s easy to read, appears professional and is memorable.

Use bulleted lists, bold text, and a clear type hierarchy for ‘skimmability’

Business plans need to be understandable at a glance to attract funding . Investors are looking for information that will help them understand your business quickly and without much effort.

Take a look at this snippet of the business plan template from above:

What stands out to you?

To me, the large green headers pop out first, making it easy to scan through the sections to find what I want to focus on.

This is because there’s a defined type hierarchy, giving more visual weight to the headers over the body text.

Next, the unique selling points of this business–superior quality products, unique glass carving and brass inlays, and excellent service–jump out. Because they’re presented in an indented list , they’re easier to see at a glance, which will likely make them more memorable.

Finally, I’m drawn to the bolded stats–“top 30% of the industry” and “4 out of 5 households spent money on renovation”.

Key statistics like these can go a long way towards convincing your investors that you’re worth their time and money. If you’re going to include them within larger paragraphs, make sure they stand out by increasing their font weight.

To sum up: make your report skimmable. Draw attention to important takeaways with indented lists, bolded text, and a clear type hierarchy.

Consider using a one-column or two-column grid

If your business plan contains only text, stick with a single-column layout that reinforces the linear flow of the document. If your business plan includes some supporting data in the form of charts and tables, use a two-column layout to juxtapose text with its corresponding data.

Maintain page margins that set text at a readable line length

When we read long passages of text, the ease at which we read depends on how the text flows on the page. Something called line length (the number of characters in a horizontal line of text) plays a huge role in readability, and is something you should consider when formatting your business plan.

To dictate line length, designers and typesetters play with the width of page margins (the edges of a document that don’t contain any text or images) with the aim of maximizing readability.

It’s generally accepted that the ideal line length sits somewhere between 40 and 90 characters per line. Any longer or shorter and you’ll find that something feels “off” about your document.

How do you achieve this in your business plan?

If you use a single-column layout, use nice wide margins (1 ½ to 2 inches) to limit your text to less than 90 characters per line.

With a two-column layout, you might need to use narrower margins (possibly as little as ½ an inch on either side) to make sure there’s enough space for at least 40 characters per line of text.

The last thing to remember about margins and line length–don’t play around with them from page to page. Use consistent margins across your whole document.

How to design an executive summary

An executive summary is a snapshot of your business plan. It should be concise and hook your readers. It should reassure stakeholders that your business plan will be a worthwhile read.

How you choose to structure your executive summary is key. You can deliver a lot of excellent information that simply gets lost in a sea of text and paragraphs. Even if someone reads through it entirely, they may have missed something.

To make key information stand out, use vibrant headings, incorporate visuals throughout, and break up the layout of your text.

Not every investor looks for the same thing. Some will care more about who you or your executive team are, while another is interested solely in the financials of the business. Identifying each section makes it easy for readers to find exactly what they’re looking for.

You can also list out the key takeaways, briefly explaining them in the executive summary. If your reader finds everything they needed to know in the executive summary, they’ll happily move onto the rest of the business plan.

Use one feature color to tie your business plan together

Color should be used with restraint in professional documents like business plans. Instead of adding color solely for aesthetic purposes, think of color selection as another tool to highlight information you want your reader to focus on and to tie the document together.

You shouldn’t need more than a single color (ideally one of your brand colors ) to achieve this in a business plan.

In business plan charts, color should be used only to clarify trends and relationships. Use color to emphasize single important data points, differentiate between real and projected values, or group related data:

In the rest of your business plan, keep color to a minimum. At most, use it to make headers stand out or to highlight key points in long-form text, diagrams, or tables.

The nice thing about keeping document colors this simple? It’s hard to mess up, and without any complex design work, it creates a sense of cohesion and unity within a document.

How to use charts and graphs to present your data

Since your business plan should be backed by solid data, you might want to include some of that data as evidence, in the form of  charts, tables or diagrams . Even simple visuals can communicate better than long paragraphs of text.

I’ll touch on some specific types of charts commonly used in business plans next, but first let’s review a few general chart design tactics.

Use descriptive titles and annotations to spell out chart takeaways

Avoid generic headers whenever possible. Maximize your chart’s value and impact by providing takeaway messages right in the title.

In the same vein, add direct annotations to data points or trends that support your case.

Repeating key messages within a chart, in the title, annotations, and captions, may improve viewers understanding and recall of those messages .

Aid understanding of market size and market share with area charts and pie charts

A market potential analysis is a fundamental pillar of your business plan. Market size and market share are two major components of a market potential analysis.

These numbers are typically in the millions and billions (the bigger the better, really), but most people have trouble grasping the meaning of such big numbers . At a surface level we can understand that one billion is one thousand times larger than one million, but we often struggle to comprehend what that really means.

This is the perfect opportunity to add some visual aids to your business plan.

Use bubble charts to represent market size

Bubble charts are useful for showing general proportions among numbers. Check out this one from our redesigned version of AirBnb’s first pitch deck :

Without having to think about the absolute values of these very large numbers, we can quickly see how they relate to one another.

While bubble charts are good for making quick, general comparisons, they’re less useful when it comes to precise measurements. To help readers make slightly more accurate judgements of proportion:

Use pie or donut charts to represent market share and market composition

Pie and donut charts are the industry standard for showing market share and market composition, since they’re the most widely understood method for representing part-to-whole relationships.

The way Uber breaks down their market with a simple donut chart makes their biggest segment (a key takeaway) really stand out, while the subtler differences between the smaller segments are still evident.

When you present a market analysis, use pie charts, donut charts, or bubble charts to aid the reader understanding proportions and part-to-whole relationships.

Use histograms and bar charts to represent demographic distributions in market segmentation summaries

Another part of analyzing market potential is about identifying and understanding target customers. This means segmenting customers by geography, interests, demographics…really anything that might affect purchasing behaviour.

Two standard metrics that most businesses include in a market segmentation summary are customer age and gender. These data are easily summarized in a histogram, with bars that represent age group distribution.

Bar charts can then be used to contrast the key behaviors and lifestyle choices of the top consumer segments.

Histograms and bar charts are standard features of a market segmentation summary. Use them together to identify and present information about top customer segments.

Outline major milestones with a Gantt chart

Stakeholders will want to see that you have a concrete plan in place to help you reach your revenue goals. When formulating your goals, use the SMART principle to provide your stakeholders with a very clear vision of how you intend to achieve them. 

Use a Gantt chart (a sort of modified bar chart) to outline the major milestones and phases of your business strategy. Try to include a multi-year plan, broken down by quarter and by project or department.

You can create your own Gantt chart with Venngage.

How to communicate growth strategies in your business plan

No matter how impressive your product line or services, your business won’t just magically grow. You concrete marketing and sales plans in place, and effectively communicate strategies to your stakeholders.

Start by acknowledging your target market – who are you going after? This is what your marketing and sales efforts will revolve around after all.

Demonstrate an understanding of the competitor landscape. You will always have direct or indirect competition, and showing how your planning accounts for it is key. Then you can talk about actual plans and strategies you wish to implement.

Present your target audience with persona guides

A product may great on its own. But its value is determined when there is a clear and obvious market for it. You can point out shortcomings of your competition, but you also need to show that your target audience exists and how you’re serving them.

A persona guide provides a great deal of context to readers of your business plan. It’s the best way for them to understand who cares about your product or service, how it aligns with their lifestyle and needs, and why your marketing and sales tactics will work.

A persona guide needs to be detailed, and share an intimate understanding of your target audience. The more you can divulge, the more reassuring your research and overall business plan will be.

Even if you don’t have a substantial customer base, you can still create an ideal persona guide to show who you’re pursuing.

Highlight competitors and differentiate yourself with a SWOT analysis

Every business plan should include an analysis of the competitive landscape–an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of competitive businesses.

In terms of visuals, this competitive analysis is typically summarized in a SWOT analysis matrix .

You can also present the SWOT analysis as a table or a list. The layout is up to you, but you want to focus on strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in relation to your competition.

While the SWOT analysis framework provides valuable insights, it’s not the entire reflection of your competitive landscape. For example, it doesn’t make it easy to see at a glance the qualities that differentiate your business from your competitors.

To highlight those offerings that set you apart from your competitors, a comparison matrix is more effective. Take a look at these two templates:

With a direct competitor comparison, it’s easy to present the key differentiators between the existing options for a product or service, and your business.

Alternatively, a “ Magic Quadrant ” can be useful when you’re focused on comparing across two main metrics ( key differentiators ):

Finally, in a competitive market, there are going to be a lot of players who compete directly or indirectly with you.  A breakdown of them all may not be necessary. Instead, you can point visually to the space that you will address, that has been so far ignored up to now.

To do that, a prioritization chart can be used. By plotting competing businesses on a prioritization chart, you highlight experiences existing competitors focus on, and where your business falls. 

Use roadmaps to present your marketing and sales plans

To explain any long-term marketing or sales plan, you want visuals. It’s easier to break down strategies you’ll be deploying every month or each quarter, when you can actually show what you’re talking about.

Keep in mind, those reading your business plan may not be marketers or sales executives. Being able to lay out your approach in a way that’s organized, shows how much thought you’ve given to your growth strategies.

You can design a simple roadmap that points to what you’ll be doing throughout the year. The more detailed you can get, the better.

You can also present your product roadmap , with your marketing roadmap how the business will be growing overall.

You don’t need to use a traditional roadmap layout, either. Experiment with different formats as you may find one easier to work with than another. As long as the time period for different strategies is clear, your roadmap will be easy to understand.

Presenting financial data isn’t easy. You have to crunch a lot of numbers before you can share projections with confidence. You’ll also need to explain how you arrived at the numbers and prepare for your answers.

Understanding how to organize your information is key to walking potential investors and other stakeholders through your projections.

Use organizational flow charts and summary tables for budget breakdowns and financial summaries

The financials section of your business plan will get a lot of attention from stakeholders. Simple bar charts and pie charts won’t suffice, as they can’t present financial data in very much detail.

If your business has already been operating for some time, stakeholders will expect a detailed report of revenues and expenses. Tables are usually the best choice for this kind of financial summary, as they provide an unbiased view of the numbers and allow stakeholders to look up specific values.

If you’re interested in highlighting a particular trend, however, you may want to include a line chart featuring a smaller snapshot of your financial data:

If you’re just starting your business and you don’t have any detailed revenue data, you can still provide useful information about your budget. Outline higher-level budget allocation with an organizational flow chart .

Use line or bar graphs to visualize financial trends

You can use different types of graphs to also show how your business has performed thus far. 

You can share results over the course of a year with a line graph. This is effective to show an overall set of trends and growth rates. 

You can also compare previous years to highlight how your business has grown.

Your audience should be able to draw conclusions from your data within seconds. If there is simply too much information, or it’s hard to find important information, they will lose interest. 

Looking for a business plan software to help save time and reduce errors? Pick from one of these 7 best business plan software to get started.

A quick summary 

A business plan is the one key document that every young business needs to present their vision to potential investors and other stakeholders.

The quality of a business plan can make or break a young business Here’s a quick recap of what we covered for you to keep in mind:

• Get started with a template
• Use a table of contents and numbered pages
• Use lists, bold headings and aim for skimmability
• Consider using a one-column or two-column
• Maintain page margins
• Use headings to identify the most important information
• Use one thematic color palette for your design
• Use descriptive titles and annotations
• Use area and pie charts to explain market size and market share
• Use pie/donut charts to visualize marketing share and market composition
• Use bar charts and histograms to capture demographics data
• Highlight major milestones with a gantt chart
• Identify your target audience using persona guides
• Differentiate yourself with a SWOT analysis/competitor chart
• Use roadmaps to visualize your marketing and sales plans
• Use flow charts and summary tables for financial breakdowns
• Use line or bar graphs for financial trends and projection

You can always reference this post as you work on your business plan. I’ve also included additional blog posts you can reference for specific areas of your business plan.

More Resources for business planning and growth:

• Growth Strategy Checklist: Plan Your Business Goals With These 5 Templates
• What is a Marketing Plan & How to Create One [with Examples]
• How to Communicate Strategy To Your Team Effectively
• 50+ Essential Business Report Examples with Templates

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Free Simple Business Plan Templates

Are you a business startup and want to get a free business plan template for your business? If yes, then you are at the right place. As a business plan writing company , we list out professional business plan templates for you so you can write your business plan easily. We have shared a wide range of templates for diversified business needs. You can choose one that suits your requirements

Free One Page Business Plan Template

Utilize this concise Free one-page business plan to systematically record your essential concepts. This template assists in constructing a simplified overview of your business plan, making it easily digestible for stakeholders. Consider this one-page plan as a starting point, serving as a reference for developing a more comprehensive business blueprint.

Simple Business Plan Template

This template guides you step by step through all the elements of a small business plan , covering areas like the company’s history, introducing the management team, conducting market analysis, presenting product or service details, outlining financial projections, and more. Additionally, it includes a pre-built table of contents to maintain the structure of your plan, and it’s fully adaptable to suit your specific needs.

Lean Startup Business Plan Template

The lean business plan template offers a simplified alternative to the traditional business plan Template. It includes concise sections for your company’s overview, industry context, problem-solving approach, unique value proposition, target market, and essential performance metrics. Additionally, there’s space to map out a timeline of crucial activities.

Free Business Plan Template

Boost your business with our collection of easy-to-use templates designed just for you.

Business Plan Templates By Business Category​

Potential Issues with Business Plan Templates & How to Address Them

Generic templates vs. industry specificity.

• Issue: One-size-fits-all business plan templates might not capture industry-specific details crucial for investors.
• Solution: Look for templates with industry-tailored sections or customize existing ones to highlight your industry’s nuances.

Lack of Financial Expertise

• Issue: Users might struggle with financial projections or terminology.
• Solution: Include clear instructions and financial guidance within the simple business plan template.. Users can also consult free online resources or financial advisors.

Data Accuracy and Consistency

• Issue: Inaccurate or inconsistent data can mislead investors.
• Solution: Double-check all data entries and ensure consistency across the plan. Consider using real financial data from your business (if applicable).

Overreliance on Templates

• Issue: Business Plan Templates shouldn’t replace critical thinking and analysis specific to your business.
• Solution: Use the template as a framework, but personalize it with your unique value proposition, competitive landscape analysis, and strategic goals.

Formatting and Readability

• Issue: Poor formatting can make your plan look unprofessional.
• Solution: Pay attention to formatting elements like fonts, spacing, and visuals. Ensure the plan is clear, concise, and easy to read.

Remember: Our Page includes 45 different kinds of business plan templates tailored for specific industries, So you can choose any format that suits your business with your ease.

Get Your One Page Business Plan Template from Wisebusinessplan Today!

Essential elements of a business plan.

• Executive Summary
• Business Description
• Market Analysis
• Competitive Analysis
• Marketing and Sales Strategy
• Organization and Management
• Product or Service Line
• Financial Projections
• Funding Request
• Appendix (optional)

Tips for Creating a Business Plan

Creating a business plan can seem like a daunting task, but the following tips aim to simplify the process as you develop your plan:

• Utilize a business plan template (choose from the options above) or refer to the previous section to establish a standard outline for your plan.
• Adapt your outline to suit the specific needs of your business. If you’re using a standard business plan outline, remove any sections that don’t apply to your situation or aren’t vital for running your business.
• Begin by gathering all the information you currently have about your business. Then, use this information to complete each section in your plan outline.
• Leverage available resources and conduct additional research to fill in any remaining gaps. (Note: You don’t have to fill out your plan in sequence, but remember that the executive summary, which summarizes key points, should be completed last.)
• Ensure your plan effectively conveys the interplay between your marketing, sales, and financial objectives.
• Include details in your plan that outline your strategic course of action, looking ahead three to five years.
• Regularly revisit your plan as strategies and objectives evolve.

At the very least, ensure your business plan addresses the following questions:

• What product or service are we offering?
• Who is the product or service for?
• What problem does our product or service solve?
• How will we deliver the product or service to our target customers?
• What makes our product or service superior to alternatives?
• How can we surpass our competitors?
• What is our unique value proposition?
• When will tasks be completed, and who is responsible for them?
• If funding is needed, how will it be utilized?
• When are payments due, and when will income be received?
• What is the ultimate purpose of your business?

To determine the type of business plan that suits your needs and for more helpful guidance, consult our guide on crafting a concise business plan.

Benefits of Using a Business Plan Template

Developing a business plan can be a time-consuming task, particularly if you’re unsure how to get started. However, utilizing the right template tailored to your business needs can prove highly advantageous. Here’s how using a business plan template, as opposed to starting from scratch, can be particularly helpful:

Facilitates Organized Planning

A template allows you to promptly jot down your thoughts and ideas in an orderly fashion. It provides a structured framework that simplifies the planning process.

Provides Clarity and Structure

Using a template gives your plan a clear structure, helping you outline your business objectives, strategies, and goals with greater precision.

Time and Resource Efficiency

Templates save you precious time and resources. They eliminate the need to create every section from the ground up, enabling you to focus on the content and strategy, rather than the format.

Prevents Oversight

Templates serve as comprehensive guides, helping you cover all the essential details your business plan should encompass. This reduces the risk of omitting crucial elements vital to your business’s success.

In essence, a well-designed business plan template streamlines the planning process, making it more efficient and ensuring that your plan is both thorough and well-organized.

Restrictions of Business Plan Templates

While a business plan template can be a helpful starting point, it comes with certain limitations, particularly if the template doesn’t align precisely with your business’s unique requirements. Here are some drawbacks to consider:

Lack of Customization

Every business is distinct, and your business plan should reflect that individuality. A template may not adequately cater to your specific needs, potentially resulting in an ill-fitting plan.

Impaired Collaboration

Using a template may hinder effective collaboration among different teams involved in the plan’s development, such as sales, marketing, and accounting teams. It might not be conducive to seamless teamwork.

Data Dispersal

Templates can lead to the creation of multiple files stored in various locations. This can make it challenging to maintain a centralized and up-to-date plan.

Chart and Graph Creation

Templates often require you to manually generate charts and graphs to support your strategic points. This adds an extra layer of work and complexity.

Multiple Updates

Keeping your plan, spreadsheets, and supporting documents synchronized can be cumbersome when using a template. Changes made may not automatically update across all documents, potentially causing version control issues.

In summary, while business plan templates can be a useful starting point, it’s essential to be aware of their limitations, especially when your business has specific requirements that may not be accommodated by a generic template.

A business plan template is a pre-written document that provides a structure and outline for writing a business plan. It can help businesses of all sizes save time and effort, ensure completeness, improve consistency, and make a better impression on potential investors and lenders.

To write a business plan using a template, simply follow the structure and outline provided. Fill in the blanks with information about your company, its products or services, its target market, its financial projections, and its marketing and sales strategies. Be sure to customize the template to fit the specific needs of your business.

The best business plan templates for small businesses are those that are tailored to the specific needs of small businesses. Some popular options include:

• Lean Startup Canvas
• Business Model Canvas
• One-Page Business Plan
• SBA Business Plan Template
• SCORE Business Plan Template

To customize a business plan template, simply add or remove sections as needed to fit the specific needs of your business. You can also change the wording and formatting of the template to match your company’s brand voice.

Here are a few tips for writing a successful business plan using a template:

• Be honest and realistic in your projections.
• Be clear and concise in your writing.
• Be specific about your goals and objectives.
• Tailor your plan to your target audience.
• Proofread your plan carefully before submitting it to potential investors or lenders.

Here are a few examples of good business plans written using templates:

• Tesla Business Plan
• Airbnb Business Plan
• Warby Parker Business Plan
• Glossier Business Plan
• Spotify Business Plan

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Use This Business Plan Format to Expertly Write Your Plan

Written by Dave Lavinsky

In this guide, you’ll learn how to format your business plan professionally. Business plan structure and format helps readers look beyond distracting style to the real meat of your idea.

Download our Ultimate Business Plan Template here >

How to Format Your Business Plan: The Cover Sheet

Every business plan should begin with a simple business plan cover page including the business name, your name and contact information. An easy to read table of contents should follow.

Example Business Plan Table of Contents

I: Executive Summary      a. Business Overview      b. Success Factors      c. Financial Highlights

II: Company Overview      a. Who is [Company Name]?      b. [Company Name]’s History      c. [Company Name]’s Products & Services

III: Industry Analysis      a. Industry Trends

IV: Customer Analysis      a. Customer Segmentation

V: Competitive Analysis      a. Direct & Indirect Competitors      b. Competitive Advantage

VI: Marketing Plan      a. The [Company Name] Brand      b. Promotions Strategy      c. Pricing Strategy

VII: Operations Plan      a. Functional Roles      b. Goals and Milestones

VIII: Management Team      a. Management Team Members      b. Hiring Plan

IX: Financial Plan      a. Revenue Model      b. Revenue and Cost Drivers      c. Key Assumptions & Forecasts

X: Appendix

The cover sheet should leave no question for readers to be able to identify the business plan when it is in a stack with dozens of others on their desk. The table of contents allows them to easily refer to sections within the plan. For example, after reading the executive summary, some investors with an eye for numbers may turn directly to the financial plan and statements. Proper business plan format allows readers to quickly get the information they want.

Example Business Plan Format

There are 10 business plan components or sections that every entrepreneur and business owner must include in their plan. These include:

• Executive summary
• Company overview
• Industry analysis
• Customer analysis
• Competitive analysis
• Marketing plan
• Operations plan
• Management team
• Financial plan

You should recognize these if you’ve ever worked with the best business plan template .

Formatting your business plan with charts and graphs is welcomed to break up long blocks of text. However, charts and graphs shouldn’t be used for their own sake. They must make the information easier to pass on than text would.

The business plan format that investors and lenders expect includes the following 10 sections. You can download our business plan format pdf here, to help you get started. We’ve included important notes in each section specific to business plan formatting to help you as you write your plan.

1. Start with Your Executive Summary

An executive summary gives readers a crisp overview of your business at the start of your plan. This section should not be more than two pages long and should include the following:

• What is the business about?
• Where and why did the idea of the business originate?
• Who are the owners?
• Which industry is it operating in?
• What is its core function?
• Where is it located?
• How is it going to make money?
• How much money (if any) is it already making?
• What are its financial projections?

The best format for your executive summary is paragraphs. Utilizing bullets and headings is also useful formatting within an executive summary, as it aids the reader in scanning the content on the page.

2. Company Overview Section

The company overview is the perfect place to highlight the strengths of your business. This section gives the reader additional information about your products and/or services and describes your company’s past accomplishments.

Including the below in this section will provide further clarity about your business:

• What type of business you are (e.g., C-Corporation, sole proprietor)
• When your business started
• Business’ accomplishments to date

The best formatting to use in this section is paragraphs to describe your company’s strengths and products/services. You should also include a chart that outlines your company’s achievements to date.

3. Industry or Market Analysis

The industry or market analysis gives the reader a clear understanding of your industry and the audience it serves. It includes a detailed explanation of your market size and trends.

Typically, the format of this section should be paragraphs. Feel free to include charts and graphs to best convey the information to the reader.

4. The Customer Analysis States Who Your Customers Are and What They Need

In this section of your plan, explain who your target customers are and identify their specific needs. Doing this will help you better target and attract customers.

5. Competitive Analysis

The Competitive Analysis section identifies your direct and indirect competitors. It discusses who they are and their strengths and weaknesses. It then details your areas of competitive advantages.

Whether your competitors are small or large businesses, describe them. Telling investors there are no competitors (big or small) often gives the impression that a market does not exist for your company.

With regards to formatting, use paragraphs to describe each competitor. As appropriate, adding a competitor matrix to show similarities and differences between your company and the competition can be very powerful.

6. Your Marketing Plan is a Key Section

The marketing & sales section of your business plan should outline how you plan to attract new customers and retain old ones. This section should outline the ways customers can be introduced to and engage with your offerings and describe how you will convert these prospects into paying customers.

Set marketing objectives that include the following (if applicable):

• Introducing new products
• Extending the market reach
• Exploring new markets
• Boosting sales
• Cross-selling
• Creating a long-term partnership with clients
• Increasing prices without affecting sales
• Creating a content marketing strategy

Organize your Marketing Plan into the 4 P’s – Price, Product, Promotions and Place. If you have multiple products or services, include a menu with each key item and its price.

7. The Operations Plan Format

Your Operations Plan identifies your key operational processes and milestones you expect to accomplish. Using a Gantt chart is a great way to show your expected future milestones. You can also format this section with tables that document the dates of future milestones.

8. You Need to Prove Your Management Team Can Execute

“A company is only as good as the people it keeps.” – Mary Kay Ash, American Entrepreneur and Businesswoman

The Management Team section of your business plan focuses on the people who run the business.

Who are the decision-makers, who is the product expert, who is the operations head, and who is running the entire show? A glimpse into the expertise and capabilities of your team members and how their experiences will help grow your business will boost stakeholder confidence.

To improve the formatting and best convey your management team to readers, consider adding an organizational chart that shows your team members and reporting structure.

9. Format Your Financial Plan

The goal of this section is to convince the reader that your business is stable and will be financially successful. Arm this section with past and/or forecasted cash flow statements, balance sheets, profit & loss statements, expense budgeting and sales forecasts.

If you run an operational business, include 3 years of historical data to help investors gain an understanding of how feasible your funding request is and if your business is capable of generating good returns.

Also include your funding request, if applicable, in this section. You should mention how much investment is required to take your business to the next significant milestone and how the money will be spent. You should also define if you are seeking debt or equity funding. If you are seeking debt financing like an SBA loan, ensure your financial projections include the debt and show steady repayments of both the principal and return under reasonable loan terms.

If you are seeking equity financing, you don’t need to include your valuation expectations in the business plan, but you should be aligned within your ownership team on the amount of equity you are willing to exchange before you pitch investors.

Example Financial Plan

Projected sales, gross profit & net income.

5 Year Annual Income Statement

5 Year Annual Balance Sheet

5 Year Annual Cash Flow Statement

10. Appendix

This section includes supporting documentation of your business case. This could include renderings of a planned store location, market research reports referenced in the plan, key supplier or buyer contracts that substantiate your financial projections or historical marketing and sales data.

Formatting Your Business Plan

Overall, business plans should use simple and standard formatting. Twelve point font size in a standard font like Arial or Times New Roman is best, as well as the standard margin size of one inch on each side. Pages should be numbered, and the name of the company should appear on each page in the header or footer.

Use charts whenever possible as it makes it much easier for readers to consume the information in your plan.

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Formatting Tips for Business Plans: Use of Charts and Graphs

Home » Formatting Tips for Business Plans: Use of Charts and Graphs

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People usually ask how many charts or graphs should be put in business plans. It really depends. There are key factors that determine the number of charts and graphs needed in every business plan.

To start, the essential point to think about in creating your business plan is the time constraints of your target audience. If he or she is a retired angel investor, he might have other duties but could spend an hour reviewing your business plan. The more probable situation is a venture capitalist, loan officer or corporate buyer reviewing your business plan on his or her desk topped with numerous other business plans. Therefore, it is crucial that your business plan conveys the important key points easily and quickly. This is where charts or graphs come into picture.

In deciding whether to use a chart or graph, think about the old saying, “a picture is worth a thousand words” The purpose here is that the image should save a thousand words. In other words, the chart or graph must supplement the text; it should not be discussed in the text, or that defeats its purpose. Likewise, the chart or graph should be relevant and should support the text rather than veer away from it.

Apart from respecting the time restraints of the targeted audience in the business plan, there must also be respect given to the audience’s level of energy. In other words, after reviewing several business plans, the investor will most probably skip pages with 400 or more words of straight text. Even though no charts would be applicable to supplement the page, business plan consultants highly suggest using the appropriate spacing and callout boxes to make pages more readable.

Certainly, operational designs and technical drawings must be visually and adequately presented in business plans. Without them, enormous volumes of text are usually needed to describe relatively simple procedures. Significantly, once the text references the graphs, the graphs should be readily accessible. In other words, the graph should be on the exact same page as the text, instead of forcing the reader to turn to the appendix. If the graph is referenced on multiple pages, every page must demonstrate the piece of the graph that reflects the text, together with the entire graph appearing just once in the business plan.

Lastly, when the business plan is being reported to one or more investors, then the number of charts and graphs should reflect the needs, wants and sophistication of the few readers. As an example, if the readers are strategic investors, who know and understand the industry, the business plan should be presented with more charts to convey the message which these strategic investors have knowledge on.

Always remember that the business plan is not a PowerPoint presentation. Too many charts and graphs may give the impression that the business is too lazy to finish formulating a formal business plan.

In summary, the number of graphs and charts used in business plans should reflect important points of the business plan for an audience that is usually energy and time constrained. The graphs and charts must supplement the text and allow the audience to easily and readily digest the data, and influence the audience in progressing to the next step (e.g., scheduling a personal meeting) in the investment process.

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With LivePlan's financial projections software, you don't have to worry about navigating complex spreadsheets or breaking formulas in Excel. LivePlan's financial forecasting tool takes you step-by-step through the process of creating the powerful financial reports you need for your business plan—even if you don't have prior business experience.

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Are you unclear on all the ways your business could make money? Not sure about your operating expenses? The LivePlan Assistant gives you customized suggestions for revenue and expense streams. Then you can just click on a recommendation and bring it into your forecast.

Drag and drop financial forecasting

More of a visual person than a numbers person? No problem. LivePlan's unique “drag and drop” interface of financial forecasting tools makes creating budgets and forecasts easy. Just click and drag to create your budget, and see how your budget and forecast changes with the seasons.

Automatic Charts and Graphs

Forget messing around with Excel and Word to create charts and graphs for your business plan. LivePlan's financial forecasting software creates all the charts and graphs you need and automatically includes them in your business plan. Of course, you can rearrange your charts if you want or just remove them if you don't want to include them—but we don't recommend that!

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Your business plan will be complete and correct—guaranteed. LivePlan automatically creates all the financial tables that banks and investors expect, in a format approved by all common funding sources, from SBA lenders to Silicon Valley venture capitalists.

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• Expense Budget
• Profit & Loss
• Balance Sheet
• Personnel Plan
• Asset Purchases
• Direct Costs
• Funding Sources
• Key Financial Assumptions

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What would happen if you hired more employees? What if sales are better than expected? LivePlan's financial projection software lets you easily explore different situations with financial scenarios. Create scenarios for different ideas and then see how that impacts your numbers.

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Visualizing your business plan: How to use graphs and charts to illustrate your plan

1. exploring different types of visual representations, 2. using line charts to showcase growth patterns, 3. pie charts and bar graphs for competitive insights, 4. bar graphs and area charts to display financial forecasts, 5. visualizing key performance indicators (kpis), 6. gantt charts and timelines for project planning, 7. summarizing the impact of effective visualization on your business plan.

Visualizing data is a crucial aspect of any business plan. When it comes to conveying complex information, graphs and charts play a pivotal role. They transform raw data into meaningful insights, making it easier for stakeholders to understand trends, patterns, and relationships. In this section, we'll delve into various types of visual representations and explore how to choose the right ones for your business plan .

Let's consider different perspectives on this topic:

1. audience-Centric approach :

- Know Your Audience : Before selecting a graph or chart, consider who will be reading your business plan. Executives, investors, and technical experts may have different preferences. Tailor your visualizations accordingly.

- Simplicity vs. Detail : Strive for a balance between simplicity and detail. Too much complexity can confuse readers, while oversimplified visuals may lack depth.

- Cultural Context : Be mindful of cultural differences. Some visual representations are more common in specific regions or industries.

2. Types of Graphs and Charts :

- Line Charts : Ideal for showing trends over time. Use them to illustrate revenue growth, website traffic, or customer retention rates . For instance, a line chart depicting monthly sales can reveal seasonal patterns.

Example: Monthly Sales Trends (2019-2023)

- Bar Charts : Compare discrete categories. Vertical bars represent values, making it easy to compare quantities. Use bar charts for market share analysis, survey results, or product comparisons.

Example: Market Share by Product Category

- Pie Charts : Display parts of a whole. Use them sparingly, as they can be misleading. Pie charts work well for showing proportions, such as the distribution of marketing expenses.

Example: marketing Budget allocation

- Scatter Plots : Show relationships between two variables. Scatter plots help identify correlations or outliers. For instance, plot customer satisfaction scores against response time.

Example: Customer Satisfaction vs. Response Time

- Histograms : Depict frequency distributions. Useful for understanding data distribution , such as employee salaries or product review ratings.

Example: Salary Distribution in the Organization

- Heatmaps : Visualize data density. They're excellent for showing patterns in large datasets, like website clicks across different hours and days.

Example: Website Traffic Heatmap

3. Choosing Wisely :

- Match Data Type : Consider whether your data is categorical (e.g., product categories) or numerical (e.g., revenue). Each graph type has its strengths.

- highlight Key points : Use annotations, labels, and colors to emphasize important insights. For instance, label the highest and lowest points on a line chart.

- Avoid 3D Effects : While 3D graphs may look impressive, they often distort data. Stick to 2D representations for accuracy.

- Accessibility : Ensure your visualizations are accessible to all users, including those with visual impairments. Provide alternative text descriptions where needed.

Remember, the right choice depends on context. A sales report may require different visuals than an R&D progress update. Experiment, iterate, and seek feedback to refine your visualizations. Ultimately, the goal is to make your business plan engaging, informative, and actionable.

Exploring different types of visual representations - Visualizing your business plan: How to use graphs and charts to illustrate your plan

Sales and revenue trends play a crucial role in understanding the growth patterns of a business . By utilizing line charts, businesses can effectively showcase these trends and gain valuable insights . In this section, we will explore the significance of visualizing sales and revenue trends and provide in-depth information to help you make informed decisions.

1. Understanding the Importance:

Visualizing sales and revenue trends allows businesses to identify patterns, spot opportunities, and make data-driven decisions . By analyzing the upward or downward trajectory of sales and revenue over a specific period, businesses can assess their performance and strategize accordingly.

2. Insights from Different Perspectives:

When examining sales and revenue trends, it is essential to consider various perspectives. For instance, analyzing trends on a monthly, quarterly, or yearly basis provides a comprehensive view of the business's performance. Additionally, comparing trends across different product lines or geographical regions can offer valuable insights into market dynamics.

3. Highlighting Growth Patterns:

Line charts are an effective tool for highlighting growth patterns. By plotting sales and revenue data over time, businesses can visually showcase the trajectory of their success. For example, a line chart may reveal a steady upward trend, indicating consistent growth, or fluctuations that signify seasonal variations.

4. identifying Key factors :

Line charts can also help identify key factors influencing sales and revenue trends. By overlaying additional data points, such as marketing campaigns, product launches, or economic indicators, businesses can correlate these factors with changes in sales and revenue. This analysis enables businesses to understand the drivers behind their performance and make informed adjustments.

5. Communicating Insights:

Line charts provide a clear and concise way to communicate sales and revenue trends to stakeholders. Whether it's presenting to investors, sharing updates with the management team, or analyzing performance with employees, line charts offer a visually appealing and easily understandable representation of data.

Remember, effectively visualizing sales and revenue trends through line charts empowers businesses to make informed decisions , identify growth opportunities , and communicate their performance effectively. By leveraging these insights, businesses can drive success and achieve their goals.

Using line charts to showcase growth patterns - Visualizing your business plan: How to use graphs and charts to illustrate your plan

market Share analysis is a crucial aspect of understanding the competitive landscape in any industry. It involves the examination of pie charts and bar graphs to gain insights into the market position of different players. By analyzing market share data, businesses can identify their strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for growth.

When conducting a Market Share analysis , it is important to consider various perspectives. Here are some key insights to consider:

1. market Share distribution : Pie charts are commonly used to visually represent the market share distribution among competitors. These charts provide a clear overview of each player's share in the market, allowing businesses to identify dominant players and potential areas for market expansion.

2. Competitive Positioning: Bar graphs can be used to compare the market share of different competitors over time. By analyzing the trends and changes in market share , businesses can assess their competitive positioning and make informed strategic decisions .

3. Market Segmentation: Pie charts can also be used to analyze market share within specific segments or customer groups. This helps businesses understand their performance in different target markets and tailor their strategies accordingly.

4. Industry Insights: Market Share Analysis can provide valuable insights into industry dynamics and trends. By comparing market share data across different time periods or regions, businesses can identify emerging competitors, market shifts, and potential threats.

5. Benchmarking: Market Share Analysis allows businesses to benchmark their performance against competitors . By comparing their market share to industry averages or leading players, businesses can identify areas of improvement and set realistic goals .

Remember, examples and specific data may vary depending on the industry and available information. It is always recommended to gather accurate and up-to-date data for a comprehensive Market Share analysis .

Pie charts and bar graphs for competitive insights - Visualizing your business plan: How to use graphs and charts to illustrate your plan

## Understanding Financial Projections

Financial projections are the backbone of any business plan . They provide a glimpse into the future, allowing you to anticipate revenue, expenses, and profitability. When it comes to visualizing these projections, bar graphs and area charts play a crucial role. Let's explore their significance from different perspectives:

1. The Investor's Lens:

- Investors scrutinize financial projections to assess the viability of your business . They want to see growth potential, profitability, and a clear path to return on investment.

- Bar graphs allow investors to compare key metrics (such as revenue, expenses, and net income) across different periods. For instance, a bar graph showing monthly revenue over a year can reveal seasonal trends.

- Area charts, on the other hand, emphasize cumulative data. They show the total revenue or expenses over time, highlighting overall trends. Imagine an area chart depicting the gradual increase in sales over several quarters—it's a compelling visual.

2. The Entrepreneur's Perspective:

- As an entrepreneur, financial projections help you make strategic decisions. Should you invest in marketing? Can you afford to hire more staff? Is expansion feasible?

- Bar graphs break down complex data into digestible chunks. For instance, a bar graph showing monthly expenses categorized by marketing, salaries, and utilities provides clarity.

- Area charts are excellent for tracking progress toward goals. Imagine plotting projected revenue against actual revenue—the shaded area between the lines reveals deviations and opportunities for improvement.

3. The Operational Angle:

- Operations managers rely on financial projections to allocate resources efficiently . How much inventory should you stock? When should you launch a new product?

- Bar graphs help allocate budgets. A bar graph showing department-wise expenses allows managers to allocate funds appropriately.

- Area charts visualize capacity utilization. If you're running a manufacturing plant, an area chart depicting production levels against capacity can guide production planning.

## Using Bar Graphs and Area Charts

Now, let's explore how to use these visual tools effectively:

1. Bar Graphs:

- Example: Suppose you're launching a new product line. Create a bar graph comparing projected sales for each product category (e.g., electronics, fashion, home goods). This helps you allocate marketing budgets accordingly.

- Insight: The tallest bar indicates the most promising category. Focus your efforts there.

2. Area Charts:

- Example: Imagine you're a subscription-based service . Use an area chart to show cumulative subscribers over time. The rising area represents growth.

- Insight: If the area starts plateauing, it's time to rethink your marketing strategy .

Remember, financial projections are not crystal balls—they're educated estimates. Be conservative yet realistic. And always annotate your graphs with context (e.g., assumptions, market trends) to enhance understanding.

In summary, whether you're wooing investors, making strategic decisions , or optimizing operations, bar graphs and area charts are your trusty companions on the entrepreneurial journey.

Bar graphs and area charts to display financial forecasts - Visualizing your business plan: How to use graphs and charts to illustrate your plan

1. Why Operational Metrics Matter:

Operational metrics serve as the pulse of your business. They help you monitor processes, track performance, and identify areas for improvement. Whether you're running a small startup or managing a large corporation, understanding your operational metrics is crucial. Here's why:

- Efficiency Assessment: Metrics like cycle time , throughput , and utilization reveal how efficiently your resources (people, machines, etc.) are utilized.

- Quality Control: Metrics such as defect rate , rework percentage , and customer complaints highlight quality issues.

- Cost Management: Metrics like cost per unit , overhead expenses , and waste reduction impact your bottom line.

- Risk Mitigation: Metrics related to downtime , inventory turnover , and lead time help manage risks.

2. Choosing the Right Metrics:

Not all metrics are created equal. Select KPIs that align with your business goals and industry. Here are some common operational metrics:

- inventory Turnover ratio : Measures how quickly inventory is sold or used up.

- customer Acquisition cost (CAC): Calculates the cost of acquiring a new customer .

- Employee Productivity: Tracks output per employee (e.g., widgets produced per hour).

- Customer Lifetime Value (CLV): Predicts the value a customer brings over their lifetime.

- On-Time Delivery Rate: ensures timely delivery to customers.

- website Conversion rate : Measures the percentage of website visitors who take a desired action (e.g., making a purchase).

3. Visualizing Metrics:

Visualizations make data more digestible. Consider using:

- Line Charts: Show trends over time (e.g., monthly revenue).

- Bar Charts: Compare values (e.g., sales by product category).

- Pie Charts: Display proportions (e.g., market share).

- Heatmaps: Reveal patterns (e.g., peak hours for customer support calls).

- Dashboards: Combine multiple visualizations for a holistic view.

4. Examples:

- Imagine you run an e-commerce store . You create a dashboard with line charts showing daily website traffic, conversion rates, and revenue. By spotting trends, you can adjust marketing strategies.

- In a manufacturing plant, a bar chart compares production output across shifts. If the night shift consistently lags, you investigate why.

- A logistics company uses a heatmap to visualize delivery delays by region. This helps allocate resources effectively .

5. Avoid Pitfalls:

- Vanity Metrics: Beware of metrics that look impressive but lack actionable insights (e.g., total social media followers).

- Context Matters: Always consider context. A high defect rate might be acceptable for low-cost items but disastrous for medical devices.

- Data Accuracy: Garbage in, garbage out. ensure data accuracy before visualization.

Remember, operational metrics are not static. Regularly review and adapt them as your business evolves. By visualizing KPIs effectively, you empower your team to make data-driven decisions and steer your ship toward success!

Visualizing key performance indicators \(KPIs\) - Visualizing your business plan: How to use graphs and charts to illustrate your plan

## The importance of Project milestones

Project milestones serve as critical markers along the project journey. They represent significant achievements, deadlines, or events that help track progress and keep the team aligned. Here are some insights from different perspectives:

1. Project Managers:

- Navigational Beacons : Project milestones act as navigational beacons, guiding the team through the project's complex terrain. They provide clarity on what needs to be accomplished by specific dates.

- Risk Mitigation : Identifying milestones allows project managers to assess risks and allocate resources effectively. For instance, if a critical milestone is delayed, corrective actions can be taken promptly.

- Stakeholder Communication : Milestones facilitate transparent communication with stakeholders. They offer tangible evidence of progress and build confidence in the project's trajectory.

2. Team Members:

- Motivation and Focus : Milestones break down the project into manageable chunks. Achieving them provides a sense of accomplishment and motivates team members.

- Dependencies and Sequencing : Team members can understand the sequence of tasks and their dependencies. For example, completing the design phase is a milestone before starting development.

- Collaboration : Milestones encourage collaboration. When everyone knows what's expected at each stage, collaboration becomes smoother.

3. Clients and Investors:

- Assurance : Clients and investors want assurance that the project is progressing as planned. Milestones serve as proof of progress and adherence to timelines.

- Decision Points : Milestones are decision points. For instance, a prototype demonstration milestone allows clients to evaluate progress and provide feedback.

- Financial Planning : investors need to allocate funds strategically. Milestones help them release funds at appropriate intervals.

## Using Gantt Charts and Timelines

Now, let's explore how Gantt charts and timelines enhance project milestone visualization:

1. Gantt Charts :

- A Gantt chart is a powerful visual tool that displays project tasks, their durations, and dependencies over time.

- Horizontal Bars : Each task is represented by a horizontal bar. The length of the bar corresponds to the task duration.

- Milestone Markers : Gantt charts include milestone markers (diamonds or triangles) at significant points. These represent project milestones.

- Example : Imagine a software development project . The "Database Design" milestone occurs after completing the requirements gathering phase. The Gantt chart visually shows this transition.

```plaintext

Example Gantt Chart:

| Task | Duration | Milestones |

| Requirements Gathering | 2 weeks | |

| Database Design | 1 week | ● |

| Development | 6 weeks | |

| Testing | 2 weeks | ● |

| Deployment | 1 week | ● |

2. Timelines :

- Timelines provide a linear representation of project events.

- Horizontal Line : The timeline extends horizontally, with milestones placed at specific points.

- Example : Consider an event planning project. The "Venue Booking" milestone occurs on a specific date. The timeline visually highlights this moment.

Example Timeline:

| Event Planning Timeline |

| Jan 15 | ● Venue Booking

| Feb 15 | ● Caterer Confirmation

## Conclusion

In summary, project milestones are like signposts on a journey. They guide us, keep us on track, and celebrate our progress. Whether you're using Gantt charts, timelines, or a combination of both, visualizing milestones ensures that your project stays on course toward success. Remember, it's not just about reaching the destination; it's about appreciating the journey—one milestone at a time.

Gantt charts and timelines for project planning - Visualizing your business plan: How to use graphs and charts to illustrate your plan

1. Enhanced Clarity and Understanding :

- Effective visualizations distill complex information into digestible formats. When stakeholders, investors, or team members review your business plan , clear charts and graphs can help them quickly grasp key points.

- Example: Imagine presenting a revenue forecast using a well-designed line chart. Trends become evident, and the impact of various factors (seasonality, marketing campaigns, etc.) becomes apparent.

2. Engagement and Retention :

- Visuals capture attention and keep readers engaged. People tend to remember information better when it's presented visually.

- Example: A bar chart illustrating market share growth over time can leave a lasting impression , reinforcing your plan's core message.

3. Effective Communication :

- Visuals transcend language barriers. Whether you're sharing your business plan with an international audience or presenting to non-experts, charts and diagrams convey meaning universally.

- Example: A world map showing your global expansion strategy communicates volumes without requiring lengthy explanations.

4. data-Driven Decision-making :

- Visualizations provide insights that drive informed choices. When you visualize data, patterns emerge, outliers become visible, and correlations are apparent.

- Example: A scatter plot showing the relationship between customer satisfaction scores and product features can guide product development priorities.

5. Persuasion and Buy-In :

- Investors and stakeholders are more likely to support your plan when they can visualize its potential impact. Visuals create an emotional connection.

- Example: A stacked area chart depicting revenue streams (e.g., subscriptions, ad revenue, product sales) can convince investors of your diversified income sources.

6. risk Assessment and mitigation :

- Visualizations highlight risks and opportunities. By visualizing market trends , competitive landscapes, and financial projections, you can proactively address challenges.

- Example: A heat map showing potential risks (e.g., supply chain disruptions , regulatory changes) helps you allocate resources wisely .

7. Alignment and Consensus :

- When team members collaborate on a business plan, visualizations foster alignment. Everyone sees the same data, reducing misunderstandings.

- Example: A Gantt chart outlining project timelines ensures everyone agrees on milestones and dependencies.

8. Storytelling and Narrative :

- Visuals weave a compelling narrative. They guide readers through your plan, emphasizing critical points and creating a cohesive story.

- Example: A flowchart illustrating the customer journey—from awareness to conversion—can make your plan more relatable.

Effective visualization isn't just about aesthetics; it's a strategic tool that empowers your business plan. By leveraging data-driven visuals, you enhance understanding, engage stakeholders, and pave the way for success. Remember, a picture is worth a thousand words—especially in the world of business planning!

Summarizing the impact of effective visualization on your business plan - Visualizing your business plan: How to use graphs and charts to illustrate your plan

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ChartExpo Survey

Top 5 Business Graphs and Charts Examples

Hunting for insights into raw and bulky data is tedious and mentally exhausting.

This is where business graphs and charts come into play.

The visualization designs can help you distill business data into meaningful insights. And this can save tons of hours, which you can use to relax or execute other tasks.

We recommend charts that communicate insights with clarity, especially when creating business stories for investors and stockholders.

Some of the tested and proven business graphs and charts include:

Waterfall Chart

• Progress Bar Chart
• Stacked Bar Chart
• Funnel Chart

Google Sheets is one of the go-to popular data analysis tools among professionals and business owners worldwide.

But the visualization tool has very basic Treemaps, Area, Progress, Stacked Bar, and Funnel Charts. And this implies you’ve got to invest extra effort and time to edit the charts to align with your needs.

You can download and install a specific add-on in your Google Sheets to access ready-to-use creative data visualization examples (highlighted above).

Table of Content:

What are business graphs and charts, importance of graphs and charts in business, types of graphs and charts in business, how to create business graphs and charts.

In most business meetings, charts and graphs are incorporated into data stories.

It could be a chart showing the team’s progress on a big project.  Or a graph showing the sales revenue versus competition or industry average.

Business graphs and chart examples, created using data visualization tools , make information much easier to digest and understand. Some of the tested and proven business charts include:

Data visualization graphs are powerful because they simplify business data by making it understandable & readable at the same time.

Besides, they make data stories compelling and irresistible to target audiences. Keep reading because we’ll cover the following in the coming section: the importance of graphs and charts in business such as a Radar Chart .

Predict Changes in Tastes and Preferences

In today’s world, customers have a broader range of choices.

If your business is aligned with the customer’s desires and expectations, you can easily find yourself in a downward spiral. As customers navigate their purchasing journey, influenced by a constant influx of new information, their preferences and decisions can shift. Understanding this dynamic through a detailed customer journey map can help you stay ahead and adapt effectively.

With the vast amount of data, it’s practically impossible for you to make sense of all the changes in the market.

The different types of charts for representing data (which we’ll talk about in a few) provide you with answers about the changing behavior of the market. You can easily point out significant shifts in tastes and preferences by using charts.

Timely awareness of customer behavior changes can be the decisive factor in the current competitive landscape.

Create Targeted Offers

Gone are the days when you could easily sell a standard set of products and services to customers.

Today’s market craves products and services that can meet their individual needs.

One of the benefits of business charts is that they help you keep track of your target market’s tastes, preferences, and needs. You can leverage data from various attributions, such as social media and websites, to create a reliable persona for the market.

Empower Data-driven Decision-Making

Most small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are still betting on gut feel rather than facts and data. 

One of the key reasons for this could be a lack of access to quality data to back up decision-making processes.

Business graphs and chart examples, such as a Sunburst Chart , can help you distill signals from noise in your raw data. This can save massive amounts of time. Just imagine the competitive advantage you would enjoy by relying on data to make strategic decisions.

Eases Interpretation of Data

Thanks to creative data visualization examples, such as the Progress Bar Chart, you can interpret vast quantities of data clearly and cohesively to draw conclusions  and see perspectives.

You can easily create and rapidly consume key metrics associated with your business or workplace.

If any of the aforementioned metrics have anomalies, such as a dramatic decline in sales, you can easily dig into the data using visual tools like a chord diagram example .

In the coming section, we’ll address the following: types of graphs and charts in business.

A waterfall chart visually illustrates how an initial value is affected by a series of positive and negative changes over time or through a process.

These steps can represent various factors such as revenues, expenses, gains, losses, or any other relevant metrics.

The chart helps users understand the overall trend by visually breaking down the contributions of each component to the outcome. It’s commonly used in financial analysis, project management, and performance evaluation to highlight the sequential impact of different factors on a particular outcome.

Treemaps (one of the business graphs and charts examples) are ideal for displaying large amounts of hierarchically structured (tree-structured) data.

The space in the visualization is split up into rectangles sized and ordered based on key data points.

The levels in the hierarchy of the Treemap are visualized as rectangles nested in other rectangles. To generate ready-made charts, we suggest you use an intuitive Treemap creator (which we’ll talk about).

Each category in your data is assigned a rectangle area with smaller boxes nested inside of it. A metric in your data is assigned to a category based on its proportion relative to the whole. Also, the area size of the overall Treemap Chart, similar to a Mekko chart , is the total of its subcategories.

The chart is a more compact and space-efficient option for displaying hierarchical insights into your data.

Area Chart (one of the business graphs and charts examples) uses a combination of color and lines to display trends and patterns insights over time. The visualization design is best suited for displaying patterns and trends of key data points.

Check out more benefits of the chart below:

Analyzing Annual Sales

The Area Chart Google Sheets is ideal for displaying insights into the yearly sales data of a business.

Gauge Performance

One of the best charts to use to track performance in a specified time is the Area Chart. As we said, the chart is ideal for tracking trends and patterns in a specified period.

Conduct Comparison Analysis

Area Charts are effective, especially when comparing two or more metrics in your data.

A Progress Bar Chart is a visualization design that displays the progress made in a task or project. You can use the chart to monitor and prioritize your objectives, providing critical data for strategic decision-making.

Besides, it uses filled bars to display how much of the planned activity or goal has been completed.

The chart is significant, especially in tasks that require continuous monitoring and evaluation. More so, it uses green and red bars to show the growth and decline of a variable under study.

A Stacked Bar Chart is a variant of the bar graphs you can use to compare individual data points relative to aggregate values.

A standard Bar Graph compares individual data points. Conversely, in a Stacked Bar Visualization and Clustered Stacked Bar Visualization  (one of the business graphs and charts examples), each bar is divided into several sub-bars stacked end-to-end. More so, each subsection in the bars has the same color. This is to make formatting easier, especially during data storytelling.

The chart takes its name from its shape, which starts with a broad head and ends with a narrow neck. The funnel’s width indicates the number of users at each stage of the process as it narrows.

Funnel charts have a wider variety of uses, especially within the business or sales contexts.

Maximizing sales revenue is one of the common strategic goals businesses pursue. To achieve this, you need to track how a starting set of visitors or users drop out or convert in a sales pipeline.

A Tornado chart can be particularly useful in visualizing this process, highlighting the key stages where drop-offs occur and enabling you to address potential issues effectively.

To get a clear picture of how a sales funnel is performing in revenue generation, you need to visualize data. This will guide you during the optimization stage.

Here’s an interesting fact.

Funnel Chart can be best deployed for high-level insights, especially before diving into an in-depth investigation.

In the coming section, we’ll cover the following: how to create business graphs and charts.

Google Sheets is one of the most-used visualization tools among businesses and professionals worldwide, offering a range of features including the ability to create insightful Box and Whisker plots and many more.

However, this cloud-hosted spreadsheet tool comes with very basic business graphs and charts examples, such as Treemaps, which require a lot of extra work in editing.

We’re not recommending you do away with the spreadsheet app.

You can turn Google Sheets into a data visualization tool loaded with ready-made and visually stunning business graphs and charts, including Mosaic plots , by installing third-party apps, such as ChartExpo.

Why ChartExpo?

ChartExpo is an add-on you can easily install in your Google Sheets.

With a large number of ready-made and visually stunning visualizations, ChartExpo turns your complex, raw data into  compelling, easy-to-digest visual renderings that tell the story of your data.

The easy-to-use tool produces simple and clear visualization designs with just a few clicks. Yes, ChartExpo generates Google Sheets charts that are amazingly easy to interpret, even for non-technical audiences.

We’ll use the Progress Bar Chart to display insights into the table below in this section.

Install the ChartExpo add-on for Google Sheets  from this link and then follow the simple and easy steps below.

• Open your Google Sheets application and paste the table above.
• Open the worksheet and click the  Extensions menu.
• Then go to Charts, Graphs & Visualization by ChartExpo .
• Finally, click the Open button in the dropdown.

• Click the Add New Chart button to access your fully stocked library of charts.

• Once ChartExpo is loaded, you will see a list of charts.
• Look for “ Progress Bar Chart, ” as shown below.

• Select the sheet holding your data and select the Metrics option. Fill in the numerical numbers (in our case, we’ll use previous and current sales ).
• Select the Dimension button and fill in the dimensional data (in our example, we’ll use company ), as shown below.
• Finish the simple process by clicking the Create Chart button.

• Check out the final chart below.

• All products are best-moving products expect Sony.
• On the other hand, the declining products in terms of sales in Sony.

Which charts are commonly used in business?

Business graphs and charts examples make the information much easier to digest and understand. Some of the tested and proven business charts include:

The aforementioned data visualization designs are straightforward to interpret, even for non-technical audiences.

What is a business chart?

A business chart is a visual rending you can use to display insights into your data. It’s powerful because it simplifies business data by making it understandable & readable at the same time.

Besides, it makes data stories compelling and irresistible to target audiences.

Fishing for insights into raw and bulky data is tedious and mentally exhausting.

This is where business graphs and charts examples come into play.

These charts can help you distill business data into meaningful insights. And this can save tons of hours, which you can use to relax or execute other tasks.

Google Sheets is one of the go-to popular data visualization tools among professionals and business owners worldwide.

But the visualization tool has very basic Treemaps, Area, Progress, Stacked Bar, and Funnel Charts . And this implies you’ve got to invest extra effort and time to edit the charts to align with your needs.

So, what’s the solution?

Download and install third-party apps, such as ChartExpo, to access ready-to-go business graphs and charts, such as Treemaps.

ChartExpo is an easy-to-use application you can easily download and install in your Google Sheets app. Besides, this tool comes loaded with insightful and ready-made business graphs and charts.

You don’t need programming or coding skills to visualize your data using ChartExpo.

Sign up for a 7-day free trial today to access easy-to-interpret and visually appealing business charts and graphs.

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Kamala Harris has put the Democrats back in the race

How The Economy Really Fared Under Biden And Trump–From Jobs To Inflation

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The economy will be a hot-button topic during this week’s Democratic National Convention, with Democrats likely to emphasize the U.S.’ strong recovery during President Joe Biden’s term and the poor state of the labor market when Donald Trump left office—but the truth lies somewhere in between Trump and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris’ claims, as Trump and Biden navigated the unprecedented effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trump, left, and Biden at a 2020 debate.

GDP: The country’s economic output grew strongly under both Biden and Trump, with real gross domestic product, which tracks the inflation-adjusted value of all goods and services produced by the U.S., expanding at an annualized rate of 2.7% during Trump’s first three years and 3.5% during Biden’s. The Trump economy’s annualized growth rate of 1.4% over his full term is weaker, though that includes 2020’s COVID-19 shock, while Biden-led growth is concentrated in 2021 at 5.9%, slowing to 1.9% and 2.5% in 2022 and 2023.

Stock market: Stocks performed better under Trump, though both presidencies coincided with stronger-than-average gains—the S&P 500 index has posted an annualized return of 12.5% since Biden took office in 2021, compared to 16.3% under Trump (and there most certainly hasn’t been the stock market crash under Biden that his opponent forecasted in the 2020 race).

Inflation: Inflation has been far worse during the Biden administration, up 19% over the first 42 months of Biden’s term compared to 6% during Trump’s first 42 months, according to the government’s consumer price index. Year-over-year inflation peaked under Biden at a four-decade high of 9% in 2022 before falling to just over 3%—which Biden has blamed on COVID-19’s lingering impact and the Russia-Ukraine war.

Job market: Both Biden and Trump oversaw strong labor markets. Since Biden took office, overall employment is up 11%, average pay is up 17% and unemployment is down from 6.7% to 4.3%. It’s particularly a sign of strength that job growth and sub-4% unemployment have coincided with interest rate increases and a subsiding in inflation, both of which typically hurt the labor market. Perhaps Trump’s most impressive labor market feats were unemployment declining from 4.7% to as low as 3.5% in late 2019 and early 2020, which tied its lowest level since 1969 and wages growing by an inflation-beating 15% over his four-year term.

The COVID jobs asterisk: Much of the Biden labor market gains are part of the post-pandemic recovery, as unemployment was just 3.5% in Feb. 2020 and the number of employed Americans is up only 4%. Biden has largely focused on the Covid-skewed data points, and Trump’s labor market performance depends strictly on the cutoff date, as the COVID-19 disruption undid much of the nominal progress, sending unemployment briefly to an all-time high of 14.9% in April 2020 and causing the overall workforce to actually shrink from Dec. 2016 to Dec. 2020.

Consumer health: Consumer sentiment was lower last month than it ever was under Trump, according to the University of Michigan’s widely tracked survey as Americans continue to feel the aftershocks of inflation despite strong headline economic growth numbers and a record stock market. April’s 3.6% personal savings rate, which measures the percentage of Americans’ income left over after expenses and taxes, was less than half of April 2019’s 7.7%.

Gas prices: The average cost of a gallon of gasoline dipped from $2.37 to $2.28 from Dec. 2016 to 2020, rising to $3.41 by last week, according to the Energy Information Administration—but gas prices rose to an all-time high of over $5 per gallon in 2022 shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused energy prices globally to spike, as the U.S. and its allies vowed to not buy oil from Russia, the world’s third-largest oil producer.

Federal debt: The federal government’s national debt of $35.2 trillion is more than 25% higher than the day Biden took office, after rising 39% during Trump’s presidency, up from $19.95 trillion in Jan. 2017—with the U.S. running a total deficit of $5.85 trillion from its 2021 to 2023 fiscal years, compared to $2.43 trillion from 2017 to 2019 and a record $3.13 trillion in 2020 alone.

Harris will formally accept her party’s presidential nomination at the DNC this week, after Biden ended his reelection bid amid pressure from the party over a shaky debate performance and low poll numbers. Harris’ ascension has reversed some of the party’s fortunes: One poll sponsored by The Financial Times showed voters trust Harris slightly more than Trump on the economy, 42% to 41%, a major reversal from Trump’s six-point edge over Biden last month (the margin of error is 3.1 points). Harris has campaigned partly on the Biden administration’s economic record even though voters have been skeptical of it in the past, touting the country’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Key Background

The economy is the top issue named by voters ahead of the November presidential election, according to many polls . Research also indicates Americans had more belief in Trump than Biden to oversee the economy, with Biden earning the lowest confidence to do the right thing for the economy of any president since George W. Bush in 2008 amid the Great Recession, according to a Gallup survey. The shaky trust comes even as the Biden Administration has touted the achievements under his presidency, such as all-time high stock prices, GDP growth and the success of policies like his CHIPS act which predated the artificial intelligence boom.

Trump and his allies have dismissed the Biden-era job gains as being “virtually 100%” the result of illegal immigration, which is false, but the American-born workforce has grown a less stark 2% under Biden, compared to 16% growth for the foreign-born American workforce, many of whom immigrated legally. Misinformation has also made its way into inflation discussions. Trump incorrectly claims the past few years pose the worst inflation the U.S. has ever dealt with and total inflation runs at almost 50% under Biden, both of which are nowhere close to true. The Biden camp has also mischaracterized inflation, as Biden has asserted he came into office with 9.1% inflation (annual CPI inflation was 1.4% in Jan. 2021).

Voters usually punish presidents when the economy is poor and reward presidents when the economy is strong, but no matter who sits in the Oval Office, their actual power over economic conditions is limited . The pandemic-era recession and post-pandemic inflation binge were both worldwide phenomena. And while both Biden and Trump have touted lower gas prices at various points, the price often has more to do with supply and demand than government policy. Most importantly, the real kingpin of economic growth and inflation arguably isn't the president—it's the Federal Reserve chair.

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