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Startup Business Plan

Prepared by: ​[Sender.FirstName][Sender.LastName] ​[Sender.Company]​

Prepared for: ​[Client.FirstName][Client.LastName] ​[Client.Company]​

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Your first step in creating a business plan is to create an Executive Summary, which is a few paragraphs that give a simple overview of your business. You want to start by introducing the idea, how it was conceived and by whom. The goal is to create a storytelling narrative that you can adapt to your very own business journey.

​[Sender.Company] was created by [Sender.FirstName][Sender.LastName]in (creation year). The business will open in [Sender.City], [Sender.State], with a plan to become profitable by (year).

Here you can also describe your company in more detail — what industry you’re in, what your mission is, what will your products be, etc.

To fulfill our vision, we will require (amount) in capital, which will be allocated roughly according to the following table:

Amount

Use of Capital

(Amount)

(Use of Capital)

(Amount)

(Use of Capital)

(Amount)

(Use of Capital)

If we are fully capitalized, we hope to be profitable by (MM / DD / YYYY).

A basic five-year plan may help you to describe, in reasonable detail, the assumptions you are making to conclude that you will be profitable in the timeframe you’re describing. This can be further expanded in the financial plan below.

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Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

Revenue

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Gross Profit

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​Net Earnings

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COMPANY OVERVIEW

The company overview provides detailed information about the business, staff, and products. Highlight any important or unique selling points — think of it as a future autobiography for your business.

​[Sender.Company]​ is a startup business, established in (year). It is located in [Sender.City], [Company.State], but we are planning to eventually launch a branch in [Sender.City], [Company.State]. Our staff will include (include main staff roles and titles).

​[Sender.Company] specializes in providing customers with (include feature products).

Our mission is to help solve our customer's problems by providing high-quality products and exceptional customer service that satisfy each individual need.

INDUSTRY ANALYSIS

An industry analysis is an important part of any business plan template because it gives the investors an overview of your understanding of the industry your company will be stepping into. So, it’s extremely important to provide information on industry trends, the market, and relevant statistics. Briefly mention the competitors here, as you will need to provide an in-depth analysis in the competitive analysis section.

To fully analyze the industry, we have prepared a PEST analysis table that highlights political, economic, social, and technological threats and opportunities facing the industry.

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P

E

S

T

Threats

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Opportunities

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CUSTOMER ANALYSIS

Be as specific as possible when it comes to declaring your target market. You should include all possible segmentation for marketing, including:
Demographic details, Geographic details, Socio-economic details, Psychographic details, Behavioral details.
For example, if your company is B2C-oriented (business to customers) it may focus on a different audience than a B2B-oriented (business to business) company.

We have included a thorough analysis of our customers, presented in the table below

Segmentation

Details

Demographic

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Geographic

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Socio-economic status

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Psychographic status

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Behavioral analysis

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COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS

For your competitive analysis, you will need to identify your main competitors. You will need to examine each competitor as closely as possible by analyzing their product, quality, benefits, pricing, brand marketing, and audience. This can be done in a simple table or through a Feature Comparison Matrix.

Feature Comparison Matrix

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​[Sender.Company]​

Competitor 1

Competitor 2

Competitor 3

Competitor 4

Feature 1

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Feature 2

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Feature 3

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Feature 4

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Feature 5

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Strengths

Weaknesses

Opportunities

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​

Threats

​

​

You will also need to provide the investors with a SWOT analysis of top competitors to show your understanding of the industry. A SWOT analysis is a 2×2 grid that analyzes strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. You can also do the same for your own business to conclude what will make your company and its products stand out from the rest. You should frequently analyze the market using the SWOT technique to make sure your business stays on top of the competition.

MARKETING PLAN

The marketing plan should include the marketing mix, which addresses seven main strategies: product, promotion, price, place, people, process, and physical evidence. Physical evidence focuses on how you will reassure your investors and clients that your startup is lucrative enough, what unique selling points you will bring, how you will ensure that your staff is well-trained, etc.
We strongly suggest you keep this section brief and include a full marketing plan in the appendix.

To analyze our target market, we have taken into consideration every part of the marketing mix. This includes:

Product:

Promotion:

Price:

Place:

People:

Process:

Physical evidence:

In order to entice new customers, we are proposing special offers. These include:

Offer:

Offer:

Offer:

We are also presenting a distribution strategy with a clear channel plan:

Here, you can highlight which marketing strategy you will use. For example, if you were looking to use a specific social media strategy, you could put “social media” as the channel, “Twitter” as the name, “posting offers” as strategy, “casual and excited” as the tone of voice, and “clicks and conversions” as the desired outcome.

Channel

Name

Strategy

Tone of Voice

Desired Outcome

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SERVICES

Make your vision of your startup come to life by thoroughly describing the services and products you will offer. You can also include complete visual mockups of the products in the appendix.

​[Sender.Company] will feature the following facilities and services:

Services

Description of the service

Services

Description of the service

Facility

Description of the facility

Facility

Description of the facility

OPERATIONS PLAN

In building your operations plan, you should expect to get into the real behind-the-scenes details. You should highlight each role in the business, the number of staff members, the supplier(s) you will use, staff background and experience, and more. Personnel, licenses, and general expenses can also be described here, including a brief explanation of the monthly outlay of expenses.

​[Sender.Company] will work with several suppliers:(list suppliers)

We will be recruiting for the following roles: (list roles)

​[Sender.Company] will hold the following operational licenses: (list licenses)

This is our expected monthly outlay of expenses:

Name

Price

QTY

Subtotal

Item 1

Description of first item

$35.00

5

$175.00

Item 2

Description of second item

$55.00

1

$55.00

Item 3

Description of third item

$200.00

1

$200.00

Subtotal

$230.00

Discount

-$115.00

Tax

$23.00

Total

$138.00

MANAGEMENT PLAN

In this section, you want to describe the key figures in your company – President, CEO, Board of Directors members, etc. For each person, create a comprehensive biography and profile. Sometimes investors care more about the team and the team’s experience than anything else.
And don’t be afraid to include personal details! Investors like to put their money with people they like and people they trust, and details like hobbies, family, accomplishments and more can endear these key parties to the reader.

In order to operate as smoothly as possible, [Sender.Company]​ will hold many key figures. These include:

Person & role Biography Profile

Person & role Biography Profile

FINANCIAL PLAN

In the financial plan, outline the costs of running the startup, the operational expenses, and revenue projections. This should be done for the first five years of operation. Identify any funds you are seeking, and highlight exactly how they will be used. You should then create a five-year balance sheet that calculates your assets, liabilities, and equity.

Here is our complete predicted financial plan for the upcoming five years. It includes assets, liabilities, and equity.

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

Asset

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Asset

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Asset

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Asset

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KEY MILESTONES

Think of important milestones your startup will need to achieve in the next few years. This way, you show your investors that you are thinking ahead and are passionate about results. It also gives them a clear idea of where the company will be headed.

At [Sender.Company]​, we expect to achieve several important milestones during the first few years in order to ensure the business is profitable. These include:

Milestone 1:

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Milestone 2:

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Milestone 3:

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Milestone 4:

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Milestone 5:

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Signature
MM / DD / YYYY

​[Sender.FirstName][Sender.LastName] ​[Sender.Title][Sender.Company] ​[Sender.Email][Sender.Phone]​

​

MM / DD / YYYY
Signature

Received and reviewed by [Client.FirstName][Client.LastName], representative of [Client.Company].

APPENDIX

Whenever you need to include additional documents, do so in the appendix.

Disclaimer:

The information presented in this template serves as a general guide, and is not constructed from a legal perspective. Users of this template assume full responsibility for using this document. We advise you to consult your legal team before executing any binding contract or agreement.

FAQ

  • The seven key elements of a business plan for a startup are

    1. executive summary (to show amount of capital, business structure, and use of capital),

    2. marketing plan,

    3. products/services,

    4. operations plan,

    5. management,

    6. direction with sales, and

    7. contingency plan.

  • Begin your startup plan with an executive summary describing the general direction of your business and how you plan to allocate capital. From there, add details about your marketing plan, products and services, operations plan, management, projection, contingency, and sales. Add in other important details as you see fit to make a well summarised document.

  • A well summarized startup plan shouldn’t be too lengthy. Most people prefer to keep the plan within 15-35 pages so as to provide the reader with all the information required and not bore them with unnecessary clutter. A brief summary of a startup plan is usually around a 1000 words.

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Startup Business Plan Template

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