Creating a robust business plan is one of the first things entrepreneurs need to do while starting their business. A good business plan must focus on all the crucial elements of your business, including product detail, pricing model, and financial projections for upcoming recent years. Developing a business plan can be difficult at times—especially if you do not know where to start or do not have enough time. The good thing is that you do not have to start creating a plan from scratch. There are many business plan software applications available that will assist you in creating a professional business plan.
What Is a Business Plan and How to Create One?
A business plan refers to a document that explains the objectives of a business and how it will proceed to achieve them. These are essential written documents that companies need for internal and external audiences. A standard business plan should consist of 15 to 20 pages. If it includes lengthy components, it is better to add them in the appendix and refer to them in the main plan.If you want to develop a business plan for your organization, go through the following steps:
#1. Write an Executive Summary
Consider it as your elevator pitch and include the summary of the whole business plan, including the mission statement. It is better to write it in the end.
#2. Describe the Company
In this section, you should mention the basic info about your company, such as its registered name, location, key people, and their expertise. Also, include business structure, company history, and ownership percentage.
#3. Mention Business Objectives
Your business plan should include an objective statement – what your business wants to achieve in the long run. If you are developing a plan for investment or loan, emphasize this section and make it elaborate.
#4. Discuss Products and Services You Offer
Here, describe in detail the product or service your business will offer. Also, include your pricing model, target audience, and sales and distribution strategy.
#5. Market Research
Talk about your competitors in this segment. Also include the reason behind their success and how you can outperform them.
#6. Marketing and Sales Strategy
In this section, mention how you are planning to persuade customers to avail of your services and retain customer loyalty.
#7. Financial Analysis
While you may not have enough information on business financials as a startup, existing businesses should include a balance sheet, profit-and-loss statements, and a cash flow statement.
#8. Make Financial Projections
Another critical section if you are looking for financing or investors is the financial projection. Here, you need to outline how you want to generate profit to repay the loan or offer a generous return to the investors.
#9. Additional Information
Any supporting information you want to include in the business plan should go in the appendix. Here are some of the best business plan software you can use.
Cuttles
Cuttles is a fully interactive and impactful business plan software. Besides helping entrepreneurs develop business plans, it also assists them in understanding their business. This cloud-based web app comes with in-app guides, using which you can develop a business plan, create a startup pitch, calculate budgets and perform financial projections. Using the Team feature of Cuttles, companies can showcase their team members in the plan. The business plan software is available in English, French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, and Danish. After creating a business plan on this tool, sharing is also easy. You can invite other members to view your business plan within this app, or you may share its links or export the report in PDF format.
LivePlan
Are you looking for a business plan tool at an affordable cost? If yes, go for LivePlan. It comes with 500+ templates for business plans that cover all the major industries. LivePlan offers the forecast feature that lets you do away with doing the math on your own. Just provide the data input, and the software will generate charts, figures, graphs, and other documents for the business plan. After creating the business plan, you can export it in Word or PDF files. Besides real-time financial data tracking, the tool also supports Xero and QuickBooks integration. Milestone scheduling and sales and budget tracking are other useful features of this application.
IdeaBuddy
Do you have a business idea but do not know what you can do with it? IdeaBuddy is the tool you are looking for to develop your idea into a business plan. All you need to do is enter data in the sections in Business Guide. Then, the application will automatically generate an investor-ready business plan which is, at the same time, editable and sharable. Its built-in editor lets you add and edit text. Also, you can remove any component you do not want to include in your plan. Besides exporting the plan in PDF or Word format, you can also share it with others using a link.
Bizplan
Bizplan is an ideal business plan software for startups looking for investors or funding. With this modern and intuitive business plan builder, entrepreneurs can create a business plan exactly as they want it to be. Bizplan also offers educational resources that will help you easily use this drag-and-drop tool for building templates. Its Financial Command Center comes with various financial tools. Companies can use this business plan software to create team salary forecasts, revenue projections, and balance sheets. While you can add collaborators and stakeholders here, who can view sensitive data and comment on them will be under your control. You can share the business plan using the online link.
PlanGuru
Unlike the tools that focus only on generating a business plan, PlanGuru comes with some financial features, including budgeting and forecasting, dedicated to business financial planning. As a result, you can also use it to create financial forecasts, budgets, reports, and more for your business. The cloud-based platform is also available in the Windows-based desktop version so that you can use the format you like most. You can also use it with MS Excel, QuickBooks Online, and Xero. Using its 20+ standard forecasting methods, companies can generate forecasts for up to 10 years. Furthermore, it has a powerful dashboard and reporting tool.
Enloop
Enloop is a business plan software that facilitates quick business plan creation. Apart from helping you in business plan creation, it supports automated text writing✍🏽, a comparison of financial forecasts, and a real-time performance score to monitor your progress. With Enloop, users can develop business plans using customizable text, tables, charts, images, and 100+ currency symbols and formats. Moreover, its automatic text generation feature helps you streamline the business plan writing process. You can also create a temporary plan and ask other partners to edit it. The application also issues the pass/fail report so that you can identify the problem.
PlanBuildr
If you are not into writing much, let PlanBuildr take care of your business plan. This user-friendly solution prompts you to fill in the blanks to generate a business plan quickly. Here, users have 10 templates to choose from, belonging to various industries, to build a business plan for their company. PlanBuildr lets you create complete financial projections, including income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement—using elementary figures. Users can also add charts and graphs to their plans.
iPlanner
iPlanner is a professional business plan software that offers various quality features at an affordable cost. Whether you are a startup looking for investment, a company that wants to perform risk assessment, or communicate our business model to your team, it is a good option. iPlanner also comes with a business modeling section. Here, entrepreneurs can design and strategize their business model as much as they want before creating the business plan. It also has some easy-to-use templates for helping you build a structured and coherent business plan. You can add unlimited team members and collaborators to these projects and assign them three different roles: Viewers, Advisors, and Project Owners.
The Business Plan Shop
The Business Plan Shop is a solution that lets you generate an effective business plan without much effort. It has a user-friendly interface, and after signing up, you will get instructions and examples for each part of the business plan. The Business Plan Shop offers templates that you can use to create a business plan. For that, choose your business industry to get the ideal template. With this tool, companies can make business and financial forecasts for up to 3 or 5 years using your product and service data. It also supports financial analysis, break-even point analysis, data charts, and credit analysis. After creating the plan, you can easily export it in MS Word or PDF formats.
Wrapping Up 👨💻
Regardless of your estimated business size, a properly written business plan is vital for future growth and success. With sophisticated business plan software, you can effortlessly write the business plan. The above list will help you choose the right solution for your business. As a new company, you might also want to know about tax planning software.
