How to write a business plan: sample, instructions, mistakes, examples

A business plan is a document that provides a detailed justification for a project and an opportunity to comprehensively assess the effectiveness of decisions made, planned activities, and answer the question of whether it is worth investing in this project.

The business plan should:

• show that a product or service will find its consumer, establish the capacity of the sales market and the prospects for its development;
• estimate the costs required for the manufacture and sale of products, the provision of works or services on the market;
• determine the profitability of future production and show its effectiveness for the enterprise (investor), for the local, regional and state budget.

The main functions of a business plan:

• is a tool with which an entrepreneur can assess the actual results of activities for a certain period;
• can be used to develop the concept of doing business in the future;
• acts as a tool for attracting new investments;
• is a tool for the implementation of the enterprise strategy.

One of the most important stages of the planning process is drawing up a business plan, which is necessary both for internal planning and for justifying the receipt of funds from an external source, that is, receiving money for a specific project in the form of bank loans, budget allocations, equity participation of other enterprises. in the implementation of the project.

1. Business plan summary (short annotation)
2. Goals and objectives of the project
3. Company description
4. Analysis of the industry and its development trends
5. Target market
6. Competition
7. Strategic position and risk assessment
8. Marketing plan and sales strategy
9. Operating activities
10. Technological plan
11. Organizational plan
12. Personnel plan
13. Financial plan
14. Social and environmental responsibility
15. Business exit conditions

How to write a business plan correctly

Any form or sample of a business plan offered on the Internet gives only a general idea. Any business has its own characteristics, therefore, there can be no "standard" writing algorithm that is suitable in all cases. There is only one tried and tested principle of any business plan: IT MUST ALWAYS BE SHORT.

Start with the right messages. As paradoxical as it sounds, for most entrepreneurs, a business plan as a document is one of the least important factors in raising capital.

• If the investor is inclined towards a positive decision, then a good business plan will be an additional argument for; but the plan itself is not the reason for this decision.
• If the investor is leaning towards a negative decision, the business plan is unlikely to convince him. In this case, the investor, most likely, will not even read this plan to the end.

Unfortunately, naive entrepreneurs believe that a business plan can inspire excitement and awe in the investor with an immediate request: “ Please tell me where to transfer money».

Well, it's not bad to dream. The correct and realistic motivation for writing a plan should be: which are downplayed in the first euphoria - for example, customer service policy.

Finally, the plan exposes gaps in the founding team. If, looking around the office, you realize that there is no one who could implement some key element of the plan, then there is someone missing from the team.

All midnight, romantic, abstract dreams of changing the world become quite material and controversial, you just have to transfer them to paper. Thus, this document is not as important as the process leading to its creation. Even if you are not pursuing the goal of raising capital, it is still worth writing a business plan.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR FILLING

Title page and content. Start with the essentials: company name, address, phone number and contact information for all founders, as well as a table of contents throughout the document.

Introduction. List the most important things in no more than two pages. First, tell us what the value of the project is: what your company will do, how much profit to have, and why people will want to pay for your product or service. If you are sending a plan to investors, tell them about the capital you will need and how you plan to use it. To highlight the essence, you need to imagine the big picture, so it is better to start this part after completing the entire plan.

Market opportunities. Explain to whom you will sell your product or service and why this group of consumers is attractive to you. Several key questions need to be answered. How big is the market? How fast is it growing? What are the growth opportunities and potential threats? How will you deal with them? Much of this information can be found through industry websites and media, official statistics, analyst reports, and even from other businessmen. Be sure to indicate the source of information.

Market Review. Make no mistake, your business is not unique. Try to take a sober look and evaluate your opponents. Who are they? What are they selling? What part of the market do they occupy? Why would buyers choose your product or service over theirs? What obstacles can arise when entering this market? Do not forget about indirect competitors who are still working in a different segment, but have similar capabilities and may compete with you later.

Promotion of goods to the market. Describe how you will promote your products or services to the consumer. Conditions and organization of product sales. What promotion channels will you use? In this section, describe the pricing issues.

Company structure. Control. Staff. Execution is almost as important as the idea itself. Therefore, investors are interested in who is on your team. Attach a resume of all founders, partners, and leaders: what are their skills and achievements. This should also add information about the legal form of the enterprise and its internal organizational structure, the state of the enterprise.

Business model. This section includes a detailed description of all sources of income (sale of a product, service) and the company's cost structure (payroll, rent, operating costs). Describe the premises, equipment, technologies, production flow diagrams. Make sure you mention and justify all possible income and expenses. Also include the names of major suppliers and buyers. In fact, this section is the production plan of the future company.

Financial indicators and forecasts. Make a forecast for profit, loss and cash flows (income and expense) for at least three years in advance (it is advisable to break the first year into quarters or even months). Also provide an analysis that shows how soon the start-up investment will pay off.

Risks. Don't wait for trouble to find out how your business can handle it. Work out possible scenarios: worst, best and average, as well as what you will do to reduce the negative impact of risks or prevent them altogether. Make sure you have enough money to weather any storm. If you insure risks, write down what amount you will insure and types of insurance policies.

Sources of funds and their use. If you are trying to get money from investors, they will want to know how you plan to use your capital. In this section, you need to indicate the estimated startup costs: premises, purchase of new equipment, company logo design, etc. Most entrepreneurs underestimate the cost of starting a new business. Therefore, do your research before contacting investors.

Applications. This may include a resume, credit information, market overview, schemes, a promotion plan, copies of agreements, including leases, letters of guarantee from future customers, certificates of registration of a patent and trademark, partnership agreements, company registration certificate.

10 mistakes when writing a business plan

According to professional project managers, there are, there are 10 things that should not be written in a business plan.

1. "Dead Souls". A common mistake entrepreneurs make when preparing a business plan is that it contains information about certain executive members who, in fact, have nothing to do with the team. Information about the consultants should be given reliable, because the investor may wish to communicate with them personally.
2. "Homework". There is no need to be zealous with confusing descriptions of the entire range of products and services. This will only overload your plan with a large size, which does not suit you at all, because the investor must grasp the very essence from the first pages, otherwise further reading will not make sense for him.
3. "Fictional Characters". All biographies of board members, founders should be extremely honest and not embellished.
4. "Who, when and how you want." In marketing plans, you need to rely only on the proposals that actually exist.
5. "Year after year". You cannot submit financial plans in a business plan broken down exclusively by years. As mentioned above, the forecast for the first year should be made on a monthly basis and show start-up funding and then a quarterly breakdown for the next period. The investor must see when the full return on investment will take place and whether the investment will pay off.
6. "Monopoly". There is always competition and similar products or services, the consumer market is not so large, and it takes a lot of effort to implement a business plan. Therefore, in the text, it is necessary to abandon phrases about the absence of competition, a huge market that has no analogues, products or services, and the simple implementation of the project.
7. "Hockey stick". Financial indicators categorically cannot, when viewed graphically, constitute a curve in the form of a hockey stick, that is, profit falling from the very beginning and infinitely striving upward in the future. The most ingenious idea, with its payback, will generate competition for itself, so incomes cannot grow indefinitely.
8. "No scores for metrics." The market should be evaluated by you from different sides in quantitative terms: perspective, market share, customers. Otherwise, you are incompetent.
9. "Promises". You should not stipulate in the business plan possible financial injections that are at an unfinished stage. Funding is either there or not.
10. "Somewhere like that." Your business plan needs to be accurate in numbers. It is your responsibility to clearly understand the scope of fixed, variable, direct, indirect and outsourcing costs.

Print out your business plan. Set aside all pages starting with the third. Reread the first two pages - do they make you want to read the rest of the document? Brevity, simplicity, clarity - cross out all that is unnecessary.

Having polished your plan to a shine, do not send it gathering dust in a distant drawer. “The business plan is just the beginning of the process. Planning a business is like navigating a ship at sea: you have to constantly adjust your course. The plan itself is of little value. It's important to go back to it and see where you were wrong and what it cost you.

We wish you every success! All in your hands!