


There are many business plan competitions offering prizes such as mentorships, grants, or investment capital. If you plan to approach other companies to collaborate, having a clear overview of your vision, your audience, and your growth strategy will make it much easier for them to identify whether your business is a good fit for theirs-especially if they’re further along than you in their growth trajectory. Your business plan is one of the easiest ways to communicate your vision to potential new hires and can help build their confidence in the venture, especially if you’re in the early stages of growth. To write a business plan, you’ll need to research your ideal customer and your competitors-information that will help you make more strategic decisions. If you’ve got multiple ideas in mind, a rough business plan for each can help you focus your time and energy on the ones with the highest chance of success. Writing out your plan is an invaluable exercise for clarifying your ideas and can help you understand the scope of your business, as well as the amount of time, money, and resources you’ll need to get started. But there are several compelling reasons to consider writing a business plan, even if you don’t need funding.

Investors rely on business plans to evaluate the feasibility of a business before funding it, which is why business plans commonly are associated with getting a loan.

What is a business plan?Ī business plan is a document describing a business, its products or services, how it earns (or will earn) money, its leadership and staffing, its financing, its operations model, and many other details essential to its success. That's where writing a business plan comes in. Not every business launches with a formal business plan, but many founders find value in taking time to step back, research their idea and the market they’re looking to enter, and understand the scope and the strategy behind their tactics. When you’re starting a business, your to-do list is a mile long and filled with more immediately rewarding tasks, like taking product photos, creating ad campaigns, and opening social media accounts. Whatever your reason for writing a business plan, the task will probably still feel like a homework assignment. There are many reasons to write a business plan-it’s not solely the domain of entrepreneurs who want to secure funding to start or grow their business.Ī business plan can help you clarify your strategy, identify potential roadblocks, decide what you’ll need in the way of resources, and evaluate the viability of your idea or your growth plans before you start a business.
