business plan template for fashion business

Clothing & Fashion Business Plans

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How to Write a Sneaker Reselling Business Plan

Boutique Business Plan

Clothing Store Business Plan

Embroidery Business Plan Template

Bridal Shop Business Plan

Fashion Design Business Plan

Shoe Store Business Plan

Clothing Line Business Plan

Clothing Manufacturer Business Plan

T-Shirt Business Plan

Jewelry Business Plan

Online Boutique Business Plan

Did you find what you are looking for.

Huge market size, potential profitability, and growth opportunities make clothing and fashion a lucrative business industry to get into.

Well, no matter your fashion or clothing business, you need a well-crafted business plan to launch and stay competitive in the market.

This library of clothing and fashion business plan examples here can inspire and guide you as you begin to plan your business. So, don’t worry; we got you covered on that part.

Let’s learn more about these clothing and fashion business plan samples, starting with their benefits.

Benefits of using an industry-specific business plan example

Believe it or not, using an industry-specific business plan example is the best and probably the quickest way of writing a business plan.

Doubt it? Hold, this may change your perception; an extended list of the benefits of using an industry-specific business plan template.

• Inspiration : Reading a business-specific template can be incredibly helpful in getting content inspiration. Furthermore, it helps you gain insights into how to present your business idea, products, vision, and mission.
• Risk-free method : You are taking a reference from a real-life, let’s say, clothing line business plan—so you know this plan has worked in the past or uses a method subscribed by experts.
• Deep market understanding : Analyzing and reading such examples can provide clarity and develop a deeper market understanding of complex industry trends and issues you may not know but relate directly to the realities of your business landscape.
• Increased credibility : A business plan developed using an example follows a standard business plan format, wisely presents your business, and provides invaluable insights into your business. There’s no question it establishes you as a credible business owner, demonstrating your deep business and market understanding.
• Realistic financial projections : Financial forecasting being a critical aspect of your plan, this real-life example can help you better understand how they project their financials—ultimately helping you set realistic projections for your business.

These were the benefits; let’s briefly discuss choosing a clothing or fashion business plan template that best suits your business niche.

Choosing a Clothing or Fashion Business Plan

This category has multiple business plan templates for various fashion and clothing businesses. With many similar business types and templates, you may not find the most suitable one through manual scrolling.

Here are the steps to consider while choosing the most suitable business plan template.

Identify your business type

Are you planning to start a fashion designing business? Or an online clothing store? Or is it going to be a retail clothing store?

Asking yourself these questions will help you identify your business type, which will help in choosing a niche-specific business plan template.

Once you identify your business type, you can choose between templates for different business segments.

Search for the template

We have an in-built search feature, so you can easily search for a business-specific template using your business type as a key term. Once you have the search results, choose the most suitable one. Simple as that.

Review the example

Look closely at the content of the sample business plan you are considering. Analyze its sections and components to identify relevant as well as unnecessary areas.

Since all the Upmetrics templates are tailored to specific business needs, there won’t be many fundamental customizations. However, a hybrid business model targeting multiple customer segments may require adjustments.

No big deal—you can view and copy sections from other business plan examples or write using AI while customizing a template.

That’s how you find and select the most suitable fashion or clothing business plan. Still haven’t found the perfect business plan example? Here’s the next step for you.

Explore 400+ business plan examples

Discover Upmetrics’ template library of 400+ comprehensive business plan examples to help you write your business plan. Upmetrics is a modern and intuitive business planning app . that streamlines business planning with its free templates and AI-powered features. So what are you waiting for? Download your example and draft a perfect business plan.

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Growthink's Ultimate Business Plan Template

The world's #1 business plan template.

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Fashion Business Plan Template

The world’s #1 fashion business plan template — it’s the quickest and easiest way to create a winning fashion business plan, period.

• Quickly & easily finish your business plan
• Turn your ideas into reality
• Get funding from lenders & investors
• Dominate your competitors
• Increase sales & profits
• Trusted by more than 100,000 businesses
• Zero learning curve
• 365-day 100% money back guarantee
• Get the world’s best growth strategies & tactics
• Lifetime access and no recurring fees
• 365 days of free customer support
• “Insider Secrets to Raising Capital” ($299 value) included FREE
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It Took Us 17 Years to Create the Ultimate Fashion Business Plan Template for You

Hi, I’m Dave Lavinsky, the co-founder and President of Growthink.

I’m honored and flattered to have been recognized as the world’s foremost business planning expert by BusinessWeek, Forbes and others.

Seventeen years ago we started writing business plans for entrepreneurs, executives and business owners like you.

During this time, we’ve helped over 100,000 entrepreneurs and businesses achieve great success.

Using this vast experience, we have created and constantly refined Growthink’s Ultimate Fashion Business Plan Template to be the hands-down quickest and easiest way to create a professional Fashion business plan that allows you to raise capital and build a strategically sound business.

100,000+ Satisfied Buyers

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INCREDIBLE FEATURES

You can finally create a professional Fashion business plan in less than 1 day thanks to these powerful features of Growthink’s Ultimate Fashion Business Plan Template:

Simply Fill in the Blanks

We’ve created simple, fill-in-the-blank exercises that guide you through all the key questions your Fashion business plan must answer.

And we give you samples for every section of your plan.

Just type your answers directly into our template and you’re done!

Automatic Financials

Simply type in some numbers, like your salary and expected growth, and our template automatically calculates your complete 5-year financial projections.

You’ll have your Income Statement, Balance Sheet, Cash Flow Statement, and multiple charts and graphs completed in minutes.

Turn Your Ideas to Reality

If you don’t have an action plan for executing on your ideas, they’ll never materialize.

That’s why Growthink’s Ultimate Fashion Business Plan Template includes an Operations Plan section.

This section takes you through our proven and proprietary process for creating an Operations Plan that will transform your ideas into reality.

Improve Your Strategy

Growthink’s Ultimate Fashion Business Plan Template helps you build a strategically sound business.

It guides you through key questions about your company, marketing and operations strategies, and gives you tons of ideas for improvement.

For example, in the Marketing Plan section, you’ll see several of the best marketing tactics to get new customers.

Expert Answers

Our Ultimate Fashion Business Plan Template “Members Area” gives answers to all your questions, plus access to our amazing customer support team.

Raise Money Faster

The content and format of our Ultimate Fashion Business Plan Template is tailored to the wants and needs of investors and lenders, so you raise more funding faster.

Our formula works wonders — our clients have raised over $2.5 BILLION!

Lifetime Access

Once you purchase Growthink’s Ultimate Fashion Business Plan Template, you have lifetime access to use it for any Fashion business in which you’re involved, now or in the future.

There are no recurring or monthly fees for our template, just a one-time fee.

Zero Learning Curve

There’s no software to learn or install.

You simply download, personalize & print our Microsoft Word® and Excel® compatible Ultimate Fashion Business Plan Template. And it works flawlessly on both PCs and Macs.

This is yet another way you save precious time!

365-Day Money-Back Guarantee!

Here’s our promise: Purchase today 100% risk-free because Growthink’s Ultimate Fashion Business Plan Template comes with a full 365 Day 100% Money Back Guarantee.

If for any reason you are not delighted with your purchase, simply contact our friendly support desk and you will be promptly given a full refund… No questions asked!

Plus 2 Great Free Bonuses – Yours Free

Raise Funding in a Flash

When you order, we give you instant access to “Insider Secrets to Raising Capital” ($299 value) for FREE.

This program includes 15 expert interviews (both audio recordings and transcripts) we conducted with top investors, lenders and entrepreneurs who have raised funding.

The interviews teach you the keys to raising funding and the critical mistakes to avoid.

$299 Value – Yours FREE

Fast-Track Your Growth

We not only help you quickly and expertly finish your business plan, but we help you grow a thriving business.

We do this by giving you FREE instant access to our renowned “Productivity Secrets for Entrepreneurs” course ($197 value).

This program gives you the precise techniques the world’s most successful business executives use to achieve amazing success in less time than you’d ever think imaginable!

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Get Growthink’s Ultimate Fashion Business Plan Template Right Now!

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“I knew I had to create a business plan, but I didn’t know how to go about doing that.

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The Most Well-Regarded Business Plan Firm on Earth

For two decades the media has praised Growthink and looked to us for answers to their questions about business planning, raising capital and growing ultra-successful businesses.

We are the highest rated business plan firm on ResellerRatings.com (9.6 rating out of 10) and have had an A+ Rating with BBB since 1999.

Here’s a small sample of the 300+ media sources in which Growthink has been featured:

Frequently Asked Questions

Below are answers to your most frequently asked questions:.

Immediately upon purchasing Growthink’s Ultimate Fashion Business Plan Template, you will be taken to our Member’s Area where you can instantly download our template and begin working on your business plan.

If for any reason you are not delighted with our product, simply contact our friendly support desk and you’ll be issued a full refund. You have an entire year to request a refund if desired.

Unlike other software that charges you a fee month after month after month, you only pay once for Growthink’s Ultimate Fashion Business Plan Template and you own it.

You can create an unlimited number of business plans with Growthink’s Ultimate Fashion Business Plan Template. Once you purchase it, you have lifetime access to use it for any business in which you’re involved, now or in the future.

Yes, Growthink’s Ultimate Fashion Business Plan Template works flawlessly on both PCs and Macs.

Growthink’s Ultimate Fashion Business Plan Template is designed for both established Fashion businesses and startups.

Yes , you can! Anyone can easily follow our basic instructions and create a great business plan quickly and easily. Plus, my expert team is available to help you if you have any questions.

More Feedback

Even more feedback from the over 100,000+ customers who love growthink’s ultimate fashion business plan template & other business plan templates.

“Before Growthink’s Ultimate Business Plan Template, I was really frustrated.

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“Finding Dave Lavinsky and his Business Plan Template allowed me to take my dream of owning a business and make it a reality.

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Business Plan Template for Fashion Designer

• Great for beginners
• Ready-to-use, fully customizable Subcategory
• Get started in seconds

If you're a fashion designer looking to turn your creative passion into a thriving business, you know that having a solid plan is essential. ClickUp's Business Plan Template for Fashion Designers is here to help you bring your vision to life!

With this template, you can:

• Define your unique brand identity and creative vision
• Identify your target market and develop effective marketing strategies to reach them
• Outline your financial projections and create a roadmap for profitability
• Secure funding and communicate your business concept with confidence

Whether you're an independent designer or part of a fashion company, this template will guide you every step of the way, ensuring your fashion business is set up for success. Start planning your fashion empire today with ClickUp!

Business Plan Template for Fashion Designer Benefits

A business plan template specifically designed for fashion designers offers a multitude of benefits, including:

• Streamlining the process of creating a comprehensive business plan
• Providing a clear structure and guidance for outlining the vision and goals of your fashion business
• Assisting in identifying and understanding your target market and competition
• Helping to develop effective marketing strategies to promote your brand and reach your audience
• Facilitating financial planning and projections, ensuring financial stability and growth
• Increasing the chances of securing funding and investment for your fashion business
• Serving as a roadmap for success, guiding your decision-making and strategic planning

Main Elements of Fashion Designer Business Plan Template

ClickUp’s Business Plan Template for Fashion Designer provides all the essential elements to help you create a comprehensive and strategic plan for your fashion business:

• Custom Statuses: Track the progress of different sections of your business plan with statuses like Complete, In Progress, Needs Revision, and To Do, ensuring that you stay organized and focused on each task.
• Custom Fields: Use custom fields such as Reference, Approved, and Section to add specific details and categorize different aspects of your business plan, making it easier to search, filter, and analyze information.
• Custom Views: Access different views like Topics, Status, Timeline, Business Plan, and Getting Started Guide to gain a holistic view of your plan, track progress, manage deadlines, and ensure that your business plan is well-structured and aligned with your goals.
• Collaboration and Communication: Collaborate with team members, assign tasks, set due dates, and communicate within ClickUp, ensuring everyone is on the same page and working towards the same objectives.
• Integrations: Seamlessly integrate with other tools such as Google Drive, Dropbox, and Slack to streamline your workflow and centralize all your resources in one place, making it easier to access and share important documents and information.
• Goal Tracking: Set business goals and milestones, track progress, and measure success using ClickUp's Goals feature, allowing you to stay focused and motivated throughout your business journey.

How To Use Business Plan Template for Fashion Designer

If you're a fashion designer looking to create a business plan, using the Business Plan Template in ClickUp can help you organize your ideas and set a clear path for success. Follow these four steps to get started:

1. Define your brand and target audience

Begin by clearly defining your brand identity and the specific market you want to target. Consider your unique selling proposition (USP) and what sets you apart from other fashion designers. Identify your target audience and understand their preferences, demographics, and buying behaviors.

Use the Docs feature in ClickUp to create a section in your business plan that outlines your brand vision, mission statement, target audience, and USP.

2. Conduct market research

Market research is crucial to understanding the competitive landscape and identifying opportunities within the fashion industry. Analyze current trends, consumer demands, and competitor strategies. Identify gaps in the market where your fashion brand can thrive.

Utilize the Table view in ClickUp to create a detailed analysis of your competitors, target market, and industry trends.

3. Develop your products and pricing strategy

Outline your product offerings and how they align with your brand positioning. Determine the different categories of clothing or accessories you plan to design and manufacture. Define your production processes, quality standards, and sourcing strategies. Additionally, establish a pricing strategy that considers factors such as production costs, market demand, and perceived value.

Create custom fields in ClickUp to track product categories, pricing details, manufacturing processes, and sourcing strategies.

4. Create a marketing and sales plan

Develop a comprehensive marketing and sales strategy to promote your fashion brand and drive sales. Identify the most effective marketing channels to reach your target audience, such as social media, influencer collaborations, fashion shows, or online marketplaces. Outline your sales goals, distribution channels, and customer acquisition strategies.

Utilize the Calendar view in ClickUp to plan and schedule your marketing activities, including key dates for product launches, fashion events, and sales promotions.

By following these steps and using the Business Plan Template in ClickUp, you'll have a well-structured plan that will guide you towards success as a fashion designer. Stay organized, adapt to changing market conditions, and keep refining your business plan as your fashion brand grows.

Get Started with ClickUp’s Business Plan Template for Fashion Designer

Fashion designers can use the Business Plan Template for Fashion Designer in ClickUp to create a comprehensive and professional business plan that outlines their vision and goals. Here's how to get started:

Hit “Add Template” to sign up for ClickUp and add the template to your Workspace. Make sure you designate which Space or location in your Workspace you’d like this template applied.

Next, invite relevant members or guests to your Workspace to start collaborating.

Now you can take advantage of the full potential of this template to create a successful fashion business:

• Use the Topics View to outline different sections of your business plan, such as Executive Summary, Market Analysis, Marketing Strategies, Financial Projections, etc.
• The Status View will help you keep track of the progress of each section, with statuses like Complete, In Progress, Needs Revision, and To Do.
• The Timeline View will allow you to set deadlines and milestones for each section of your business plan.
• The Business Plan View provides a comprehensive overview of your entire plan, allowing you to easily navigate and make updates.
• The Getting Started Guide View will provide you with step-by-step instructions and tips on how to complete each section of your business plan.

Customize the template by adding custom fields like Reference, Approved, and Section to provide additional information and organization to your business plan.

Collaborate with team members and stakeholders by assigning tasks, leaving comments, and attaching files to ensure everyone is on the same page.

Monitor and analyze the progress of your business plan using ClickUp's reporting and analytics features to ensure you're on track to achieve your fashion business goals.

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How to Write a Fashion Business Plan in 10 Easy Steps

• Published: May 28, 2023
• By: Yellowbrick

Have you ever dreamed of making a splash in the world of fashion? Do you possess the creative flair and keen business sense needed to dress the world in your unique vision? If you’re nodding your head, it’s time to strut your stuff and create a fashion business plan  that’ll make investors sit up and take notice.

Fear not, we’re here to help with this 10-step guide that will assist you in crafting a blueprint tailor-made for success . So grab a cup of coffee, and let’s dive in together, preparing you to take the fashion industry by storm!

Find Your Fashion Niche

First things first,  what’s your style , darling ? Are you all about haute couture or do you fancy yourself as the next streetwear sensation? Identifying your niche is crucial to setting the foundation of your business plan. Ask yourself: who’s your target audience? What makes your brand unique? Answering these questions will help you carve out your place in the fashion world.

Executive Summary: Give ‘Em the Runway Rundown

Think of your executive summary as the teaser trailer for your business plan. It should be concise , snappy , and give your readers a taste of what’s to come . Summarize your company’s mission, its unique selling points, and your strategy for growth. Remember, first impressions count, so make it fabulous!

Company Description: Flaunt Your Brand’s Personality

Here’s where you  spill the beans about your company . What’s the story behind your brand? How will it make a difference in the fashion industry? Describe your company’s history, structure, and culture. Don’t forget to mention any milestones or achievements that make you stand out from the crowd.

Market Analysis: Study Your Style Scene

You’ll need to  do some legwork to get the lowdown on your target market . Analyze trends, competitors, and your audience’s buying habits. Who are the big players in your niche? What are the gaps in the market? Uncover the secrets to your competitors’ success and learn how to make your brand shine even brighter.

Product Line: Show Off Your Fashion Forwardness

Here’s your chance to strut your stuff and flaunt your designs . Detail your product line, including sketches, materials, and price points. How will your collection evolve over time? What’s your plan for future collections? Give readers a sneak peek into your fashion-forward world and leave them wanting more.

Marketing and Sales Strategy: Work That Catwalk!

Now that you’ve got your fabulous designs, how do you plan to spread the word ? Outline your marketing strategy, touching on advertising, social media, influencers, and PR. Describe your sales channels and how you’ll reach your target audience. Remember, in the fashion world, you’ve got to work to make it!

Operational Plan: Behind the Seams

In this section, delve into the nitty-gritty of your day-to-day operations . Discuss your production process, suppliers, and inventory management. How will you ensure quality control? What’s your plan for scaling up as your business grows? Give readers a behind-the-scenes look at the nuts and bolts of your fashion empire.

Management and Organization: Assemble Your Style Squad

No one can run a fashion empire alone.  Introduce your readers to your team , highlighting their experience and expertise . How will your organizational structure support your business’s growth? Be sure to discuss any advisors or mentors who’ll help guide you on your journey to the top.

Financial Projections: Crunching the Couture Numbers

Fashion may be all about glamor and glitz, but at the end of the day, it’s still a business. In this section, lay out your financial projections ,  including revenue , expenses , and profit . Create a comprehensive budget and cash flow statement to demonstrate your financial savvy. Don’t forget to address any potential risks and how you’ll mitigate them. After all, a solid financial plan is your ticket to fashion stardom.

Appendices: The Cherry on Top

Wrap up your fashion business plan with any additional information or documentation that supports your case. This might include market research data, design patents, or even letters of intent from potential buyers. Think of the appendices as the finishing touches to your plan – the cherry on top that ties everything together.

A Runway-Ready Business Plan

And there you have it – a 10-step guide to crafting a fashion business plan that’s equal parts style and substance. With your runway-worthy blueprint in hand, you’re now ready to take the fashion world by storm . So go on, dazzle investors, and watch your designs light up the catwalks. After all, the sky’s the limit when you’ve got a plan that’s dressed to impress!

But wait, before you dive headfirst into the world of fashion business, remember that it’s essential to keep learning and expanding your knowledge . To help you achieve even greater success, consider enrolling in the Fashion Industry Essentials Course  offered by Yellowbrick.

Taught by esteemed faculty from the prestigious Parsons School of Fashion  and leading industry insiders, this course covers essential aspects of the business side of fashion, including:

• Visual style
• Portfolio design
• Fashion production
• Marketing & PR

Featuring five enthralling online modules and a range of skill-building activities, you can progress at your own pace, tailoring the learning experience to suit your needs. Each module typically takes between 3 to 5 hours to complete.

And the cherry on top? You’ll have the extraordinary opportunity to learn from industry powerhouses  like Elaine Welteroth, Brandon Maxwell, and Rebecca Minkoff. Upon completing the course, you’ll be awarded a  non-credit certificate of completion from Parsons , showcasing your commitment to the fashion industry.

So, are you ready to strut your stuff? Don’t hesitate! Begin crafting your fashion business plan and enroll in the Fashion Industry Essentials Course  today to stay ahead of the curve. Empower yourself with the knowledge and skills to make your mark on the fashion world!

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Clothing & Fashion Business Plans

Written by Dave Lavinsky

Explore our collection of business plan examples for the clothing and fashion industry, meticulously crafted for designers, retailers, and fashion entrepreneurs. Whether you are a fashion startup or expanding your retail clothing venture, each plan is designed to address the unique challenges and opportunities in the fashion sector, from launching a new label to expanding an established brand. These examples are essential for anyone in the fashion industry seeking to build a robust business model, attract investment, and achieve long-term growth in a highly competitive and ever-evolving market.

Clothing & Fashion Business Plan Templates

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Fashion Business Plan Template

Published Aug.16, 2013

Updated Apr.22, 2024

By: Brandi Marcene

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Table of Content

Fashion Industry business plan for starting your own agency

One of the best ways to live your dream life is to have a business of your own, a setup where you are the boss, and you can make all the money that you need to fulfill all your dreams. If you want to start your business today, this business plan for fashion can help you achieve your dreams. We will tell you in detail how to write a fashion business plan. In this detailed business plan template for fashion industry, we will cover everything involved in starting the business from start tom finish. This can be used as a guide to start the business or as a investment group business plan .

Executive Summary

2.1 the business.

Apple Fashion will be a fashion industry located in Paris, France. This business plan for fashion industry will walk you through all the steps needed to start the business and run it in a profitable manner. We are writing a fashion business plan based on this example so that you can easily start your own business.

2.2 Management of Fashion Industry

The first thing you need to have for starting a fashion business plan is a well-defined management structure for the business. Without that, you cannot effectively start and profitably run the business. Go to any of the top business plan companies and the first thing they’ll discuss will be the management structure of the business you want to start.

Just like we did in the clothing retail business plan , the business will be headed by the owner and they will hire managers to run various aspects of the business. They key to the success of this business is appointing the right person on the right position.

2.3 Customers of Fashion Industry

Like any other business, it is important to decide the customers that you will be dealing as a part of the business. If you do not have a clear idea of the customers, you will be dealing, the business can never be profitable. The customers of the fashion industry will be the following:

• People who want custom-made designer clothing and accessories.
• Movie crews who need costumes for a movie.
• Retail stores who want to market premium clothing and accessories.
• People looking for wedding and party dresses.

2.4 Business Target

The target of the business is to make designer clothes available and affordable for everyone. With this business, we hope to decrease the prices of premium clothing. Other than that, making profit is also a target of this business.

Moreover, we also want to expand to other cities and start a franchise business model for expanding the reach of our products. The ultimate goal is global domination and competing with the likes of Louis Vuitton, Gucci, and Parada.

Company Summary

3.1 company owner.

Sarah Carnegie is the person who will be the owner of the business. She is a veteran fashion designer from America holding many awards and accolades. She also happens to be quite rich and generating the funds for the business will not be an issue for her. All that makes Sarah the best candidate for this business plan fashion industry.

3.2 Why the Fashion Industry is being started?

The next thing that we need to talk about is why the fashion startup business plan is being started. There are a number of reasons for that. First and foremost, Sarah always wanted to start a luxury clothing and accessories line of herself and now is the time for her to do it. Secondly, Sarah has recently been fired from her job and she no longer wants to be the employee, she wants to be the boss. With the hundreds of millions of dollars burning a hole in her account, she can do whatever she wants.

3.3 How the Fashion Industry will be started?

One of the most important things to discuss in any start up fashion business plan is how the business will be started. Thankfully, this fashion business plan template free includes that too.

Step1: Market Need Analysis

The first thing needed to be done before starting the business is market need analysis. This will tell us whether or not there is a need for the services we are going to provide. Just like a lingerie boutique business plan , the business cannot be successful without it.

Step2: Developing a Brand

This is the single most important part in this whole business. Luxury goods are only as good as the brand name printed on them. We need to establish Apple Fashion as a brand that people can trust if we want to see any measure of success in the business.

Step3: Opening an Outlet   

The first outlet of the business will be opened right in the front of Eiffel Tower in Paris. That must be expensive but remember the hundreds of millions of dollars burning a hole in Ms. Carnegie’s account? She’ll use them.

Step4: Establishing an Online Presence  

Having an online presence is perhaps even more important than having an outlet in front of the Eiffel Tower. Thankfully though, it is not as expensive as that. So Sarah will hire a web designer to make a website for her brand to make the brand known to the public.

Step5: Promotion and Marketing

Next up, collaboration will be done with prominent celebrities to endorse and promote the products from Sarah’s brand. This is also very important because people follow these people and we can use that as leverage to create sales.

The next important thing is finalizing the services that the business will offer. There can be a million services that an example of a fashion business plan can have, However, obviously, we cannot start providing every single one of the services. That will not be a smart move. We are a bunch of smart people and we need to make a really smart move in the fashion business plan samples that we create.

The services included in this fashion business plan pdf will be:

Costume Design

The main service of the fashion industry will be to design costumes for movies and TV.

Wedding Dress Design

People who want designer dresses for their wedding can also hire our services to get the dresses designed.

Theme Dress Design

Dress designing for theme parties will also be one of the services.

Custom-Made Accessories

We will also design, manufacture, and commission custom-made fashion accessories for our customers.

Marketing Analysis of Fashion Industry

Business plan for investors.

The single most important part of any fashion business plan examples is the marketing analysis of the business. It is in this step that we have a look at what the market needs and how we can make a name in the market. This step is also a part of the streetwear brand business plan , but it is even more important here because the fashion industry is a congested one and the only way to make a profit is by careful marketing analysis.

Market trends and marketing segmentation are some of the most important parts of any fashion business plan presentation. Let’s have a look at them.

5.1 Market Trends

Having a look at the market trends is very important for writing a fashion company business plan. If we have a look at the market trends of the industry over the last decade, people have moved towards economically priced fashion accessories and products. If we are in for starting a fashion label business plan, the best way is to offer premium goods at a discounted price. By doing that, we can get a lot of customers and make a lot of profit.

5.2 Marketing Segmentation

No fashion marketing plan example can be complete without the proper marketing segmentation. Here’s the marketing segmentation that faces our business:

5.2.1 Showbiz

The biggest market segment for the business will be the showbiz industry.

5.2.2 Private Customers

People who want custom-made dresses and accessories will also be a main market segment for us.

5.2.3 Small Businesses

Small businesses that show an interest in our business can sell our product and will make a market segment for us.

5.2.4 Retail Customers

The standard clothing and accessories made by the business will be sold through our own outlets to the retail customers.

5.3 Business Target

• To become the most esteemed fashion goods producer in the world.
• To make luxury fashion goods accessible for everyone.
• To gain fame and recognition.

5.4 Product Pricing

The products of Apple Fashion will be priced below what the competition asks for their products. This will be done to make sure that we get business and the goal of making fashion products affordable for everyone can be realized.

Marketing Strategy

Just like a sewing business plan , we need to have a solid marketing strategy to make the business a success. This sample fashion business plan does contain that and will guide you how to use it. While making a marketing strategy for business plan examples fashion, the things that you need to focus on include the competitive analysis and sales strategy. Once you complete that, you can easily start the business and make it a success.

6.1 Competitive Analysis

Here’s the competitive analysis for this fashion business proposal:

• We have better designer than any of the competing brands in Europe.
• Our prices are lower than all of the competitors.
• We have a better sales strategy than any of the other companies in the sector.

6.2 Sales Strategy

If you want to know how to write a fashion article, you’ll need to be able to make sales strategy for the business. Here’s the sales strategy:

• We will hire the services of celebs to promote and endorse the product.
• Discounted rates will be offered to the buyers at the start.
• We will offer better value for money compared with any other of the competitors.

6.3 Sales Monthly

6.4 Sales Yearly

6.5 Sales Forecast

Personnel plan

Just like we discussed in the thrift store business plan , it all comes down to the people that will run the fashion business plan sample pdf and will make it a commercial success. It is also in the objectives of a fashion business to make sure that we create employment for people. The company will be run by the following people.

7.1 Company Staff

• Sarah Carnegie will be the owner and CEO of the business.
• 2 managers for operations, external relations marketing.
• 6 Fashion designers.
• 2 Brand Ambassadors.
• 2 Social media promoters.
• 2 Web developers.
• 1 Retail shopkeeper.
• 1 reception clerk.
• 1 telephone operator.

7.2 Average Salary of Employees

Financial Plan

Before we wrap up the  fashion business plan template pdf, it is important to have a look at the money involved in starting the business. This business will cost more money to start than the embroidery business plan . We will need money for:

• The cost of setting up the store.
• Setting up the production facility.
• The salaries of employees for the time before we start making profit.
• The cost of marketing and promoting the business.

8.1 Important Assumptions

8.2 Break-even Analysis

8.3 Projected Profit and Loss

8.3.1 Profit Monthly

8.3.2 Profit Yearly

8.3.3 Gross Margin Monthly

8.3.4 Gross Margin Yearly

8.4 Projected Cash Flow

8.5 Projected Balance Sheet

8.6 Business Ratios

Download Fashion Business Plan Sample in pdf

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Whether you’ve graduated from Parsons School of Design or a smaller fashion school, you can’t begin to create your fashion empire without first creating a business plan. Running a fashion business is challenging and time-consuming, but the results can fulfill your dreams – if you are committed to sticking to your plan. A business plan for opening your own fashion studio must include an executive summary, company vision, market and competitive analysis, and the ways your company will position itself to take advantage of your targeted market.

The Executive Summary

The executive summary of your fashion business plan is the equivalent of an elevator pitch that boils everything down to two paragraphs. It should include the name of your fashion business, the area where you want to operate, the type of clothes and accessories you plan to create, and your target market.

For example, if you were designing high-end, haute couture dresses, your summary could include, “XYZ Haute Couture will cater to wealthy women from 40 to 55 in San Francisco. Our location in the heart of Union Square will help us attract the wealthiest shoppers in the city who are looking for designer-quality clothing at less-than-market prices.”

Express Your Vision and Selling Proposition

This section helps prospective investors understand the type of clothes and accessories you’re going to offer in your fashion business and the market that you want to attract. For example, if you’re going to make hip-hop street wear, you must explain how that street wear will meet the wants, needs and tastes of your targeted market. More importantly, you must also express a unique selling proposition, which is the thing you believe will set your clothes apart from anyone else in the industry. For instance, if your hip-hop street wear is made using sustainable fabrics, it can help differentiate and brand your fashion business.

Create Your Market Analysis

Defining your target market is essential to helping prospective investors understand how they will get a return on their investment. The biggest mistake fashion designers make is to define their market too broadly. For example, if you’re designing comfortable beachwear and you write that your target market is “women between 30 and 45 who love spending time at the beach,” you’ve failed the target market test, because your market is too broad and undefined.

To make it more specific and targeted, you would write that your target market is, “active women between 30 and 45 who earn $50,000 or more per year and spend an average of $2,000 per year on casual clothing and accessories.” Your market analysis must also explain how your business will capitalize on existing fashion trends, how your pricing structure compares to that of your main competitors, and how your business will fulfill an untapped niche in the market.

Explain Your Manufacturing Process

Designing fashion is one thing, but manufacturing clothes and accessories for a product line requires a detailed plan. Questions you must answer in this section of your plan include: Where will you manufacture your clothes? Have you obtained estimates with several manufacturing companies? If you’re using an overseas manufacturing company, how does the pricing structure change when converted into American dollars?

Explain Your Distribution Process

After you’ve made plans to design and manufacture your clothes and accessories, you have to explain your distribution plan. You may want to hire a distributor to help you gain access to retail stores in the area as well as big trade shows where you can showcase your designs and secure orders from independent fashion retailers.

Include Your Financial Plan

Your fashion company’s financial plan must include financial statements that show the relative health of the business and provide investors and lenders with vital company data. An income statement shows how much revenue the designer expects to generate, as well as the costs the designer expects to encounter as the clothing line develops. The financial plan should also include a break-even analysis that tells investors the threshold of profitability.

For example, you could write, “XYZ Streetwear will adopt a moderate growth plan, with the goal of always having a positive cash balance. Our payment options will include major credit cards, cash and checks. The break-even analysis based on average costs and prices has been completed. With fixed costs of $6,000 and $50 in average sales, and $25 in average variable costs, the business requires $12,500 per month in sales to break even.”

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Sampson Quain is an experienced content writer with a wide range of expertise in small business, digital marketing, SEO marketing, SEM marketing, and social media outreach. He has written primarily for the EHow brand of Demand Studios as well as business strategy sites such as Digital Authority.

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Fashion Store Business Plan PDF Example

• June 15, 2024
• Business Plan

Creating a comprehensive business plan is crucial for launching and running a successful fashion store. This plan serves as your roadmap, detailing your vision, operational strategies, and financial plan. It helps establish your fashion store’s identity, navigate the competitive market, and secure funding for growth.

This article not only breaks down the critical components of a fashion store business plan, but also provides an example of a business plan to help you craft your own.

Whether you’re an experienced entrepreneur or new to the retail industry, this guide, complete with a business plan example, lays the groundwork for turning your fashion store business concept into reality. Let’s dive in!

Our fashion store business plan is structured to cover all essential aspects needed for a comprehensive strategy. It outlines the store’s operations, marketing strategy , market environment, competitors, management team, and financial forecasts.

• Executive Summary : Offers an overview of your fashion store’s business concept, market analysis , management, and financial strategy.
• Services & Rates: Lists the clothing and accessories provided by your fashion store, including the pricing structure .
• Operations: Describes the store’s daily operations, inventory management, staffing, and customer service policies.
• Key Stats: Shares industry size , growth trends, and relevant statistics for the fashion market.
• Key Trends: Highlights recent trends affecting the fashion sector.
• Key Competitors : Analyzes main competitors nearby and how your store differs from them.
• SWOT Analysis : Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats analysis.
• Marketing Plan : Strategies for attracting and retaining customers.
• Timeline : Key milestones and objectives from start-up through the first year of operation.
• Management: Information on who manages the fashion store and their roles.
• Financial Plan: Projects the store’s 5-year financial performance, including revenue, profits, and expected expenses.

Fashion Store Business Plan

Fully editable 30+ slides Powerpoint presentation business plan template.

Download an expert-built 30+ slides Powerpoint business plan template

Executive Summary

The Executive Summary introduces your fashion store’s business plan, offering a concise overview of your store and its offerings. It should detail your market positioning, the range of apparel and accessories you offer, its location, size, and an outline of day-to-day operations.

This section should also explore how your fashion store will integrate into the local market, including the number of direct competitors within the area, identifying who they are, along with your store’s unique selling points that differentiate it from these competitors.

Furthermore, you should include information about the management and co-founding team, detailing their roles and contributions to the store’s success. Additionally, a summary of your financial projections, including revenue and profits over the next five years, should be presented here to provide a clear picture of your store’s financial plan.

Make sure to cover here _ Business Overview _ Market Overview _ Management Team _ Financial Plan

Business Overview

For a Fashion Store, the Business Overview section can be concisely divided into 2 main slides:

Services & Rates

Detail the extensive array of fashion products available, including clothing, footwear, and accessories for various occasions and demographics. Outline your pricing structure, designed to cater to a range of customers, from budget-conscious shoppers to luxury seekers. Highlight promotional offers, seasonal discounts, and loyalty rewards programs that enhance customer retention and satisfaction.

Describe the store’s strategic location, emphasizing how its proximity to bustling shopping areas and ease of access, including public transportation and parking, makes it a prime choice for shoppers. Explain the thoughtful store layout and design that facilitates a seamless shopping experience, from product discovery to checkout. Discuss the well-trained staff that enhances the shopping experience with their expertise and customer service.

Make sure to cover here _ Service & Rates _ Operations

Market Overview

Industry size & growth.

In the Market Overview of your fashion store business plan, start by examining the size of the fashion retail industry and its growth potential. This analysis is crucial for understanding the market’s scope and identifying expansion opportunities.

Key Market Trends

Proceed to discuss recent market trends , such as the increasing consumer interest in sustainable fashion, the rise of e-commerce, and the demand for personalized shopping experiences. For example, highlight the popularity of eco-friendly and ethically sourced materials, as well as the integration of technology in personalizing customer interactions.

Key Competitors

Then, consider the competitive landscape, which includes a range of fashion retailers from luxury boutiques to budget-friendly stores, as well as online shopping platforms. For example, emphasize what makes your store distinctive, whether it’s through exclusive product offerings, a commitment to sustainability, or exceptional customer service. This section will help articulate the demand for fashion store services, the competitive environment, and how your store is positioned to thrive within this dynamic market.

Make sure to cover here _ Industry size & growth _ Key competitors _ Key market trends

Dive deeper into Key competitors

First, conduct a SWOT analysis for the fashion store , highlighting Strengths (such as a diverse product range and strong brand identity), Weaknesses (including reliance on seasonal trends or strong competition), Opportunities (for example, the growing interest in sustainable and ethically produced clothing), and Threats (such as economic downturns that may decrease consumer spending on non-essential goods).

Marketing Plan

Next, develop a marketing strategy that outlines how to attract and retain customers through targeted advertising, promotional discounts, an engaging social media presence, and community involvement. Focus on digital marketing campaigns, collaborations with fashion influencers, and hosting fashion events to increase brand visibility and customer engagement.

Finally, create a detailed timeline that outlines critical milestones for the fashion store’s opening, marketing efforts, customer base growth, and expansion objectives, ensuring the business moves forward with clear direction and purpose. Include key dates for product launches, seasonal sales, and strategic reviews to adapt to changing market conditions.

Make sure to cover here _ SWOT _ Marketing Plan _ Timeline

Dive deeper into SWOT

Dive deeper into Marketing Plan

The Management section focuses on the fashion store’s management and their direct roles in daily operations and strategic direction. This part is crucial for understanding who is responsible for making key decisions and driving the fashion store toward its financial and operational goals.

For your fashion store business plan, list the core team members, their specific responsibilities, and how their expertise supports the business.

Financial Plan

The Financial Plan section is a comprehensive analysis of your financial projections for revenue, expenses, and profitability. It lays out your fashion store’s approach to securing funding, managing cash flow, and achieving breakeven.

This section typically includes detailed forecasts for the first 5 years of operation, highlighting expected revenue, operating costs , and capital expenditures.

For your fashion store business plan, provide a snapshot of your financial statement (profit and loss, balance sheet, cash flow statement), as well as your key assumptions (e.g. number of customers and prices, expenses, etc.).

Make sure to cover here _ Profit and Loss _ Cash Flow Statement _ Balance Sheet _ Use of Funds

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Fashion - Business Plan Template

Showcase all that your sensational boutique has to offer with this trendy business plan template..

Help your new boutique shine with Visme’s classy business plan template. Insert any of our captivating, high-resolution images into your work to capture your audience’s attention in no time.

Put your own spin on this fresh graphic using one of Visme’s show-stopping typefaces. We are proud to offer a broad selection of engaging and modern fonts that take any design to the next level.

Download your finished masterpiece as a PDF with bleed marks for professional printing, or as an image or PDF without bleed marks for standard printing. Alternatively, share your content using a link or embed it to your website or blog with a code.

Actively grow your business using this appealing design or check out Visme’s remarkable selection of business plan templates at your convenience.

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Template Specifications

6 Pages, 8.5” X 11” (US Letter)

Customizable

This template can be fully customized. You can edit content, change image(s), apply custom colors, input your own fonts and logo, and more.

For professional printing, download as PDF with bleed marks. For regular printing, download as image (JPG or PNG) or PDF without bleeds marks. For online use, your plans can also be shared via link or embedded to a site or blog.

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Fashion Business Plan Template [Updated 2024]

III. Industry Analysis

You can download our Business Plan Template (including a full, customizable financial model) to your computer here.

[Company Name] directly or indirectly competes with other fashion designers and clothing lines. Competition will come from mass market clothing brands as well as independent fashion designers.

Industry Statistics & Trends

The following industry size facts and statistics bode well for [Company Name].

Over the next five years, the Fashion Designers industry is poised for further growth. Industry revenue will benefit from rising per capita disposable income and increased consumer confidence; it will also be aided by downstream apparel-manufacturing industries. As consumers demand trendier yet reasonably priced items, department stores will continue collaborating with designers to create product lines with mass appeal. Additionally, as the fast-fashion retail model continues to flourish, retailers will require more designer services in order to quickly replicate looks from New York Fashion Week and other highly visible international fashion shows. These factors will propel industry growth at a projected annual average of 6.7%.

Fashion design is a relatively high-profit activity. Industry operators make functional and aesthetically pleasing designs for clothing, jewelry and accessories out of raw inputs such as fabric, precious metals and leather. The value added to the initial input is significant, which translates into high profit margins for many industry operators. As the economy continues to expand and trends like collaborations and flash fashion propel the industry forward, profit margins are expected to remain stable.

As global economic conditions continue to recover, international demand for designs created in the United States will strengthen. Domestic designers are expected to steadily capture an increasing share of the global fashion design markets (e.g. apparel, footwear and jewelry), while retaining their position in the US market. While the production of clothing and accessories will likely continue to move offshore to low-wage countries in Asia (and potentially Africa), the design process remains a core and vital function to product development and will be kept local.

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Fashion Business Plan Outline

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How Do You Write a Fashion Business Plan?

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LONDON, United Kingdom — In Part Two of BoF’s Fashion Business Basics, Imran Amed explains the importance of a business plan and how to approach writing one.

KEY LEARNINGS: A business plan is an essential tool, not just for raising investment, but also for clarifying your goals and objectives, and communicating these to your wider team of employees, business partners and clients. There are five essential components:

Executive Summary: The executive summary is at the beginning of your business plan, but should be the last thing you write. It encapsulates all the key points, ideas and objectives of your business in a very short and concise "elevator pitch."

Vision & Objectives: This section will help investors, and anyone else reading your business plan, understand what particular market need you are going after and what you will offer that is unique and differentiated.

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Market & Competitive Landscape: This section describes the market that you plan to operate in. How big is the market? How fast is it growing and what evidence do you have that this part of the market is a viable opportunity? You also need to identify who the competitors in the market are, whether they are growing and what their position is in the market. What are you going to do that is different?

Implementation Plan: This is probably the most detailed section of your business plan, identifying the specific actions that your business will take to go after the market opportunity you have identified. Ideally, it should cover three years of activity, on a seasonal basis, and should include everything from how you communicate as a business and the staff you will hire, to the space you will need and the outside expertise you will require, in terms of marketing, communications or PR.

Financials: Your financial plan shows how your business will grow in terms of both profit and revenue and what financing you will need to make it happen. An income statement uses projections of how your business will grow at the top line, through sales and other revenues, and will also project the costs of delivering that growth. The cash flow statement shows the peaks and troughs of your cash situation on a monthly basis and identifies what funding you will need to finance growth.

Imran Amed is the Founder, CEO and Editor-in-Chief of The Business of Fashion. Based in London, he shapes BoF’s overall editorial strategy and is the host of The BoF Podcast.

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Free Business Plan Template for Small Businesses (2024)

Use this free business plan template to write your business plan quickly and efficiently.

A good business plan is essential to successfully starting your business —  and the easiest way to simplify the work of writing a business plan is to start with a business plan template.

You’re already investing time and energy in refining your business model and planning your launch—there’s no need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to writing a business plan. Instead, to help build a complete and effective plan, lean on time-tested structures created by other  entrepreneurs and startups. 

Ahead, learn what it takes to create a solid business plan and download Shopify's free business plan template to get started on your dream today. 

What this free business plan template includes

• Executive summary
• Company overview
• Products or services offered
• Market analysis
• Marketing plan
• Logistics and operations plan
• Financial plan

This business plan outline is designed to ensure you’re thinking through all of the important facets of starting a new business. It’s intended to help new business owners and entrepreneurs consider the full scope of running a business and identify functional areas they may not have considered or where they may need to level up their skills as they grow.

That said, it may not include the specific details or structure preferred by a potential investor or lender. If your goal with a business plan is to secure funding , check with your target organizations—typically banks or investors—to see if they have business plan templates you can follow to maximize your chances of success.

Our free business plan template includes seven key elements typically found in the traditional business plan format:

1. Executive summary

This is a one-page summary of your whole plan, typically written after the rest of the plan is completed. The description section of your executive summary will also cover your management team, business objectives and strategy, and other background information about the brand. 

2. Company overview

This section of your business plan will answer two fundamental questions: “Who are you?” and “What do you plan to do?” Answering these questions clarifies why your company exists, what sets it apart from others, and why it’s a good investment opportunity. This section will detail the reasons for your business’s existence, its goals, and its guiding principles.

3. Products or services offered

What you sell and the most important features of your products or services. It also includes any plans for intellectual property, like patent filings or copyright. If you do market research for new product lines, it will show up in this section of your business plan.

4. Market analysis

This section includes everything from estimated market size to your target markets and competitive advantage. It’ll include a competitive analysis of your industry to address competitors’ strengths and weaknesses. Market research is an important part of ensuring you have a viable idea.

5. Marketing plan

How you intend to get the word out about your business, and what strategic decisions you’ve made about things like your pricing strategy. It also covers potential customers’ demographics, your sales plan, and your metrics and milestones for success.

6. Logistics and operations plan

Everything that needs to happen to turn your raw materials into products and get them into the hands of your customers.

7. Financial plan

It’s important to include a look at your financial projections, including both revenue and expense projections. This section includes templates for three key financial statements: an income statement, a balance sheet, and a cash-flow statement . You can also include whether or not you need a business loan and how much you’ll need.

Business plan examples

What do financial projections look like on paper? How do you write an executive summary? What should your company description include?  Business plan examples  can help answer some of these questions and transform your business idea into an actionable plan.

Professional business plan example

Inside our template, we’ve filled out a sample business plan featuring a fictional ecommerce business . 

The sample is set up to help you get a sense of each section and understand how they apply to the planning and evaluation stages of a business plan. If you’re looking for funding, this example won’t be a complete or formal look at business plans, but it will give you a great place to start and notes about where to expand.

Lean business plan example

A lean business plan format is a shortened version of your more detailed business plan. It’s helpful when modifying your plan for a specific audience, like investors or new hires. 

Also known as a one-page business plan, it includes only the most important, need-to-know information, such as:

• Company description
• Key members of your team
• Customer segments

💡 Tip: For a step-by-step guide to creating a lean business plan (including a sample business plan), read our guide on how to create a lean business plan .

Benefits of writing a solid business plan

It’s tempting to dive right into execution when you’re excited about a new business or side project, but taking the time to write a thorough business plan and get your thoughts on paper allows you to do a number of beneficial things:

• Test the viability of your business idea. Whether you’ve got one business idea or many, business plans can make an idea more tangible, helping you see if it’s truly viable and ensure you’ve found a target market. 
• Plan for your next phase. Whether your goal is to start a new business or scale an existing business to the next level, a business plan can help you understand what needs to happen and identify gaps to address.
• Clarify marketing strategy, goals, and tactics. Writing a business plan can show you the actionable next steps to take on a big, abstract idea. It can also help you narrow your strategy and identify clear-cut tactics that will support it.
• Scope the necessary work. Without a concrete plan, cost overruns and delays are all but certain. A business plan can help you see the full scope of work to be done and adjust your investment of time and money accordingly.
• Hire and build partnerships. When you need buy-in from potential employees and business partners, especially in the early stages of your business, a clearly written business plan is one of the best tools at your disposal. A business plan provides a refined look at your goals for the business, letting partners judge for themselves whether or not they agree with your vision.
• Secure funds. Seeking financing for your business—whether from venture capital, financial institutions, or Shopify Capital —is one of the most common reasons to create a business plan.

Why you should you use a template for a business plan

A business plan can be as informal or formal as your situation calls for, but even if you’re a fan of the back-of-the-napkin approach to planning, there are some key benefits to starting your plan from an existing outline or simple business plan template.

No blank-page paralysis

A blank page can be intimidating to even the most seasoned writers. Using an established business planning process and template can help you get past the inertia of starting your business plan, and it allows you to skip the work of building an outline from scratch. You can always adjust a template to suit your needs.

Guidance on what to include in each section

If you’ve never sat through a business class, you might never have created a SWOT analysis or financial projections. Templates that offer guidance—in plain language—about how to fill in each section can help you navigate sometimes-daunting business jargon and create a complete and effective plan.

Knowing you’ve considered every section

In some cases, you may not need to complete every section of a startup business plan template, but its initial structure shows you you’re choosing to omit a section as opposed to forgetting to include it in the first place.

Tips for creating a successful business plan

There are some high-level strategic guidelines beyond the advice included in this free business plan template that can help you write an effective, complete plan while minimizing busywork.

Understand the audience for your plan

If you’re writing a business plan for yourself in order to get clarity on your ideas and your industry as a whole, you may not need to include the same level of detail or polish you would with a business plan you want to send to potential investors. Knowing who will read your plan will help you decide how much time to spend on it.

Know your goals

Understanding the goals of your plan can help you set the right scope. If your goal is to use the plan as a roadmap for growth, you may invest more time in it than if your goal is to understand the competitive landscape of a new industry.

Take it step by step

Writing a 10- to 15-page document can feel daunting, so try to tackle one section at a time. Select a couple of sections you feel most confident writing and start there—you can start on the next few sections once those are complete. Jot down bullet-point notes in each section before you start writing to organize your thoughts and streamline the writing process.

Maximize your business planning efforts

Planning is key to the financial success of any type of business , whether you’re a startup, non-profit, or corporation.

To make sure your efforts are focused on the highest-value parts of your own business planning, like clarifying your goals, setting a strategy, and understanding the target market and competitive landscape, lean on a business plan outline to handle the structure and format for you. Even if you eventually omit sections, you’ll save yourself time and energy by starting with a framework already in place.

Business plan template FAQ

What is the purpose of a business plan.

The purpose of your business plan is to describe a new business opportunity or an existing one. It clarifies the business strategy, marketing plan, financial forecasts, potential providers, and more information about the company.

How do I write a simple business plan?

• Choose a business plan format, such as a traditional or a one-page business plan. 
• Find a business plan template.
• Read through a business plan sample.
• Fill in the sections of your business plan.

What is the best business plan template?

If you need help writing a business plan, Shopify’s template is one of the most beginner-friendly options you’ll find. It’s comprehensive, well-written, and helps you fill out every section.

What are the 5 essential parts of a business plan?

The five essential parts of a traditional business plan include:

• Executive summary: This is a brief overview of the business plan, summarizing the key points and highlighting the main points of the plan.
• Business description: This section outlines the business concept and how it will be executed.
• Market analysis: This section provides an in-depth look at the target market and how the business will compete in the marketplace.
• Financial plan: This section details the financial projections for the business, including sales forecasts, capital requirements, and a break-even analysis.
• Management and organization: This section describes the management team and the organizational structure of the business.

Are there any free business plan templates?

There are several free templates for business plans for small business owners available online, including Shopify’s own version. Download a copy for your business.

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300+ Business Plan Examples

With over two decades of experience, Growthink has assisted more than 1 million companies in developing effective business plans to launch and expand their businesses. Trust in our expertise to guide you through developing a business plan that drives your success. In addition to our sample plans, below you’ll learn the answers to key business plan questions and gain insightful tips on writing your business plan.

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• Sample Business Plans By Business Category

Answers to Key Sample Business Plan Questions

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1. Why is utilizing an example business plan a good idea?

Sample business plans can help you quickly and easily write a business plan for your own business. Business plans are an important tool for any business, but they can be challenging to create. A sample business plan will help you understand the business plan format , the benefit of market research, and how to write a compelling executive summary. It can also serve as a guide for creating your own business plan, outlining the key sections and providing examples of successful plans. Utilizing the best business plan template can save you time and ensure that your plan is well-structured and comprehensive.

Business plan examples may even help you with the different sections of a plan, including market analysis, business description, cash flow statements/business financial statements, and more. Business plans can also show you how a quality plan in your exact business plan category is organized and shows you the appropriate business communications style to use when writing your business plan.

2. Who would benefit from using an example business plan?

Any entrepreneur or business owner who has never written a business plan before can benefit from an example or sample plan. New business owners often start with business plan templates , which are helpful but are sometimes more useful after reviewing other sample business plans.

A good sample plan can be a step-by-step guide as you work on your business planning and business idea. Once you have a sense for the flow, specs, and details, etc. that business plans have, utilizing a business plan template will help you pull everything together, helping you create a plan investors and other stakeholders will value. A solid business plan will also help you if you need a bank loan, which may require a startup business plan. Download our free business plan template to help you get started on your own business plan.

Free Download : Free Business Plan Template PDF

3. How do you get started with a sample business plan and maximize its benefit?

First you should read the business plan thoroughly. Study both the type of information provided in key sections like the executive summary, target market analysis, summary, etc., as well as the format and style of the plan. As you read, you may find yourself thinking through things such as improving or evaluating your business planning process, your business idea, or reconsidering who you want to write your business plan for. This is OK and part of the process. In fact, when you start writing a business plan for the first time, it will be much easier because you’ve gone through this process.

After this initial read, outline your business plan and copy in from the sample plan sections that apply to your business. For instance, if the sample plan included public relations in their marketing strategy and sales plan, and you will also use this tactic, you can copy it into your plan and edit it as appropriate. Finally, answer the other questions answered in the sample plan in ways that reflect your unique business and target customers.

Writing a business plan can seem daunting. Starting your business plan writing process by reviewing a plan that’s already been created can remove a lot of mental and emotional barriers while helping you craft the best plan you can.

4. When should you not use a sample business plan?

If your business is unlike any other, using a sample business plan will not be as effective. In this situation, writing a business plan from scratch utilizing a business plan template is probably your best path forward.

As an example, Facebook’s early business plan was unlike others since it was paving a new path and way of doing business. But, groundbreaking new businesses like Facebook are not the norm, and the vast majority of companies will benefit from utilizing sample business plans.

5. How do you choose the right type of business plan for your venture?

Selecting the appropriate type of business plan depends on your business’s stage, needs, and goals. Let’s explore the different types of business plans and how to determine which business plan format is right for you.

• Startup Business Plan : This type of plan is for businesses just starting out and seeking funding or investment. It typically includes a detailed analysis of the market, target audience, competition, and financial projections.
• Traditional Business Plan : Traditional business plans are the most common type of business plan, used by established businesses to outline their goals and strategies. It includes all the key sections such as market analysis, company description, and financial statements.
• Internal Business Plan : Internal business plans are used for internal purposes, to guide the day-to-day operations and decision making of the business. It may not be as detailed as a traditional business plan, but still includes important information such as company mission, objectives, and key performance indicators.
• Feasibility Business Plan : A feasibility business plan is used to assess the viability of a new product or service in the market. It includes detailed research and analysis to determine if the business idea is feasible and profitable.
• One-Page Business Plan : As the name suggests, this type of business plan is condensed into one page and includes the most critical information about the business. It can be a useful tool for pitching to potential investors or partners.
• Strategic Business Plan : A strategic plan looks at the big picture and long-term business goals of a company. It may include the company’s mission statement, core values, and overarching strategies for achieving success.

Ultimately, the type of business plan you choose will depend on your business’s specific needs and goals. It may also be beneficial to combine elements from different types of plans to create a customized plan that best fits your business. Carefully consider your objectives and resources before deciding on the right type of plan for your venture.

Finish Your Business Plan in 1 Day!

Don’t you wish there was a faster, easier way to finish your business plan?

With Growthink’s Ultimate Business Plan Template you can finish your plan in just 8 hours or less!

The business plan example below is for Shoutmouth, a company that enjoyed much success in the early 2000’s and which was able to raise funding. While the plan’s premise (social networking) is not as unique now as it was then, the format and structure of this business plan still holds.

I. Executive Summary

Business Overview

Launched in late February 2007, Shoutmouth.com is the most comprehensive music news website on the Internet .

Music is one of the most searched and accessed interests on the Internet. Top music artists like Akon receive over 3 million searches each month. In addition, over 500 music artists each receive over 25,000 searches a month.

However, music fans are largely unsatisfied when it comes to the news and information they seek on the artists they love. This is because most music websites (e.g., RollingStone.com, MTV.com, Billboard.com, etc.) cover only the top eight to ten music stories each day – the stories with mass appeal. This type of generic coverage does not satisfy the needs of serious music fans. Music fans generally listen to many different artists and genres of music. By publishing over 100 music stories each day, Shoutmouth enables these fans to read news on all their favorite artists.

In addition to publishing comprehensive music news on over 1200 music artists, Shoutmouth is a social network that allows fans to meet and communicate with other fans about music, and allows them to:

• Create personal profiles
• Interact with other members
• Provide comments on news stories and music videos
• Submit news stories and videos
• Recommend new music artists to add to the community
• Receive customized news and email alerts on their favorite artists

Success Factors

Shoutmouth is uniquely qualified to succeed due to the following reasons:

• Entrepreneurial track record : Shoutmouth’s CEO and team have helped launch numerous successful ventures.
• Affiliate marketing track record : Online affiliate marketing expertise has been cited as one of MySpace’s key success factors. Over the past two years, Shoutmouth’s founders have run one of the most successful online affiliate marketing programs, having sold products to over 500,000 music customers online.
• Key milestones completed : Shoutmouth’s founders have invested $500,000 to-date to staff the company (we currently have an 11-person full-time team), build the core technology, and launch the site. We have succeeded in gaining initial customer traction with 50,000 unique visitors in March, 100,000 unique visitors in April, and 200,000 unique visitors in May 2007.

Unique Investment Metrics

The Shoutmouth investment opportunity is very exciting due to the metrics of the business.

To begin, over the past two years, over twenty social networks have been acquired. The value in these networks is their relationships with large numbers of customers, which allow acquirers to effectively sell to this audience.

The sales price of these social networks has ranged from $25 to $137 per member. Shoutmouth has the ability to enroll members at less than $1 each, thus providing an extraordinary return on marketing expenditures. In fact, during an April 2007 test, we were able to sign-up 2,000 members to artist-specific Shoutmouth newsletters at a cost of only 43 cents per member.

While we are building Shoutmouth to last, potential acquirers include many types of companies that seek relationships with music fans such as music media/publishing (e.g., MTV, Rolling Stone), ticketing (e.g., Ticketmaster, LiveNation) and digital music sales firms (e.g., iTunes, The Orchard).

Financial Strategy, Needs and Exit Strategy

While Shoutmouth’s technological, marketing and operational infrastructure has been developed, we currently require $3 million to execute on our marketing and technology plan over the next 24 months until we hit profitability.

Shoutmouth will primarily generate revenues from selling advertising space. As technologies evolve that allow us to seamlessly integrate music sampling and purchasing on our site, sales of downloadable music are also expected to become a significant revenue source. To a lesser extent, we may sell other music-related items such as ringtones, concert tickets, and apparel.

Topline projections over the next three years are as follows:

II. Shoutmouth Overview

What is Shoutmouth?

Shoutmouth is an operating company of The Kisco Group Inc. (TKG). Since 2003, TKG has capitalized on web-based marketing opportunities via launching targeted websites and generating web-based leads. TKG revenues in 2005 exceeded $1.3 million and grew to $3.5 million in 2006. Shoutmouth is currently the sole focus of TKG; all other TKG business units have been divested.

Development of Shoutmouth began in August 2006 and the site officially launched on February 21, 2007. Shoutmouth (located at www.shoutmouth.com) is the most comprehensive music news community on the Internet. The website covers 1,200 popular bands and music artists and offers more than 100 new music articles each day. In addition to providing news, Shoutmouth is a web community. That is, Shoutmouth members can actively participate on the site, by doing things such as commenting on news stories and submitting their own stories.

The Market Size and Need for Shoutmouth

The music market is clearly vast. According to IFPI, which represents the recording industry worldwide, global music sales were $33.5 billion in 2005, with the U.S. accounting for $12.3 billion of that amount. Importantly, digitally music sales are seeing substantial growth, with IFPI reporting sales of $400 million in 2004, $1.1 billion in 2005 and $2 billion in 2006.

Online, music is the one of the most frequently searched and accessed interests. For example, according to Wordtracker, the music artist Eminem received over 1.7 million web searches in December 2006, while band Green Day received 534,000 searches.

To put these figures in perspective, top celebrities in other entertainment fields receive but a fraction of this search volume. For example, December 2006 search volumes for select sports stars and actors were as follows: Kobe Bryant, 122K; Tiger Woods, 88K; Cameron Diaz, 332K; and Tom Cruise, 82K.

Conversely, 225 music artists received over 100,000 searches in December 2006, and over 500 music artists received over 25,000 searches.

This data is corroborated by Nielsen BuzzMetrics which plots the most popular topics bloggers are posting about. The chart to the right plots September 25, 2006 to March 25, 2007 and shows how music dominates other entertainment sectors online.

When searching for music artists online, fans, which are primarily between the ages of 13 and 35, are looking for news, pictures, lyrics, videos and audio files. In addition, fans enjoy publicly voicing their opinions about music and interacting with other fans.

There is currently no website besides Shoutmouth that provides comprehensive music news. Currently, to get the latest news on their favorite artists, fans must visit the official websites or fan websites of each of the artists they like . Even then, it is unlikely that the fan will get all the news that has occurred. To solve this problem, Shoutmouth scours the web and uncovers news from thousands of web sites.

What Shoutmouth Does and Will Offer

As of May 2007, the site covers the 1,200 most popular music artists (popularity primarily based on the number of web searches over the past 12 months for each artist).

Shoutmouth currently offers members the ability to:

• Read over 500 new music articles each week
• Read special features such as album reviews, interviews, new album release dates, top quotes of the week and other special reports
• Watch and rate music videos
• Listen to select music audio clips
• Comment on news stories and music videos
• Submit news stories that they see/hear of elsewhere
• Suggest new music artists to add to the site
• View articles by music artist or by genre (current genres include Rock, Pop, Rap, R&B, Country, and Electronic)
• Create a user profile that includes their favorite music artists, Shoutmouth friends, news stories submitted to Shoutmouth, and comments made. Members have the ability to find other members based on their favorite artists and via our search functions.
• Receive customized news and email alerts. Members can customize their “My News” page to include only artists they specify. Likewise, they can choose to receive email alerts whenever there is a new story on one of their favorite artists.

While establishing itself as the premier music news community, Shoutmouth will embark on the more aggressive goal of becoming the premier music community online . To accomplish this, Shoutmouth will begin to offer additional content (more videos, audio, pictures, lyrics, etc.) and additional functionality (music compatibility testing (e.g., if you like this, you’ll like this), voting capabilities, member-to-member messaging, etc.). We have already begun mapping out our content and technology growths plans to achieve this goal upon financing.

Importantly, Shoutmouth expects to be able to add massive amounts of relevant content (e.g., lyrics, reviews, pictures, video files, audio files, etc.) via member submissions and moderation. This is the same way that YouTube has been able to quickly add millions of videos and Wikipedia has been able to add millions of articles. Importantly, since established music websites (e.g., MTV, RollingStone.com, Billboard.com, etc.) are not community based, they would have to hire thousands of staff members to rival the content that Shoutmouth will have.

How We Get and Publish Our News

Currently, news stories that appear on Shoutmouth are gathered from numerous online sources. Shoutmouth’s staff writers find these stories by using RSS and News feeds that cover thousands of websites. In addition, Shoutmouth community members have the ability to submit stories they find elsewhere.

Typical stories include factual information plus the insight of the author. Shoutmouth editors ensure that all stories are properly classified by artist and genre, and that duplicate articles are filtered out.

Over the past three months, Shoutmouth has developed a solid infrastructure, which we consider a core competitive advantage, that that allows us to provide comprehensive music news . This infrastructure includes:

• Setting up hundreds of RSS feeds based on comprehensive research regarding sites from which to receive feeds
• Training our editorial team regarding identifying a story and weeding out duplicates
• Assigning music artists among our five-person editorial team to better manage work flow and avoid duplicate articles

We are working on a system to ensure that member-submitted articles are automatically routed to the appropriate member of Shoutmouth’s editorial team to improve our efficiencies further.

Shoutmouth’s Goal to Break News First

The majority (approximately 90%) of Shoutmouth’s articles are currently developed by our in-house editorial team, while the balance is submitted by members. In addition, virtually all of our articles are based on information gleaned from other websites. As such, we are generally not the first to publish news; however we are the first and only site to publish all the news in one easily-accessible place. The one current exception is news which is published on bands’ official MySpace pages; Shoutmouth generally publishes articles on this news 24 to 48 hours before it is reported by other news or music sites (due to our efficiencies in finding news).

Shoutmouth realizes that it will gain a key competitive advantage, and will generate significant market buzz, if it is able to report on music news stories before other media sources . To accomplish this, we have begun contacting publicity departments at record labels to gain direct access to music news. We expect these contacts to enable us to gain immediate and sometimes exclusive access to news which will help further establish Shoutmouth as the canonical source for music news. We also plan to more aggressively solicit member submissions of new, buzzworthy news events and will consider offering rewards for unique substantiated news (much the way paparazzi are compensated).

III. Competition in the Online Music Market

This section of the business plan provides a competitive analysis, which is an overview of the competitive landscape, discusses both indirect and direct competitors and then details Shoutmouth’s competitive advantages.

Because consumer demand for music on the Internet is so great, there are a vast number of music websites. In summary, we consider most sectors of the online music market (which are discussed below) to be indirect competitors and potentially partners, rather than direct competitors, because none of them focus on music news.

The reason we believe that no one focuses on music news is that it is very difficult to do. Because news is very important to music fans, most music websites offer news. However, they primarily get their news from organizations such as CNN, Reuters, the Associated Press and BBC. These large organizations only write about the music stories that have mass appeal, which traditionally amounts to 8-10 music news stories per day. However, since music fans are often zealots when it comes to their favorite artists, they are not merely interested in cover stories. For instance, a U2 fan cares about any U2 news, particularly news that a non-U2 fan might consider insignificant.

In fact, because Shoutmouth is the sole one-stop shop for getting comprehensive music news, there might be an opportunity to license our content to other music websites.

Sectors of the Online Music Market

Shoutmouth specifically comPs in the community-based music news market. While players in this market represent direct competitors, Shoutmouth faces indirect competitors in the following markets:

• Community-Based Sites
• Community-Based News Sites
• Community-Based Music Sites
• Traditional Music Websites
• Official Artist and Fan Sites

Each of these markets is described below.

A. Community-Based Sites

Community-based sites, also known as social networking sites, are websites in which members can create profiles, leave comments throughout the site, and communicate with other members among other features.

A June 2006 report by Piper Jaffray entitled “Silk Road: Social Networking is Here to Stay” effectively sums up the power and longevity of social networking:

“We believe social networking sites have become a permanent part of the fabric of web applications and are rapidly becoming one of the most popular activities online, potentially impacting how other popular services such as email, IM, and maybe even search are accessed.

As a clear indication of the growth rate and scale of social networking, consider this: MySpace monthly page views have now surpassed MSN or AOL in the U.S. and are nearly 75% of the size of Yahoo!. Social networking has filled a gap that was left by all the existing portals and web services and it is fulfilling a very important and basic function for millions of users: allowing them to express themselves and connect with their friends, with the two functions tightly integrated.

The leading sites such as MySpace (News Corp), Facebook, and others are amassing significant power in the new landscape of the Internet and the existing Internet companies are likely to have to work with these newcomers as they may yield material control on the flow of traffic to other applications.”

Social networking sites such as MySpace.com, Facebook.com, Tagged.com, and TagWorld.com have educated consumers regarding the value of these sites and how to use them. Their success has spurred genre-specific social networks such as community-based/social networking news sites and music sites, which are discussed below.

Shoutmouth doesn’t view established social networking sites as competitors since these sites have a general focus. That is, members talk about all aspects of life, from dating to music to movies, etc. Conversely, Shoutmouth is solely focused on music.

B. Community-Based News Sites

Community-based news sites are sites in which members decide what’s newsworthy and what’s not. For instance, on Digg.com, the most prominent community-based news site, members “Digg” stories that they feel are most newsworthy. The stories that the community feels are most important rise to Digg’s homepage, while less important stories get little attention.

Digg’s one million members can submit stories, “digg” stories, and comment on stories. Digg focuses on general news with a slant towards technology, gaming and unique/sensational news. While Digg does have a Music area within its Entertainment section, this receives little focus. In fact, at the time of the writing of this plan, Digg’s music home page only includes one article submitted within the past 48 hours. Furthermore, Digg doesn’t pare down the music category into sub-categories such as Rock and individual music artists. Conversely, these sub-categories are the entire focus of Shoutmouth.

Other sites that are similar to Digg include Newsvine.com, Spotback.com and Gabbr.com. Of most relevance is the Digg-like site for music, Noisetap.com, which was launched by Ticketmaster in January 2007.

Like Digg, Noisetap.com allows members to submit and vote for music stories. Noisetap.com is organized by music genre and not by music artist. This most likely will not satisfy the needs of many music fans since they don’t have the ability to find news on the specific artists they care most about. Likewise, without a full-time staff actively researching and publishing news stories at the artist-level, Noisetap.com will never be able to offer the comprehensive news that Shoutmouth does.

While Shoutmouth is currently similar to community-based news sites in that members can submit stories and comment on the news they find most interesting, no established player in the market provides a comprehensive focus on music. In addition, Shoutmouth sees these sites as marketing partners as we have and will continue to submit our stories on them to increase our readership.

C. Community-Based Music Sites

There are many community-based music websites, although none focuses on music news such as Shoutmouth. Conversely, these sites generally give members the ability to create and listen to song play lists. The community acts to help individual members find new music and new friends based on similarities in their music tastes. Prominent sites in this genre include Last.fm, Finetune, Pandora, RadioBlogClub, MyStrands, iLike[1] and iJigg.

Last.fm is the most prominent community-based music site and is a good model with which to compare Shoutmouth. Likewise, we will benchmark our performance against Last.fm as we reach of goal of becoming the premier music news community and focus on becoming the premier music community.

According to Alexa, Last.fm is the 359th most visited site on the Internet. While Last.fm focuses on allowing members to create customized Internet stations based on their music tastes, the site has much additional content and social networking features. For instance, for each artist, Last.fm includes pictures, a bio, concert dates, discography, fans on Last.fm, and similar artists. Fans are also able to create journals and communicate with other fans. Key features that Last.fm doesn’t currently focus on include news and video.

D. Traditional Music Websites

Traditional music websites such as MTV.com, RollingStone.com, Billboard.com, NME.com, AOL Music, and Yahoo! Music tend to have many features such as news, reviews, pictures, videos and audio. While these sites are generally very well done and extremely popular, they are under-serving visitors in two core areas: music news and community .

These sites’ lack of music news stems from the difficulty in creating this news, specifically that it requires filtering through thousands of articles and websites to find relevant stories. Likewise, as discussed, these firms might wish to license our news content in the future.

Regarding community , none of the top music sites are thriving communities. Rather, either these sites offer no community features or they recently began offering select features (e.g., submitting reviews or commenting on articles). Even when available, the community features on these sites are afterthoughts and are not engrained within the core fabric of the sites.

While they haven’t been able to transform their current sites into communities, top music websites clearly understand the power of online music communities and have an appetite for them. For example, in January 2007, MTV invested in social networking website TagWorld. MTV also acquired RateMyProfessors.com and Quizilla.com (teen social network) in January 2007 and October 2006 respectively.

As mentioned previously, our vision is to build and incorporate additional technologies, and use our “army” of members to publish vast amounts of music content on Shoutmouth, in order to fully satisfy music fans and leapfrog traditional music sites in terms of their music content.

E. Official Artist and Fan Sites

Shoutmouth com’s with official music artist websites and fan websites. These sites often include news about the specific artist as well as pictures, videos and other relevant information.

On one hand, official music artist and fan websites are direct competitors to Shoutmouth. This is because some of these sites offer comprehensive news on the specific artist they cover. In addition, many offer forums, discussion boards or other ways to communicate with other fans.

However, two factors separate Shoutmouth from these types of sites: 1) breadth and 2) sophistication.

• Breadth : Most music fans love more than one artist. As such, in order to get the news they want, they would have to visit/join multiple fan or artist websites rather than getting all of their news from Shoutmouth.
• Sophistication : While some official music artist websites are technologically sophisticated, offering forums, networking and other worthwhile features, the majority of artist and fan websites have limited usability, functionality and networking ability. In fact, this deficiency has lead to the success of MusicToday, which provides front and back-end technology to power artist websites.

Specifically, MusicToday offers web design and hosting, develops sophisticated online stores, builds online fan clubs and offers web ticketing among other services to select top music artists such as Dave Matthews Band, Christina Aguilera, Kenny Chesney, Britney Spears and Usher. While offering sophisticated tools for select music artist websites, MusicToday offers little to no music news nor advanced social networking functions. For instance, the official Dave Matthews Band website offers less than one news story per month.

F. Direct Competitors: Community-Based Music News Sites

Shoutmouth’s direct competitors are other music news websites that have social or community features that allow users to join the site, submit articles, comment on articles, create public profiles and/or communicate with other members. Shoutmouth has identified one significant player who offers this service, AbsolutePunk.net.

AbsolutePunk.net has done a good job of building a user base (the site claims 125,000+ registered members and nearly 500,000 un-registered members). In addition, the user base is very active — the average story on their site receives approximately 20 comments. AbsolutePunk.net offers music news, reviews, pictures and interviews among other features.

On the negative side, AbsolutePunk.net’s articles are generally posted by one staff writer (as opposed to Shoutmouth’s five writers), most articles are simply one sentence posts rather than full articles, and no attempt seems to have been made to cover all news stories. In addition, the site only covers the punk music genre. Although “punk” is broadly defined on the site, the site doesn’t cater to genres such as R&B, rap and country among others, failing to satisfy the broader market.

AbsolutePunk.net is owned by Indieclick, a Los Angeles-based media company. According to the AbsolutePunk.net website, the site:

• Has developed a loyal (72% return rate) reader base
• 5,182,147 Posts
• 163,535 Threads
• 126,448 Members
• 1,711 Artist Profiles
• 20,774 Multimedia Files
• Approx 76,000 visits per day.
• Approx 276,000 pageviews per day.

Shoutmouth’s Competitive Advantage

In addition to being the first to fill the untapped market void for comprehensive music news, Shoutmouth’s competitive advantage in the market primarily includes the following:

Online Marketing Sophistication

Content Development Experience and Expertise

Shoutmouth’s team, primarily team members DL and PF, has operated an affiliate marketing business focusing on music for the past four years. Affiliate marketing is defined as a system of revenue sharing between one site (the affiliate) which features an ad or content designed to drive traffic to another site (the merchant). The affiliate receives a fee based on traffic to the merchant which converts to sales.

Our affiliate business has focused on connecting music fans, primarily aged 13 to 30, with music offers such as iPods and ringtones. Over the past two years, we have successful sold affiliated offers to over 500,000 customers. We have become a significant online advertiser, receiving Google’s “over 1 million leads” award, and are recognized as a major player among the top affiliate networks.

It is important to note that affiliate marketing success has been credited with part of MySpace’s success. This is because effective affiliate marketers understand how to drive and convert on Internet traffic.

Shoutmouth will employ its affiliate marketing techniques to drive traffic to Shoutmouth.com and enroll members. We will utilize technologies and proprietary techniques that allow us to monitor multiple metrics such as the cost per visitor, cost per member sign-up, etc., so that we can set and maintain profitable metrics.

Another venture that Shoutmouth team members, primarily PK and DL, launched was the development of over 3,000 niche websites. To create the content for these websites, we employed a virtual work force of over 90 researchers in India and 30 writers and editors in the US.

This experience taught us how to manage a large workforce, train writers to improve content quality and motivate a large group of people. These skill sets will be critical in allowing Shoutmouth to grow the content of the site, as developed by both staff and members, while maintaining quality standards.

IV. Marketing Plan

Shoutmouth’s marketing plan includes the following:

Online Advertising : Shoutmouth will initiate pay-per-click advertising campaigns on Google and Yahoo! in order to inexpensively drive traffic to the site. Specifically, Shoutmouth believes it can drive qualified traffic to the site for 20 cents per visitor and achieve a 20% member conversion rate, thus generating members at a cost of $1.00 per member.

Keys to Shoutmouth’s success in achieving this metric include:

• Conducting thorough keyword research and advertising on appropriate keywords and keyword groups
• Creating advertising text that maximizes click through rates
• Creating landing pages that maximize conversions while maintaining the highest Google AdWords quality score possible
• Closely monitoring conversions to quickly stop and/or modify unprofitable campaigns
• Getting individuals to enter their email address to join the newsletter is much easier than getting them to join a site where they have to create a username, select a password, etc. As such, step one will be to get visitors to sign up for artist-specific newsletters.
• Once on the newsletter distribution list, members will constantly receive messages (embedded in their daily newsletter) regarding the benefits of participating more on Shoutmouth.
• Active Shoutmouth Membership: the constant reminders regarding Shoutmouth’s value proposition in the daily newsletters will influence members to participate more actively on the site (e.g., customize their profile, visit the site more often, etc.).

Invite-A-Friend : Shoutmouth is in the process of creating an aggressive invite-a-friend/member referral program. In doing so, we are following the lead of social movie community, Flixster, which grew to 5 million members within 10 months. It did this by encouraging members, during their initial registration process, to upload and send an invitation to multiple contacts in their email address books. The technology to develop this process is fairly complex and we expect to be completed with and to rollout this program in June 2007.

Direct Email Marketing : Shoutmouth will directly contact bloggers and prominent music fans we find online to tell them about Shoutmouth, encourage them to join, and encourage them to write about Shoutmouth on their blogs and online journals .

Creating/Distributing Buzzworthy/Viral Content : Shoutmouth plans to have several buzzworthy/viral articles (i.e., content that people would want to email to their friends since it is funny, interesting, etc.) on the site each day. With a single click, visitors will be able to send these articles to social bookmarking sites such as Digg.com or Fark.com, where these articles could receive widespread attention. In addition to our traditional news stories, Shoutmouth will also periodically create special reports/features in order to satisfy our members and visitors and to try to get widespread exposure.

An example of the power of such buzzworthy content, Shoutmouth has already succeeded in having two stories accepted by Fark and Digg, which have brought in over 50,000 unique visitors.

Super Fans/Street Team Development : Shoutmouth also plans to recruit “super fans.” Super fans are individuals who are passionate about a certain music artist/band and actively contribute articles and/or comments on Shoutmouth. We will recruit these fans, reward them with status (e.g., adding a gold Shoutmouth headphones image to their profile page) and encourage them to more aggressively promote the site by:

• Submitting more news to Shoutmouth
• Commenting on more articles on Shoutmouth
• Growing the Shoutmouth community around their favorite artist(s) by actively recruiting new members to join the site (such as actively posting Shoutmouth-related comments on their MySpace pages, on other music forums, etc.)

Public Relations : Upon financing, Shoutmouth will hire a public relations firm to help us get mentions in media sources ranging from magazines, newspapers, radio, television and blogs. To date, we have developed and issued press releases via Billboard Publicity Wire which have been syndicated throughout the web. An effective PR firm will enable Shoutmouth to quickly reach a wide audience.

Widgets : Shoutmouth will create artist-specific and genre-specific music news widgets. For example, our U2 widget (see example on right) would include all of the recent U2 articles published on Shoutmouth. The widget can easily be placed on MySpace pages, blogs, etc. Each story title in the widget links to the full article on Shoutmouth.

Shoutmouth has great expectations for our widget. To begin, no such widget currently exists as there is no one place to get comprehensive news for specific music artists. Secondly, each time someone places a Shoutmouth widget on their blog or social networking page, it will effectively market Shoutmouth to a wide audience at zero cost to us.

V. Technology/Site Development Plan

This section provides a brief roadmap of the initial and future functionality of Shoutmouth.

Initial Site Functionality

The initial Shoutmouth website will include the following features:

• Ability to submit and comment on news stories
• Ability to suggest new music artists to add to the site
• Ability to create user profiles
• Ability to receive customized news and email alerts
• Articles categorized by artist and core genre (e.g., Rock, Rap, Pop, etc.)
• Music artist sections which includes News, Bio and Fans

Future Site Functionality

Shoutmouth will use news and basic functionality as the platform though which we will build a thriving music community. After initial launch, the Shoutmouth technology team will work on incorporating additional features such as:

• Ability to message other members via the site (e.g., members will have an Inbox on the site)
• Event calendars: members will receive online calendars. With the click of a button, the member will be able to add tour dates of their favorite artists/bands to their calendar.
• Articles also categorized by sub-genre (e.g., Alternative Rock, West Coast Rap, etc.)
• Music artist sections to also include videos, audio files, photo galleries, reviews and event calendars to which members can upload files and vote on top content.
• Forums and member blogs
• Music compatibility testing (suggestions on song/artists members might like)
• Trivia quizzes
• Music playlists

VI. Financial Plan

Revenue Model

During the first six months, Shoutmouth will not generate any revenues as it will not sell advertising space nor offer products for sale. This decision has been made to spur the growth of the Shoutmouth community. By initially positioning Shoutmouth more as a non-profit, for-the-people-by-the-people venture, members will be more prone to promote the site and invite their friends than if the site looks too commercial.

Starting in September 2007, Shoutmouth will primarily generate revenues from selling advertising space. As technologies (such as the Snocap music widget) evolve that allow us to seamlessly integrate music sampling and purchasing on our site, sales of downloadable music are also expected to be a significant revenue source. To a lesser extent, we may sell other music-related items such as ringtones, concert tickets, and apparel.

Funding To Date

To date, Shoutmouth’s founders have invested $500,000 in Shoutmouth, with which we have accomplished the following:

• Built the site’s core technology
• Hired and trained our core staff (we currently maintain an 11-person full-time team)
• Populated the website with content (over 10,000 articles and 1,200 artist bios)
• Generated brand awareness among music fans, including driving 50,000 unique visitors in March, 100,000 unique visitors in April, and 200,000 unique visitors in May 2007.

Funding Requirements/Use of Funds

Shoutmouth is currently seeking $3 million to provide funding for the next 24 months. At this point, the site will be profitable and can grow organically, or additional capital may be sought to more aggressively expand our member base.

The capital will be used as follows:

• Execution of Marketing plan : in order for Shoutmouth to grow its visitor and member base, we need to invest dollars in online advertising and public relations. With regards to online advertising, we are confident that we can enroll members at a cost of $1 per member, which is a fraction of the value of the members to an acquirer (minimum $25 per member), thus providing a significant return on our marketing investments.
• Execution of Technology plan : in order to build a thriving community, Shoutmouth needs to offer its visitors a “stickier” website and enhanced features. We currently maintain a vast “wish list” of features, such as members uploading and rating pictures and videos, trivia quizzes, and member-to-member messaging, that will significantly improve the site’s functionality and value proposition.
• Staffing : In order to reach our goals, we will have to hire additional technical and operations personnel.

Financial Projections

Below is an overview of Shoutmouth’s Financial Projections for the next three years. Please see the Appendix for the full financial projections and key assumptions.

Exit Strategy / Valuation Metric

Shoutmouth’s most likely exit strategy is to be acquired by a traditional music website or property (e.g., Viacom/MTV, Ticketmaster, Rolling Stone), an entertainment/media conglomerate (e.g., Yahoo!, IAC/InterActiveCorp, NBC), or a large social networking site (e.g., News Corp/MySpace).

This strategy is supported by the significant M&A activity in the social networking market, which includes the following transactions over the past 24 months:

Regarding valuation, below are the estimated valuations of social networking companies on a per member basis upon exit:

• Del.icio.us: $50 – $100 per member
• MySpace: $25 per member
• Xing (business social network): $137 per member at IPO in 10/06
• Flickr: $56 – $130 per member
• Grouper: $130 per member

Based on this data, not only are social networking sites a promising investment, but sites that can acquire members for less than $25 each (a conservative valuation estimate based on the figures above), should earn a solid return on investment. As discussed above, Shoutmouth’s goal is to acquire members for no more than $1 each.

In addition, per the membership projections above, Shoutmouth’s valuation at the end of 2009, at a $25 valuation per member, is expected to be $239 million. A more conservative, using a 24.4 time EBITDA multiple (the average multiple of tech M&A deals in 2006 according to The M&A Advisor), yields a $121 million valuation in 2009.

Shoutmouth’s founding team includes entrepreneurs and managers with a track record of success and a history of successfully working together.

Management Team

DL, Co-Founder and CEO

D has a history of successfully launching and growing businesses of all sizes. As president and co-founder of an entrepreneurial services firm., D has personally assisted in the launch and development of over 100 ventures.

Over the past three years, D founded and has managed The Kisco Group which includes an affiliate marketing division (2006 revenues exceeded $3 million), a search engine optimization business which includes a network of 3,000 websites (2006 revenues exceeded $500,000) and an e-commerce business (which includes TopPayingKeywords.com and ShowerHeadsEtc.com).

D earned his Bachelors degree from the University of South Carolina.

PK, Co-Founder and Vice President of Operations

For the past two years, P has managed The Kisco Group’s search engine optimization business where he hired, trained and managed nearly 100 employees and a dozen outside firms. During this time, P has honed his management skills with regards to content development, marketing and operations.

P has had a passion for music since childhood and has been a semi-professional drummer for the past 15 years.

P earned his Bachelors of Arts degree, magna cum laude, from Clemson University.

PF, Co-Founder and Vice President of Technology

For the past year, P has managed The Kisco Group’s affiliate marketing business. In addition to setting up and managing widespread marketing campaigns, P has developed sophisticated analytic techniques to precisely analyze web traffic in order to optimize profitability.

Since August 2006, P has shifted his efforts and leveraged his technology skills in developing the Shoutmouth website. P has been instrumental in selecting the Content Management Platform upon which Shoutmouth is built, and finding and managing the technology team.

P earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Swarthmore College.

AB, Marketing Manager

A’s background in music includes being a singer, songwriter, guitarist and producer. He has also worked on the marketing side of music, having marketed Veritas Records through the development and distribution of promotional materials.

A’s career also includes psychological research and administration, having served as a Research Assistant with the Interpersonal Perception And Communication Laboratory in Cambridge, MA.

A earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Ohio State University.

M, Lead Technology Developer

M is an experienced web programmer with expertise in web design, application development and database development among others.

M’s work experience includes serving as a Senior Developer at Spheres. M has also engaged in multiple, long term freelance projects including serving as a Database Developer Consultant with The Penn Group and a Web Developer Consultant with Volution Media Group and Allied Online Consulting Group.

M earned his Bachelors degree in Computer Science with a minor in Cognitive Science from Rutgers University.

Content Development Team

Shoutmouth’s writing team, managed by PK, includes the following members:

• JS, Editorial Manager: former content manager and copywriter for Scholastic Inc. and Promotions.com.
• TZ: former music intern (Virgin Records and WRRV) and author of the blog, The Tom Z Show .
• ML: former assistant editor for Adventure Publishing; author of the blog Certified Gangsta ; and former editor-in-chief of Fordham University’s newspaper The Paper .
• SB: former staff writer for Paste Magazine , The Clarion Ledger , and Nightclub and Bar Magazine among others.
• CSJ: former editorial intern for Rolling Stone and Editorial Assistant for Psychology Today .

Outsourced Technology Team

Shoutmouth works very closely with 2skies, a technology firm based in Australia with staff in Australia and the United States. 2skies is run by JDN, one of the co-founding developers of XE, the platform upon which Shoutmouth is built.

XE is an extensible, Open Source web application framework written in PHP and licensed under the GNU General Public License. XE delivers the requisite infrastructure and tools to create custom web applications that include fully dynamic multi-platform Content Management Solutions (CMS).

VIII. Appendix: Shoutmouth Financial Projections   3-Year Income Statement

3-Year Balance Sheet

As of December 31

3-Year Cash Flow Statement

Use This Simple Business Plan Outline to Organize Your Plan

12 min. read

Updated April 10, 2024

When starting a business, having a well-thought-out business plan prepared is necessary for success . It helps guide your strategy and prepares you to overcome the obstacles and risks associated with entrepreneurship. In short, a business plan makes you more likely to succeed.

However, like everything in business, starting is often the hardest part. What information do you need? How in-depth should each section be? How should the plan be structured?

All good questions that you can answer by following this business plan outline. 

• What is a business plan outline?

A business plan outline is similar to most business plan templates . It lists the common sections that all business plans should include.

A traditional business plan typically includes an executive summary, an overview of your products and services, thorough market research, a competitive analysis, a marketing and sales strategy, operational and company details, financial projections, and an appendix. 

• Why is a business plan outline important?

Starting with a business plan outline helps ensure that you’re including all of the necessary information for a complete business plan. 

But, depending on what you intend to do with your plan, you may not need all of this information right away. If you’re going to speak with investors or pursue funding, then yes, you’ll need to include everything from this outline.

But, if you’re using your plan to test an idea or help run your business, you may want to opt for a one-page plan . This is a simpler and faster method that is designed to be updated and used day-to-day. 

If you’re unsure of which plan is right for you, check out our guide explaining the differences and use cases for each plan type . 

• 10 key sections in a standard business plan outline

No matter the type of business plan you create, these are the ten basic sections you should include. Be sure to download your free business plan template to start drafting your own plan as you work through this outline.

1. Executive summary

While it may appear first, it’s best to write your executive summary last. It’s a brief section that highlights the high-level points you’ve made elsewhere in your business plan.

Summarize the problem you are solving for customers, your solution, the target market, your team that’s building the business, and financial forecast highlights. Keep things as brief as possible and entice your audience to learn more about your company. 

Keep in mind, this is the first impression your plan and business will make. After looking over your executive summary, your reader is either going to throw your business plan away or keep reading. So make sure you spend the time to get it just right.

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2. Products and services

Start the products and services section of your business plan by describing the problem you are solving for your customer. Next, describe how you solve that problem with your product or service. 

If you’ve already made some headway selling your solution, detail that progress here—this is called “traction”. You can also describe any intellectual property or patents that you have if that’s an important part of your business.

3. Market analysis 

You need to know your target market —the types of customers you are looking for—and how it’s changing.

Use the market analysis section of your business plan to discuss the size of your market—how many potential customers exist for your business—and if your potential customers can be segmented into different groups, such as age groups or some other demographic.

4. Competition

Describe your competition in this section. If you don’t have any direct competitors, describe what your customers currently do to solve the problem that your product fixes. 

If you have direct competition, detail what your strengths and weaknesses are in comparison, and how you’ll differentiate from what is already available. 

5. Marketing and sales

Use this business plan section to outline your marketing and sales plan —how you’ll reach your target customers and what the process will be for selling to them.

You’ll want to cover your market position, marketing activities, sales channels, and your pricing strategy. This will likely evolve over time, but it’s best to include anything that clearly details how you will sell and promote your products and services. 

6. Operations

What’s included in the operations section really depends on the type of business you are planning for. If your business has a physical location or other facilities, you’ll want to describe them here. If your business relies heavily on technology or specific equipment or tools, you should describe that technology or equipment here.

You can also use this section to describe your supply chain if that’s an important aspect of your business. 

7. Milestones and metrics

In a business, milestones are important goals that you are setting for your business. They may be important launch dates, or a timeline of when you’ll get regulatory approval—if that’s something you need for your business. Use this section of your plan to describe those milestones and the roadmap you are planning to follow.

You can also describe important metrics for your business, such as the number of sales leads you expect to get each month or the percentage of leads that will become customers.

8. Company overview and team

The company and team section of your plan is an overview of who you are.

It should describe the organization of your business, and the key members of the management team. It should also provide any historical background about your business. For example, you’ll describe when your company was founded, who the owners are, what state your company is registered in and where you do business, and when/if your company was incorporated.

Be sure to include summaries of your key team members’ backgrounds and experience—these should act like brief resumes—and describe their functions with the company. You should also include any professional gaps you intend to fill with new employees.

9. Financial plan and forecasts

Your financial plan should include a sales forecast, profit and loss, cash flow projections, and balance sheet, along with a brief description of the assumptions you’re making with your projections.

If you are raising money or taking out loans, you should highlight the money you need to launch the business. This part should also include a use of funds report—basically an overview of how the funding will be used in business operations. 

And while it’s not required, it may be wise to briefly mention your exit strategy . This doesn’t need to be overly detailed, just a general idea of how you may eventually want to exit your business. 

10. Appendix

The end of your business plan should include any additional information to back up specific elements of your plan. More detailed financial statements, resumes for your management team, patent documentation, credit histories, marketing examples, etc. 

• Detailed business plan outline

If you’re looking for greater insight into what goes into specific planning sections, check out the following outline for a business plan. It can help you develop a detailed business plan or provide guidance as to what may be missing from your current plan. 

Keep in mind that every business plan will look a bit different because every business is unique. After all, business planning is to help you be more successful, so focus on the sections that are most beneficial to your business and skip the sections that aren’t useful or don’t apply. 

To help, we’ve marked sections that are truly optional with an *.

Executive summary

Company purpose / mission statement.

A very brief description of what your business does and/or what its mission is.

Problem We Solve

A summary of the problem you are solving and an identifiable need in the market you are filling.

Our Solution

A description of the product or service you will provide to solve the problem.

Target Market

A defined customer base who will most likely purchase the product or service.

Briefly describe who is behind the business.

Financial Summary

A short overview of revenue goals and profitability timeline.

If you’ve already started selling your product or service, highlight important initial details here.

Funding Needed*

If you are raising money for your business, describe how much capital you need.

Products & Services

Problem worth solving.

A thorough description of the problem or pain points you intend to solve for your customer base. 

A thorough description of your proposed product or service that alleviates the problem for your customer base.

Describe any initial evidence that your customers are excited to spend money on your solution. Initial sales or signed contracts are good signs.

Intellectual Property/Patents*

If this is important for your business, outline it here.

Regulatory Requirements*

If government approval is required for your business, explain the details and timeline.

Future Products and Services*

What products and services might you offer in the future once your initial products and services are successful?

Market Size & Segments

How many potential customers do you have and what potential groups of customers are separated by specific characteristics?

Market Trends*

How consumers in your target market tend to act including purchasing habits, financial trends, and any other relevant factors.

Market Growth*

The perceived potential increase or decrease in the size of your target market.

Industry Analysis*

If your industry is changing or adjusting over time, describe those changes.

Key Customers*

If your business relies on certain important customers, describe who they are here.

Future Markets*

A snapshot of the potential market based on the last few sections and how your business strategy works within it.

Competition 

Current alternatives.

A list of potential competitors. Identifying the competition isn’t always obvious and it may take some digging on your part.

Our Advantages

The strategic advantage(s) that makes your target market more likely to choose you over the competition. 

Barriers to Entry*

If there’s anything that makes it more difficult for other people to start competing with you, describe those barriers.

Marketing & Sales

Market positioning.

Where do your products or services fit into the market? Are you the low-price leader or the premium option?

Unique value proposition*

What’s special about your offering that makes your customers want to choose it over the competition.

Marketing Plan

An outline of your marketing and advertising strategy including costs, advertising channels, and goals.

How do you sell your product or service? Self-serve or with a team of sales representatives?

Pricing Strategy*

Describe your pricing and how it compares to alternatives in the market.

Distribution*

Describe how your product gets in front of customers. Are you selling in stores and online? Which retailers?

SWOT Analysis*

Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

Location & Facilities

If you have a physical presence, describe where and what it is.

What technology is crucial for your business success?

Equipment & Tools

If special equipment or tools are needed for your business, describe them here.

Sourcing and fulfillment*

If you purchase your products or parts for your products from somewhere else, describe that sourcing and supply chain.

Partners and Resources*

If you have key partners that you work with to make your business a success, describe who they are and what services or products they provide.

Milestones and metrics

A detailed roadmap of specific goals and objectives you plan to achieve will help you manage and steer your business.

Key metrics

Performance measurements that help you gauge the overall performance and health of your business.

Company overview and team

Organizational structure.

An overview of the legal structure of your business. 

Company history and ownership

A summary of your company’s history and how it relates to planning your business.

Management team

The team that is starting or running your business and why they are uniquely qualified to make the business a success.

Management team gaps

Key positions that your business will need to fill to make it successful.

Financial plan and forecast

Projected profit and loss.

How much money you will bring in by selling products and/or services and how much profit you will make or lose after accounting for costs and expenses.

Projected cash flow

How and when cash moves in and out of your business. This also includes your overall cash position.

Projected balance sheet

Expected balances for business assets, liabilities, and equity.

Use of funds

If you are raising money either through loans or investment, explain how funds will be used. This is typically meant to be shared with investors or lenders.

Exit strategy

A brief explanation of how you intend to eventually exit from your business. This could include selling the business, going public, transitioning the business to a family member/employee, etc.

A repository for any additional information, including charts and graphs, to support your business plan.

Business plan outline FAQ

How do you organize your business plan?

There’s no real established order to business plans, aside from keeping the Executive Summary at the top. As long as you have all of the main business plan components, then the order should reflect your goals. 

If this is meant solely for your personal use, lay it out as a roadmap with similar sections grouped together for easy reference. If you’re pitching this to potential investors, lead with the stronger sections to emphasize the pitch. Then if you’re unsure of what order makes sense, then just stick to the outline in this article.

Should you include tables and charts in your business plan?

Every business plan should include bar charts and pie charts to illustrate the numbers. It’s a simple way for you, your team, and investors to visualize and digest complex financial information.

Cash flow is the single most important numerical analysis in a business plan, and a standard cash flow statement or table should never be missing. Most standard business plans also include a sales forecast and income statement (also called profit and loss), and a balance sheet.

How long should your business plan be?

There’s no perfect length for a business plan. A traditional business plan can be anywhere from 10 to 50 pages long depending on how much detail you include in each section. However, as we said before unless you intend to pursue funding, you likely don’t need a lengthy business plan at first.

Tim Berry is the founder and chairman of Palo Alto Software , a co-founder of Borland International, and a recognized expert in business planning. He has an MBA from Stanford and degrees with honors from the University of Oregon and the University of Notre Dame. Today, Tim dedicates most of his time to blogging, teaching and evangelizing for business planning.

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