How to structure a good business plan
The chances of your business idea succeeding very much depend upon the structure, form and content of your business plan.
Therefore, it is important to keep in mind being different, diverse and creative during the writing process of the business plan.
In practice the following structure has endured:
- Cover page and table of content
- Management (Executive) Summary
- The Business Model
- Products and or services
- The Market(s)
- The Competition
- Marketing
- Operations (location, production, administration)
- Organization (management structure)
- Risk analysis
- Financial planning
- Appendix
Additionally, when writing a new business plan, the following basic rules should be observed:
- Choose a logical and practical structure for your business plan.
- Keep it brief and to the point. Make sure to present the business plan in a way that gives the reader a good overview (20-30 pages max.). Overly technical wording or terminology should be avoided.
- Make certain to differentiate clearly between matters of fact (established realities) and planning (things yet to be done). Be sure to also always bring the risks and any negative aspects into the discussion.
- The cover should feature the name, address, telephone number, and homepage. Additionally, the name of the person responsible for the business or that of the point-of-contact should be listed.
- The table of content should feature page numbers in order to facilitate the reader with faster access to the information of interest.
- The appendix should include documents such as: timetables, financial projections, analyses, CVs of the management, newspaper articles or media mentions, brochures of the business or its products, etc.
- To improve the overall first impression of your business plan you can bind it yourself or even have it done professionally, but make sure the cover page remains visible.
