Remember: The executive summary is usually your introductory communication with investors, so it will be your first impression. Investors will use this document to get an understanding of your communication skills as well as your ability to think critically about your business. You should spend more time on this part of your plan than on any other section.
Note: This is a short business plan model meaning you won’t have room for lengthy paragraphs of information. Try and keep each section limited to 1-2 sentences or 3-4 bullet points to assure you stay within one page. It’s always easier to add more later rather than cutting back from lengthy sections.
Some people like to call this your “business model canvas,” but it’s really the same thing. Here are the eight necessary sections to include when developing your one page business plan.
Another best practice when developing the one-pager is to focus on the strengths of your business. If you currently have a stronger market analysis or financial projections, add more to those sections. Since this will most likely serve as a pitching tool, you’ll want to lead with the winning aspects that set your business and planning apart from the pack.
What to include in your one page plan
The content of your plan is by far the most important thing—don’t stress about the design. Think carefully about what you are trying to communicate. Too many companies spend time focusing on the presentation and graphical display of their plans when what they are saying and how they are saying it is really the most critical aspect of it all.
Third, you can try out LivePlan’s Pitch feature . Just answer the questions it asks and click “publish,” and you’ll have a professionally designed, single-page business plan that is easy to share and covers everything an investor wants to know. Another good option is to follow my colleague Caroline Cummings’ advice and write your business plan like it’s a series of tweets (seriously, it works).
Approachable pitch — Having a one-page plan makes it easier to share, even if you’re not pitching in front of investors. You can quickly send it as an email attachment, throw it into a slide deck and even have it printed off as an easy read for interested parties.
The one-page business plan is a simplified version of traditional operational plans that focuses on the core aspects of your business. While it may be a shorter business plan, it still follows the structure of a standard business plan template and serves as a beefed-up pitch document.
However, having forecasts and projections for your core financial statements will not only help clarify the feasibility of your strategy but prove to investors that you have thought ahead. To help you develop this section, try to answer the following questions.
“Our patent-pending product is a no power, easy-to-use device that replaces traditional ventilator machines used in hospitals at 1/100th the cost.”
You can approach your pricing strategy in different ways. Here are a few ways that you can think about your pricing and come up with the right strategy for your business:
If you need more space for product images or additional information, use the appendix for those details. Jump to this section.
Exit strategy
While this may seem like additional work on top of the market segmentation that you have already done, having a solid buyer persona will be an extremely useful tool to help you identify the marketing and sales tactics you’ll need to use to attract these ideal customers.
Your management team doesn’t necessarily need to be complete in order to have a complete business plan. If you know that you have management team gaps, that’s O.K. In fact, investors see the fact that you know you are missing certain key people as a sign of maturity and knowledge about what your business needs to succeed. If you do have gaps in your team, simply identify them and indicate that you are looking for the right people to fill certain roles.
- What are your business objectives?
- What is your target market and how will you position yourself?
- Who are the key players on your team?
- What are your expectations for growth and how will you achieve it?
- What are your funding requirements?
As part of your marketing plan, you may rely on working closely with another company in the form of a partnership.
- U.S. Small Business Administration business plan (free).
- Slideshop Business Pitch template (subscription).
- Slideshop Visionary Pitch template (subscription).
- Rocket Lawyer state-specific templates (free).
- SCORE startup business plan template (free).
- Microsoft business plan templates (free).
- Slideshop Business Strategy presentation template (subscription).
- LawDepot free business plan depot (free).
Most of the best business plan templates available online create a very plain business plan in Word or PDF format. While they have all the important information, they tend to be lacking visually. Microsoft has a library of pre-created business plans in PowerPoint format that you can access here.
Writing a business plan isn’t the most glamorous part of starting a new business, but it’s extremely important. To help you save time and eliminate stress, you can access some of the best business plan templates online. Some are available to use at no cost, while others require a nominal subscription fee.
Creating a plan from scratch can be overwhelming, especially if you aren’t 100-percent sure what to include in a business plan. Fortunately, the best templates make it easy by giving you structure and guidance, indicating what information should go where.
1. U.S. Small Business Administration business plan builder
By presenting a potential lender with a business plan that meets your state requirements, you show that you have done your research — and this shows the financial institution that you are serious. You can select your state and start building your business plan using Rocket Lawyer’s template here.
“There are a lot of free business plan templates available online, but very few are as well structured as the offering from SCORE. There are 150 questions to answer, all designed to help you create the best business plan for your specific situation. I highly recommend this template, especially if it’s your first time writing a business plan.”
“Many new business owners aren’t aware of the lending requirements as they pertain to the state in which they will be based out of. The online tool from Rocket Lawyer is very helpful, especially for those that need a business plan specifically for securing funding.”
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Think of the executive summary as an advance organizer for the reader. Above all else, it must be clear and concise. But it also has to entice the reader to read the rest of the business plan.
If you compare the list above to the sections outlined in the Business Plan Outline, you’ll see that this could work very well.
An executive summary of a business plan is an overview. Its purpose is to summarize the key points of a document for its readers, saving them time and preparing them for the upcoming content.
(You may find it useful to read the entire Pet Grandma executive summary example before you write your own.)
How to Write an Executive Summary That Gets Your Business Plan Read
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Start by following the list above and writing one to two sentences about each topic (depending on whether your business is a startup or an established business). No more!
Having trouble getting started? The easiest way of writing the executive summary is to review your business plan and take a summary sentence or two from each of the business plan sections you’ve already written.
For a startup business typically one of the main goals of the business plan is to convince banks, angel investors, or venture capitalists to invest in your business by providing startup capital in the form of debt or equity financing. In order to do so you will have to provide a solid case for your business idea which makes your executive summary all the more important. A typical executive summary for a startup company includes the following sections:
Third, you can try out LivePlan’s Pitch feature . Just answer the questions it asks and click “publish,” and you’ll have a professionally designed, single-page business plan that is easy to share and covers everything an investor wants to know. Another good option is to follow my colleague Caroline Cummings’ advice and write your business plan like it’s a series of tweets (seriously, it works).
But, if you do need to expand your business plan beyond one page into a more full-fledged plan that includes more details on your company and your target market, you can follow our step-by-step guide for writing a detailed business plan , download our free business plan template , or review any of our more than 500 complete sample business plans . These resources are all free, and if you have questions, please reach out on Twitter @Bplans .
The content of your plan is by far the most important thing—don’t stress about the design. Think carefully about what you are trying to communicate. Too many companies spend time focusing on the presentation and graphical display of their plans when what they are saying and how they are saying it is really the most critical aspect of it all.
Here at Bplans, we’ve developed a formula that helps you quickly put together all the critical information that you need to define the strategy for your business.
What to include in your one page plan
Simple presentation — Investors don’t have lots of time to read and one page can get the idea of your business across quickly and succinctly.
Another best practice when developing the one-pager is to focus on the strengths of your business. If you currently have a stronger market analysis or financial projections, add more to those sections. Since this will most likely serve as a pitching tool, you’ll want to lead with the winning aspects that set your business and planning apart from the pack.
There are plenty of good reasons why having a business plan is important for your business’s success —just going through the process is proven to help businesses grow faster, for example. These same reasons extend to the one-page model, but it includes a handful of additional benefits to keep in mind.
If you’ve been putting off writing your business plan, you’re not alone. Writing a traditional business plan can seem like a daunting task, and lots of entrepreneurs avoid it for this reason.