THE 7 BEST BUSINESS PLAN EXAMPLES (2024)

So you’re thinking about starting a business. Congratulations! You’re doing great.

To build a strong foundation for your new business, you need a rock-solid business plan. Your business plan can pave the way to success, all while helping you smoothly navigate any obstacles you may encounter.

You’ll also be able to find critical partnerships and funding in your early days with a good business plan.

It’s a good idea to learn from the pros if you’re not sure how to write one. I’m going to talk about companies that built amazing business plans in this article.

Don’t forget to take notes on the structure, format, and details. Hopefully you’ll get some inspiration to write your own.

7 Business plan template with 7 parts

Let’s look at a business plan with a seven-part structure. Here’s a quick recap:

1. The executive summary gives you a quick overview of your business.
2. More info about your company, its goals, and why you started it.
3. Analyze the market and industry where your business will operate, including your competitors.
4. The things you’ll be selling to your customers.
5. A marketing plan is how you’re going to market and promote your business before, during, and after it launches.
6. Operations and logistics plan: How your business runs behind the scenes, with systems, processes, and tools.
7. A financial plan shows how your short-term (and even long-term) goals will be met and how much it’ll cost you. If you’re looking for funding, this is the place to talk about it.

How to write a business plan (section by section)

Throughout this section, you’ll find real-world and hypothetical examples of each aspect of a business plan. 

Here’s the summary

In your executive summary, you give a high-level overview of your business plan. Describe your company, do some market research, analyze your competitors, and give some financial info. 

The executive summary for ThoughtCo’s sample business plan for a fictional company called Acme Management Technology is three paragraphs long:

Describe your company consider adding these sections to your company description:

• What kind of business it is. Describe your general business category. What type of company are you? Manufacturer, wholesaler, or retailer?
• Information about the background. Describe your past experiences and skills, and how you’ve combined them to fill a niche. 
• The structure of the business. Whether you’re starting a corporation, sole proprietorship, LLC, or something else, this section explains how to register your business.
• The industry. What kind of business do you run? Tech, merchandising, or another industry might be the answer.
• It’s teamwork. If you have contractors to support your daily workflow or are the only full-time employee of your business, this is your chance to shine.

You can repurpose your company description on your About page, Instagram page, or other properties that ask for a boilerplate description. On Luxy Hair’s About page, there’s a blurb that could serve as the company description for its business plan. 

Analysis of the market

Market analysis involves researching product supply and demand, your target market, the competition, and industry trends. To find out where you stand and what market gaps you can exploit to establish your footing, do a SWOT analysis. This is an example of a SWOT analysis we did for a hypothetical ecommerce business: 

The market analysis component of your business plan should also include a competitive analysis. This will let you know who your competitors are and how you can get an edge. 

Our products and services

Your business plan describes your product or service, how it will be priced, and how it will compete with similar offerings. Describe your item in a few lines. You don’t need to go into too much detail.

Creating a marketing plan

Your investors will want to know how you’re going to market your business. Therefore, you’ll need a marketing plan that highlights your promotion and customer acquisition strategies. 

There are four Ps in every marketing plan: product, price, place, and promotion. Putting it into different marketing channels makes it easier. You should mention how you’re going to use blogs, email, social media, and word-of-mouth to promote your business. 

I’ll give you an example of a marketing plan for a real estate website:

Operations and logistics

Your business plan should include information about your production, facilities, equipment, shipping and fulfillment, and inventory.

Planning your finances

Financial plans (also called financial statements) break down sales, revenue, expenses, profit, and other stuff. Include all the numbers and concrete data to project your current and future financial state. Graphs show forecasted revenue, expenses, and net profit for ecommerce brand Nature’s Candy.

Then it gets into the financials, citing:

• Need for funding
• Statement of cash flow for the project
• Statement of profit and loss for the project
• The projected balance sheet

Create your own income statement, cash flow statement, and balance sheet using Shopify’s financial plan template. 

What to write in each type of business plan

It’s one page

A one-page business plan is a simplified version of a standard plan for investors and partners. Include all sections, but make sure they’re abbreviated and summarized.

• The executive summary
• Our products and services
• Analyzing the market
• Creating a marketing plan
• Plan your logistics and operations
• Finances 

Getting started

Startup business plans are meant to get outside funding. Most business plans focus on the financials, as well as other sections that determine viability, like a market analysis. There’s a great business plan template for startups on Shopify that includes everything you need.

• An executive summary
• A description of the company
• An in-depth look at the market
• Our products and services
• Plan your marketing
• The operation
• The financials: in-depth

‘Inside’ 

Business plans enforce your company’s vision. The long-term objective keeps everyone focused and on the same page.

• The executive summary
• Description of the company
• Research on the market
• Here are some products and services
• Plans for marketing
• A financial overview
• Operational plan for logistics

‘Affordability’

Business plans are basically feasibility studies that help you decide whether your product or idea is worth pursuing. 

• Describe your company
• Here are some products and services
• Analysis of the market
• Operational plan for logistics
• Finances

Make your own killer business plan by mixing and matching

You don’t have to follow a strict format when writing a business plan. When you’re unsure how to make your own, take bits and pieces from other examples and leave out the parts that don’t apply or make sense to you.

It’s important to know why you’re starting the business, what it takes to run it, and how you’ll make it work.

It’s when you can convince others that you have a killer plan that you’re on to something.

You can design your own website. The easiest way to make sure your website can accomplish all of these goals is to hire a pro. You’ll have more time to run and grow your business.

Please download your brochure for your business plan below – Myinvestorchoice is ranked the number 1 Agency on Upwork for preparing business plans