Your first business plan: what actually needs to be in it

Many entrepreneurs see the business plan as a document you write once for the bank and never open again. That is a shame, because the real value is in the thinking: forcing yourself to think through market, customer, price and costs before you start.

A useful business plan contains these six blocks:

• The plan in one paragraph: what you do, for whom, and why customers buy from you

• Market and competition: how big is the market, what do competitors do, where is your differentiation

• Your offer and pricing: which products or services, at which margin

• Marketing and acquisition: how customers reach you, and what one customer costs

• Financials: investment budget, operating budget and cash flow forecast for at least three years

• Risks and dependencies: what can go wrong and what you will do about it

The financial block is what financiers scrutinise most. An operating budget that only works if everything goes right convinces nobody. So show three scenarios: pessimistic, expected and optimistic. It shows you have thought it through.

With us the business plan is not a standalone product but part of the guidance. We build it together with you, use real market figures where possible, and test the financial model against your administration once it is running. That keeps the plan alive instead of collecting dust.