FILL-IN-THE-BLANK BUSINESS
PLAN FOR STARTUPS TEMPLATE

BUSINESS PLAN

STARTUP BUSINESS ORGANIZATION NAME

PRESENTED TO:

DATE PREPARED

00/00/0000

CONTACT

Contact Name

Contact Email Address

Phone Number

Street Address

City, State and Zip

webaddress.com

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.	EXECUTIVE SUMMARY	3

2.	COMPANY OVERVIEW	3

2.1	COMPANY BACKGROUND	3

2.2	MANAGEMENT TEAM	3

2.3	REQUIRED FUNDS	3

3.	PRODUCTS & SERVICES	3

4.	MARKET ANALYSIS	3

4.1	MARKET & INDUSTRY OVERVIEW	3

4.2	TARGET MARKET	3

4.3	COMPETITION	3

5.	MARKETING PLAN	3

5.1	MARKETING STRATEGY	3

5.2	POSITIONING	3

5.3	PROMOTION	3

5.4	PRICING	3

5.5	DISTRIBUTION	3

6.	IMPLEMENTATION PLAN	3

6.1	PERSONNEL PLAN	3

6.2	SWOT ANALYSIS	3

7.	FINANCIAL PLAN & STATEMENTS	3

7.1	KEY ASSUMPTIONS	3

7.2	SALES FORECAST	3

7.3	BREAK-EVEN ANALYSIS	3

7.4	PROJECTED INCOME STATEMENT	3

7.5	PROJECTED CASH FLOW STATEMENT	3

7.6	PROJECTED BALANCE SHEET	3

8.	APPENDIX	3

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The name of our company is _____________, and it is organized as a _____(corporation, partnership, other)____. ____(Company Name)___ is located in _________ and plans to be in business on ___(Date)___. Our Mission: __________________________________________________________________. Our Vision: ___________________________________________________________________. The managers for ___(Company Name)___ will be __________ and ___________. The experience and skills they bring to the table include ___________________________________________________________________________________________. Our Product/Service Offerings: __________________________________________________. Existing Alternatives: __________________________________________________________. What makes ___(Product or Service)___ different than what’s currently on the market is ____________. We believe we can maintain a competitive edge because ___________________. Our customers reside, shop, and work in ___________, so our business is located within a ____-mile radius of _____________. We expect ___(target customer description)___ to make up __% of our sales. We will use a combination of marketing strategies to promote ___(Product or Service)___, including ________, _________, and _________. We also plan to partner with __________ in order to __________. We expect to reach a projected amount of $___________ in annual sales by the end of the first 12 months. By the end of _________, we plan to reach a projected amount of $_________ in sales. In order to launch our business, we require $__________ in funds within the first ___(time period)___. In order to start and operate our business, we are seeking $________ to cover _________, _________, and _________ costs.

COMPANY OVERVIEW

2.1	COMPANY BACKGROUND

___(Company Name)___ was established because _______________________________ ___________________________________. Our ultimate goal is to _________________ ____________________, and we will know we’ve accomplished that goal when _______ _________________________.

Below is an illustration of a timeline of milestones:

Milestone 5 00/00 Milestone 3 00/00 Milestone 7 00/00 Milestone 4 00/00

Milestone 6 00/00 Milestone 2 01/18 Milestone 4 00/00 Milestone 2 01/18 Milestone 2 00/00 Milestone 2 01/18

2.2	MANAGEMENT TEAM

Last Name, First Name ___(Name)___ is the ___(Co-Founder, Manager, etc.)___ of ___(Company Name)___. ___(Name’s)___ educational background includes ____________. Their industry-related experience includes ________________________________________________________________. Last Name, First Name ___(Name)___ is the ___(Co-Founder, Manager, etc.)___ of ___(Company Name)___. ___(Name’s)___ educational background includes ____________. Their industry-related experience includes ________________________________________________________________.

2.3	REQUIRED FUNDS

The startup capital obtained through _________ and __________ will be used for _______ _______, ___________, and ___________. Costs for these items will amount to approximately $_________. We estimate remaining costs at approximately $_______. We will also invest $_________ to have cash on hand, come the starting date.

TABLE: SOURCES & USES OF FUNDS

SOURCE OF FUNDS	TO BE USED FOR

PRODUCTS & SERVICES

Our ___(Product or Service)___ offerings include _____________________________________. Materials needed for __________ will be sourced from _________________________________. We plan to leverage the relationships we’ve made with ______________ to help keep our costs for materials low. We also plan to establish positive working relationships with ______________ to help with ______________. Alternatives that are currently on the market include ___________, ____________, and ____________. What makes our ___(Product or Service)___ better than the alternatives is _________________________________________________. Some of the unique and desirable features of ___(Product or Service)___ include _______________ and ________________.

Here are some examples of our offerings (insert images below):

MARKET ANALYSIS

4.1	MARKET & INDUSTRY OVERVIEW

___(Similar Products or Services)___ have been prevalent in the ___________ industry since ________. The size of the current market is _________, and it is projected to grow by __% over the next ___________. Currently, there are ___(number)___ direct competitors in and around the ___(Location of Business)___ area. We believe ___(Company Name)___ will be successful in this space because ________________________________. We predict that we can gain __% of the market share by the end of ________ and __% of the market share within the next __(number)___ years. The trends within this industry show that _________________________________________________________.

4.2	TARGET MARKET

According to our market research, our target customers have the following characteristics in common:

SEGMENT 1	SEGMENT 2
AGE	AGE
GENDER	GENDER
OCCUPATION	OCCUPATION
INCOME LEVEL	INCOME LEVEL
HIGHEST LEVEL OF EDUCATION	HIGHEST LEVEL OF EDUCATION
MARITAL STATUS	MARITAL STATUS

4.3	COMPETITION

Our direct competitors are ______________ and ______________, which are located in ____________ and ___________, respectively. They sell ___(Product or Service)__ at a rate of __________ per _________. In ___(Year)__, ___(Competitor’s Name)___’s profit margin compared to the previous year was ______%. The profit margin has ________ by _____% since the company began in ___(Year)___. They currently hold a _____% market share. Customers buy from this business because ______________. We are confident our company can better serve our target market because ________________________.

MARKETING PLAN

5.1	MARKETING STRATEGY

In order to grow our initial customer base, our marketing strategy is to ____________________. We plan to utilize ___(marketing channel)___ and ___(marketing channel)___ in order to__________________. Additionally, most of our new customers will find us by ___________________________. ___Company Name)___ also plans to reach new and existing customers by using ___(promotional materials)___.

5.2	POSITIONING

___(Company Name)___ plans to position itself as a ________________ brand. We plan to achieve this by ___________________ and __________________. When target customers think of our product, we want them to think ______________________________.

5.3	PROMOTION

We plan to leverage ______________ in order to promote and grow our business. We also plan to utilize the following types of communication to reach our audience: Advertising (if applicable) __________(Add a description of the paid promotional media you will use here)__________. Personal Selling (if applicable) ______________(Add a description of your personal selling strategy here)________________. Marketing Communication Activities (if applicable) ____________(Add a description of marketing events or activities you will do)____________. Public Relations (if applicable) ____(Add a description of efforts you will make to garner positive press)____.

5.4	PRICING

Our products/services will range from $_____ to $______, which is _________ than our direct competitors.

TABLE: PRICING COMPARISON

PRODUCT/SERVICE	OUR PRICE	AVERAGE COMPETITOR PRICE

5.5	DISTRIBUTION

We plan to get ___(Product or Service)___ to our customers using the following distribution channels: ___(Discuss your distribution plan here, including an online store, retail outlets, home delivery, etc.)__ ___________________________________________________________________________________. These distribution methods make the most sense for our business because ________________________ ________________________________________________. To support our distribution efforts, we will need to form business partnerships with _________ __________________. We plan to do so by ________________________________________.

IMPLEMENTATION PLAN

6.1	PERSONNEL PLAN

At this time, the personnel plan calls for a minimum of _____(necessary number of employees)______ in order to _________________________. In the first year, we assume that there will only be ________________ in order to execute and manage operations. As demand increases, we will purchase additional _______________ and hire ___(number of additional employees)___. Specialized training for our staff includes ___________________, ____________________, and ____________________.

TABLE: PERSONNEL PLAN

PERSONNEL	YEAR 1	YEAR 2	YEAR 3
POSITION 1
POSITION 2
POSITION 3
POSITION 4
TOTAL PAYROLL

6.2	SWOT ANALYSIS

STRENGTHS (INTERNAL)	WEAKNESSES (INTERNAL)
1.	1.
2.	2.
3.	3.
OPPORTUNITY (EXTERNAL)	THREATS (EXTERNAL)
1.	1.
2.	2.
3.	3.

We plan to capitalize on ___(strengths)___ by _______________________________________. We will address our current weaknesses by __________________________________. We will use our opportunities to our advantage by ____________________________________. Our plan to mitigate the risk of threats is to _______________________________________________.

FINANCIAL PLAN & STATEMENTS

7.1	KEY ASSUMPTIONS

Revenues will increase at rate of ___% during the first ___(time period)___, with an increase in sales of ___% during ______, due to ________(historical data)_________. We have deliberately lowered our sales projections to provide a worst-case scenario.

7.2	SALES FORECAST

The expected average monthly sales total for the first ___(number)___ years will be $________. In our sales forecast, we expect the highest performance during ______________, due to ______ ___________________. We anticipate our average sale to be $_______ per customer.

Below, please insert a chart and/or graph depicting your sales forecasts:

7.3	BREAK-EVEN ANALYSIS

We expect our break-even point to be __(dollar volume in sales)__. It will occur in ___(Month/Year)___.

Below, please insert a chart and/or graph depicting your break-even point:

7.4	PROJECTED INCOME STATEMENT

Insert your projected income statement below:

7.5	PROJECTED CASH FLOW STATEMENT

Insert your projected cash flow statement below:

7.6	PROJECTED BALANCE SHEET

Insert your projected balance sheet below:

APPENDIX

Attached are the documents that support the information we’ve provided in the plan, including ______________, ______________ , and ______________. Possible items to attach: Detailed market research Industry information Site/building plans Professional references Any supporting material

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