Business plan template
A business plan describes your company, where it's heading, how it will get there and what money that will take. This free Word template has every section a bank, investor or buyer will look for, from the executive summary to the funding request, with a prompt in each.
Running a company of 30 to 200 people? Documents like this are now worth money.
It's built for companies that already trade and need a plan for a loan, an investor, a new site or a sale. A new business can use it too, giving evidence such as pre-orders or letters of intent where a section asks for results.
What's in the template
Business plan
| Company | |
|---|---|
| Prepared by and date | |
| Prepared for | e.g. bank, investor, buyer or board |
| Plan period | e.g. three years from January 2027 |
1. Executive summary
Write this last, on one page. A reader who stops here should know what you're asking for and why.
| What we do | Products or services, and who buys them |
|---|---|
| Track record | Years trading, revenue, profit, customers |
| The opportunity | What has changed, and why now |
| What we need | Amount, type of funding and timing |
| The result | Sales and profit at the end; how the money comes back |
2. The company
| Legal name, structure and number | |
|---|---|
| Owners | Names and shareholdings |
| Locations and staff | |
| Milestones so far |
3. Products and services
| Product or service | Who buys it | Typical price | Share of revenue | Gross margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|
4. The market
Size the part of the market you can actually reach, and say where each figure comes from.
| Customer segment | Customers you can reach | Typical annual spend | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
- Trends working for us
- Trends working against us
5. Customers
| Customer type | What they need | Why they choose us | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
Show the share of revenue from your largest customer and from your top ten.
6. Competition
| Competitor | What they offer | Price against ours | Where they're stronger | Where we win |
|---|---|---|---|---|
7. Marketing and sales
- How customers find us, and what each channel costs
- Who sells, and how
- Pricing and payment terms
- Targets: enquiries, conversion and average order
8. Operations
- Premises, equipment and capacity: what limits growth
- Key suppliers and contracts
- Systems, licences and insurance
9. Management and team
| Name | Role | Experience relevant to this plan |
|---|---|---|
Add planned hires, with start dates and annual cost.
10. Financial summary
| Measure | Last year (actual) | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | ||||
| Gross profit | ||||
| Operating profit | ||||
| Cash at year end | ||||
| Borrowing at year end | ||||
| Staff |
Attach the full forecasts and the assumptions behind them: prices, volumes, payment terms, hiring dates.
11. Funding required and use of funds
| Amount and type | e.g. term loan, asset finance, overdraft, equity or grant |
|---|---|
| When it's needed | |
| Repayment or return | Term and monthly repayments, or the share offered |
| Security offered |
| Use of funds | Amount | When |
|---|---|---|
| Total |
12. Risks
| Risk | Likelihood | Impact | What we'll do about it |
|---|---|---|---|
13. Milestones
| Milestone | Target date | Owner |
|---|---|---|
Appendices
- Full forecasts and assumptions
- Recent annual accounts
- CVs
- Contracts, orders or letters of intent
How to write a business plan
- Decide who will read it and what you want them to do. A bank needs to see you can repay; an investor, how big the business could become; your board, what changes this year. The emphasis moves with the reader.
- Build the numbers before the words. Forecast profit, cash and the balance sheet from assumptions you can defend, then write the plan around them. The cash flow forecast template covers the first year month by month.
- Size the market from the bottom up: the customers you can realistically reach, multiplied by what each spends in a year. "One per cent of a £2 billion market" proves nothing.
- Back every claim about customers with evidence: repeat orders, contracts, renewals, letters of intent.
- Name your competitors and admit where they beat you.
- Make the funding request exact: how much, what type, when, what each part buys and how the money comes back. "Up to £500,000 for growth" isn't a request.
- List the risks yourself, each with your response. The reader will think of them anyway.
- Write the executive summary last, then ask an outsider what they'd challenge first.
Example: a fictional bakery borrowing for a second line
Extracts from the plan of a fictional 34-person wholesale bakery supplying cafés, hotels and delis within 40 miles of its only site. It's asking a lender for £420,000.
Executive summary: "We bake overnight for 212 trade customers. Sales have grown from £2.3m to £2.9m in three years at a 41% gross margin, but our one production line is full and last year we turned away 17 new accounts. A second line, funded by £300,000 of asset finance and a £120,000 term loan, takes sales to £4.1m within three years. New repayments of about £9,100 a month are covered from the first full quarter after it opens."
| Financial summary | Last year | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | £2.90m | £3.25m | £3.70m | £4.10m |
| Gross margin | 41% | 39% | 41% | 42% |
| Operating profit | £196k | £150k | £290k | £385k |
| Cash at year end | £210k | £140k | £205k | £320k |
| Staff | 34 | 40 | 43 | 46 |
Use of funds: oven and prover line £260,000 and installation £40,000 (asset finance over five years); stock and customer credit for new accounts £80,000, and hiring and training six bakers £40,000 (term loan).
Why it persuades: it admits that year 1's margin dips while the new shift fills up, and lists the 17 turned-away accounts in an appendix. Its biggest risk, flour and butter prices, is covered by quarterly price reviews in most trade contracts. Its tightest month, August, still ends with £85,000 in the bank.
Who reads it, and what they look for
| Reader | Their main question | What they'll test hardest |
|---|---|---|
| Bank or asset finance lender | Can the business repay, even if sales fall short? | Cash flow forecast, existing borrowing, security, track record |
| Equity investor | How big can this get, and how do I get my money back? | Market, competition, growth plan, team |
| Buyer of the business | Are the profits real, and will they last without the owner? | Customers, accounts, team, operations |
| Your own board | What are we committing to, and who does what? | Milestones, hires, budget, risks |
GOV.UK's guidance says you'll need a business plan to secure investment or a bank loan. The US SBA asks an established business for its last three to five years of income statements, balance sheets and cash flow statements, plus projections for the next five, quarterly or even monthly in the first year. UK lenders set their own requirements, so ask yours before you build the forecasts.
Common mistakes
- Top-down market sizing. A slice of an industry total isn't evidence that anyone will buy from you.
- Sales that grow while costs stand still. Growth needs people, stock and customer credit, and usually eats cash before it makes any.
- A hockey stick with no reason. If year 3 doubles year 1, say what changes.
- Words and numbers that disagree, such as a sales team the forecast never pays for.
- A plan the owner can't defend. Whoever wrote it, the person signing for the loan must explain every assumption.
Frequently asked questions
How long should a business plan be?
Long enough to answer your reader's questions and short enough to read in one sitting, with the detail in appendices. The SBA describes two formats: a traditional plan, which can run to dozens of pages, and a lean plan of typically one page. This template follows the traditional structure.
Which financial forecasts does a business plan need?
Profit and loss, cash flow and a forecast balance sheet, with their assumptions, plus recent accounts if you already trade. The cash flow matters most to a lender, because it shows whether repayments can be met month by month. If the plan adds a site or a product line, include a break-even analysis for it.