What is a Business Plan? Definition, Purpose, Types, Structure

April 10, 2024

what is a business plan

It’s important to write a clearly defined and well-thought-out business plan when getting started with a startup. The plan attracts stakeholders and lenders, secures financing, and turns your idea into an actual enterprise.

What is a Business Plan?

We can define a business plan is a document that describes a business’s goals and how it plans to achieve these goals. It includes information about the business’s finance, marketing, and operational standpoint.

Startups use plans to get financial support from investors, to predict the future demands of the business, and to outline a clear game plan for long-term growth.

What is the Purpose of a Business Plan?

The purpose of a business plan is to secure funds from investors, document a company’s goals and strategies, legitimize a business idea, and pass a business class.

1. Pass Your Business Class

Knowing about a business plan before graduating college or university goes a long way to equip y0 you with the writing skills needed to pass a business class.

2. Document Goals and Strategies

A business plan explains the goal of your business and the plans you intend to put in place to achieve them.

You don’t want to leave any stone unturned. Address every possible question an investor is likely to have about your business. Talk about your marketing, sales, and promotional plans.

3. Legitimize a Business Idea

A well-written plan proves to investors that your idea is worth an investing in. The plan shows investors expected returns and the possible challenges the enterprise (startup) is likely to face.

Any investor who reads a well-written, comprehensive plan should easily tell the hours of thinking that went into creating the document. Such a high level of depth goes a long way to legitimize the business idea.

4. Secure Funds from Investors

A business plan acts as the tool to acquire capital from potential investors. The plan convinces investors that the startup is worth the money because it explains how the business runs and makes profit.

From a business standpoint, investors expect at least a 10% return on investment from the amount they invest. In this respect, the plan can help the gauge whether they’ll get their money’s worth or otherwise.

So, when writing the plan, touch on the strategies and processes you’d set to reach the expected financial goals.

What are the Different Types of a Business Plan?

The different types of business plans are one-page, startup, strategic, feasibility, operational, and growth business plans.

  • One-page Plan: A one-page plan is a lean document that highlights the most important part of the business. The plan gives investors and partners the basic details of the company.
  • Startup Plan: New companies give potential investors startup business plans with the intention to get initial funding.
  • Strategic Plan: Enterprises come up with strategic plans to explain the approaches and techniques they’ll use to grow the business.
  • Feasibility Plan: An existing business uses a feasibility plan to produce products for an existing market or sell available products to a new target market.
  • Operations Plan: Also known as an annual plan, an operations plan maps out a business’ approach to achieve its overall goals.
  • Growth Plan: This plan describes the proposed growth for a business, and it’s usually for internal and external purposes. 

How Do You Structure a Business Plan?

The best way to write a business plan is to ensure the document has the right structure from start to finish. The elements to include in the plan are title, executive summary, company description, business opportunity, competitive analysis, target market, marketing plan, financial summary, team, and funding requirements.

  • Subtitle: Start the plan with an absorbing title and subtitle to give potential investors a brief idea of your business.
  • Executive Summary: The executive summary is a brief and concise overview of the business. The summary should include vision, value proposition statement, and long-term targets of the business.
  • Company Description: This section states the name of the business, what the business offers, and its positioning affirmation.
  • Business Opportunity: Convince investors that your business idea meets the market’s needs. Mention the problems your business intends to solve, as well as how it intends to solve them.
  • Competitive Analysis: Look at how your business appears in respect to the competition to determine where it best fits.
  • Target Market: Explain the geographic, psychographic, demographic, and behavior of the ideal consumer. Inform the investors about why the said customers are important to the business.
  • Marketing Plan: Come up with a low-cut overview of how you plan to market your proposition accompanied by strategic plans.
  • Financial Summary: State where the business gets money from and explain its current finances. Also, mention where you expect the business to be financially in years to come.
  • Team: You don’t necessary need to have members onboard. Simply providing roles to hire and then hire later when you get capital.
  • Funding Requirements: Mention and explain the funding requirements you would like potential investors to meet.

Can You Write My Business Plan for Me?

We can write a comprehensive plan for you if you hire a business writer on Help for Assessment. We’ll assign your order to an expert writer in the topic. The writer will research, structure, and write a custom plan for you.  

How Much Does It Cost to Write a Business Plan on Help for Assessment?

Help for Assessment charges $12.99 to $40 per page to write a plan for our customers. The cost to write the plan varies depending on the urgency of the assignment, as well as the content of your assignment brief. 

Additional factors that contribute to the cost of the project include number of charts, type of writer chosen, page formatting, education level, and number of slides.

We also offer up to 10% discount to new customers. So you can save money and benefit from the convenience of our custom writing. Place your order today, and one of our top writers will help you complete the project on time.

About the author 

Antony W is a professional writer and coach at Help for Assessment. He spends countless hours every day researching and writing great content filled with expert advice on how to write engaging essays, research papers, and assignments.

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