Business plan model

for start-ups
How to quickly and easily design a business plan for your company
Table of Contents

Introduction
Section 4
Section 1 Review an existing business plan
The 3 rules for writing a business plan • Checklist of essential elements

Section 2
Structuring a business plan

• Cover page
• Brief presentation of the company
• Opportunity
• Target Audience
• Products and services offered
• Marketing and Sales
• Financial Plan
• Goal planning
• Appendix

Section 3
Review an existing business plan
• Checklist of essential elements
Introduction
The success of start-ups is largely based on the organization and implementation of success
of the defined strategies. However, entrepreneurs tend to delay the development of their
business.
Since a business plan is repeatedly requested by different stakeholders, you will ensure that
your business plan stands out.

To create your business plan, fill in the fields indicated in this template and you will be able to
will thus obtain a first quality version. If you already have a business plan, the checklist
provided in section 3 will help you analyze and refine it.
The three rules of writing a
business plan

1. Write a concise document

Your interlocutors will not study a document that is too long. Your passion for your new company

is a good thing, but brevity is essential.

2. Use understandable terms

You may be familiar with the technical details of your products and services but, they will not interest
your potential investors. Use terms that everyone can understand. Overly complicated or technical

language may suggest that you don't not really master your subject.

3. Be assertive
No one understands your concept as well as you do, and your business plan must reflect this.

Show your knowledge and expertise while remaining humble.

4
 Section 2

Structuring a
business
plan
Cover Page

Use the cover page of your business plan to present general information about your
company. After all, this is where your contacts will get a first impression of your project.
Include the name, logo and address of your company, as well as the contact details of
the founders. You can also include a short sentence describing your company and your
offer. Logos, colors and Your brand fonts should be consistent on the cover page and
in the rest of your business plan.

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Brief presentation of the company

Spend as much time as you need to create your company's story. In this section, you
should describe the products and services you will be offering and the structure you
envision.

What products and services will you offer?

Describe your company, define its mission and indicate what problem it will solve for its
target audience.

What will be the structure of your company?

Describe the organization and key employees, as well as the key values your company will
adopt.
Opportunity
This section allows you to explain precisely how your company will fit into its industry, but
also how it will stand out from its competitors to gain market share.

What problem does your company solve and how does it solve it?

Explain why it is important to solve this problem. Also explain how many people are
facing it, the size of your industry, your company's solution, and how it differs from other
products or services available on the market.

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Target Audience
In this section, use data collected from research, surveys, and interviews to create a
semi-fictional, generalized representation of your ideal customer. HubSpot's persona
creation tool can help.

Define your target audience. What is their profile and what responsibilities do they have
to manage in a professional setting?

What sales pitch will you use to convince your ideal customer of the relevance of your
product or service?

What sales pitch will you use to convince your ideal customer of the relevance of your
product or service?

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Products and services offered
In this section, describe all the product lines and services you plan to offer your
customers. Also present the cost of your offers, as well as the reasons for your pricing
structure.

Describe each product and service you will offer.

Describe your pricing model and explain why you have adopted it.

Explain how your product or service differs from those of your competitors, and why
it is better suited for your target customers.

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Marketing and Sales: Part I

Creating a new quality product or service is not enough to convince investors. In this
section, you need to show that you have planned your company's marketing and sales
strategies and explain how you plan to implement them.

Make a detailed presentation of your marketing plan.

What will be the main channels you will use to acquire your first customers and how did
you choose them?

What is your company's growth plan for the next 2 to 5 years?

Describe your monthly or quarterly customer acquisition objectives, the other indicators
you will use to determine your growth rate (traffic to your site, downloads, brand
mentions, etc.), and how you will measure and achieve them.

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Marketing and Sales: Part II

What is your business strategy?

Describe the tactics you will use to close deals (direct or indirect sales, canvassing, bots,
etc.) and how your people and systems will support these efforts.

What will be the internal structure of your marketing and sales teams?

Explain who will be in charge, how you will ensure that these two teams work together,
and what distribution channels and responsibilities will be assigned to each team.

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Financial Plan

This section allows you to tell your contacts what funding you need to turn your vision into
reality. Explain your financial forecasts and justify your investment request.

What financing does your company need this year?

Indicate how you will raise funds, whether you are working with an incubator or
acceleration program, whether you will take out a loan or use equity.

What are your financial forecasts for the current year?

Specify the turnover you expect to generate in the first year and the costs involved in
achieving this objective. If you do not expect to generate profits in the first year, also
explain how your business will be profitable in the long term.

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Goal planning

Precise performance indicators will help you convince your investors, but also to define
your daily objectives.

How will your company evaluate its results in the coming year?

What are the main challenges it will face in the coming year?

Describe how you plan to address these challenges.

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Appendix

Use the appendix to provide additional information that does not fit into any of the
previous sections, but is nonetheless important from a business perspective. This may
include graphs, images, computer graphics, or data. Again, please be concise.

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 Section 3

Review an existing
business plan
Checklist of essential elements

Use this list to check that your business plan contains all the elements you need to
convince your potential investors. The previous pages may help you if you identify a
gap.

The basic elements

Give your company a name

Create a Logo

Add a cover page to your Business Plan

Description of the company and the opportunity

History of creation of your company

Types of products or services you will offerµ
Your company’s mission

Your company’s objective

Your company’s structure

Problems your company can solve

Definition of the target audience

Presentation of your target audience

The challenge faced by your target audience
Interest of your target audience for your offer
Sales pitch presented to your potential customers

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Description of the range of products or services

Products or services proposed

Pricing of your offer
Differentiation factors compared to competing offers

Marketing and Sales Strategies

Methods of promoting your products or services

Methods of selling your products or services vices

Marketing Team leader
Head of the sales team

Acquisition of new customers

Alignement of marketing and sales teams

Financial Plan

Your company’s objectives in terms of financing

Expected sales for the first year
Type of fundraising
Amount already raised

Goal Planning

Performance indicators for the first year of existence of your company

Main challenges identified
Responses to these challenges

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 Section 4

Get results with a

business plan
Alignment is essential to generate
remarkable growth. Whether it is
the alignment between you and
your teams or between you and
your investors, it can make all the
difference.

You need to customize your business plan to get the best possible results.
This template will help you include all the essential elements but note that the best
plans are written by business creators who truly believe in their idea and have
conducted all the research necessary to support it. Thus, this model serves as a
basis, but you must make it your own: no one but you know what will best suit your
business