How to write a simple business plan

Start with one page

Before a long document, answer these on a single page. If you cannot, the idea needs more thought, not more pages:

✓Who is the customer, and what problem do they have?
✓What do you sell, and what does it cost them?
✓Why would they choose you over what they do now?
✓How will they hear about you?
✓What does it cost to start, and when will it pay for itself?

Add up the startup costs

List everything you must pay before your first sale: equipment, stock, registration and licences, a website, insurance, and enough cash to cover running costs for the first few months. Most first plans underestimate this last part.

Forecast sales honestly

Forecast month by month for the first year, starting slowly. Base it on something real, such as how many people you can reach and how many of them might buy, rather than a share of a huge market. Then build a low case alongside your expected case, and check you could survive it.

Find your break-even point

Break-even is the sales you need to cover your costs. A simple version:

Break-even units = monthly fixed costs / (price per unit - variable cost per unit).

Example only: with fixed costs of 2,000 a month, a price of 50 and a variable cost of 30, you need to sell 100 a month to break even. If that number looks out of reach, change the price, the costs or the plan before you launch.

When you need the full plan

Lenders and investors expect a longer plan with the same answers in more detail: the market, competitors, the team, operations and financial projections. In the United States, the Small Business Administration sets out the usual sections. Most countries' small business agencies publish a similar guide.

Plan, numbers and pitch in one kit. The Business Plan and Startup Kit includes startup financial projections (startup costs, a 12-month sales forecast, cash flow, profit and loss, break-even and any funding gap), a 13-page business plan template, a one-page plan, a 13-slide pitch deck and a 22-page launch workbook. The free Startup Cost Calculator adds up what you need to open.

View in the Store

From the Stelaah Store

✓Business Plan and Startup Kit. A startup kit to plan, fund and launch a business: Excel financial projections, a Word business plan and one-page plan, a 13-slide PowerPoint pitch deck and a 22-page launch workbook.
✓Small Business Finance Dashboard. An Excel and Google Sheets finance dashboard for a small business: income, expenses, budget, profit and loss, budget vs actual, a 12-month cash flow forecast and break-even.

The Stelaah team

We build Stelaah and the Stelaah Store. These guides cover the everyday problems our planners, kits and tools are made for, in plain steps you can use with or without them.