How to Make a Business Plan Template for 18 Months
Thirty percent of all small businesses fail within the first two years, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration. The first eighteen months are extremely risky and volatile, and a good plan is essential to ensure that your business is given the greatest chance of success. Most business plans cover only the first 18 to 36 months of a business. While each business and its plan should be unique, there is a standard set of elements and presentation order upon which you can create a template.
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Instructions
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Create the basic outline of the plan. Every business plan should include an executive summary, a description of the market opportunity, a description of the team and advisors, operating plans, description of the target market and customer base, environmental analysis of the competitors, industry and regulations affecting the business, and projected financial data.
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Add instructions to each portion of the business plan. The executive summary should be a one-page pitch designed to make the reader excited about the business enough to read the rest of the document. The market opportunity should describe problems that a specific customer group suffers from and describe how the business can solve those problems. A description of the team includes bios of each of the principal business members, mentions that an advisory team exists, and offers brief bios of the more impressive advisors. Operating plans describe specifically how the service will work or how the product is made, and include schematics or flowcharts. The target market section describes the customer base in terms of demographics, purchasing habits, motivations, and demographic growth factors with financial figures indicating that customers are spending more each year. The environmental analysis should include descriptions of each major competitor, each major regulation that affects the business, and trends affecting the industry as a whole, utilizing the specific business analysis tools such as Porter's Five Forces Analysis and risk analysis table. Projected financial data include pro forma profit and loss statements, a cash flow analysis, a product lifecycle curve, pro forma financial statements from the the end of 12 months and 18 months, and a breakeven analysis.
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Supply graphs and graphics that can be filled in with business-specific data. This should include at least each of the financial forms, the Five Forces Analysis tool, and a risk analysis table that includes rows for each type of business or financial risk the company faces, and columns for risk type, risk level, and mitigation strategy.
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