How to Write a Business Plan [updated for September 2022]

In this article I show you how to write a business plan in just 13 slides. This will allow you to build the modern business plan you need to do business in 2022 and beyond.

If it’s easier for you to listen to how to build your business plan I put together a 16 part series that goes over each of the slides on the EDGE Podcast for entrepreneurs. It’s free and the links are at the end of this article for you.

Learning how to write a business plan is essential because it is:

• the foundation of your business
• your roadmap to grow your sales
• a playbook to grow your team
• a tool that shows you aspects of your business you didn’t think about when you came up with your business idea

And if that’s not enough motivation for you learn how to write a business plan…

It’s scientifically proven to increase your chances of success. Yes, scientifically proven. See the FAQ section at the end of this article for the Harvard article that was written about it.

And you’re going to love this framework even better because this 13 slide business plan can also…

• serve as your pitch deck for investors
• sales pitch
• recruiting team members deck
• board member recruitment deck
• advisory board recruitment deck

You can build this plan in a relatively short amount of time if you dedicate some focused effort. I spent a decade figuring this template out. Additionally…

Dynamic Business Plan

This business plan framework is dynamic. Just like Google Maps is when you use it to navigate to a destination and there is a traffic jam. Google Maps routes you around it to save time, gets you to your destination faster and reduces the stress of sitting in traffic.
This means you can easily adapt it to use as you’re growing and scaling your business to hit the goals and milestones you’ve set.

How to Write a Business Plan… in 13 Slides

Slide 1: Opening Slide

You want to include:

• Your company name
• Tag line that describes what your business does (if you have a tag line, if not, don’t worry about it)
• Your contact information

When you are pitching potential customers, investors, or a new recruit for your team, etc… you want to give your elevator pitch here.
Your elevator pitch should be no longer than 45 seconds.

Slide 2: Problem Slide

You want to include:

• A summary of the problem you are solving with your product and/or service

Aim to be able to give all your talking points on the problem you are solving in less than two minutes

Slide 3: Solution Slide

You want to include:

• a description of the solution to the problem you set up in slide 2
• you need to be very concise

Aim to be able to explain your business solution in less then two minutes

GET A FREE PDF VERSION OF THIS HOW TO WRITE A BUSINESS PLAN ARTICLE BELOW?

Slide 4: Product Slide

You want to include:

• picture(s) or video of your product
• a very short description of your product
• one or two testimonials from current or prospective customers

Aim to be able to explain your product in less then two minutes

Slide 5: Market

You want to include:

• your total market, total addressable market, serviceable available market, your market share. Make sure you understand and present these correctly Entrepreneurs lose a lot of money and waste a lot of time by not getting this slide right.
• a plan to attack the market.
• if the market is growing and at what rate

Above all, be able to give this slide, if you have to present it, in less than two minutes. It’ll force you to truly know your market.

Slide 6: Business Model

You want to include:

• your business model
• what competitive advantage you have using your business model
• the financials of your business model along each step

Aim to be able to give this slide in less than two minutes.

Slide 7: Traction

You want to include:

• accomplishments to date, including but not limited to your sales
• if you are a pre-sales company, put your pre-sales traction highlights

Aim to be able to give this slide in less than two minutes.

Slide 8: Competition

You want to include:

• who is your competition
• how is the competition positioned in the market
• where your company fits into the competitive landscape

Again, you want to give this slide in less than two minutes.

Slide 9: Barriers to Entry

You want to include:

• a summary of your company’s moat you are creating or have created
• what barriers have you created that will keep the competition away or at a disadvantage

I know, I’m starting to sound like a broken record, but you want give this slide in less than two minutes because your about twenty minutes into your presentation already.

Slide 10: Financials

You want to include:

• a summary of your financials. This includes your sales, gross margin, SG&A, EBITDA, and net profit
• a graphic to make your numbers easy to consume
• have your full financials (in excel) as a back up and separate document that you can send to a potential investor and which you use on a regular basis to monitor and scale your company.
  
  HPT 1: your full financials should include your Profit and Loss (P&L), Cash Flow, Balance Sheet, a sales and marketing tab, KPI tab that is driven from your sales and marketing tab, HR tab that shows team members salaries, taxes, benefits etc… And your HR tab should feed your other tabs.

HPT 2: This is one of the most often asked questions when figuring out how to write a business plan and ironically one of things entrepreneurs fail to get right that leads many to fail. Don’t make that mistake with your business. Get this right!

You’ve got to be able to give this slide in less two minutes because it will show you really know your financials!

Slide 11: Team

You want to include:

• who is on your management team
• your board of directors
• any other team members that someone should know is part of your company

And you want to give this slide in less than two minutes.

Slide 12: Business Funding

You want to include:

• how much money you need to start, scale, grow your company
• how you are going to use the money
• where you are going to get the money
• your cash flow statement to back up your financial projection

Moreover, this is a two minute slide. I’m sure you’ve got the hang of this by now, right!? 🙂

Slide 13: Summary

You want to include:

• a easy to consume summary of your business
  HPT: this page can serve as your executive summary

Importantly, give slide in less than one minute. You can use a version of your elevator pitch.

How to write a business plan FAQs

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