business plan template best

20 business plan templates for budding entrepreneurs

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, more and more people have become drawn to entrepreneurship. That’s one major takeaway from global research carried out by Amway, which found 60% of individuals wanting to start a business in 2024 .

However, starting a business and getting that same business to thrive are two distinctly different things. 

This is certainly the story told by business success rates. Research has found that 20% of new businesses fail within two years, 45% within five years, and 65% within a decade.

These figures could worry you if you were considering becoming a business owner. It bears emphasis, though, that many variables play a part in whether a company makes it or breaks it.

Many corporate failures can be attributed to problems that could have been prevented (or at least reined in) with careful planning beforehand.

One analysis of hundreds of entrepreneurial ventures found…

• 42% of companies falter due to lacking a market
• 29% of businesses being dragged down by insufficient funding 
• 23% of businesses go under after failing to find the right staff
• 19% of companies being outcompeted 

So, putting together the right business plan can prove crucial.

This document will define your business, its goals, and how you intend to achieve them.

If this is starting to sound scarily technical, don’t worry. With the right template for your business plan, filling in all the required details can be much easier than you expect. There are many ready-made templates for you to choose from, too.

What should you put in your business plan?

Your business plan isn’t something you should just throw together at the start of your entrepreneurial journey and then discard as your business starts soaring.

It’s more like a blueprint — a ‘constitution’, you could say — that you should keep referring back to throughout your company’s lifespan. The plan isn’t just about getting your company off the ground — it’s about gearing it up for long-term success .

Here are just a few examples of questions the plan should answer…

• Which products or services will you offer?
• Which demographics will you target?
• What marketing strategies will you enact?
• How will your offerings differ from those of your competitors?

Need to do some market research before you can answer all these questions? Some online tools can help — such as SurveyMonkey if you are in the retail, finance, education, or healthcare sector.

Dedicate another part of the plan to your financial projections . To grow your company, you need more money coming in than there is going out.

You might be considering bootstrapping your business . This is where you would power your future company with your own money rather than funds from outside sources.

Many now-prominent brands, like Mailchimp, Craigslist, and TechCrunch, have all made it with bootstrapping .

What if you want to court investors?

In that case, your business plan must also show how what you aim to do with your company will lead it to bring in money.

Investors won’t want to give you money without a good idea of if (and when) they will get it back.

Different types of business plans

There are many business plan templates out there, several of which suited to entrepreneurs who have been running their respective companies for some time.

For example, a business that has been in the game for a while but recently started struggling might opt to create a business repositioning plan . This will explain how changing the direction of the company should reinvigorate its fortunes.

Conversely, a company now making more money than it expected could set out an ‘expansion’ or ‘growth’ business plan . This could detail what precise steps the company needs to take to, say, release products or open new offices. 

As a novice entrepreneur starting (or running) a new business, however, you should look for business plan templates aimed at startups. Such templates are in abundance online, and include space for you to touch on all the following subjects…

• Executive summary: What issues will your business tackle? Who will make up your team? What will you sell and where?
• Company definition: What will be your company’s name and brand? What legal structure will your business take?
• Competitive landscape analysis: Which businesses could rival your own? How will you manage their strengths and capitalize on their weaknesses?
• Marketing strategy: What promotional channels will you use and how? What metrics will you use to track your progress?
• Financials: What revenues and expenses do you project for your business? What liabilities (e.g. business loans) does your company currently have?

The above is far from an exhaustive look at what your business plan ought to include. Besides, you might need to meticulously tailor this plan’s exact structure to suit your corporate objectives, depending on how specialist they happen to be.

So, after all this, what are the best business plan templates ? Here are more than a few recommended options, most of which can be downloaded for free…

20 business plan templates worth checking out

1. hubspot’s one-page business plan template.

Naturally, to spur your company’s growth, you need customers. To help sustain your company’s financial success for the long term, you should also work hard to forge strong relationships with customers.

After all, it would be ideal for you to impress those individuals so much that they keep coming back for more. These are people you would call your ‘ repeat customers ’ or ‘ loyal customers ’.

With the right customer relationship management (CRM) platform, you can more easily build a loyal customer base. As the HubSpot CRM has attracted over 228,000 customers , the brand’s one-page business plan template could also pique your interest.

🏆 What makes this template a winner?

If you've never drafted a business plan before this template would be a promising choice for you, as it packs all these short but crucial sections onto a single page…

• Business Opportunity 
• Industry Analysis 
• Target Market
• Company Description
• Timeline 
• Marketing Plan
• Financial Plan
• Funding Requirements 

For each of these sections, clear instructions are provided — and it’s easy to emblazon the template with your company’s logo and branding.

The document makes a good ‘starter’ template for you to get to grips with before potentially finishing a ‘full’ business plan at a later point.

🔍 How to get this template

Find the ‘ One Page Business Plan for Word, PDF ’ page of the HubSpot website, then scroll down to where it says ‘ Download Free Template ’.

Type your email address into the ‘ Email ’ field and click ‘ Next ’. You will subsequently be asked for your first name , last name , phone number , and company name before you can download the template.  

2. HubSpot’s downloadable business plan template

HubSpot’s suite of CRM tools is great for small businesses determined to accelerate their growth without having to deal with bewildering technical waffle.

Having helped many companies to excel, HubSpot can pay the same courtesy to your own, by giving you this downloadable business plan template.

This template is more extensive than HubSpot’s one-page business plan template mentioned earlier. The larger template gives you the space to dive into much greater detail about various aspects of your company — including its…

• Plan for the future 
• Metrics for success 
• Product line 
• Financial projections 

In the template, you can also show you have accounted for legal formalities applicable to your new business. This is the kind of information investors will want to see to ascertain whether your business would warrant their financial support.

HubSpot offers this template as an interactive PDF. Alternatively, you can download it as a document to edit in Google Docs or Microsoft Word. 

On the above page of the HubSpot website, click ‘ Download Now for Free ’. You will be required to fill in several successive fields requesting details like your email address , first and last name , phone number , and website URL .

3. Bplans’ free business plan template for small businesses

As the ‘ Bplans ’ name suggests, this site is a treasure-trove of tips and tricks for putting together a business plan! Among the jewels you are bound to uncover as you dig deeply into this chest are business plan examples from a range of industries.

You also won’t have to reach far for a template you can use to start creating your own business plan. Click the ‘ Business Plan Template ’ link near the top of the homepage to learn about a free template carefully designed by Bplans.

One big plus point of spending time on Bplans is its wealth (pun intended) of advice on how to source external funding. With a professional-looking business plan, you can more easily make the most of this expert guidance.

What kind of business plan would lenders and investors deem ‘professional-looking’? For a start, one in a format approved by the Small Business Administration (SBA). 

This Bplans template is formatted in exactly that way — and has been designed to be completed in a delightfully straightforward, ‘fill-in-the-blanks’ manner.

Whether you want a PDF of the template or to be able to edit it in Microsoft Word or Google Docs, Bplans can deliver to your satisfaction.

Clicking the blue ‘ Download Now ’ button will prompt you to provide your first name and email address. 

You will also be asked why you need a business plan. Using the dropdown menu, you could specify that you need to do one of the following…

• secure funding
• validate a business idea
• determine a business strategy
• grow an existing business
• buy a business 
• sell a business
• use for a class project
• advise clients

The menu lets you select only one of these options, even though many of them might be valid in your particular situation. However, there is an ‘ other ’ option, too.

If you go for ‘ secure funding ’, a second dropdown menu enables you to specify the primary type of funding you seek. This is assuming you don’t select ‘ other ’ or ‘ I’m not sure ’.

Finally, hit the blue ‘ Get My Free Template ’ button at the bottom of the form. You will be presented with the following screen… 

4. PandaDoc’s business plan template

This can be found in the ‘ Business plan templates ’ section of the PandaDoc website, where you are also able to preview the template in detail.

Here, you get in-depth advice on what to write in the plan’s individual sections — including Executive Summary , Mission Statement , Operations Plan , and Financial Plan .

One major incentive to use this template is its synchronization with PandaDoc’s electronic signature (‘ esignature ’) software. This means the business plan can be signed digitally, without any pen having to literally be put to paper. 

This can prove a real boon if you are starting a business with other parties, e.g. partners or directors, who must also sign the plan. They would be able to sign it even from the other side of the world, if that’s where they happen to be based.

They could sign it speedily, too — as the task wouldn’t have to entail writing on a touchscreen with an Apple Pencil. Instead, they could upload a pre-existing digital rendering of their handwritten signature or type in their name.

Start by clicking the green ‘ Use this template — free ’ button on the template’s online listing. To use this template, you must first register a free PandaDoc account (if, obviously, you don’t have one already). 

At least one thing you might already have is a Google, LinkedIn, or Slack account. You can sign up for PandaDoc with any of those, if you wish. in .docx format.

5. PandaDoc’s 5-year business plan template

As alluded to previously in this article, you might be willing to bootstrap your business. This can certainly work well when your company lacks any impressive history that could have tempted investors to give you funding.

Later down the line however when you want to make that next big breakthrough in your company’s growth story, you may need an external source of financial backing.

To make an attractive pitch to those investors, use this 5-year business plan template and show those people how you expect your company to perform financially over the next half-decade.

It’s not enough to simply tell an investor you anticipate a bright future for your business. You must also clearly indicate to them why you anticipate this.

PandaDoc’s ‘ 5-Year Business Plan Template ’, has space for you to detail…

• Corporate objectives
• An action plan 
• Your product/services and pricing 
• Your management team 
• Analyses of the industry, your target customer, and your major competitors 

Crucially, the business plan can also reveal the amount of investment you seek and where you will allocate the initial funding.

The template essentially comprises editable passages and charts interspersed with succinct but useful instructions on how to fill the gaps. For example, the template points out where you need to attach your company’s…

• Projected income statement 
• Balance sheet 
• Cash flow statement 

Another standout of this template is its ‘Milestones’ section. Here, you can list several pivotal milestones your business is on track to reach over the five-year period.

Like PandaDoc’s standard business plan template mentioned earlier, the 5-year business plan template has a listing with a ‘ Use this template — free ’ link.

This is also another instance where a PandaDoc account is required if you want to download the template. Thankfully, the template is free, as you don’t need to pay (or even provide any credit card details) for the account.

6. PandaDoc’s virtual assistant business plan template

The term ‘VA’ refers to a self-employed professional tasked with handling a range of administrative duties on behalf of companies. A virtual assistant’s remit can include…

• Scheduling appointments 
• Arranging trips 
• Planning events
• Managing the client’s calendar 
• Making phone calls 

Virtual assistants are one of the best side hustles for power couples , as they can share various VA responsibilities between them. Furthermore, as virtual assistants work remotely, they don’t have to contend with costs of commuting.

These days, though, AI can take on many duties previously reserved for VAs. PandaDoc has gone as far as creating a business plan template meant for an entrepreneur starting a company set to develop AI assistants.

For a novice entrepreneur, writing a business plan from scratch can be tedious. What a relief, then, that this template comes pre-filled with vast amounts of text written to especially appeal to investors.

The gaps you need to fill with your own details are clearly signposted (and, in many instances, highlighted in yellow). The details you are expected to add include…

• Your company’s name
• The amount of investment you seek
• How much money you have collected from existing investors 
• Your company’s objectives 
• AI assistant products and services you will offer 
• Members of your management team 

Investors will also want to know how you would use the capital you obtain from them. You can touch on that in the plan, which can also list financial milestones you have decided to work toward over the next five years.

• How to use AI to sell more products online
• The best AI chatbots for ecommerce

As with the other two PandaDoc templates spotlighted earlier, you can find this one listed in the PandaDoc website’s ‘ Business plan templates ’ section.

Click the linked ‘ Virtual Assistant Business Plan ’ title or thumbnail on that page and then the green ‘ Use this template — free ’ button. Registering a free PandaDoc account will grant you download access to the template.

7. SBA’s traditional business plan template

Small businesses make up 99.9% of all the United States’ firms, according to 2024 data from the SBA .

It’s apt, then, that this independent agency of the US government offers business plan templates. On sba.gov , you can find traditional business plans written by fictional company owners ‘ Rebecca ’ and ‘ Andrew ’.

What the SBA calls its ‘ traditional business plan ’ template adheres to a standard layout you are encouraged to enrich with added detail. Doing so can help you put forward a more compelling argument for why investors should back you. 

Like other providers of business plan templates, the SBA has intricate advice on how to approach writing each section. However, with the example business plans provided, the SBA goes further by showing, rather than just telling .

On the SBA website’s homepage, scroll down to the ‘ Plan your business ’ box and click on ‘ Write your business plan ’.

You might want to bookmark the next page for the useful advice it displays. Head down the page, past the ‘ Traditional business plan format ’ section, until you see the following two red (clickable) boxes.

Both ‘ Rebecca ’ and ‘ Andrew ’ are fictional, with the former owning a consulting firm and the latter a toy company. 

However, seeing what these pretend entrepreneurs have penned for their respective business plans can help you strike the right vibe for your own.

Which of these example plans would be most useful for you?

That will depend on the type of business you are set to run. To bring up the download prompt for either plan, hit the relevant red button and then the ‘ Download.doc ’ link.

8. SBA’s lean startup plan template

Alongside its ‘ traditional business plan ’ template, the SBA also offers a ‘ lean business plan ’ template. 

This is basically a stripped-down alternative to the traditional plan. The ‘ lean startup format ’ (as the SBA also describes this plan) consists of sparsely decorated charts describing various aspects of the business. 

This template could be the best fit for your business if it is relatively simple, such as a side hustle you run from home . 

The ‘ lean business plan ’ template can also be put together quickly.

You might also want to strip complexity out of your business plan if you anticipate changing and refining it regularly. This could be the case if you are entering an unpredictable industry required to keep pace with rapidly evolving legislation.

Due to the simplicity of the lean startup format, it can be the ideal template for an entrepreneur making their very first business plan.

Head to the SBA website’s ‘ Write your business plan ’ page (the same one mentioned above) and scroll down to the ‘ Lean startup format ’ section.

You will see an array of tips on how to tackle various parts of the business plan — including ‘ Value proposition ’, ‘ customer segments ’, and ‘ cost structure ’.

Beneath all of that is a link labeled ‘ Download Andrew’s lean business plan ’. Yes, Andrew, the fictional owner of the similarly made-up Wooden Grain Toy Company, has typed out his own lean business plan for it.

Click the link and then ‘ Download .doc ’ to… well, download a .doc file laying out this business plan.

9. Microsoft’s home business plan template

Microsoft has compiled various corporate templates at create.microsoft.com .

Those templates include several for business plans.

Many of the best work-at-home business ideas involve providing professional services — and Microsoft offers an extra-special business plan template for that.

One common challenge with creating a business plan is ensuring it looks genuinely enticing to read. Remember, this is a document you might present to investors and potential partners of your business to encourage them to give you financial support.

Many guides to formulating a great business plan, however, put a huge emphasis on the text aspect. This can be much to the detriment of the visual component, risking leaving many business plans looking boring at first glance.

The beauty of this Microsoft template is that it strikes just the right balance between eye-catching and professional . You can easily change the contained images, such as by replacing them with select photos and graphics . 

The template comes with instructions on how to customize it, so choose attractive aesthetic elements in line with your company’s brand. That way, the end result should look like something even people unfamiliar with your firm will want to pick up.

From the create.microsoft.com homepage, use the ‘ Search templates ’ field to search the site for ‘ business plan templates ’. You should be able to find the home business plan among the results that appear.

After clicking on the listing for that plan, you should see two links labeled ‘ Customize in Word ’ and ‘ Download ’.

Do you have a Microsoft account?

If so, click the former link to log into that account and view the template in a web version of Word. The document (and any changes you make to it within the browser window) will be saved to your Microsoft OneDrive cloud storage.

Another idea is clicking the ‘ Download ’ link to save the template to storage (a physical drive or the cloud) of your choice.

10. Microsoft’s tactical business marketing plan template

One key objective with a business plan is to define not only your ideal customer but also how you aim to reach out to them. In fact, it can sometimes be helpful to draw up a separate business plan specifically about your marketing goals.

Cue, Microsoft’s tactical business marketing plan template.

Are you preparing to launch a new product or service? If so, what will you do to market it? Using this template can help you to answer that question.

When running a young business, it’s imperative to make the most of what money you spend. You probably don’t have a lot of it if you are an inexperienced entrepreneur. 

This all further underlines the appeal of bootstrapping, a tactic you can follow when marketing your business . You need to decide which marketing strategies would work best for your particular business.

Many familiar marketing principles apply when you go down the Whop route. However, you might be overlooking other, particularly creative ways to market your whop . For example, why not blog about your whop or publicize it on social media?

Whatever marketing strategies you do decide on, you can detail them on Microsoft’s tactical business marketing plan template. It includes instructions summing up what to include in each section. With the plan, you can address such subjects as…

• Your objective with the marketing campaign 
• The potential customers you seek to target 
• The core message of the campaign 
• What you intend to do before and after the marketing event 
• Pertinent items to account for with your budget

Like Microsoft’s home business plan template, this can be customized with photos, graphics, and fonts tailored to your organization’s brand personality.

Load create.microsoft.com and, using the ‘ Search templates ’ field, do a search for ‘ tactical business marketing plan template ’. The template should be easy to find from here.

You get ‘ Customize in Word ’ and ‘ Download ’ links that work like those on the home business plan page.

11. Template.net’s investment company business plan template

Template.net describes itself as “the world’s largest and most diverse template library”. As the site vows to “help you start, build, grow, and manage your business”, it shouldn’t surprise that business plan templates are plentiful here. 

Many of those templates are free, too. Others, though, are behind a subscription paywall. Those include this investment company business plan template .

Still, if you are set to launch an investment startup, there are good reasons for you not to overlook this highly versatile, easy-to-understand template.

If you are dipping your toes into the investment waters for the first time, you could understandably be confused. It may look like a scarily technical field of work at first — but, by easing yourself into it gently, you can prime yourself for success. 

What are your investment goals? Do they include investing in stocks or getting started with dividend investing? Have ETFs (exchange-traded funds) caught your eye, too? You can list all those goals (and more) on this business plan template. 

You can also take your investing and trading knowledge to the next level with communities full of experts here at Whop. Who knows? You may even find a future business partner in there - it's worth checking out once you've finished writing your business plan!

It strings together text and charts filled with the kind of specific, industry-relevant detail you could have struggled to get right yourself. 

So, all you have to do is subtly edit and tweak the ready-made content to suit your business, in accordance with the clear instructions provided.

On the template.net homepage, type the search query ‘ investment company business plan template ’ into the ‘ Generate, Search Templates and your Content ’ text box. Pressing the Enter key should lead you to a screen looking like this…

Click the sole search listing to find out more about the template. Click the relevant button for the format in which you want to save the template. You will then see this…

Don’t be fooled, though. After registering a free Template.net account (using an existing Google or Microsoft account, if you wish), you will get this page…

Yes, you will need to start a paid subscription with Template.net before you can actually download the template. In this sense, the template isn’t ‘free’ — but, depending on your company’s needs, the price could be worth it.

12. Template.net’s virtual/online education business plan template 

Do you have teaching experience? Perhaps you have taught in person at a school or college at some time, or only just picked up some teaching qualifications? Either way, you can put your teaching experience to good use by selling online courses . 

It’s possible to teach via an online platform without technically being employed by it. For example, as a tutor on VIPKid , you would be an independent contractor rather than a VIPKid employee. So, you will essentially be running your own business. 

When creating a business plan for it, why not use a template specially designed for companies in your line of work? This explains the appeal of Template.net’s virtual/online education business plan template . 

It’s fair to say that education companies can differ significantly from each other — and not only in terms of what they teach.

For example, do you follow a standard, nationally-set curriculum or one of your own making? Do you like to teach lengthy courses or just individual classes requiring no long-term commitment from the student?

Starting a school on Whop enables you to meticulously tailor what you offer. Here are a few apps you would be able to add to your whop… 

• Courses : A rather self-explanatory app, as it lets you run — yes — courses.
• Chat : Allow students to send you quick messages when they get stuck.
• Files : Make learning materials — e.g. worksheets — available to download. 

The virtual/online education business plan template can easily be adjusted to suit your business. With this template, you can outline such specifics as…

• Technology and infrastructure you use
• Online support you offer to students
• Your regulatory and accreditation compliance

Other sections come as standard on business plans, e.g. the executive summary, market analysis, and financial projections, also feature.

Want to start your school on Whop? Here's how to get set up in minutes.

Firstly, load the template.net site and find the ‘ Generate, Search Templates and your Content ’ search box at the top of the homepage. 

Then, using that box, do a search for ‘ online education business plan template ’. You shouldn’t have to look far for the template literally titled ‘ Virtual/Online Education Business Plan Template ’ (including the capitalization). 

Like Template.net’s above-mentioned investment company business plan template , however, this one requires a paid subscription to the site. You will need to opt for Template.net’s Pro or Business tier before downloading the template.

13. Shopify’s free business plan template

Looking to start an ecommerce business ? You might have contemplated doing so on the big-name platform Shopify , which hosts more than 5.2 million online stores.

Shopify’s website has its own blog with informative articles advising how to get more out of ecommerce entrepreneurship. One recent addition to that blog is an article titled ‘ Free Business Plan Template: What To Include for 2025 ’. 

The article includes a download link for a free business plan template designed by Shopify itself.  

When you are aspiring to open an online shop, you would likely welcome advice from a company with a formidable ecommerce pedigree. 

As Shopify fits that description, you can be confident that the template has been designed with ecommerce needs close at heart. 

Expect to be even more impressed when you get a good look at the template for yourself. It includes hugely in-depth guidance on how to write the following sections…

• Executive summary
• Company overview 
• Product or services offered
• Market analysis 
• Marketing plan
• Logistics and operations plan
• Financial plan

For all but the last of these seven sections, the template also provides example content about a fictional ecommerce business called Providence Tea Company.

Load the ‘ Free Business Plan Template: What To Include for 2025 ’ webpage and scroll down to the grey block pictured below. 

Clicking the black ‘ Get the template now ’ button will give you the prompt below.

Enter your email address in the ‘ Enter your email address ’ field and hit ‘ Get updates ’. You should quickly be sent an email containing a ‘ Download ’ link for the template. This link will enable you to download the file in .docx format.

14. Sage’s free business plan template

Sage, one of the world’s largest suppliers of enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, has a regularly updated blog on its website.

One article on this blog, ‘ How to write a business plan ’, links to a template you would be able to beneficially download free of charge.

Like Shopify, Sage is a much-respected name in its field. For this reason, you can have much faith in the quality of the industry-relevant advice it offers.

You can read expert advice not only in the ‘ How to write a business plan ’ article but also on the template itself. It comes with several introductory paragraphs (and short strings of text throughout the template) suggesting how to add to sections including the…

• Business overview
• Structure and resources 
• Business operations
• Market analysis and strategy 
• Financial analysis 

At various points in the template, you will see square-bracketed parts where you are meant to insert details specific to your business. 

However, Sage insists that “a good business plan should be current and adapt as you test and learn” . In other words, you should regularly refer back to it and update it as your company (and the market in which it competes) changes. 

It’s certainly convenient, then, that the Sage template has been built to accommodate this. For example, you can easily add sections to (and remove sections from) the template and do likewise with rows in the tables.

Locate the black ‘ Download your free business plan template ’ button on the ‘ How to write a business plan ’ article. Click the button and type your email address into the ‘ Email address ’ text field that appears.

Click the green ‘ Next ’ button and select your country in the ‘ Country ’ dropdown menu. Depending on which of the country options you choose, you might be presented with further prompts.

For example, if you opt for ‘ United States ’, you will see another dropdown menu titled ‘ State or province ’.

When you can, click ‘ Download now ’ to save the business plan template. If the download does not begin automatically, hit the second ‘ Download now ’ button you see on the ‘ Thank you! ’ panel.

15. Business News Daily’s free business plan template

The Business News Daily website was launched in 2010 and has since been bulked out with plenty of wonderfully informative articles for entrepreneurs.

One of those articles, ‘ Guide to Creating a Business Plan With Template ’, does very much what its title implies.

When you first view this template, it might strike you as more of a guide than a template. However, this is just a testament to the huge amount of guidance Business News Daily has poured into various sections of the template.

On the third page of the document, you get a ‘ Table of Contents ’ listing the following sections…

• Executive Summary
• Company Description 
• Products and Services 
• Operational Plan
• Management and Organization 
• Budgets and Expenses

The template is provided as a PDF. Once you have clicked the in-article link to bring up this PDF, your web browser might enable you to save it to your device.

You might even have software capable of converting the PDF to Word format, leaving the file quick and easy to edit.

The ‘ Guide to Creating a Business Plan With Template ’ is lengthy. You will have to do a lot of scrolling to reach the below-pictured ‘ Tip ’ box, which is almost at the end of the article…

Click the ‘ free business plan template ’ link to load the template as a PDF.

16. SCORE’s business plan template for a startup business

SCORE, a nonprofit organization supporting small businesses across the United States, offers numerous business plans. These include what SCORE refers to as its ‘ Business Plan Template for a Startup Business ’.

The template itself has much to recommend. Like many other templates highlighted in this article, the SCORE template comes with instructions on what to think about when adding your details.

However, those instructions on the SCORE template go amazingly deep even by the standards of many other free-to-download business plan templates.

Not only do you get a familiar assortment of gaps and tables to fill in but also instructions on how to…

• Decide on your company’s legal structure 
• Justify the pricing of your product or service 
• Distinguish between primary and secondary market research 
• Explain what type of personnel your business will need

SCORE has even thrown in worksheets to help you tackle critical aspects of completing the business plan. For example, one worksheet can aid you in using the ‘SWOT’ system to identify your company’s strengths and weaknesses.

Will you be working in ecommerce? Want to act on one of these software business ideas?

In either situation, rest assured that one of the template’s sections, ‘ Refining Your Plan ’, explains how you can tailor your business plan to suit the industry.

To locate this template, start by visiting score.org and hovering your cursor over ‘ Templates & Resources ’ in the top navigation bar. Then, click ‘ Template Gallery ’ on the menu that appears. 

Now, click the ‘ Business Plan Template for a Startup Business ’ link and, on the next page, the blue ‘ Download Template ’ button.

17. Wise’s free business plan template

When advertising your business to investors, you can maximize your chances by casting your net as widely as possible. Don’t feel obliged to court only investors based in the same country as your company!

Nonetheless, some overseas investors could be put off by sky-high bank fees they would have to incur when making international money transfers. These transfers can be sluggish, too, typically taking one to five business days.

Awkward stumbling blocks like these led entrepreneurs Kristo Käärmann and Taavet Hinrikus to establish the financial technology company Wise in the early 2010s.

Using the Wise platform, foreign investors can send you money more quickly without having to pay higher than the mid-market exchange rate.

So, if you are striving to bolster the amount of investment you receive from abroad, you could be intrigued by Wise’s free business plan template. 

Wise’s template contains all the sections you would typically see in a startup plan. Like the SCORE template, it is also provided with worksheets designed to take you step by step through completing key parts of the template.

However, Wise places a particularly strong emphasis on how to use the plan to attract investment for your business.

Of course, the plan can help you convey your corporate goals and how you will structure and run your business to meet them. Keep in mind, though, that investors will want to know why your company would constitute a safe long-term bet for them.

So, if you are keen to secure outside funding, your plan must make clear how you expect to develop your business.

What milestones are you envisioning? What steps will you take to scale up your startup?

Wise has weaved easy-to-follow prompts into the template, making it easy to customize to your liking.

Searching for funding? It’s relatively straightforward to put in the required financial information, like income statements and balance sheets.

Start by loading wise.com and scrolling right down to the footer of the homepage. Find the list of links headed ‘ Resources ’ and click ‘ News and blog ’.

You will now be on the ‘ NEWS ’ page. Scroll right down to this page’s footer and, there, click ‘ Business templates ’. On the next page, you will actually see listings for multiple free business templates.

Find and click the link simply titled ‘ Business plan template ’. Hitting the green ‘ Download template ’ button will send you down to this part of the page…

You must fill in all the form’s fields before the greyed ‘ Get your template ’ button at the bottom turns green and clickable. You therefore need to state your business email address, your company’s name, your role in the company, and further details.

18. Invoice2go’s free business plan template

Vital to safeguarding your company’s long-term financial stability is ensuring you know how much money is coming in and at what times.

Many other entrepreneurs in your situation have hence turned to Invoice2go, an online tool you can use to prepare and send off invoices quickly.

Reaching for an invoicing solution like this can thus form a pillar of your corporate strategy. Nonetheless, it would be helpful for you to have specifics of that strategy written down before you start putting it into action.

Looking back at a carefully conceived business plan multiple times can help you to stay on track as a business owner. It’s not hard to see, then, why Invoice2go has created a business plan template you can download for free online.

It goes without saying that, when trying to catch the eye of investors, you want to make a good first impression. How better to do that than with a professional-looking business plan you present to them?

This template makes creative use of graphics and color to mark out the various sections — including the executive summary, business overview, and market analysis. 

One section, ‘ FUNDING REQUESTS ’, is where you will indicate how much money your business needs for its launch and sustained success.

Now, one common drawback of going for a free template is that investors might have already seen many other businesses using it. Many investors could easily recognize this Indiegogo template from its bold colors and circle motifs.

At the same time, why would you want your business plan’s design to look as dull as dishwater? A whop like AI BusinessPlans can give you the best of both worlds — an attractive plan you didn’t have to spend excessive time making yourself.

Though it’s possible to sign up for a free trial of Invoice2go’s service, you don’t even need to do that to use the template.

It’s easy to find, too. Start by visiting invoice.2go.com and hovering your cursor over ‘ Resources ’ on the top navigation bar. After clicking ‘ Free business plan templates ’, you might be surprised to be greeted with a page simply titled ‘ Free Business Plan Template ’.

A little further down this page are links permitting access to Word and PDF copies of the template.

So, does Invoice2go actually offer just one business plan template on its website? Not quite…

19. Invoice2go’s free lean business plan template

A traditional business plan can be as long as 50 pages. In reality, your own business plan could turn out much shorter than this if the company is small and basic. Many startups indeed tick both of those boxes. 

Even a conventional business plan numbering about 25 pages, though, would be considered short — and could take hours to finish to a high standard.

None of this would be ideal if you are itching to start a business due to a financial emergency. In this situation, it could be imperative for you to start making money quickly, without a cumbersome, time-consuming preamble.

Invoice2go has prepared a lean business plan template . It's limited to a single page where you can stick to such essentials as…

• What your company is about
• Your corporate strategy
• Your business partners 
• Critical metrics against which you will measure your company’s success 

Don’t fret if you lack design skills, as the template comes pre-formatted with bullet points, tables, and charts. It’s largely just a matter of filling the gaps with text and numbers specifically related to your startup.

There are many dos and dont's of completing a business plan.

Thankfully, with this template, efficiency is the name of the game. The template’s compact size makes it efficient to fill in and edit. Revisit the completed plan monthly or quarterly to verify that your business is staying on the right trajectory.

Your team can use data in the lean plan to enhance the company’s management, productivity, marketing, and day-to-day processes.

On the Invoice2go homepage, open the Resources menu and click ‘ Free business plan templates ’.

You will see a page titled ‘ Free Business Plan Template ’, but don’t pay too much attention to the template pictured to the right. Instead, look much further down the page, for this question — ‘ What are the different types of business plans? ’

This section links to various business plan templates. The ‘ lean business plan ’ link leads to a separate page from which Word and PDF versions of the template can be downloaded.

20. Invoice2go’s free business continuity plan template

As many CEOs would doubtless recall from the COVID days, a large-scale crisis can strike unexpectedly — with major repercussions for the business landscape.

You only have to read the news for a sense of the many (largely inescapable) threats facing businesses. As the owner of a new firm, how would you react if…

• Another pandemic or epidemic arose, necessitating social-distancing rules.
• Floods or other freak weather left your usual workplace inaccessible.
• A power cut took down your office’s internet systems.
• A bomb threat made your employees too nervous to leave their homes.

Such possibilities underline the importance of having a business continuity plan ready. Invoice2go offers a template that can form the basis of one.

A business continuity plan clarifies how you should minimize disruption to your commercial operations in the event of an emergency. The template from Invoice2go has spaces where you can insert important information about your… 

• Business risk assessment
• Critical business functions
• Evacuation and relocation plans
• Employee contact list
• Vendor contact list

Instructions attached to the template are easy to follow but remain richly informative about how you should go about finishing each section.

This template can be reached in almost exactly the same way as Invoice2go’s free lean business plan template. 

The main difference is what you click in the ‘ What are the different types of business plans? ’ section of the Free Business Plan Template page. There, you click the ‘ Business continuity plan ’ link.

This move will transport you to a page dedicated to Invoice2go’s free business continuity plan template available to download in .docx or PDF format.

Be the boss in more ways than one with Whop

Writing a business plan is just the beginning of your entrepreneurial journey. The real challenge is bringing it to life and continuously growing as a business leader.

That’s where Whop’s expert-led business communities come in. Whether you’re looking to refine your skills, learn new strategies, or connect with like-minded entrepreneurs, Whop offers the tools and resources to guide your success.

Join communities like the highly-rated whop Business Circle , where you’ll find practical templates, insightful ebooks, and expert coaching tailored for entrepreneurs at every stage.

Don’t settle for just a plan - take action, gain expert insights, and build your future with Whop. Explore now and level up your business skills today.

Rob Truslove

Make your first dollar on the internet.

Start your business for free, no credit card required.

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What is a business plan?

A business plan is a document that helps small business owners determine the viability of their business idea. Combining market research and financial analysis, a professional business plan helps startup CEOs and potential investors determine if the company can compete in the target market.

Typically, a good business plan consists of the following:

• Executive summary
• Company description
• Mission statement
• Product and services
• Marketing plan
• Operations plan
• Management organization
• Financial plan
• Conclusion & appendix

Every section involved in a business plan is designed to help startup businesses reach their target market.

A business plan asks founders and entrepreneurs to detail their business strategy in a step-by-step process that makes sense from an operational perspective. This is essential if a startup is seeking a business loan or an investment from a venture capital firm.

However, even small businesses that are already economically viable can benefit from creating a business plan, since it encourages business owners and their management teams to examine their business model and reevaluate the best ways to reach their target customers.

Should I use a business plan template?

Yes.  If you’ve never written one, a business plan can be challenging to write.

Creating a successful plan that you can use to grow your small business can require weeks of market analysis and financial preparation. You may spend time using Microsoft Excel or Powerpoint in order to create documentation which better supports our operational decisions.

However, almost every professional business plan is structured in the same way and most ask for the same information. Because of this, using a business plan template is advisable to save time, money, and effort.

Business plan templates for free

Rather than spending time trying to figure out how to write a business plan , use a free template as a guide to completion.

Business plan templates from PandaDoc can help you reach an effective go-to-market strategy even faster by asking you to provide all the relevant information you need when creating an effective business plan.

Grab a free template to get started!

Frequently asked questions

How many pages should my business plan be.

This depends on the kind of business plan you need to write and how you intend to use the plan that you create.

For example, a plan for a small business seeking potential investors or a business loan will need to provide income statements, cash flow statements, and a balance sheet (usually for a three-year or five-year forecast period).

These financial statements can be omitted if a small business owner isn’t seeking funding and is instead planning to use their business plan as a guiding document for themselves and their management team members.

Some business plans may only run a few pages. Fully-developed business plans can be as long as 50 pages. Much of this depends on the type of business, the operational strategy, and the level of detail that goes into developing the business plan.

Who needs a business plan?

Every business should have a business plan. This is an essential guidance document for any founder or CEO.

Good business plans help a company determine the viability of its place in the market and can help the business develop better strategies for differentiating itself from its competitors.

Business planning also forces business owners to evaluate their marketing strategy, the cost of customer acquisition and retention, and how they plan to grow their business over time.

What is the best business plan template?

Business plans come in all shapes and sizes. The best business plan template for your business is one that you understand and that matches the size and legal structure of your operation.

If you’re a sole proprietor, a business plan template designed for a big corporation probably doesn’t make sense. However, a business plan that helps you build an effective roadmap to grow your business while protecting your intellectual property is a good starting point.

PandaDoc offers specialized business plan templates for common industries along with tips to help you get started with business planning.

Should I hire someone to write my business plan for me?

No. You’ll find freelance writers and business strategy companies out there who are happy to write your business plan for a fee.  These resources can guide you through the process, but you should write (or be heavily involved in) the creation of your business plan.

The reason for this is simple: You know the most about your business, and your business needs you to succeed.

A writer can work with you to make your business plan sound better to investors, and a consultant can help you fill in knowledge gaps — like how to conduct a SWOT analysis — and point out weaknesses in your plan. But, at the end of the day, you need to use the business plan to pitch investors and run your business.

Those ideas and guiding principles aren’t something you can outsource.

Should I use business planning software?

Software isn’t required when creating an effective business plan. Most business planning software is designed to help you navigate the outlining and writing process more effectively.

You don’t need software to write a professional business plan, but a solid template can help you get started. Download a free template from PandaDoc today and take your business to the next level.

Get started with PandaDoc today

Powerful business plan templates

Plan for the future, no matter what your business plans are or the size of your business with these designs and templates. whether it's just one big project or an entire organization's worth of dreams, these templates will keep you and your company on track from ideation to completion..

Put your ideas to work with simple templates for every business plan

Every successful business took a lot of planning to get there, and these templates will be cornerstones of your future success. Whether you're looking to attract new business, pitch your services or reimagine your company, with these simple, customizable templates at your fingertips you can turn complexity into something tangible. These templates can become marketing assets or simply remain internal touchpoints for your team. And as your dreams change, you'll always have this template to refer to – it's easy to change what exists on paper. If you're a small business, focusing on your niche can help you dominate in your field, and you can forge a plan to figure out exactly what that niche might be and how to target your ideal customer . When it's time to share your vision with stakeholders, craft a presentation that outlines your plan succinctly and with style. Let these templates from Microsoft Designer be your partner in business strategy for years to come.