Business Planning
A Simple Business Plan Outline to Build a Useful Plan

Starting a Business? Use This Business Plan Outline Template
When starting a business, having a well-thought-out business plan prepared is necessary for success. It helps guide your strategy and prepares you to overcome the obstacles and risks associated with entrepreneurship. In short, a business plan makes you more likely to succeed.
However, like everything in business, starting is often the hardest part. What information do you need? How in-depth should each section be? How should the plan be structured?
All good questions that you can answer by following this business plan outline template.
What is an Outline of a Business Plan?
A business plan outline is similar to most business plan templates. It lists the common sections that all business plans should include.
A traditional business plan typically includes an executive summary, an overview of your products and services, thorough market research, a competitive analysis, a marketing and sales strategy, operational and company details, financial projections, and an appendix.
Why is a Business Plan Outline Important?
Starting with a business plan outline helps ensure that you’re including all of the necessary information for a complete business plan.
But, depending on what you intend to do with your plan, you may not need all of this information right away. If you’re going to speak with investors or pursue funding, then yes, you’ll need to include everything from this business plan outline.
But, if you’re using your plan to test an idea or help run your business, you may want to opt for a one-page plan. This is a simpler and faster method that is designed to be updated and used day-to-day.
If you’re unsure of which plan is right for you, check out our guide explaining the differences and use cases for each plan type.
10 Key Sections in a Standard Business Plan Outline
No matter the type of business plan you create, these are the ten basic sections you should include. Be sure to download your free business plan template to start drafting your own plan as you work through this business plan outline template.
1. Executive Summary
While it may appear first in your business plan, it’s best to write your executive summary last. It’s a brief section that highlights the high-level points you’ve made elsewhere in your business plan.
Summarize the problem you are solving for customers, your solution, the target market, your team that’s building the business, and financial forecast highlights. Keep things as brief as possible and entice your audience to learn more about your company.
Keep in mind, this is the first impression your plan and business will make. After looking over your executive summary, your reader is either going to throw your business plan away or keep reading. So make sure you spend the time to get it just right.
2. Products and Services
Start the products and services section of your business plan by describing the problem you are solving for your customer. Next, describe how you solve that problem with your product or service.
If you’ve already made some headway selling your solution, detail that progress here—this is called “traction”. You can also describe any intellectual property or patents that you have if that’s an important part of your business.
3. Market Analysis
You need to know your target market—the types of customers you are looking for—and how it’s changing.
Use the market analysis section of this outline for a business plan to discuss the size of your market—how many potential customers exist for your business—and if your potential customers can be segmented into different groups, such as age groups or some other demographic.
4. Competition
Describe your competition in this section. If you don’t have any direct competitors, describe what your customers currently do to solve the problem that your product fixes.
If you have direct competition, detail what your strengths and weaknesses are in comparison, and how you’ll differentiate from what is already available.
5. Marketing and Sales
Use this business plan section to outline your marketing and sales plan—how you’ll reach your target customers and what the process will be for selling to them.
You’ll want to cover your market position, marketing activities, sales channels, and your pricing strategy. This will likely evolve over time, but it’s best to include anything that clearly details how you will sell and promote your products and services.
6. Operations
What’s included in the operations section really depends on the type of business you are planning for. If your business has a physical location or other facilities, you’ll want to describe them here. If your business relies heavily on technology or specific equipment or tools, you should describe that technology or equipment here.
You can also use this business plan outline section to describe your supply chain if that’s an important aspect of your business.
7. Milestones and Metrics
In a business, milestones are important goals that you are setting for your business. They may be important launch dates, or a timeline of when you’ll get regulatory approval—if that’s something you need for your business. Use this section of your plan to describe those milestones and the roadmap you are planning to follow.
You can also describe important metrics for your business, such as the number of sales leads you expect to get each month or the percentage of leads that will become customers.
8. Company Overview and Team
The company and team section of this business plan outline is where you provide an overview of who you are.
It should describe the organization of your business, and the key members of the management team. It should also provide any historical background about your business. For example, you’ll describe when your company was founded, who the owners are, what state your company is registered in and where you do business, and when/if your company was incorporated.
Be sure to include summaries of your key team members’ backgrounds and experience—these should act like brief resumes—and describe their functions with the company. You should also include any professional gaps you intend to fill with new employees.
9. Financial Plan and Forecasts
Your financial plan should include a sales forecast, profit and loss, cash flow projections, and balance sheet, along with a brief description of the assumptions you’re making with your projections.
If you are raising money or taking out loans, you should highlight the money you need to launch the business. This part should also include a use of funds report—basically an overview of how the funding will be used in business operations.
And while it’s not required, it may be wise to briefly mention your exit strategy. This doesn’t need to be overly detailed, just a general idea of how you may eventually want to exit your business.
10. Appendix
The end of your business plan should include any additional information to back up specific elements of your plan. More detailed financial statements, resumes for your management team, patent documentation, credit histories, marketing examples, etc.
Detailed Business Plan Outline
If you’re looking for greater insight into what goes into specific planning sections, check out the following outline for a business plan. It can help you develop a detailed business plan or provide guidance as to what may be missing from your current plan.
Keep in mind that every business plan will look a bit different because every business is unique. After all, business planning is to help you be more successful, so focus on the sections that are most beneficial to your business and skip the sections that aren’t useful or don’t apply.
To help, we’ve marked sections that are truly optional with an * in our business plan outline template.
Executive Summary
- Company Purpose / Mission Statement
- Problem We Solve
- Our Solution
- Target Market
- Team
- Financial Summary
- Traction*
- Funding Needed*
Products & Services
- Problem worth solving
- Our Solution
- Traction*
- Intellectual Property/Patents*
- Regulatory Requirements*
- Future Products and Services*
Target Market
- Market Size & Segments
- Market Trends*
- Market Growth*
- Industry Analysis*
- Key Customers*
- Future Markets*
Competition
- Current Alternatives
- Our Advantages
- Barriers to Entry*
Marketing & Sales
- Market Positioning
- Unique Value Proposition*
- Marketing Plan
- Sales Plan
- Pricing Strategy*
- Distribution*
- SWOT Analysis*
Operations
- Location & Facilities
- Technology
- Equipment & Tools
- Sourcing and Fulfillment*
- Partners and Resources*
Milestones and Metrics
- Milestones
- Key Metrics
Company Overview and Team
- Organizational Structure
- Company History and Ownership
- Management Team
- Management Team Gaps
Financial Plan and Forecast
- Projected Profit and Loss
- Projected Cash Flow
- Projected Balance Sheet
- Use of Funds
- Exit Strategy
Appendix
A repository for any additional information, including charts and graphs, to support your business plan.
Business Plan Outline FAQ
- There’s no real established order to business plans, aside from keeping the Executive Summary at the top. As long as you have all of the main business plan components, then the order should reflect your goals. If this is meant solely for your personal use, lay it out as a roadmap with similar sections grouped together for easy reference. If you’re pitching this to potential investors, lead with the stronger sections to emphasize the pitch. Then if you’re unsure of what order makes sense, then just stick to the business plan outline from this article.
- Every business plan should include bar charts and pie charts to illustrate the numbers. It’s a simple way for you, your team, and investors to visualize and digest complex financial information. Cash flow is the single most important numerical analysis in a business plan, and a standard cash flow statement or table should never be missing. Most standard business plan outlines also include a sales forecast and income statement (also called profit and loss), and a balance sheet.
- The basic structure of a business plan includes: Executive Summary, Products and Services, Market Analysis, Competition, Marketing and Sales, Operations, Milestones and Metrics, Company Overview, Financial Plan, and Appendix. This should be the layout you find in any business plan outline you use.
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