which section of the business plan

How to Write a Business Plan (Plus Examples & Templates)

• 3 years ago

Have you ever wondered how to write a business plan step by step? Mike Andes, told us: 

This guide will help you write a business plan to impress investors.

Throughout this process, we’ll get information from Mike Andes, who started Augusta Lawn Care Services when he was 12 and turned it into a franchise with over 90 locations. He has gone on to help others learn how to write business plans and start businesses.  He knows a thing or two about writing  business plans!

We’ll start by discussing the definition of a business plan. Then we’ll discuss how to come up with the idea, how to do the market research, and then the important elements in the business plan format. Keep reading to start your journey!

What Is a Business Plan?

A business plan is simply a road map of what you are trying to achieve with your business and how you will go about achieving it. It should cover all elements of your business including: 

• Finding customers
• Plans for developing a team
•  Competition
• Legal structures
• Key milestones you are pursuing

If you aren’t quite ready to create a business plan, consider starting by reading our business startup guide .

Get a Business Idea

Before you can write a business plan, you have to have a business idea. You may see a problem that needs to be solved and have an idea how to solve it, or you might start by evaluating your interests and skills. 

Mike told us, “The three things I suggest asking yourself when thinking about starting a business are:

• What am I good at?
• What would I enjoy doing?
• What can I get paid for?”

If all three of these questions don’t lead to at least one common answer, it will probably be a much harder road to success. Either there is not much market for it, you won’t be good at it, or you won’t enjoy doing it. 

As Mike told us, “There’s enough stress starting and running a business that if you don’t like it or aren’t good at it, it’s hard to succeed.”

If you’d like to hear more about Mike’s approach to starting a business, check out our YouTube video

Conduct Market Analysis

Market analysis is focused on establishing if there is a target market for your products and services, how large the target market is, and identifying the demographics of people or businesses that would be interested in the product or service. The goal here is to establish how much money your business concept can make.

Product and Service Demand

A search engine is your best friend when trying to figure out if there is demand for your products and services. Personally, I love using presearch.org because it lets you directly search on a ton of different platforms including Google, Youtube, Twitter, and more. Check out the screenshot for the full list of search options.

With quick web searches, you can find out how many competitors you have, look through their reviews, and see if there are common complaints about the competitors. Bad reviews are a great place to find opportunities to offer better products or services. 

If there are no similar products or services, you may have stumbled upon something new, or there may just be no demand for it. To find out, go talk to your most honest friend about the idea and see what they think. If they tell you it’s dumb or stare at you vacantly, there’s probably no market for it.

You can also conduct a survey through social media to get public opinion on your idea. Using Facebook Business Manager , you could get a feel for who would be interested in your product or service.

 I ran a quick test of how many people between 18-65  you could reach in the U.S. during a week. It returned an estimated 700-2,000 for the total number of leads, which is enough to do a fairly accurate statistical analysis.

Identify Demographics of Target Market

Depending on what type of business you want to run, your target market will be different. The narrower the demographic, the fewer potential customers you’ll have. If you did a survey, you’ll be able to use that data to help define your target audience. Some considerations you’ll want to consider are:

• Other Interests
• Marital Status
• Do they have kids?

Once you have this information, it can help you narrow down your options for location and help define your marketing further. One resource that Mike recommended using is the Census Bureau’s Quick Facts Map . He told us,  

“It helps you quickly evaluate what the best areas are for your business to be located.”

How to Write a Business Plan

Now that you’ve developed your idea a little and established there is a market for it, you can begin writing a business plan. Getting started is easier with the business plan template we created for you to download. I strongly recommend using it as it is updated to make it easier to create an action plan. 

Each of the following should be a section of your business plan:

• Business Plan Cover Page
• Table of Contents
• Executive Summary
• Company Description
• Description of Products and Services

SWOT Analysis

• Competitor Data
• Competitive Analysis
• Marketing Expenses Strategy 

Pricing Strategy

• Distribution Channel Assessment
• Operational Plan
• Management and Organizational Strategy
• Financial Statements and/or Financial Projections

We’ll look into each of these. Don’t forget to download our free business plan template (mentioned just above) so you can follow along as we go. 

How to Write a Business Plan Step 1. Create a Cover Page

The first thing investors will see is the cover page for your business plan. Make sure it looks professional. A great cover page shows that you think about first impressions.

A good business plan should have the following elements on a cover page:

• Professionally designed logo
• Company name
• Mission or Vision Statement
• Contact Info

Basically, think of a cover page for your business plan like a giant business card. It is meant to capture people’s attention but be quickly processed.

How to Write a Business Plan Step 2. Create a Table of Contents

Most people are busy enough that they don’t have a lot of time. Providing a table of contents makes it easy for them to find the pages of your plan that are meaningful to them.

A table of contents will be immediately after the cover page, but you can include it after the executive summary. Including the table of contents immediately after the executive summary will help investors know what section of your business plan they want to review more thoroughly.

Check out Canva’s article about creating a  table of contents . It has a ton of great information about creating easy access to each section of your business plan. Just remember that you’ll want to use different strategies for digital and hard copy business plans.

How to Write a Business Plan Step 3. Write an Executive Summary

An executive summary is where your business plan should catch the readers interest.  It doesn’t need to be long, but should be quick and easy to read.

Mike told us,

How long should an executive summary bein an informal business plan?

For casual use, an executive summary should be similar to an elevator pitch, no more than 150-160 words, just enough to get them interested and wanting more. Indeed has a great article on elevator pitches .  This can also be used for the content of emails to get readers’ attention.

It consists of three basic parts:

• An introduction to you and your business.
• What your business is about.
• A call to action

Example of an informal executive summary 

One of the best elevator pitches I’ve used is:

So far that pitch has achieved a 100% success rate in getting partnerships for the business.

What should I include in an executive summary for investors?

Investors are going to need a more detailed executive summary if you want to secure financing or sell equity. The executive summary should be a brief overview of your entire business plan and include:

• Introduction of yourself and company.
• An origin story (Recognition of a problem and how you came to solution)
• An introduction to your products or services.
• Your unique value proposition. Make sure to include intellectual property.
• Where you are in the business life cycle
• Request and why you need it.

Successful business plan examples

The owner of Urbanity told us he spent 2 months writing a 75-page business plan and received a $250,000 loan from the bank when he was 23. Make your business plan as detailed as possible when looking for financing. We’ve provided a template to help you prepare the portions of a business plan that banks expect.

Here’s the interview with the owner of Urbanity:

When to write an executive summary?

Even though the summary is near the beginning of a business plan, you should write it after you complete the rest of a business plan. You can’t talk about revenue, profits, and expected expenditures if you haven’t done the market research and created a financial plan.

What mistakes do people make when writing an executive summary?

Business owners commonly go into too much detail about the following items in an executive summary:

• Marketing and sales processes
• Financial statements
• Organizational structure
• Market analysis

These are things that people will want to know later, but they don’t hook the reader. They won’t spark interest in your small business, but they’ll close the deal.

How to Write a Business Plan Step 4. Company Description

Every business plan should include a company description. A great business plan will include the following elements while describing the company:

• Mission statement
• Philosophy and vision
• Company goals

Target market

• Legal structure

Let’s take a look at what each section includes in a good business plan.

Mission Statement

A mission statement is a brief explanation of why you started the company and what the company’s main focus is. It should be no more than one or two sentences. Check out HubSpot’s article 27 Inspiring Mission Statement for a great read on informative and inspiring mission and vision statements. 

Company Philosophy and Vision

The company philosophy is what drives your company. You’ll normally hear them called core values.  These are the building blocks that make your company different. You want to communicate your values to customers, business owners, and investors as often as possible to build a company culture, but make sure to back them up.

What makes your company different?

Each company is different. Your new business should rise above the standard company lines of honesty, integrity, fun, innovation, and community when communicating your business values. The standard answers are corporate jargon and lack authenticity. 

Examples of core values

One of my clients decided to add a core values page to their website. As a tech company they emphasized the values:

•  Prioritize communication.
•  Never stop learning.
•  Be transparent.
•  Start small and grow incrementally.

These values communicate how the owner and the rest of the company operate. They also show a value proposition and competitive advantage because they specifically focus on delivering business value from the start. These values also genuinely show what the company is about and customers recognize the sincerity. Indeed has a great blog about how to identify your core values .

What is a vision statement?

A vision statement communicate the long lasting change a business pursues. The vision helps investors and customers understand what your company is trying to accomplish. The vision statement goes beyond a mission statement to provide something meaningful to the community, customer’s lives, or even the world.

Example vision statements

The Alzheimer’s Association is a great example of a vision statement:

A world without Alzheimer’s Disease and other dementia.

It clearly tells how they want to change the world. A world without Alzheimers might be unachievable, but that means they always have room for improvement.

Business Goals

You have to measure success against goals for a business plan to be meaningful. A business plan helps guide a company similar to how your GPS provides a road map to your favorite travel destination. A goal to make as much money as possible is not inspirational and sounds greedy.

Sure, business owners want to increase their profits and improve customer service, but they need to present an overview of what they consider success. The goals should help everyone prioritize their work.

How far in advance should a business plan?

Business planning should be done at least one year in advance, but many banks and investors prefer three to five year business plans. Longer plans show investors that the management team  understands the market and knows the business is operating in a constantly shifting market. In addition, a plan helps businesses to adjust to changes because they have already considered how to handle them.

Example of great business goals

My all time-favorite long-term company goals are included in Tesla’s Master Plan, Part Deux . These goals were written in 2016 and drive the company’s decisions through 2026. They are the reason that investors are so forgiving when Elon Musk continually fails to meet his quarterly and annual goals.

If the progress aligns with the business plan investors are likely to continue to believe in the company. Just make sure the goals are reasonable or you’ll be discredited (unless you’re Elon Musk).

You did target market research before creating a business plan. Now it’s time to add it to the plan so others understand what your ideal customer looks like. As a new business owner, you may not be considered an expert in your field yet, so document everything. Make sure the references you use are from respectable sources. 

Use information from the specific lender when you are applying for lending. Most lenders provide industry research reports and using their data can strengthen the position of your business plan.

A small business plan should include a section on the external environment. Understanding the industry is crucial because we don’t plan a business in a vacuum. Make sure to research the industry trends, competitors, and forecasts. I personally prefer IBIS World for my business research. Make sure to answer questions like:

• What is the industry outlook long-term and short-term?
• How will your business take advantage of projected industry changes and trends?
• What might happen to your competitors and how will your business successfully compete?

Industry resources

Some helpful resources to help you establish more about your industry are:

• Trade Associations
• Federal Reserve
• Bureau of Labor Statistics

Legal Structure

There are five basic types of legal structures that most people will utilize:

• Sole proprietorships
• Limited Liability Companies (LLC)

Partnerships

Corporations.

• Franchises.

Each business structure has their pros and cons. An LLC is the most common legal structure due to its protection of personal assets and ease of setting up. Make sure to specify how ownership is divided and what roles each owner plays when you have more than one business owner.

You’ll have to decide which structure is best for you, but we’ve gathered information on each to make it easier.

Sole Proprietorship

A sole proprietorship is the easiest legal structure to set up but doesn’t protect the owner’s personal assets from legal issues. That means if something goes wrong, you could lose both your company and your home.

To start a sole proprietorship, fill out a special tax form called a  Schedule C . Sole proprietors can also join the American Independent Business Alliance .

Limited Liability Company (LLC)

An LLC is the most common business structure used in the United States because an LLC protects the owner’s personal assets. It’s similar to partnerships and corporations, but can be a single-member LLC in most states. An LLC requires a document called an operating agreement.

Each state has different requirements. Here’s a link to find your state’s requirements . Delaware and Nevada are common states to file an LLC because they are really business-friendly. Here’s a blog on the top 10 states to get an LLC.

Partnerships are typically for legal firms. If you choose to use a partnership choose a Limited Liability Partnership. Alternatively, you can just use an LLC.

Corporations are typically for massive organizations. Corporations have taxes on both corporate and income tax so unless you plan on selling stock, you are better off considering an LLC with S-Corp status . Investopedia has good information corporations here .

There are several opportunities to purchase successful franchises. TopFranchise.com has a list of companies in a variety of industries that offer franchise opportunities. This makes it where an entrepreneur can benefit from the reputation of an established business that has already worked out many of the kinks of starting from scratch.

How to Write a Business Plan Step 5. Products and Services

This section of the business plan should focus on what you sell, how you source it, and how you sell it. You should include:

• Unique features that differentiate your business products from competitors
• Intellectual property
• Your supply chain
• Cost and pricing structure 

Questions to answer about your products and services

Mike gave us a list  of the most important questions to answer about your product and services:

• How will you be selling the product? (in person, ecommerce, wholesale, direct to consumer)?
• How do you let them know they need a product?
• How do you communicate the message?
• How will you do transactions?
• How much will you be selling it for?
• How many do you think you’ll sell and why?

Make sure to use the worksheet on our business plan template .

How to Write a Business Plan Step 6. Sales and Marketing Plan

The marketing and sales plan is focused on the strategy to bring awareness to your company and guides how you will get the product to the consumer.  It should contain the following sections:

SWOT Analysis stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Not only do you want to identify them, but you also want to document how the business plans to deal with them.

Business owners need to do a thorough job documenting how their service or product stacks up against the competition.

If proper research isn’t done, investors will be able to tell that the owner hasn’t researched the competition and is less likely to believe that the team can protect its service from threats by the more well-established competition. This is one of the most common parts of a presentation that trips up business owners presenting on Shark Tank .

SWOT Examples

Examples of strengths and weaknesses could be things like the lack of cash flow, intellectual property ownership, high costs of suppliers, and customers’ expectations on shipping times.

Opportunities could be ways to capitalize on your strengths or improve your weaknesses, but may also be gaps in the industry. This includes:

• Adding offerings that fit with your current small business
• Increase sales to current customers
• Reducing costs through bulk ordering
• Finding ways to reduce inventory
•  And other areas you can improve

Threats will normally come from outside of the company but could also be things like losing a key member of the team. Threats normally come from competition, regulations, taxes, and unforeseen events.

The management team should use the SWOT analysis to guide other areas of business planning, but it absolutely has to be done before a business owner starts marketing. 

Include Competitor Data in Your Business Plan

When you plan a business, taking into consideration the strengths and weaknesses of the competition is key to navigating the field. Providing an overview of your competition and where they are headed shows that you are invested in understanding the industry.

For smaller businesses, you’ll want to search both the company and the owners names to see what they are working on. For publicly held corporations, you can find their quarterly and annual reports on the SEC website .

What another business plans to do can impact your business. Make sure to include things that might make it attractive for bigger companies to outsource to a small business.

Marketing Strategy

The marketing and sales part of business plans should be focused on how you are going to make potential customers aware of your business and then sell to them.

If you haven’t already included it, Mike recommends:

“They’ll want to know about Demographics, ages, and wealth of your target market.”

Make sure to include the Total addressable market .  The term refers to the value if you captured 100% of the market.

Advertising Strategy

You’ll explain what formats of advertising you’ll be using. Some possibilities are:

• Online: Facebook and Google are the big names to work with here.
• Print : Print can be used to reach broad groups or targeted markets. Check out this for tips .
• Radio : iHeartMedia is one of the best ways to advertise on the radio
• Cable television : High priced, hard to measure ROI, but here’s an explanation of the process
• Billboards: Attracting customers with billboards can be beneficial in high traffic areas.

You’ll want to define how you’ll be using each including frequency, duration, and cost. If you have the materials already created, including pictures or links to the marketing to show creative assets.

Mike told us “Most businesses are marketing digitally now due to Covid, but that’s not always the right answer.”

Make sure the marketing strategy will help team members or external marketing agencies stay within the brand guidelines .

This section of a business plan should be focused on pricing. There are a ton of pricing strategies that may work for different business plans. Which one will work for you depends on what kind of a business you run.

Some common pricing strategies are:

• Value-based pricing – Commonly used with home buying and selling or other products that are status symbols.
• Skimming pricing – Commonly seen in video game consoles, price starts off high to recoup expenses quickly, then reduces over time.
• Competition-based pricing – Pricing based on competitors’ pricing is commonly seen at gas stations.
• Freemium services –  Commonly used for software, where there is a free plan, then purchase options for more functionality.

HubSpot has a great calculator and blog on pricing strategies.

Beyond explaining what strategy your business plans to use, you should include references for how you came to this pricing strategy and how it will impact your cash flow.

Distribution Plan

This part of a business plan is focused on how the product or service is going to go through the supply chain. These may include multiple divisions or multiple companies. Make sure to include any parts of the workflow that are automated so investors can see where cost savings are expected and when.

Supply Chain Examples

For instance, lawn care companies  would need to cover aspects such as:

• Suppliers for lawn care equipment and tools
• Any chemicals or treatments needed
• Repair parts for sprinkler systems
• Vehicles to transport equipment and employees
• Insurance to protect the company vehicles and people.

Examples of Supply Chains

These are fairly flat supply chains compared to something like a clothing designer where the clothes would go through multiple vendors. A clothing company might have the following supply chain:

• Raw materials
• Shipping of raw materials
• Converting of raw materials to thread
• Shipping thread to produce garments
• Garment producer
• Shipping to company
• Company storage
• Shipping to retail stores

There have been advances such as print on demand that eliminate many of these steps. If you are designing completely custom clothing, all of this would need to be planned to keep from having business disruptions.

The main thing to include in the business plan is the list of suppliers, the path the supply chain follows, the time from order to the customer’s home, and the costs associated with each step of the process.

According to BizPlanReview , a business plan without this information is likely to get rejected because they have failed to research the key elements necessary to make sales to the customer.

How to Write a Business Plan Step 7. Company Organization and Operational Plan

This part of the business plan is focused on how the business model will function while serving customers.  The business plan should provide an overview of  how the team will manage the following aspects:

Quality Control

• Legal environment

Let’s look at each for some insight.

Production has already been discussed in previous sections so I won’t go into it much. When writing a business plan for investors, try to avoid repetition as it creates a more simple business plan.

If the organizational plan will be used by the team as an overview of how to perform the best services for the customer, then redundancy makes more sense as it communicates what is important to the business.

Quality control policies help to keep the team focused on how to verify that the company adheres to the business plan and meets or exceeds customer expectations.

Quality control can be anything from a standard that says “all labels on shirts can be no more than 1/16″ off center” to a defined checklist of steps that should be performed and filled out for every customer.

There are a variety of organizations that help define quality control including:

• International Organization for Standardization – Quality standards for energy, technology, food, production environments, and cybersecurity
• AICPA – Standard defined for accounting.
• The Joint Commission – Healthcare
• ASHRAE – HVAC best practices

You can find lists of the organizations that contribute most to the government regulation of industries on Open Secrets . Research what the leaders in your field are doing. Follow their example and implement it in your quality control plan.

For location, you should use information from the market research to establish where the location will be. Make sure to include the following in the location documentation.

• The size of your location
• The type of building (retail, industrial, commercial, etc.)
• Zoning restrictions – Urban Wire has a good map on how zoning works in each state
• Accessibility – Does it meet ADA requirements?
• Costs including rent, maintenance, utilities, insurance and any buildout or remodeling costs
• Utilities – b.e.f. has a good energy calculator .

Legal Environment

The legal requirement section is focused on defining how to meet the legal requirements for your industry. A good business plan should include all of the following:

• Any licenses and/or permits that are needed and whether you’ve obtained them
• Any trademarks, copyrights, or patents that you have or are in the process of applying for
• The insurance coverage your business requires and how much it costs
• Any environmental, health, or workplace regulations affecting your business
• Any special regulations affecting your industry
• Bonding requirements, if applicable

Your local SBA office can help you establish requirements in your area. I strongly recommend using them. They are a great resource.

Your business plan should include a plan for company organization and hiring. While you may be the only person with the company right now, down the road you’ll need more people. Make sure to consider and document the answers to the following questions:

• What is the current leadership structure and what will it look like in the future?
• What types of employees will you have? Are there any licensing or educational requirements?
• How many employees will you need?
• Will you ever hire freelancers or independent contractors?
• What is each position’s job description?
• What is the pay structure (hourly, salaried, base plus commission, etc.)?
• How do you plan to find qualified employees and contractors?

One of the most crucial parts of a business plan is the organizational chart. This simply shows the positions the company will need, who is in charge of them and the relationship of each of them. It will look similar to this:

Our small business plan template has a much more in-depth organizational chart you can edit to include when you include the organizational chart in your business plan.

How to Write a Business Plan Step 8. Financial Statements 

No business plan is complete without financial statements or financial projections. The business plan format will be different based on whether you are writing a business plan to expand a business or a startup business plan. Let’s dig deeper into each.

Provide All Financial Income from an Existing Business

An existing business should use their past financial documents including the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement to find trends to estimate the next 3-5 years.

You can create easy trendlines in excel to predict future revenue, profit and loss, cash flow, and other changes in year-over-year performance. This will show your expected performance assuming business continues as normal.

If you are seeking an investment, then the business is probably not going to continue as normal. Depending on the financial plan and the purpose of getting financing, adjustments may be needed to the following:

• Higher Revenue if expanding business
• Lower Cost of Goods Sold if purchasing inventory with bulk discounts
• Adding interest if utilizing financing (not equity deal)
• Changes in expenses
• Addition of financing information to the cash flow statement
• Changes in Earnings per Share on the balance sheet

Financial modeling is a challenging subject, but there are plenty of low-cost courses on the subject. If you need help planning your business financial documentation take some time to watch some of them.

Make it a point to document how you calculated all the changes to the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement in your business plan so that key team members or investors can verify your research.

Financial Projections For A Startup Business Plan

Unlike an existing business, a startup doesn’t have previous success to model its future performance. In this scenario, you need to focus on how to make a business plan realistic through the use of industry research and averages.

Mike gave the following advice in his interview:

Financial Forecasting Mistakes

One of the things a lot of inexperienced people use is the argument, “If I get one percent of the market, it is worth $100 million.” If you use this, investors are likely to file the document under bad business plan examples.

Let’s use custom t-shirts as an example.

Credence Research estimated in 2018 there were 11,334,800,000 custom t-shirts sold for a total of $206.12 Billion, with a 6% compound annual growth rate.

With that data,  you can calculate that the industry will grow to $270 Billion in 2023 and that the average shirt sold creates $18.18 in revenue.

Combine that with an IBIS World estimate of 11,094 custom screen printers and that means even if you become an average seller, you’ll get .009% of the market.

Here’s a table for easier viewing of that information.

The point here is to make sure your business proposal examples make sense.

You’ll need to know industry averages such as cost of customer acquisition, revenue per customer, the average cost of goods sold, and admin costs to be able to create accurate estimates.

Our simple business plan templates walk you through most of these processes. If you follow them you’ll have a good idea of how to write a business proposal.

How to Write a Business Plan Step 9. Business Plan Example of Funding Requests

What is a business plan without a plan on how to obtain funding?

The Small Business Administration has an example for a pizza restaurant that theoretically needed nearly $20k to make it through their first month.

In our video, How to Start a $500K/Year T-Shirt Business (Pt. 1 ), Sanford Booth told us he needed about $200,000 to start his franchise and broke even after 4 months.

Freshbooks estimates it takes on average 2-3 years for a business to be profitable, which means the fictitious pizza company from the SBA could need up to $330k to make it through that time and still pay their bills for their home and pizza shop.

Not every business needs that much to start, but realistically it’s a good idea to assume that you need a fairly large cushion.

Ways to get funding for a small business

There are a variety of ways to cover this. the most common are:

• Bootstrapping – Using your savings without external funding.
• Taking out debt – loans, credit cards
• Equity, Seed Funding – Ownership of a percentage of the company in exchange for current funds
• Crowdsourcing – Promising a good for funding to create the product

Keep reading for more tips on how to write a business plan.

How funding will be used

When asking for business financing make sure to include:

• How much to get started?
• What is the minimum viable product and how soon can you make money?
• How will the money be spent?

Mike emphasized two aspects that should be included in every plan, 

How to Write a Business Plan Resources

Here are some links to a business plan sample and business plan outline. 

• Sample plan

It’s also helpful to follow some of the leading influencers in the business plan writing community. Here’s a list:

• Wise Plans –  Shares a lot of information on starting businesses and is a business plan writing company.
• Optimus Business Plans –  Another business plan writing company.
• Venture Capital – A venture capital thread that can help give you ideas.

How to Write a Business Plan: What’s Next?

We hope this guide about how to write a simple business plan step by step has been helpful. We’ve covered:

• The definition of a business plan
• Coming up with a business idea
• Performing market research
• The critical components of a business plan
• An example business plan

In addition, we provided you with a simple business plan template to assist you in the process of writing your startup business plan. The startup business plan template also includes a business model template that will be the key to your success.

Don’t forget to check out the rest of our business hub .

Have you written a business plan before? How did it impact your ability to achieve your goals?

Brandon Boushy

Brandon Boushy lives to improve people’s lives by helping them become successful entrepreneurs. His journey started nearly 30 years ago. He consistently excelled at everything he did, but preferred to make the rules rather than follow him. His exploration of self and knowledge has helped him to get an engineering degree, MBA, and countless certifications. When freelancing and rideshare came onto the scene, he recognized the opportunity to play by his own rules. Since 2017, he has helped businesses across all industries achieve more with his research, writing, and marketing strategies. Since 2021, he has been the Lead Writer for UpFlip where he has published over 170 articles on small business success.

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2 thoughts on “How to Write a Business Plan (Plus Examples & Templates)”

My Name is PRETTY NGOMANE. A south African female. Aspiring to do farming. And finding a home away from home for the differently abled persons in their daily needs.

nice work https://binarychemist.com/

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How to Write a Business Plan, Step by Step

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What is a business plan?

1. write an executive summary, 2. describe your company, 3. state your business goals, 4. describe your products and services, 5. do your market research, 6. outline your marketing and sales plan, 7. perform a business financial analysis, 8. make financial projections, 9. summarize how your company operates, 10. add any additional information to an appendix, business plan tips and resources.

A business plan outlines your business’s financial goals and explains how you’ll achieve them over the next three to five years. Here’s a step-by-step guide to writing a business plan that will offer a strong, detailed road map for your business.

ZenBusiness

A business plan is a document that explains what your business does, how it makes money and who its customers are. Internally, writing a business plan should help you clarify your vision and organize your operations. Externally, you can share it with potential lenders and investors to show them you’re on the right track.

Business plans are living documents; it’s OK for them to change over time. Startups may update their business plans often as they figure out who their customers are and what products and services fit them best. Mature companies might only revisit their business plan every few years. Regardless of your business’s age, brush up this document before you apply for a business loan .

» Need help writing? Learn about the best business plan software .

This is your elevator pitch. It should include a mission statement, a brief description of the products or services your business offers and a broad summary of your financial growth plans.

Though the executive summary is the first thing your investors will read, it can be easier to write it last. That way, you can highlight information you’ve identified while writing other sections that go into more detail.

» MORE: How to write an executive summary in 6 steps

Next up is your company description. This should contain basic information like:

Your business’s registered name.

Address of your business location .

Names of key people in the business. Make sure to highlight unique skills or technical expertise among members of your team.

Your company description should also define your business structure — such as a sole proprietorship, partnership or corporation — and include the percent ownership that each owner has and the extent of each owner’s involvement in the company.

Lastly, write a little about the history of your company and the nature of your business now. This prepares the reader to learn about your goals in the next section.

» MORE: How to write a company overview for a business plan

The third part of a business plan is an objective statement. This section spells out what you’d like to accomplish, both in the near term and over the coming years.

If you’re looking for a business loan or outside investment, you can use this section to explain how the financing will help your business grow and how you plan to achieve those growth targets. The key is to provide a clear explanation of the opportunity your business presents to the lender.

For example, if your business is launching a second product line, you might explain how the loan will help your company launch that new product and how much you think sales will increase over the next three years as a result.

» MORE: How to write a successful business plan for a loan

In this section, go into detail about the products or services you offer or plan to offer.

You should include the following:

An explanation of how your product or service works.

The pricing model for your product or service.

The typical customers you serve.

Your supply chain and order fulfillment strategy.

You can also discuss current or pending trademarks and patents associated with your product or service.

Lenders and investors will want to know what sets your product apart from your competition. In your market analysis section , explain who your competitors are. Discuss what they do well, and point out what you can do better. If you’re serving a different or underserved market, explain that.

Here, you can address how you plan to persuade customers to buy your products or services, or how you will develop customer loyalty that will lead to repeat business.

Include details about your sales and distribution strategies, including the costs involved in selling each product .

» MORE: R e a d our complete guide to small business marketing

If you’re a startup, you may not have much information on your business financials yet. However, if you’re an existing business, you’ll want to include income or profit-and-loss statements, a balance sheet that lists your assets and debts, and a cash flow statement that shows how cash comes into and goes out of the company.

Accounting software may be able to generate these reports for you. It may also help you calculate metrics such as:

Net profit margin: the percentage of revenue you keep as net income.

Current ratio: the measurement of your liquidity and ability to repay debts.

Accounts receivable turnover ratio: a measurement of how frequently you collect on receivables per year.

This is a great place to include charts and graphs that make it easy for those reading your plan to understand the financial health of your business.

This is a critical part of your business plan if you’re seeking financing or investors. It outlines how your business will generate enough profit to repay the loan or how you will earn a decent return for investors.

Here, you’ll provide your business’s monthly or quarterly sales, expenses and profit estimates over at least a three-year period — with the future numbers assuming you’ve obtained a new loan.

Accuracy is key, so carefully analyze your past financial statements before giving projections. Your goals may be aggressive, but they should also be realistic.

NerdWallet’s picks for setting up your business finances:

The best business checking accounts .

The best business credit cards .

The best accounting software .

Before the end of your business plan, summarize how your business is structured and outline each team’s responsibilities. This will help your readers understand who performs each of the functions you’ve described above — making and selling your products or services — and how much each of those functions cost.

If any of your employees have exceptional skills, you may want to include their resumes to help explain the competitive advantage they give you.

Finally, attach any supporting information or additional materials that you couldn’t fit in elsewhere. That might include:

Licenses and permits.

Equipment leases.

Bank statements.

Details of your personal and business credit history, if you’re seeking financing.

If the appendix is long, you may want to consider adding a table of contents at the beginning of this section.

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We’ll start with a brief questionnaire to better understand the unique needs of your business.

Once we uncover your personalized matches, our team will consult you on the process moving forward.

Here are some tips to write a detailed, convincing business plan:

Avoid over-optimism: If you’re applying for a business bank loan or professional investment, someone will be reading your business plan closely. Providing unreasonable sales estimates can hurt your chances of approval.

Proofread: Spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors can jump off the page and turn off lenders and prospective investors. If writing and editing aren't your strong suit, you may want to hire a professional business plan writer, copy editor or proofreader.

Use free resources: SCORE is a nonprofit association that offers a large network of volunteer business mentors and experts who can help you write or edit your business plan. The U.S. Small Business Administration’s Small Business Development Centers , which provide free business consulting and help with business plan development, can also be a resource.

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What Is a Business Plan?

Understanding business plans, how to write a business plan, common elements of a business plan, how often should a business plan be updated, the bottom line, business plan: what it is, what's included, and how to write one.

Adam Hayes, Ph.D., CFA, is a financial writer with 15+ years Wall Street experience as a derivatives trader. Besides his extensive derivative trading expertise, Adam is an expert in economics and behavioral finance. Adam received his master's in economics from The New School for Social Research and his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in sociology. He is a CFA charterholder as well as holding FINRA Series 7, 55 & 63 licenses. He currently researches and teaches economic sociology and the social studies of finance at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

A business plan is a document that details a company's goals and how it intends to achieve them. Business plans can be of benefit to both startups and well-established companies. For startups, a business plan can be essential for winning over potential lenders and investors. Established businesses can find one useful for staying on track and not losing sight of their goals. This article explains what an effective business plan needs to include and how to write one.

Key Takeaways

• A business plan is a document describing a company's business activities and how it plans to achieve its goals.
• Startup companies use business plans to get off the ground and attract outside investors.
• For established companies, a business plan can help keep the executive team focused on and working toward the company's short- and long-term objectives.
• There is no single format that a business plan must follow, but there are certain key elements that most companies will want to include.

Investopedia / Ryan Oakley

Any new business should have a business plan in place prior to beginning operations. In fact, banks and venture capital firms often want to see a business plan before they'll consider making a loan or providing capital to new businesses.

Even if a business isn't looking to raise additional money, a business plan can help it focus on its goals. A 2017 Harvard Business Review article reported that, "Entrepreneurs who write formal plans are 16% more likely to achieve viability than the otherwise identical nonplanning entrepreneurs."

Ideally, a business plan should be reviewed and updated periodically to reflect any goals that have been achieved or that may have changed. An established business that has decided to move in a new direction might create an entirely new business plan for itself.

There are numerous benefits to creating (and sticking to) a well-conceived business plan. These include being able to think through ideas before investing too much money in them and highlighting any potential obstacles to success. A company might also share its business plan with trusted outsiders to get their objective feedback. In addition, a business plan can help keep a company's executive team on the same page about strategic action items and priorities.

Business plans, even among competitors in the same industry, are rarely identical. However, they often have some of the same basic elements, as we describe below.

While it's a good idea to provide as much detail as necessary, it's also important that a business plan be concise enough to hold a reader's attention to the end.

While there are any number of templates that you can use to write a business plan, it's best to try to avoid producing a generic-looking one. Let your plan reflect the unique personality of your business.

Many business plans use some combination of the sections below, with varying levels of detail, depending on the company.

The length of a business plan can vary greatly from business to business. Regardless, it's best to fit the basic information into a 15- to 25-page document. Other crucial elements that take up a lot of space—such as applications for patents—can be referenced in the main document and attached as appendices.

These are some of the most common elements in many business plans:

• Executive summary: This section introduces the company and includes its mission statement along with relevant information about the company's leadership, employees, operations, and locations.
• Products and services: Here, the company should describe the products and services it offers or plans to introduce. That might include details on pricing, product lifespan, and unique benefits to the consumer. Other factors that could go into this section include production and manufacturing processes, any relevant patents the company may have, as well as proprietary technology . Information about research and development (R&D) can also be included here.
• Market analysis: A company needs to have a good handle on the current state of its industry and the existing competition. This section should explain where the company fits in, what types of customers it plans to target, and how easy or difficult it may be to take market share from incumbents.
• Marketing strategy: This section can describe how the company plans to attract and keep customers, including any anticipated advertising and marketing campaigns. It should also describe the distribution channel or channels it will use to get its products or services to consumers.
• Financial plans and projections: Established businesses can include financial statements, balance sheets, and other relevant financial information. New businesses can provide financial targets and estimates for the first few years. Your plan might also include any funding requests you're making.

The best business plans aren't generic ones created from easily accessed templates. A company should aim to entice readers with a plan that demonstrates its uniqueness and potential for success.

2 Types of Business Plans

Business plans can take many forms, but they are sometimes divided into two basic categories: traditional and lean startup. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) , the traditional business plan is the more common of the two.

• Traditional business plans : These plans tend to be much longer than lean startup plans and contain considerably more detail. As a result they require more work on the part of the business, but they can also be more persuasive (and reassuring) to potential investors.
• Lean startup business plans : These use an abbreviated structure that highlights key elements. These business plans are short—as short as one page—and provide only the most basic detail. If a company wants to use this kind of plan, it should be prepared to provide more detail if an investor or a lender requests it.

Why Do Business Plans Fail?

A business plan is not a surefire recipe for success. The plan may have been unrealistic in its assumptions and projections to begin with. Markets and the overall economy might change in ways that couldn't have been foreseen. A competitor might introduce a revolutionary new product or service. All of this calls for building some flexibility into your plan, so you can pivot to a new course if needed.

How frequently a business plan needs to be revised will depend on the nature of the business. A well-established business might want to review its plan once a year and make changes if necessary. A new or fast-growing business in a fiercely competitive market might want to revise it more often, such as quarterly.

What Does a Lean Startup Business Plan Include?

The lean startup business plan is an option when a company prefers to give a quick explanation of its business. For example, a brand-new company may feel that it doesn't have a lot of information to provide yet.

Sections can include: a value proposition ; the company's major activities and advantages; resources such as staff, intellectual property, and capital; a list of partnerships; customer segments; and revenue sources.

A business plan can be useful to companies of all kinds. But as a company grows and the world around it changes, so too should its business plan. So don't think of your business plan as carved in granite but as a living document designed to evolve with your business.

Harvard Business Review. " Research: Writing a Business Plan Makes Your Startup More Likely to Succeed ."

U.S. Small Business Administration. " Write Your Business Plan ."

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How to create a business plan: examples & free template.

This is the ultimate guide to creating a comprehensive and effective plan to start a business . In today’s dynamic business landscape, having a well-crafted business plan is an important first step to securing funding, attracting partners, and navigating the challenges of entrepreneurship.

This guide has been designed to help you create a winning plan that stands out in the ever-evolving marketplace. U sing real-world examples and a free downloadable template, it will walk you through each step of the process.

Whether you’re a seasoned entrepreneur or launching your very first startup, the guide will give you the insights, tools, and confidence you need to create a solid foundation for your business.

Table of Contents

How to Write a Business Plan

Embarking on the journey of creating a successful business requires a solid foundation, and a well-crafted business plan is the cornerstone. Here is the process of writing a comprehensive business plan and the main parts of a winning business plan . From setting objectives to conducting market research, this guide will have everything you need.

Executive Summary

The Executive Summary serves as the gateway to your business plan, offering a snapshot of your venture’s core aspects. This section should captivate and inform, succinctly summarizing the essence of your plan.

It’s crucial to include a clear mission statement, a brief description of your primary products or services, an overview of your target market, and key financial projections or achievements.

Think of it as an elevator pitch in written form: it should be compelling enough to engage potential investors or stakeholders and provide them with a clear understanding of what your business is about, its goals, and why it’s a promising investment.

Example: EcoTech is a technology company specializing in eco-friendly and sustainable products designed to reduce energy consumption and minimize waste. Our mission is to create innovative solutions that contribute to a cleaner, greener environment.

Our target market includes environmentally conscious consumers and businesses seeking to reduce their carbon footprint. We project a 200% increase in revenue within the first three years of operation.

Overview and Business Objectives

In the Overview and Business Objectives section, outline your business’s core goals and the strategic approaches you plan to use to achieve them. This section should set forth clear, specific objectives that are attainable and time-bound, providing a roadmap for your business’s growth and success.

It’s important to detail how these objectives align with your company’s overall mission and vision. Discuss the milestones you aim to achieve and the timeframe you’ve set for these accomplishments.

This part of the plan demonstrates to investors and stakeholders your vision for growth and the practical steps you’ll take to get there.

Example: EcoTech’s primary objective is to become a market leader in sustainable technology products within the next five years. Our key objectives include:

• Introducing three new products within the first two years of operation.
• Achieving annual revenue growth of 30%.
• Expanding our customer base to over 10,000 clients by the end of the third year.

Company Description

The Company Description section is your opportunity to delve into the details of your business. Provide a comprehensive overview that includes your company’s history, its mission statement, and its vision for the future.

Highlight your unique selling proposition (USP) – what makes your business stand out in the market. Explain the problems your company solves and how it benefits your customers.

Include information about the company’s founders, their expertise, and why they are suited to lead the business to success. This section should paint a vivid picture of your business, its values, and its place in the industry.

Example: EcoTech is committed to developing cutting-edge sustainable technology products that benefit both the environment and our customers. Our unique combination of innovative solutions and eco-friendly design sets us apart from the competition. We envision a future where technology and sustainability go hand in hand, leading to a greener planet.

Define Your Target Market

Defining Your Target Market is critical for tailoring your business strategy effectively. This section should describe your ideal customer base in detail, including demographic information (such as age, gender, income level, and location) and psychographic data (like interests, values, and lifestyle).

Elucidate on the specific needs or pain points of your target audience and how your product or service addresses these. This information will help you know your target market and develop targeted marketing strategies.

Example: Our target market comprises environmentally conscious consumers and businesses looking for innovative solutions to reduce their carbon footprint. Our ideal customers are those who prioritize sustainability and are willing to invest in eco-friendly products.

Market Analysis

The Market Analysis section requires thorough research and a keen understanding of the industry. It involves examining the current trends within your industry, understanding the needs and preferences of your customers, and analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors.

This analysis will enable you to spot market opportunities and anticipate potential challenges. Include data and statistics to back up your claims, and use graphs or charts to illustrate market trends.

This section should demonstrate that you have a deep understanding of the market in which you operate and that your business is well-positioned to capitalize on its opportunities.

Example: The market for eco-friendly technology products has experienced significant growth in recent years, with an estimated annual growth rate of 10%. As consumers become increasingly aware of environmental issues, the demand for sustainable solutions continues to rise.

Our research indicates a gap in the market for high-quality, innovative eco-friendly technology products that cater to both individual and business clients.

SWOT Analysis

A SWOT analysis in your business plan offers a comprehensive examination of your company’s internal and external factors. By assessing Strengths, you showcase what your business does best and where your capabilities lie.

Weaknesses involve an honest introspection of areas where your business may be lacking or could improve. Opportunities can be external factors that your business could capitalize on, such as market gaps or emerging trends.

Threats include external challenges your business may face, like competition or market changes. This analysis is crucial for strategic planning, as it helps in recognizing and leveraging your strengths, addressing weaknesses, seizing opportunities, and preparing for potential threats.

Including a SWOT analysis demonstrates to stakeholders that you have a balanced and realistic understanding of your business in its operational context.

• Innovative and eco-friendly product offerings.
• Strong commitment to sustainability and environmental responsibility.
• Skilled and experienced team with expertise in technology and sustainability.

Weaknesses:

• Limited brand recognition compared to established competitors.
• Reliance on third-party manufacturers for product development.

Opportunities:

• Growing consumer interest in sustainable products.
• Partnerships with environmentally-focused organizations and influencers.
• Expansion into international markets.
• Intense competition from established technology companies.
• Regulatory changes could impact the sustainable technology market.

Competitive Analysis

In this section, you’ll analyze your competitors in-depth, examining their products, services, market positioning, and pricing strategies. Understanding your competition allows you to identify gaps in the market and tailor your offerings to outperform them.

By conducting a thorough competitive analysis, you can gain insights into your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, enabling you to develop strategies to differentiate your business and gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

Example: Key competitors include:

GreenTech: A well-known brand offering eco-friendly technology products, but with a narrower focus on energy-saving devices.

EarthSolutions: A direct competitor specializing in sustainable technology, but with a limited product range and higher prices.

By offering a diverse product portfolio, competitive pricing, and continuous innovation, we believe we can capture a significant share of the growing sustainable technology market.

Organization and Management Team

Provide an overview of your company’s organizational structure, including key roles and responsibilities. Introduce your management team, highlighting their expertise and experience to demonstrate that your team is capable of executing the business plan successfully.

Showcasing your team’s background, skills, and accomplishments instills confidence in investors and other stakeholders, proving that your business has the leadership and talent necessary to achieve its objectives and manage growth effectively.

Example: EcoTech’s organizational structure comprises the following key roles: CEO, CTO, CFO, Sales Director, Marketing Director, and R&D Manager. Our management team has extensive experience in technology, sustainability, and business development, ensuring that we are well-equipped to execute our business plan successfully.

Products and Services Offered

Describe the products or services your business offers, focusing on their unique features and benefits. Explain how your offerings solve customer pain points and why they will choose your products or services over the competition.

This section should emphasize the value you provide to customers, demonstrating that your business has a deep understanding of customer needs and is well-positioned to deliver innovative solutions that address those needs and set your company apart from competitors.

Example: EcoTech offers a range of eco-friendly technology products, including energy-efficient lighting solutions, solar chargers, and smart home devices that optimize energy usage. Our products are designed to help customers reduce energy consumption, minimize waste, and contribute to a cleaner environment.

Marketing and Sales Strategy

In this section, articulate your comprehensive strategy for reaching your target market and driving sales. Detail the specific marketing channels you plan to use, such as social media, email marketing, SEO, or traditional advertising.

Describe the nature of your advertising campaigns and promotional activities, explaining how they will capture the attention of your target audience and convey the value of your products or services. Outline your sales strategy, including your sales process, team structure, and sales targets.

Discuss how these marketing and sales efforts will work together to attract and retain customers, generate leads, and ultimately contribute to achieving your business’s revenue goals.

This section is critical to convey to investors and stakeholders that you have a well-thought-out approach to market your business effectively and drive sales growth.

Example: Our marketing strategy includes digital advertising, content marketing, social media promotion, and influencer partnerships. We will also attend trade shows and conferences to showcase our products and connect with potential clients. Our sales strategy involves both direct sales and partnerships with retail stores, as well as online sales through our website and e-commerce platforms.

Logistics and Operations Plan

The Logistics and Operations Plan is a critical component that outlines the inner workings of your business. It encompasses the management of your supply chain, detailing how you acquire raw materials and manage vendor relationships.

Inventory control is another crucial aspect, where you explain strategies for inventory management to ensure efficiency and reduce wastage. The section should also describe your production processes, emphasizing scalability and adaptability to meet changing market demands.

Quality control measures are essential to maintain product standards and customer satisfaction. This plan assures investors and stakeholders of your operational competency and readiness to meet business demands.

Highlighting your commitment to operational efficiency and customer satisfaction underlines your business’s capability to maintain smooth, effective operations even as it scales.

Example: EcoTech partners with reliable third-party manufacturers to produce our eco-friendly technology products. Our operations involve maintaining strong relationships with suppliers, ensuring quality control, and managing inventory.

We also prioritize efficient distribution through various channels, including online platforms and retail partners, to deliver products to our customers in a timely manner.

Financial Projections Plan

In the Financial Projections Plan, lay out a clear and realistic financial future for your business. This should include detailed projections for revenue, costs, and profitability over the next three to five years.

Ground these projections in solid assumptions based on your market analysis, industry benchmarks, and realistic growth scenarios. Break down revenue streams and include an analysis of the cost of goods sold, operating expenses, and potential investments.

This section should also discuss your break-even analysis, cash flow projections, and any assumptions about external funding requirements.

By presenting a thorough and data-backed financial forecast, you instill confidence in potential investors and lenders, showcasing your business’s potential for profitability and financial stability.

This forward-looking financial plan is crucial for demonstrating that you have a firm grasp of the financial nuances of your business and are prepared to manage its financial health effectively.

Example: Over the next three years, we expect to see significant growth in revenue, driven by new product launches and market expansion. Our financial projections include:

• Year 1: $1.5 million in revenue, with a net profit of $200,000.
• Year 2: $3 million in revenue, with a net profit of $500,000.
• Year 3: $4.5 million in revenue, with a net profit of $1 million.

These projections are based on realistic market analysis, growth rates, and product pricing.

Income Statement

The income statement , also known as the profit and loss statement, provides a summary of your company’s revenues and expenses over a specified period. It helps you track your business’s financial performance and identify trends, ensuring you stay on track to achieve your financial goals.

Regularly reviewing and analyzing your income statement allows you to monitor the health of your business, evaluate the effectiveness of your strategies, and make data-driven decisions to optimize profitability and growth.

Example: The income statement for EcoTech’s first year of operation is as follows:

• Revenue: $1,500,000
• Cost of Goods Sold: $800,000
• Gross Profit: $700,000
• Operating Expenses: $450,000
• Net Income: $250,000

This statement highlights our company’s profitability and overall financial health during the first year of operation.

Cash Flow Statement

A cash flow statement is a crucial part of a financial business plan that shows the inflows and outflows of cash within your business. It helps you monitor your company’s liquidity, ensuring you have enough cash on hand to cover operating expenses, pay debts, and invest in growth opportunities.

By including a cash flow statement in your business plan, you demonstrate your ability to manage your company’s finances effectively.

Example:  The cash flow statement for EcoTech’s first year of operation is as follows:

Operating Activities:

• Depreciation: $10,000
• Changes in Working Capital: -$50,000
• Net Cash from Operating Activities: $210,000

Investing Activities:

•  Capital Expenditures: -$100,000
• Net Cash from Investing Activities: -$100,000

Financing Activities:

• Proceeds from Loans: $150,000
• Loan Repayments: -$50,000
• Net Cash from Financing Activities: $100,000
• Net Increase in Cash: $210,000

This statement demonstrates EcoTech’s ability to generate positive cash flow from operations, maintain sufficient liquidity, and invest in growth opportunities.

Tips on Writing a Business Plan

1. Be clear and concise: Keep your language simple and straightforward. Avoid jargon and overly technical terms. A clear and concise business plan is easier for investors and stakeholders to understand and demonstrates your ability to communicate effectively.

2. Conduct thorough research: Before writing your business plan, gather as much information as possible about your industry, competitors, and target market. Use reliable sources and industry reports to inform your analysis and make data-driven decisions.

3. Set realistic goals: Your business plan should outline achievable objectives that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). Setting realistic goals demonstrates your understanding of the market and increases the likelihood of success.

4. Focus on your unique selling proposition (USP): Clearly articulate what sets your business apart from the competition. Emphasize your USP throughout your business plan to showcase your company’s value and potential for success.

5. Be flexible and adaptable: A business plan is a living document that should evolve as your business grows and changes. Be prepared to update and revise your plan as you gather new information and learn from your experiences.

6. Use visuals to enhance understanding: Include charts, graphs, and other visuals to help convey complex data and ideas. Visuals can make your business plan more engaging and easier to digest, especially for those who prefer visual learning.

7. Seek feedback from trusted sources: Share your business plan with mentors, industry experts, or colleagues and ask for their feedback. Their insights can help you identify areas for improvement and strengthen your plan before presenting it to potential investors or partners.

FREE Business Plan Template

To help you get started on your business plan, we have created a template that includes all the essential components discussed in the “How to Write a Business Plan” section. This easy-to-use template will guide you through each step of the process, ensuring you don’t miss any critical details.

The template is divided into the following sections:

• Mission statement
• Business Overview
• Key products or services
• Target market
• Financial highlights
• Company goals
• Strategies to achieve goals
• Measurable, time-bound objectives
• Company History
• Mission and vision
• Unique selling proposition
• Demographics
• Psychographics
• Pain points
• Industry trends
• Customer needs
• Competitor strengths and weaknesses
• Opportunities
• Competitor products and services
• Market positioning
• Pricing strategies
• Organizational structure
• Key roles and responsibilities
• Management team backgrounds
• Product or service features
• Competitive advantages
• Marketing channels
• Advertising campaigns
• Promotional activities
• Sales strategies
• Supply chain management
• Inventory control
• Production processes
• Quality control measures
• Projected revenue
• Assumptions
• Cash inflows
• Cash outflows
• Net cash flow

What is a Business Plan?

A business plan is a strategic document that outlines an organization’s goals, objectives, and the steps required to achieve them. It serves as a roadmap as you start a business , guiding the company’s direction and growth while identifying potential obstacles and opportunities.

Typically, a business plan covers areas such as market analysis, financial projections, marketing strategies, and organizational structure. It not only helps in securing funding from investors and lenders but also provides clarity and focus to the management team.

A well-crafted business plan is a very important part of your business startup checklist because it fosters informed decision-making and long-term success.

Why You Should Write a Business Plan

Understanding the importance of a business plan in today’s competitive environment is crucial for entrepreneurs and business owners. Here are five compelling reasons to write a business plan:

• Attract Investors and Secure Funding : A well-written business plan demonstrates your venture’s potential and profitability, making it easier to attract investors and secure the necessary funding for growth and development. It provides a detailed overview of your business model, target market, financial projections, and growth strategies, instilling confidence in potential investors and lenders that your company is a worthy investment.
• Clarify Business Objectives and Strategies : Crafting a business plan forces you to think critically about your goals and the strategies you’ll employ to achieve them, providing a clear roadmap for success. This process helps you refine your vision and prioritize the most critical objectives, ensuring that your efforts are focused on achieving the desired results.
• Identify Potential Risks and Opportunities : Analyzing the market, competition, and industry trends within your business plan helps identify potential risks and uncover untapped opportunities for growth and expansion. This insight enables you to develop proactive strategies to mitigate risks and capitalize on opportunities, positioning your business for long-term success.
• Improve Decision-Making : A business plan serves as a reference point so you can make informed decisions that align with your company’s overall objectives and long-term vision. By consistently referring to your plan and adjusting it as needed, you can ensure that your business remains on track and adapts to changes in the market, industry, or internal operations.
• Foster Team Alignment and Communication : A shared business plan helps ensure that all team members are on the same page, promoting clear communication, collaboration, and a unified approach to achieving the company’s goals. By involving your team in the planning process and regularly reviewing the plan together, you can foster a sense of ownership, commitment, and accountability that drives success.

What are the Different Types of Business Plans?

In today’s fast-paced business world, having a well-structured roadmap is more important than ever. A traditional business plan provides a comprehensive overview of your company’s goals and strategies, helping you make informed decisions and achieve long-term success. There are various types of business plans, each designed to suit different needs and purposes. Let’s explore the main types:

• Startup Business Plan: Tailored for new ventures, a startup business plan outlines the company’s mission, objectives, target market, competition, marketing strategies, and financial projections. It helps entrepreneurs clarify their vision, secure funding from investors, and create a roadmap for their business’s future. Additionally, this plan identifies potential challenges and opportunities, which are crucial for making informed decisions and adapting to changing market conditions.
• Internal Business Plan: This type of plan is intended for internal use, focusing on strategies, milestones, deadlines, and resource allocation. It serves as a management tool for guiding the company’s growth, evaluating its progress, and ensuring that all departments are aligned with the overall vision. The internal business plan also helps identify areas of improvement, fosters collaboration among team members, and provides a reference point for measuring performance.
• Strategic Business Plan: A strategic business plan outlines long-term goals and the steps to achieve them, providing a clear roadmap for the company’s direction. It typically includes a SWOT analysis, market research, and competitive analysis. This plan allows businesses to align their resources with their objectives, anticipate changes in the market, and develop contingency plans. By focusing on the big picture, a strategic business plan fosters long-term success and stability.
• Feasibility Business Plan: This plan is designed to assess the viability of a business idea, examining factors such as market demand, competition, and financial projections. It is often used to decide whether or not to pursue a particular venture. By conducting a thorough feasibility analysis, entrepreneurs can avoid investing time and resources into an unviable business concept. This plan also helps refine the business idea, identify potential obstacles, and determine the necessary resources for success.
• Growth Business Plan: Also known as an expansion plan, a growth business plan focuses on strategies for scaling up an existing business. It includes market analysis, new product or service offerings, and financial projections to support expansion plans. This type of plan is essential for businesses looking to enter new markets, increase their customer base, or launch new products or services. By outlining clear growth strategies, the plan helps ensure that expansion efforts are well-coordinated and sustainable.
• Operational Business Plan: This type of plan outlines the company’s day-to-day operations, detailing the processes, procedures, and organizational structure. It is an essential tool for managing resources, streamlining workflows, and ensuring smooth operations. The operational business plan also helps identify inefficiencies, implement best practices, and establish a strong foundation for future growth. By providing a clear understanding of daily operations, this plan enables businesses to optimize their resources and enhance productivity.
• Lean Business Plan: A lean business plan is a simplified, agile version of a traditional plan, focusing on key elements such as value proposition, customer segments, revenue streams, and cost structure. It is perfect for startups looking for a flexible, adaptable planning approach. The lean business plan allows for rapid iteration and continuous improvement, enabling businesses to pivot and adapt to changing market conditions. This streamlined approach is particularly beneficial for businesses in fast-paced or uncertain industries.
• One-Page Business Plan: As the name suggests, a one-page business plan is a concise summary of your company’s key objectives, strategies, and milestones. It serves as a quick reference guide and is ideal for pitching to potential investors or partners. This plan helps keep teams focused on essential goals and priorities, fosters clear communication, and provides a snapshot of the company’s progress. While not as comprehensive as other plans, a one-page business plan is an effective tool for maintaining clarity and direction.
• Nonprofit Business Plan: Specifically designed for nonprofit organizations, this plan outlines the mission, goals, target audience, fundraising strategies, and budget allocation. It helps secure grants and donations while ensuring the organization stays on track with its objectives. The nonprofit business plan also helps attract volunteers, board members, and community support. By demonstrating the organization’s impact and plans for the future, this plan is essential for maintaining transparency, accountability, and long-term sustainability within the nonprofit sector.
• Franchise Business Plan: For entrepreneurs seeking to open a franchise, this type of plan focuses on the franchisor’s requirements, as well as the franchisee’s goals, strategies, and financial projections. It is crucial for securing a franchise agreement and ensuring the business’s success within the franchise system. This plan outlines the franchisee’s commitment to brand standards, marketing efforts, and operational procedures, while also addressing local market conditions and opportunities. By creating a solid franchise business plan, entrepreneurs can demonstrate their ability to effectively manage and grow their franchise, increasing the likelihood of a successful partnership with the franchisor.

Using Business Plan Software

Creating a comprehensive business plan can be intimidating, but business plan software can streamline the process and help you produce a professional document. These tools offer a number of benefits, including guided step-by-step instructions, financial projections, and industry-specific templates. Here are the top 5 business plan software options available to help you craft a great business plan.

1. LivePlan

LivePlan is a popular choice for its user-friendly interface and comprehensive features. It offers over 500 sample plans, financial forecasting tools, and the ability to track your progress against key performance indicators. With LivePlan, you can create visually appealing, professional business plans that will impress investors and stakeholders.

2. Upmetrics

Upmetrics provides a simple and intuitive platform for creating a well-structured business plan. It features customizable templates, financial forecasting tools, and collaboration capabilities, allowing you to work with team members and advisors. Upmetrics also offers a library of resources to guide you through the business planning process.

Bizplan is designed to simplify the business planning process with a drag-and-drop builder and modular sections. It offers financial forecasting tools, progress tracking, and a visually appealing interface. With Bizplan, you can create a business plan that is both easy to understand and visually engaging.

Enloop is a robust business plan software that automatically generates a tailored plan based on your inputs. It provides industry-specific templates, financial forecasting, and a unique performance score that updates as you make changes to your plan. Enloop also offers a free version, making it accessible for businesses on a budget.

5. Tarkenton GoSmallBiz

Developed by NFL Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton, GoSmallBiz is tailored for small businesses and startups. It features a guided business plan builder, customizable templates, and financial projection tools. GoSmallBiz also offers additional resources, such as CRM tools and legal document templates, to support your business beyond the planning stage.

Business Plan FAQs

What is a good business plan.

A good business plan is a well-researched, clear, and concise document that outlines a company’s goals, strategies, target market, competitive advantages, and financial projections. It should be adaptable to change and provide a roadmap for achieving success.

What are the 3 main purposes of a business plan?

The three main purposes of a business plan are to guide the company’s strategy, attract investment, and evaluate performance against objectives. Here’s a closer look at each of these:

• It outlines the company’s purpose and core values to ensure that all activities align with its mission and vision.
• It provides an in-depth analysis of the market, including trends, customer needs, and competition, helping the company tailor its products and services to meet market demands.
• It defines the company’s marketing and sales strategies, guiding how the company will attract and retain customers.
• It describes the company’s organizational structure and management team, outlining roles and responsibilities to ensure effective operation and leadership.
• It sets measurable, time-bound objectives, allowing the company to plan its activities effectively and make strategic decisions to achieve these goals.
• It provides a comprehensive overview of the company and its business model, demonstrating its uniqueness and potential for success.
• It presents the company’s financial projections, showing its potential for profitability and return on investment.
• It demonstrates the company’s understanding of the market, including its target customers and competition, convincing investors that the company is capable of gaining a significant market share.
• It showcases the management team’s expertise and experience, instilling confidence in investors that the team is capable of executing the business plan successfully.
• It establishes clear, measurable objectives that serve as performance benchmarks.
• It provides a basis for regular performance reviews, allowing the company to monitor its progress and identify areas for improvement.
• It enables the company to assess the effectiveness of its strategies and make adjustments as needed to achieve its objectives.
• It helps the company identify potential risks and challenges, enabling it to develop contingency plans and manage risks effectively.
• It provides a mechanism for evaluating the company’s financial performance, including revenue, expenses, profitability, and cash flow.

Can I write a business plan by myself?

Yes, you can write a business plan by yourself, but it can be helpful to consult with mentors, colleagues, or industry experts to gather feedback and insights. There are also many creative business plan templates and business plan examples available online, including those above.

We also have examples for specific industries, including a using food truck business plan , salon business plan , farm business plan , daycare business plan , and restaurant business plan .

Is it possible to create a one-page business plan?

Yes, a one-page business plan is a condensed version that highlights the most essential elements, including the company’s mission, target market, unique selling proposition, and financial goals.

How long should a business plan be?

A typical business plan ranges from 20 to 50 pages, but the length may vary depending on the complexity and needs of the business.

What is a business plan outline?

A business plan outline is a structured framework that organizes the content of a business plan into sections, such as the executive summary, company description, market analysis, and financial projections.

What are the 5 most common business plan mistakes?

The five most common business plan mistakes include inadequate research, unrealistic financial projections, lack of focus on the unique selling proposition, poor organization and structure, and failure to update the plan as circumstances change.

What questions should be asked in a business plan?

A business plan should address questions such as: What problem does the business solve? Who is the specific target market ? What is the unique selling proposition? What are the company’s objectives? How will it achieve those objectives?

What’s the difference between a business plan and a strategic plan?

A business plan focuses on the overall vision, goals, and tactics of a company, while a strategic plan outlines the specific strategies, action steps, and performance measures necessary to achieve the company’s objectives.

How is business planning for a nonprofit different?

Nonprofit business planning focuses on the organization’s mission, social impact, and resource management, rather than profit generation. The financial section typically includes funding sources, expenses, and projected budgets for programs and operations.

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At the foundation of every strong business is a solid business plan. Looking to develop a business plan for your new venture? Here’s what to include in each step.

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At the foundation of every strong business is a solid business plan. A business plan outlines important information regarding a company’s operations and goals, and serves as a blueprint for how to achieve those goals. This document not only helps entrepreneurs think through and research their venture thoroughly, it also demonstrates to investors the viability of the business idea.

If you’re looking to develop a business plan for your new venture, it’s important to include all the necessary information. Here are the nine sections to include in a strong business plan, step by step.

1. Executive summary.

Your business plan should begin with an executive summary, which outlines what your company is about and why it will succeed. This section includes your mission statement, a brief description of the product or service you are offering, a summary of your plans and basic logistical details about your team.

2. Company description.

Your company description should further detail the logistics of your business, such as its registered name, address and key people involved. Here, you should also provide specific information about your product or service, including who your business serves and what problem you solve for that population.

3. Market analysis.

Conducting thorough market research can help you understand the nature of your industry, as well as how to stand out from competitors. Include a summary of your research findings in this section. Consider any trends or themes that emerge, what other successful businesses in the field are doing (or failing to do) and how your business can do better.

[Read: How to Conduct a Market Analysis ]

4. Organization and management.

This section should include your business’s legal structure — for example, whether you are incorporating as an S or C corporation, forming a partnership or operating as an LLC or sole proprietor. Provide pertinent information on your leadership team and other key employees, including each relevant individual’s percent of ownership and extent of involvement.

Describe how you will attract and retain your customer base, including what makes you stand out from competitors, and detail the actual sales process.

5. Products/services.

Your product or service is the crux of your business idea, so you’ll want to ensure you make a strong case for it being on the market. Use this section to elaborate on your product or service throughout its life cycle, including how it works, who it serves, what it costs and why it is better than the competition. If you have any pending or current intellectual property, include this information here. You can also detail any research and development for your product or service in this section.

6. Marketing and sales.

In this section, you should explain what your marketing and sales strategies are, and how you will execute them. (Note that these strategies will likely evolve over time, and you can always make adjustments as needed.) Describe how you will attract and retain your customer base, including what makes you stand out from competitors, and detail the actual sales process.

[Read: 5 KPIs to Measure Your Business’s Marketing Success ]

7. Funding request.

If you’re seeking funding, this section is critical for investors to understand the level of funding you need. Specify what type of funding you need (debt or equity) and how much, as well as how that capital will be used. You should also include information on any future financial plans, such as selling your business or paying off debts.

8. Financial projections.

The goal of your financial projections section is to show that your business is viable and worth the investment. Offer a financial forecast for the next five years, using information from current or projected income statements, balance sheets and cash flow statements to support it. Graphs and charts can be an especially helpful tool in visualizing your business’s finances.

9. Appendix.

Finally, use the appendix for any information that could not fit or did not apply to other sections of the document. Information such as employee resumes, permits, credit history and receipts are often included in this section. If you have a long appendix, consider adding a table of contents to make it easier for the reader.

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550+ Business Plan Examples to Launch Your Business

Need help writing your business plan? Explore over 550 industry-specific business plan examples for inspiration.

Find your business plan example

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Business plan template: There's an easier way to get your business plan done.

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Finish your plan faster with step-by-step guidance, financial wizards, and a proven format.

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View all sample business plans

Example business plan format

Before you start exploring our library of business plan examples, it's worth taking the time to understand the traditional business plan format . You'll find that the plans in this library and most investor-approved business plans will include the following sections:

Executive summary

The executive summary is an overview of your business and your plans. It comes first in your plan and is ideally only one to two pages. You should also plan to write this section last after you've written your full business plan.

Your executive summary should include a summary of the problem you are solving, a description of your product or service, an overview of your target market, a brief description of your team, a summary of your financials, and your funding requirements (if you are raising money).

Products & services

The products & services chapter of your business plan is where the real meat of your plan lives. It includes information about the problem that you're solving, your solution, and any traction that proves that it truly meets the need you identified.

This is your chance to explain why you're in business and that people care about what you offer. It needs to go beyond a simple product or service description and get to the heart of why your business works and benefits your customers.

Market analysis

Conducting a market analysis ensures that you fully understand the market that you're entering and who you'll be selling to. This section is where you will showcase all of the information about your potential customers. You'll cover your target market as well as information about the growth of your market and your industry. Focus on outlining why the market you're entering is viable and creating a realistic persona for your ideal customer base.

Competition

Part of defining your opportunity is determining what your competitive advantage may be. To do this effectively you need to get to know your competitors just as well as your target customers. Every business will have competition, if you don't then you're either in a very young industry or there's a good reason no one is pursuing this specific venture.

To succeed, you want to be sure you know who your competitors are, how they operate, necessary financial benchmarks, and how you're business will be positioned. Start by identifying who your competitors are or will be during your market research. Then leverage competitive analysis tools like the competitive matrix and positioning map to solidify where your business stands in relation to the competition.

Marketing & sales

The marketing and sales plan section of your business plan details how you plan to reach your target market segments. You'll address how you plan on selling to those target markets, what your pricing plan is, and what types of activities and partnerships you need to make your business a success.

The operations section covers the day-to-day workflows for your business to deliver your product or service. What's included here fully depends on the type of business. Typically you can expect to add details on your business location, sourcing and fulfillment, use of technology, and any partnerships or agreements that are in place.

Milestones & metrics

The milestones section is where you lay out strategic milestones to reach your business goals.

A good milestone clearly lays out the parameters of the task at hand and sets expectations for its execution. You'll want to include a description of the task, a proposed due date, who is responsible, and eventually a budget that's attached. You don't need extensive project planning in this section, just key milestones that you want to hit and when you plan to hit them.

You should also discuss key metrics, which are the numbers you will track to determine your success. Some common data points worth tracking include conversion rates, customer acquisition costs, profit, etc.

Company & team

Use this section to describe your current team and who you need to hire. If you intend to pursue funding, you'll need to highlight the relevant experience of your team members. Basically, this is where you prove that this is the right team to successfully start and grow the business. You will also need to provide a quick overview of your legal structure and history if you're already up and running.

Financial projections

Your financial plan should include a sales and revenue forecast, profit and loss statement, cash flow statement, and a balance sheet. You may not have established financials of any kind at this stage. Not to worry, rather than getting all of the details ironed out, focus on making projections and strategic forecasts for your business. You can always update your financial statements as you begin operations and start bringing in actual accounting data.

Now, if you intend to pitch to investors or submit a loan application, you'll also need a "use of funds" report in this section. This outlines how you intend to leverage any funding for your business and how much you're looking to acquire. Like the rest of your financials, this can always be updated later on.

The appendix isn't a required element of your business plan. However, it is a useful place to add any charts, tables, definitions, legal notes, or other critical information that supports your plan. These are often lengthier or out-of-place information that simply didn't work naturally into the structure of your plan. You'll notice that in these business plan examples, the appendix mainly includes extended financial statements.

Types of business plans explained

While all business plans cover similar categories, the style and function fully depend on how you intend to use your plan. To get the most out of your plan, it's best to find a format that suits your needs. Here are a few common business plan types worth considering.

Traditional business plan

The tried-and-true traditional business plan is a formal document meant to be used for external purposes. Typically this is the type of plan you'll need when applying for funding or pitching to investors. It can also be used when training or hiring employees, working with vendors, or in any other situation where the full details of your business must be understood by another individual.

Business model canvas

The business model canvas is a one-page template designed to demystify the business planning process. It removes the need for a traditional, copy-heavy business plan, in favor of a single-page outline that can help you and outside parties better explore your business idea.

The structure ditches a linear format in favor of a cell-based template. It encourages you to build connections between every element of your business. It's faster to write out and update, and much easier for you, your team, and anyone else to visualize your business operations.

One-page business plan

The true middle ground between the business model canvas and a traditional business plan is the one-page business plan . This format is a simplified version of the traditional plan that focuses on the core aspects of your business.

By starting with a one-page plan , you give yourself a minimal document to build from. You'll typically stick with bullet points and single sentences making it much easier to elaborate or expand sections into a longer-form business plan.

Growth planning

Growth planning is more than a specific type of business plan. It's a methodology. It takes the simplicity and styling of the one-page business plan and turns it into a process for you to continuously plan, forecast, review, and refine based on your performance.

It holds all of the benefits of the single-page plan, including the potential to complete it in as little as 27 minutes . However, it's even easier to convert into a more detailed plan thanks to how heavily it's tied to your financials. The overall goal of growth planning isn't to just produce documents that you use once and shelve. Instead, the growth planning process helps you build a healthier company that thrives in times of growth and remain stable through times of crisis.

It's faster, keeps your plan concise, and ensures that your plan is always up-to-date.

Download a free sample business plan template

Ready to start writing your own plan but aren't sure where to start? Download our free business plan template that's been updated for 2024.

This simple, modern, investor-approved business plan template is designed to make planning easy. It's a proven format that has helped over 1 million businesses write business plans for bank loans, funding pitches, business expansion, and even business sales. It includes additional instructions for how to write each section and is formatted to be SBA-lender approved. All you need to do is fill in the blanks.

How to use an example business plan to help you write your own

How do you know what elements need to be included in your business plan, especially if you've never written one before? Looking at examples can help you visualize what a full, traditional plan looks like, so you know what you're aiming for before you get started. Here's how to get the most out of a sample business plan.

Choose a business plan example from a similar type of company

You don't need to find an example business plan that's an exact fit for your business. Your business location, target market, and even your particular product or service may not match up exactly with the plans in our gallery. But, you don't need an exact match for it to be helpful. Instead, look for a plan that's related to the type of business you're starting.

For example, if you want to start a vegetarian restaurant, a plan for a steakhouse can be a great match. While the specifics of your actual startup will differ, the elements you'd want to include in your restaurant's business plan are likely to be very similar.

Use a business plan example as a guide

Every startup and small business is unique, so you'll want to avoid copying an example business plan word for word. It just won't be as helpful, since each business is unique. You want your plan to be a useful tool for starting a business —and getting funding if you need it.

One of the key benefits of writing a business plan is simply going through the process. When you sit down to write, you'll naturally think through important pieces, like your startup costs, your target market , and any market analysis or research you'll need to do to be successful.

You'll also look at where you stand among your competition (and everyone has competition), and lay out your goals and the milestones you'll need to meet. Looking at an example business plan's financials section can be helpful because you can see what should be included, but take them with a grain of salt. Don't assume that financial projections for a sample company will fit your own small business.

If you're looking for more resources to help you get started, our business planning guide is a good place to start. You can also download our free business plan template .

Think of business planning as a process, instead of a document

Think about business planning as something you do often , rather than a document you create once and never look at again. If you take the time to write a plan that really fits your own company, it will be a better, more useful tool to grow your business. It should also make it easier to share your vision and strategy so everyone on your team is on the same page.

Adjust your plan regularly to use it as a business management tool

Keep in mind that businesses that use their plan as a management tool to help run their business grow 30 percent faster than those businesses that don't. For that to be true for your company, you'll think of a part of your business planning process as tracking your actual results against your financial forecast on a regular basis.

If things are going well, your plan will help you think about how you can re-invest in your business. If you find that you're not meeting goals, you might need to adjust your budgets or your sales forecast. Either way, tracking your progress compared to your plan can help you adjust quickly when you identify challenges and opportunities—it's one of the most powerful things you can do to grow your business.

Prepare to pitch your business

If you're planning to pitch your business to investors or seek out any funding, you'll need a pitch deck to accompany your business plan. A pitch deck is designed to inform people about your business. You want your pitch deck to be short and easy to follow, so it's best to keep your presentation under 20 slides.

Your pitch deck and pitch presentation are likely some of the first things that an investor will see to learn more about your company. So, you need to be informative and pique their interest. Luckily, just like you can leverage an example business plan template to write your plan, we also have a gallery of over 50 pitch decks for you to reference.

With this gallery, you have the option to view specific industry pitches or get inspired by real-world pitch deck examples.

Ready to get started?

Now that you know how to use an example business plan to help you write a plan for your business, it's time to find the right one.

Use the search bar below to get started and find the right match for your business idea.

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The 10 Key Components of a Business Plan

Written by Dave Lavinsky

Over the past 20+ years, we have helped over 1 million entrepreneurs and business owners write business plans. These plans have been used to raise funding and grow countless businesses.

Download our Ultimate Business Plan Template here >

From working with all these businesses, we know what the 10 elements in any great business plan. Providing a comprehensive assessment of each of these components is critical in attracting lenders, angel investors, venture capitalists or other equity investors.

Get started with a title page that includes your company name, logo and contact information, since interested readers must have a simple way to find and reach out to you. After that be sure to include the 10 parts of a business plan documented below.

What are the 10 Key Components of a Business Plan?

The 10 sections or elements of a business plan that you must include are as follows:

1. Executive Summary

The executive summary provides a succinct synopsis of the business plan, and highlights the key points raised within. It often includes the company’s mission statement and description of the products and services. It’s recommended by me and many experts including the Small Business Administration to write the executive summary last.

The executive summary must communicate to the prospective investor the size and scope of the market opportunity, the venture’s business and profitability model, and how the resources/skills/strategic positioning of the company’s management team make it uniquely qualified to execute the business plan. The executive summary must be compelling, easy-to-read, and no longer than 2-4 pages.  

2. Company Analysis

This business plan section provides a strategic overview of the business and describes how the company is organized, what products and services it offers/will offer, and goes into further detail on the business’ unique qualifications in serving its target markets. As any good business plan template will point out, your company analysis should also give a snapshot of the company’s achievements to date, since the best indicator of future success are past accomplishments.

3. Industry or Market Analysis

This section evaluates the playing field in which the company will be competing, and includes well-structured answers to key market research questions such as the following:

• What are the sizes of the target market segments?
• What are the trends for the industry as a whole?
• With what other industries do your services compete?

To conduct this market research, do research online and leverage trade associations that often have the information you need.  

4. Analysis of Customers

The customer analysis business plan section assesses the customer segment(s) that the company serves. In this section, the company must convey the needs of its target customers. It must then show how its products and services satisfy these needs to an extent that the customer will pay for them.

The following are examples of customer segments: moms, engaged couples, schools, online retailers, teens, baby boomers, business owners, etc.

As you can imagine, the customer segment(s) you choose will have a great impact on the type of business you operate as different segments often have different needs. Try to break out your target customers in terms of their demographic and psychographic profiles. With regards to demographics, including a discussion of the ages, genders, locations and income levels of the customers you seek to serve. With regards to psychographic variables, discuss whether your customers have any unique lifestyles, interests, opinions, attitudes and/or values that will help you market to them more effectively.

5. Analysis of Competition

All capable business plan writers discuss the competitive landscape of your business. This element of your plan must identify your direct and indirect competitors, assesses their strengths and weaknesses and delineate your company’s competitive advantages. It’s a crucial business plan section.

Direct competitors are those that provide the same product or service to the same customer. Indirect competitors are those who provide similar products or services. For example, the direct competitors to a pizza shop are other local pizza shops. Indirect competitors are other food options like supermarkets, delis, other restaurants, etc.

The first five components of your business plan provide an overview of the business opportunity and market research to support it. The remaining five business plan sections focus mainly on strategy, primarily the marketing, operational, financial and management strategies that your firm will employ.

6. Marketing, Sales & Product Plan

The marketing and sales plan component of your business plan details your strategy for penetrating the target markets. Key elements include the following:

• A description of the company’s desired strategic positioning
• Detailed descriptions of the company’s product and service offerings and potential product extensions
• Descriptions of the company’s desired image and branding strategy
• Descriptions of the company’s promotional strategies
• An overview of the company’s pricing strategies
• A description of current and potential strategic marketing partnerships/ alliances

7. Operations Strategy, Design and Development Plans

These sections detail the internal strategies for building the venture from concept to reality, and include answers to the following questions:

• What functions will be required to run the business?
• What milestones must be reached before the venture can be launched?
• How will quality be controlled?

8. Management Team

The management team section demonstrates that the company has the required human resources to be successful. The business plan must answer questions including:

• Who are the key management personnel and what are their backgrounds?
• What management additions will be required to make the business a success?
• Who are the other investors and/or shareholders, if any?
• Who comprises the Board of Directors and/or Board of Advisors?
• Who are the professional advisors (e.g., lawyer, accounting firm)?

9. Financial Plan

The financial plan involves the development of the company’s revenue and profitability model. These financial statements detail how you generate income and get paid from customers,. The financial plan includes detailed explanations of the key assumptions used in building the business plan model, sensitivity analysis on key revenue and cost variables, and description of comparable valuations for existing companies with similar business models.

One of the key purposes of your business plan is to determine the amount of capital the firm needs. The financial plan does this along with assessing the proposed use of these funds (e.g., equipment, working capital, labor expenses, insurance costs, etc.) and the expected future earnings. It includes Projected Income Statements, Balance Sheets (showing assets, liabilities and equity) and Cash Flow Statements, broken out quarterly for the first two years, and annually for years 1-5.

Importantly, all of the assumptions and projections in the financial plan must flow from and be supported by the descriptions and explanations offered in the other sections of the plan. The financial plan is where the entrepreneur communicates how he/she plans to “monetize” the overall vision for the new venture. Note that in addition to traditional debt and equity sources of startup and growth funding that require a business plan (bank loans, angel investors, venture capitalists, friends and family), you will probably also use other capital sources, such as credit cards and business credit, in growing your company.

10. Appendix

The appendix is used to support the rest of the business plan. Every business plan should have a full set of financial projections in the appendix, with the summary of these financials in the executive summary and the financial plan. Other documentation that could appear in the appendix includes technical drawings, partnership and/or customer letters, expanded competitor reviews and/or customer lists.

Find additional business plan help articles here.

Expertly and comprehensively discussing these components in their business plan helps entrepreneurs to better understand their business opportunity and assists them in convincing investors that the opportunity may be right for them too.

In addition to ensuring you included the proper elements of a business plan when developing your plan always think about why you are uniquely qualified to succeed in your business. For example, is your team’s expertise something that’s unique and can ensure your success? Or is it marketing partnerships you have executed? Importantly, if you don’t have any unique success factors, think about what you can add to make your company unique. Doing so can dramatically improve your success. Also, whether you write it on a word processor or use business plan software , remember to update your plan at least annually. After several years, you should have several business plans you can review to see what worked and what didn’t. This should prove helpful as you create future plans for your company’s growth.

Download The 10 Key Components of a Business Plan Here

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Other Helpful Business Plan Articles & Templates

24 of My Favorite Sample Business Plans & Examples For Your Inspiration

Published: February 06, 2024

I believe that reading sample business plans is essential when writing your own.

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As you explore business plan examples from real companies and brands, it’s easier for you to learn how to write a good one.

But what does a good business plan look like? And how do you write one that’s both viable and convincing. I’ll walk you through the ideal business plan format along with some examples to help you get started.

Table of Contents

Business Plan Format

Business plan types, sample business plan templates, top business plan examples.

Ask any successful sports coach how they win so many games, and they’ll tell you they have a unique plan for every single game. To me, the same logic applies to business.

If you want to build a thriving company that can pull ahead of the competition, you need to prepare for battle before breaking into a market.

Business plans guide you along the rocky journey of growing a company. And if your business plan is compelling enough, it can also convince investors to give you funding.

With so much at stake, I’m sure you’re wondering where to begin.

Free Business Plan Template

The essential document for starting a business -- custom built for your needs.

• Outline your idea.
• Pitch to investors.
• Secure funding.
• Get to work!

You're all set!

Click this link to access this resource at any time.

Fill out the form to get your free template.

First, you’ll want to nail down your formatting. Most business plans include the following sections.

1. Executive Summary

I’d say the executive summary is the most important section of the entire business plan. 

Why? Essentially, it's the overview or introduction, written in a way to grab readers' attention and guide them through the rest of the business plan. This is important, because a business plan can be dozens or hundreds of pages long.

There are two main elements I’d recommend including in your executive summary:

Company Description

This is the perfect space to highlight your company’s mission statement and goals, a brief overview of your history and leadership, and your top accomplishments as a business.

Tell potential investors who you are and why what you do matters. Naturally, they’re going to want to know who they’re getting into business with up front, and this is a great opportunity to showcase your impact.

Need some extra help firming up those business goals? Check out HubSpot Academy’s free course to help you set goals that matter — I’d highly recommend it

Products and Services

To piggyback off of the company description, be sure to incorporate an overview of your offerings. This doesn’t have to be extensive — just another chance to introduce your industry and overall purpose as a business.

In addition to the items above, I recommend including some information about your financial projections and competitive advantage here too.:

Keep in mind you'll cover many of these topics in more detail later on in the business plan. So, keep the executive summary clear and brief, and only include the most important takeaways.

Executive Summary Business Plan Examples

This example was created with HubSpot’s business plan template:

This executive summary is so good to me because it tells potential investors a short story while still covering all of the most important details.

Image Source

Tips for Writing Your Executive Summary

• Start with a strong introduction of your company, showcase your mission and impact, and outline the products and services you provide.
• Clearly define a problem, and explain how your product solves that problem, and show why the market needs your business.
• Be sure to highlight your value proposition, market opportunity, and growth potential.
• Keep it concise and support ideas with data.
• Customize your summary to your audience. For example, emphasize finances and return on investment for venture capitalists.

Check out our tips for writing an effective executive summary for more guidance.

2. Market Opportunity

This is where you'll detail the opportunity in the market.

The main question I’d ask myself here is this: Where is the gap in the current industry, and how will my product fill that gap?

More specifically, here’s what I’d include in this section:

• The size of the market
• Current or potential market share
• Trends in the industry and consumer behavior
• Where the gap is
• What caused the gap
• How you intend to fill it

To get a thorough understanding of the market opportunity, you'll want to conduct a TAM, SAM, and SOM analysis and perform market research on your industry.

You may also benefit from creating a SWOT analysis to get some of the insights for this section.

Market Opportunity Business Plan Example

I like this example because it uses critical data to underline the size of the potential market and what part of that market this service hopes to capture.

Tips for Writing Your Market Opportunity Section

• Focus on demand and potential for growth.
• Use market research, surveys, and industry trend data to support your market forecast and projections.
• Add a review of regulation shifts, tech advances, and consumer behavior changes.
• Refer to reliable sources.
• Showcase how your business can make the most of this opportunity.

3. Competitive Landscape

Since we’re already speaking of market share, you'll also need to create a section that shares details on who the top competitors are.

After all, your customers likely have more than one brand to choose from, and you'll want to understand exactly why they might choose one over another.

My favorite part of performing a competitive analysis is that it can help you uncover:

• Industry trends that other brands may not be utilizing
• Strengths in your competition that may be obstacles to handle
• Weaknesses in your competition that may help you develop selling points
• The unique proposition you bring to the market that may resonate with customers

Competitive Landscape Business Plan Example

I like how the competitive landscape section of this business plan below shows a clear outline of who the top competitors are.

It also highlights specific industry knowledge and the importance of location, which shows useful experience in this specific industry. 

This can help build trust in your ability to execute your business plan.

Tips for Writing Your Competitive Landscape

• Complete in-depth research, then emphasize your most important findings.
• Compare your unique selling proposition (USP) to your direct and indirect competitors.
• Show a clear and realistic plan for product and brand differentiation.
• Look for specific advantages and barriers in the competitive landscape. Then, highlight how that information could impact your business.
• Outline growth opportunities from a competitive perspective.
• Add customer feedback and insights to support your competitive analysis.

4. Target Audience

Use this section to describe who your customer segments are in detail. What is the demographic and psychographic information of your audience?

If your immediate answer is "everyone," you'll need to dig deeper. Here are some questions I’d ask myself here:

• What demographics will most likely need/buy your product or service?
• What are the psychographics of this audience? (Desires, triggering events, etc.)
• Why are your offerings valuable to them?

I’d also recommend building a buyer persona to get in the mindset of your ideal customers and be clear on why you're targeting them.

Target Audience Business Plan Example

I like the example below because it uses in-depth research to draw conclusions about audience priorities. It also analyzes how to create the right content for this audience.

Tips for Writing Your Target Audience Section

• Include details on the size and growth potential of your target audience.
• Figure out and refine the pain points for your target audience , then show why your product is a useful solution.
• Describe your targeted customer acquisition strategy in detail.
• Share anticipated challenges your business may face in acquiring customers and how you plan to address them.
• Add case studies, testimonials, and other data to support your target audience ideas.
• Remember to consider niche audiences and segments of your target audience in your business plan.

5. Marketing Strategy

Here, you'll discuss how you'll acquire new customers with your marketing strategy. I’d suggest including information:

• Your brand positioning vision and how you'll cultivate it
• The goal targets you aim to achieve
• The metrics you'll use to measure success
• The channels and distribution tactics you'll use

I think it’s helpful to have a marketing plan built out in advance to make this part of your business plan easier.

Marketing Strategy Business Plan Example

This business plan example includes the marketing strategy for the town of Gawler.

In my opinion, it really works because it offers a comprehensive picture of how they plan to use digital marketing to promote the community.

Tips for Writing Your Marketing Strategy

• Include a section about how you believe your brand vision will appeal to customers.
• Add the budget and resources you'll need to put your plan in place.
• Outline strategies for specific marketing segments.
• Connect strategies to earlier sections like target audience and competitive analysis.
• Review how your marketing strategy will scale with the growth of your business.
• Cover a range of channels and tactics to highlight your ability to adapt your plan in the face of change.

6. Key Features and Benefits

At some point in your business plan, you'll need to review the key features and benefits of your products and/or services.

Laying these out can give readers an idea of how you're positioning yourself in the market and the messaging you're likely to use. It can even help them gain better insight into your business model.

Key Features and Benefits Business Plan Example

In my opinion, the example below does a great job outlining products and services for this business, along with why these qualities will attract the audience.

Tips for Writing Your Key Features and Benefits

• Emphasize why and how your product or service offers value to customers.
• Use metrics and testimonials to support the ideas in this section.
• Talk about how your products and services have the potential to scale.
• Think about including a product roadmap.
• Focus on customer needs, and how the features and benefits you are sharing meet those needs.
• Offer proof of concept for your ideas, like case studies or pilot program feedback.
• Proofread this section carefully, and remove any jargon or complex language.

7. Pricing and Revenue

This is where you'll discuss your cost structure and various revenue streams. Your pricing strategy must be solid enough to turn a profit while staying competitive in the industry. 

For this reason, here’s what I’d might outline in this section:

• The specific pricing breakdowns per product or service
• Why your pricing is higher or lower than your competition's
• (If higher) Why customers would be willing to pay more
• (If lower) How you're able to offer your products or services at a lower cost
• When you expect to break even, what margins do you expect, etc?

Pricing and Revenue Business Plan Example

I like how this business plan example begins with an overview of the business revenue model, then shows proposed pricing for key products.

Tips for Writing Your Pricing and Revenue Section

• Get specific about your pricing strategy. Specifically, how you connect that strategy to customer needs and product value.
• If you are asking a premium price, share unique features or innovations that justify that price point.
• Show how you plan to communicate pricing to customers.
• Create an overview of every revenue stream for your business and how each stream adds to your business model as a whole.
• Share plans to develop new revenue streams in the future.
• Show how and whether pricing will vary by customer segment and how pricing aligns with marketing strategies.
• Restate your value proposition and explain how it aligns with your revenue model.

8. Financials

To me, this section is particularly informative for investors and leadership teams to figure out funding strategies, investment opportunities, and more.

 According to Forbes , you'll want to include three main things:

• Profit/Loss Statement - This answers the question of whether your business is currently profitable.
• Cash Flow Statement - This details exactly how much cash is incoming and outgoing to give insight into how much cash a business has on hand.
• Balance Sheet - This outlines assets, liabilities, and equity, which gives insight into how much a business is worth.

While some business plans might include more or less information, these are the key details I’d include in this section.

Financials Business Plan Example

This balance sheet is a great example of level of detail you’ll need to include in the financials section of your business plan.

Tips for Writing Your Financials Section

• Growth potential is important in this section too. Using your data, create a forecast of financial performance in the next three to five years.
• Include any data that supports your projections to assure investors of the credibility of your proposal.
• Add a break-even analysis to show that your business plan is financially practical. This information can also help you pivot quickly as your business grows.
• Consider adding a section that reviews potential risks and how sensitive your plan is to changes in the market.
• Triple-check all financial information in your plan for accuracy.
• Show how any proposed funding needs align with your plans for growth.

As you create your business plan, keep in mind that each of these sections will be formatted differently. Some may be in paragraph format, while others could be charts or graphs.

The formats above apply to most types of business plans. That said, the format and structure of your plan will vary by your goals for that plan. 

So, I’ve added a quick review of different business plan types. For a more detailed overview, check out this post .

1. Startups

Startup business plans are for proposing new business ideas.

If you’re planning to start a small business, preparing a business plan is crucial. The plan should include all the major factors of your business.

You can check out this guide for more detailed business plan inspiration .

2. Feasibility Studies

Feasibility business plans focus on that business's product or service. Feasibility plans are sometimes added to startup business plans. They can also be a new business plan for an already thriving organization.

3. Internal Use

You can use internal business plans to share goals, strategies, or performance updates with stakeholders. In my opinion, internal business plans are useful for alignment and building support for ambitious goals.

4. Strategic Initiatives

Another business plan that's often for sharing internally is a strategic business plan. This plan covers long-term business objectives that might not have been included in the startup business plan.

5. Business Acquisition or Repositioning

When a business is moving forward with an acquisition or repositioning, it may need extra structure and support. These types of business plans expand on a company's acquisition or repositioning strategy.

Growth sometimes just happens as a business continues operations. But more often, a business needs to create a structure with specific targets to meet set goals for expansion. This business plan type can help a business focus on short-term growth goals and align resources with those goals.

Now that you know what's included and how to format a business plan, let's review some of my favorite templates.

1. HubSpot's One-Page Business Plan

Download a free, editable one-page business plan template..

The business plan linked above was created here at HubSpot and is perfect for businesses of any size — no matter how many strategies we still have to develop.

Fields such as Company Description, Required Funding, and Implementation Timeline give this one-page business plan a framework for how to build your brand and what tasks to keep track of as you grow.

Then, as the business matures, you can expand on your original business plan with a new iteration of the above document.

Why I Like It

This one-page business plan is a fantastic choice for the new business owner who doesn’t have the time or resources to draft a full-blown business plan. It includes all the essential sections in an accessible, bullet-point-friendly format. That way, you can get the broad strokes down before honing in on the details.

2. HubSpot's Downloadable Business Plan Template

We also created a business plan template for entrepreneurs.

The template is designed as a guide and checklist for starting your own business. You’ll learn what to include in each section of your business plan and how to do it.

There’s also a list for you to check off when you finish each section of your business plan.

Strong game plans help coaches win games and help businesses rocket to the top of their industries. So if you dedicate the time and effort required to write a workable and convincing business plan, you’ll boost your chances of success and even dominance in your market.

This business plan kit is essential for the budding entrepreneur who needs a more extensive document to share with investors and other stakeholders.

It not only includes sections for your executive summary, product line, market analysis, marketing plan, and sales plan, but it also offers hands-on guidance for filling out those sections.

3. LiveFlow’s Financial Planning Template with built-in automation

This free template from LiveFlow aims to make it easy for businesses to create a financial plan and track their progress on a monthly basis.

The P&L Budget versus Actual format allows users to track their revenue, cost of sales, operating expenses, operating profit margin, net profit, and more.

The summary dashboard aggregates all of the data put into the financial plan sheet and will automatically update when changes are made.

Instead of wasting hours manually importing your data to your spreadsheet, LiveFlow can also help you to automatically connect your accounting and banking data directly to your spreadsheet, so your numbers are always up-to-date.

With the dashboard, you can view your runway, cash balance, burn rate, gross margins, and other metrics. Having a simple way to track everything in one place will make it easier to complete the financials section of your business plan.

This is a fantastic template to track performance and alignment internally and to create a dependable process for documenting financial information across the business. It’s highly versatile and beginner-friendly.

It’s especially useful if you don’t have an accountant on the team. (I always recommend you do, but for new businesses, having one might not be possible.)

4. ThoughtCo’s Sample Business Plan

One of the more financially oriented sample business plans in this list, BPlan’s free business plan template dedicates many of its pages to your business’s financial plan and financial statements.

After filling this business plan out, your company will truly understand its financial health and the steps you need to take to maintain or improve it.

I absolutely love this business plan template because of its ease-of-use and hands-on instructions (in addition to its finance-centric components). If you feel overwhelmed by the thought of writing an entire business plan, consider using this template to help you with the process.

6. Harvard Business Review’s "How to Write a Winning Business Plan"

Most sample business plans teach you what to include in your business plan, but this Harvard Business Review article will take your business plan to the next level — it teaches you the why and how behind writing a business plan.

With the guidance of Stanley Rich and Richard Gumpert, co-authors of " Business Plans That Win: Lessons From the MIT Enterprise Forum ", you'll learn how to write a convincing business plan that emphasizes the market demand for your product or service.

You’ll also learn the financial benefits investors can reap from putting money into your venture rather than trying to sell them on how great your product or service is.

This business plan guide focuses less on the individual parts of a business plan, and more on the overarching goal of writing one. For that reason, it’s one of my favorites to supplement any template you choose to use. Harvard Business Review’s guide is instrumental for both new and seasoned business owners.

7. HubSpot’s Complete Guide to Starting a Business

If you’re an entrepreneur, you know writing a business plan is one of the most challenging first steps to starting a business.

Fortunately, with HubSpot's comprehensive guide to starting a business, you'll learn how to map out all the details by understanding what to include in your business plan and why it’s important to include them. The guide also fleshes out an entire sample business plan for you.

If you need further guidance on starting a business, HubSpot's guide can teach you how to make your business legal, choose and register your business name, and fund your business. It will also give small business tax information and includes marketing, sales, and service tips.

This comprehensive guide will walk you through the process of starting a business, in addition to writing your business plan, with a high level of exactitude and detail. So if you’re in the midst of starting your business, this is an excellent guide for you.

It also offers other resources you might need, such as market analysis templates.

8. Panda Doc’s Free Business Plan Template

PandaDoc’s free business plan template is one of the more detailed and fleshed-out sample business plans on this list. It describes what you should include in each section, so you don't have to come up with everything from scratch.

Once you fill it out, you’ll fully understand your business’ nitty-gritty details and how all of its moving parts should work together to contribute to its success.

This template has two things I love: comprehensiveness and in-depth instructions. Plus, it’s synced with PandaDoc’s e-signature software so that you and other stakeholders can sign it with ease. For that reason, I especially love it for those starting a business with a partner or with a board of directors.

9. Small Business Administration Free Business Plan Template

The Small Business Administration (SBA) offers several free business plan templates that can be used to inspire your own plan.

Before you get started, you can decide what type of business plan you need — a traditional or lean start-up plan.

Then, you can review the format for both of those plans and view examples of what they might look like.

We love both of the SBA’s templates because of their versatility. You can choose between two options and use the existing content in the templates to flesh out your own plan. Plus, if needed, you can get a free business counselor to help you along the way.

I’ve compiled some completed business plan samples to help you get an idea of how to customize a plan for your business.

I chose different types of business plan ideas to expand your imagination. Some are extensive, while others are fairly simple.

Let’s take a look.

1. LiveFlow

One of the major business expenses is marketing. How you handle your marketing reflects your company’s revenue.

I included this business plan to show you how you can ensure your marketing team is aligned with your overall business plan to get results. The plan also shows you how to track even the smallest metrics of your campaigns, like ROI and payback periods instead of just focusing on big metrics like gross and revenue.

Fintech startup, LiveFlow, allows users to sync real-time data from its accounting services, payment platforms, and banks into custom reports. This eliminates the task of pulling reports together manually, saving teams time and helping automate workflows.

"Using this framework over a traditional marketing plan will help you set a profitable marketing strategy taking things like CAC, LTV, Payback period, and P&L into consideration," explains LiveFlow co-founder, Lasse Kalkar .

When it came to including marketing strategy in its business plan, LiveFlow created a separate marketing profit and loss statement (P&L) to track how well the company was doing with its marketing initiatives.

This is a great approach, allowing businesses to focus on where their marketing dollars are making the most impact. Having this information handy will enable you to build out your business plan’s marketing section with confidence. LiveFlow has shared the template here . You can test it for yourself.

2. Lula Body

Sometimes all you need is a solid mission statement and core values to guide you on how to go about everything. You do this by creating a business plan revolving around how to fulfill your statement best.

For example, Patagonia is an eco-friendly company, so their plan discusses how to make the best environmentally friendly products without causing harm.

A good mission statement  should not only resonate with consumers but should also serve as a core value compass for employees as well.

Patagonia has one of the most compelling mission statements I’ve seen:

"Together, let’s prioritise purpose over profit and protect this wondrous planet, our only home."

It reels you in from the start, and the environmentally friendly theme continues throughout the rest of the statement.

This mission goes on to explain that they are out to "Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, and use business to protect nature."

Their mission statement is compelling and detailed, with each section outlining how they will accomplish their goal.

4. Vesta Home Automation

This executive summary for a smart home device startup is part of a business plan created by students at Mount Royal University .

While it lacks some of the sleek visuals of the templates above, its executive summary does a great job of demonstrating how invested they are in the business.

Right away, they mention they’ve invested $200,000 into the company already, which shows investors they have skin in the game and aren’t just looking for someone else to foot the bill.

This is the kind of business plan you need when applying for business funds. It clearly illustrates the expected future of the company and how the business has been coming along over the years.

5. NALB Creative Center

This fictional business plan for an art supply store includes everything one might need in a business plan: an executive summary, a company summary, a list of services, a market analysis summary, and more.

One of its most notable sections is its market analysis summary, which includes an overview of the population growth in the business’ target geographical area, as well as a breakdown of the types of potential customers they expect to welcome at the store. 

This sort of granular insight is essential for understanding and communicating your business’s growth potential. Plus, it lays a strong foundation for creating relevant and useful buyer personas .

It’s essential to keep this information up-to-date as your market and target buyer changes. For that reason, you should carry out market research as often as possible to ensure that you’re targeting the correct audience and sharing accurate information with your investors.

Due to its comprehensiveness, it’s an excellent example to follow if you’re opening a brick-and-mortar store and need to get external funding to start your business .

6. Curriculum Companion Suites (CSS)

If you’re looking for a SaaS business plan example, look no further than this business plan for a fictional educational software company called Curriculum Companion Suites. 

Like the business plan for the NALB Creative Center, it includes plenty of information for prospective investors and other key stakeholders in the business.

One of the most notable features of this business plan is the executive summary, which includes an overview of the product, market, and mission.

The first two are essential for software companies because the product offering is so often at the forefront of the company’s strategy. Without that information being immediately available to investors and executives, then you risk writing an unfocused business plan.

It’s essential to front-load your company’s mission if it explains your "Why?" and this example does just that. In other words, why do you do what you do, and why should stakeholders care? This is an important section to include if you feel that your mission will drive interest in the business and its offerings.

7. Culina Sample Business Plan

Culina's sample business plan is an excellent example of how to lay out your business plan so that it flows naturally, engages readers, and provides the critical information investors and stakeholders need. 

You can use this template as a guide while you're gathering important information for your own business plan. You'll have a better understanding of the data and research you need to do since Culina’s plan outlines these details so flawlessly for inspiration.

8. Plum Sample Business Plan

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How to Write the Competitor Analysis Section of the Business Plan

Writing The Business Plan: Section 4

Susan Ward wrote about small businesses for The Balance for 18 years. She has run an IT consulting firm and designed and presented courses on how to promote small businesses.

The competitor analysis section can be the most difficult section to compile when writing a business plan because before you can analyze your competitors, you have to investigate them. Here's how to write the competitor analysis section of the business plan.

First, Find Out Who Your Competitors Are

If you're planning to start a small business that's going to operate locally, chances are you already know which businesses you're going to be competing with. But if not, you can easily find out by doing an internet search for local businesses, looking in the online or printed local phone book, or even driving around the target market area. 

Your local business may also have non-local competitors that you need to be aware of.

If you're selling office supplies, for instance, you may also have to compete with big-box retailers within a driving distance of several hours and companies that offer office supplies online. You want to make sure that you identify all your possible competitors at this stage.

Then Find Out About Them

You need to know:

• what markets or market segments your competitors serve;
• what benefits your competitors offer;
• why customers buy from them;
• as much as possible about their products and/or services, pricing, and promotion.

Gathering Information for Your Competitor Analysis

A visit is still the most obvious starting point - either to the brick and mortar store or to the company's website. Go there, once or several times, and look around. Watch how customers are treated. Check out the prices.

You can also learn a fair bit about your competitors from talking to their customers and/or clients - if you know who they are. Other good "live" sources of information about competitors include a company's vendors or suppliers and a company's employees. They may or may not be willing to talk to you, but it's worth seeking them out and asking.

And watch for trade shows that your competitors may be attending. Businesses are there to disseminate information about and sell their products or services; attending and visiting their booths can be an excellent way to find out about your competition.

You'll also want to search for the publicly available information about your competitors. Online publications, newspapers, and magazines may all have information about the company you're investigating for your competitive analysis. Press releases may be particularly useful. 

Once you've compiled the information about your competitors, you're ready to analyze it. 

Analyzing the Competition

Just listing a bunch of information about your competition in the competitor analysis section of the business plan misses the point. It's the analysis of the information that's important.

Study the information you've gathered about each of your competitors and ask yourself this question: How are you going to compete with that company?

For many small businesses, the key to competing successfully is to identify a market niche where they can capture a  specific target market  whose needs are not being met.

• Is there a particular segment of the market that your competition has overlooked?
• Is there a service that customers or clients want that your competitor does not supply? 

The goal of your competitor analysis is to identify and expand upon your competitive advantage - the benefits that your proposed business can offer the customer or client that your competition can't or won't supply.

Writing the Competitor Analysis Section

When you're writing the business plan, you'll write the competitor analysis section in the form of several paragraphs. 

The first paragraph will outline the competitive environment, telling your readers who your proposed business's competitors are, how much of the market they control and any other relevant details about the competition.

The second and following paragraphs will detail your competitive advantage, explaining why and how your company will be able to compete with these competitors and establish yourself as a successful business.

Remember; you don't have to go into exhaustive detail here, but you do need to persuade the reader of your business plan that you are knowledgeable about the competition and that you have a clear, definitive plan that will enable your new business to successfully compete.

Business Plan Section 3: Organization and Management

This section explains how your business runs and who’s on your team. Learn how to present the information in this section of your business plan.

This section of your business plan, Organization and Management, is where you’ll explain exactly how you’re set up to make your ideas happen, plus you’ll introduce the players on your team.

As always, remember your audience. If this is a plan for your internal use, you can be a little more general than if you’ll be presenting it to a potential lender or investor. No matter what its purpose, you’ll want to break the organization and management section into two segments: one describing the way you’ve set up the company to run (its organizational structure), and the other introducing the people involved (its management).

Business Organization

Having a solid plan for how your business will run is a key component of its smooth and successful operation. Of course, you need to surround yourself with good people, but you have to set things up to enable them to work well with each other and on their own.

It’s important to define the positions in the company, which job is responsible for what, and to whom everyone will report. Over time, the structure may grow and change and you can certainly keep tweaking it as you go along, but you need to have an initial plan.

If you’re applying for funding to start a business or expand one, you may not even have employees to fit all the roles in the organization. However, you can still list them in your plan for how the company will ideally operate once you have the ability to do so.

Obviously, for small businesses, the organization will be far more streamlined and less complicated than it is for larger ones, but your business plan still needs to demonstrate an understanding of how you’ll handle the workflow. At the very least, you’ll need to touch on sales and marketing, administration, and the production and distribution of your product or the execution of your service.

For larger companies, an organizational plan with well-thought-out procedures is even more important. This is the best way to make sure you’re not wasting time duplicating efforts or dealing with internal confusion about responsibilities. A smooth-running operation runs far more efficiently and cost-effectively than one flying by the seat of its pants, and this section of your business plan will be another indication that you know what you’re doing. A large company is also likely to need additional operational categories such as human resources and possibly research and development.

One way to explain your organizational structure in the business plan is graphically. A simple diagram or flowchart can easily demonstrate levels of management and the positions within them, clearly illustrating who reports to whom, and how different divisions of the company (such as sales and marketing) relate to each other.

Here is where you can also talk about the other levels of employees in your company. Your lower-level staff will carry out the day-to-day work, so it’s important to recognize the types of people you’ll need, how many, what their qualifications should be, where you’ll find them, and what they’ll cost.

If the business will use outside consultants, freelancers, or independent contractors, mention it here as well. And talk about positions you’d want to add in the future if you’re successful enough to expand.

Business Management

Now that we understand the structure of your business, we need to meet the people who’ll be running it. Who does what, and why are they onboard? This section is important even for a single practitioner or sole proprietorship, as it will introduce you and your qualifications to the readers of your plan.

Start at the top with the legal structure and ownership of the business. If you are incorporated, say so, and detail whether you are a C or S corporation. If you haven’t yet incorporated, make sure to discuss this with your attorney and tax advisor to figure out which way to go. Whether you’re in a partnership or are a sole owner, this is where to mention it.

List the names of the owners of the business, what percent of the company each of them owns, the form of ownership (common or preferred stock, general or limited partner), and what kind of involvement they’ll have with day-to-day operations; for example, if they’re an active or silent partner.

Here’s where you’ll list the names and profiles of your management team, along with what their responsibilities are. Especially if you’re looking for funding, make sure to highlight the proven track record of these key employees. Lenders and investors will be keenly interested in their previous successes, particularly in how they relate to this current venture.

Include each person’s name and position, along with a short description of what the individual’s main duties will be. Detail his or her education, and any unique skills or experience, especially if they’re relevant to the job at hand. Mention previous employment and any industry awards or recognition related to it, along with involvement with charities or other non-profit organizations.

Think of this section as a resume-in-a-nutshell, recapping the highlights and achievements of the people you’ve chosen to surround yourself with. Actual detailed resumes for you and your management team should go in the plan’s appendix, and you can cross-reference them here. You want your readers to feel like your top staff complements you and supplements your own particular skill set. You also want readers to understand why these people are so qualified to help make your business a success.

This section will spell out the compensation for management team members, such as salary, benefits, and any profit-sharing you might be offering. If any of the team will be under contract or bound by non-compete agreements, you would mention that here, as well.

If your company will have a Board of Directors, its members also need to be listed in the business plan. Introduce each person by name and the position they’ll hold on the board. Talk about how each might be involved with the business (in addition to board meetings.

Similar to what you did for your management team, give each member’s background information, including education, experience, special skills, etc., along with any contributions they may already have had to the success of the business. Include the full resumes for your board members in the appendix.

Alternately, if you don’t have a Board of Directors, include information about an Advisory Board you’ve put together, or a panel of experts you’ve convened to help you along the way. Having either of these, by the way, is something your company might want to consider whether or not you’re putting together the organization and management section or your business plan.

NEXT ARTICLE > Business Plan Section 4: Products and Services

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Everyone deserves to succeed. But today, for too many Canadians, especially Millennials and Gen Z, your hard work isn’t paying off like it did for previous generations. Your paycheque doesn’t go as far as costs go up, and saving enough seems harder and harder. It doesn’t have to be this way. Every generation should get a fair chance to get ahead.

One of the biggest pressures on people right now is housing. Young Canadians are renting more than ever and being priced out of their communities. Families are finding it difficult to get a good place to settle down. The cost to build homes is too high, and the time it takes to finish projects is too long. We need to build more homes in Canada, and we need to build them by the millions.

The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Chrystia Freeland, and the Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities, Sean Fraser, today unveiled the federal government’s ambitious housing plan, Solving the housing crisis: Canada’s Housing Plan , supported by new investments from the upcoming Budget 2024. At the heart of this plan lies a commitment to make housing affordable. No hard-working Canadian should have to spend more than 30 per cent of their income on housing costs. No Canadian should have to live without knowing they have a safe and affordable place to live.

The plan lays out a bold strategy to unlock 3.87 million new homes by 2031. This includes a minimum of 2 million net new homes, on top of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s forecast of 1.87 million being built anyway by 2031. Federal actions in this plan, in Budget 2024, and taken in fall 2023 will support at least 1.2 million new homes, and we call on all orders of government to build at least 800,000 more homes by 2031.

Here’s what we’re doing:

Building more homes by bringing down the costs of homebuilding, helping cities make it easier to build homes at a faster pace, changing the way Canadian homebuilders manufacture homes, and growing the workforce to ensure we get the job done. This includes:

• A Public Lands for Homes Plan to lead a national effort to build affordable housing on federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal lands across the country. We will partner with homebuilders and housing providers to build homes on every possible site across the public portfolio and ensure long-term affordability.
• $15 billion in additional loans for the Apartment Construction Loan Program to build a minimum of 30,000 new rental apartments, in big cities, small towns, and rural communities alike, will be proposed in Budget 2024. With this additional financing, the program is on track to build over 131,000 new apartments by 2031-32.
• Launching Canada Builds, a Team Canada approach to building affordable homes for the middle class on under-utilized lands across the country. Canada Builds combines federal low-cost loans with provincial and territorial investments to scale up construction on rental homes for the middle class, from coast to coast to coast.
• Supporting Indigenous Peoples in urban, rural, and northern areas . We will also provide additional distinctions-based investments for Indigenous housing to be delivered by Indigenous governments, organizations, housing, and service providers.

Making it easier to own or rent a home by ensuring that every renter or homeowner has a home that suits their needs, and the stability to retain it. We’re putting measures to protect tenants against unfairly rising rent payments, leverage rental payment history to improve credit scores, increase the Home Buyers’ Plan withdrawal limit, extend mortgage amortizations for first-time home buyers buying newly built homes, and more:

• Launching a Tenant Protection Fund to provide funding to legal services and tenants’ rights advocacy organizations to better protect tenants against unfairly rising rent payments, renovictions, or bad landlords.
• Leveraging rental payment history to improve credit scores, helping you qualify for a mortgage and better rates.
• Increasing the Home Buyers’ Plan withdrawal limit by $25,000 and extending the grace period to repay by an additional three years.
• Extending mortgage amortizations for first-time buyers buying newly built homes . Mortgage insurance rules will be amended to allow 30-year mortgage amortizations exclusively for first-time home buyers purchasing new builds.

Helping Canadians who can’t afford a home by creating more affordable and rental housing – including for students, seniors, persons with disabilities, and equity-deserving communities – and eliminating chronic homelessness in Canada. This includes:

• Providing $1 billion for the Affordable Housing Fund to build affordable homes and launching a permanent Rapid Housing Stream to build on the success of the previous three rounds of the Rapid Housing Initiative.
• Launching a $1.5 billion Canada Rental Protection Fund to protect and expand affordable housing.

The Prime Minister also announced new measures included in Canada’s Housing Plan to attract, train, and hire the skilled-trade workers Canada needs to build more homes.

• $90 million for the Apprenticeship Service , creating apprenticeship opportunities to train and recruit the next generation of skilled trades workers.
• $10 million for the Skilled Trades Awareness and Readiness program to encourage high school students to enter the skilled trades – creating more jobs and opportunities for the next generation of workers to build Canada up.
• $50 million in the Foreign Credential Recognition Program , with a focus on residential construction to help skilled trades workers get more homes built. Like our previous $115 million investment, this funding will remove barriers to credential recognition, so workers spend less time dealing with red-tape and more time getting shovels in the ground.

Transforming our housing system and solving the housing crisis will take a Team Canada effort. No one level of government, home builder, not-for-profit, or community can do it alone. We need every partner pulling in the same direction to build the homes Canadians need.

This is about realizing Canada’s promise of affordable housing for every generation – and it’s just one of the things that we are going to be doing in Budget 2024. Alongside these measures, we’re getting healthy food on kids’ plates, delivering stronger public health care, making life more affordable, and creating good jobs to make sure every generation can get ahead.

“We are changing the way we build homes in Canada. In our housing plan and Budget 2024, we are delivering ambitious action and investments to build more homes, make it easier to rent or own, and help the most vulnerable with stable housing. This is about restoring fairness for every generation, and housing is at the heart of that.” The Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada

“We are announcing today real, tangible measures that are going to help more younger Canadians get those first keys of their own. We are using every tool at our disposal to deliver housing without delay – because we want to make the dream of homeownership a reality for younger Canadians.” The Hon. Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance

“Canada can and will solve the housing crisis, and we’re going to do it by getting every home builder, not-for-profit, mayor, city councillor, and premier pulling in the same direction to build the homes Canadians need.” The Hon. Sean Fraser, Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities

Quick Facts

• The Prime Minister today also announced the creation of a new Deputy Minister of Public Lands and Housing position within the Privy Council Office. The Deputy Minister will oversee and report on federal efforts to build more homes for Canadians through the use of public lands, providing a single point of accountability within the public service. An appointment to this position will be announced later today.
• Since 2015, the federal government has helped almost two million Canadians find a place to call home.
• Restore generational fairness for renters, particularly Millennials and Gen Z, by taking new action to protect renters’ rights and unlock pathways for them to become homeowners. Learn more .
• Launch a new $6 billion Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund to accelerate the construction or upgrade of essential infrastructure across the country and get more homes built for Canadians. Learn more .
• Top-up the Apartment Construction Loan Program with $15 billion, make new reforms so it is easier to access, and launch Canada Builds to call on all provinces and territories to join a Team Canada effort to build more homes, faster. Learn more .
• Support renters by launching a new $1.5 billion Canada Rental Protection Fund to preserve more rental homes and make sure they stay affordable. Learn more .
• Change the way we build homes in Canada by announcing over $600 million to make it easier and cheaper to build more homes, faster, including through a new Homebuilding Technology and Innovation Fund and a new Housing Design Catalogue. Learn more .
• The Apartment Construction Loan Program , a $40 billion initiative that will be topped up with an additional $15 billion in Budget 2024 to boost the construction of new rental homes by providing low-cost financing to homebuilders. Since 2017, the Apartment Construction Loan Program has committed over $18 billion in loans to support the creation of more than 48,000 new rental homes. With our recently announced measures , the Apartment Construction Loan Program is now on track to help build over 131,000 new rental homes across Canada by 2031-32.
• The  Affordable Housing Fund , a $14+ billion initiative that supports the creation of new market and below-market rental housing and the repair and renewal of existing housing. It is designed to attract partnerships and investments to develop projects that meet a broad spectrum of housing needs, from shelters to affordable homeownership. As of December 31, 2023, the Fund has committed $8+ billion to repair or renew over 150,000 homes and support the construction of more than 32,000 new homes.
• The Housing Accelerator Fund , a $4 billion initiative that will be topped up with an additional $400 million in Budget 2024 to encourage municipalities to incentivize building by making transformative changes, such as removing prohibitive zoning barriers. To date, the federal government has signed 179 Housing Accelerator Fund agreements which, combined, will fast-track an estimated total of over 750,000 housing units across the country over the next decade.
• The Rapid Housing Initiative , a $4 billion fund that is fast-tracking the construction of 15,500 new affordable homes for people experiencing homelessness or in severe housing need by 2026. The Rapid Housing Initiative also supports the acquisition of existing buildings for the purpose of rehabilitation or conversion to permanent affordable housing units, focusing on the housing needs of the most vulnerable, including people experiencing or at risk of homelessness, women fleeing domestic violence, seniors, Indigenous Peoples, and persons with disabilities.
• Progress on these and other programs and initiatives under Canada’s National Housing Strategy are updated quarterly at  www.placetocallhome.ca . The Housing Funding Initiatives Map  shows housing projects that have been developed.
• On November 9, 2023, we signed a historic Housing Accelerator Fund agreement with the Province of Quebec.
• Building on the success of the 2023 agreement, the federal government will continue to work closely with Quebec to build more homes for Quebecers, including by delivering additional funding through the Housing Accelerator Fund and the new Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund.
• The Government of Canada’s Budget 2024 will be tabled in the House of Commons by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance on Tuesday, April 16, 2024.
• Save more young families money and help more moms return to their careers by building more affordable child care spaces and training more early childhood educators across Canada. Learn more .
• Create a National School Food Program to provide meals to about 400,000 kids every year and help ensure every child has the best start in life, no matter their circumstances. Learn more .
• Secure Canada’s AI advantage through a $2.4 billion package of measures that will accelerate job growth in Canada’s AI sector, boost productivity by helping researchers and businesses develop and adopt AI, and ensure this is done responsibly. Learn more .
• Provide the Canadian Armed Forces with the tools and capacity they need to defend Canada and protect North America, advance Canada’s interests and values around the world, and support its members with an overall investment of $8.1 billion over five years and $73 billion over 20 years. Learn more .

Related Products

• Solving the housing crisis: Canada’s Housing Plan
• Backgrounder: Solving the housing crisis: Canada’s Housing Plan

2024-2027 Business Plan

2023-2026 business plan.

This document contains forward-looking statements about iGO's expected or potential future business and financial performance. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about possible operator launches, future revenue and profit guidance, and other statements about future events or conditions. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the uncertain economic environment; fluctuations in customer demand; and changes in government or regulation. Although such statements are based on Management’s current estimates and expectations and currently available competitive, financial and economic data, forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain. The reader is cautioned that a variety of factors could cause business conditions and results to differ materially from what is contained herein. The information contained in this document is current to December 2023.

Table of Contents

Section 1: executive summary.

Section 2: Mandate Vision, Mission and Values

Section 3: Overview of Programs and Activities

Section 4: environmental scan and risks.

Section 5: Strategic Directions and Implementation Plan Growing the Economy Breaking Down Barriers Empowering Customers Building iGO Up

Section 6: Staffing, Human Resources and Compensation Strategy

Section 7: information technology (it) / electronic service delivery (esd) plan, section 8: initiatives involving third parties, section 9: communication plan, section 10: diversity, inclusion and environmental, social and governance (esg) planning, section 11: multi-year accessibility plan.

Section 12: Three-Year Financial Plan

Section 13: Performance Measures and Targets

List of tables.

Table 1: iGO's Quarterly Market Performance Reports (Q1 and Q2)

Table 2: iGO's Current Organizational Structure

Table 3: iGO's Three-year Financial Plan

In developing this 2024-2027 Business Plan, iGaming Ontario (iGO) considered the age of the organization, market, and our vision to lead the world’s best gaming market. Since our establishment in July 2021, and the launch of the igaming market in April 2022, iGO has been focused on creating a sustainable, healthy, and diverse market that offers player choice, increases player protections, generates sizeable revenues for government, and does so with an operational efficiency and proud culture that acts as a benchmark for a government agency. In just 18 months, Ontario’s igaming market has become the most competitive in North America, with more operators than any other province or state. It also now ranks 6th worldwide by gross gaming revenue, 1 a true testament to the work of the agency and the leadership provided by its Board and by its government partners.

As the organization moves forward, this business plan will help guide both its day-to-day and its longer-term strategic decisions. Keeping iGO’s values of fun, respect, empowerment, and excellence top of mind will ensure that iGO delivers on its vision to lead the world’s best gaming market. As seen throughout the business plan, achieving that vision is no simple task. iGO has set out a series of key performance indicators that it will use to measure progress toward that goal as well as a series of internal pillars that ensure consistency and performance across all aspects of the organization. With this objective in mind, iGO will work to Grow the Economy, Break Down Barriers, Empower Customers and Build iGO Up, all while delivering on the mandate given to it by government to achieve the maximum possible return for the government and its citizens. Detailed plans on how iGO will accomplish these tasks are explained below.

1 “Online Gambling Market: New Markets Disrupt Global Online Rankings” (Daniel Stone, VIXIO, November 15, 2023) https://www.vixio.com/blog/new-markets-disrupt-global-online-rankings

Section 2: Mandate

iGO's core mandate is to conduct and manage prescribed igaming lottery schemes while promoting responsible gambling. iGO’s mandate is set out in O.Reg 722/21 under the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario Act, 2019 .

iGO is governed by its Board of Directors and executes its mandate to conduct and manage internet gaming in the province when provided through private gaming operators who act as agents on iGO’s behalf.

iGO is committed to supporting the Government of Ontario’s objectives to provide an expanded igaming market that provides consumer choice and enhanced entertainment choices for players; consumer protection to ensure safer and responsible play; support legal market growth and capture revenue; and enable innovation and speed to market by reducing red tape.

VISION, MISSION AND VALUES

To support the agency in successfully delivering its mandate, iGO has developed a vision, mission and value set to guide its operations.

To Lead the World’s Best Gaming Market

The Mission

To conduct and manage Ontario’s safe, efficient, and legal world-class igaming market

Fun We facilitate new and exciting entertainment choices for players.

Respect We promote responsible gaming, value diversity, equity and inclusion, and treat one another with respect.

Empowerment We enable innovation and speed to market by reducing red tape and leveraging private sector expertise.

Excellence We create a culture of constant reflection and continuous improvement.

iGO conducts and manages internet gaming in the province when provided through private gaming operators who act as agents on iGO’s behalf. iGO enters into operating agreements with operators who meet rigorous standards of game and operator integrity, fairness, player protection and social responsibility, allowing all players to play with confidence. A share of revenues generated by these commercial relationships are returned to the Government of Ontario to support provincial priorities.

iGO was established on July 6, 2021. Between iGO’s founding and the beginning of the 2024-25 fiscal year, iGO was tasked with creating the conduct and manage framework for the launch of Ontario’s legal, regulated and safe igaming market, which launched on April 4, 2022, and ensuring the orderly operation of the market thereafter. To conduct and manage the market in a short time frame, iGO set a series of operational priorities including ensuring consumer choice and protection, growing the regulated market, building in-house infrastructure and controls, reconciling operator payments and data, establishing anti-money laundering processes, reducing red tape, creating a people-centric organization, and establishing governance and operational capabilities. These priorities guided iGO throughout its first two years of existence.

Fiscal year 2022-23 represents iGO’s first full year of operations, during which customers wagered $35.5 billion with iGO’s operators, resulting in $1.26 billion in gross gaming revenue (GGR) from over 1.6 million player accounts. After operator payments, taxes, and operating expenses (i.e., salaries and benefits), iGO generated a net income for the year of $96.2 million. In addition, iGO also remitted $133.7 million in GST/HST payments to the Federal Government, 37% of which is returned to the province, resulting in a net $84.2 million contribution to the Federal government. When the provincial share of iGO’s GST/HST payments is included, iGO contributed $145.7 million to the province of Ontario’s treasury, which eclipsed iGO’s own mid-year projections by over $15 million.

The Ontario market has seen 52 operators with over 70 gaming websites launch, making Ontario’s market the most competitive jurisdiction in North America. These strong results have continued into the 2023-24 fiscal year with unaudited results reporting over $28 billion in wagers and more than $1.08 billion in gross gaming revenue in just the first two quarters of the year. With a continued focus on the priorities below, iGO is committed to helping the market grow even further over the next several years.

Consumer Choice

iGO has created a framework that supports an attractive, open and competitive igaming market to ensure world-class products and user experiences for Ontario consumers. In that work iGO executed over 100 non-disclosure agreements with prospective operators large, small, foreign and domestic to ensure they were able to understand the requirements of the Ontario market before committing resources to launch. The organization also established the game catalogue and game conditions policies which determined what offerings would be legal to provide in the Ontario market as iGO’s agent, which include peer-to-peer poker, sports betting, casino games and novelty betting.

Since launch, iGO has helped 52 operators, offering more than 70 unique websites, go live in Ontario. iGO has also worked closely with external partners like the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) to help launch peer-to-peer bingo in conjunction with Ontario’s charitable gaming sector, Ontario’s first ever betting exchange, and allowed for Canadian Pari-Mutuel Association (CPMA) regulated pari-mutuel horse racing wagering on an iGO operator site. Each of these initiatives broadens the range of products available to Ontarians, enhance the competitive nature of the market, and weaken the appeal of illegal gaming websites.

Consumer Protection

iGO requires operators to have several consumer protection policies in place that include industry-leading requirements to ensure responsible gambling-focused advertising from operators and accreditation from the Responsible Gambling Council (RG Check). iGO is also planning for a future centralized self-exclusion program.

iGO has developed customer care and dispute resolution policies that set out the requirements and processes operators must implement for players who have serious concerns or complaints related to products, services, or actions of an operator, all to ensure consumers are protected. If iGO finds operators improperly treated customers in any way, the organization’s resolutions to these disputes are binding on operators, thereby ensuring customer protection is paramount.

iGO has also created an anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing program framework that includes policies, operational guidance, job aids and training for operators to ensure compliance with federal legislation. In its first year of market operations, iGO reviewed and filed over 26,000 regulatory reports with the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC). iGO will implement an automated processing system to help improve efficiency and reduce manual processes in the reporting of anti-money laundering reports to FINTRAC.

Regulated Market Growth

iGO continues to work with the government and operators to create market conditions that support economic development, weaken the illegal market, and capture new provincial revenues. This includes regular consultations with operators, enabling innovation and differing market approaches through policy changes and updates, and creating an iGO portal for operators where policies, FAQs and other guidance materials are available. iGO also continues to utilize its account manager model assisted by a small team of finance, anti-money laundering, privacy, legal, information technology (IT) and market insights experts to ensure that all prospective and current operators receive the assistance they need to launch and grow in Ontario.

Reduced Red Tape

A key consideration when creating the rules and policies for the launch of Ontario’s regulated igaming market was to ensure that the market is conducted and managed in manner that is as efficient and commercially attractive as possible while ensuring compliance with applicable law and world-class consumer protections and standards.

iGO continues to foster close relationships with external parties to ensure its requirements and rules are not unnecessarily burdensome to operators and players alike. This approach is paying off with, for example, over 5,000 regulated game offerings available on iGO’s over 70 websites thanks, in part, to a broad game catalogue that enables and welcomes innovation and competition. iGO continues to work with operators to evaluate and accommodate market developments such as potential consolidations, product expansions, and branding changes as iGO’s operators evaluate their long-term approaches to the Ontario market.

People Centric

Given iGO’s recent establishment, the organization has been recruiting and training staff since day one. iGO has focused on doing this in an efficient manner while ensuring the organization builds the foundation of an inclusive, forward-thinking, and engaged workforce. Throughout iGO’s first two years, the organization has grown in a thoughtful manner, aiming to balance immediate priorities with future needs. iGO continues to evaluate its own internal processes to find efficiencies and drive further revenue and improve outcomes.

Governance & Operationalization

iGO has developed a financial and accounting framework to ensure appropriate financial reporting. The igaming model also required iGO to ensure compliance with the complexities of the GST/HST elements of the Excise Tax Act and implement banking relationships with major financial institutions. iGO also had to design and implement a financial system, internal controls, back-of-house processes to enable the execution of operating agreements with operators, and forecasting and analytics tools, while also ensuring these processes worked together to ensure seamless operation once the market launched. Additionally, iGO has successfully completed its first audit that included gaming revenue and is undergoing process improvements to ensure a robust and efficient audit process in the future, including implementing recommendations given to iGO by the Auditor General of Ontario.

iGO is also actively beginning work to improve the way it conducts internal business. This includes the creation of both a data and digital strategy that will allow iGO to make better and more frequent insights about the market as well as automate the manual processes that currently reduce efficiency within the organization, respectively. As part of this work, iGO is also investigating the role of managed services for the organization.

The risks affecting iGO’s performance and ability to deliver on its key performance indicators are best categorized into external and internal risks.

External Risks

iGO does not deliver igaming products on its own. Rather, iGO has entered into operating agreements with private gaming operators who operate igaming sites on behalf of iGO in accordance with the requirements established in those agreements. Therefore, a number of external factors facing these operators, and by extension iGO, exist such as: operators’ ability to satisfy iGO’s mandated insurance or banking requirements, talent shortages, cash flow issues, underperformance, mergers and acquisitions, continued competition from the legal and illegal markets, and cybersecurity/privacy incidents.

iGO took a number of steps to help mitigate these risks. These include reviewing and revising initial launch policies and processes to account for real-world considerations and applications such as operator exits, consolidation of gaming sites, and corporate changes such as mergers and acquisitions. iGO has also instituted an account management process post-onboarding to ensure operators are complying with operating agreement obligations and instituted a disaster recovery and an interim incident management protocol.

To help identify additional risks that may exist over the course of the business planning cycle, iGO, with the assistance of a third-party advisor, has begun to develop an Enterprise Risk Management Framework that includes the identification of key risks for which mitigation plans are being created.

In addition, given that iGO is the first agency of its kind in Canada, there are also risks that come with the creation and operation of the organization. In the 2022-23 fiscal year, the Mohawk Council of Kahnawa:ke served a notice of application with the Ontario Superior Court against iGO and the Attorney General of Ontario seeking ‘a declaration that the Ontario government does not “conduct and manage” online lottery as required under s. 207(1)(a) of the Criminal Code’ as well as challenging the legislative and constitutional authority which underpins the regulated internet gaming market in Ontario. The application is expected to be heard in February, 2024.

There are also reputational and financial risks that could materialize from a failure to comply with the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act . To address these risks, iGO has established a comprehensive anti-money laundering (AML) policy and program that includes all of the elements prescribed by FINTRAC. iGO monitors operator and player risks and oversees operator compliance with iGO AML requirements. In its first year of market operations, iGO reviewed and filed over 26,000 regulatory reports to FINTRAC.

Gambling is an activity that brings with it inherent risks to players and consequently to iGO as the conductor and manager of igaming. With these risks in mind, iGO established mandatory requirements for operators that complement the AGCO’s regulatory standards. These iGO requirements are: RG Check accreditation for operators, mandatory operator spend on marketing campaigns that focus on responsible gambling messaging, development of a future centralized-self exclusion registry, and the sharing of anonymized player data for the purposes of responsible gambling research. iGO had also created a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) to track player awareness of responsible gambling tools to address this risk head on. iGO surveyed players in Q3 of 2023-24 and found that 63% of players were aware of responsible gambling tools available to them. This figure will serve as the baseline for the KPI moving forward.

Internal Risks

iGO continues to operate in a hybrid work environment with a combination of remote and in-person work arrangements and is committed to a model where employees work in-office a minimum of three days per week once sufficient office space is secured. A hybrid work environment can create internal risks related to employee performance, training, satisfaction, retention, and communication. To help with this hybrid environment, iGO completed a full cloud migration to its own tenant to enable a technological approach that was customizable to iGO’s needs. iGO has also formally transitioned to in-office work a minimum of one day per week. To enable an in-office three days per week model, it is actively evaluating cost effective and modern lease options with the objective of implementation in 2024-25. In the meantime, iGO continues to prioritize in-person events such as town halls, monthly management meetings, and regular touchpoint meetings to ensure proper communications both between and within departments.

iGO has also grown in recent years, bringing on dedicated human resources staff, bolstering the information technology department, and making additional departmental hires where necessary to accommodate faster than expected market growth. This has helped to reduce burnout and increase employee satisfaction.

That said, iGO ensured all hiring decisions were made under an organization-wide effort to prioritize a lean, efficient organization. In the 2022-23 fiscal year, iGO delivered $2.5 million in provincial contribution per full-time equivalent (FTE) – an important measure of our value for taxpayers. That ratio is one of the highest ratios of provincial contribution of any Ontario government agency. iGO is projecting to grow the revenue-to-FTE ratio further over the business planning period in order to deliver maximum value to government and taxpayers.

This was completed while also securing an employee satisfaction rate of 83% for 2022-23 year and an interim rate of 82% for the 2023-24 fiscal year, both higher than iGO’s KPI target of 80% over the business planning period and also among the leaders for any Ontario government agency. This KPI ensures that iGO not only monitors risks related to employee efficiency and effectiveness but also addresses any issues head on.

Section 5: Strategic Directions and Implementation Plan

As previously mentioned, iGO’s vision will be achieved through four pillars of activity: Breaking Down Barriers, Growing the Economy, Empowering Our Customers and Building iGO Up. The strategic directions for iGO are best categorized within each of these pillars.

GROWING THE ECONOMY

Growing the market.

Since market launch on April 4, 2022, iGO has been focused on creating the conditions for a healthy, stable, and competitive market. The organization’s first year saw a rush of operator onboardings, culminating in over 45 operators by year-end. iGO’s operators accepted over $35.5 billion in wagers and made over $1.26 billion in GGR in the first year. Since then, the market has continued to grow with more operators and iGO’s two best quarters coming in the first and second quarter of fiscal year 2023-24. In both quarters, iGO’s operators eclipsed $14 billion in wagers and $540 million in GGR. Therefore, iGO’s focus is shifting from onboarding operators to helping grow the market by expanding the approved suite of product offerings, supporting responsible gambling options, facilitating operator innovation and reducing costs for iGO and operators to sustain a healthy market that promotes player choice and confidence. iGO is projecting to reach $2.1 billion in adjusted GGR in 2023-24, growing to $2.5 billion and $2.6 billion in the next two fiscal years, respectively.

Between April 1 and September 30, 2023, these operators have processed over $28 billion in total wagers from some 943,000 active player accounts, generating approximately $1.085 billion in GGR of which iGO receives approximately 20%. As a result of Ontario’s market growth over the past several months, Vixio, a leading regulatory intelligence company, reported that Ontario (including OLG igaming products) jumped from the world’s 11th largest market in 2022 to the 6th largest market by GGR, surpassing markets like New York, Michigan, and Sweden. Throughout the business planning period, iGO projects the market to continue to grow both on a GGR and total wagers basis.

Operator sites vary in focus, featuring icasino games, sports betting options and peer-to-peer poker. iGO has also recently enabled peer-to-peer bingo offerings, betting exchanges, and – via the CPMA – pari-mutuel horseracing offerings through its operator sites. Peer-to-peer bingo and betting exchange revenue remain nominal, given their recent inclusion, and all horseracing wagers are placed under CPMA supervision and therefore are not included in the above numbers.

Important to iGO is not just the size of the market but the diversity therein. iGO’s operators are a healthy mix of foreign and domestically owned sites, large-, mid- and small-sized operators, and existing Ontario land-based operators. Each operator brings different games, strategies, and product offerings to Ontario’s market, meaning competition, choice, and options for players. Not only are there are over 70 sites to choose from, but over 5,000 regulated game offerings and a large diversity of sports betting markets.

Table 1: iGO's Unaudited Quarterly Market Performance Reports (Q1 and Q2)

FY2023-24 Q1 – April 1 to June 30, 2023

FY2023-24 Q2 – July 1 to September 30, 2023

Notes for Table 1: iGO’s Quarterly Market Performance Reports

• The numbers in Table 1 are unaudited and subject to adjustment.
• Total Wagers does not include promotional wagers (bonuses).
• Total Gaming Revenue is total cash wagers, including rake fees, tournament fees and other fees, across all Operators minus player winnings derived from cash wagers and does not take into account operating costs or other liabilities.
• The count of Operators and gaming websites includes all those with trades that occurred during that period.
• Active player accounts are accounts with cash and/or promotional wagering activity and do not represent unique players as individuals may have accounts with multiple Operators.
• The Ontario igaming market described in these reports includes all eligible games offered by Operators pursuant to an operating agreement with iGO. As such, they do not include OLG’s igaming offering or pari-mutuel wagering on horseracing.

iGO has not only executed operating agreements with 52 operators, but also continued to work with prospective operators who have expressed an interest in joining the Ontario market. This interest is in part due to the large Ontario population and the mature market behaviour operators have already seen in the province. However, it can also be attributed to the province’s competitive revenue share rate, the legalization of icasino products instead of just sports betting, the recent legalization of single-event sports wagering, the lack of land-based ties that are seen in other jurisdictions, and an open competitive process that does not feature an arbitrary cap on the amount of operators in the market.

When these market design factors are combined with an onboarding process that involves personalized account management support, operators are not just invited to join the Ontario market but are welcomed with supportive processes. As the Ontario market matures and stabilizes, iGO is able to shift its focus to value-add activities such as providing valuable market insights to operators and players, reducing administrative inefficiencies to create a more seamless operator experience, and ensuring Ontario is an innovative market leading the world in all aspects of gaming from new product launches to responsible gambling efforts.

Telling Ontario’s Story

Though many companies have joined the market already, competition around the world is ever growing. As more jurisdictions legalize online sports betting and icasino play, the competition for investment dollars, office locations, and product launches grows. To ensure Ontario experiences the maximum benefit from its decision to regulate igaming, iGO continues to encourage operators to launch, invest and grow right here in Ontario.

To do this, iGO must tell Ontario’s positive story to the world both by releasing regular market updates and by making investments in a robust data strategy that will allow for more detailed and comprehensive market insights in the future. This data strategy will take advantage of iGO’s unique position as a central data hub to provide valuable information to the industry regarding player behaviour and trends. This initiative will help operators refine products to meet consumer needs, creating a better playing experience and help to maximize capture of potential revenue that could otherwise be diverted to the illegal market. As a result of these efforts, iGO recently received the Regulatory Initiative of the Year award from Vixio.

iGO has also begun a series of economic development initiatives that includes a commitment to releasing quarterly market updates about the size and strength of Ontario’s igaming market and regular appearances at conferences and panels where operators and suppliers are in attendance. Some of these venues include the Canadian Gaming Summit, G2E Global Gaming Conference, the Commercial Gaming Association of Ontario/Ontario Charitable Gaming Association Joint Conference and the ICE Gaming Conference. That work also includes the release of a key report titled Economic Contribution of Ontario’s Regulated iGaming Market, which shows the scale of investment and spend by iGO operators, supporting over $1.5 billion in GDP, more than $760 million in government revenue, and supporting over 12,000 jobs .2 That report also contained year 5 and 10 projections of the potential economic benefits to Ontario if the market continues to grow. iGO has committed to updating this report with a release early in the 2024-25 fiscal year.

Helping Promote the Legal Market

Though iGO is not a regulator it can play a role in helping the Ontario Government pursue its overall goal of eliminating the illegal igaming market. First, iGO has and will continue to work with operators who follow the standards set by the AGCO and the conditions set out by iGO. The process of helping operators to convert their organization and their players into the legal market is the first and most effective step in combatting the illegal market.

Second, iGO has a role to play in educating stakeholders, including players, of the difference between the new legal market and the illegal market. Awareness efforts such as promotional campaigns, requirements for display of the iGO logo on all advertising and operational sites and helping educate companies such as advertising agencies or payment processors of the benefit of working solely with legal operators, all work in concert to reduce the appeal of illegal market operators. iGO is committed to working with its government partners, including the AGCO, to further weaken the illegal market and make it more difficult for them to operate within Ontario’s borders.

2 Economic Contributions of Ontario’s Regulated iGaming Market (Deloitte, June 14, 2023) https://igamingontario.ca/en/deloitte-economic-contribution-ontarios-re…

BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS

Improving the market.

iGO continues to work closely with its operators to ensure compliance with the operating agreement, the Criminal Code of Canada, and other legislative and regulatory obligations. This includes receiving performance security deposits, enforcing operator insurance requirements, collecting and controlling gaming data, collecting gross gaming revenue from operators, and complying with FINTRAC’s anti-money laundering reporting requirements.

To ensure iGO is as efficient and productive as possible, iGO account managers continue to have regular meetings with operators to troubleshoot issues and develop solutions to any emerging obstacles to growth. iGO participates in regular communication with operators through its external consultation platform iGOConnect.ca, ad-hoc conversations and meetings with operators, and through its iGO Operator Roundtable, which meets at minimum semi-annually. These roundtables enable the discussion of emerging issues in the gaming space and the collection of feedback on proposed initiatives and policy changes. These channels of communication assist iGO in refining its policies, the operating agreement, and contemplate future unforeseen issues as well as assist iGO in determining which of its processes can be automated, managed by outside vendors, or run more smoothly to reduce friction and cost.

Pursuing Workable Solutions

To continue to improve and grow the market, iGO is committed to working with government partners to solve remaining regulatory and legislative barriers that may exist. This includes, for example, future work with the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation to support omni-channel player accounts for Ontario’s existing land-based operators that may seek to open igaming sites, and building on the work already done with charitable gaming venues and bingo halls. This work also includes model expansion initiatives such as iGO’s role in enabling pari-mutuel horseracing wagers under CPMA supervision through its sites, and the onboarding of Canada’s first legal betting exchange. As mentioned in iGO’s 2024-2025 Letter of Direction, iGO also stands ready “to support the government’s objectives and policy development activities to drive increased growth and enhanced consumer choice in the igaming framework.” This work could potentially include future initiatives such as working to solve liquidity challenges and helping expand the model to other provinces if requested. These expansions are subject to government policy and regulatory change but, if pursued, iGO stands ready and willing to help.

These new ventures will help ensure Ontario’s gaming market is a world leader and iGO is committed to working with its partners to develop these opportunities.

Gathering Direct Feedback

In addition to the Operator Roundtable process, iGO is also launching a direct player feedback process through player focus groups in the 2023-24 fiscal year and by continuously monitoring player feedback through call centre complaints made to the joint iGO/AGCO customer service centre. Lastly, given iGO’s unique position as a central repository of igaming-related data iGO can derive and share valuable Ontario market insights and observations. iGO is completing both a digital and data strategy to ensure proper data validity and formatting to allow for better market insights.

EMPOWERING CUSTOMERS

Improving the operator onboarding process.

iGO has reviewed its onboarding process to reduce unnecessary inputs, eliminate friction in the process, ultimately to reduce the overall time to go live for prospective operators. This work became increasingly important as interest in joining the market accelerated with the passing of the AGCO’s October 31, 2022, deadline requiring the shuttering of operations in the illegal market. By streamlining the onboarding process iGO ensured the legal market could grow while simultaneously reducing the size of the illegal market in Ontario. For more on this work, please refer to the KPI in section 13 regarding a more efficient onboarding process.

Anti-Money Laundering Requirements

As the conduct and manager of igaming in Ontario, iGO must report to FINTRAC when certain occurrences happen in the market such as large withdrawals or suspicious transactions. Given the size of the market, iGO processed over 26,000 reports to FINTRAC in just the first year of operations. Currently, these reports are processed manually, taking up significant time and resources. As a result, iGO is evaluating options that will automate the required anti-money laundering reporting process and reduce the need for manual staff input all while improving efficiency.

Responsible Gambling Tools

Core to iGO’s mandate is the promotion of responsible gambling as a key function of the market. iGO operators must obtain RG Check accreditation from the Responsible Gambling Council within two years of go-live and all launch-day operators have completed or are on track to meet this requirement.

iGO has released its policy to operators that requires them to dedicate a portion of their gross gaming revenue to responsible gambling advertising. Operators will submit compliance reports to iGO next year for the 2023-24 fiscal year.

Additionally, the creation of a centralized self-exclusion registry that enables players to self-exclude from all Ontario regulated igaming websites at once remains a top priority. All told, these measures empower customers to protect themselves from the risks of gambling and play with confidence.

BUILDING IGO UP

Ensuring the right employee complement.

iGO’s employees play a critical role in delivering on the agency’s mandate. As the organization moves forward, it has been transitioning to regular operations instead of launching the new market and onboarding operators. This means a change in the focus of employees and potentially the complement. iGO is continually reviewing its structure to ensure the optimal staffing design.

Going Digital First

iGO’s operators provide an online service to Ontario players as iGO’s agents. As a result, almost all their interactions with players – and by extension iGO’s interaction with players – are online. iGO needs to be a digital-first organization to lead the world’s best gaming market. Processing the tens of millions of pieces of gaming data, millions of dollars of GGR payments, and thousands of AML reports per year requires significant digital infrastructure.

iGO recently completed a series of procurements for infrastructure technology systems that have allowed iGO resources to be centrally located on its own tenant. Additionally, iGO is evaluating options to automate AML reporting and risk analysis functions as well as options to better process the millions of pieces of gaming related data for market insight and reporting purposes through a data and digital strategy. Each of these systems may require larger one-time financial investments and, depending on the system, permanent staffing resources to oversee their operations and utilize the data collected. This work will be performed throughout the rest of the 2023-2024 year and beyond.

Building Internal Processes

As iGO is a new organization, many internal processes and policies had to be created for the first time. The Board of Directors was previously seized with approving these policies and assisting in building the foundation of the organization. Now, given many of the needed policies have been established, the Board can transition to one that provides longer-term strategic direction and performs regular evaluations of the organization against its stated objectives. This work has already begun with the Board completing risk identification and mitigation work as well as long-term strategic planning work, both of which have informed the organization’s business planning for 2024-25 and beyond. The Board has also recently established a 360˚evaluation process, with the first evaluation taking place in 2023-24. The evaluation involves both a self-evaluation completed by board members and a senior management evaluation of the board. This evaluation process will contribute to ensuring good governance practices through regular assessment of the Board’s performance, identification of skills gaps, and support needs.

As a new agency, iGO’s initial focus was on establishing the foundational capabilities to support the growth and rapid evolution of the industry. Staff have worked tirelessly to ensure iGO meets its legislated mandate. iGO is committed to supporting its staff and to promote a culture of diversity, equity and inclusion, ensure strong succession planning and support a healthy life-work balance.

Returning to the Office

As the COVID-19 pandemic ended, iGO had to adapt to the new realities of a hybrid workplace. During iGO’s first year the agency was almost fully remote. In its second year iGO implemented a hybrid workplace approach and is committed to a model where employees work in-office a minimum of three days per week, once sufficient office space is secured. To enable an in-office three days per week model, iGO is actively evaluating cost-effective and modern lease options while fully complying with the Ontario Realty Directive and Interim Measures. iGO’s objective is implementation of a three day per week in-office model in 2024-25.

iGO’s Compensation Strategy

iGO’s compensation strategy, including employee benefits, is in line with the Broader Public Sector expectations and directives. iGO provides a comprehensive benefits package including the following:

• 100% Employer-Paid premiums for Basic Life, Basic AD&D, Health, Dental and Long-term Disability
• Defined Benefits Pension Plan administered by the Ontario Pension Board (for non-union employees) and OP Trust (for unionized staff)
• Short Term Income Protection for permanent staff to a maximum of six months (130 working days) in the calendar year

Bargaining Agent

The bargaining unit for iGO is OPSEU Local 565.

iGO Headcount

iGO’s current staffing allocation totals 76 staff members, not including the Board of Directors, though some positions are still being recruited.

iGO has utilized outside expertise and services where necessary and has also used both contract and temporary staff to ensure the right size and fit for iGO.

iGO’s current organizational structure is captured below. The organization is separated into 7 business units, each run by management level employees.

Table 2: iGO's Current Organizational Structure:

• Market Insights
• Strategic Policy
• Anti-Money Laundering
• Responsible Gambling
• Contract Oversight
• Board Relations
• Financial Reporting and Analysis
• Revenue and Financial Operations
• Program Delivery & Process Optimization
• Service Delivery
• Business Solutions Support
• Human Resources
• Strategic Engagement and Communications
• Strategic Planning
• Indigenous Relations
• Procurement

Investment in iGO’s IT infrastructure remains critical to meeting our strategic goals of leading the world’s best gaming market, which includes improving how iGO collects, analyzes, and reports data about its gaming market. Significant progress was achieved in prior fiscal years to realize iGO’s immediate goals of achieving technological self-sufficiency, building a strong IT team and procuring the necessary Managed Detection and Response (MDR) cybersecurity services. The focus for the next three years continues to be automation and continuous efficiencies through technology.

Recognizing the significant importance of the data being collected from operators, iGO will be concentrating on the development of a data governance framework with a focus on data quality and accuracy to reduce time-consuming processing, cleanup, and analysts’ work effort. This will be part of an overall data strategy that is right sized for iGO to reduce complexity and promote adoptability while introducing modern and scalable technologies for data ingest, storage, and analytics while ensuring compliance with all relevant privacy legislation.

Anti-money laundering compliance remains a priority for iGO and is considered integral in the overall data governance and strategy initiatives. We will continue to work on improved operator data ingestion processes and automated analytics to better identify suspicious transactions and high-risk operators and players. In addition, iGO is committed to streamlining FINTRAC reporting to reduce manual work being performed by operators and employees.

The responsible gambling team at iGO, in collaboration with operators and the OLG, continues its initiative to procure and implement a viable and robust province-wide self-exclusion registry for igaming. This is a shared priority for both operators and iGO and will provide another tool to protect vulnerable players.

iGO’s core operations rely on external third-party agents that provide services to Ontarians on iGO’s behalf. Therefore, most every initiative iGO undertakes involves third parties in some capacity. This means that external engagements with third parties are pivotal to iGO’s ongoing success and igaming market growth.

Building on that work, iGO is in the process of creating a voice of the player process that will allow feedback from Ontario players directly to the agency for the first time. iGO also continues to monitor trends arising from its customer call centre to ensure the voice of the player, positive or negative, is properly understood.

iGO will continue to work with external partners who either work in conjunction with or alongside iGO. This includes the AGCO as the regulator of iGO, the OLG as a fellow conduct and manage entity in Ontario, the Ontario Provincial Police and FINTRAC as it relates to anti-money laundering work, the Responsible Gambling Council as it relates to responsible gaming measures, the Government of Ontario and its Ministries, Indigenous representatives including the Ontario First Nations Limited Partnership (OFNLP), and third-party associations representing the industry and its economic development opportunities such as the Canadian Gaming Association or Ontario-based post-secondary institutions.

Specifically, iGO is pleased to receive direction from the Ministry of the Attorney General on a series of third-party initiatives contained within its 2024-2025 Letter of Direction. These directions include:

• Working with the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation on areas of common interest including responsible gambling and anti-money laundering measures, for which iGO is proceeding on the development of a centralized self-exclusion registry.
• Supporting the government’s policy development activities including a potential role for iGO in expanding Ontario’s regulated igaming market to other provinces.
• Continuing to work with government to support relationships with First Nation partners, including the Ontario First Nations (2008) Limited Partnership, to improve information sharing and continued good faith discussions on revenue sharing opportunities.
• Developing iGO as a leader in market data and consumer insights, for which iGO is actively developing and implementing both a digital and a data strategy to allow for the proper ingest and analysis of hundreds of millions of pieces of gaming related data from operators.

To deliver on its mandate, iGO must clearly and consistently communicate to both internal and external stakeholders. An effective communications strategy is critical in ensuring players can play with confidence that they are playing on a site that is safe as well as better informing Ontarians about the new igaming market and its benefits.

The iGO website is regularly updated with relevant content, including a live list of regulated operators and quarterly market updates regarding iGO’s performance. The site has distinct sections dedicated to players and operators, as well as a new ‘About iGO’ section for corporate reporting and public disclosures.

The player section includes a list of iGO’s approved igaming websites as well as information about responsible gambling tools and the benefits of the legal market. There is also an escalation path for dispute resolution should any players have concerns about their dealings with an operator.

On the operator side of the website there is information explaining how to join Ontario’s legal market, the benefits of doing so, and links to iGOConnect.ca, iGO’s engagement platform for operators and prospective operators.

Social Media

iGO is using social media (X, formerly known as Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram) to engage proactively with Ontarians about operators that have joined the legal market, responsible gambling tools, and other important messages such as iGO’s quarterly performance reports. In addition to proactively informing the public of igaming related developments via these channels, iGO also uses these accounts to respond to player issues, as well as for gathering information and viewpoints from players, allowing iGO to include the player voice as an input into its decision-making process.

Media Relations

iGO regularly communicates with members of the media to provide information that helps tell iGO’s story, including the benefits of the legal market, in the most efficient way possible. This includes proactive press releases and responding to media inquiries on an as needed basis.

Diversity and Inclusion

iGO is committed to being a diverse and inclusive workplace for all. iGO, in all its decision making, prioritizes the needs of its current and future potential workforce, including women, racialized communities, Indigenous peoples, LGBTQ2S+ community and persons with disabilities. As iGO grows and creates internal policies, this lens will be applied, ensuring that diversity and inclusion planning is a core tenet from the outset, not a future edit or afterthought.

ESG Approach

iGO has prioritized an ESG approach in its work from its inception. Given iGO’s operators provide a digital service, embedding a digital first philosophy that reduces environmental waste is a core tenet of iGO’s business. On social matters, iGO has created an internal Corporate Social Responsibility committee to spearhead social initiatives such as United Way fundraising campaigns and the creation of volunteer days for staff to dedicate themselves to important community causes. On governance, iGO’s board has created Conflict of Interest policies, committed to the transparent and open publication of data on a regular basis, and embedded practices that meet the highest levels of integrity and accountability to the Government and the people of Ontario.

iGO’s accessibility plan and policies are currently under development. Though this process is underway, these policies will be created in accordance with the Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulation (IASR) under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 (AODA) . iGO will strive to remove barriers for people with disabilities and to create a workplace that is accessible for all. iGO is committed to a future where all external documents created by the organization, including this one, are presented in an accessible format, thereby meeting the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.

As part of iGO’s shared services agreement with the AGCO, every iGO employee since day one has been trained on the requirements of Ontario’s accessibility laws, including the AODA, IASR and the Ontario Human Rights Code as it pertains to persons with disabilities. This accessibility training has been built into the employee orientation process to ensure that iGO employees and the Board of Directors have a thorough and understanding of accessibility challenges and responses.

Section 12: Three-year Financial Plan

Table 3: iGO's Three-Year Financial Plan

(In Millions $)

FY23-24 Forecast

FY24-25 Budget

FY25-26 Plan

FY26-27 Plan

Adjusted GGR (AGGR)

Less: Operator Revenue Share

iGO Share of AGGR

Other Income

Total iGO Net Revenue

Total Salaries & Benefits

Total Other Direct Operating Expenses

Total Expenses before Stakeholder Payments

NET INCOME BEFORE STAKEHOLDER PAYMENTS

HST Expense

Gaming Revenue Share Financial Agreement Expense

NET INCOME AFTER STAKEHOLDER PAYMENTS

Provincial Portion of HST Refunded 3 1 -->

TOTAL iGO CONTRIBUTION TO PROVINCE

[1] Assumes ~37% of GST/HST paid to Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is recovered by the Province of Ontario.

iGO's 2023-24 fiscal year is expected to far surpass original estimates, with full year adjusted GGR (AGGR) estimated to end the year at $2.1 billion. A combination of a stronger than anticipated sports wagering peak in the early fall, more operators onboarded faster than originally anticipated, and delays in expected recessionary economic events led to this increase. This is the sign of a strong, stable, and competitive gaming market that features more operators than any other jurisdiction, one of the largest per-capita peer-to-peer poker markets in North America, and a top overall igaming market both by revenue and by handle. In fact, by GGR Ontario’s igaming market (including figures from OLG) has reached the 6th largest in the world, ahead of comparable jurisdictions such as Michigan and New York.

Fiscal 2024-25 continues this growth trajectory, with potential inflationary pressures being offset by continued market acceleration. Total fiscal 2024-25 AGGR is expected to reach just under $2.5 billion and Net Income after Stakeholder payments projected to reach just under $174 million.

Throughout the next three years, iGO is planning to carry out various initiatives aligned to each of its core pillars (Breaking Down Barriers, Growing the Economy, Empowering Customers and Building iGO Up). These activities will enable the achievement of its key performance indicators and deliver greater reliability and performance. Accordingly, there is an increase in operating costs during the implementation phase of these initiatives, and then thereafter as various systems come online, notably an automated Anti-Money Laundering solution and the launch of the Centralized Self Exclusion program.

The two most material costs to iGO, reflected in the table above, are its GST/HST payments and payments to Ontario First Nations. GST/HST costs increase in line with the increased revenues and payments to operators, given that this tax obligation is calculated as a percentage of payments to operators, thus directly variable with operator payments. As operator payments increase, so do iGO’s GST/HST costs. However, the net tax generated for the federal government correspondingly increases, all these net new taxation dollars are a result of the new igaming model in Ontario.

Payments to Ontario First Nations increase in fiscal 2024-25 as they are calculated as a percentage of the prior year’s unadjusted GGR, being the 2023-24 fiscal year’s revenues, which were substantially higher than the launch year revenues.

Revenues increase marginally in 2025-26 growing to just under $2.6 billion in 2026-27 fiscal year as stabilization of the market is realized earlier than expected, reflecting a 6% compound average growth from 2023-24 to 2026-27. This level of growth, however, is aligned with iGO’s KPI under the Growing the Economy pillar, which projects 5% average annual growth in this metric over the planning period.

3 Assumes 37% of iGO’s HST/GST payment is returned to the Ontario government. 4 “Ontario Online Poker Market Outshines the US” by Steve Ruddock (Oct 25, 2023) https://straighttothepoint.substack.com/p/first-impressions

For the 2023-2024 fiscal year and beyond, iGO identified six key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the performance of the organization. Given the newness of the organization, some of these key performance indicators still required baselines to be set and benchmarking to be conducted to evaluate progress and conduct future measurement exercises. Below is a summary of the 6 KPIs and the organization’s performance to date in achieving these outcomes. Of note, iGO is either on track to pass or has passed 3 of its 6 KPIs with the other 3 in progress.

The KPIs and iGO’s performance are as follows:

Description

Performance

Breaking Down Barriers

1.  Achieve 5% annual growth in channelization rate of players to the legal market, reaching 90% within 5 years

In iGO’s first year of market operations the channelization rate (players using a legal site) for players to the legal market, according to the IPSOS study procured by iGO and the AGCO, was 85.3%. This outperforms iGO’s year one target of 70% and puts iGO in a solid position to deliver on its year five target of 90% channelization. The IPSOS definition of channelization in that study was limited to which sites players use without considering how much money or time players spent on these sites. iGO intends to create a more comprehensive definition of channelization as part of its fiscal 2023-24 market sizing research plan.

Passing/Passed

Growing the Economy

2.  Achieve 5% annual average growth in net income before stakeholder expenses between 2023-2024 and 2025-2026

The 2022-23 fiscal year serves as a baseline for this KPI. That baseline totals $229.9 million ($96.2 million net income adjusted for stakeholder expenses) from which iGO will look to grow by an annual average of 5% between the 2023-24 fiscal year and the 2025-26 fiscal year. As seen in the projections in section 12 of the business plan, iGO is projecting to surpass this net income target.

In Progress

Empowering Customers

3.  Establish baseline of operator evaluation to be used for future KPIs and evaluations

The first operator evaluation framework will be launched in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2023-24 and will create a baseline for this KPI moving forward. iGO staff and senior leadership regularly engage and consult with operators, iGO has hosted a series of operator roundtables, and initial feedback provided during the market’s one year anniversary indicated positive comments about the organization.

4.  Establish baseline for iGO player awareness of responsible gambling tools with a goal of increasing the awareness of these tools by 5% year-overyear

iGO surveyed a segment of players in Q3 of 2023-24 to establish a baseline awareness of responsible gambling tools. That baseline is 63% awareness among iGO players. iGO will closely monitor operator compliance for responsible gambling advertisements in the 2023-24 fiscal year and use this program to drive an increase in awareness of responsible gambling tools, helping the organization achieve the 5% year-over-year growth in awareness envisioned in this KPI.

Building iGO Up

5.  Reduce iGO Touch Time on data and onboarding processes by 20%

iGO has achieved this KPI with touch time for onboarding processes reducing from 10 weeks to eight weeks. Touch Time for data validation in the onboarding process exceeded the target, reduced by 25%, from 20 days to 15 days.

Given that most operators interested in joining the Ontario market did so in 2023-24, iGO expects the number of new operators joining the market to decline dramatically in the coming years. As a result, iGO will be removing this KPI from future business plans and annual reports and commits to replacing it with a KPI that better measures current operational needs and performance.

6.  Maintain employee satisfaction target of 80%

iGO has set a base target of 80% of employees recommending iGO as a place to work. iGO is completing regular employee satisfaction surveys. In iGO’s inaugural survey in fiscal year 2022-23 iGO obtained an employee engagement score of 83%, thereby exceeding the KPI. Since then, iGO has recorded an employee engagement score of 82% for fiscal year 2023-2024.

These KPIs were chosen to ensure an organization-wide view of effectiveness across the seven business units. In addition, they reflect the priorities of iGO management, the iGO Board of Directors and the Government of Ontario seen in the organization’s mandate. Lastly, in addition to these KPIs, iGO has established goals within each of these pillars that contribute to the overall progress in achieving each of these KPIs. These more detailed goals will be tracked internally for the iGO Board of Directors to review to ensure success and achievement of the organization’s KPIs.

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Johnny Ronan’s 17-storey Dublin Docklands plan refused permission

Planners felt the proposed development would set an ‘undesirable precedent’ and devalue nearby property.

Johnny Ronan's plans to develop a mixed-use scheme in Dublin's Docklands have failed to secure planning. Photograph: Collins

Developer Johnny Ronan’s planned 17-storey mixed use scheme for Dublin’s Docklands has been rejected by planners.

In February, Mr Ronan’s Ronan Group Real Estate (RGRE) lodged plans for the redevelopment of global banking giant Citigroup’s current European headquarters at 1 North Wall Quay in the docklands.

The scheme involves the demolition of Citigroup’s existing six-storey office building and the development of four buildings in its place ranging in heights of nine to 17 storeys.

RGRE firm, NWQ Devco Limited was seeking a 10-year planning permission but Dublin City Council has refused permission across a number of grounds.

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A spokesman for RGRE said the group would appeal the refusal to An Bord Pleanála and that it was disappointed by the decision.

[  Johnny Ronan: Stuck in a new kind of bear trap  ]

“There is a strong view in Irish planning and construction communities, and among the wider public, that there has been a missed opportunity over the past decade for increased heights and densities along Dublin’s north and south docklands where the river Liffey is at its widest point and good transport infrastructure is in place,” he said.

“With the pipeline of brownfield sites in the docklands now almost exhausted, few opportunities remain for the construction of taller, more sustainable buildings in a location that is clearly appropriate.”

The council ruled that the proposed development, due to its height and excessive bulk and scale, “would constitute an insensitive form of development adjacent to existing residential development”.

The planning authority stated that the proposal would result “in a significant and unacceptable loss of daylight/sunlight and resultant overshadowing to these properties and amenity areas, adversely impacting their residential amenity”.

The council stated that the proposed development “would therefore set an undesirable precedent and would devalue properties in the vicinity”.

The planning authority also ruled that the proposed development “would constitute an overly dominant form causing serious injury to the visual amenities” of the Liffey Quays, a conservation area.

[  Developer Johnny Ronan emerges as owner of Dublin city’s only private park  ]

It concluded that the proposed development contravenes various policies of the Dublin city Development Plan, adversely affecting key views and vistas along the river corridor and the amenities of properties in the vicinity.

In the third reason for refusal, the council stated that having regard to the condition of the existing building and in the absence of a comprehensive justification for demolition where not all options were investigated, “the proposed wholesale demolition would be considered premature”.

The planned demolition was deemed contrary to the Dublin city Development Plan which seeks to promote and support the retrofitting and reuse of existing buildings rather than their demolition and reconstruction.

The council said the proposed development “would set an undesirable precedent for wholesale demolition on similar sites across the city and would therefore be contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area”.

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Irish scientists develop sepsis breakthrough, uk’s easyjet shares lift with strong summer momentum, heineken to raise price of pint from june, blackstone reports 1% rise in first-quarter earnings, woman living ‘exotic’ lifestyle given four months to vacate home bought with crime proceeds, family affairs: how ireland’s newly rich are putting money to work in secretive firms, stardust inquests: unlawful killing verdicts returned by jury in each of the 48 deaths in nightclub fire, university changes gender identity policy that said refusal to use pronouns was ‘unlawful’, ex-eirgrid chief faces court action over ‘driving under influence of intoxicant’, latest stories, ukraine shoots down russian drones as hopes rise for fresh us military aid, friends, colleagues and family bid farewell to the late, great larry masterson, inside the stardust: how tragedy unfolded at a valentine’s disco in dublin on friday, february 13th, 1981.

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Disney Fends Off Activist Investor for Second Time in 2 Years

Nelson Peltz had campaigned for two seats on Disney’s board of directors, as he sought to shake up the company’s growth plan.

By Brooks Barnes

Reporting from Los Angeles

The activist investor Nelson Peltz and Ike Perlmutter, the former chairman of Marvel Entertainment, have failed to infiltrate Disney’s board for the second time in two years, losing a tensely fought contest for support of the company’s shareholders as part of a campaign to alter its direction.

The Walt Disney Company said on Wednesday that shareholders had voted to elect its entire slate of board nominees by a “substantial” margin — thus rejecting a demand by Mr. Peltz’s hedge fund, Trian Partners, for two seats and endorsing a growth plan that the company’s chief executive, Robert A. Iger, has laid out.

Trian controls about $3.5 billion in Disney stock, a vast majority of which is owned by Mr. Perlmutter. He and Mr. Peltz, both 81, had also tried to shake up the Disney board last year, abandoning the effort after Mr. Iger unveiled a sweeping turnaround plan .

“With the distracting proxy contest now behind us, we’re eager to focus 100 percent of our attention on our most important priorities: growth and value creation for our shareholders and creative excellence for our consumers,” Mr. Iger said.

Mr. Peltz received 31 percent of the vote from shareholders who thought he should join the company’s board, according to a preliminary count. In a statement, Trian said that it was “disappointed” with the outcome but that it was “proud of the impact we have had in refocusing this company on value creation and good governance.”

Disney shares dropped 3 percent on Wednesday.

The latest Disney-Trian contest devolved into one of the largest, priciest and nastiest in history. Trian spent about $25 million on its offensive, while Disney priced its defense at up to $40 million, according to securities filings. Both sides inundated investors with political-style campaign materials, including mailings, emails, social media ads, videos and phone calls.

Trian harshly criticized Disney’s streaming strategy, lagging stock price and succession planning. Disney denounced Trian as “disruptive and destructive” and portrayed Mr. Perlmutter as being driven by revenge.

Mr. Perlmutter sold Marvel to Disney in 2009 for $4 billion and joined the company’s leadership team. In 2012, Disney negotiated settlements with three Black consumer products executives who accused Mr. Perlmutter of mistreatment. In 2016, Mr. Perlmutter sought to fire Kevin Feige, Marvel’s movie chairman, for spending too much ($250 million) to make “Captain America: Civil War,” which sold $1.2 billion in tickets. Mr. Iger overruled him. Mr. Perlmutter also resisted making inclusion-oriented movies like “Black Panther,” which collected $1.4 billion.

Mr. Iger finally ousted him last year.

By winning the support of shareholders on Wednesday, Mr. Iger can push forward with his growth plan for Disney — one that includes overhauling ESPN for the streaming era , spending $60 billion on new theme park attractions and cruise ships and finding a new generation of hit movies.

But the victory did not leave Mr. Iger, 73, without bruises.

At first, he seemed poised to easily win. Prominent Disney investors like George Lucas and Laurene Powell Jobs publicly offered support. Disney family members, including Abigail E. Disney, blasted Mr. Peltz and his associates as “wolves in sheep’s clothing.” Analysts (Guggenheim, Macquarie) and shareholder advisory firms (Glass Lewis, ValueEdge) threw cold water on Trian’s campaign.

It became a much closer contest after ISS, an influential shareholder advisory firm, partly sided with Trian. Mr. Peltz also won the backing of Egan-Jones , another advisory; it faulted Disney for unnecessarily veering into what it called “the killing fields of the culture wars,” a reference to Disney’s blowup with Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida over an education law that opponents labeled “Don’t Say Gay.”

One large investor that backed Mr. Peltz, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, or CalPERS, which owns about 6.6 million Disney shares, said the company would benefit from “fresh eyes.” It added that Mr. Peltz was “capable of leading needed change in corporate governance.”

In the end, Disney’s two biggest shareholders, Vanguard and BlackRock, which own a combined 12 percent of the company’s shares, ignored ISS and voted for Mr. Iger’s slate of directors. Mr. Iger also won crucial backing from small-fry investors: An unusually large amount of Disney shares (up to 40 percent) are held by individuals, many of them fans of the company’s movies and theme parks. (On average among public companies, individuals own closer to 15 percent of the shares.)

Roughly 75 percent of individual shareholders voted to elect the Disney slate, according to the preliminary tally.

Mr. Iger returned to run the company in 2022 — two years after he had retired — when the Disney board fired his hand-selected successor, Bob Chapek . During his earlier, 15-year stint, Mr. Iger delayed his retirement four times and seemed reluctant to leave when he did.

Ever since his return, Mr. Iger has encountered a seemingly nonstop array of challenges: repeated attacks by activist investors, sparring with Mr. DeSantis over control of government services at Disney World in Florida, two union strikes that shut down Hollywood for six months, the collapse of Walt Disney Animation films at the box office and even rebukes voiced and written by Elon Musk.

Should Disney sell ABC? How does ESPN navigate a transition to full-bore streaming? Who will take over as chief executive when Mr. Iger retires again?

Some of those questions remain.

“Regardless of the outcome of today’s vote, Trian will be watching the company’s performance,” Mr. Peltz said at the meeting before the results of the vote were announced. “Trian still has continuing concerns about the current strategy,” he said. “All we want is for Disney to get back to making great content and delighting consumers — and for Disney to create sustainable long-term value for all of the shareholders.”

In other news from Disney’s shareholder meeting, the company said investors had also voted against giving Blackwells Capital, a smaller activist hedge fund, seats on the board; it had campaigned for three.

“The company would have benefited from any one of our candidates for the hard work needed over the next few years to advance this iconic company, but we respect the will of the shareholders and the outcome,” Blackwells said in a statement.

Lauren Hirsch contributed reporting from New York.

Brooks Barnes covers all things Hollywood. He joined The New York Times in 2007 and previously worked at The Wall Street Journal. More about Brooks Barnes

Introduction

Financing options available, furniture financing options to avoid, financing furniture: a buyer's guide.

Affiliate links for the products on this page are from partners that compensate us (see our advertiser disclosure with our list of partners for more details). However, our opinions are our own. See how we rate personal loans to write unbiased product reviews.

• Furniture can be expensive, but there are multiple ways to finance furniture purchases. 
• Options for furniture financing include several types of loans and credit cards. 
• You want a financing option for furniture that charges 0% interest until you can pay it off.

The basics of furniture financing

Whether you're a new homeowner or it's time for an upgrade, buying furniture can be costly. Deciding how to finance furniture requires looking into several options. Even if you don't have stellar credit, furniture financing is likely within reach. 

Furniture financing is taking on debt in order to buy the furniture now and pay later. There are definite pros and cons to every method.

When you're ready to finance a big furniture purchase, consider your credit score , how much you plan to spend, and how quickly you can pay off the balance.

Credit cards and in-store financing

Plenty of people choose to finance furniture with a credit card, and it can work well. You may already have a credit card with a low APR , or you can try to find a card with a balance transfer offer.

Bank of America's Jason Gaughan , head of consumer credit card products, suggests financing furniture with a flexible rewards credit card with a 0% introductory APR. Obviously, the best credit card option is one that won't leave you with hefty interest charges months or years down the line.

Credit cards can be the best option for financing furniture, but only if you can secure a 0% APR. These offers don't last forever, so read the fine print and be ready to pay off the balance aggressively before the rate increases (often after 12 months). You may also try to get another balance transfer before your 0% APR introductory period ends.

Next Step:  See if you're prequalified for a loan without impacting your credit score >>

Personal loans

One straightforward way of financing furniture is to take out a personal loan. You can get personal loans from banks, credit unions, and online lenders. Personal loans are installment loans. You receive a lump sum for the approved amount and then follow a repayment agreement with your lender. Personal loans can be a good option if you have a good credit score. The higher your credit score, the lower the interest rates you'll be offered. Lenders will also consider factors including your work history and income, as well as your debt-to-income ratio , which measures the percentage of your monthly income that goes toward paying loans and other debts. Benefits of using a personal loan to finance furniture include:

• Interest rate may be lower than some furniture stores and credit cards.
• You can use the funds for any purpose, not only furniture.
• Your furniture doesn't serve as collateral.

Drawbacks to personal loans for furniture financing include:

• You may require a higher credit score to qualify
• Lenders may charge origination fees in addition to interest
• You'll be charged interest immediately, so prompt repayment is key

If you decide to try a personal loan, do a little pre-shopping to determine how much you'd like to borrow. Then look into several lenders to compare your options.

Buy now, pay later services

Buy now, pay later (BNPL) platforms let you to buy items without paying for them all at once. Instead, you pay only a portion of the price upfront, spreading out the remaining cost over a predetermined number of installment payments . These payments are often interest-free, and the approval process is fairly fast for consumers. 

BNPL has become an exponentially more popular option for shoppers, particularly for those who do their buying online. Companies like  Affirm ,  Afterpay ,  Klarna , and  Zip  all partner with various retailers to offer point-of-sale installment lending (another name for BNPL). 

Home equity loans

Homeowners might consider a home equity loan to help with the cost of new furniture, though this method can be more cumbersome.

With a home equity loan, you'll need a certain level of equity in your home, meaning the portion you own outright. A home equity loan, which uses your home as collateral the same way as your mortgage does, provides a lump sum and usually has a fixed interest rate. 

John Owens , executive vice president at Monterey Financial, notes that home equity loans can be more complex to arrange and might be better suited for larger purchases. 

Benefits of home equity loans to finance furniture include:

• Monthly payments are consistent due to a typically fixed rate.
• Interest rates may be lower than for personal loans due to the home being used as collateral.
• Long repayment terms can make payments more affordable.

Some drawbacks of home equity loans for furniture financing are:

• Default can result in foreclosure.
• The application process can be lengthy.
• There is strict criteria to qualify, including credit score and the amount of equity you have in your home.

If you think you'd qualify for a home equity loan, don't just pick the first lender you come across. Some lenders charge no fees and may even work with clients with low credit scores.

Home equity lines of credit

Much like a home equity loan, a home equity line of credit provides funds based on the amount of equity you have in your home, and you risk foreclosure if you default on the debt.

Unlike a home equity loan, a home equity line of credit (HELOC) offers a fixed maximum borrowing amount. Your lender determines a borrowing limit, and you can use as much or as little as you need to at any time, rather than taking out a lump sum.

HELOCs work much like credit cards, except that your home's equity is what provides backing. You can borrow up to the maximum limit, pay it back, and borrow again, as long as you don't exceed your maximum. 

If you anticipate making several large purchases over the next several years, a HELOC can be a good financing option. You could spread out your furniture buying as long as you don't exceed the maximum limit and avoid the hassle of getting multiple loans.

If you're interested in a HELOC, be sure to research multiple lenders to find the best deals. Ideally, you'll want a lender that doesn't charge too many up-front fees. 

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) recommends getting at least three estimates to compare factors like up-front costs, early termination fees, closing costs, interest rates, and various penalties.

As long as you're looking into solid financing options for your furniture, there are a couple of loan types you'll want to avoid. 

Payday loans , for example, are notoriously high in fees. Watch out for loans that often charge $10 to $30 per $100 borrowed, as the CFPB says is common for payday loans. Plus, these loans aren't ideal for long-term financing, so you're better off finding a loan that gives you at least six to twelve months to pay it off.

If you have bad credit you can finance furniture with options like rent-to-own or buy now, pay later services. However, terms and interest rates may vary.

It can sometimes be better to use a personal loan to finance furniture. Store financing can offer promotional terms like 0% interest, but it's crucial to repay within the promotional period to avoid high rates. Personal loans offer fixed rates and terms, making them a better option for longer-term financing.

Certain buy now, pay later plans don't require a hard credit check and may not affect your credit score. However, failing to make payments can lead to debt collection, which can negatively impact your score.

Watch out for high-interest rates after promotional periods, hidden fees, and penalties for late payments. Always read the fine print to understand the real cost.

Alternatives to financing furniture include saving up for furniture purchases, buying second-hand items, or looking for sales and discounts to avoid interest and fees.

Editorial Note: Any opinions, analyses, reviews, or recommendations expressed in this article are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any card issuer. Read our editorial standards .

Please note: While the offers mentioned above are accurate at the time of publication, they're subject to change at any time and may have changed, or may no longer be available.

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