TABLE OF CONTENTS

S E C T I O N PA G E

1. EX ECUTI V E SU M M A RY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

2 . COM PA N Y DESCR IPTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

3. M A R K ET A NA LYSIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

4. ORGA N I ZATION & M A NAGEMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

5. PRODUCTS & SERV ICES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

6. M A R K ETI NG & SA LES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

7. OPER ATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

8. FI NA NCI A LS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

A. I NCOME STATEMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

B. CASH FLOW STATEMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

C. BR EA K-EV EN A NA LYSIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

D. BA LA NCE SHEET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

9. A PPEN DI X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

What product or service does/will your business provide?

Describe your product or service. Briefly make the case for why your product/service will be successful. How does it fill a customer need? What comparative advantage, if any, does your product/service have? What’s your unique point of view?

What goals do you have for your company?

Describe the vision for your business.

Describe your company’s objectives. Objectives are the specific steps you take to reach your goals.

Objective 1

Objective 2

Objective 3

Who are your target customers?

Describe your targeted customer group in detail and explain why your product or service will be valuable to them.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

11For more information, refer to: https://www.sba.gov/content/business-plan-executive-summary

What is your mission statement?

Your mission statement is an expression of your company’s guiding philosophy, a high-level objective or a set of values that led you to go into business.

COMPANY HISTORY

Describe your company’s history.

Provide details on when your company was founded, who founded it and give a brief summary your company’s progress. If it is a new company, explain why you decided to start your business.

LOCATION & FACILITIES

Describe your company’s location and facilities.Outline the offices and locations involved in the operation of your company.

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COMPANY DESCR IPTION

M I S S I O N S T A T E M E N T

C O M P A N Y H I S T O R Y

L O C A T I O N & F A C I L I T I E S

MANAGEMENT & EMPLOYEES

Who are the principal members of your company and what are their roles?

Include the number of employees and relevant information about your company’s management team. List their credentials and describe how tasks and responsibilities are distributed throughout your businesses managers and staff.

LEGAL STRUCTURE

What is the legal structure of your company?

The different legal business structures are as follows: Sole Proprietorship, Limited Liability Corporation, Corporation, Cooperative, Partnership and S Corporation.

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C O M P A N Y D E S C R I P T I O N C O N T I N U E D

M A N A G E M E N T & E M P L O Y E E S

L E G A L S T R U C T U R E

For more information, refer to: https://www.sba.gov/content/company-description

INDUSTRY ANALYSIS

Describe your industry.

Provide details about the characteristics of your industry such as the size, growth potential and current market trends. Outline the particular market segments you will be targeting.

TARGET CUSTOMERS

Describe your customers.

Give a profile of your targeted customer groups and connect their needs to your product’s value proposition.

COMPETITORS

Who are your competitors?

List who your current competitors are or who you expect your competitors will be.

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MAR K ET ANALYSIS

I N D U S T R Y A N A LY S I S

T A R G E T C U S T O M E R S

C O M P E T I T O R S

COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES

What advantages do you have over your competition?

EXAMPLES OF COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES INCLUDE ATTRIBUTES SUCH AS QUALITY, PRICE AND SERVICE.

REGULATIONS

What regulations apply to your company?

Cite any customer or government regulatory requirements affecting your business and how you will comply. It is also helpful to cite any operational or cost impact that the compliance process will have on your business.

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M A R K E T A N A LY S I S C O N T I N U E D

C O M P E T I T I V E A D VA N T A G E S

R E G U L A T I O N S

For more information, refer to: https://www.sba.gov/content/market-analysis

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

Describe your company’s organizational structure.

An effective way to lay out the structure of your company is to create an organizational chart with a narrative description.

OWNERSHIP

Outline the ownership information of your company.

Provide important ownership information including names of owners, percent ownership, resumes of the owners and management team. Also highlight how the people surrounding you complement your own skills.

BOARD & ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Outline the qualifications of your board of directors or advisory committee.

If you have a board of directors or advisory committee, outline key information including names, positions on the board, extent of involvement with the company, background, and historical and future contribution to the company’s success.

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ORGANIZATION & MANAGEMENT

O R G A N I Z A T I O N A L S T R U C T U R E

O W N E R S H I P

B O A R D & A D V I S O R Y C O M M I T T E E

For more information, refer to: https://www.sba.gov/content/organization-management

PRODUCTS & SERVICE BENEFITS

What product or service will your company provide?Include information about the specific benefits of your product or service from a customer perspective. Describe your product or service’s ability to meet consumer needs, advantages you have over competitors and the current development stage of your product (e.g. idea, prototype, etc.).

PRICING STRUCTURE

Describe your pricing structure.

Establish what it costs to offer and deliver your products. Include the base/list price and a variety of price modifiers such as promotional, quantity or seasonal discounts and fees.

LIFECYCLE

In which lifecycle stage is your product or service?

Explain where your product is within its life cycle. Is it in development? Are you testing it or building prototypes? Is it already on the market? Has it been on the market for a while? Describe what factors may influence its cycle in the future.

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PRODUCTS & SERVICES

P R O D U C T & S E R V I C E B E N E F I T S

P R I C I N G S T R U C T U R E

L I F E C Y C L E

For more information, refer to: http:tktktk

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

What intellectual property rights do you have for your product or service?

List out any existing, pending or anticipated copyright, patent or trademark filings.

RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

What research and development (R&D) activities are you performing or planning?

Analyze the R&D efforts of your business as well as others in your industry.

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P R O D U C T & S E R V I C E B E N E F I T S C O N T I N U E D

I N T E L L E C T U A L P R O P E R T Y R I G H T S

R E S E A R C H & D E V E L O P M E N T

For more information, refer to: https://www.sba.gov/content/service-or-product-line

MARKET DESCRIPTION

Identify and describe your market.

Explain who your customers are and what the demand is for your products or services.

VALUE PROPOSITION

What is your company’s value proposition?

A value proposition is a statement that describes the benefits that your products or services offer to your customers.

DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS

How will you sell your product or service?

List how your business will distribute its products or services to customers. Examples include selling your products or services at retail, wholesale, mail order and over the Internet.

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MAR K ETI NG & SALES

M A R K E T D E S C R I P T I O N

VA L U E P R O P O S I T I O N

D I S T R I B U T I O N C H A N N E L S

COMMUNICATION STRATEGY

How will you communicate with your customers?

Outline your communications strategy and tactics for reaching your customers, such as advertising, social media, public relations, email campaigns and personal selling. Break down each of the tactics and describe your strategy.

SALES FORCE

Describe your sales force and structure.

If you are going to have a sales force, do you plan to use internal or independent representatives? How many salespeople will you recruit for your sales force? How will you train your sales force? How will you compensate sales force?

SALES ACTIVITIES

Describe your sales activities.

Discuss your sales prospects, your strategy for increasing sales leads and your time spent on developing leads.

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M A R K E T I N G & S A L E S C O N T I N U E D

C O M M U N I C A T I O N S T R A T E G Y

S A L E S F O R C E

S A L E S A C T I V I T I E S

For more information, refer to: http:tktktk

GROWTH STRATEGY

What is your plan to grow your company?

Describe your overall strategy for expanding your business and increasing sales. Depending on your business, a growth strategy could include franchising, acquisitions or new product development.

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M A R K E T I N G & S A L E S C O N T I N U E D

G R O W T H S T R A T E G Y

For more information, refer to: https://www.sba.gov/content/marketing-sales-management

PRODUCTION

Provide an overview of your company’s production.

Explain where your products or services are produced and describe the following that are applicable to your company: product development, production techniques and costs, quality control, inventory management and customer service.

LOCATION

Outline the locations involved in the operations of your company.

Describe the locations of production, sales, offices and other facilities. Include information about whether you lease or own your premises, the access to your buildings and your business hours.

SUPPLIERS

Provide key information about your suppliers.

Include information such as their names, locations, what they provide, credit and delivery policies and history and reliability.

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OPER ATIONS

P R O D U C T I O N

L O C A T I O N

S U P P L I E R S

Provide financial statements and projections for your business. Include historical data from your company’s performance as well prospective financial data.

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FI NANCIALS

For more information on financial statements, refer to: https://www.sba.gov/content/financial-statements

For more information on financial projections, refer to: https://www.sba.gov/content/financial-projections

Complete the income statement template: https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/income_statement.xlt

INCOME STATEMENT ASSUMPTIONS

What are the assumptions for your income statement (also called profit and loss) spreadsheet?

Explain any documents, forecasts or other assumptions that you relied on to formulate your profit and loss projections. This may include assumptions about gross profit, operating expenses, taxes, dividends or owner draw.

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I NCOME STATEMENT

I N C O M E S T A T E M E N T A S S U M P T I O N S

Complete the cash flow statement template: https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/cash_flow_statement.xlt

CASH FLOW STATEMENT ASSUMPTIONS

What are the assumptions for your cash flow spreadsheet?

Explain any documents, forecasts or other assumptions that you relied on to formulate your cash flow spreadsheet. This may include assumptions about cash receipts, cash paid out and borrowing costs.

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CASH FLOW STATEMENT

C A S H F L O W S T A T E M E N T A S S U M P T I O N S

For more information, refer to: https://www.sba.gov/content/develop-cash-flow-analysis-your-business

BREAK-EVEN ANALYSIS

Calculate your break-even point.

Break-even point = fixed costs/(unit selling price – variable costs)

BREAK-EVEN ANALYSIS ASSUMPTIONS

What are the assumptions for your break-even spreadsheet?

Explain any documents, forecasts or other assumptions that you relied on to formulate your break-even analysis. This may include assumptions about your current and future costs, such as raw materials, labor, and operating expenses.

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BR EAK-EVEN ANALYSIS

B R E A K - E V E N A N A LY S I S A S S U M P T I O N S

For more information, refer to: https://www.sba.gov/content/breakeven-analysis

Complete the balance sheet template: https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/balance_sheet.xlt

BALANCE SHEET ASSUMPTIONS

What are the assumptions for your balance sheet spreadsheet?

Explain any documents, forecasts or other assumptions that you relied on to formulate your Balance Sheet statement. This may include assumptions about the value of your assets and your liabilities, debt and equity.

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BALANCE SHEET

B A L A N C E S H E E T A S S U M P T I O N S

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APPENDIX

Reference article: https://www.sba.gov/content/appendix