How to write a business plan, a complete guide

Launching a startup is an exciting journey, but it's certainly not without its challenges. Without a clear roadmap for where you’re heading and what you want to achieve (and how you’ll achieve it) - it’s very easy to lose your way.

It’s sadly the case that around 20% of new UK businesses fail within the first year.¹ There are many reasons for this, some of which may be outside of your control. But the more you can plan and prepare, the better chance your startup will have of making it to its second year and beyond.

The first and most crucial thing every startup needs is a well-crafted business plan. This guides your decisions and helps you navigate the challenges ahead.

In this essential guide, we’ll show you how to write a solid business plan, step-by-step. But first, a look at what a business plan is and why it's essential for new companies.

What is a business plan?

A business plan is a formal document that outlines your business's objectives, strategies, target market and financial forecasts.

It serves multiple purposes, including:

• Helping you set clear strategic goals and determining the steps needed to achieve them.
• Acting as an operational guide, helping you manage your business effectively by outlining roles, responsibilities and processes.
• Communicating your business vision to stakeholders, investors and potential partners.

The exact format of a business plan can vary depending on the industry. For instance, a restaurant's business plan might feature a sample menu and location demographics, while a tech startup may focus on development timelines and intellectual property protections.

This is why it's crucial to tailor your business plan to your specific industry and business type. Starting off with a template is absolutely fine, but you need to then adapt and customise each part of your plan to your own company.

Why is a business plan important for a new company?

A business plan is a hugely important document, helping you base your new company on strong, strategic foundations. It could even mark the difference between success and failure.

Here are just a few reasons why it’s so crucial:

• It clarifies your business idea - writing a business plan forces you to refine your concept, ensuring it's viable and well-thought-out.
• It can impress potential investors and lenders - a comprehensive plan demonstrates to potential funders that you have a clear strategy and understand your market.
• It guides growth - it provides a structured approach to scaling your business, setting measurable goals and milestones.
• It identifies potential challenges - by analysing your market and competition, you can anticipate obstacles and plan accordingly.

10 steps for writing a solid business plan

Creating a business plan from scratch might seem daunting, but breaking it down into manageable steps can simplify the process. Here's a step-by-step guide, covering how to get started, what your business plan should include and how to structure it.

1. Executive summary

This is the first section of your business plan - but actually, you may want to write this last. It’s definitely worth keeping it in mind though as you move through the other sections of your plan.

The executive summary essentially provides a snapshot of your business. It summarises your mission, vision, product or service, and your unique value proposition - as well as providing basic information about your company.

Think of it as your elevator pitch - your chance to impress whoever is reading your business plan within the first few seconds. You can also tailor this depending on the audience, such as a potential investor for example.

💡 Explore our guide: how to write an elevator pitch

2. Company description

The next step is to tackle your company description. This is an explanation of what your business does, the problems it solves and what sets it apart from the competition.

Make sure you include information about the legal structure of your business and who owns it, including details of the key players (founders and directors). You should also mention the type of business (e.g., B2B, B2C) and geographical location.

Lastly, highlight your long-term vision and how your offering fits into the market landscape. It’s difficult to do (especially if you have big plans and ambitions), but you should aim to keep this as concise and impactful as possible.

3. Market analysis

Every startup needs an understanding of the market and industry it is launching in, and your business plan should demonstrate this. This means carrying out extensive market research, and summarising your findings in your plan.

You should include an analysis and/or explanation of:

• Your target market's size, demographics, trends and buying behaviour.
• Your main competitors and their market share, strengths and weaknesses.
• Barriers to entry, including how you plan to overcome them
• What other steps your business will take to gain a competitive edge.

There are lots of tools and templates you can choose to get started. For example, you can use SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) or PESTLE (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, Environmental) analysis - these will add depth and greater insight to this section of your plan.

4. Organisation and management

This step involves going into more depth about your company’s organisational structure.

It’s an opportunity to introduce your management team, highlighting their qualifications and experience. You should also outline their roles within the business. You can include an organisational chart if relevant.

If you have non-executive directors or advisors, list them and describe their contributions. This section builds credibility and shows you have a capable team to deliver your vision.

5. Products or services

This is one of the most crucial parts of your business plan, where you describe your key offer - the products or services your company will offer.

You should aim to include:

• The benefits to customers, including what problem your product/service solves or what need it meets
• The product life cycle, and any plans for research and development
• The results of research into the demand for your product/service within the market
• Whether you hold any patents, trademarks or proprietary technologies (if relevant).

If you have multiple products or services, it’s best to break down your offering into clear categories. You may also want to consider including visuals or prototypes, especially if you’ll be using your business plan to pitch for funding and win over potential investors.

6. Marketing and sales strategy

You’ve covered your offer - your product or service. Now you’ll need to explain how you plan to attract and retain customers.

Here’s what to discuss here:

• Your pricing model
• Your sales strategy
• Your marketing plans, including advertising, promotions, partnerships, and the channels you'll use to reach your audience (for example, digital marketing, events or direct sales).

You should also describe your brand positioning and how it connects with your target audience. If you have a launch strategy or phased marketing plan, include details of timelines and expected outcomes.

7. Funding requests

Seeking funding for your startup? This is your opportunity to lay the groundwork for pitching to investors and funders, right here in your business plan.

You should include the following:

• The amount you need
• How you plan to use the funds
• The type of funding you're looking for (for example, VC seed funding, equity, grants, loans, crowdfunder support etc.)
• A breakdown of all your company costs, such as staffing, product development, marketing and equipment.

Ultimately, you need to spell out exactly how the funding will help your business scale or reach a particular milestone. Another crucial point to include is detail on your planned exit strategy for investors.

💡 Read more: how to raise capital

8. Financial projections

Every good business plan needs hard facts and figures. It’s not enough to simply have a good business idea - you need to show that it can actually translate into a viable and profitable company.

To this end, this part of your business plan should focus on the financials. This means providing financial forecasts including income statements, cash flow statements and balance sheets for the next three to five years. Your projections should be realistic and based on market data.

You should include the assumptions used to build your projections, and explain any planned investments, overheads and pricing strategies. Investors will want to see when you expect to break even, your profit margins and how you plan to maintain financial health.

This kind of information can often be dense and hard to read, so you should use charts or graphs to make complex information digestible.

9. Appendix

This is where you can include any additional documents that support your business plan. For example, you may want to include the following in your appendix:

• Resumes of key company figures
• Legal agreements
• Product images and brochures
• Detailed market research
• Licences
• Supplier agreements.

However, you should only include relevant information that adds value.

It’s a good idea to create both a physical (paper) version of your business plan and a digital one. For the digital plan, you can use hyperlinks to documents for easy navigation.

10. Review and revise

Once your business plan is complete, it’s important to review it thoroughly - and make sure you get a few different people to check it over.

The main things to check for are clarity, consistency and accuracy (as well as typos or formatting errors, of course).

You might also want to seek feedback from mentors, advisors or industry experts. Once you have enough input from both inside and outside your company, you can decide whether to revise your plan.

Remember, your business plan should evolve with your startup. You should schedule in time to regularly update it, so that it reflects changes in the market, your goals and your operations.

Quick tips for writing a great business plan

Here are some quick takeaways to bear in mind as you start writing the business plan for your startup:

• Keep your business plan concise, clear and tailored to your audience
• Use straightforward language and avoid jargon
• Focus on realistic financials backed by research
• Make sure every section links back to your core business objectives
• Make sure your goals are SMART - this means specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound.
• Back up any claims with data and reference credible sources where possible.
• Use visuals like charts or infographics where possible to improve readability Revisit and update your plan regularly as your business evolves.

Grow your company and go global with Wise Business

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And that’s about it - our essential guide to writing a business plan, including all of the key steps to follow.

Writing a business plan is a critical step in launching a successful startup, so it’s worth taking the time to do it properly.

It not only helps you clarify your business idea but also serves as a valuable tool for attracting investors, applying for funding and guiding your company's growth.

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Sources used for this article:

1. Startups - Small Business Statistics 2024: the full report

Sources checked on 08-May-2025