Everything You Need to Know: Writing a Successful Business Plan

Writing a successful business plan requires several crucial steps. First, your objectives should be clearly defined. Thorough market analysis helps identify opportunities and risks. The plan should also have a clear structure with precise financial and marketing concepts. It’s important that the plan remains realistic and is supported by solid data. An appealing presentation of your plan increases the chances of convincing potential investors.

If you’d rather not put together your business plan and numbers alone, we support you in Strategy Consulting.

Before We Begin, A Brief Note

We want to keep this concise and aim to convince you through our efficiency. Even if you already know something about writing a business plan, we recommend not skipping any sections. Rather, we suggest working through this page in the order it’s written. You might discover something you’ve overlooked. Of course, you’re free to skip sections if you only want to read about a specific topic. However, most things in life are interconnected, and so are all sections in this article.

What Is a Business Plan?

“A goal without a plan is just a wish.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

In general, a business plan is a summary of your business founding, your goals, and your prospects for the next three to five years, whether for internal purposes or external presentations. It can even cover both aspects. Depending on how you design your business plan, this may vary.

If your business plan is intended only for internal use, you can get by with adapting some templates. For us, “internal” means you present it to your co-founders or want to get a better picture of your plan. The importance of a good internal strategic growth plan should not be underestimated!

Why Do Business Plans Fail?

Whenever we talk about success or failure, we need to take different perspectives to productively understand a situation. It’s always a combination of internal beliefs and external factors.

1. Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

You should be able to present the value of your business to others simply and convincingly. When it comes to the number of words, follow the old saying: as much as necessary, as little as possible. Make every word count and create a powerful statement.

2. Team Competencies

Imagine spinning a coin. For the coin to keep spinning, it needs speed, momentum, and balance. While one side of the coin represents the numbers your business generates, the other side is about the people behind it—your team. If your team’s competencies don’t match, the coin loses its balance and eventually stops spinning. If they do match, the coin will likely spin longer and faster. This potential is exactly what investors are looking for.

3. Financial Projections

When we look at one side of the coin, we also need to talk about the other side. If everything fits, but your financial projections simply aren’t convincing, why should anyone invest money in your business?

So it’s not easy to write a successful business plan. It’s not just about the plan people invest in, but also about your business, your team, and your ambitions. These points are easy to understand, but implementation is complex. Having a clear vision and planning and preparing for it is very helpful.

“If you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail.” – Benjamin Franklin

The Mindset Behind a Successful Business Plan

Let’s take a moment to go deeper. Imagine two scenarios.

First Scenario: You work with a client, deliver your project, and barely make the deadline. In the last moment, you think: “That should be enough.” How do you feel in the closing conversation with your client? Uncertain? Anxious? The scary part is that your client can at least subconsciously sense what’s going on in your head. This can cause them to feel dissatisfied.

Second Scenario: The same client, the same day, the same time. But this time, you deliver completely exceptional results. You managed to finish two days before the actual deadline. Now you have time to do more, care about presenting the results, and maybe even add a bit more service. How do you feel now in your closing conversation? Confident? In command? How does your client react? Surprised? Amazed? Hopefully, we’ve all been in this situation at least once.

You see, most people want the results that come from taking the extra step, but they don’t want to take the extra step. What does this concept have to do with creating successful business plans? Good question!

Think about it: If you don’t believe enough in your idea to take the extra step, why should anyone else walk that path with you?

How much is 10,000 euros in non-repayable funds worth to you? Maybe a sleepless night? If that doesn’t sound like much, then how much is it worth to you to get 50,000 euros in non-repayable funds? Imagine that all you have to do to succeed is invest the right amount of time and money. The secret lies in the “right amount.” For us, the right amount means always giving your best. And if you can’t give your best, at least give enough to stand out from the crowd. Simple enough?

This might mean pulling a few all-nighters with your co-founders or hiring an expert to avoid any chance of failure. It’s always either time or money that you need to invest. Otherwise, it’s just about getting lucky, but we want to make sure we succeed and minimize the risks of failure, don’t we?

Investing 2,000 euros in a convincing business plan to get 50,000 euros back. Sounds like a good ROI, doesn’t it?

What Does a Business Plan Include?

In short—a business plan mainly includes:

• Executive Summary
• Founders
• Information about Products and Services
• Market Overview
• Marketing Plan
• Company Structure
• Key Company Milestones
• Opportunities and Risks
• Financial Plan
• Appendix

Let’s dive deeper into the main topics.

1. Executive Summary

Here you need a summary of the most important general information. This includes information about the company and its founders. Names, experience, customers, marketing strategy, revenue growth, team building, milestones, opportunities, and risks. The key points from all the sections listed. This is probably the most important section as it gives the reader the first impression. And we all know that the first impression either opens or closes doors.

2. Founders

What can you say about the founders? Qualifications? Licenses? Experience? Strengths? How do you plan to balance any weaknesses?

3. Information About Your Products and Services

What’s special about your offering? Is it already mature? What do you need to get started? When can you start selling? What legal formalities do you need to complete? If your business has an intensive development phase, what steps are still missing for the final product? What do you need for the first production run? Who tests your models? What about patents?

4. Market Overview

Customers - Who are your customers? Where are your customers located? How would you describe your customer segments (e.g., age, gender, income, profession, purchasing behavior, B2B or B2C)? Do you already have references? If so, which ones? Are you dependent on a few major customers? What needs do your customers have?

Competition - Are there other companies in your niche? Who is the competition? What does your product cost? Strengths and weaknesses of competitors? How will you deal with them?

Location - Where do you offer your service or product, and why? Are there disadvantages? If so, how will you compensate for them? What does the future of this location look like?

Clear answers to the “why” questions and concrete solutions for dealing with potential risks are crucial for a successful business plan.

5. Marketing Plan

What’s the benefit of your offering? What makes it better than competitors’ offerings? What pricing strategy are you using and why? At what price do you want to sell and why? What sales figures do you plan for which time periods? Which areas are you targeting? Who do you work with for sales? What costs will you incur through distribution? What about advertising and a clever social media plan?

6. Company Structure and Milestones

What legal structure have you chosen and for what reasons? What organizational structure have you chosen? Who is responsible for what? How do you ensure proper controlling? When do you plan to hire how many employees? What qualifications should your employees have? What training do you plan for your employees?

7. Opportunities and Risks

Let’s talk about the future development of your business. What are the three biggest opportunities that could be positively influenced? What are the three biggest obstacles that could hinder you?

8. Financial Plan

1. Cost of Living: How high are your monthly/annual living costs? How much financial cushion do you need for unforeseen events like accidents and illness? What does your investment plan look like? What capital do you need and for what? This can include acquisitions and startup costs to get the venture up and running. Also a liquidity reserve to cover salaries for at least 6 months after launch. And finally—do you have cost estimates to back this up?

2. Financing Plan: What is your equity ratio? What collateral can you provide? Can you lease certain assets? Which funding programs are available to you?

3. Liquidity Plan: This section is about estimating the right numbers. How do you estimate:

• monthly costs?
• monthly payments from receivables?
• investment costs, spread over the first twelve months?
• monthly capital interest (repayment and interest payments)?
• monthly liquidity reserve?

4. Revenue Forecast / Profitability Calculation: What sales can you expect in the next three years? How high do you estimate costs for the next three years? How high do you estimate profit for the next three years?

Tip: Use comparable figures from your industry for your estimates. You can ask your chamber of commerce about this.

9. Appendix

This point is probably the easiest of all since the documents are self-explanatory.

• Curriculum vitae in tabular form
• Articles of association
• Lease agreement
• Cooperation agreements
• Leasing contract
• Market analyses
• Industry benchmarks
• Expert opinions
• Property rights

3 Points That Ensure Your Business Plan Is Really Successful

What a long list, right? To make it easier for you, here’s what you should pay close attention to in order to truly succeed.

1. No matter what you write, all “why” questions must make sense. Not just for yourself, but especially for others. It’s difficult to look at your own company objectively enough. Our advice: Get feedback from experts. You need someone with experience who can see through your ideas from the perspective of making an excellent first impression.
2. Take the opportunities and risks section seriously. Don’t hide important information here—reveal it. Showing that you can handle even major weaknesses is a major plus for your business plan.
3. Be prepared for everything. Especially for questions about your team, your product, and your service. What makes you and your offering so special? Remember: If you don’t prepare, you prepare to fail. There’s no reason to fail here, is there?

What About Templates?

Good question! It’s common to simply download or buy a template, fill it in, and “quickly be done with it.” But imagine you’re an investment company that receives thousands of requests daily, and 800 of them clearly use a template. Of those 800, at least a third use one of the 5 best free business plan templates. So if you choose the same free top template, you’re competing with over 300 companies and immediately make a poor impression. Do you want that?

What About Design?

We firmly believe in doing everything necessary to increase your chances of success. And design plays a major role in that. Most templates, especially free ones, are so full of great graphics that they distract from the content. They distract from the message investors should perceive. Remember, we’re still in a sales-like situation. You have control over how customers perceive you. So why confuse it with too many extras?

Our No. 1 Tip When It Comes to Sales-Promoting Design

So when it comes to writing a successful business plan, the design must be appealing. But appealing to whom? It’s not you or your partner(s) who need to like the design. It’s the person, company, or institution you’re presenting the business plan to.

Think about it. To whom will you present your business plan? A conservative, traditional bank? Use simple and classic, non-distracting design. A modern, social media-savvy investor? Be precise, but feel free to play a bit with colors and appealing modern graphics.

How to Make Your Business Plan a Success

Facts are hard to process, and we’ve done our best to make this article as helpful and readable as possible. If you’ve made it this far, you’re probably more than ready to finish your business plan.

By now, you know what questions you need to ask yourself. You don’t need to immediately go to a consulting appointment. Save yourself the money and answer the questions truthfully and as well as you can yourself. Talk to your co-founders. Then you can go to a consultation that will help you move forward. In Berlin and Brandenburg, you can also submit your plan to the Business Plan Competition and get free advice there.

By now, we’ve processed thousands of business plans and hope that you’ve learned everything in this guide about writing a successful business plan. If you want to minimize the risk of failure and make a convincing impression, don’t hesitate to ask us for help.

Book your free initial consultation now.