microsoft word business plan template

Create a business plan

You've been dreaming of starting your own business. You've started with some concrete steps, and you're ready to put your proposal together. But how do you start, and how do you know when you have the right information?

How to get it done

Create a business plan with templates in Word:

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Start with a template

Download these templates from the Office Templates site to create your plan:

Fill in your Business plan .

Analyze your market with the Business market analysis template .

Detail your financials in a Financial plan .

Divide up the work and track deliverables with this Business plan checklist .

Wrap up with this Business startup checklist .

Need a little help?

Learn how to:

Start a document from a template .

Apply themes to change your plan's look.

Related resources

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Free Microsoft Word Business Plan Templates

By Joe Weller | September 22, 2020

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We’ve compiled a variety of expert-approved business plan templates and samples for Microsoft Word. There are options for organizations of any size and type — from coffee shops and hair salons to professional services, and everything in between.

Included on this page, you’ll find Word business plan templates for small businesses , startup businesses , product and service businesses , and more.

Simple Business Plan Word Templates

These customizable business plan templates come professionally designed and ready to use, and are available to download in Microsoft Word format.

Simple Business Plan Template

Simple Business Plan Template

Use this template as a basis for creating an organized and thorough business plan. Customize the built-in table of contents to suit your needs, and use the space included to detail the nature of your business, the solution to the problem you’re solving, a market analysis, key performance indicators (KPIs), financial forecasts, and more.

Download Simple Business Plan Template — Word

Simple 30-60-90 Business Plan Template

Simple 30-60-90 Day Business Plan Template

This template is ideal for developing a 90-day action plan to create and implement your business plan in manageable, 30-day chunks. Use the document to outline your main goals and deliverables, and then assign key business activities and deadlines to ensure your plan stays on track. 

Download Simple 30-60-90-Day Business Plan Template

Word  | Smartsheet

For more 30-60-90 business plan templates, visit our "Free 30-60-90-Day Business Plan Templates and Samples" article.

Simple Business Plan Outline Template

Simple Business Plan Outline Template

This template provides a standard outline for a traditional business plan, which you can use to guide your research and develop your plan. Easily modify the provided information to include information that is relevant to your business. 

Download Simple Business Plan Outline Template — Word

For additional downloadable resources in a variety of formats, visit, “ Simple Business Plan Templates .”

One-Page Business Plan Word Templates

These single page business plan templates in this section provide a useful way to organize ideas. Companies can use these templates to develop a pitch document for potential partners and investors.

One-Page Business Plan Template

microsoft word business plan template

Use this template to capture the main details of your business concept, including your product or service offering, who it benefits, how it helps your target buyer, the pricing structure, income streams, and key milestones. There’s also room at the bottom to include a SWOT analysis .

Download One-Page Business Plan Template

Word | Smartsheet

One-Page Lean Business Plan

One Page Lean Business Plan Template

This template utilizes a Lean approach to help you showcase the core concepts of your business idea in a scannable format. Provide a brief overview of your company and industry, the unique benefits your product or service possesses, distribution strategy, key objectives and success metrics, and a financial plan. Use the visual timeline at the bottom to display dates and milestones.

Download One-Page Lean Business Plan Template - Word  

One-Page 30-60-90 Day Business Plan Template

One Page 30-60-90 Day Business Plan Template

A 30-60-90-day template is useful for developing an actionable plan. Simply add your main goals and the activities required to achieve them in 30-day increments. Update the status of each goal regularly to ensure your plan stays on track.

Download One-Page 30-60-90 Day Business Plan Template

For additional single page plans, along with an example of a business plan , visit " One-Page Business Plan Templates with a Quick How-To Guide ."

Small Business Plan Word Templates

These customizable business plan templates are especially useful for small businesses to develop a roadmap for structuring, operating, and growing their organization.

Small Business Plan Template

Small Business Plan Template

This comprehensive business plan template is ideal for small businesses that want to thoroughly document key goals and the associated activities. Add essential information to each section to keep your plan clear and concise — and pay special attention to the financial section and provide details that will validate your plan.

Download Small Business Plan Template — Word

Fill-In-the-Blank Small Business Plan Template

Fill-in-the-Blank Small Business Plan Template

This fill-in-the-blank template is useful for small business owners that need some guidance adding details to the various elements of their business plan. Each section of this standard business plan comes with pre-filled content that you can expand on and customize to reflect the specific needs and details of your business. 

Download Fill-In-the-Blank Small Business Plan Template — Word

Additional Fill-in-the-Blank Business Plan templates can be found here . 

One-Page Small Business Plan Template

One Page Business Plan For Small Business Template

Small businesses can use this template to articulate business ideas in a succinct, easily digestible manner. There is space to include a business overview, key team members, a market analysis, marketing and sales plans, objectives and success metrics, and a financial plan.

Download One-Page Business Plan for Small Business — Word

Startup Business Plan Word Templates

These business plan templates are ideal for entrepreneurs to assess the viability of their idea and gain buy-in from prospective investors and stakeholders.

Startup Business Plan Template

microsoft word business plan template

Use this startup business plan template to create a strong and detailed roadmap of your concept and related goals. The template includes space for an executive summary, business description, summary of product or service offerings, pricing structure, marketing strategy, competitive analysis, startup expenses, funding sources, and more to ensure you have a thorough plan in place.

Download Startup Business Plan Template

Sample 30-60-90-Day Business Plan for Startup

Sample 30-60-90 Day Business Plan for Startup

This 30-60-90-day business plan template is versatile, and can be used to develop an actionable plan for virtually any business activity. This sample contains pre-filled information to help you explain the organization’s main goals and deliverables, as well as to assign key tasks, ownership, and deadlines. 

‌Download Sample 30-60-90 Day Business Plan for Startup Template

For additional resources to create your plan, visit “ Free Startup Business Plan Templates and Examples .”

Product and Service Business Plan Word Templates

These business plan templates are designed for a product or service-focused business to use to develop a workplan that articulates its vision and objectives.

Business Plan Template for Professional Services

Professional Services Business Plan Template

Entrepreneurs offering professional services can use this document to outline the main goals and objectives associated with their business, as well as how they plan to achieve them. This template comes with a built-in table of contents and includes all the components of a traditional business plan, including the company background, market and industry analysis, competitive analysis, service offering details, promotional plan, sales forecasts, financial statements, and more.

Download Business Plan Template for Professional Services — Word

One-Page Business Plan for Service Business

One Page Business Plan For A Service Business Template

This business plan template is ideal for a service-type business owner who needs a basic plan to jot down core business concepts. This single-page template has room to include the business mission and vision, service provided, target market, competitive advantage, marketing and sales plan, and key objectives. There is also a visual timeline of milestones included at the bottom of the template for tracking progress.

Download One-Page Business Plan Template for Service Business — Word

One-Page Business Plan for a Product Business

One Page Business Plan For A Product Business Template

Use this one-page business plan to outline the key details related to your product-focused idea. Articulate the purpose and vision of your business, the problem your product solves, potential customers, how you will get your product to buyers, pricing strategy, main objectives, and success metrics. The timeline of milestones at the bottom of the template automatically creates a visual display of noteworthy activities. 

Download One-Page Business Plan for Product Business — Word

Fill-In-the-Blank Business Plan Word Templates

Use these pre-filled business plan templates as a basis to build a thorough plan that keeps your strategy aligned with sales, promotional, and financial objectives.

Simple Fill-In-the-Blank Business Plan

Simple Fill In The Blank Business Plan Template

This fill-in-the-blank template features a traditional business plan layout, and includes pre-filled content in each section. Outline the key components of a well-rounded business plan, and add a company overview, market analysis, marketing and sales plan, operations plan, financial statements, supporting documentation, and more.

Download Simple Fill-In-the-Blank Business Plan Template — Word

Lean Fill-In-the-Blank Business Plan

Fill-in-the-Blank Lean  Business Plan Template

This Lean business plan has all the necessary parts to articulate your business vision and strategy. Add information about the problem you aim to solve, your product or service offering, unique value proposition, target customers, cost structure, revenue streams, and a timeline of milestones.

Download Fill-In-the-Blank Lean Business Plan Template — Word

For additional resources, visit " Free Fill-In-the-Blank Business Plan Templates ."

For more free, downloadable templates for all aspects of your business, take a look at “ Free Business Templates for Organizations of All Sizes .”

Empower Your Teams to Implement Your Business Plan with Smartsheet

Empower your people to go above and beyond with a flexible platform designed to match the needs of your team — and adapt as those needs change. 

The Smartsheet platform makes it easy to plan, capture, manage, and report on work from anywhere, helping your team be more effective and get more done. Report on key metrics and get real-time visibility into work as it happens with roll-up reports, dashboards, and automated workflows built to keep your team connected and informed. 

When teams have clarity into the work getting done, there’s no telling how much more they can accomplish in the same amount of time.  Try Smartsheet for free, today.

Discover why over 90% of Fortune 100 companies trust Smartsheet to get work done.

Search our database of 10,000+ Microsoft Office templates.

6+ FREE Multipage Business Plan Templates: Your Path to Business Excellence

Why is a business plan called the “foundation” of a business, download business plan templates in ms word format.

free-business-plan-samples-examples-and-templates

#1 – General Business Plan Format

business-plan-template-cover-page

#2 – Business Plan Template with Sample Data

business-plan-sample-cover-page

Helpful Video Tutorial

#3 – nonprofit business plan.

nonprofit-business-plan-template-cover-page

#4 – Small Business Plan

small-business-plan-template-cover-page

#5 – Startup Business Plan

startup-business-plan-template-cover-page

#6 – Business Continuity Plan

business-continuity-plan-template-cover-page

How does a business plan help you start and manage your business?

Serves as your light in the tunnel:, earns you triple the outcomes:, helps you in proving your efficacy:, helps you in securing investments and funding:, brings the right team on board:, how does one jump into the process of business plan designing.

  • The Concept and idea behind your business
  • Identifying your potential Clients or Customers
  • Carving the Cashflow trails that can be expected

How do we organize a business plan for maximum efficiency?

  • Executive summary – company’s goals (short-term as well as long-term), missions, and objectives
  • Company and enterprise description – the structure, nature, history, mission, goals, and strategies. Explain what your enterprise aims to achieve and the industry it operates in.
  • Products/services – What offerings will you provide to your market?
  • Market Analysis – Understand your targeted customer base, industry knowledge, marketing data, and insights into your competitors.
  • SWOT analysis – Analyzing your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to refine your strategy.
  • Strategy and Implementation – Craft a sales and marketing strategy, plan for business promotion, navigate market entry, manage production and delivery, and outline your workforce strategies.
  • Legal considerations – Address the legal matters essential for legitimizing your enterprise.
  • Financial plans and projections – Detail profit and funding generation, strategies for sales maximization, cash flow management, and income statement projections.
  • Timeline – Establish a timeline to track milestones and goals for your enterprise’s development.
  • Appendix – Include additional supporting documents and resources.

How to choose the most appropriate plan for one’s business?

  • A strategic plan can be chosen when you specifically want to focus on the organization’s vision and properties.
  • A traditional plan can be selected when you wish to stick to the basic, standard template
  • A lean plan can be your out-of-the-box thinking, helping you formulate a document based on new ideas. It takes less time to be formulated and is a summarized document.

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Free Business Plan Template

One of the reasons that so many small businesses fail is that they don't do the necessary up front work to create an accurate and realistic business plan. Creating a business plan doesn't guarantee success, but the process of writing a plan is critical for any successful new business. It isn't our goal to try to tell you everything you need to know about creating a business plan. Instead, our goal is to make the process easier by providing a professionally designed business plan template that you can edit easily using Word and Excel .

Business Plan Template

Business Plan Template

License : Private Use (not for distribution or resale)

Authors : Jon Wittwer and Jim Wittwer

Update (7/22/2016) : We've added a basic break-even analysis worksheet to the companion Excel workbook.

Description

This template provides a business plan outline with sample questions, tables, and a working table of contents. It was created for newer versions of Word and Excel (Office 2007 or later) so that you can easily change the fonts and color scheme and the file will be compatible with the mobile and web-based Word & Excel apps.

It is best to use Excel for financial statements, data tables and charts. So, we have provided a companion Excel workbook with these sample financial statements and other tables and graphs that you can copy and paste into your Word document.

The companion workbook combines many of the different spreadsheets you can find on Vertex42.com, but customized specifically for inclusion in a business plan.

Using the Business Plan Template

Editing headings and table of contents.

Word allows you to assign format Styles to text and paragraphs, and we've designed the template to use these Styles for defining headings, sub-headings, and figure captions.

If you want to add a new section so that the Table of Contents updates correctly, just add a new heading in the body of the document and assign it the Heading 1 or Heading 2 style.

To update the Table of Contents, go to the References tab and within the Table of Contents group of buttons, click on Update Table and then "Update entire table."

Copy/Paste From Excel to Word

For simple tables, you can use Copy/Paste (Ctrl+c / Ctrl+v) to copy a table from Excel to Word. This will typically paste the data as a formatted and editable table in Word, though none of the formulas will be functional within Word (and the table will not be linked to Excel). If you don't want the table to be editable in Word, you can "Paste as a Picture" using Paste Special or by choosing the "Picture" option when you right-click in Word to paste the table.

Important : When you paste a chart object into your business plan, make sure to "Paste as a Picture" because pasting the chart as an embedded object means that the entire spreadsheet becomes embedded in your Word document (even though what you see is only the chart).

If you want to insert a table into Word as a "Linked Object" so that when you edit Excel, the table in Word will update automatically, you may have a more difficult time preserving the formatting of the original. However, at the least the entire spreadsheet won't be embedded within your business plan Word document.

More Related Templates

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Resources for Writing a Business Plan

  • Write Your Business Plan at SBA.gov - Anybody starting a business should become familiar with the SBA (small business association). SBA.gov also has an online tool for creating a business plan .
  • YouTube: How to Write a Business Plan - Business Wales (3 minutes) - This video offers a quick overview and tips for the essential parts of a business plan.
  • YouTube: How to Write a Business Plan - Berkeley-Haas (71 minutes) - This presentation offers both the venture capitalist and entrepreneur perspective on how to write a business plan that can successfully attract funding.
  • Write Your Business Plan at Entrepreneur.com - A book written by the staff of a company that should know what they are talking about.
  • Sample Business Plans at bplans.com - Finding a business plan for similar businesses in your industry is a great way to get ideas for what to include in your plan. This site is a great resource for not only finding sample plans, but also for creating a business plan online using their step-by-step approach.

Other Free Business Plan Templates

  • Business Planning Template Gallery at SCORE.org - This nonprofit organization (supported by the SBA) has provided expertise and free mentorship for millions of small business owners. They also have a useful collection of templates.
  • Develop Your Business Plan at business.gov.au - This Australian Government site provides a really good business plan template for Word, including a detailed guide, questions to answer, and sample financial statements.

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Business Templates by Vertex42.com

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Financial Statements

Free Business Plan Template

Download a free business plan template for Word. Includes frequently asked questions about business plans.

Updated on September 17th, 2023

The SMB Guide is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more

A business plan template is a pre-formatted business plan that contains an outline for a synopsis of your business details, goals, and measurable steps you are planning to take to achieve these. A business plan is vital to obtain financing for your business and should be the foundation of your pitch deck.

Below is our free downloadable business plan template. This plan can be tailored to your specific business and the stage it is in, as well as for the intended audience.

Business Plan Template - Free Download

Download this blank business plan template in Word format and create your own business plan.

Benefits of Using a Business Plan Template:

  • Ensure that your plan is presented in a standard format.
  • Uncover the right information before your business is launched.
  • Create a professional document without outsourcing.

See our template .

Why You Should Use a Business Plan Template:

Business plan templates allow entrepreneurs and small business owners to save time by working off of a pre-formatted document. With a professional template, you can add specific information about your business without having to start from scratch.

Writing a business plan is a time-consuming process, even if you use a template. However, using a template ensures that you add all of the content that you need before you make your business pitch. Working through a template one section at a time can help you to gather all of the information that you need.

Generally, it's a good idea to write your Executive Summary last. This way, you will have a much better idea of how to summarize and describe your business.

Download our template to get started.

Business to Business

Discover more about Business to Business (B2B) - what it means and how it affects your business. Includes an overview and frequently asked questions.

Nov 28, 2023

How do you write a business plan?

You can use a template , or start from scratch. Either way, your business plan should include a summary of your business, financial projections, details about marketing, a description of your products/services, and a SWOT analysis.

What is a business plan template?

A business plan template is a pre-formatted document that already contains an outline and basic details. You can customize a template to create a business plan for your own business.

How do I write a business plan for a startup?

Planning for a startup is the same as planning for any new business venture. You need a detailed business plan that is focused primarily on the financial needs of your new business. This will help to attract investors and give you a realistic picture of how much capital you need to succeed.

How do I write a 5-year business plan?

A 5-year business plan is typically written the same way as a normal business plan, except the financial projections from one year to the next may go into more detail. The plan may also include special projects/developments that you want to invest in during the first five years of operation.

What are the three main purposes of a business plan?

  • Create a roadmap for the growth of your business.
  • Demonstrate to lenders and investors that you have a path to success.
  • Gather and evaluate all of the information needed to make decisions.

What should a business plan include?

  • Executive Summary.
  • Business Overview.
  • Operations.
  • Market Analysis.
  • Products and Services.
  • Competition.
  • Management.
  • Financial Plan.
  • Projected Revenue.
  • Appendices.

How do you write a successful business plan?

Successful business plans are well researched, including supporting documentation (financial statements, graphs, etc), demonstrate a keen understanding of the target market, and have a multi-faceted marketing strategy.

What do you title a business plan?

Business plans usually have a cover page with a prominent title that includes the company name and the words "Business Plan" either above or below the name. The cover page may also include contact information or a business address.

What are the types of business plans?

  • Startup business plan.
  • Growth business plan.
  • Strategic business plan.
  • Feasibility business plan.
  • Internal business plan.
  • Operations business plan.

How long is a business plan?

The length of your business plan is less important than the quality of the content that is contained within it. However, business plans generally vary in length from 20 to 50 pages depending on the spacing, size of the font, visual elements, and detail of each section.

How much does it cost to get a business plan written?

On the low end, freelancers may charge several hundred dollars to write a business plan, while professionals and consultants may charge several thousand. If you are going to outsource the creation of your business plan, make sure you hire someone who has lots of experience.

How do you write an executive summary for a business plan?

An executive summary should contain the following:

  • Introduction.
  • Company strengths.
  • Explanation of product/service and how it meets a need or solves a problem.
  • Conclusion emphasizing the importance/value of the business.

You should try to be concise when you're writing your executive summary since the rest of your business plan will provide more explanation for readers. The point is to draw people in and give them a 1000-foot view of what you are doing. It is generally agreed that the executive summary should make up no more than 5 - 10% of your entire business plan.

Basic Microsoft Word Business Plan Template

Basic Microsoft Word Business Plan Template

Whether you're an entrepreneur looking to outline your new startup or a small business owner seeking a refresher, the Basic Microsoft Word Business Plan Template offers a simple, straightforward solution. This template doesn't just provide a formatted document; it aids in organizing your thoughts and presenting them in a professional way. Both Microsoft Word and Adobe Indesign compatible, it's perfect for users of either software.

Featuring a minimalistic layout, this template steps away from complicated designs to focus on what matters most: your content. It's perfect for drafting a small, concise brochure detailing your business plan. Best of all, this template is fully customizable, allowing you to tailor it as per your business requirement.

With a promise of flexibility, this template offers four different page layouts, empowering you to choose the one which fits your vision the best. Additionally, its A4 size is perfect for business documents, proving apt for both printing or converting into PDF for digital distribution.

Details & Features

  • Compatible with Word 2010 and higher, Adobe InDesign CS4 and higher
  • A4 size (8.27" x 11.69") format
  • Four different customizable page layouts
  • Supports both print or digital files (via PDF export)
  • Uses freely available fonts
  • Layered files for easy editing
  • File guide in PDF format included

Why We Like It

The Basic Microsoft Word Business Plan Template stands out for its simplicity and user-friendliness. Its clean design, easy customization, and detailed tutorial make it a great choice for those who prefer to focus on content over complicated design elements. It's a must-have tool for budding entrepreneurs and small business owners alike.

Related Business Plan Templates

Simple Word Business Plan Template

Simple Word Business Plan Template

Modern Business Plan Template for Word

Modern Business Plan Template for Word

One Page Business Plan Template for Word

One Page Business Plan Template for Word

One Page Simple Business Plan Word Template

One Page Simple Business Plan Word Template

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Simple Business Plan Template (2024)

Krista Fabregas

Updated: May 4, 2024, 4:37pm

Simple Business Plan Template (2024)

Table of Contents

Why business plans are vital, get your free simple business plan template, how to write an effective business plan in 6 steps, frequently asked questions.

While taking many forms and serving many purposes, they all have one thing in common: business plans help you establish your goals and define the means for achieving them. Our simple business plan template covers everything you need to consider when launching a side gig, solo operation or small business. By following this step-by-step process, you might even uncover a few alternate routes to success.

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Whether you’re a first-time solopreneur or a seasoned business owner, the planning process challenges you to examine the costs and tasks involved in bringing a product or service to market. The process can also help you spot new income opportunities and hone in on the most profitable business models.

Though vital, business planning doesn’t have to be a chore. Business plans for lean startups and solopreneurs can simply outline the business concept, sales proposition, target customers and sketch out a plan of action to bring the product or service to market. However, if you’re seeking startup funding or partnership opportunities, you’ll need a write a business plan that details market research, operating costs and revenue forecasting. Whichever startup category you fall into, if you’re at square one, our simple business plan template will point you down the right path.

Copy our free simple business plan template so you can fill in the blanks as we explore each element of your business plan. Need help getting your ideas flowing? You’ll also find several startup scenario examples below.

Download free template as .docx

Whether you need a quick-launch overview or an in-depth plan for investors, any business plan should cover the six key elements outlined in our free template and explained below. The main difference in starting a small business versus an investor-funded business is the market research and operational and financial details needed to support the concept.

1. Your Mission or Vision

Start by declaring a “dream statement” for your business. You can call this your executive summary, vision statement or mission. Whatever the name, the first part of your business plan summarizes your idea by answering five questions. Keep it brief, such as an elevator pitch. You’ll expand these answers in the following sections of the simple business plan template.

  • What does your business do? Are you selling products, services, information or a combination?
  • Where does this happen? Will you conduct business online, in-store, via mobile means or in a specific location or environment?
  • Who does your business benefit? Who is your target market and ideal customer for your concept?
  • Why would potential customers care? What would make your ideal customers take notice of your business?
  • How do your products and/or services outshine the competition? What would make your ideal customers choose you over a competitor?

These answers come easily if you have a solid concept for your business, but don’t worry if you get stuck. Use the rest of your plan template to brainstorm ideas and tactics. You’ll quickly find these answers and possibly new directions as you explore your ideas and options.

2. Offer and Value Proposition

This is where you detail your offer, such as selling products, providing services or both, and why anyone would care. That’s the value proposition. Specifically, you’ll expand on your answers to the first and fourth bullets from your mission/vision.

As you complete this section, you might find that exploring value propositions uncovers marketable business opportunities that you hadn’t yet considered. So spend some time brainstorming the possibilities in this section.

For example, a cottage baker startup specializing in gluten-free or keto-friendly products might be a value proposition that certain audiences care deeply about. Plus, you could expand on that value proposition by offering wedding and other special-occasion cakes that incorporate gluten-free, keto-friendly and traditional cake elements that all guests can enjoy.

microsoft word business plan template

3. Audience and Ideal Customer

Here is where you explore bullet point number three, who your business will benefit. Identifying your ideal customer and exploring a broader audience for your goods or services is essential in defining your sales and marketing strategies, plus it helps fine-tune what you offer.

There are many ways to research potential audiences, but a shortcut is to simply identify a problem that people have that your product or service can solve. If you start from the position of being a problem solver, it’s easy to define your audience and describe the wants and needs of your ideal customer for marketing efforts.

Using the cottage baker startup example, a problem people might have is finding fresh-baked gluten-free or keto-friendly sweets. Examining the wants and needs of these people might reveal a target audience that is health-conscious or possibly dealing with health issues and willing to spend more for hard-to-find items.

However, it’s essential to have a customer base that can support your business. You can be too specialized. For example, our baker startup can attract a broader audience and boost revenue by offering a wider selection of traditional baked goods alongside its gluten-free and keto-focused specialties.

4. Revenue Streams, Sales Channels and Marketing

Thanks to our internet-driven economy, startups have many revenue opportunities and can connect with target audiences through various channels. Revenue streams and sales channels also serve as marketing vehicles, so you can cover all three in this section.

Revenue Streams

Revenue streams are the many ways you can make money in your business. In your plan template, list how you’ll make money upon launch, plus include ideas for future expansion. The income possibilities just might surprise you.

For example, our cottage baker startup might consider these revenue streams:

  • Product sales : Online, pop-up shops , wholesale and (future) in-store sales
  • Affiliate income : Monetize blog and social media posts with affiliate links
  • Advertising income : Reserve website space for advertising
  • E-book sales : (future) Publish recipe e-books targeting gluten-free and keto-friendly dessert niches
  • Video income : (future) Monetize a YouTube channel featuring how-to videos for the gluten-free and keto-friendly dessert niches
  • Webinars and online classes : (future) Monetize coaching-style webinars and online classes covering specialty baking tips and techniques
  • Members-only content : (future) Monetize a members-only section of the website for specialty content to complement webinars and online classes
  • Franchise : (future) Monetize a specialty cottage bakery concept and sell to franchise entrepreneurs

Sales Channels

Sales channels put your revenue streams into action. This section also answers the “where will this happen” question in the second bullet of your vision.

The product sales channels for our cottage bakery example can include:

  • Mobile point-of-sale (POS) : A mobile platform such as Shopify or Square POS for managing in-person sales at local farmers’ markets, fairs and festivals
  • E-commerce platform : An online store such as Shopify, Square or WooCommerce for online retail sales and wholesale sales orders
  • Social media channels : Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest shoppable posts and pins for online sales via social media channels
  • Brick-and-mortar location : For in-store sales , once the business has grown to a point that it can support a physical location

Channels that support other income streams might include:

  • Affiliate income : Blog section on the e-commerce website and affiliate partner accounts
  • Advertising income : Reserved advertising spaces on the e-commerce website
  • E-book sales : Amazon e-book sales via Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing
  • Video income : YouTube channel with ad monetization
  • Webinars and online classes : Online class and webinar platforms that support member accounts, recordings and playback
  • Members-only content : Password-protected website content using membership apps such as MemberPress

Nowadays, the line between marketing and sales channels is blurred. Social media outlets, e-books, websites, blogs and videos serve as both marketing tools and income opportunities. Since most are free and those with advertising options are extremely economical, these are ideal marketing outlets for lean startups.

However, many businesses still find value in traditional advertising such as local radio, television, direct mail, newspapers and magazines. You can include these advertising costs in your simple business plan template to help build a marketing plan and budget.

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5. Structure, Suppliers and Operations

This section of your simple business plan template explores how to structure and operate your business. Details include the type of business organization your startup will take, roles and responsibilities, supplier logistics and day-to-day operations. Also, include any certifications or permits needed to launch your enterprise in this section.

Our cottage baker example might use a structure and startup plan such as this:

  • Business structure : Sole proprietorship with a “doing business as” (DBA) .
  • Permits and certifications : County-issued food handling permit and state cottage food certification for home-based food production. Option, check into certified commercial kitchen rentals.
  • Roles and responsibilities : Solopreneur, all roles and responsibilities with the owner.
  • Supply chain : Bulk ingredients and food packaging via Sam’s Club, Costco, Amazon Prime with annual membership costs. Uline for shipping supplies; no membership needed.
  • Day-to-day operations : Source ingredients and bake three days per week to fulfill local and online orders. Reserve time for specialty sales, wholesale partner orders and market events as needed. Ship online orders on alternating days. Update website and create marketing and affiliate blog posts on non-shipping days.

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6. Financial Forecasts

Your final task is to list forecasted business startup and ongoing costs and profit projections in your simple business plan template. Thanks to free business tools such as Square and free marketing on social media, lean startups can launch with few upfront costs. In many cases, cost of goods, shipping and packaging, business permits and printing for business cards are your only out-of-pocket expenses.

Cost Forecast

Our cottage baker’s forecasted lean startup costs might include:

Business Need Startup Cost Ongoing Cost Source

Gross Profit Projections

This helps you determine the retail prices and sales volume required to keep your business running and, hopefully, earn income for yourself. Use product research to spot target retail prices for your goods, then subtract your cost of goods, such as hourly rate, raw goods and supplier costs. The total amount is your gross profit per item or service.

Here are some examples of projected gross profits for our cottage baker:

Product Retail Price (Cost) Gross Profit

Bottom Line

Putting careful thought and detail in a business plan is always beneficial, but don’t get so bogged down in planning that you never hit the start button to launch your business . Also, remember that business plans aren’t set in stone. Markets, audiences and technologies change, and so will your goals and means of achieving them. Think of your business plan as a living document and regularly revisit, expand and restructure it as market opportunities and business growth demand.

Is there a template for a business plan?

You can copy our free business plan template and fill in the blanks or customize it in Google Docs, Microsoft Word or another word processing app. This free business plan template includes the six key elements that any entrepreneur needs to consider when launching a new business.

What does a simple business plan include?

A simple business plan is a one- to two-page overview covering six key elements that any budding entrepreneur needs to consider when launching a startup. These include your vision or mission, product or service offering, target audience, revenue streams and sales channels, structure and operations, and financial forecasts.

How can I create a free business plan template?

Start with our free business plan template that covers the six essential elements of a startup. Once downloaded, you can edit this document in Google Docs or another word processing app and add new sections or subsections to your plan template to meet your specific business plan needs.

What basic items should be included in a business plan?

When writing out a business plan, you want to make sure that you cover everything related to your concept for the business,  an analysis of the industry―including potential customers and an overview of the market for your goods or services―how you plan to execute your vision for the business, how you plan to grow the business if it becomes successful and all financial data around the business, including current cash on hand, potential investors and budget plans for the next few years.

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Microsoft 365 Life Hacks > Writing > Writing and Formatting a Successful Business Plan

Writing and Formatting a Successful Business Plan

Whether you’re an experienced business person or a first-time entrepreneur, a business plan presents an important opportunity to showcase your unique business ideas and make a plan for how it will it function and operate.

Because of its importance, it can sometimes appear to be an overwhelming task. However, with some guidance on business plan formatting and a breakdown of the plan’s most essential components, you can make the task more manageable and more easily get started on your own plan—bringing the possibility of your grand opening ever closer.

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What Is a Business Plan?

A business plan usually serves either or both of two purposes: Sometimes it’s used to court potential investors in a business. Other times, it sets out guidelines and a strategy for initial members of a business’s team to follow as they get things up and running. In either case, this formal document maps out the purpose, goals, finances, and future plans of a new or existing business.

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Formatting Your Business Plan

Before you get started on writing your business plan, it’s useful to understand the formatting of a typical business plan. Not only will this help you make sure you ultimately deliver the information that potential investors or teammates are expecting, but it will also help you see where you might need to do more research or spend more time.

Typically, all business plans contain each of the following parts:

Executive Summary

Company description, business goals, market and opportunity analysis, competitive analysis, execution plan, marketing plan, financial analysis and projections.

Below, we sum up what these sections entail to help you craft each of them according to your own business’s needs.

Business plans usually open with what’s called an executive summary. Typically taking up no more than about half of a page, this summary should include the most essential information about your business and highlights from the plan that follows, including:

  • Your organization’s mission statement
  • A description of the products and services your business offers
  • The purpose of your business plan
  • Any major achievements your business has made so far
  • An overview of your business’s financial health

A company description should include both basic information about your organization—its registered name, physical location, and a short history of the company—as well as more detailed info about how your business intends to succeed. In other words, once you’ve touched on the very basics, this is your chance to hook readers of your business plan. To do so, it can be helpful to set the stage for your readers: consider the answers to questions like, “Why did you start this business?”, “What unique problems does your business solve?”, and “What makes your company different from others like it?”

Sometimes referred to as an “objective statement,” this section of your business plan should clearly outline your company’s goals—over both the short and long term. If you’re making an appeal to investors, this is also your chance to include some persuasive writing and describe to them how their investments are critical to helping you meet these goals.

This section requires keen research skills: Bring in all of your knowledge of the market your business is working in to show investors and potential partners where the opportunity lies. Show that you have an understanding of the market’s past, present, and future—and understand the unique risks that businesses in this space face. Additionally, you will want to show what typical types of customers in this market are like with information on key demographics and customer behaviors that your business will market itself to.

Moving past the broad view of the overall market, your business plan should include an analysis of the business models or examples of your closest competitors in the space. Showing how these other organizations operate, how they’ve fared over their histories, and how they market themselves to customers can help you make the case for how your business will do these things both differently and successfully.

The execution plan section should provide a window into how your business will operate behind the scenes: How will you and your employees be organized? Who will handle what tasks? Why are they the right people to do so? Answer these questions by providing thorough details on who will be doing the work and how they will be structured while getting it done.

Every business needs to have a plan on how they position and promote their offerings, as well as attract and retain customers. With this section of your business plan, explain to potential stakeholders and financiers what your initial marketing strategy is and how it will change and scale over time.

Especially for business owners seeking additional financing and investment, the financial portion of your business plan is critical in showing how your business has generated and managed income, plus deliver insight into how it will continue doing so.

This section should include a breakdown of your organization’s sales, expenses, and profits. If you’re applying for a loan or seeking investment, include an overview of what your company’s financials would look like over the next period of years if you were to receive that financial backing. In addition, you should outline a clear plan for how and when you will pay back these creditors.

Crafting a Business Plan That Succeeds

While the particulars of every business plan will be different, there are some aspects that should be common to all business plans:

  • Be Concise: The writing in a business plan needs to be persuasive for its intended audience, but it needs to do so efficiently. Use clear and concise writing that communicates your ideas and plans effectively.
  • Use Data for Support: Even if your writing is persuasive, it won’t be as effective as it can be without relevant data and hard numbers that back up your insights.
  • Get Rid of Errors: In most cases, your audience is only going to read your business plan once. Make sure you present a tidy image of your business through your business plan writing by catching and fixing all of your typos and grammatical errors. Use a digital writing assistant like Microsoft Editor to help spot these mistakes, along with any slips in the formal tone that a business plan requires.
  • Keep It Real: Avoid exaggeration, whether it’s in your sales projections, market opportunity, or elsewhere.

Creating a successful business plan requires pulling together a lot of disparate information, which takes a diverse set of skills to pull off. Whether you’re new to new businesses or this is just your latest and greatest project, this can always be a tall order.

Make it easier on yourself by using all of the tools you have at your disposal to help. In addition to the guidelines above, explore a wide range of business plan templates available from Microsoft 365, including everything from complete business plans to individual components like revenue forecasts .

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10 Free Business Plan Templates in Word, Excel, & ClickUp

Praburam Srinivasan

Growth Marketing Manager

February 13, 2024

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Turning your vision into a clear and coherent business plan can be confusing and tough. 

Hours of brainstorming and facing an intimidating blank page can raise more questions than answers. Are you covering everything? What should go where? How do you keep each section thorough but brief?

If these questions have kept you up at night and slowed your progress, know you’re not alone. That’s why we’ve put together the top 10 business plan templates in Word, Excel, and ClickUp—to provide answers, clarity, and a structured framework to work with. This way, you’re sure to capture all the relevant information without wasting time. 

And the best part? Business planning becomes a little less “ugh!” and a lot more “aha!” 🤩

What is a Business Plan Template?

What makes a good business plan template, 1. clickup business plan template, 2. clickup sales plan template, 3. clickup business development action plan template, 4. clickup business roadmap template, 5. clickup business continuity plan template, 6. clickup lean business plan template, 7. clickup small business action plan template, 8. clickup strategic business roadmap template , 9. microsoft word business plan template by microsoft, 10. excel business plan template by vertex42.

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A business plan template is a structured framework for entrepreneurs and business executives who want to create business plans. It comes with pre-arranged sections and headings that cover key elements like the executive summary , business overview, target customers, unique value proposition, marketing plans, and financial statements.  

A good business plan template helps with thorough planning, clear documentation, and practical implementation. Here’s what to look for:

  • Comprehensive structure: A good template comes with all the relevant sections to outline a business strategy, such as executive summary, market research and analysis, and financial projections 
  • Clarity and guidance: A good template is easy to follow. It has brief instructions or prompts for each section, guiding you to think deeply about your business and ensuring you don’t skip important details
  • Clean design: Aesthetics matter. Choose a template that’s not just functional but also professionally designed. This ensures your plan is presentable to stakeholders, partners, and potential investors
  • Flexibility : Your template should easily accommodate changes without hassle, like adding or removing sections, changing content and style, and rearranging parts 🛠️ 

While a template provides the structure, it’s the information you feed it that brings it to life. These pointers will help you pick a template that aligns with your business needs and clearly showcases your vision.

10 Business Plan Templates to Use in 2024

Preparing for business success in 2024 (and beyond) requires a comprehensive and organized business plan. We’ve handpicked the best templates to help you guide your team, attract investors, and secure funding. Let’s check them out.

ClickUp Business Plan Template

If you’re looking to replace a traditional business plan document, then ClickUp’s Business Plan Template is for you!

This one-page business plan template, designed in ClickUp Docs , is neatly broken down into the following sections:

  • Company description : Overview, mission, vision, and team
  • Market analysis : Problem, solution, target market, competition, and competitive advantage
  • Sales and marketing strategy : Products/services and marketing channels
  • Operational plan : Location and facilities, equipment and tools, manpower, and financial forecasts
  • Milestones and metrics: Targets and KPIs

Customize the template with your company logo and contact details, and easily navigate to different sections using the collapsible table of contents. The mini prompts under each section guide you on what to include—with suggestions on how to present the data (e.g., bullet lists, pictures, charts, and tables). 

You can share the document with anyone via URL and collaborate in real time. And when the business plan is ready, you have the option to print it or export it to PDF, HTML, or Markdown.

But that’s not all. This template is equipped with basic and enterprise project management features to streamline the business plan creation process . The Topics List view has a list of all the different sections and subsections of the template and allows you to assign it to a team member, set a due date, and attach relevant documents and references.

Switch from List to Board view to track and update task statuses according to the following: To Do, In Progress, Needs Revision, and Complete. 

This template is a comprehensive toolkit for documenting the different sections of your business plan and streamlining the creation process to ensure it’s completed on time. 🗓️

ClickUp Sales Plan Template

If you’re looking for a tool to kickstart or update your sales plan, ClickUp’s Sales Plan Template has got you covered. This sales plan template features a project summary list with tasks to help you craft a comprehensive and effective sales strategy. Some of these tasks include:

  • Determine sales objectives and goals
  • Draft positioning statement
  • Perform competitive analysis
  • Draft ideal customer persona
  • Create a lead generation strategy

Assign each task to a specific individual or team, set priority levels , and add due dates. Specify what section of the sales plan each task belongs to (e.g., executive summary, revenue goals, team structure, etc.), deliverable type (such as document, task, or meeting), and approval state (like pending, needs revisions, and approved).

And in ClickUp style, you can switch to multiple views: List for a list of all tasks, Board for visual task management, Timeline for an overview of task durations, and Gantt to get a view of task dependencies. 

This simple business plan template is perfect for any type of business looking to create a winning sales strategy while clarifying team roles and keeping tasks organized. ✨

ClickUp Business Development Action Plan Template

Thinking about scaling your business’s reach and operations but unsure where or how to start? It can be overwhelming, no doubt—you need a clear vision, measurable goals, and an actionable plan that every member of your team can rally behind. 

Thankfully, ClickUp’s Business Development Action Plan Template is designed to use automations to simplify this process so every step toward your business growth is clear, trackable, and actionable.

Start by assessing your current situation and deciding on your main growth goal. Are you aiming to increase revenue, tap into new markets, or introduce new products or services? With ClickUp Whiteboards or Docs, brainstorm and collaborate with your team on this decision.

Set and track your short- and long-term growth goals with ClickUp’s Goals , break them down into smaller targets, and assign these targets to team members, complete with due dates. Add these targets to a new ClickUp Dashboard to track real-time progress and celebrate small wins. 🎉

Whether you’re a startup or small business owner looking to hit your next major milestone or an established business exploring new avenues, this template keeps your team aligned, engaged, and informed every step of the way.

ClickUp Business Roadmap Template

ClickUp’s Business Roadmap Template is your go-to for mapping out major strategies and initiatives in areas like revenue growth, brand awareness, community engagement, and customer satisfaction. 

Use the List view to populate tasks under each initiative. With Custom Fields, you can capture which business category (e.g., Product, Operations, Sales & Marketing, etc.) tasks fall under and which quarter they’re slated for. You can also link to relevant documents and resources and evaluate tasks by effort and impact to ensure the most critical tasks get the attention they deserve. 👀

Depending on your focus, this template provides different views to show just what you need. For example, the All Initiatives per Quarter view lets you focus on what’s ahead by seeing tasks that need completion within a specific quarter. This ensures timely execution and helps in aligning resources effectively for the short term.

This template is ideal for business executives and management teams who need to coordinate multiple short- and long-term initiatives and business strategies.

ClickUp Business Continuity Plan Template

In business, unexpected threats to operations can arise at any moment. Whether it’s economic turbulence, a global health crisis, or supply chain interruptions, every company needs to be ready. ClickUp’s Business Continuity Plan Template lets you prepare proactively for these unforeseen challenges.

The template organizes tasks into three main categories:

  • Priorities: Tasks that need immediate attention
  • Continuity coverage: Tasks that must continue despite challenges
  • Guiding principles: Resources and protocols to ensure smooth operations

The Board view makes it easy to visualize all the tasks under each of these categories. And the Priorities List sorts tasks by those that are overdue, the upcoming ones, and then the ones due later.

In times of uncertainty, being prepared is your best strategy. This template helps your business not just survive but thrive in challenging situations, keeping your customers, employees, and investors satisfied. 🤝

ClickUp Lean Business Plan Template

Looking to execute your business plan the “lean” way? Use ClickUp’s Lean Business Plan Template . It’s designed to help you optimize resource usage and cut unnecessary steps—giving you better results with less effort.

In the Plan Summary List view, list all the tasks that need to get done. Add specific details like who’s doing each task, when it’s due, and which part of the Business Model Canvas (BMC) it falls under. The By Priority view sorts this list based on priorities like Urgent, High, Normal, and Low. This makes it easy to spot the most important tasks and tackle them first.

Additionally, the Board view gives you an overview of task progression from start to finish. And the BMC view rearranges these tasks based on the various BMC components. 

Each task can further be broken down into subtasks and multiple checklists to ensure all related action items are executed. ✔️

This template is an invaluable resource for startups and large enterprises looking to maximize process efficiencies and results in a streamlined and cost-effective way.

ClickUp Small Business Action Plan Template

The Small Business Action Plan Template by ClickUp is tailor-made for small businesses looking to transform their business ideas and goals into actionable steps and, eventually, into reality. 

It provides a simple and organized framework for creating, assigning, prioritizing, and tracking tasks. And in effect, it ensures that goals are not just set but achieved. Through the native dashboard and goal-setting features, you can monitor task progress and how they move you closer to achieving your goals.

Thanks to ClickUp’s robust communication features like chat, comments, and @mentions, it’s easy to get every team member on the same page and quickly address questions or concerns.

Use this action plan template to hit your business goals by streamlining your internal processes and aligning team efforts.

ClickUp Strategic Business Roadmap Template 

For larger businesses and scaling enterprises, getting different departments to work together toward a big goal can be challenging. The ClickUp Strategic Business Roadmap Template makes it easier by giving you a clear plan to follow.

This template is packaged in a folder and split into different lists for each department in your business, like Sales, Product, Marketing, and Enablement. This way, every team can focus on their tasks while collectively contributing to the bigger goal.

There are multiple viewing options available for team members. These include:

  • Progress Board: Visualize tasks that are on track, those at risk, and those behind
  • Gantt view: Get an overview of project timelines and dependencies
  • Team view: See what each team member is working on so you can balance workloads for maximum productivity

While this template may feel overwhelming at first, the getting started guide offers a step-by-step breakdown to help you navigate it with ease. And like all ClickUp templates, you can easily customize it to suit your business needs and preferences.

Microsoft Word Business Plan Template by Microsoft

Microsoft’s 20-page traditional business plan template simplifies the process of drafting comprehensive business plans. It’s made up of different sections, including:

  • Executive summary : Highlights, objectives, mission statement, and keys to success
  • Description of business: Company ownership and legal structure, hours of operation, products and services, suppliers, financial plans, etc.
  • Marketing: Market analysis, market segmentation, competition, and pricing
  • Appendix: Start-up expenses, cash flow statements, income statements, sales forecast, milestones, break-even analysis, etc.

The table of contents makes it easy to move to different sections of the document. And the text placeholders under each section provide clarity on the specific details required—making the process easier for users who may not be familiar with certain business terminology.

Excel Business Plan Template by Vertex42

No business template roundup is complete without an Excel template. This business plan template lets you work on your business financials in Excel. It comes with customizable tables, formulas, and charts to help you look at the following areas:

  • Highlight charts
  • Market analysis
  • Start-up assets and expenses
  • Sales forecasts
  • Profit and loss
  • Balance sheet
  • Cash flow projections
  • Break-even analysis

This Excel template is especially useful when you want to create a clear and visual financial section for your business plan document—an essential element for attracting investors and lenders. However, there might be a steep learning curve to using this template if you’re not familiar with business financial planning and using Excel.

Try a Free Business Plan Template in ClickUp

Launching and running a successful business requires a well-thought-out and carefully crafted business plan. However, the business planning process doesn’t have to be complicated, boring, or take up too much time. Use any of the above 10 free business plan formats to simplify and speed up the process.

ClickUp templates go beyond offering a solid foundation to build your business plans. They come with extensive project management features to turn your vision into reality. And that’s not all— ClickUp’s template library offers over 1,000 additional templates to help manage various aspects of your business, from decision-making to product development to resource management .

Sign up for ClickUp’s Free Forever Plan today to fast-track your business’s growth! 🏆

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30+ Simple Business Plan Templates for Word for Startups + Funding 2024

Business plans are like road maps: it’s possible to travel without one, but that will only increase the odds of getting lost along the way.

A business plan is a 20-30 page document that outlines how you will achieve your business objectives and includes information about your product, marketing strategies, and finances. You should create one when you’re starting a new business and keep updating it as your business grows.

Sometimes, the prospect of cobbling together a business plan from scratch is daunting. That’s why templates are the perfect solution in these cases. This roundup of the best Microsoft Word business plan templates gives you plenty of premium and free options to choose from. Read on.

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Minimal business plan word template.

Minimal Business Plan Word Template

Minimalism is often considered a sign of professionalism and authority. With this business plan template, you can make sure to include both aspects in your brochure design. It comes with a clean yet stylish page design that suits all types of brands. There are 32 different page layouts included in the template.

Modern Business Plan Template for Word

Modern Business Plan Template for Word

If you prefer to give a more dark and modern look to your business plan brochure, this Word template is perfect for your business. It includes 56 different page layouts with professionally crafted designs. The template is available in Word, InDesign, and Apple Pages formats.

Multipurpose Business Plan Template Word & InDesign

Multipurpose Business Plan Template Word & InDesign

This Word business plan template features a creative design across all of its pages. There are 64 different pages for you to choose from. And it comes in A4 and US Letter sizes as well. You can easily edit the template using MS Word or InDesign.

Simple Business Plan Template for MS Word

Simple Business Plan Template for MS Word

You can use this Word template to create a simple and basic business plan document with ease. It includes 4 different page layouts that allow you to create a short and concise business plan. It comes in InDesign and Word formats.

Clean Business Plan Template for Word

business plan template word

This template features a clean and modern design that’s perfect for the business plan of a startup company. It offers 16 unique pages customizable in Microsoft Word and Adobe InDesign. This business plan template Word DOC works well for nearly all kinds of businesses.

Modern Business Plan Word Template

Modern Business Plan Word Template

A well-structured, professional Word template ideal for creating your business plan. It comes ready to use in both Adobe InDesign and Microsoft Word, boasting a clean, modern layout and 20 unique designs. The template is fully customizable and makes use of engaging visual elements, while also conforming to print-ready standards.

Colorful Business Plan Word Template

Colorful Business Plan Word Template

This Word template offers a vibrant and professional design compatible with Microsoft Word and Adobe InDesign. Perfect for both print and digital use, this 36-page, A4-sized template provides editable text, color, and objects. It has a modern and colorful design ideal for an attractive business plan brochure.

Stylish Word Business Plan Template

Stylish Word Business Plan Template

Enhance your business plan documents with this Word template. With a sleek, modern design, it is versatile for various brands and businesses. It includes easy customization, 20 unique pages, and is compatible with Microsoft Word and Adobe InDesign.

Clean & Modern Business Plan Word Template

Clean & Modern Business Plan Word Template

This minimalist Word template boasts 28 customizable pages in A4 and US letter sizes. Designed for high-quality printing with 300 dpi resolution, it’s easily editable in InDesign (both CS4 and newer, and older versions), and Microsoft Word.

Business Strategic Plan Word Template

Business Strategic Plan Word Template

This is a versatile Word template, compatible with Microsoft Word and Adobe InDesign. The 3-page layout is fully customizable, allowing for easy edits in text, color, and objects. The template offers A4 sizing and is perfect for physical or digital use.

MS Word Business Plan Template

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This is a solid choice for anyone looking to hunt down the best Microsoft Word business plan templates. It features 20 meticulously designed pages in A4 size, free fonts, and a help file. Use this template to create an impressive business plan.

Simple Business Plan Template Word DOC

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Print ready and fully customizable, this business plan template comes with 52 pages of remarkable design. This completely layered template is compatible with Microsoft Word and Adobe InDesign and will make you skate through the tedious task of editing.

Microsoft Word Business Plan Template

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If you’re looking for a minimal, and strictly professional business plan template for Word, the above-featured product is an excellent contender for your cash. It will help state your company’s ambitions, strategies, timelines, and finances in the best way possible.

Business Plan Template for Word

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Print ready and fully editable, this brochure template includes 28 pages of extraordinary design. It’s Microsoft Word-friendly and completely layered to make your work life a lot easier. So kick-start 2020 with this efficient corporate brochure template.

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Create your own opportunities with this awesome business plan template. Originally designed with Adobe InDesign, this template also comes in the latest versions available for Microsoft Word.

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Need a creative corporate business plan template? Then check out this next print template created in Adobe InDesign. A special Microsoft Word file has also been included for quick updates. Get 36 custom pages and a premade cover layout.

Professional Business Plan Template for Word

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Use this template to prepare a detailed business plan for your startup and probably land funding. It features a modern, and eye-catching design that can be personalized to your branding and aesthetics. You’ll have a difficult time finding free business plan templates for Word with quality this good.

Elegant Business Plan Template Word DOC

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If you really want to make a good impression on potential investors, you should take a closer look at this MS Word business plan template. It offers 28 custom pages in A4 size, CMYL color space, free fonts, and more. Try it out, or add it to your shortlist at the very least.

Minimalistic Business Plan Template for Word

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This clean, sophisticated design includes 36 pages for you to customize in any way you like. The creative business plan template also includes files for Microsoft Word, for your convenience.

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This clean and professional template will help you craft amazing opportunities for your business. Enjoy the stylish design which features a grid-based layout and only free fonts. Invoice and letterhead templates are also included for a well-rounded brand package.

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Take control of your business dreams with this professional business plan. Available in both Adobe InDesign and Microsoft Word formats, this brochure features A4 and US Letter sizes with 16 custom pages. Just drag and drop your photos and information to get started.

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Enjoy three stunning yet simple color schemes with this next business plan template. This no-hassle design includes a minimalist theme perfect for beginners. Break down your expense reports, project descriptions and more with one helpful set.

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Writing your business plans takes up enough time and energy. So cut your worries in half with a professionally designed template you can customize to your needs. This helpful resource comes with fully layered documents and a custom cover design for a fast turnaround.

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Highlight your company’s finances with this extraordinary brochure. This template features 22 custom pages designed with intriguing layout options. Enjoy the trendy design with beautiful colors you can update yourself. Check it out!

business plan template word

This professional template includes 16 pages originally designed with Microsoft Word. Describe your company’s strategy, projections, and services with an effective template available in seven color samples.

business plan template word

Get started on your next creative project with this minimalist proposal template. Designed for entrepreneurs and business professionals, this template features 24 fully layered pages in high-resolution formats. Easily access text and paragraph styles for a custom look!

Free Business Plan Templates For Word

Free business plan template for word.

Free Business Plan Template for Word

This free business plan template is ideal for making a very basic brochure to showcase your business plan. It’s made with advertising agencies in mind. The template is available in MS Word, Apple Pages, and Google Docs formats.

Free Simple Business Plan Word Template

Free Simple Business Plan Word Template

You can make a simple business plan brochure for a small business using this free Word template. It includes all the main page layouts you’ll need to cover the important aspects of your business plan.

Free Commercial Contractor Business Plan Template Word

Free Commercial Contractor Business Plan Template Word

This free business plan template is designed with commercial contractors in mind. It includes several useful page layouts with easily editable designs. The template comes in Word, Google Docs, and Apple Pages formats.

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Use this professional services business plan template to help you create a solid plan. This business planning template tells the story of your business’s vision and how you expect to achieve success. Use this professionally written business plan template to clarify your plan and to share with it your team, outside investors, and future leaders.

Business Plan

Define and communicate the vision for your business with this business plan template for Word. This business plan template includes guidance on what makes a great plan using a new coffee shop as an example. Fill in this simple business plan template with the details of your business for a stunning plan you can present to your stakeholders and potential clients.

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Top 10 Business-Plan Templates You Can Download Free

Why reinvent the wheel get free professional business plan templates at no cost..

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Writing your business plan. Ughhhh.

It's definitely not the most exciting part of starting a business. In fact, if you're like a lot of entrepreneurs, you're probably going to find yourself pulling a few all-nighters to get one done before heading into your first pitch for funding . Because that's the thing--your business plan is a pretty important.

Any funder worth his or her salt wants to see it right off the bat. Moreover though, a solid business plan is a living document that will continue to guide your efforts as your business grows. Recently, I shared 18 Mistakes That Kill Startups , an infographic created by Mark Vital over at Funders and Founders.

A lot of those mistakes (most of them, in fact) are the result of poor planning. Bad location, a marginal niche, having no specific user in mind, raising too much or too little money--all of these issues can be prevented or at least mitigated with good planning.

Creating your business plan is more than just getting your ideas down on paper for potential funders to see. It's an exploratory process in which you can evaluate your options, test your assumptions about your idea, and even discover new opportunities. It might even lead you to kill off aspects of your business before investing too much time or money in them.

That doesn't mean you have to bust out Word and start the plan from scratch. A template is great--you probably aren't doing anything that hasn't been done before, so it provides a proven structure for your plan. Pretty much everything on it can be customized. Check out these comprehensive business plan templates you can download for free to get you started:

1. Score's Business Plan Template for Startups

Score is an American nonprofit dedicated to helping entrepreneurs get their companies off the ground. Its template, available as a PDF or Word download, asks a whopping 150 questions and is generic enough to customize for most types of businesses. The Refining the Plan resource that comes with it is helpful, especially if this is your first crack at writing a business plan.

2. U.S. Small Business Administration Business Plan Engine

The SBA's template is available to fill out online and then download as a PDF. You can go back in and edit it as needed, so don't worry about having everything ready the first time you sit down to tackle it. Even broken into sections, it's a long document and a bit of a slog to get through, but it produces a professional-looking and useful business plan. This is particularly helpful if your idea isn't fully fleshed out and you know you have homework to do--it prompts you for information.

3. The $100 Startup's One-Page Business Plan

Who said a business plan has to be a long, complicated document? Some funders are going to want to see a lot of detail, but you can provide that in appendices. The $100 Startup, the website for the best-selling book of the same name, has a ton of stripped-down resources for entrepreneurs, including this super simplified business plan template.

4. LawDepot's WYSIWYG Business Plan Template

This one says you just have to answer a few simple questions and will be "done before you know it!" Don't believe it. A business plan should take time and a lot of homework, but if you've already done that, LawDepot's template is a decent choice. It walks you through getting started, marketing, product, competitive analysis, SWOT, and more, with a window below the input fields to show you the plan as you work away at it. You can download it free with a trial subscription, but you'll have to remember to cancel it within the week if you don't plan to continue using it.

Editor's Note: Looking for Business Loans for your company? If you would like information to help you choose the one that's right for you, use the questionnaire below to have our partner, BuyerZone, provide you with information for free:

5. sme toolkit business plan samples.

The SME Toolkit, jointly offered by IFC and IBM, offers a simple two-page outline of what should be included in your business plan to meet the minimum requirements of funders and tax authorities (in the U.S.). It contains 10 broad sections, including market analysis, management and organization, etc., with a one-paragraph explanation of each. A second download on the same page is an Excel file to help with your financial projections.

6. Office Online Templates Galore

Of course, Microsoft offers a ton of business plan templates for Office users (you can get birthday invitations while you're at it). If you'd rather do a business plan presentation than a Word doc, you can download one of Microsoft Office's half a dozen or so PowerPoint templates for just that purpose. You'll want to customize it with your company branding (you have your branding down, right?), but it's easier than starting from a blank PPT.

7. vFinance Inc. Business Plan Template and Guide

Global financial services firm vFinance offers a basic, 30-page business plan template to download from its website--one the company says has been downloaded more than a quarter of a million times. No, it won't be completely unique, but vFinance knows what it's doing and the template is pretty comprehensive. VFinance is the creator of the massive Venture Capital Directory and has tailored the plan to appeal to funders. If that's your goal, definitely check this one out.

8. Invoiceberry Templates for Word, Open Office, Excel, or PPT

U.K. online invoicing software brand Invoiceberry offers free business plan templates in .docx, .odt, .xlsx, and .pptx formats. Each one also contains a marketing plan and executive summary template. There's a catch, though--the company asks you to take one of the following three actions before you can download the template: like it on Facebook, give it a +1 on Google+, or give it your email address. If you don't mind doing that, it's a good deal. Kudos to Invoiceberry for figuring out this effective lead-gen tactic too!

9. Santa Clara University's My Own Business Institute Plans

Santa Clara U's MOBI is an initiative of its Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Leavey School of Business. On the site, you can download each of the 15 business plan sections individually as Word documents, or grab all 15 together in one doc. There's a ton of other helpful resources as well, including guidelines for evaluating your potential sites, a list of key people to review your plan, and sample financial sheets.

10. RocketLawyer's Business Plan Templates by State

Like some of the others, you fill out RocketLawyer's form and download the business plan when you're done--but its template allows you to choose your state before getting started. These plans are tailored to meet your financing requirements in your state, which is a huge bonus for those seeking funding through banks. It's also heavily geared toward financing, making it a good choice if that's a priority for you.

Editorial Disclosure: Inc. writes about products and services in this and other articles. These articles are editorially independent - that means editors and reporters research and write on these products free of any influence of any marketing or sales departments. In other words, no one is telling our reporters or editors what to write or to include any particular positive or negative information about these products or services in the article. The article's content is entirely at the discretion of the reporter and editor. You will notice, however, that sometimes we include links to these products and services in the articles. When readers click on these links, and buy these products or services, Inc may be compensated. This e-commerce based advertising model - like every other ad on our article pages - has no impact on our editorial coverage. Reporters and editors don't add those links, nor will they manage them. This advertising model, like others you see on Inc, supports the independent journalism you find on this site.

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Business Requirements Document

Use this free Business Requirements Document Template for Word to manage your projects better.

microsoft word business plan template

To manage a project well, you have to identify and organize the parts to meet your deadline and stick to your budget. A business requirements document (BRD) captures everything a project requires in one place to help lead the team and inform stakeholders. Use our free business requirements document template for Word and make sure you don’t miss any essential details necessary to deliver success.

What Is a Business Requirements Document?

A business requirements document collects the necessary information to deliver a project successfully. That includes the objectives that the project is planning to achieve, the scope of the project, the project schedule and much more.

In a sense, you’re creating a roadmap or guidelines for project stakeholders who’ll be making business decisions in terms of the project’s priorities, design, structure, etc. Throughout the phases of the project, a business requirements document ensures that the execution aligns with the project goals.

Beyond that, it can act as a contract between customers and vendors by outlining the expectations of the project and its deliverables. The standard by which the successful completion of the project can be concluded is set by the business requirements document.

Why You Need a Business Requirements Document Template

Using our free business requirements document template for Word is helpful as it maps out the requirements you need to define as you begin planning your project. In that way, it saves time and effort. It also provides consistency as you work on new projects and want to look back at historical data to inform your new project.

But there are benefits that go beyond its sections being templated. For example, with a BRD template, there’s less of a chance that a project will fail because business requirements have been aligned and represented.

You can also connect the goals of the individual project to the larger, overall goals of the company. This keeps the project aligned with business-wide objectives and promotes the health of the company.

It’s a great way to monitor the project health, create consensus among the stakeholders and the team members. Then there’s collaboration, which comes from transparency and saves costs by reducing change requests.

The business requirements document template is part of the planning phase of a project. ProjectManager is online project management software that allows you to plan, manage and track your projects in real time. Organize your tasks, resources and costs on a timeline, filter for the critical path and set a baseline to track planned vs. actual effort in real time. Get started with ProjectManager today for free.

Gantt chart in ProjectManager

How to Use This Business Requirements Document Template

Once you download our free business requirements document template for Word, you can start to reap the reward of those benefits. Our fully customizable template can be changed to add or subtract sections to better mirror your project. It includes the following nine sections that are the foundation of any thorough business requirements document.

1. Executive Summary

To start your BRD template, you want to have a summary of what’s to follow. The executive summary is a bit more than an index; it’s more of an overview of the highlights. This is an ideal introduction to give stakeholders the big picture without delving into too much detail. There’ll be plenty of time for that later.

2. Business Objectives

Use SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-specific) goals to define the project objective . This involves analysis, assessment and understanding clearly where you want the company to be in the future and how the project will help get you there.

3. Needs Statement

This is where you’ll identify the need that the project intends to resolve or address. In this section of your BRD template, you’ll flesh out that problem or need so it’s clear that you’re aware of it in the larger context and that the project is designed to take advantage of this opportunity.

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4. Project Scope

At this point, you want to list all the project goals, deliverables, tasks, costs and deadlines. This is the basis of your project plan, which will organize those tasks, attach resources to them and create a schedule that delivers the project in a timely manner.

Related: Free Project Plan Template

5. Requirements

The requirements that you need to identify for this business requirements document template are threefold. They include business, solution and stakeholder requirements.

  • Business requirements define what the company wants to achieve by the end of the project. It describes how after the project is completed, capabilities will change.
  • Solution requirements describe the characteristics of the project solution that will meet the business and stakeholder requirements. It is for those who are executing the project .
  • Stakeholder requirements are for those people who will use the results of the project, such as certain stakeholders, end users, et al. It explains how the project will help them.

6. Stakeholders

List the important stakeholders in the project. This can include end-users, clients, team members and project sponsors or anyone who is impacted by the project. Interviewing them is critical in gathering requirements for the project.

7. Project Schedule

Include a detailed schedule of the project . That schedule should include deadlines and milestones to help monitor progress and make sure deliverables are on time. This helps team members know what they’re accountable for and helps to keep stakeholders updated.

8. Cost-Benefit Analysis

Here, you’ll capture the costs associated with the project and note the expected benefits. A cost-benefit analysis will help you determine if the financial gains of the project outweigh the financial investment.

9. Project Constraints

Write down all of the things that might restrict or limit the project including the budget, time, resources, team skill levels and so on. It’s important that these constraints are carefully examined, accurate and justified within the BRD.

Who Should Use This Business Requirements Document Template?

When it comes to filling in the fields of your free business requirements document template, there are several people that should be involved. First and foremost, the customer. The customer will determine the requirements as they will use the project’s deliverables.

While the customer isn’t physically using the template, they’re informing it at its core. A business analyst is responsible for figuring out the problem or niche that the project is going to address. That potentially involves interviewing customers but also market research and other demographic findings.

The project manager is the owner of the business requirements document template and is likely the person on the project team who will fill it out. They’re tasked with delivering the solution to the problem or filling the niche that was discovered by the business analyst as they collected data from the customer.

If it’s an IT project, a systems analyst is responsible for designing the business requirements. A marketing manager will lead the marketing strategy and a product manager will help to define the why, when and what of the product that the development team will build.

Other Templates to Help with Business Requirements

The free business requirements document template for Word is only one of the dozens of free project management templates we offer on the site. There are free templates that address every aspect of managing a project, from start to finish. Here are only a few of the ones that relate to the topic at hand.

Requirements Gathering Template

Another document that can help is the free requirements gathering template. It’s a more general one that includes the project plan, scope, timeline with milestones, goals, dependencies and more. There’s a project description for stakeholders to share their expectations in terms of goals and objectives.

Stakeholder Analysis Template

The free stakeholder analysis template will help you identify the stakeholders in the project and determine their level of participation, interest and power or influence over the project. This will help you not only know who your key stakeholders are, but how to manage them, such as the frequency of communications and more.

Cost-Benefit Analysis Template

Doing a cost-benefit analysis is part of any thorough business requirements document. This free cost-benefit analysis template helps you calculate this important information to figure out if the money the project will cost is worth investing considering the return the project will provide. Don’t move forward with your project until you’ve done a cost-benefit analysis.

ProjectManager Helps You Implement Your Business Requirements Document

ProjectManager is cloud-based project management software that helps you plan, manage and track projects in real time. Once you have created a business requirements document, you have to make a plan to coordinate all your resources, costs and schedule to deliver on time and within budget. Our real-time data helps you make better decisions with features that let you monitor how you’re doing as you’re doing it.

Track Progress and Performance in Real Time

To make sure you’re keeping to your project plan, you need to monitor your progress and the performance of your team. This data is crucial. Having real-time dashboards means you’re getting a high-level view of the project as it is happening, which means you can respond faster to keep your project on track. You don’t have to configure our dashboard like you do with competitors’ products. It’s ready to go when you are.

ProjectManager's dashboard with six key metrics that automatically calculate

Give Teams the Tools They Want

Implementing a project involves the cooperation of many different departments, from IT to marketing and sales. But while managers love Gantt charts, the IT department probably wants a more agile tool. That’s why we have multiple project views, such as kanban boards to visualize workflow, list, calendar and sheet views. Each project view is updated in real time and allows every department to collaborate on the tools they’re most comfortable with.

Kanban board in ProjectManager

Related Content

ProjectManager is more than just powerful software, it’s an online hub for all things project management. Every week we publish new blogs, and there are tons of tutorial videos, guides, whitepapers, and, of course, free templates. Here are a few pieces that relate to a business requirements document.

  • Project Requirements Management: A Quick Guide
  • Requirements Gathering: A Quick Guide
  • How to Make a Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM)

ProjectManager is award-winning software that empowers teams to deliver success. With features that manage risk, tasks and resources to customizable reporting tools that delve into real-time data to inform managers and update stakeholders, our software is the ideal tool to deliver a successful project. Join the teams at NASA, Siemens and Nestle who use our software. Get started with ProjectManager today for free.

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Plan Templates

Microsoft business plan template – 24+ free word, excel, pdf format download.

Business plans make it easier for you to run your business, as they help in giving you better ideas on how to reach your goals perfectly. A business plan is a document that summarizes the financial, marketing and sales objectives of a business. It also contains all the detailed budgets that have to be fulfilled as a part of the goals and objectives of the organization. It acts as a stepping stone and a map for the success of your business.

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Business Plan Template

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Create a Business Plan in 5 Steps:

Step 1: research and analyze the market, step 2: add the summary and description, step 3: marketing strategies and sales plan, step 4: design the business structure, step 5: calculate the budget, business plan template for online start-up.

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Final Thoughts:

General faqs, 1. what is a business plan, 2. what is the purpose of a business plan, 3. what are the elements of a business plan.

  • Executive summary
  • Market analysis
  • A snapshot of your company details
  • Marketing and sales management
  • Product and service description
  • Financials of the company, etc.

4. What is a Good Business Plan?

5. what are the advantages of a business plan.

  • You can get funding from the outside
  • You gain an understanding of the market you work in
  • You focus on your strategies and objectives
  • You can check your financial numbers and be careful about your expenses and income.

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  5. Business Plan Templates in Word for Free

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  6. FREE 31+ Simple Business Plan Templates in PDF

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COMMENTS

  1. Free business plan templates

    Find simple and customizable templates for every business plan, from small to large, with Microsoft Create. Design and edit your plan with AI and share it with stakeholders or customers.

  2. Create a business plan

    Learn how to use Word templates to create a professional and comprehensive business plan for your startup. Download free templates for market analysis, financial plan, checklist, and more.

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    Download customizable and professional business plan templates for Word in various formats and sizes. Find templates for small businesses, startups, product and service businesses, and more.

  4. 35+ Best Business Plan Templates for Word 2024

    Find modern and attractive Word templates for making business plans and proposals for various industries and purposes. Browse through 35+ high-quality templates with editable layouts, colors, fonts, and images.

  5. Business Plan Templates in Word

    Business Plan Templates in Word. Craft comprehensive business strategies with ease using Template.net's free, editable business plans. From action plans to budgets, access a range of templates in Word, Excel, or one-page PSD files for seamless customization and printing. Get Access to All Microsoft Word Templates. Instant Download.

  6. 6+ FREE MS Word Business Plan Templates, Examples & Samples

    Download professionally designed templates for different types of business plans in Microsoft Word format. Learn how to create a business plan, why it is important, and what sections to include.

  7. Free Business Plan Template for Word and Excel

    Download a professionally designed business plan template that you can edit using Word and Excel. Learn how to use the template features, copy and paste tables and charts, and find more resources for writing a business plan.

  8. Word design templates

    You can use Word document templates to design resumes, create business invoices, customize annual calendars, and more. There are also templates that you can use throughout your business's internal operations. Use Word document templates to create a business plan, design and share your org chart, and make printable letter head.

  9. How to create your business plan with templates in Microsoft Word

    Creating a business plan? Microsoft Word has templates that can help. Open a new Word document and use Suggested searches to find your template. Just follow ...

  10. Business Plan Template

    The point is to draw people in and give them a 1000-foot view of what you are doing. It is generally agreed that the executive summary should make up no more than 5 - 10% of your entire business plan. Download a free business plan template for Word. Includes frequently asked questions about business plans.

  11. Basic Microsoft Word Business Plan Template

    The Basic Microsoft Word Business Plan Template stands out for its simplicity and user-friendliness. Its clean design, easy customization, and detailed tutorial make it a great choice for those who prefer to focus on content over complicated design elements. It's a must-have tool for budding entrepreneurs and small business owners alike.

  12. Free business proposal template

    Each of these free business proposal templates can be downloaded, so you can share them online or print them out and distribute them in person. Explore more templates that can help you grow your business, such as marketing asset templates, planners and trackers, and more. Stay organized with these free lesson plan templates.

  13. Grow a business with design templates

    A quick way to create custom, vibrant designs for your business. Create beautiful posts, flyers, business plans, business cards, and more in just a few minutes. You don't need any graphic design experience. Here's how the magic happens: 1. Start with the perfect template. Search for anything—style, topic, image, or color—or look around the ...

  14. Simple Business Plan Template (2024)

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  15. Writing and Formatting a Successful Business Plan

    Learn the essential components and formatting of a successful business plan, from executive summary to financial projections. Find templates and tips from Microsoft 365 to help you craft your own plan.

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  24. Business-related design templates

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