Before you start a business, you should have a business plan. These plans help you get started, keep you on track and serve as motivation during challenging times. However, if you are new to business ownership, you may not know how to create a plan. Therefore, these are key things you should include in your startup business plan.

Executive Summary

This section of your plan should be a broad overview of your company. It will include your products and services and what problems they solve for consumers. It should also briefly discuss your finances, industry, marketing, and company mission, vision, and values.

Description of Your Company

Your next section should discuss your company briefly. Talk about your corporate structure, mission, vision, values, core team, history, and philosophy.

What You Offer

You should also have a section that details your products and services, including their price points. Discuss where they fit into the market and what specific need they meet. Do they fill a market gap or improve on an existing product or service? Discuss the four P’s: product, price, place, and promotion briefly.

Analysis

You will conduct multiple analyses. First, you should do an industry analysis, including trends, size, sales, and your competition. Discuss your position in this industry. Next, you should conduct a competitive analysis. Discuss your major competition as well as the overall competitive landscape. Any barriers to entry should be explored as well. Focus on how your product stands out and cannot be duplicated easily.

Then, you need to complete a market analysis. Identify your target market. Include a deep investigation of its demographics, hobbies, key characteristics, and any other relevant data. You should also investigate potential vendors.

Discuss Your Financials

You should have a good idea about your initial costs, from equipment and building rent to supplies and staff costs. You will use these to create your income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow projections. Include your operating and startup costs. Consider all possible costs, and be conservative in your future cash flow calculations.

Plan Sections

Your plan should include sections on marketing, operations, and technology. Your marketing plan will include the methods you intend to use to reach your target market, and you need to set a budget. Your technology plan should detail any technology you intend to use and its cost. You should have human resources plan as well. Finally, your operating plan will include your fixed and variable costs, such as facilities, salaries, utilities, cost of goods sold, etc.

Creating a business plan takes time, but the more comprehensive it is, the better the position of your startup, especially if you seek financing.