A business plan is an important part of launching and growing your business. Some make it more thorough than others. If you are looking for an investment, then you should know that investors and several banks require a rather thorough business plan for them to grant an investment or a loan.
A business plan gives you an overview of your business and puts the necessary structure on the business itself. It forms the foundation of your company by describing all aspects of your business, and how it should be run.
There are a lot of generic business plan templates online and they tend to be similar, which often makes them out to be vague and less user-friendly.
We have prepared a business plan, for our members, in collaboration with 25 business angels. Ensuring that the questions in the business plan correspond to the questions that investors, banks, etc. would like answered.
We’ve made the business plan creation process easy, considering that not everyone has the vast knowledge in economics, law and such. If you want to know more about the business plan, you can read about it here.
As a member of Startup Central, you have the opportunity to create your own business plan, which you can use to get an overview of your company.
If you are not yet a member, you can become a member here.
Become a memberOnce logged in to your profile, you will land on the page shown in the image below. From here, you have two ways to access your business plan, both are marked in red. Respectively the icon "Tools" in the menu and the "Tools" icon in the middle of the page.
After clicking "Tools", the page in the image below will appear on your screen. This image shows what it looks like when you have a completed business plan, and if you have a business plan in development.
In the picture below, there are two completed business plans, which you can correct at any time. These also can be sent to our coaches through the platform. Next to it, you see the open business plans currently in development.
You can begin creating a new business plan by clicking on "New business plan".
The first page you will see is introduction. Here you name your business plan, make sure to give it a unique name, so if you end up making multiple business plans, you will be able to distinguish between them.
Once you have filled in all the necessary fields, click "Start making your business plan". Here you will see all the sections of the business plan.
You do not have to fill all sections or fields and you always have the option to change the information later.
After you click “Continue”, you will see the page in the image below.
On the left of the image above, you will see a “check" mark, meaning you have already completed all the fields in this section. The "three dots" means that you have filled in some of the points in this section. You can always jump back and forth between the different sections, as you wish. On the right side of the image the "!" shows you the importance of its presence in the business plan, when seeking an investment. The information in the text box will remind you of that. These are some of the questions that a bank adviser will most often ask you.
If you do not have time to complete the entire business plan, you can click on "Save as draft", at the bottom left corner, so you will always be able to find it on your profile.
When you have filled in all the fields or those that you find relevant, click "Mark as completed". Your business plan will be saved under "Tools". As mentioned earlier, you can always go back and edit, whenever you wish.
If there is something you are in doubt about when creating the business plan, you as a member always have the opportunity to contact our coaches in various fields. See the blog guide "How to use a coach at Startup Central", on how to send your business plan to a coach.
If you want to download your business plan, then do the following, as described below.
Save your business plan as a PDF
In order to download your business plan and through it as a PDF, you must first and foremost make sure to mark your business plan as 'Completed'.
Once it is completed, you will have the opportunity to have your entire business plan on one HTML page. From here you can save your business plan as a PDF by:
- Right-clicking and pressing "Save as"
- Press Ctrl + P and save as PDF.
Make it easier for yourself to manage your business plan. Get it down on paper. Find answers to all the questions the business plan poses, and make sure to answer them as best as you can. Go ahead and address our coaches for sparring.
