Writing a Business Plan

Writing a business plan can help you seek investment funding or secure a bank loan, as well as create a roadmap or strategic plan for your company or nonprofit. Whatever your reasons are—writing a business plan is proven to help you grow your business faster. In this video, you'll learn about each section of a business plan and what it should include.

Not interested in writing a business plan? Do a sales forecast instead. Here's how a regularly reviewed sales forecast can help you grow your business.

Lean Planning unlocks faster growth and increases your chances of success. Learn how to create a modern, one-page Lean Business Plan in under 20 minutes.

While vital, conducting market research can feel like a huge undertaking. So, here are our favorite resources to help make the process easier.

You're ready to ditch your office job and become your own boss. But how do you start—and what if you don't have an idea or a plan? This guide is for you.

Defining your business model is the final step in Lean Planning. In short, it's how your business will make money. Learn how to define your business model.

A Lean Plan is fast, flexible, and will remain relevant throughout the life of your business. Here are our essential Lean Planning resources.

Milestones are what you use to convert your business strategy and tactics into action. They're also an essential part of any Lean Plan.

Business planning isn't just a one-time event, and it doesn't have to be overly complicated. We've created a business planning checklist to help make the process easier—no matter what kind of plan you need to write.

Your Lean Plan needs strategy, but even a great strategy is useless without tactics. Tactics are the things that you actually do to make your business work.

Here are our favorite resources to help you create a SWOT analysis, including examples, downloads, and interactive challenges.

Fail to develop a solid business strategy, and your new venture will likely not be successful. Here's how to complete a Lean Plan, step by step.

How do you know if your business idea is a good one? Is it worth pursuing now, or does it need to be refined and improved—or maybe forgotten about entirel ...

Our step-by-step guide to Lean Planning will show you how to create a living business plan, that you can update and expand as you grow your business.

Company history in a business plan? It's a good addition to some business plans, but not all. Here's how to determine if you should include it, and how.

No matter how new your business, you do have competition—so don't suggest that your business doesn't. So, how do you evaluate your competition?