Business plan template: what to write in each section
A business plan template is a fixed set of sections that tells a lender or investor what your business does, who buys from it and how the money works. This one has seven sections. Each is laid out below with the prompts to fill in and the questions the reader will ask of it.
Nothing to download or sign up for. If you want the file version to fill in offline, it is on the templates page.
Updated · BusinessPlanHub Editorial Team
Before you start: who is going to read it?
The sections do not change. What the reader tests does, and that decides where your effort goes.
| Reader | What they test hardest | Section that decides it |
|---|---|---|
| Bank or SBA lender | Can the business repay the debt, month by month? | Financial plan (cash flow) |
| Investor | Is the upside big enough to be worth the risk? | Market analysis and growth case |
| Visa endorsing body | Does the plan meet the published criteria, point by point? | Every section, against their checklist |
One piece of advice that saves most people a rewrite: write the financial plan first and the executive summary last. The numbers set what every other section has to prove.
1. Executive summary
The executive summary is a one-page version of the whole plan. It is the only section some readers finish, so it states the ask and the numbers, not the backstory.
Fill in
- [Business name] is a [what it is] in [town or city], serving [who].
- We are asking for [amount] as [a loan / equity / a grant] to [what it pays for].
- Year one revenue is forecast at [figure], reaching [figure] by year three.
- The business works because [the one reason customers will choose it].
- [Founder name] brings [the experience that makes this credible].
Keep it under a page. Across our library of 662 sample plans the executive summary runs a median of 171 words, which is about right: long enough for the ask, the forecast and the reason, and short enough to be read in full. The law firm sample shows one written for a small practice.
Full guide: how to write an executive summary, with a before-and-after rewrite.
2. Company overview
The company overview says what the business is legally and what it sells. It is the section where the SBA’s separate “service or product line” heading belongs, so describe the products here.
Fill in
- Legal structure: [sole trader / LLC / limited company], registered [date or “to be registered”].
- Location and premises: [address or area], [owned / leased / home-based].
- What you sell: [each product or service, with its price].
- Stage: [idea / trading since …], with [customers, revenue or pre-orders so far].
- Goal for the next three years: [one measurable target].
Put prices next to products. A reader cannot check your revenue forecast without them, and a missing price list leaves the forecast unsupported.
3. Market and customer analysis
The market analysis proves that enough people will pay your price. It is the longest section in most plans, and in our sample library it runs a median of 316 words, nearly twice the executive summary.
Fill in
- Who the customer is: [age, income or business type, location].
- How many of them there are within reach: [number, with the source].
- What they pay now, and to whom: [two or three named competitors and their prices].
- Why they would switch: [the gap you fill].
- How much of the market you expect to win in year one: [share or customer count].
The number that matters is the last one, because your revenue forecast is built from it. Tie it to a count of customers, not a percentage of a national market. “1% of a $4 billion industry” is a figure nobody can check, so it earns no credit.
4. Sales and marketing plan
The sales and marketing plan explains how a stranger becomes a paying customer, and what each one costs you to win.
Fill in
- Channels: [where customers will find you, in order of importance].
- Budget: [monthly marketing spend in year one].
- Conversion: [how many enquiries you expect, and how many become sales].
- Pricing strategy: [why your price sits where it does against competitors].
If your budget divided by your expected new customers gives a cost per customer higher than the profit on their first order, say how repeat business closes the gap. A reader will do that sum whether you do or not.
5. Operating plan
The operating plan covers how the work gets done day to day: premises, equipment, suppliers, staff and opening hours.
Fill in
- Premises and equipment: [what you need, what it costs, what you already own].
- Suppliers: [main suppliers and payment terms].
- Staffing: [roles, hours and when each is hired].
- Licences and insurance: [what the trade requires].
- Milestones: [the next four or five dated steps to opening or growing].
Every cost named here should appear in the financial plan. Mismatches between the two sections are easy to spot and they undermine everything else.
6. Management team
The management team section shows the reader that the people running the business can do what the plan says. The SBA calls it “organization and management”.
Fill in
- For each owner or manager: [name], [role], [ownership %], [the experience that matters for this business].
- Gaps and how you cover them: [accountant, solicitor, advisers, planned hires].
Relevant experience beats impressive experience. Five years running a kitchen says more for a restaurant plan than an unrelated degree.
7. Financial plan and funding request
The financial plan is the part of the plan that gets tested. Prose gets skimmed; the numbers get taken apart, and the reader will ask where every assumption came from.
Fill in
- Funding request: [amount], [loan / equity / grant], and a line-by-line list of what it pays for.
- Profit and loss forecast: three years, with year one by month.
- Cash flow forecast: year one by month, showing the lowest cash balance and when it falls.
- Balance sheet: opening and year-end.
- Assumptions: [price, volume, costs, payment terms], each with where it came from.
The SBA’s own guidance asks for income statements, balance sheets and cash flow statements, with quarterly or monthly projections for the first year (SBA, “Write your business plan”, checked 29 September 2026). Most free templates stop at the profit and loss, and the cash flow is what a lender tests.
For what a finished three-year profit and loss looks like, the bakery sample models revenue of $340,000 in year one rising to $660,000 by year three at a 58% gross margin. Those figures are fictional, like all our samples, but the layout is the one a reader expects.
Full guides: how to build the financial projections, step by step, and what an SBA lender checks in them.
When a template stops being enough
A template is the right tool if you know your numbers and have time to write. It stops working when the forecast is the hard part, or when the reader has criteria you have not seen before.
- Read a finished plan in your trade from the 662 in our library.
- Build the financial model with the toolkit if the numbers are what is holding you up.
- Have the plan written by a writer who works to your lender’s or endorsing body’s criteria.