Top 10 Free Business Plan Templates for Startups

Planning is considered such an important stage before the actual implementation. This also applies when it comes to starting a business venture. Especially for new entrepreneurs who are in need of gathering some investors into the business, a business plan can either assure fresh capital injection or drive away the potential funding. In order to get the first result, business plans must be made as tempting as the real deal. It has got to rhyme with the word success! Surely, creating one is not that easy, but with the right guidance, it is not impossible.

Thanks to the sophistication of technology, a lot of useful things are shared on the Internet. In this case, some of those handy things are business plan templates which can be downloaded at no cost.

1. Score

Established as a non-profit site to assist the bloom of new businesses, it provides downloadable business plan templates in both PDF and Word formats. To get started, the user is going to be asked to answer 150 generic questions about their business. The plan will then be customized accordingly. They also provide a sales forecasting template, competitive analysis charts to determine your business’ strengths and weaknesses, and financial planning templates such as startup expenses, profit and loss projections, and financial statements.

2. Small Business Administration

Those who have limited time and have not gathered all the information needed to create a business plan may fancy this online assistance. The reason is that it is okay if the whole template cannot be filled out all at once. It even provides the possibility of going through the template several times before the plan is finally produced. There are six business plan sections to choose from (Executive Summary, Company Description, Market Research, Product/Service Line, Marketing and Sales, Financial Projections).

3. The $100 Startup

This site matches the book content of the same name. Instead of creating a long business plan, the platform offers a simpler version with additional plan details which are put into appendices. Considering the popularity of the best selling book, business plans of this version appear to be accepted by quite a lot of people. Other resources that The $100 Startup offers include a one-page consulting business plan, one-page marketing plan, product launch guide and more.

4. LawDepot

The good thing about it is that it does not ask as many questions and it offers guidance that covers the essence of planning a business venture: how to start the business, the competitive nature of a product, marketing, the analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (or the so-called SWOT) and other significant elements. It should be noted, though, that the free trial period is only for a week.

5. SME Toolkit

For those who like simplicity and functionality, the template produced from this specific platform may match their preference. The outline of the plan is only two pages’ long, which consists of ten different sections (regarding the company and its management, market analysis, etc), each of which is described in one paragraph. The outline comes with financial Excel sheets which comply with the America’s tax regulations.

6. Entrepreneur.com

Entrepreneur.com provides business tools, with a collection of business plans free in PDF, PowerPoint and Word. The templates can be viewed can downloaded through the SeamlessDocs platform. Also, there is no need to worry about its quality as the reputation of this global service company has proven its capability in producing business plans that will improve the likelihood of financial funding success.

7. Invoiceberry

To get started, you will be asked either to fill in your email address, like their Facebook page or to simply add them on Google+. The online company, which comes from the United Kingdom, provides downloadable templates in different Microsoft Office formats: Word, Excel, Power Point and Outlook. No matter which you choose, each of them includes at least a plan for marketing and an executive summary.

8. My Own Business Institute (MOBI) by St. Clara University

Initially established for Leavey Business School, the website is equipped with useful resources for business, such as financial sheets, evaluation guidelines and, of course, business plan templates. The templates come in fifteen different sections, which can be downloaded separately or as a whole in one document. The documents are available in Word format.

9. RocketLawyer

The procedure of using this online platform is pretty much the same as the others. You need to fill in a form and once you have finished, you will be able to download the plan. Despite the regular steps, RocketLawyer actually offers a unique feature: the financial parts of your business plan can be customized depending on the requirements of the state the business is going to be. This is an obvious added value, especially for those looking forward to getting some bank loans for the capital.

10. Bplans

Bplans.com, known as the authority on business plans, offers a free Word business plan template, complete with instructions and a table of contents. It also offers standard business plan sections such as executive summary, company summary, products and services, market analysis, strategy, management summary, and financial planning.