In this article:
- What type of insights can the sample plans provide?
- Why don’t the sample plans make good templates?
- How can LivePlan fit any business type?
- LivePlan features that can help you craft your business plan
A sample business plan is a pre-written example that outlines a typical business plan’s key elements and structure. It serves as a guide to help entrepreneurs understand how to organize their plans, providing a framework for sections such as the executive summary, market analysis, and financial projections. Although helpful for inspiration and structure, sample plans should not be used as templates because each business requires customized content that reflects its unique goals and specific details.
What is the sample plan library?
LivePlan has a library of over 500 sample business plans available for you to use as inspiration and guidance. You can view them on our free site, bplans.com, or from within the Sample Plan Library, which can be found under the Help tab in LivePlan.
What type of insights can the sample plans provide?
If you’re new to an industry or the concepts behind the process of writing a business plan, looking at sample plans can be a great way to get a general idea of what might be needed.
For an existing company lacking a formal business plan, you may encounter challenges in aligning your well-understood revenue model with the structured format required for forecasting. The sample plan library can illustrate examples of how others have chosen to model similar revenue in a forecast.
Why don’t the sample plans make good templates?
Are these sample plans meant to be used as templates? The simple answer is no. We believe good business plans are made, not found. Although you may find related material in our sample plan library, we strongly advise that you start your business plan from scratch, incorporating your unique assumptions.
A critical aspect to consider when writing a business plan is that you are not merely presenting the concept of your business; you are presenting yourself as the entrepreneur at the helm of your venture. This means that it’s important to demonstrate a deep understanding of the unique nature of your business idea, backed by thorough research and effort, affirming that an investment of time and money in your idea is well-founded.
At one time, these sample plans were real plans for specific businesses with their criteria and circumstances. Again, you might find a plan that relates to your industry. But it will not match your unique circumstances. Endless variables such as location, economic conditions, and other unique aspects make your business specific to you. Simply copying concepts from a sample plan won't paint a picture that will do justice to you and your unique vision.
How can LivePlan fit any business type?
Sample business plans were once a more useful tool, and we keep them available for the aforementioned reasons, even if more modern resources eclipse them. At LivePlan, we continuously enhance our features to ensure they remain cutting-edge and tailored to support you in crafting your unique vision.
LivePlan is designed from the ground up with the understanding that every business idea will be inherently unique. While LivePlan has a default template as a starting point, that template is just a blank canvas that can be customized to fit the needs of any business type. There are numerous pre-constructed topics, charts, and tables that you can quickly add to your plan outline with a simple drag and drop. If the premade topics miss something you need, you can easily create your custom topics.
Click here to learn more about customizing the LivePlan outline.
LivePlan features that can help you craft your business plan
LivePlan's features are designed to instill confidence in your planning, ensuring that each step of the process is clear and intuitive. Throughout the process of creating your plan, these features support your efforts by offering tools to help you stay organized, analyze data, and clearly convey your business goals and strategies to your target audience.
Guided Path
LivePlan includes a step-by-step guided path to help you contextualize and visualize your progress as you develop your business plan from start to finish. While it’s not a requirement to use LivePlan, if you’re new to the planning process, using the Guide can help you map out a productive approach.
LivePlan AI Assistant
Available to Standard and Premium account users, this advanced AI tool empowers you to craft and brainstorm content for your plan, forecast, and one-page pitch.
Click here for more information about the LivePlan Assistant
Plan and Pitch
In the plan and pitch section, the AI Assistant can offer personalized improvements, check for grammatical errors, or can reformat to a desired tone. If you don’t know where to start, the AI Assistant can even begin writing for you based on your company description.
Forecast
In the Forecast, you can use LivePlan Assistant to suggest entries for Revenue, Direct Costs, Personel, and Expenses. The AI Assistant will generate a list of possible entries depending on the business description entered in the Company Options.
Industry Data
The newly introduced Industry Data feature is a robust resource for our US-based customers, offering detailed metrics and insights specific to your industry. While these extensive, nationwide datasets may not perfectly align with your unique business model, they deliver valuable, up-to-date information on current market trends, industry structure, financial benchmarks, and more.