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How to Write a Startup Business Plan (10 Effective Steps)

Learn how to create an effective business plan in 10 easy steps and discover the transformative power of mentorship to elevate your startup's strategy.

Robin Waite

5 minute read

Short answer

What should an effective business plan include?

An effective business plan should include the following elements:

• Executive summary
• Company description
• Market analysis
• Your products or services
• Marketing and sales strategies
• Organization and management
• Financial projections
• Funding requirements
• Risk assessment
• Conclusion and Call to Action

You need a strategic business plan to successfully navigate the startup world

Diving into the startup world without a clear plan is like setting sail without a compass ; you might drift aimlessly or even crash.

A solid business plan isn't just a piece of paper—it's your roadmap to success. It attracts the right investors, guides your decisions, and sets you on a clear path to victory.

In this article, I’ll walk you through 10 essential steps to craft that perfect plan. Plus, I’ll touch on the invaluable insights a business mentor can offer.

So, if you want to avoid common pitfalls and boost your chances of success, keep reading. Your startup's future might just depend on it.

Step 1: Executive summary

Think of the executive summary as the elevator pitch for your startup. It's a quick snapshot that captures the heart of your business idea, mission, and goals.

In this brief section, make sure to highlight who your target audience is, what sets you apart in the market, and your unique selling points.

And don't forget to give a glimpse of your financial outlook and any funding needs—it sets the stage for the details that follow.

Here's an example of an executive summary slide:

Step 2: Company description

Here's where you tell your startup's story. It's not just a list of facts or a timeline. It's about painting a picture that connects with your readers.

Clearly outline your vision, mission, and the values that drive you. Share key milestones you've hit and where you currently stand in your business journey. This section gives depth to your startup, showing both where you've been and where you're headed.

Here's an example of a company introduction slide:

Step 3: Market analysis

To thrive, you've got to know the lay of the land. That's where market analysis comes in. Start by zeroing in on your target audience and truly understanding what they're looking for.

Dive deep into industry trends, the overall market size, and where it's headed. And don't just know your competitors—understand what makes you stand out from the crowd.

Here's what a market analysis slide should look like:

Step 4: Products or services

Here's your chance to shine a spotlight on what you're offering. What problems are your products or services solving? What makes them special? Whether it's a unique feature, a patent, or some groundbreaking tech, make it clear why your offerings are game-changers.

Here's an example of a solution slide:

Step 5: Marketing and sales strategies

In today's crowded market, standing out is crucial. This step is all about your game plan to grab attention and win customers. Detail how you'll sell, where you'll promote, and how you'll get your products or services into the hands of those who need them.

Here's what a go-to-market slide should look like:

Step 6: Organization and management

Behind every great startup is a team of passionate people. Here, introduce your squad. Highlight their expertise, define their roles, and show the structure that keeps everything running smoothly.

If you've got advisors or partners in your corner, mention them—it shows you're serious about growing in every direction.

Here’s a full guide on how to create the perfect team slide for your startup . And here's a great example of one:

Step 7: Financial projections

Numbers don't lie, and in this step, they sketch out your startup's potential future. Dive into the financials, projecting where you see your revenue, expenses, and profits heading over the next few years.

By breaking down your initial costs and where you expect to get your funding, you give a clear view of how you're setting up for success.

Here's an example of a financials slide:

Step 8: Funding requirements

Every startup needs fuel to get off the ground, and that fuel is capital. Here, be clear about how much you need to launch and keep things running.

Break down where every dollar will go, whether that's marketing, product development, or daily operations.

If you've already got some backers or have your eye on potential investors, mention them—it adds weight to your pitch.

Here's what a use of funds slide should look like:

Step 9: Risk assessment

Every venture has its bumps in the road. Here, show that you're not just aware of potential challenges but that you've got a plan to tackle them. In assessing risks, it's crucial to choose the right business structure at the beginning. For examples, the formation of an LLC as a strategic measure not only protects your personal assets from business liabilities but also mitigates financial risks for stakeholders. By laying out your strategies for handling risks, you prove you're not just optimistic—you're realistic and ready.

Here's an example of a risk assessment slide:

Step 10: Conclusion and Call to Action

Time to wrap it up and rally your readers. Summarize the key points of your plan, driving home why your startup is a solid bet.

But remember, this isn't just a conclusion—it's a launchpad. Encourage readers to get involved, whether that's investing, partnering, or simply supporting your vision. Let's get this journey started!

And, if you need more information, check out our comprehensive guide on how to write a business plan .

Here's an example of a next step slide:

Seek guidance from a business mentor

While a solid business plan is your startup's compass, adding guidance from a business mentor to your journey is like having a seasoned captain on board.

They bring a treasure trove of insights, lessons from past experiences, and a network of industry contacts. Their tailored advice doesn't just polish your plan—it also boosts your confidence and resilience, two must-haves for the unpredictable startup seas.

By embracing mentorship, you're signaling that you're all in on growth, ready to soak up wisdom and accelerate your path to success.

Why is a business plan crucial for startups?

Think of a business plan as your startup's GPS. It helps you navigate the twists and turns, pointing out both the challenges and the golden opportunities ahead. It's your master blueprint, detailing everything from your big-picture goals to your financial forecasts .

What role does a business mentor play in this process?

A business mentor serves as a seasoned guide in the startup journey. Drawing from their wealth of experience, they offer invaluable insights, helping startups navigate challenges and optimize their strategies. Their guidance is instrumental in making informed, strategic decisions.

How can a mentor enhance my market analysis?

Mentors have their finger on the pulse of the industry. They can help you get a clearer picture of market trends, spot who you're really up against, and gauge where the opportunities lie. With their insights, your market analysis won't just be good—it'll be top-notch.

Can a mentor assist in financial projections?

Absolutely. If your mentor has a financial background, they can be a goldmine. They'll help you craft projections that are both ambitious and grounded in reality. From revenue estimates to potential expenses, they'll ensure your numbers make sense.

How can you incorporate mentorship into the business plan?

Consider adding a dedicated section in your business plan to highlight the mentorship aspect. By detailing the insights and guidance you've received, or intend to seek, you underscore your commitment to informed growth. This proactive approach can resonate well with potential investors and stakeholders.

Business plan templates

Starting your business plan can feel like staring at a blank canvas—it's full of potential, but where do you begin? That's where interactive business plan templates come into play.

These templates serve as a structured guide, ensuring you don't miss any crucial details while allowing for flexibility and customization. They're designed to streamline the process, making it easier to organize your thoughts and present your vision in a coherent manner.

Ready to dive in? Grab a template from the library below and give your business plan a head start.

Robin Waite is a business coach based in the UK, bestselling author, and also regular business speaker. Robin's Fearless Business Accelerator covers pricing, productising services, and sales for coaches, consultants, and freelancers. Robin's passion is content marketing and blogging and he enjoys finding creative ways to make complex business topics simple for his readers.

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Blog Feature Updates Startup Business Plans 101: Your Path to Success

Startup Business Plans 101: Your Path to Success

Written by: Jay Nair Jul 24, 2023

It’s time — you’ve got a promising idea and you’re now prepared to invest the necessary effort to turn it into reality. Startup business plans are vital hack tools that will guide you through your entrepreneurial journey and a business venture with clarity and purpose.

Though vital, business planning doesn’t have to be a chore. Business plans for lean startups and solopreneurs can simply outline the business concept, sales proposition, target customers and sketch out a plan of action to bring the product or service to market. These plans will serve as strategic documents outlining your company’s vision, mission statements, business objectives, target market, financial forecasts and growth strategies.

To simplify the creation of a robust business plan as an entrepreneur, you can harness the power of a business plan maker . This invaluable tool streamlines the process and ensures a polished and well-organized presentation.  Startup business plan templates provide pre-designed frameworks that can be customized to suit your specific industry needs, saving valuable time and effort while preserving the essential structure of a comprehensive business plan.

Ready to begin? Let’s go!

Just so you know, some of our business plan templates are free to use and some require a small monthly fee. Sign-up is always free, as is access to Venngage’s online drag-and-drop editor.

Click to jump ahead:

• Laying the foundation of your startup business plan
• Business plan executive summary
• Writing your business description
• Marketing & sales strategies
• Startup operational plans
• Financial plans – forecasting and projections
• Team and management
• Appendix and supporting documents

FAQs on startup business plans

• Use Venngage to create your startup business plan

Preparation and research: 6 steps to laying the foundation of your startup business plan

• What problem does your product or service solve? 
• Who are your target customers? 
• What differentiates your offering from existing solutions in the market? 

This self-reflection will help you establish a clear direction for your startup.

• Next, conduct market research to gather valuable insights about your target market , including demographics, preferences, and purchasing behavior . This data will enable you to tailor your product or service to meet the specific needs of your customers. Identify trends, industry growth projections, and any potential barriers or challenges you may encounter.
• Competitive analysis is another critical aspect of preparation and research. Study your competitors to understand their strengths, weaknesses, and strategies. Analyze their pricing, marketing tactics, customer experience, and product/service features. This analysis will allow you to identify gaps in the market and position your startup to offer a unique value proposition .
• Financial research is equally important during this phase. Calculate the costs associated with starting and operating your business , including overhead expenses, production costs, marketing expenses, and employee salaries. Assess potential revenue streams and estimate your expected sales. This financial analysis will help you determine the feasibility of your business idea and outline a realistic financial plan.
• Additionally, gather information about legal and regulatory requirements that apply to your industry and location . Understand the necessary permits, licenses, and certifications you need to operate legally. Complying with these regulations from the outset will prevent potential setbacks or legal issues in the future.
• Finally, organize your findings and insights into a coherent business plan. Create your business plan outline , list your business plan goals, strategies, target market, competitive analysis, marketing plan, financial projections and any other relevant information. This compilation will serve as a roadmap for your startup, guiding your decisions and actions moving forward.

You’ve just encountered a wealth of information and are well on your way to becoming a seasoned business owner! This can sometimes feel overwhelming. But don’t worry, take a moment to breathe deeply and remember how far you’ve come. You’ve got this!

To help you condense and organize your essential points, I have brilliant one-page samples of business plan layouts and templates that will capture everything in a concise format.

Knowing when to use a one-page business plan versus a more comprehensive plan depends on various factors. A one-page business plan is ideal for providing a quick overview, saving time, and internal planning. However, it may not suffice for detailed information, complex business models, or meeting external stakeholders’ expectations.

Ultimately, consider the purpose, audience, and complexity of your business when deciding whether to utilize a one-page business plan or opt for a more detailed approach.

Executive Summary: Your Startup’s Elevator Pitch

First impressions are crucial, and a concise yet comprehensive executive summary is your chance to grab potential investors’ attention.

To create a compelling elevator pitch, consider the following key elements:

Problem Statement : Clearly articulate the problem or pain point that your startup addresses. Emphasize the significance of the problem and the potential market size

Solution : Concisely describe your innovative solution or product that solves the identified problem. Highlight its unique features or benefits that differentiate it from existing alternatives.

Target Market : Define your ideal customer segment and outline the market potential. Demonstrate a deep understanding of your target audience’s needs, preferences, and behavior.

Competitive Advantage : Showcase the competitive edge that sets your startup apart from competitors. This could include intellectual property, strategic partnerships, cost advantages, or disruptive technology.

Business Model : Briefly explain how your startup generates revenue and sustains profitability. Outline your monetization strategy, pricing model, and any recurring revenue streams .

Traction and Milestones : Highlight any significant achievements or milestones reached by your startup. This could include customer acquisitions, partnerships, product development progress, or market validation.

Team : Showcase the expertise and qualifications of your founding team or business partners. Highlight key members and their relevant experiences demonstrating their ability to execute the business plan.

I can sense your eagerness to dive right in! To expedite your progress, I’m excited to present you with a collection of meticulously crafted executive summary templates. These templates have been thoughtfully designed and structured by Venngage designers, ensuring seamless integration into your thorough business plan. All you need to do is infuse them with your brilliant startup ideas, and you’ll be well on your way to success!

Now, remember that there’s still a ton of work to be done. Let’s take a moment to regroup and ensure we’re on the right track. Before diving into the process of writing your business plan , it’s imperative to gather a wealth of essential information. Conducting comprehensive research is key, and it should encompass the following aspects:

How to assess your target audience

To gain comprehensive insights into your potential user base, creating a user persona report is invaluable. This persona guide report will help you develop a detailed understanding of various user profiles, enabling you to tailor your products or services to meet their specific needs and preferences.

Understanding Your Market and Competition

Analyze your market and any trends relevant to your startup. Research your competitors, their strengths and weaknesses, and identify what differentiates your offering from the competition.

Developing a Unique Value Proposition

A business Unique Value Proposition (UVP) is a concise statement that communicates the unique advantage a product or service offers over competitors, addressing a specific problem or need. It highlights the distinctive value and benefits customers can expect, helping businesses attract and retain customers by differentiating themselves in the market.

Your unique value proposition (UVP) is the cornerstone of your startup, defining what sets you apart from your competitors. A strong UVP focuses on the specific benefits and solutions your startup offers to customers.

Company Description: Painting the Picture

Your company description allows you to showcase your startup’s unique features and provide more in-depth details about your business. This section should include:

The Purpose of the Company Description

Clarify the purpose of your business, your goals and how your startup is uniquely positioned to achieve them.

Essential Information to Include

Include details such as your company’s legal structure, location and a brief history of any founders or key personnel.

Showcase Your Company’s Unique Features

Emphasize the unique aspects of your startup, explaining how these features translate into a competitive advantage.

Allow me to provide you with a dash of inspiration to ignite the momentum for your startup business plan:

When it comes to showcasing your company’s unique features, keep in mind that it is essential to emphasize and highlight the distinctive aspects of your startup . Clearly articulate how these features set your company apart from competitors and translate into a tangible competitive advantage . 

Whether it’s through cutting-edge technology, innovative business models, exceptional customer service, or a combination of factors, conveying the value and impact of these unique features is crucial. By effectively communicating the benefits they bring to customers, investors, and partners, you can demonstrate the significance of your offerings and differentiate yourself in the market.

Product/Service Line: What You’re Bringing to the Table

This section highlights the finer details of your product or service offerings:

Detailing Your Product/Service Offerings

Provide a thorough description of your products/services, highlighting key features and their intended use.

Highlighting Features, Benefits, and Solutions

Demonstrate how your startup’s offerings solve specific problems or address customer needs through an analysis of product features and associated benefits.

Defining Your Pricing and Revenue Model

Outline your startup’s pricing strategy and how it aligns with the overall business model. Detail any plans for scaling or expanding your revenue sources in the future.

Presenting Your Market Research Findings

Share insights from your market research, including target customer demographics, market size, and growth potential.

Identifying Market Trends and Opportunities

Discuss current trends, emerging opportunities, and how your startup will capitalize on these developments.

Marketing and Sales Strategies: Spreading the Word

Developing a robust marketing and sales strategy plan aligns with your overall business strategy and ensures steady growth. Marketing planning will be an essential part of your journey once you’ve got your business plan tight-knit! Also, creating a marketing strategy can be the most fun part of your business plan!

Developing a Comprehensive Marketing Strategy & Plan

• Outline Specific Marketing Goals : Clearly define your marketing objectives, whether it’s increasing brand awareness, driving website traffic, generating leads, or boosting sales . Set measurable targets to track progress.
• Identify Target Audience : Conduct thorough market research to identify your ideal customer profiles. Understand their demographics, behaviors, preferences, and pain points. Tailor your marketing messages to resonate with their needs.
• Select Effective Marketing Channels : Consider both digital and traditional channels that align with your target audience and marketing goals. This may include online advertising, social media marketing, content marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), email campaigns, print media, events, or partnerships.
• Craft Compelling Messages : Develop persuasive and consistent messaging that highlights the unique value proposition of your products or services. Clearly communicate how your offerings solve customer problems or improve their lives.

5 Tips for Effective Sales Techniques and Growth Strategies + free templates

• Define Your Sales Strategy : Outline the approach and tactics your sales team will use to reach and convert customers. This may involve direct sales, channel partnerships, online sales, or a combination of strategies. Specify your sales process, including lead generation, qualification, nurturing, and closing.
• Expand Your Customer Base : Identify opportunities to expand your customer reach. Consider targeting new customer segments, entering new geographic markets, or exploring untapped market niches. Develop strategies to attract and engage these potential customers.
• Penetrate New Markets : Assess the feasibility of expanding into new markets or verticals. Market research will help you understand the dynamics, competition, and customer needs in these markets. Adapt your marketing and sales strategies accordingly to effectively penetrate and capture market share.
• Innovate Products/Services : Continuously evaluate and enhance your product or service offerings to meet evolving customer demands. Identify areas for innovation or improvement and develop a roadmap for launching new features, versions, or complementary offerings.
• Perform a SWOT analysis : By conducting a sales SWOT analysis , you will gather valuable insights to enhance your department’s performance. This analysis involves evaluating your company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, enabling you to identify areas for improvement and capitalize on advantageous factors in the market.

Here’s a hack to get you organized – Get right into it with the help of these growth strategy templates and strategic planning templates :

Operational Plan: How Your Startup Will Run

Define an efficient and scalable operational plan, keeping in mind the following points:

Defining an Efficient and Scalable Plan

Outline the day-to-day operations, including processes, timelines, and necessary resources.

Legal Considerations for Your Startup Business

Identify any legal requirements or considerations, such as licenses, permits, or regulations that may apply to your startup.

Key Elements of Supply Chain Management and Logistics

Discuss supply chain and logistical aspects relevant to your business. Include details on how you plan to manage and scale these processes.

Here’s a kickstart on how you can structure your operating plans:

Financial Projections: Crunching the Numbers

A startup’s financial projections are vital in securing investor buy-in. This section should address:

The Importance of Financial Forecasting and Budgeting

Explain the significance of accurate financial forecasting, budgeting, and the assumptions made in your projections.

Identifying Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Highlight the KPIs used to gauge your business’s financial health and growth trajectory.

Outlining Funding Requirements

Detail the amount and type of funding your startup requires , including how the funds will be allocated and how this investment positions the company for growth.

Team and Management Structure: Building Your Dream Team

Your startup’s success depends on the people behind it. This section should cover:

Tips for Building the Right Team

Share your strategy for assembling a skilled team that supports your startup’s vision and growth trajectory.

Founders’ Background and Roles

Provide an overview of the founders’ backgrounds, their roles within the company, and how their skills contribute to the startup’s success.

Organizational Structure and Key Management Personnel

Outline your startup’s organizational structure, including any key management personnel who play a pivotal role in day-to-day operations.

Appendices and Supporting Documents: Backing Up Your Plan

Include any other relevant supporting documents, such as:

• Research data, market analysis, or competitor analyses.
• Financial statements, budgeting or forecasting data, and other financial documentation.
• Legal documents, agreements or contracts, and any patent or trademark information.

Finally, remember to review and update your business plan regularly as the industry, market, and competitive landscape evolve!

1. Why is a business plan essential for a startup?

A startup business plan is crucial for a startup because it provides a framework for strategic decision-making, facilitates financial planning, helps assess risks, aligns teams, communicates your vision, and ensures effective resource allocation. 

2. What should a startup business plan include?

A startup business plan should include:

• Vision and Direction : Set clear goals and objectives, and outline strategies to achieve them. With a well-defined plan, you will stay focused, make informed decisions, and ensure alignment with your vision.
• Market Analysis : A business plan necessitates thorough market research to understand your target market, identify competition, and assess product/service demand. These insights enable you to tailor offerings, meet customer needs, and gain a competitive edge.
• Financial Planning : By constructing a financial roadmap through projected statements such as income, cash flow, and balance sheets, a business plan unveils the expected revenues, expenses, and profitability. This comprehensive planning not only anticipates challenges and sets realistic goals but also serves as a magnet for attracting investors and securing funding.
• Risk Assessment : Devise strategies for risk mitigation and contingency planning. By proactively doing this, you can significantly enhance the likelihood of success by anticipating and effectively addressing potential obstacles.
• Communication and Team Alignment : From fostering effective communication with both internal and external stakeholders to aligning team members and showcasing your startup’s unique value proposition, a business plan plays a crucial role. It enables you to articulate target market insights, competitive advantages, and growth strategies to potential investors, partners, and employees.
• Resource Allocation : A business plan helps you identify the resources required to launch and operate your startup successfully. It includes an assessment of your human resources, technology needs, infrastructure requirements, and other key resources. By understanding your resource needs, you can allocate them effectively, ensuring that you have the necessary assets to execute your business strategy.
• Adaptability and Flexibility : Your business plan should be flexible enough to accommodate changes and adapt to new circumstances. Startups operate in dynamic environments, and a well-designed plan allows you to monitor progress, evaluate outcomes, and make adjustments as needed. This agility enables you to seize new opportunities and navigate challenges effectively.

3. What is the ideal length for a startup business plan?

The optimal length for a startup business plan typically depends on the specific requirements and intended audience, but a concise and focused plan of around 20 to 30 pages is often recommended.

4. How to write a good startup business plan?

To write a good and effective startup plan, include an executive summary, company description, market analysis, detailed products/services description and a clear marketing and sales strategy. Also incorporate a comprehensive financial plan, outline your organizational structure, and demonstrates your team’s expertise and capabilities. Your plan should be well-researched, concise, and compelling, with a focus on your company’s unique value proposition and market opportunity, making it attractive to investors and stakeholders.

Utilizing Venngage templates & other tools for success

A visually appealing and professional business plan needn’t be a daunting task. Leverage tools like Venngage Business Plan Maker for effective templates that cater to various industries and streamline the process. 

• Leveraging Venngage for Visually Appealing and Professional Business Plans

Venngage offers a range of templates designed specifically for business plans, allowing you to craft a polished and visually engaging plan without any design experience. Simply choose a template, customize it to suit your startup’s branding, and populate it with your content.

• Exploring Additional Resources and Tools for Entrepreneurs. In addition to Venngage, several other resources and tools can assist entrepreneurs in crafting the perfect business plan. Examples include:
• Small Business Administration (SBA) – Offers guidance on writing business plans and provides templates and resources for each section.
• SCORE – A nonprofit organization providing mentorship, workshops, and other resources for entrepreneurs.
• Industry-specific resources – Research relevant professional organizations, industry publications, and blogs to stay up to date on industry trends and insights.

Embarking on the entrepreneurial path may present formidable challenges, yet it offers abundant rewards in various aspects. Embrace the art of continuous learning, delving not only into the essence of your business idea but also immersing yourself in the vast world that surrounds it. Cultivate a genuine passion for understanding every facet of your enterprise, for it is through this journey of exploration that you will uncover invaluable insights and experience the true fulfillment of entrepreneurship.

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The 7 Best Business Plan Examples (2024)

As an aspiring entrepreneur gearing up to start your own business , you likely know the importance of drafting a business plan. However, you might not be entirely sure where to begin or what specific details to include. That’s where examining business plan examples can be beneficial. Sample business plans serve as real-world templates to help you craft your own plan with confidence. They also provide insight into the key sections that make up a business plan, as well as demonstrate how to structure and present your ideas effectively.

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Example business plan

To understand how to write a business plan, let’s study an example structured using a seven-part template. Here’s a quick overview of those parts:

• Executive summary: A quick overview of your business and the contents of your business plan.
• Company description: More info about your company, its goals and mission, and why you started it in the first place.
• Market analysis: Research about the market and industry your business will operate in, including a competitive analysis about the companies you’ll be up against.
• Products and services: A detailed description of what you’ll be selling to your customers.
• Marketing plan: A strategic outline of how you plan to market and promote your business before, during, and after your company launches into the market.
• Logistics and operations plan: An explanation of the systems, processes, and tools that are needed to run your business in the background.
• Financial plan: A map of your short-term (and even long-term) financial goals and the costs to run the business. If you’re looking for funding, this is the place to discuss your request and needs.

7 business plan examples (section by section)

In this section, you’ll find hypothetical and real-world examples of each aspect of a business plan to show you how the whole thing comes together. 

• Executive summary

Your executive summary offers a high-level overview of the rest of your business plan. You’ll want to include a brief description of your company, market research, competitor analysis, and financial information. 

In this free business plan template, the executive summary is three paragraphs and occupies nearly half the page:

• Company description

You might go more in-depth with your company description and include the following sections:

• Nature of the business. Mention the general category of business you fall under. Are you a manufacturer, wholesaler, or retailer of your products?
• Background information. Talk about your past experiences and skills, and how you’ve combined them to fill in the market. 
• Business structure. This section outlines how you registered your company —as a corporation, sole proprietorship, LLC, or other business type.
• Industry. Which business sector do you operate in? The answer might be technology, merchandising, or another industry.
• Team. Whether you’re the sole full-time employee of your business or you have contractors to support your daily workflow, this is your chance to put them under the spotlight.

You can also repurpose your company description elsewhere, like on your About page, Instagram page, or other properties that ask for a boilerplate description of your business. Hair extensions brand Luxy Hair has a blurb on it’s About page that could easily be repurposed as a company description for its business plan. 

• Market analysis

Market analysis comprises research on product supply and demand, your target market, the competitive landscape, and industry trends. You might do a SWOT analysis to learn where you stand and identify market gaps that you could exploit to establish your footing. Here’s an example of a SWOT analysis for a hypothetical ecommerce business: 

You’ll also want to run a competitive analysis as part of the market analysis component of your business plan. This will show you who you’re up against and give you ideas on how to gain an edge over the competition. 

• Products and services

This part of your business plan describes your product or service, how it will be priced, and the ways it will compete against similar offerings in the market. Don’t go into too much detail here—a few lines are enough to introduce your item to the reader.

• Marketing plan

Potential investors will want to know how you’ll get the word out about your business. So it’s essential to build a marketing plan that highlights the promotion and customer acquisition strategies you’re planning to adopt. 

Most marketing plans focus on the four Ps: product, price, place, and promotion. However, it’s easier when you break it down by the different marketing channels . Mention how you intend to promote your business using blogs, email, social media, and word-of-mouth marketing. 

Here’s an example of a hypothetical marketing plan for a real estate website:

Logistics and operations

This section of your business plan provides information about your production, facilities, equipment, shipping and fulfillment, and inventory.

Financial plan

The financial plan (a.k.a. financial statement) offers a breakdown of your sales, revenue, expenses, profit, and other financial metrics. You’ll want to include all the numbers and concrete data to project your current and projected financial state.

In this business plan example, the financial statement for ecommerce brand Nature’s Candy includes forecasted revenue, expenses, and net profit in graphs.

It then goes deeper into the financials, citing:

• Funding needs
• Project cash-flow statement
• Project profit-and-loss statement
• Projected balance sheet

You can use Shopify’s financial plan template to create your own income statement, cash-flow statement, and balance sheet. 

Types of business plans (and what to write for each)

A one-page business plan is a pared down version of a standard business plan that’s easy for potential investors and partners to understand. You’ll want to include all of these sections, but make sure they’re abbreviated and summarized:

• Logistics and operations plan
• Financials 

A startup business plan is meant to secure outside funding for a new business. Typically, there’s a big focus on the financials, as well as other sections that help determine the viability of your business idea—market analysis, for example. Shopify has a great business plan template for startups that include all the below points:

• Market research: in depth
• Financials: in depth

Internal 

Your internal business plan acts as the enforcer of your company’s vision. It reminds your team of the long-term objective and keeps them strategically aligned toward the same goal. Be sure to include:

• Market research

Feasibility 

A feasibility business plan is essentially a feasibility study that helps you evaluate whether your product or idea is worthy of a full business plan. Include the following sections:

A strategic (or growth) business plan lays out your long-term vision and goals. This means your predictions stretch further into the future, and you aim for greater growth and revenue. While crafting this document, you use all the parts of a usual business plan but add more to each one:

• Products and services: for launch and expansion
• Market analysis: detailed analysis
• Marketing plan: detailed strategy
• Logistics and operations plan: detailed plan
• Financials: detailed projections

Free business plan templates

Now that you’re familiar with what’s included and how to format a business plan, let’s go over a few templates you can fill out or draw inspiration from.

Bplans’ free business plan template

Bplans’ free business plan template focuses a lot on the financial side of running a business. It has many pages just for your financial plan and statements. Once you fill it out, you’ll see exactly where your business stands financially and what you need to do to keep it on track or make it better.

PandaDoc’s free business plan template

PandaDoc’s free business plan template is detailed and guides you through every section, so you don’t have to figure everything out on your own. Filling it out, you’ll grasp the ins and outs of your business and how each part fits together. It’s also handy because it connects to PandaDoc’s e-signature for easy signing, ideal for businesses with partners or a board.

Miro’s Business Model Canvas Template

Miro’s Business Model Canvas Template helps you map out the essentials of your business, like partnerships, core activities, and what makes you different. It’s a collaborative tool for you and your team to learn how everything in your business is linked.

Better business planning equals better business outcomes

Building a business plan is key to establishing a clear direction and strategy for your venture. With a solid plan in hand, you’ll know what steps to take for achieving each of your business goals. Kickstart your business planning and set yourself up for success with a defined roadmap—utilizing the sample business plans above to inform your approach.

Business plan FAQ

What are the 3 main points of a business plan.

• Concept. Explain what your business does and the main idea behind it. This is where you tell people what you plan to achieve with your business.
• Contents. Explain what you’re selling or offering. Point out who you’re selling to and who else is selling something similar. This part concerns your products or services, who will buy them, and who you’re up against.
• Cash flow. Explain how money will move in and out of your business. Discuss the money you need to start and keep the business going, the costs of running your business, and how much money you expect to make.

How do I write a simple business plan?

To create a simple business plan, start with an executive summary that details your business vision and objectives. Follow this with a concise description of your company’s structure, your market analysis, and information about your products or services. Conclude your plan with financial projections that outline your expected revenue, expenses, and profitability.

What is the best format to write a business plan?

The optimal format for a business plan arranges your plan in a clear and structured way, helping potential investors get a quick grasp of what your business is about and what you aim to achieve. Always start with a summary of your plan and finish with the financial details or any extra information at the end.

Want to learn more?

• Question: Are You a Business Owner or an Entrepreneur?
• Bootstrapping a Business: 10 Tips to Help You Succeed
• Entrepreneurial Mindset: 20 Ways to Think Like an Entrepreneur
• 101+ Best Small Business Software Programs 

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Free Startup Business Plan Templates and Examples

By Joe Weller | May 6, 2020

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In this article, we’ve rounded up a variety of the top, professionally designed startup business plan templates, all of which are free to download in PDF, Word, and Excel formats.

Included on this page, you’ll find a one-page startup business plan template , a business plan outline template for startups , a startup business planning template with a timeline , and a sample startup business plan .

Startup Business Plan Template

Download Startup Business Plan Template - Word

Word | Smartsheet

This startup business plan template contains the essential components you need to convey your business idea and strategy to investors and stakeholders, but you can customize this template to fit your needs. The template provides room to include an executive summary, a financial overview, a marketing strategy, details on product or service offerings, and more.

One-Page Startup Business Plan Template

Download One-Page Startup Business Plan Template

Excel | Word | PDF

This one-page business plan is ideal for startup companies that want to document and organize key business concepts. The template offers an easy-to-scan layout that’s ideal for investors and stakeholders. Use this plan to create a high-level view of your business idea and as a reference as you flesh out a more detailed roadmap for your business.

For additional resources, visit " Free One-Page Business Plan Templates with a Quick How-To Guide ."

Simple Fill-In-the-Blank Business Plan Template for Startups

Download Simple Fill-in-the-Blank Business Plan Template for Startups

This comprehensive fill-in-the-blank business plan template is designed to guide entrepreneurs through the process of building a startup business plan. This template comes with a customizable cover page and table of contents, and each section includes sample content that you can modify to fit the needs of your business. For more fill-in business templates, read our  "Free Fill-In-the-Blank Business Plan Templates"  article.

Lean Business Plan Template for Startups

Download Lean Business Plan Template for Startups

This Lean business plan template takes a traditional business plan outline and extracts the most essential elements. Use this template to outline your company and industry overview, convey the problem you are solving, identify customer segments, highlight key performance metrics, and list a timeline of key activities.

Business Plan Outline Template for Startups

Download Business Plan Outline Template for Startups

You can use this business plan outline as a basis to create your own business plan. This template contains all the elements of a traditional business plan, including a title page, a table of contents, and information on what to include in each section. Simplify or expand this outline based on the size and needs of your startup business.

Startup Business Planning Template with Timeline

Download Startup Business Planning Template with Timeline

Excel | Smartsheet

As you create your business plan, this business planning template doubles as a schedule and timeline to track the progress of key activities. This template enables you to break down your plan into phases and provides space to include key tasks and dates for each task. For a visual timeline, shade in the cells according to each task’s start and end dates. The timeline ensures that your plan stays on track.

Business Plan Rubric Template for Startups

Download Business Plan Rubric Template for Startups

Excel | Word | PDF | Smartsheet

If you’re starting a business and want to keep all your ducks in a row, use this rubric to evaluate and score each aspect of your startup business plan. You can tailor this template to the needs of your specific business, and can also highlight areas of your plan that require improvement or expansion. Use this template as a tool to make sure your plan is clear, articulate, and organized. A sharp, insightful, well thought-out plan will definitely get the attention of potential investors and partners.

For additional resources to help support your business planning efforts, check out “Free Startup Plan, Budget, and Cost Templates.”

What’s the Best Business Plan Template for Startups?

The template you choose for your startup business depends on a number of factors, including the size and specific needs of your company. Moreover, as your business grows and your objectives change, you will need to adjust your plan (and possibly your choice of template) accordingly. 

Some entrepreneurs find it useful to use a Lean business plan template design in order to jot down a business concept and see if it’s feasible before pursuing it further. Typically one to three pages, a Lean business plan template encourages you to highlight core ideas and strategic activities and remain focused on key points.

Other entrepreneurs prefer a template with a more traditional business plan design, which allows you to go into greater detail and ensure you include every detail. A traditional plan can range from 10 to 100 pages and cover both the high-level and granular particulars of your overall concept, objectives, and strategy.

There is no one-size-fits-all solution, but the following section outlines the minimum that your business plan template should include in order to gain buy-in from potential investors.

What to Include in a Startup Business Plan

Whether you choose to use a template to develop your startup business plan or decide to write one from scratch, you need to include the following elements:

• An overview of your company and the industry in which it operates
• The problem you are solving and the proposed solution
• A description of your product or service offerings, including key features
• The existing alternatives that customers use and your competitive advantage
• The target customer segments and the channels you will use to reach them
• The cost structure and revenue streams associated with your business
• A financial plan, including sales and revenue projections (ideally 3-5 years)
• If applicable, the financial requirements to get your business running, including how you will source and allocate funds

Each of the following sections provides an example of a business plan that you can use for reference as you develop your own.

One-Page Lean Business Plan Example

This Lean business plan example displays a visually appealing and scannable one-page illustration of a business plan. It conveys the key strategies you need to meet your main objectives. Each element of this concise plan provides stakeholders and potential investors with links to resources that support and expand upon the plan’s details, and it can also serve as an investor pitch deck.

Startup Business Plan Sample

This business plan sample contains all the aspects of a standard business plan. Using a fictional food truck business as the basis for a startup business plan, this sample will give you all the ideas you need to make your plan outstanding.

Download Startup Business Plan Sample - PDF

When the time comes that you need more space to lay out your goals and strategies, choose from our variety of  free simple business plan templates . You can learn how to write a successful simple business plan  here . 

Visit this  free non-profit business plan template roundup  or of you are looking for a business plan template by file type, visit our pages dedicated specifically to  Microsoft Excel ,  Microsoft Word , and  Adobe PDF  business plan templates. Read our articles offering  free 30-60-90-day business plan templates  to find more tailored options.

Top 10 Tips to Create a Startup Business Plan

Putting together a business plan can be overwhelming and time consuming, especially if you aren’t sure where to begin. Below, we share tips you can use to help simplify the process of developing a startup business plan of your own. 

• Use a business plan template, or begin with a business plan outline that provides all the elements of a standard plan to get your ideas down on paper in a structured manner. (You can choose from the selection of templates above.)  
• Remove sections from your outline that aren’t relevant or that aren’t necessary to launch and operate your business.
• Compile the data you have gathered on your business and industry, including research on your target market and product or service offerings, details on the competitive landscape, and a financial plan that anticipates the next three to five years. Use that information to fill in the sections of your plan outline. 
• Get input and feedback from team members (e.g., finance, marketing, sales) and subject matter experts to ensure that the information you’ve included in the plan is accurate.
• Make certain that the objectives of your plan align with marketing, sales, and financial goals to ensure that all team members are moving in the same direction.
• Although this section of the plan comes first, write the executive summary last to provide an overview of the key points in your business plan.
• Prepare a pitch deck for potential clients, partners, or investors with whom you plan to meet in order to share vital information about your business, including what sets you apart and the direction you are headed. 
• Who are the founders and management executives, and what relevant experience do they bring to the table?
• What is the problem you are solving, and how is your solution better than what currently exists? 
• What’s the size of the market, and how much market share do you plan to capture?
• What are the trends in your market, and how are you applying them to your business?
• Who are your direct competitors, and what is your competitive advantage?
• What are the key features of your product or service that set it apart from alternative offerings, and what features do you plan to add in the future?
• What are the potential risks associated with your business, and how do you plan to address them?
• How much money do you need to get your business running, and how do you plan to source it?
• With the money you source, how do you plan to use it to scale your business?
• What are the key performance metrics associated with your business, and how will you know when you’re successful?
• Revisit and modify your plan on a regular basis as your goals and strategies evolve.
• Use a work collaboration tool that keeps key information across teams in one place, allows you to track plan progress, and captures updates in real time.

Successfully Implement Your Startup Business Plan with Real-Time Work Management in Smartsheet

Empower your people to go above and beyond with a flexible platform designed to match the needs of your team — and adapt as those needs change. 

The Smartsheet platform makes it easy to plan, capture, manage, and report on work from anywhere, helping your team be more effective and get more done. Report on key metrics and get real-time visibility into work as it happens with roll-up reports, dashboards, and automated workflows built to keep your team connected and informed. 

When teams have clarity into the work getting done, there’s no telling how much more they can accomplish in the same amount of time.  Try Smartsheet for free, today.

Discover why over 90% of Fortune 100 companies trust Smartsheet to get work done.

How to Write a Business Plan: Step-by-Step Guide + Examples

Noah Parsons

24 min. read

Updated May 7, 2024

Writing a business plan doesn’t have to be complicated. 

In this step-by-step guide, you’ll learn how to write a business plan that’s detailed enough to impress bankers and potential investors, while giving you the tools to start, run, and grow a successful business.

• The basics of business planning

If you’re reading this guide, then you already know why you need a business plan . 

You understand that planning helps you: 

• Raise money
• Grow strategically
• Keep your business on the right track 

As you start to write your plan, it’s useful to zoom out and remember what a business plan is .

At its core, a business plan is an overview of the products and services you sell, and the customers that you sell to. It explains your business strategy: how you’re going to build and grow your business, what your marketing strategy is, and who your competitors are.

Most business plans also include financial forecasts for the future. These set sales goals, budget for expenses, and predict profits and cash flow. 

A good business plan is much more than just a document that you write once and forget about. It’s also a guide that helps you outline and achieve your goals. 

After completing your plan, you can use it as a management tool to track your progress toward your goals. Updating and adjusting your forecasts and budgets as you go is one of the most important steps you can take to run a healthier, smarter business. 

We’ll dive into how to use your plan later in this article.

There are many different types of plans , but we’ll go over the most common type here, which includes everything you need for an investor-ready plan. However, if you’re just starting out and are looking for something simpler—I recommend starting with a one-page business plan . It’s faster and easier to create. 

It’s also the perfect place to start if you’re just figuring out your idea, or need a simple strategic plan to use inside your business.

Dig deeper : How to write a one-page business plan

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• What to include in your business plan

Executive summary

The executive summary is an overview of your business and your plans. It comes first in your plan and is ideally just one to two pages. Most people write it last because it’s a summary of the complete business plan.

Ideally, the executive summary can act as a stand-alone document that covers the highlights of your detailed plan. 

In fact, it’s common for investors to ask only for the executive summary when evaluating your business. If they like what they see in the executive summary, they’ll often follow up with a request for a complete plan, a pitch presentation , or more in-depth financial forecasts .

Your executive summary should include:

• A summary of the problem you are solving
• A description of your product or service
• An overview of your target market
• A brief description of your team
• A summary of your financials
• Your funding requirements (if you are raising money)

Dig Deeper: How to write an effective executive summary

Products and services description

This is where you describe exactly what you’re selling, and how it solves a problem for your target market. The best way to organize this part of your plan is to start by describing the problem that exists for your customers. After that, you can describe how you plan to solve that problem with your product or service. 

This is usually called a problem and solution statement .

To truly showcase the value of your products and services, you need to craft a compelling narrative around your offerings. How will your product or service transform your customers’ lives or jobs? A strong narrative will draw in your readers.

This is also the part of the business plan to discuss any competitive advantages you may have, like specific intellectual property or patents that protect your product. If you have any initial sales, contracts, or other evidence that your product or service is likely to sell, include that information as well. It will show that your idea has traction , which can help convince readers that your plan has a high chance of success.

Market analysis

Your target market is a description of the type of people that you plan to sell to. You might even have multiple target markets, depending on your business. 

A market analysis is the part of your plan where you bring together all of the information you know about your target market. Basically, it’s a thorough description of who your customers are and why they need what you’re selling. You’ll also include information about the growth of your market and your industry .

Try to be as specific as possible when you describe your market. 

Include information such as age, income level, and location—these are what’s called “demographics.” If you can, also describe your market’s interests and habits as they relate to your business—these are “psychographics.” 

Related: Target market examples

Essentially, you want to include any knowledge you have about your customers that is relevant to how your product or service is right for them. With a solid target market, it will be easier to create a sales and marketing plan that will reach your customers. That’s because you know who they are, what they like to do, and the best ways to reach them.

Next, provide any additional information you have about your market. 

What is the size of your market ? Is the market growing or shrinking? Ideally, you’ll want to demonstrate that your market is growing over time, and also explain how your business is positioned to take advantage of any expected changes in your industry.

Dig Deeper: Learn how to write a market analysis

Competitive analysis

Part of defining your business opportunity is determining what your competitive advantage is. To do this effectively, you need to know as much about your competitors as your target customers. 

Every business has some form of competition. If you don’t think you have competitors, then explore what alternatives there are in the market for your product or service. 

For example: In the early years of cars, their main competition was horses. For social media, the early competition was reading books, watching TV, and talking on the phone.

A good competitive analysis fully lays out the competitive landscape and then explains how your business is different. Maybe your products are better made, or cheaper, or your customer service is superior. Maybe your competitive advantage is your location – a wide variety of factors can ultimately give you an advantage.

Dig Deeper: How to write a competitive analysis for your business plan

Marketing and sales plan

The marketing and sales plan covers how you will position your product or service in the market, the marketing channels and messaging you will use, and your sales tactics. 

The best place to start with a marketing plan is with a positioning statement . 

This explains how your business fits into the overall market, and how you will explain the advantages of your product or service to customers. You’ll use the information from your competitive analysis to help you with your positioning. 

For example: You might position your company as the premium, most expensive but the highest quality option in the market. Or your positioning might focus on being locally owned and that shoppers support the local economy by buying your products.

Once you understand your positioning, you’ll bring this together with the information about your target market to create your marketing strategy . 

This is how you plan to communicate your message to potential customers. Depending on who your customers are and how they purchase products like yours, you might use many different strategies, from social media advertising to creating a podcast. Your marketing plan is all about how your customers discover who you are and why they should consider your products and services. 

While your marketing plan is about reaching your customers—your sales plan will describe the actual sales process once a customer has decided that they’re interested in what you have to offer. 

If your business requires salespeople and a long sales process, describe that in this section. If your customers can “self-serve” and just make purchases quickly on your website, describe that process. 

A good sales plan picks up where your marketing plan leaves off. The marketing plan brings customers in the door and the sales plan is how you close the deal.

Together, these specific plans paint a picture of how you will connect with your target audience, and how you will turn them into paying customers.

Dig deeper: What to include in your sales and marketing plan

Business operations

The operations section describes the necessary requirements for your business to run smoothly. It’s where you talk about how your business works and what day-to-day operations look like. 

Depending on how your business is structured, your operations plan may include elements of the business like:

• Supply chain management
• Manufacturing processes
• Equipment and technology
• Distribution

Some businesses distribute their products and reach their customers through large retailers like Amazon.com, Walmart, Target, and grocery store chains. 

These businesses should review how this part of their business works. The plan should discuss the logistics and costs of getting products onto store shelves and any potential hurdles the business may have to overcome.

If your business is much simpler than this, that’s OK. This section of your business plan can be either extremely short or more detailed, depending on the type of business you are building.

For businesses selling services, such as physical therapy or online software, you can use this section to describe the technology you’ll leverage, what goes into your service, and who you will partner with to deliver your services.

Dig Deeper: Learn how to write the operations chapter of your plan

Key milestones and metrics

Although it’s not required to complete your business plan, mapping out key business milestones and the metrics can be incredibly useful for measuring your success.

Good milestones clearly lay out the parameters of the task and set expectations for their execution. You’ll want to include:

• A description of each task
• The proposed due date
• Who is responsible for each task

If you have a budget, you can include projected costs to hit each milestone. You don’t need extensive project planning in this section—just list key milestones you want to hit and when you plan to hit them. This is your overall business roadmap. 

Possible milestones might be:

• Website launch date
• Store or office opening date
• First significant sales
• Break even date
• Business licenses and approvals

You should also discuss the key numbers you will track to determine your success. Some common metrics worth tracking include:

• Conversion rates
• Customer acquisition costs
• Profit per customer
• Repeat purchases

It’s perfectly fine to start with just a few metrics and grow the number you are tracking over time. You also may find that some metrics simply aren’t relevant to your business and can narrow down what you’re tracking.

Dig Deeper: How to use milestones in your business plan

Organization and management team

Investors don’t just look for great ideas—they want to find great teams. Use this chapter to describe your current team and who you need to hire . You should also provide a quick overview of your location and history if you’re already up and running.

Briefly highlight the relevant experiences of each key team member in the company. It’s important to make the case for why yours is the right team to turn an idea into a reality. 

Do they have the right industry experience and background? Have members of the team had entrepreneurial successes before? 

If you still need to hire key team members, that’s OK. Just note those gaps in this section.

Your company overview should also include a summary of your company’s current business structure . The most common business structures include:

• Sole proprietor
• Partnership

Be sure to provide an overview of how the business is owned as well. Does each business partner own an equal portion of the business? How is ownership divided? 

Potential lenders and investors will want to know the structure of the business before they will consider a loan or investment.

Dig Deeper: How to write about your company structure and team

Financial plan

Last, but certainly not least, is your financial plan chapter. 

Entrepreneurs often find this section the most daunting. But, business financials for most startups are less complicated than you think, and a business degree is certainly not required to build a solid financial forecast. 

A typical financial forecast in a business plan includes the following:

• Sales forecast : An estimate of the sales expected over a given period. You’ll break down your forecast into the key revenue streams that you expect to have.
• Expense budget : Your planned spending such as personnel costs , marketing expenses, and taxes.
• Profit & Loss : Brings together your sales and expenses and helps you calculate planned profits.
• Cash Flow : Shows how cash moves into and out of your business. It can predict how much cash you’ll have on hand at any given point in the future.
• Balance Sheet : A list of the assets, liabilities, and equity in your company. In short, it provides an overview of the financial health of your business. 

A strong business plan will include a description of assumptions about the future, and potential risks that could impact the financial plan. Including those will be especially important if you’re writing a business plan to pursue a loan or other investment.

Dig Deeper: How to create financial forecasts and budgets

This is the place for additional data, charts, or other information that supports your plan.

Including an appendix can significantly enhance the credibility of your plan by showing readers that you’ve thoroughly considered the details of your business idea, and are backing your ideas up with solid data.

Just remember that the information in the appendix is meant to be supplementary. Your business plan should stand on its own, even if the reader skips this section.

Dig Deeper : What to include in your business plan appendix

Optional: Business plan cover page

Adding a business plan cover page can make your plan, and by extension your business, seem more professional in the eyes of potential investors, lenders, and partners. It serves as the introduction to your document and provides necessary contact information for stakeholders to reference.

Your cover page should be simple and include:

• Company logo
• Business name
• Value proposition (optional)
• Business plan title
• Completion and/or update date
• Address and contact information
• Confidentiality statement

Just remember, the cover page is optional. If you decide to include it, keep it very simple and only spend a short amount of time putting it together.

Dig Deeper: How to create a business plan cover page

How to use AI to help write your business plan

Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT can speed up the business plan writing process and help you think through concepts like market segmentation and competition. These tools are especially useful for taking ideas that you provide and converting them into polished text for your business plan.

The best way to use AI for your business plan is to leverage it as a collaborator , not a replacement for human creative thinking and ingenuity. 

AI can come up with lots of ideas and act as a brainstorming partner. It’s up to you to filter through those ideas and figure out which ones are realistic enough to resonate with your customers. 

There are pros and cons of using AI to help with your business plan . So, spend some time understanding how it can be most helpful before just outsourcing the job to AI.

Learn more: 10 AI prompts you need to write a business plan

• Writing tips and strategies

To help streamline the business plan writing process, here are a few tips and key questions to answer to make sure you get the most out of your plan and avoid common mistakes .  

Determine why you are writing a business plan

Knowing why you are writing a business plan will determine your approach to your planning project. 

For example: If you are writing a business plan for yourself, or just to use inside your own business , you can probably skip the section about your team and organizational structure. 

If you’re raising money, you’ll want to spend more time explaining why you’re looking to raise the funds and exactly how you will use them.

Regardless of how you intend to use your business plan , think about why you are writing and what you’re trying to get out of the process before you begin.

Keep things concise

Probably the most important tip is to keep your business plan short and simple. There are no prizes for long business plans . The longer your plan is, the less likely people are to read it. 

So focus on trimming things down to the essentials your readers need to know. Skip the extended, wordy descriptions and instead focus on creating a plan that is easy to read —using bullets and short sentences whenever possible.

Have someone review your business plan

Writing a business plan in a vacuum is never a good idea. Sometimes it’s helpful to zoom out and check if your plan makes sense to someone else. You also want to make sure that it’s easy to read and understand.

Don’t wait until your plan is “done” to get a second look. Start sharing your plan early, and find out from readers what questions your plan leaves unanswered. This early review cycle will help you spot shortcomings in your plan and address them quickly, rather than finding out about them right before you present your plan to a lender or investor.

If you need a more detailed review, you may want to explore hiring a professional plan writer to thoroughly examine it.

Use a free business plan template and business plan examples to get started

Knowing what information to include in a business plan is sometimes not quite enough. If you’re struggling to get started or need additional guidance, it may be worth using a business plan template. 

There are plenty of great options available (we’ve rounded up our 8 favorites to streamline your search).

But, if you’re looking for a free downloadable business plan template , you can get one right now; download the template used by more than 1 million businesses. 

Or, if you just want to see what a completed business plan looks like, check out our library of over 550 free business plan examples . 

We even have a growing list of industry business planning guides with tips for what to focus on depending on your business type.

Common pitfalls and how to avoid them

It’s easy to make mistakes when you’re writing your business plan. Some entrepreneurs get sucked into the writing and research process, and don’t focus enough on actually getting their business started. 

Here are a few common mistakes and how to avoid them:

Not talking to your customers : This is one of the most common mistakes. It’s easy to assume that your product or service is something that people want. Before you invest too much in your business and too much in the planning process, make sure you talk to your prospective customers and have a good understanding of their needs.

• Overly optimistic sales and profit forecasts: By nature, entrepreneurs are optimistic about the future. But it’s good to temper that optimism a little when you’re planning, and make sure your forecasts are grounded in reality. 
• Spending too much time planning: Yes, planning is crucial. But you also need to get out and talk to customers, build prototypes of your product and figure out if there’s a market for your idea. Make sure to balance planning with building.
• Not revising the plan: Planning is useful, but nothing ever goes exactly as planned. As you learn more about what’s working and what’s not—revise your plan, your budgets, and your revenue forecast. Doing so will provide a more realistic picture of where your business is going, and what your financial needs will be moving forward.
• Not using the plan to manage your business: A good business plan is a management tool. Don’t just write it and put it on the shelf to collect dust – use it to track your progress and help you reach your goals.
• Presenting your business plan

The planning process forces you to think through every aspect of your business and answer questions that you may not have thought of. That’s the real benefit of writing a business plan – the knowledge you gain about your business that you may not have been able to discover otherwise.

With all of this knowledge, you’re well prepared to convert your business plan into a pitch presentation to present your ideas. 

A pitch presentation is a summary of your plan, just hitting the highlights and key points. It’s the best way to present your business plan to investors and team members.

Dig Deeper: Learn what key slides should be included in your pitch deck

Use your business plan to manage your business

One of the biggest benefits of planning is that it gives you a tool to manage your business better. With a revenue forecast, expense budget, and projected cash flow, you know your targets and where you are headed.

And yet, nothing ever goes exactly as planned – it’s the nature of business.

That’s where using your plan as a management tool comes in. The key to leveraging it for your business is to review it periodically and compare your forecasts and projections to your actual results.

Start by setting up a regular time to review the plan – a monthly review is a good starting point. During this review, answer questions like:

• Did you meet your sales goals?
• Is spending following your budget?
• Has anything gone differently than what you expected?

Now that you see whether you’re meeting your goals or are off track, you can make adjustments and set new targets. 

Maybe you’re exceeding your sales goals and should set new, more aggressive goals. In that case, maybe you should also explore more spending or hiring more employees. 

Or maybe expenses are rising faster than you projected. If that’s the case, you would need to look at where you can cut costs.

A plan, and a method for comparing your plan to your actual results , is the tool you need to steer your business toward success.

Learn More: How to run a regular plan review

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How to write a business plan FAQ

What is a business plan?

A document that describes your business , the products and services you sell, and the customers that you sell to. It explains your business strategy, how you’re going to build and grow your business, what your marketing strategy is, and who your competitors are.

What are the benefits of a business plan?

A business plan helps you understand where you want to go with your business and what it will take to get there. It reduces your overall risk, helps you uncover your business’s potential, attracts investors, and identifies areas for growth.

Having a business plan ultimately makes you more confident as a business owner and more likely to succeed for a longer period of time.

What are the 7 steps of a business plan?

The seven steps to writing a business plan include:

• Write a brief executive summary
• Describe your products and services.
• Conduct market research and compile data into a cohesive market analysis.
• Describe your marketing and sales strategy.
• Outline your organizational structure and management team.
• Develop financial projections for sales, revenue, and cash flow.
• Add any additional documents to your appendix.

What are the 5 most common business plan mistakes?

There are plenty of mistakes that can be made when writing a business plan. However, these are the 5 most common that you should do your best to avoid:

• 1. Not taking the planning process seriously.
• Having unrealistic financial projections or incomplete financial information.
• Inconsistent information or simple mistakes.
• Failing to establish a sound business model.
• Not having a defined purpose for your business plan.

What questions should be answered in a business plan?

Writing a business plan is all about asking yourself questions about your business and being able to answer them through the planning process. You’ll likely be asking dozens and dozens of questions for each section of your plan.

However, these are the key questions you should ask and answer with your business plan:

• How will your business make money?
• Is there a need for your product or service?
• Who are your customers?
• How are you different from the competition?
• How will you reach your customers?
• How will you measure success?

How long should a business plan be?

The length of your business plan fully depends on what you intend to do with it. From the SBA and traditional lender point of view, a business plan needs to be whatever length necessary to fully explain your business. This means that you prove the viability of your business, show that you understand the market, and have a detailed strategy in place.

If you intend to use your business plan for internal management purposes, you don’t necessarily need a full 25-50 page business plan. Instead, you can start with a one-page plan to get all of the necessary information in place.

What are the different types of business plans?

While all business plans cover similar categories, the style and function fully depend on how you intend to use your plan. Here are a few common business plan types worth considering.

Traditional business plan: The tried-and-true traditional business plan is a formal document meant to be used when applying for funding or pitching to investors. This type of business plan follows the outline above and can be anywhere from 10-50 pages depending on the amount of detail included, the complexity of your business, and what you include in your appendix.

Business model canvas: The business model canvas is a one-page template designed to demystify the business planning process. It removes the need for a traditional, copy-heavy business plan, in favor of a single-page outline that can help you and outside parties better explore your business idea.

One-page business plan: This format is a simplified version of the traditional plan that focuses on the core aspects of your business. You’ll typically stick with bullet points and single sentences. It’s most useful for those exploring ideas, needing to validate their business model, or who need an internal plan to help them run and manage their business.

Lean Plan: The Lean Plan is less of a specific document type and more of a methodology. It takes the simplicity and styling of the one-page business plan and turns it into a process for you to continuously plan, test, review, refine, and take action based on performance. It’s faster, keeps your plan concise, and ensures that your plan is always up-to-date.

What’s the difference between a business plan and a strategic plan?

A business plan covers the “who” and “what” of your business. It explains what your business is doing right now and how it functions. The strategic plan explores long-term goals and explains “how” the business will get there. It encourages you to look more intently toward the future and how you will achieve your vision.

However, when approached correctly, your business plan can actually function as a strategic plan as well. If kept lean, you can define your business, outline strategic steps, and track ongoing operations all with a single plan.

Noah is the COO at Palo Alto Software, makers of the online business plan app LivePlan. He started his career at Yahoo! and then helped start the user review site Epinions.com. From there he started a software distribution business in the UK before coming to Palo Alto Software to run the marketing and product teams.

Table of Contents

• Use AI to help write your plan
• Common planning mistakes
• Manage with your business plan
• Templates and examples

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How To Write a Business Plan

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Starting a business is a wild ride, and a solid business plan can be the key to keeping you on track. A business plan is essentially a roadmap for your business — outlining your goals, strategies, market analysis and financial projections. Not only will it guide your decision-making, a business plan can help you secure funding with a loan or from investors .

Writing a business plan can seem like a huge task, but taking it one step at a time can break the plan down into manageable milestones. Here is our step-by-step guide on how to write a business plan.

Table of contents

• Write your executive summary
• Do your market research homework
• Set your business goals and objectives
• Plan your business strategy
• Describe your product or service
• Crunch the numbers
• Finalize your business plan

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Step 1: Write your executive summary

Though this will be the first page of your business plan , we recommend you actually write the executive summary last. That’s because an executive summary highlights what’s to come in the business plan but in a more condensed fashion.

An executive summary gives stakeholders who are reading your business plan the key points quickly without having to comb through pages and pages. Be sure to cover each successive point in a concise manner, and include as much data as necessary to support your claims.

You’ll cover other things too, but answer these basic questions in your executive summary:

• Idea: What’s your business concept? What problem does your business solve? What are your business goals?
• Product: What’s your product/service and how is it different?
• Market: Who’s your audience? How will you reach customers?
• Finance: How much will your idea cost? And if you’re seeking funding, how much money do you need? How much do you expect to earn? If you’ve already started, where is your revenue at now?

Step 2: Do your market research homework

The next step in writing a business plan is to conduct market research . This involves gathering information about your target market (or customer persona), your competition, and the industry as a whole. You can use a variety of research methods such as surveys, focus groups, and online research to gather this information. Your method may be formal or more casual, just make sure that you’re getting good data back.

This research will help you to understand the needs of your target market and the potential demand for your product or service—essential aspects of starting and growing a successful business.

Step 3: Set your business goals and objectives

Once you’ve completed your market research, you can begin to define your business goals and objectives. What is the problem you want to solve? What’s your vision for the future? Where do you want to be in a year from now?

Use this step to decide what you want to achieve with your business, both in the short and long term. Try to set SMART goals—specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound benchmarks—that will help you to stay focused and motivated as you build your business.

Step 4: Plan your business strategy

Your business strategy is how you plan to reach your goals and objectives. This includes details on positioning your product or service, marketing and sales strategies, operational plans, and the organizational structure of your small business.

Make sure to include key roles and responsibilities for each team member if you’re in a business entity with multiple people.

Step 5: Describe your product or service

In this section, get into the nitty-gritty of your product or service. Go into depth regarding the features, benefits, target market, and any patents or proprietary tech you have. Make sure to paint a clear picture of what sets your product apart from the competition—and don’t forget to highlight any customer benefits.

Step 6: Crunch the numbers

Financial analysis is an essential part of your business plan. If you’re already in business that includes your profit and loss statement , cash flow statement and balance sheet .

These financial projections will give investors and lenders an understanding of the financial health of your business and the potential return on investment.

You may want to work with a financial professional to ensure your financial projections are realistic and accurate.

Step 7: Finalize your business plan

Once you’ve completed everything, it's time to finalize your business plan. This involves reviewing and editing your plan to ensure that it is clear, concise, and easy to understand.

You should also have someone else review your plan to get a fresh perspective and identify any areas that may need improvement. You could even work with a free SCORE mentor on your business plan or use a SCORE business plan template for more detailed guidance.

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The takeaway

Writing a business plan is an essential process for any forward-thinking entrepreneur or business owner. A business plan requires a lot of up-front research, planning, and attention to detail, but it’s worthwhile. Creating a comprehensive business plan can help you achieve your business goals and secure the funding you need.

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How to Craft an Opportunity Business Plan

Three crucial elements will help to spark investor interest in your startup.

Before a presentation on The Great Gatsby  to his college rhetoric class, Nico Aguilar suffered an anxiety attack so severe that he had to leave the room. Determined not to let that happen again, Aguilar read books on the subject and got coaching to become more comfortable with public speaking. 

Determined to help others overcome similar difficulties, he came up with Speeko , an AI-powered tool that helps users improve their public speaking skills. He and his co-founders, all engineers, built an algorithm that measures one’s speaking voice and then offers tips for improvement. The team had the algorithm down pat, but the business approach? “We were completely lost there,” Aguilar said. 

They turned to their mentors at tech incubator Techstars and the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at University of Chicago for help in writing that critical document: a business plan.

3 Business Plan Examples

• An operating plan. This sketches out a business’ trajectory for the next 12 to 24 months. The plan includes staffing, revenue, projections, inventory and other factors necessary to running a business. Operating plans should be updated constantly as the business and market evolve.
• A financial plan, which examines the business from a cash-flow perspective. Take this plan, which takes a conservative view of your business’ finances, to the bank if you’re planning to get a loan.
• An opportunity or a vision plan. That’s the kind entrepreneurs present to potential equity investors. This plan should be aggressive, optimistic, and show how you will use your investors’ money to grow your business. It represents what’s possible if lack of capital is not holding you back.

The plan, written with the help of a tool called Business Model Canvas (more on that soon), included Speeko’s value proposition, its market, customers and predicted use. The plan went through multiple iterations and took several months to write. “It’s a big process to put together facts and figures,” Aguilar said. Their efforts paid off when Speeko won Polsky Center’s 2020 Alumni New Venture Challenge, a prize that comes with a $175,000 investment.  Brimming with enthusiasm, entrepreneurs tend to stuff business plans with everything from detailed finances to long-term projections. Avoid overstuffing by deciding what kind of business plan to write before putting pen to paper, said Waverly Deutsch, adjunct professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business . Deutsch teaches the Global New Venture Challenge course, a venture launch competition for the executive MBA program. 

If it’s a new business, then write an opportunity or vision plan to take to potential equity investors. This plan should be “highly optimistic” and not at all conservative, Deutsch said. “It’s what you can do if you raise the money you want to raise,” she said.

Gather Material

The opportunity or vision plan must show investors that your business presents a real opportunity, demonstrate that you can build the company you propose to build, and show investors how their money will help you build your company. 

To prove the opportunity, outline your competitive differentiation in the marketplace. Show what problem your product solves for which market, the size of that market, and that customers are willing to pay for your product. If your product is what Deutsch calls “fundamentally different,” along the lines of Airbnb or Uber, “there’s a reason for customers to choose you,” she said, but those types of startups are rare. 

“Most businesses are evolutionary, not revolutionary,” Deutsch said. New businesses not offering a radically different solution can differentiate on quality, service, business model, go-to-market approach, positioning in the market or other factors. 

Your plan also must prove that you can build the company you propose to build. Details about arrangements with potential suppliers, any intellectual property involved in your business, and the status of the product, be it a demo or a prototype, are critical parts of an opportunity plan.

Another critical part: Your and your partners’ experience and knowledge as they pertain to launching a business. Avoid simply pasting your traditional job-seeking resume into the business plan. Instead, examine it carefully and draw solid lines between your past experience and the skills your new business will require. “It’s your job to sell your and your team’s experience to the investor,” Deutsch said, adding that entrepreneurs shouldn’t underestimate this portion of the plan. Lacking a tangible product and real-time market experience, “it all comes down to the people,” she said. 

The third element: Your plan for creating inroads and a beachhead in your market. “De-risk the business for investors,” Deutsch said. Offer a detailed operating plan, complete with compelling milestones, for the next 12 to 24 months. Show them that their money will help create a repeatable, scalable sales process and a robust product truly valuable in the marketplace, she said. Show them that their money will help your startup get to the next round of funding. “Investors are always looking at that next round,” she said. 

Further Reading What Investors Look for in an AI Startup

Prepare to Pivot

It is entirely possible that you’ll start writing and soon figure out that your big idea isn’t so big after all. “That’s good to learn early,” said Bob Bridge, executive director and founder of SWAN Impact Network , an angel investing organization with branches in Austin and Dallas, Texas. “Companies often pivot, especially when they start testing their ideas with customers.” 

He suggested avoiding the “trap” of using feedback from 100 potential customers to decide whether a business is a go. When presented with an idea, “people, wanting to be helpful, will say that the idea sounds interesting, that it could work for them,” Bridge said. “The CEO hears this and it’s confirmation bias saying, ‘I think I have my first customer.’”

Instead, approach potential customers to see if they have the problem your business wants to solve, then ask for more information on that problem. “Ask questions and start peeling the onion and become the world expert on that problem,” he said. If you have the solution for exactly that problem, then discuss the budget with these potential customers, and confirm that your solution is a must-have, not a nice-to-have for them. 

“Then you understand that there’s a problem to solve and people are willing to pay for the solution,” Bridge said. “That’s what we like to hear, that entrepreneurs have validated the business with real customers,” he said. “And when we do due diligence, before we would invest, we’d ask to speak to those customers and ask them if this is a nice-to-have or a must-have.”

Further Reading There Are 5 Basic Types of Entrepreneurs. Which 1 Are You?

Choose a Medium

“Nobody writes a 20-page Word document and I promise you no investor ever reads one,” said Bridge. He offers Business Model Canvas , a tool readily available online, as one option to the traditional prose document. 

Business Model Canvas breaks down a business into nine parts: Key partners, activities and resources; value propositions; customer relationships and segments; channels; cost structure and revenue streams. The tool shows how all the parts connect, and via whiteboard, can be reconfigured and workshopped. Business Model Canvas “helped us try out 10 ideas before committing to one in the business plan,” said Aguilar of Speeko. The format “forces your business to be simple, which is a really good thing when you’re starting out,” he said.

A PowerPoint deck also works and is a must when presenting to investors. Bridge recalls driving to VC appointments on Silicon Valley’s Sand Hill Road. After every meeting, he’d pull over to revise his pitch deck. “On any given day, that PowerPoint may have been tweaked three or four times to make it more investable,” he said. “You’re always learning and improving your pitch, and it’s easy to do that with a PowerPoint slide.” 

Deutsch, a proponent of telling a story in a business pitch, recommends a combination of media to present the story most effectively. “You need to have multiple communication tools available to you,” she said. She advised thinking along the lines of 10 pages of text, 10 pages of charts and data and more detail, and a one-page executive plan. Two decks, one light on text, for the presentation, and another more detailed leave-behind complete the business-plan package. 

Deutsch said that every founder needs to be involved in the business plan, with each contributing their own area of expertise. The team member who’s the best writer should be responsible for making sure the plan is written in a unified voice, and that it is free of grammatical and spelling errors. She also suggested having an advisor read the plan to spot unanswered questions. There will be many, she said, and that’s not a cause for concern. “Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good,” she said. “You will never answer all the questions about your business until you’re actually executing on your business.”

Bridge agrees. “It takes twice as much time and twice as much money to hit milestones,” he said. “We know that and we’re comfortable with it.”

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How to Come Up with an Innovative Business Idea

• 21 Jul 2020

Entrepreneurship is the pursuit of opportunity beyond currently controlled resources. By definition, entrepreneurs seek to fill a need in a new way.

For aspiring entrepreneurs, however, generating strong, novel business ideas can be challenging.

If you’re interested in being an entrepreneur , brainstorming ways you can satisfy needs and solve problems is a good place to start.

Remember the golden rule of brainstorming: There are no bad ideas. As your thoughts flow, jot them down so you can later prune the list to focus on your strongest concepts.

Here are some thought-starters for coming up with innovative business ideas and examples of how entrepreneurs have used them to build successful companies.

Access your free e-book today.

How to Come Up with a Business Idea

Is there an easier way.

One place to start brainstorming potential business ideas is by asking yourself, “What task can I make easier?”

A common denominator for successful businesses is their ability to fulfill customer needs . In this case, the need is to create a product or service that makes people’s lives easier.

Related: How to Identify an Underserved Need in the Market

The most innovative businesses have flourished from simple ideas. For example, HelloFresh has taught people how to cook and provided tools to prepare meals more efficiently. It started with a need to make meal planning and grocery shopping easier. By preparing meal kits that directly fulfill busy people’s needs, this idea has seen major growth.

Check out our video on how to come up with innovative business ideas below below, and subscribe to our YouTube channel for more explainer content!

This method of creating a product to fill a need can be viewed through the lens of Harvard Business School Professor Clayton Christensen’s jobs to be done theory , which he presents in the online course Disruptive Strategy .

“A ‘job to be done’ is a problem or opportunity that somebody is trying to solve,” Christensen says. “We call it a ‘job’ because it needs to be done, and we hire people or products to get jobs done.”

Look for these kinds of opportunities in your own life. Every “job” presents an opportunity to create an easier way to get it done.

By centering your business plan on a particular need, you can increase your chances of building a profitable business.

Related: Jobs to Be Done: 4 Real-World Examples

Can I Make This More Accessible?

There are many useful products and services that aren’t readily available to the entire market, creating an opportunity to produce a similar, more accessible product offering.

The founding of Airbnb by Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia is an example that HBS Professor William Sahlman uses in the online course Entrepreneurship Essentials .

“Chesky and Gebbia observed how hard it was to find housing during big local events,” Sahlman explains. “They decided to list online three air beds in their apartment for people coming to San Francisco for a design conference.”

From there, they added a third member to their founding team, Nathan Blecharczyk, who built the platform for connecting people with spare rooms to travelers needing a place to stay. They called it AirBed and Breakfast, which later became Airbnb .

Chesky and Gebbia noticed hotel rooms weren’t easy to book during large events, recognized a business opportunity, and devised a solution to fulfill a need for accessible, short-term lodging.

There are countless industries and companies whose offerings are inaccessible to certain market segments or during specific periods. Consider how you might fill those needs.

Related: 10 Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs

What Can I Improve About This?

For every successful product offering, there's a multitude of ways to make it better. Think of companies you admire and imagine how you could improve their products. As you do so, consider the following four factors.

1. Delivery Process

Your business idea doesn’t have to be entirely new—it just has to fill a need. If you can identify a more convenient way of delivering an existing service, it could be an opportunity for your business.

Uber is used as an example in Entrepreneurship Essentials . Taxis have existed for decades, but Uber delivered its services in a new, innovative way by linking drivers in their own cars to customers via an app.

This example also shows there are no limits to what type of business you can create. Your business’ ability to fulfill a need will matter more than whether it’s a brick-and-mortar or online business.

Related: 3 Effective Methods for Assessing Customer Needs

2. Location

One of the simplest improvements to a product or service is bringing it to a new location.

Returning to the Uber example in Entrepreneurship Essentials , ride-sharing company Didi was founded in China—a location Uber hadn’t yet reached. Didi used a similar platform and model as Uber but filled a location gap Uber had left open.

What products, services, or concepts have you experienced in other places that you’d like to bring to your community?

One improvement that can make a significant impact is cost. Determining how to make a high-quality equivalent to a leading product and offer it for a fraction of the price has great potential.

Home security brand Wyze was founded using this logic. After four ex-Amazon employees discovered they could produce high-quality security cameras and sell them for one-tenth the cost of leading competitors, they sold one million security cameras in their first year as a company.

It takes testing to ensure product quality isn’t sacrificed for a lower price, but finding a way to reduce the cost of an in-demand item could jumpstart your entrepreneurial journey.

4. Customer Experience

Taking an existing offering and improving the customer experience for all or a segment of the market can be a valuable way to fill a need.

One example of an organization that’s done this well is Wanderful , a platform that, similar to Airbnb, connects travelers to locals who can offer lodging and travel advice—with the provision that all users are women.

Beth Santos, founder and CEO of Wanderful, noticed that female solo travelers made up 11 percent of the travel industry , which failed to take into consideration the safety, gender norm, and cultural concerns of women traveling alone.

She improved this experience by creating a network of women that can be tapped into for lodging, travel advice, or just a friendly face in a new location. Wanderful has since expanded its mission to give female and non-binary travelers voices in the travel industry through conferences, communities, and recognition programs.

If there’s an opportunity to improve the experience of a specific group of people, act on it and see where the opportunity leads.

Related: 6 Questions to Ask Before Starting a Business

Is It Time to Pivot?

When starting a business, you may need to pivot from your original idea as new needs arise in the market.

For instance, Jebbit , a tech startup that originally offered a platform to pay students for the advertisements they watched, saw a rising need for privacy and consent in the consumer data space. It pivoted to create a platform for secure, declared customer data.

Another instance in which it makes sense to pivot is during technological evolution.

In Disruptive Strategy , Christensen explains that technological advancements can be either sustaining or disruptive innovations , depending on how they impact your company.

Take Netflix : The service was created to allow people to watch movies without going to the video store and accomplished this by mailing DVDs to customers’ homes with prepaid return envelopes.

When streaming came on the scene in 2007, Netflix implemented the new technology into its business model and has continued to adapt as it’s evolved. Because Netflix was able to adopt new technology to continue serving its customers, streaming was a sustaining innovation.

In the case of video store Blockbuster , streaming was a disruptive innovation that it tried but couldn’t affordably adopt. It ultimately led the business to shut down.

When technological advancements arise, think of how your current business model could shift to use innovation as a sustaining force.

More Examples of Innovative Business Ideas

As you think of ideas for businesses, take inspiration from the world around you. Analyze the foundational needs other businesses have fulfilled for society and how they’ve adapted to what customers want.

Remember: As a future business owner, it’s critical to understand your company’s core mission. Focusing on that can help align your startup ideas and provide a greater chance for success.

To gain even more insight and inspiration, consider the following examples, which show how diverse your business model and mission can be.

Notarize , the first online platform for legally signing and notarizing documents is just one example of an online startup that discovered an overlooked need. For many, it’s a hassle to find a notary public to sign a document in person. This prompted Pat Kinsel, founder and CEO of Notarize, to make this difficult, but necessary, task more convenient.

"It really struck me that notarized documents are often some of the most important things people sign, and yet, we have this system that’s 100 years old," Kinsel said in an interview with Inc .

Kinsel designed the Notarize app to connect people to licensed notary publics via video chat so they can see their documents signed in real time.

This need for notarized documents seemed to be a common, but overlooked, need for many professionals. By thinking outside the box, Notarize seized a business opportunity and brought it to its fullest potential.

The development of Starbucks under former chairman and CEO Howard Schultz is another example that highlights how to efficiently choose locations for your brick-and-mortar.

“Schultz admired the sidewalk coffee shops he’d visited in Italy and decided he would introduce the same basic idea in the United States,” Sahlman says in Entrepreneurship Essentials. “That venture became Starbucks.”

Now, it’s rare to walk a few blocks without seeing a Starbucks on a corner. Strategic locations within high traffic routes created a customer base that’s made Starbucks an essential part of their lives.

Perhaps one of the most well-known companies in the world, Amazon is a prime example of fulfilling people’s need for convenience.

This e-commerce business made it the norm to buy items online—including books, music, movies, housewares, and electronics—and have them quickly and conveniently delivered.

Think Like an Entrepreneur

Coming up with an innovative business idea isn’t difficult if you’re observant. By asking yourself key brainstorming questions, you can generate a list of business ideas that fill market needs, improve existing products, and make daily life easier and more enjoyable.

Do you want to turn an idea into a viable venture? Explore our four-week Entrepreneurship Essentials course, six-week Disruptive Strategy course, and other online entrepreneurship and innovation courses to discover how you can harness the power of innovation. Download our free course flowchart to determine which best aligns with your goals.

This post was updated on September 19, 2022. It was originally published on July 21, 2020.

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Small Business Trends

How to create a business plan: examples & free template.

This is the ultimate guide to creating a comprehensive and effective plan to start a business . In today’s dynamic business landscape, having a well-crafted business plan is an important first step to securing funding, attracting partners, and navigating the challenges of entrepreneurship.

This guide has been designed to help you create a winning plan that stands out in the ever-evolving marketplace. U sing real-world examples and a free downloadable template, it will walk you through each step of the process.

Whether you’re a seasoned entrepreneur or launching your very first startup, the guide will give you the insights, tools, and confidence you need to create a solid foundation for your business.

Table of Contents

How to Write a Business Plan

Embarking on the journey of creating a successful business requires a solid foundation, and a well-crafted business plan is the cornerstone. Here is the process of writing a comprehensive business plan and the main parts of a winning business plan . From setting objectives to conducting market research, this guide will have everything you need.

Executive Summary

The Executive Summary serves as the gateway to your business plan, offering a snapshot of your venture’s core aspects. This section should captivate and inform, succinctly summarizing the essence of your plan.

It’s crucial to include a clear mission statement, a brief description of your primary products or services, an overview of your target market, and key financial projections or achievements.

Think of it as an elevator pitch in written form: it should be compelling enough to engage potential investors or stakeholders and provide them with a clear understanding of what your business is about, its goals, and why it’s a promising investment.

Example: EcoTech is a technology company specializing in eco-friendly and sustainable products designed to reduce energy consumption and minimize waste. Our mission is to create innovative solutions that contribute to a cleaner, greener environment.

Our target market includes environmentally conscious consumers and businesses seeking to reduce their carbon footprint. We project a 200% increase in revenue within the first three years of operation.

Overview and Business Objectives

In the Overview and Business Objectives section, outline your business’s core goals and the strategic approaches you plan to use to achieve them. This section should set forth clear, specific objectives that are attainable and time-bound, providing a roadmap for your business’s growth and success.

It’s important to detail how these objectives align with your company’s overall mission and vision. Discuss the milestones you aim to achieve and the timeframe you’ve set for these accomplishments.

This part of the plan demonstrates to investors and stakeholders your vision for growth and the practical steps you’ll take to get there.

Example: EcoTech’s primary objective is to become a market leader in sustainable technology products within the next five years. Our key objectives include:

• Introducing three new products within the first two years of operation.
• Achieving annual revenue growth of 30%.
• Expanding our customer base to over 10,000 clients by the end of the third year.

Company Description

The Company Description section is your opportunity to delve into the details of your business. Provide a comprehensive overview that includes your company’s history, its mission statement, and its vision for the future.

Highlight your unique selling proposition (USP) – what makes your business stand out in the market. Explain the problems your company solves and how it benefits your customers.

Include information about the company’s founders, their expertise, and why they are suited to lead the business to success. This section should paint a vivid picture of your business, its values, and its place in the industry.

Example: EcoTech is committed to developing cutting-edge sustainable technology products that benefit both the environment and our customers. Our unique combination of innovative solutions and eco-friendly design sets us apart from the competition. We envision a future where technology and sustainability go hand in hand, leading to a greener planet.

Define Your Target Market

Defining Your Target Market is critical for tailoring your business strategy effectively. This section should describe your ideal customer base in detail, including demographic information (such as age, gender, income level, and location) and psychographic data (like interests, values, and lifestyle).

Elucidate on the specific needs or pain points of your target audience and how your product or service addresses these. This information will help you know your target market and develop targeted marketing strategies.

Example: Our target market comprises environmentally conscious consumers and businesses looking for innovative solutions to reduce their carbon footprint. Our ideal customers are those who prioritize sustainability and are willing to invest in eco-friendly products.

Market Analysis

The Market Analysis section requires thorough research and a keen understanding of the industry. It involves examining the current trends within your industry, understanding the needs and preferences of your customers, and analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors.

This analysis will enable you to spot market opportunities and anticipate potential challenges. Include data and statistics to back up your claims, and use graphs or charts to illustrate market trends.

This section should demonstrate that you have a deep understanding of the market in which you operate and that your business is well-positioned to capitalize on its opportunities.

Example: The market for eco-friendly technology products has experienced significant growth in recent years, with an estimated annual growth rate of 10%. As consumers become increasingly aware of environmental issues, the demand for sustainable solutions continues to rise.

Our research indicates a gap in the market for high-quality, innovative eco-friendly technology products that cater to both individual and business clients.

SWOT Analysis

A SWOT analysis in your business plan offers a comprehensive examination of your company’s internal and external factors. By assessing Strengths, you showcase what your business does best and where your capabilities lie.

Weaknesses involve an honest introspection of areas where your business may be lacking or could improve. Opportunities can be external factors that your business could capitalize on, such as market gaps or emerging trends.

Threats include external challenges your business may face, like competition or market changes. This analysis is crucial for strategic planning, as it helps in recognizing and leveraging your strengths, addressing weaknesses, seizing opportunities, and preparing for potential threats.

Including a SWOT analysis demonstrates to stakeholders that you have a balanced and realistic understanding of your business in its operational context.

• Innovative and eco-friendly product offerings.
• Strong commitment to sustainability and environmental responsibility.
• Skilled and experienced team with expertise in technology and sustainability.

Weaknesses:

• Limited brand recognition compared to established competitors.
• Reliance on third-party manufacturers for product development.

Opportunities:

• Growing consumer interest in sustainable products.
• Partnerships with environmentally-focused organizations and influencers.
• Expansion into international markets.
• Intense competition from established technology companies.
• Regulatory changes could impact the sustainable technology market.

Competitive Analysis

In this section, you’ll analyze your competitors in-depth, examining their products, services, market positioning, and pricing strategies. Understanding your competition allows you to identify gaps in the market and tailor your offerings to outperform them.

By conducting a thorough competitive analysis, you can gain insights into your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, enabling you to develop strategies to differentiate your business and gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

Example: Key competitors include:

GreenTech: A well-known brand offering eco-friendly technology products, but with a narrower focus on energy-saving devices.

EarthSolutions: A direct competitor specializing in sustainable technology, but with a limited product range and higher prices.

By offering a diverse product portfolio, competitive pricing, and continuous innovation, we believe we can capture a significant share of the growing sustainable technology market.

Organization and Management Team

Provide an overview of your company’s organizational structure, including key roles and responsibilities. Introduce your management team, highlighting their expertise and experience to demonstrate that your team is capable of executing the business plan successfully.

Showcasing your team’s background, skills, and accomplishments instills confidence in investors and other stakeholders, proving that your business has the leadership and talent necessary to achieve its objectives and manage growth effectively.

Example: EcoTech’s organizational structure comprises the following key roles: CEO, CTO, CFO, Sales Director, Marketing Director, and R&D Manager. Our management team has extensive experience in technology, sustainability, and business development, ensuring that we are well-equipped to execute our business plan successfully.

Products and Services Offered

Describe the products or services your business offers, focusing on their unique features and benefits. Explain how your offerings solve customer pain points and why they will choose your products or services over the competition.

This section should emphasize the value you provide to customers, demonstrating that your business has a deep understanding of customer needs and is well-positioned to deliver innovative solutions that address those needs and set your company apart from competitors.

Example: EcoTech offers a range of eco-friendly technology products, including energy-efficient lighting solutions, solar chargers, and smart home devices that optimize energy usage. Our products are designed to help customers reduce energy consumption, minimize waste, and contribute to a cleaner environment.

Marketing and Sales Strategy

In this section, articulate your comprehensive strategy for reaching your target market and driving sales. Detail the specific marketing channels you plan to use, such as social media, email marketing, SEO, or traditional advertising.

Describe the nature of your advertising campaigns and promotional activities, explaining how they will capture the attention of your target audience and convey the value of your products or services. Outline your sales strategy, including your sales process, team structure, and sales targets.

Discuss how these marketing and sales efforts will work together to attract and retain customers, generate leads, and ultimately contribute to achieving your business’s revenue goals.

This section is critical to convey to investors and stakeholders that you have a well-thought-out approach to market your business effectively and drive sales growth.

Example: Our marketing strategy includes digital advertising, content marketing, social media promotion, and influencer partnerships. We will also attend trade shows and conferences to showcase our products and connect with potential clients. Our sales strategy involves both direct sales and partnerships with retail stores, as well as online sales through our website and e-commerce platforms.

Logistics and Operations Plan

The Logistics and Operations Plan is a critical component that outlines the inner workings of your business. It encompasses the management of your supply chain, detailing how you acquire raw materials and manage vendor relationships.

Inventory control is another crucial aspect, where you explain strategies for inventory management to ensure efficiency and reduce wastage. The section should also describe your production processes, emphasizing scalability and adaptability to meet changing market demands.

Quality control measures are essential to maintain product standards and customer satisfaction. This plan assures investors and stakeholders of your operational competency and readiness to meet business demands.

Highlighting your commitment to operational efficiency and customer satisfaction underlines your business’s capability to maintain smooth, effective operations even as it scales.

Example: EcoTech partners with reliable third-party manufacturers to produce our eco-friendly technology products. Our operations involve maintaining strong relationships with suppliers, ensuring quality control, and managing inventory.

We also prioritize efficient distribution through various channels, including online platforms and retail partners, to deliver products to our customers in a timely manner.

Financial Projections Plan

In the Financial Projections Plan, lay out a clear and realistic financial future for your business. This should include detailed projections for revenue, costs, and profitability over the next three to five years.

Ground these projections in solid assumptions based on your market analysis, industry benchmarks, and realistic growth scenarios. Break down revenue streams and include an analysis of the cost of goods sold, operating expenses, and potential investments.

This section should also discuss your break-even analysis, cash flow projections, and any assumptions about external funding requirements.

By presenting a thorough and data-backed financial forecast, you instill confidence in potential investors and lenders, showcasing your business’s potential for profitability and financial stability.

This forward-looking financial plan is crucial for demonstrating that you have a firm grasp of the financial nuances of your business and are prepared to manage its financial health effectively.

Example: Over the next three years, we expect to see significant growth in revenue, driven by new product launches and market expansion. Our financial projections include:

• Year 1: $1.5 million in revenue, with a net profit of $200,000.
• Year 2: $3 million in revenue, with a net profit of $500,000.
• Year 3: $4.5 million in revenue, with a net profit of $1 million.

These projections are based on realistic market analysis, growth rates, and product pricing.

Income Statement

The income statement , also known as the profit and loss statement, provides a summary of your company’s revenues and expenses over a specified period. It helps you track your business’s financial performance and identify trends, ensuring you stay on track to achieve your financial goals.

Regularly reviewing and analyzing your income statement allows you to monitor the health of your business, evaluate the effectiveness of your strategies, and make data-driven decisions to optimize profitability and growth.

Example: The income statement for EcoTech’s first year of operation is as follows:

• Revenue: $1,500,000
• Cost of Goods Sold: $800,000
• Gross Profit: $700,000
• Operating Expenses: $450,000
• Net Income: $250,000

This statement highlights our company’s profitability and overall financial health during the first year of operation.

Cash Flow Statement

A cash flow statement is a crucial part of a financial business plan that shows the inflows and outflows of cash within your business. It helps you monitor your company’s liquidity, ensuring you have enough cash on hand to cover operating expenses, pay debts, and invest in growth opportunities.

By including a cash flow statement in your business plan, you demonstrate your ability to manage your company’s finances effectively.

Example:  The cash flow statement for EcoTech’s first year of operation is as follows:

Operating Activities:

• Depreciation: $10,000
• Changes in Working Capital: -$50,000
• Net Cash from Operating Activities: $210,000

Investing Activities:

•  Capital Expenditures: -$100,000
• Net Cash from Investing Activities: -$100,000

Financing Activities:

• Proceeds from Loans: $150,000
• Loan Repayments: -$50,000
• Net Cash from Financing Activities: $100,000
• Net Increase in Cash: $210,000

This statement demonstrates EcoTech’s ability to generate positive cash flow from operations, maintain sufficient liquidity, and invest in growth opportunities.

Tips on Writing a Business Plan

1. Be clear and concise: Keep your language simple and straightforward. Avoid jargon and overly technical terms. A clear and concise business plan is easier for investors and stakeholders to understand and demonstrates your ability to communicate effectively.

2. Conduct thorough research: Before writing your business plan, gather as much information as possible about your industry, competitors, and target market. Use reliable sources and industry reports to inform your analysis and make data-driven decisions.

3. Set realistic goals: Your business plan should outline achievable objectives that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). Setting realistic goals demonstrates your understanding of the market and increases the likelihood of success.

4. Focus on your unique selling proposition (USP): Clearly articulate what sets your business apart from the competition. Emphasize your USP throughout your business plan to showcase your company’s value and potential for success.

5. Be flexible and adaptable: A business plan is a living document that should evolve as your business grows and changes. Be prepared to update and revise your plan as you gather new information and learn from your experiences.

6. Use visuals to enhance understanding: Include charts, graphs, and other visuals to help convey complex data and ideas. Visuals can make your business plan more engaging and easier to digest, especially for those who prefer visual learning.

7. Seek feedback from trusted sources: Share your business plan with mentors, industry experts, or colleagues and ask for their feedback. Their insights can help you identify areas for improvement and strengthen your plan before presenting it to potential investors or partners.

FREE Business Plan Template

To help you get started on your business plan, we have created a template that includes all the essential components discussed in the “How to Write a Business Plan” section. This easy-to-use template will guide you through each step of the process, ensuring you don’t miss any critical details.

The template is divided into the following sections:

• Mission statement
• Business Overview
• Key products or services
• Target market
• Financial highlights
• Company goals
• Strategies to achieve goals
• Measurable, time-bound objectives
• Company History
• Mission and vision
• Unique selling proposition
• Demographics
• Psychographics
• Pain points
• Industry trends
• Customer needs
• Competitor strengths and weaknesses
• Opportunities
• Competitor products and services
• Market positioning
• Pricing strategies
• Organizational structure
• Key roles and responsibilities
• Management team backgrounds
• Product or service features
• Competitive advantages
• Marketing channels
• Advertising campaigns
• Promotional activities
• Sales strategies
• Supply chain management
• Inventory control
• Production processes
• Quality control measures
• Projected revenue
• Assumptions
• Cash inflows
• Cash outflows
• Net cash flow

What is a Business Plan?

A business plan is a strategic document that outlines an organization’s goals, objectives, and the steps required to achieve them. It serves as a roadmap as you start a business , guiding the company’s direction and growth while identifying potential obstacles and opportunities.

Typically, a business plan covers areas such as market analysis, financial projections, marketing strategies, and organizational structure. It not only helps in securing funding from investors and lenders but also provides clarity and focus to the management team.

A well-crafted business plan is a very important part of your business startup checklist because it fosters informed decision-making and long-term success.

Why You Should Write a Business Plan

Understanding the importance of a business plan in today’s competitive environment is crucial for entrepreneurs and business owners. Here are five compelling reasons to write a business plan:

• Attract Investors and Secure Funding : A well-written business plan demonstrates your venture’s potential and profitability, making it easier to attract investors and secure the necessary funding for growth and development. It provides a detailed overview of your business model, target market, financial projections, and growth strategies, instilling confidence in potential investors and lenders that your company is a worthy investment.
• Clarify Business Objectives and Strategies : Crafting a business plan forces you to think critically about your goals and the strategies you’ll employ to achieve them, providing a clear roadmap for success. This process helps you refine your vision and prioritize the most critical objectives, ensuring that your efforts are focused on achieving the desired results.
• Identify Potential Risks and Opportunities : Analyzing the market, competition, and industry trends within your business plan helps identify potential risks and uncover untapped opportunities for growth and expansion. This insight enables you to develop proactive strategies to mitigate risks and capitalize on opportunities, positioning your business for long-term success.
• Improve Decision-Making : A business plan serves as a reference point so you can make informed decisions that align with your company’s overall objectives and long-term vision. By consistently referring to your plan and adjusting it as needed, you can ensure that your business remains on track and adapts to changes in the market, industry, or internal operations.
• Foster Team Alignment and Communication : A shared business plan helps ensure that all team members are on the same page, promoting clear communication, collaboration, and a unified approach to achieving the company’s goals. By involving your team in the planning process and regularly reviewing the plan together, you can foster a sense of ownership, commitment, and accountability that drives success.

What are the Different Types of Business Plans?

In today’s fast-paced business world, having a well-structured roadmap is more important than ever. A traditional business plan provides a comprehensive overview of your company’s goals and strategies, helping you make informed decisions and achieve long-term success. There are various types of business plans, each designed to suit different needs and purposes. Let’s explore the main types:

• Startup Business Plan: Tailored for new ventures, a startup business plan outlines the company’s mission, objectives, target market, competition, marketing strategies, and financial projections. It helps entrepreneurs clarify their vision, secure funding from investors, and create a roadmap for their business’s future. Additionally, this plan identifies potential challenges and opportunities, which are crucial for making informed decisions and adapting to changing market conditions.
• Internal Business Plan: This type of plan is intended for internal use, focusing on strategies, milestones, deadlines, and resource allocation. It serves as a management tool for guiding the company’s growth, evaluating its progress, and ensuring that all departments are aligned with the overall vision. The internal business plan also helps identify areas of improvement, fosters collaboration among team members, and provides a reference point for measuring performance.
• Strategic Business Plan: A strategic business plan outlines long-term goals and the steps to achieve them, providing a clear roadmap for the company’s direction. It typically includes a SWOT analysis, market research, and competitive analysis. This plan allows businesses to align their resources with their objectives, anticipate changes in the market, and develop contingency plans. By focusing on the big picture, a strategic business plan fosters long-term success and stability.
• Feasibility Business Plan: This plan is designed to assess the viability of a business idea, examining factors such as market demand, competition, and financial projections. It is often used to decide whether or not to pursue a particular venture. By conducting a thorough feasibility analysis, entrepreneurs can avoid investing time and resources into an unviable business concept. This plan also helps refine the business idea, identify potential obstacles, and determine the necessary resources for success.
• Growth Business Plan: Also known as an expansion plan, a growth business plan focuses on strategies for scaling up an existing business. It includes market analysis, new product or service offerings, and financial projections to support expansion plans. This type of plan is essential for businesses looking to enter new markets, increase their customer base, or launch new products or services. By outlining clear growth strategies, the plan helps ensure that expansion efforts are well-coordinated and sustainable.
• Operational Business Plan: This type of plan outlines the company’s day-to-day operations, detailing the processes, procedures, and organizational structure. It is an essential tool for managing resources, streamlining workflows, and ensuring smooth operations. The operational business plan also helps identify inefficiencies, implement best practices, and establish a strong foundation for future growth. By providing a clear understanding of daily operations, this plan enables businesses to optimize their resources and enhance productivity.
• Lean Business Plan: A lean business plan is a simplified, agile version of a traditional plan, focusing on key elements such as value proposition, customer segments, revenue streams, and cost structure. It is perfect for startups looking for a flexible, adaptable planning approach. The lean business plan allows for rapid iteration and continuous improvement, enabling businesses to pivot and adapt to changing market conditions. This streamlined approach is particularly beneficial for businesses in fast-paced or uncertain industries.
• One-Page Business Plan: As the name suggests, a one-page business plan is a concise summary of your company’s key objectives, strategies, and milestones. It serves as a quick reference guide and is ideal for pitching to potential investors or partners. This plan helps keep teams focused on essential goals and priorities, fosters clear communication, and provides a snapshot of the company’s progress. While not as comprehensive as other plans, a one-page business plan is an effective tool for maintaining clarity and direction.
• Nonprofit Business Plan: Specifically designed for nonprofit organizations, this plan outlines the mission, goals, target audience, fundraising strategies, and budget allocation. It helps secure grants and donations while ensuring the organization stays on track with its objectives. The nonprofit business plan also helps attract volunteers, board members, and community support. By demonstrating the organization’s impact and plans for the future, this plan is essential for maintaining transparency, accountability, and long-term sustainability within the nonprofit sector.
• Franchise Business Plan: For entrepreneurs seeking to open a franchise, this type of plan focuses on the franchisor’s requirements, as well as the franchisee’s goals, strategies, and financial projections. It is crucial for securing a franchise agreement and ensuring the business’s success within the franchise system. This plan outlines the franchisee’s commitment to brand standards, marketing efforts, and operational procedures, while also addressing local market conditions and opportunities. By creating a solid franchise business plan, entrepreneurs can demonstrate their ability to effectively manage and grow their franchise, increasing the likelihood of a successful partnership with the franchisor.

Using Business Plan Software

Creating a comprehensive business plan can be intimidating, but business plan software can streamline the process and help you produce a professional document. These tools offer a number of benefits, including guided step-by-step instructions, financial projections, and industry-specific templates. Here are the top 5 business plan software options available to help you craft a great business plan.

1. LivePlan

LivePlan is a popular choice for its user-friendly interface and comprehensive features. It offers over 500 sample plans, financial forecasting tools, and the ability to track your progress against key performance indicators. With LivePlan, you can create visually appealing, professional business plans that will impress investors and stakeholders.

2. Upmetrics

Upmetrics provides a simple and intuitive platform for creating a well-structured business plan. It features customizable templates, financial forecasting tools, and collaboration capabilities, allowing you to work with team members and advisors. Upmetrics also offers a library of resources to guide you through the business planning process.

Bizplan is designed to simplify the business planning process with a drag-and-drop builder and modular sections. It offers financial forecasting tools, progress tracking, and a visually appealing interface. With Bizplan, you can create a business plan that is both easy to understand and visually engaging.

Enloop is a robust business plan software that automatically generates a tailored plan based on your inputs. It provides industry-specific templates, financial forecasting, and a unique performance score that updates as you make changes to your plan. Enloop also offers a free version, making it accessible for businesses on a budget.

5. Tarkenton GoSmallBiz

Developed by NFL Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton, GoSmallBiz is tailored for small businesses and startups. It features a guided business plan builder, customizable templates, and financial projection tools. GoSmallBiz also offers additional resources, such as CRM tools and legal document templates, to support your business beyond the planning stage.

Business Plan FAQs

What is a good business plan.

A good business plan is a well-researched, clear, and concise document that outlines a company’s goals, strategies, target market, competitive advantages, and financial projections. It should be adaptable to change and provide a roadmap for achieving success.

What are the 3 main purposes of a business plan?

The three main purposes of a business plan are to guide the company’s strategy, attract investment, and evaluate performance against objectives. Here’s a closer look at each of these:

• It outlines the company’s purpose and core values to ensure that all activities align with its mission and vision.
• It provides an in-depth analysis of the market, including trends, customer needs, and competition, helping the company tailor its products and services to meet market demands.
• It defines the company’s marketing and sales strategies, guiding how the company will attract and retain customers.
• It describes the company’s organizational structure and management team, outlining roles and responsibilities to ensure effective operation and leadership.
• It sets measurable, time-bound objectives, allowing the company to plan its activities effectively and make strategic decisions to achieve these goals.
• It provides a comprehensive overview of the company and its business model, demonstrating its uniqueness and potential for success.
• It presents the company’s financial projections, showing its potential for profitability and return on investment.
• It demonstrates the company’s understanding of the market, including its target customers and competition, convincing investors that the company is capable of gaining a significant market share.
• It showcases the management team’s expertise and experience, instilling confidence in investors that the team is capable of executing the business plan successfully.
• It establishes clear, measurable objectives that serve as performance benchmarks.
• It provides a basis for regular performance reviews, allowing the company to monitor its progress and identify areas for improvement.
• It enables the company to assess the effectiveness of its strategies and make adjustments as needed to achieve its objectives.
• It helps the company identify potential risks and challenges, enabling it to develop contingency plans and manage risks effectively.
• It provides a mechanism for evaluating the company’s financial performance, including revenue, expenses, profitability, and cash flow.

Can I write a business plan by myself?

Yes, you can write a business plan by yourself, but it can be helpful to consult with mentors, colleagues, or industry experts to gather feedback and insights. There are also many creative business plan templates and business plan examples available online, including those above.

We also have examples for specific industries, including a using food truck business plan , salon business plan , farm business plan , daycare business plan , and restaurant business plan .

Is it possible to create a one-page business plan?

Yes, a one-page business plan is a condensed version that highlights the most essential elements, including the company’s mission, target market, unique selling proposition, and financial goals.

How long should a business plan be?

A typical business plan ranges from 20 to 50 pages, but the length may vary depending on the complexity and needs of the business.

What is a business plan outline?

A business plan outline is a structured framework that organizes the content of a business plan into sections, such as the executive summary, company description, market analysis, and financial projections.

What are the 5 most common business plan mistakes?

The five most common business plan mistakes include inadequate research, unrealistic financial projections, lack of focus on the unique selling proposition, poor organization and structure, and failure to update the plan as circumstances change.

What questions should be asked in a business plan?

A business plan should address questions such as: What problem does the business solve? Who is the specific target market ? What is the unique selling proposition? What are the company’s objectives? How will it achieve those objectives?

What’s the difference between a business plan and a strategic plan?

A business plan focuses on the overall vision, goals, and tactics of a company, while a strategic plan outlines the specific strategies, action steps, and performance measures necessary to achieve the company’s objectives.

How is business planning for a nonprofit different?

Nonprofit business planning focuses on the organization’s mission, social impact, and resource management, rather than profit generation. The financial section typically includes funding sources, expenses, and projected budgets for programs and operations.

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Business Plan Template for Innovation

• Great for beginners
• Ready-to-use, fully customizable Subcategory
• Get started in seconds

Do you have an innovative business idea that you're ready to bring to life? Look no further than ClickUp's Business Plan Template for Innovation! This template is specifically designed to help entrepreneurs and start-up companies outline their brilliant ideas, strategies, and goals, while also highlighting market opportunities, potential risks, and financial projections. With this template, you'll have everything you need to secure funding from investors and guide your path to success. So, why wait? Start planning your next big innovation with ClickUp today!

Business Plan Template for Innovation Benefits

When using the Business Plan Template for Innovation, you can expect the following benefits:

• Streamline the process of creating a comprehensive business plan for your innovative ideas
• Clearly define your unique selling proposition and competitive advantage to attract investors
• Identify potential obstacles and risks, allowing you to develop effective strategies for mitigating them
• Create realistic financial projections and forecasts to demonstrate the profitability of your innovation
• Guide your decision-making process and provide a roadmap for achieving your business goals
• Increase your chances of securing funding from investors by presenting a well-structured and compelling business plan

Main Elements of Innovation Business Plan Template

ClickUp's Business Plan Template for Innovation provides entrepreneurs and start-up companies with the essential tools to outline and execute their innovative business ideas. Here are the main elements of this template:

• Custom Statuses: Track the progress of your business plan with statuses such as Complete, In Progress, Needs Revision, and To Do, ensuring that each task is properly categorized and accounted for.
• Custom Fields: Utilize 3 custom fields including Reference, Approved, and Section to add specific details and attributes to your business plan tasks, making it easier to track and manage the necessary information.
• Custom Views: Access 5 different views to effectively manage your business plan, including Topics, Status, Timeline, Business Plan, and Getting Started Guide. These views allow you to organize and visualize your business plan in different ways, ensuring clarity and facilitating collaboration.
• Collaboration Tools: Collaborate with your team seamlessly using ClickUp's features such as real-time commenting, file attachments, and task assignments, ensuring effective communication and progress tracking.
• Integrations: Integrate ClickUp with other essential tools such as project management software, financial platforms, and communication tools to streamline your business plan process and enhance productivity.

How To Use Business Plan Template for Innovation

If you're ready to take your innovative ideas to the next level and create a business plan, follow these 5 steps using the Business Plan Template for Innovation in ClickUp:

1. Define your innovative idea

Start by clearly defining your innovative idea and how it solves a problem or meets a need in the market. Consider what makes your idea unique and how it provides value to customers. Be specific and focused in your description to ensure a clear understanding of your concept.

Use a Doc in ClickUp to brainstorm and outline your innovative idea, highlighting its key features and benefits.

2. Research your target market

Conduct thorough market research to understand your target audience and their needs. Identify the size of your target market, their demographics, behavior patterns, and purchasing habits. This information will help you tailor your product or service to meet their specific needs and preferences.

Utilize the Table view in ClickUp to organize and analyze your market research data, making it easy to identify trends and insights.

3. Develop your business model

Outline your business model, including your revenue streams, cost structure, and value proposition. Determine how you will generate revenue from your innovative idea and the resources required to bring it to market. Consider any partnerships or collaborations that may be necessary to support your business model.

Create custom fields in ClickUp to track and analyze different aspects of your business model, such as revenue projections and cost estimates.

4. Create a marketing strategy

Develop a comprehensive marketing strategy to promote your innovative idea and attract customers. Identify the most effective channels to reach your target market and outline your messaging and positioning. Consider the unique selling points of your innovation and how to communicate them effectively.

Use tasks in ClickUp to create a timeline for your marketing activities and assign responsibilities to team members.

5. Set milestones and track progress

Establish key milestones and targets to track your progress and measure the success of your innovation. Break down your goals into smaller, achievable milestones that will keep you motivated and on track. Regularly review your progress and adjust your strategies as needed to ensure you're moving towards your ultimate vision.

Utilize Milestones in ClickUp to set and track your business plan milestones, ensuring that you stay focused and stay on track.

By following these steps and utilizing the Business Plan Template for Innovation in ClickUp, you'll be well-equipped to turn your innovative idea into a successful business venture. Good luck!

Get Started with ClickUp’s Business Plan Template for Innovation

Entrepreneurs and start-up companies can use the Business Plan Template for Innovation in ClickUp to effectively outline their innovative business ideas and strategies, while also tracking progress and collaborating with team members.

First, hit “Add Template” to sign up for ClickUp and add the template to your Workspace. Make sure you designate which Space or location in your Workspace you’d like this template applied.

Next, invite relevant members or guests to your Workspace to start collaborating.

Now you can take advantage of the full potential of this template to create a comprehensive business plan:

• Use the Topics View to organize and outline different sections of your business plan, such as executive summary, market analysis, and financial projections
• The Status View will help you track the progress of each section, with statuses like Complete, In Progress, Needs Revision, and To Do
• Utilize the Timeline View to set deadlines and milestones for each section, ensuring timely completion of your business plan
• The Business Plan View provides a holistic overview of your entire plan, allowing you to easily navigate between sections and make necessary edits
• Create a Getting Started Guide View to provide instructions and guidelines for team members involved in the business plan creation process
• Customize the template by adding custom fields like Reference, Approved, and Section to provide additional context and track important information
• Collaborate with team members by assigning tasks, leaving comments, and attaching relevant files to ensure everyone is on the same page

With the ClickUp Business Plan Template for Innovation, you can streamline the process of creating a comprehensive and compelling business plan, setting your innovative ideas on the path to success.

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Four Step Guide

A simpler business plan for a startup

The old way of business planning won't work for a modern startup — especially not in the post-pandemic economy we live in now.

Just think about how COVID-19 altered the way we work and hire contractors. Or how inflation changed demand for certain goods. Or how advances in AI opened up new opportunities.

Creating a rigid 40+ page business plan for a startup won't provide the ever-changing roadmap you need to make decisions that drive measurable success. But a growth plan will.

Growth planning is your best defense against startup failure

Because growth planning is a process — not just a document — it gives you a way to navigate challenges that have the potential to sink your startup. Just have a look at this list of top reasons that startups fail, according to a 2021 study by CB Insights , and how a growth business plan can help you avoid them.

Reason cited for failure

How growth planning helps

Ran out of cash/failed to raise new capital (38%)

Win over investors with a scannable business plan that covers everything they need to see.

Get a method for monitoring revenue and expenses, so you can keep your startup cash healthy.

No market need (35%)

Evaluate demand for your business before investing money and effort into it.

Flawed business model (19%)

Vet your business model with a data-driven process, so you can quickly make adjustments to keep your startup afloat.

Pricing/cost issues (15%)

Know how much to charge and where to spend money by monitoring your finances.

A growth plan is right for your startup if…

You need funding.

• A growth business plan includes all the information investors need to see, but in a scannable format. So they'll actually read it!
• The growth planning process also helps you figure out exactly how much funding you need.

You want to validate an idea

• Create a quick growth plan to clarify your ideas and understand how your startup might work.
• Get a process for validating your idea using research and industry benchmark data.

You want to drive growth

• Grow your startup up to 30% faster by tracking your actuals against your forecast.
• Set and review your goals regularly within your plan. One study found that doing this makes you 40% more likely to achieve them.

How to create a modern business plan for a startup

This requires a mindset shift: instead of thinking about your startup business plan as a document, think of it as a multi-step process instead.

Step One: Plan

Rather than spending hours writing a traditional business plan, start with a quick high-level overview of your startup that includes:

• The problem you're solving
• Your solution
• Target market
• Competitors
• Sales & marketing activities
• What funding you might need

This simple one-page plan might be the only strategy document you need for now. If you're asking an investor for funding, a one-page pitch will also help you clarify your vision and build a broader pitch deck.

If you're applying for an SBA or bank loan:

Starting with a one-page plan is a great way to vet your thoughts before working on a traditional business plan, which is typically required by banks. Have a look at this article on how to write a business plan for a bank loan .

If you're testing an idea:

Write your one-page plan based on your assumptions.You don't need to have all the answers just yet.

Step Two: Forecast

A cash flow forecast is essential for any startup business plan. You're still figuring out who to hire, what to ship and maybe even what business model would work for your company — things change fast. So as you learn about your business, you need to constantly update your forecast to see how it impacts your cash flow.

On top of that, making financial projections and tracking your actuals against them will help you stay focused and accountable to your goals.

If you're applying for a bank loan or investor funding:

Include your revenue projections for the next three to five years and make sure you explain your assumptions. It's also important to have projections for your profit and loss, and cash flow statements.

This shows investors that you've thought about all aspects of your business and that you have a good plan in place to maintain a healthy cash flow until your startup becomes profitable.

You'll be ‘forecasting’ using research instead to predict the potential of your business idea. Start by asking your ideal customers what they think. Are you solving an actual problem they have? How interested are they in your idea?

You could also try a ‘soft’ product launch to gauge interest. This might involve running digital ads that drive to a coming soon landing page. Be sure to write down everything you learn.

Step Three: Review

Once your startup has been operating for at least a month, it's time to compare your actual results to your forecast. You're looking for any numbers that don't line up with what you expected. These variances signal opportunities to improve. For example:

• Did you spend more than anticipated on contractors? Maybe it's time to consider hiring a full-time employee.
• Sales for a certain product lower than expected? Look at how much you charge or how you're positioning that product.

The most important part of your review is uncovering why that variance occurred. For example, you might find that decreased sales for one type of product were picked up elsewhere.

Reviewing your financial performance every month also keeps everyone on your team focused and accountable. You'll always understand if your startup is heading in the right direction or if you need to make some changes.

Look at all the feedback you gathered about your idea. Does it mesh with what you assumed about your startup idea? Did anything surprise you? Jot down all your observations.

Step Four: Refine

Update both your plan and your forecast based on what you learned. This helps you keep track of your future profit and cash projections using the most current information available. It can also help you brainstorm ways to improve your business strategy moving forward.

Here are some examples of when you might update your forecast:

• Your assumptions were off Your original guesses about sales targets, expense budgets, personnel costs or other things weren't quite on target.
• Your business model changes You make fundamental changes to your business model, such as raising prices, switching from unit pricing to an hourly rate, or launching a new product or service.
• You have new expenses Maybe you hired an employee or invested in a new marketing channel.

If you decide to make a major change to your business at this stage, you'll also want to update your one-page plan to reflect that.

Were you able to put some evidence behind your original assumptions? Do you need to tweak your idea based on the feedback you got? Go back to your plan and refine your problem, solution and target market sections based on what you've learned. Refining your plan and doing several iterations is key to figuring out whether or not you have a good idea.

Ongoing planning unlocks success

Startups with a growth plan will gain a competitive edge. In addition to helping you pitch investors and apply for funding, a growth planning equips you with the information you need to help your startup thrive.

Because today's world is so complex and fast-changing, the companies that can spot opportunities and pivot quickly will be able to grow twice as fast. Following the four-step growth planning process will give you that ability.

Build a business plan that'll guide your startup to success

Join over 1 million entrepreneurs who have used LivePlan to launch or grow their businesses.

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40 Startup Business Ideas to Try in 2024

Many or all of the products featured here are from our partners who compensate us. This influences which products we write about and where and how the product appears on a page. However, this does not influence our evaluations. Our opinions are our own. Here is a list of our partners and here's how we make money .

Aspiring entrepreneurs are often one brilliant startup business idea away from becoming their own boss. Of course, brilliance is easier said than done when starting a business .

The best startup ideas have business plans that solve a problem, meet an unmet demand or improve upon something already on the market — if not all of the above. Here are 40 ideas to help get your wheels turning as you look to bring a company to life.

40 best startup business ideas

Even startup ideas that seemingly come out of left field can yield incredible success. Read through this list for instant inspiration.

1. Create educational content or activities

Parents are always looking for tools and activities to keep their kids entertained and engaged. Printable activity guides for different age groups, home-school lesson plans or even virtual nature walks or story time could all be viable startup ideas.

2. Offer virtual team-building

Companies need new ways to boost morale and build camaraderie among remote and hybrid teams. Enter the virtual team-builder. Cheesemongers, mixologists, chefs, magicians, artists, historians, master gardeners — almost anyone can create and offer bonding experiences for virtual companies.

3. Start a meal-prep business

The U.S. market for meal kits is expected to grow 14.2% annually between 2023 and 2030, according to market analysis by Grand View Research [0] Grand View Research . Meal Kit Delivery Services Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Offering (Heat & Eat, Cook & Eat), By Service (Single, Multiple), By Platform (Online, Offline), Meal Type (Vegan, Vegetarian), By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2023 - 2030 . Accessed Feb 21, 2024. View all sources . Tap into that market and start a meal-prep service to make people’s lives easier and cater to specialized diets (keto, vegan, Whole30).

4. Create a food waste solution

Creating a startup focused on reducing food waste could not only earn you some serious funding, but also positively change the food system and help save grocery stores and restaurants money.

5. Capitalize on plant-based foods

The U.S. plant-based market was worth $8 billion in 2022, with sales of plant-based foods projected to climb 44% over three years, according to the most recent annual report from the Good Food Institute [0] Good Food Institute . U.S. retail market insights for the plant-based industry . Accessed Feb 21, 2024. View all sources . Creating a vegan supermarket or making meat-free versions of traditional foods could be the ticket to success for aspiring entrepreneurs.

6. Start a dropshipping business

The e-commerce business model of dropshipping is especially attractive because it doesn’t require you to purchase inventory upfront. Selling higher-end products with low shipping costs could become profitable quickly if you do thorough competition research.

» MORE: 25 low-cost business ideas

7. Curate subscription boxes

Subscription boxes were a $32.9 billion business globally in 2023 (up from $22.7 billion in 2021), and the industry is still set to grow, according to a market research report by the International Market Analysis Research and Consulting Group [0] International Market Analysis Research and Consulting Group . Subscription Box Market Report by Type (Replenishment Subscription, Curation Subscription, Access Subscription), Gender (Male, Female), Application (Clothing and Fashion, Beauty, Food and Beverages, Pet Food, Baby Products, Health and Fitness, and Others), and Region 2024-2032 . Accessed Feb 21, 2024. View all sources . Pick a niche, and then curate a collection of specialized goods to deliver unique experiences to consumers. Some subscription boxes focus on a mix of products, like makeup or dog toys; others focus on a single item or theme, like shaving or sustainability. Find the right starting point for you and run with it.

Ready to get started? Here's what to do next

Open a business bank account.

Start keeping the books.

Build your website.

Protect yourself from liability.

8. Create an airport-centric app

Creating an all-in-one app that allows travelers tonavigate unfamiliar airports with real-time information is a relatively untapped startup idea. Though various travel applications exist, an app that shows amenities, TSA line wait times, ground transportation options and airport maps could be useful to passengers.

9. Become a destination wedding planner

Planning a wedding is stressful; planning a wedding from afar could fray any couple’s nerves. That creates a niche for a destination wedding planner who can advise on venue and vendor selections, as well as manage wedding and travel logistics for the bridal party and guests. If you love exploring, have expertise in a popular wedding locale and are great under pressure, this could be the startup idea for you.

10. Make local guides

Even if you don’t consider yourself a local expert, creating local guides can get you familiar with your surroundings and help tourists enjoy off-the-beaten-path experiences in your area. Make themed guides, highlight attractions and partner with local businesses for advertising opportunities.

» MORE: 25 side business ideas

11. Create a local grocery delivery service

A grocery delivery startup can come with minimal setup costs — you only need a vehicle and a cell phone to get started. Help older people or others who are too busy to shop by offering this community-friendly service. You can even approach grocery stores in your area to see if they're willing to partner with you to get the service off the ground.

12. Start a virtual event planning company

Virtual event planning is a new booming business as in-person gatherings go online or take a hybrid approach. A skilled planner who can ensure all attendees are engaged, regardless of location, will be in high demand for years to come.

» MORE: Best business credit cards for LLCs

13. Sell zero-waste products

Starting a zero-waste company is more than just a trendy thing to do; it can be an ethical, environmentally conscious decision. Selling sustainable products such as reusable bags, bamboo toothbrushes or products with zero-waste packaging could appeal to a growing number of sustainability-focused consumers.

14. Make products for pets

Create innovative pet products to take advantage of the fact that 66% of U.S. households (about 86.9 million households) have at least one animal companion, according to the annual pet ownership survey by the American Pet Products Association [0] American Pet Products Association . Industry Trends and Stats . View all sources . Developing toys, accessories or clothing for furry friends can help you tap into that expansive market. You can also go the service route and offer pet sitting, walking or virtual dog training. Or develop an app or tech solution that makes pet parents’ lives easier.

15. Create custom clothing

Selling custom clothing or offering a tailoring service could be your winning startup idea. The custom clothing industry is gaining popularity and offers room for long-term growth.

» MORE: How to open an Etsy shop

16. Sell vintage clothing online

Demand for sustainable fashion has helped propel second-hand clothing into a $39 billion industry in the U.S. with projections to hit $70 billion by 2027, according to an annual resale report by online consignment company ThredUp [0] ThredUp . ThredUp Resale Report 2023 . View all sources . Consider selling thrifted, vintage or upcycled clothing on social media, an ecommerce platform or an app such as ThredUp or Poshmark.

17. Begin niche blogging

Find a niche (think e-sports or urban farming) and create engaging content around it. You can earn money through advertising, affiliate links and even product sales once you build an audience.

How much do you need?

with Fundera by NerdWallet

We’ll start with a brief questionnaire to better understand the unique needs of your business.

Once we uncover your personalized matches, our team will consult you on the process moving forward.

18. Become an e-book writer

If you’ve got a way with words, consider becoming a self-published author and selling e-books on virtual platforms.

» MORE: 14 profitable e-commerce business ideas

19. Start ghostwriting

Create content for busy professionals who don’t have the time or the skill to write themselves. If you don’t mind not attaching your name to your writing, ghostwriting is a great way to earn money with little to no startup costs attached.

20. Become a resume writer

Everyone needs a resume, but few people are skilled at or enjoy writing their own. If you’ve got writing experience and are looking to launch a startup with no setup costs, creating a resume-writing service could be the path for you.

21. Open a coworking space

Capitalize on the rising popularity of remote work by creating a modern coworking space that addresses pain points of entrepreneurs. Pick a convenient location and build it out with highly sought-after amenities.

» MORE: 35 businesses that every community needs

22. Become an online coach

If you enjoy helping others achieve their goals and are a people person, this startup idea could be fulfilling for yourself and for your clientele. You can provide wellness, business or life coaching.

23. Flip failing websites

Buy an existing website, make improvements on it and sell it for a profit. You’ll need to understand the market well and have some web development skills, but this can be a profitable pursuit.

24. Become a web developer

The need for custom websites isn’t ever going away, and if you know your way around WordPress or know a programming language or two, you can start a profitable website development startup.

25. Start a podcast

If you’re deeply knowledgeable or passionate about a subject, consider getting into podcast production or hosting. Building an audience takes time, but once established, podcasters can earn money through affiliate marketing, donations and sponsorships.

26. Be a social media influencer

Once you find a niche and build a personal brand, amassing a large following on Instagram or YouTube can lead to a solid source of income through influencer marketing.

» MORE: 30 Instagram business ideas

27. Create online courses

Obscure hobbies can lead to lucrative business ideas if you make them easy for others to learn. If you’d like to teach others but aren’t interested in the coaching route, creating an online course could lead to reliable passive income.

28. Become a marketing consultant

If you’ve got digital marketing chops, help small businesses reach their target audiences by providing SEO, social media or copywriting services.

29. Develop an app

If you’ve got a unique idea and the necessary technical skills, creating an app could be your gold mine. It’s also possible to build an app without extensive coding skills, and once it launches, it can bring in passive earnings.

» MORE: 25 tech business ideas

30. Make a smart appliance

Smart accessories and home appliances are all the rage and becoming an important part of daily life for the average consumer. For inspiration, take note of daily tasks at home or at work that would be easier with a smart appliance.

31. Tap into virtual reality experiences

VR is the future, and the future is now. Create virtual reality experiences or accessories to tap into a global industry that’s projected to grow to a $165.91 billion market by 2030, according to a report by Fortune Business Insights [0] Fortune Business Insights . The global virtual reality market size was valued at $19.44 billion in 2022 & is projected to grow from $25.11 billion in 2023 to $165.91 billion by 2030... Read More at:- https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/industry-reports/virtual-reality-market-101378 . View all sources , a market research firm.

32. Make a niche dating site

The stigma around online dating has decreased over the past decade, so take the opportunity to help others find love. With various dating sites targeted to everyone from sea captains to farmers, there is market demand for specialty dating options.

33. Develop a chatbot

Create a chatbot — which uses artificial intelligence to communicate with people — to help businesses improve their communication. Chatbots have become more popular in recent years, and you can create one without knowing how to code.

34. Offer matchmaking skills

This is like creating a dating site but with a personal touch. If you have a knack for knowing what types of people and which personalities get along well, you might be the perfect person to start matchmaking. You can do this online or meet clients in person as well.

35. Be a virtual assistant

Being an online assistant for someone, or starting a company of virtual assistants, can be a huge success. Everyone could use a little extra help, and creating a startup focused around getting people that help for the administrative tasks in their lives, professional or personal, can be a huge moneymaker.

» MORE: Home-business ideas: 40 remote jobs to explore

36. Reinvent exercising

If there's one thing people get bored with, it's doing the same type of exercise day in and day out to stay healthy. Plenty of people have turned the exercise industry on its head, with businesses like CrossFit and Peloton popping up. You can do the same if you have an idea for a new regimen or activity for exercise enthusiasts.

37. Create eco-friendly, health-friendly makeup and beauty products

As people become more aware of the impact their personal choices have on their health and on the environment, they're looking for more health and beauty products that are also eco-friendly. Creating safe and eco-friendly products could be a great startup idea.

38. Open a food truck or restaurant pop-up

Opening a food truck or restaurant pop-up is a great startup idea for entrepreneurs with a knack for cooking. Both options are easier to launch than a full-scale restaurant and allow you to get started with a smaller staff and menu. You can open a food truck that only sells french fries with crazy toppings, for example, or launch a breakfast sandwich pop-up in your neighborhood coffee shop.

39. Start an organization business

Shows like "Tidying Up With Marie Kondo" and "The Home Edit" put professional organizing on the map, exposing millions to the magic of a tidy home. If you have a knack for making order out of chaotic spaces, you could start a business offering those services to those who need them. Organizing kitchen pantries, closets, bookshelves and more are all options you could offer customers at your new business.

40. Do interior design for young professionals

Have an eye for decorating? Start an interior design business, offering your services at an hourly rate virtually to young professionals looking for inspiration. It can be as simple as them uploading some images of their new space to your site and you sending back a few links with furniture in their budget and example images of what the room might look like when it's finished.

Start Your Dream Business

How to choose a startup idea

Do your homework before diving headfirst into a startup idea. First, make sure there's demand for the business you want to start, where you want to start it. More than 35% of businesses fail because there isn't a market need for their services or product, according to research from CB Insights [0] CB Insights . The Top 12 Reasons Startups Fail . View all sources .

You also need to write a business plan , which should include your company’s objective, sales plan, market analysis and financial projections. A good business plan can help to keep your business on track. Lenders will also want to see your business plan when considering you for a startup business loan . You should also consider the skills you already have and see how those align with any of the startup business ideas you might go with.

This article originally appeared on JustBusiness, a subsidiary of NerdWallet.

On a similar note...

The 80 Best Startup Ideas to Make Money in 2024

• Startup Ideas
• Best Startup Business Ideas 2024

Last Updated: May 14, 2024 By TRUiC Team

Every successful startup begins with a unique idea, an eager entrepreneur, and an available market. Identifying an innovative idea for your business is the first step to getting your company up and running, but with so many options, it’s tough to know where to look for inspiration. You don’t need to stress though, we’ve developed this list of the best startup ideas to help you make money in 2024.

80 Top Startup Ideas

Choosing a unique idea is essential when creating a startup . Find inspiration below with our list of innovative startup business ideas.

You can also visit our Startup Idea Category lists to browse our full collection of new startup ideas.

1. App Development

If you have a great idea for an app and the skill set to make it happen, app development can prove to be a lucrative and rewarding endeavor. Not to mention, the emergence of no-code app builders has made this idea more accessible for everyone, even those without extensive coding skills. Be sure to do a little research to make sure your idea hasn’t already been developed and that there is a potential market for it before looking for investors.

2. VR Startup

A Virtual Reality (VR) company typically falls into one of three categories: selling VR products, creating a VR experience, and VR consulting or other community-centered startup models. A great place to start is to look at the interests of your community and the VR companies that are already established in your area. For example, if there aren’t any VR experiences in your area, it may be a great opportunity to introduce a VR escape room or gaming arcade.

3. PR Agency

If you have a knack for crafting compelling narratives and driving online visibility, a PR agency could be your entrepreneurial calling. In fact, the PR market is projected to surge at a compound annual growth rate of 5.7% , catapulting its value to an estimated $133.82 billion by 2027. Launch your venture as a side hustle, then transition into a full-fledged PR agency as you scale.

Kickstart your agency in 24 hours with NO franchise fees and aim for profit in 3 to 6 months. With a low monthly Platinum NewsPass fee of $799 , get unlimited access to 50+ essential publications for your client news features. Includes a valuable agency blueprint and exclusive WhatsApp group mentor access with Sitetrail's CEO.

4. Subscription Box

Skilled curators and marketers with a passion for a specific industry, why haven’t you started a subscription box startup yet? With 18.5 million subscription box shoppers in the US, the sky's the limit for this business idea. The key to making a successful subscription box startup is identifying popular products that people cycle through monthly and the businesses that are popular within that target market. 

5. Chatbots

Chatbots offer a point of contact for customers to better navigate websites and troubleshoot problems. A chatbot startup’s success is largely dependent on the product’s capabilities and customer appeal. Using natural language, giving your bots personality, and the ability to work well within the platform to effectively answer customer questions is essential to the success of this startup. 

6. Online Courses

A special skill and the desire to teach it to other people is all you need for an online courses startup. Are you fluent in a foreign language? Do you have a background in social media marketing? Are you a talented photographer? If you have a depth of knowledge in a specific field or an impressive skill set, starting an online course is a great way to put your talents to work. Make it your own by developing a curriculum that is unique to you with assignments and objectives that will keep your students engaged.

7. Ecommerce

Ecommerce startups require stellar virtual sales tactics, a dedication to marketing, and the ability to successfully curate items for a targeted audience. The first step is to identify a market that either isn’t supersaturated or is overlooking a demographic. Alternatively, if you have a product you are interested in selling, you can advertise your creation by using the same tactics.

8. Podcasting

Are you super enthusiastic about a niche topic that you love talking about to anyone who will listen? Then podcasting might be a good business idea for you! Podcasting is the ideal venture for people who are passionate about a specific topic and want to spend their time sharing information about it. With more and more podcasters popping up every day, the time to plant your flag as an expert in your field of interest is now. 

9. Virtual Assistant

You don’t have to be in an office to help businesses and fellow entrepreneurs get organized. A virtual assistant startup is a great business idea for organized, task-oriented individuals. If this sounds like you, it is easy to get started by utilizing sites that can help you find work you’re interested in. Get a competitive edge by diversifying your skill set to make yourself eligible for a litany of job opportunities.

10. Green Beauty Products

Green or “clean” beauty products are increasing in popularity across the US as we learn more and more about the harmful effects of some ingredients in traditional beauty products. A green beauty product startup provides a better alternative, whether it’s clean skincare or cosmetics — the key is to create a product that is as effective as traditional products without the same damaging ingredients.

11. Ebook Writing

Writing ebooks is a cost-effective small business idea because it doesn’t require your books to go to print and allows you to easily publish them on your own by selling them directly to your readers. Additionally, with people staying home more than ever, an easily accessible ebook is a much-needed alternative. Ebooks are easily sold on platforms such as Amazon, or by developing your own website and implementing an effective marketing strategy.

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12. Blogging

Starting a blog isn’t just a way to share your thoughts and passions with the world; it can be a lucrative startup that appeals to a community of like-minded people. This low-cost startup idea typically requires the entrepreneur to be a savvy writer, proficient photographer, and skilled content creator. If you are up to the challenge, make this business your own by capitalizing on your personal skills and interests to build a platform that is authentically you.

13. AI Startup

Artificial intelligence ( AI ) has increasingly become intertwined with our reality; starting an AI company can put you at the forefront of this growing industry. With many startups creating AI technology to meet this increasing demand, your idea needs to be unique and effective. To come up with a marketable AI product, consider problems that companies and individuals need solutions for, and you can create the AI company to solve them.

14. Meal Delivery Service

Next on our list of business ideas is a meal delivery service. A huge amount of money is spent every year on meal delivery services by people who are either too busy to cook or simply don’t want to do it. Now with people unable to dine out as frequently, that number is bound to rise. A meal delivery service startup is perfect for entrepreneurs who are great cooks and want to share their talents with the world — one delivery at a time. Elevate the idea by creating delicious meals catered to the most popular diets of the moment such as the keto diet.

15. Graphic Design

A talented graphic designer can take a vague logo brief and turn it into an internationally-known brand element. With so many people in the graphic design space, though, if this is your business idea, you'll want to niche down as much as possible to set yourself apart. Focus on design solutions for a very specific industry, especially if that industry has unique requirements. Another option for the graphic design space is creating tools that individuals and brands can use to design their own simple elements.  

16. Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketers earn commission on the sales they drive for partner brands. Although it's a relatively new concept, it's one that has exploded in popularity because of the low barriers to entry. The key to successful affiliate marketing is picking products that you are already associated with or known for. This field is always going to require some form of audience, whether that means you're an influencer, have a blog, already have a thriving business with a large customer base, or create some kind of content like books or podcasts.

17. Pet Products

One thing many pet parents share is a love for spoiling their furry friends. Whether your pet product is practical, such as foldable cat carriers, or for pleasure, such as high-end dog treats, there is most likely a market of pet owners looking to buy new and innovative products like yours.

18. Social Media Influencer

Social media influencing is another business idea with low startup costs. Being a social media influencer means that you are your brand, and why not? You are great! To be a social media influencer, you need to be outgoing, likable, and committed to creating content that is aesthetically pleasing and engaging. Most importantly, you need a niche that will draw in followers, preferably one that is authentic to you and your interests. Since this industry is saturated with aspiring influencers, you will also need to develop strong marketing skills to engage followers and set your brand apart.

19. Edtech Startup

With more schools adjusting to online teaching, an edtech startup could give students an easier route to education. Whether it is for K-12 education or college-level students, the time to develop technology to enhance online learning is now.

Make this startup unique and socially responsible by doing your research on the problems schools face today with their eLearning software or equipment, and work to develop a product that smoothes the creases in online teaching.

20. Plant-Based Foods

With the rise in the popularity of vegetarian and vegan lifestyles, plant-based products are all the rage. These markets are looking for diversity of choice and the ability to live their chosen dietary lifestyle as easily as omnivores, so if you can develop a product or food range that meets these needs and be innovative about it, you'll be in. 

21. Sustainable Clothing Line

Fashion is one of the most wasteful industries on the planet. If you’re thinking about starting a clothing line, consider making it a sustainable one! A sustainable clothing line can make an impact by creating thoughtful garments that are long-lasting and ethically made out of sustainable materials such as linen or hemp.

22. Niche Website

Become the platform for like-minded people to gather or source information by developing a niche website that is laser-focused to appeal to a targeted audience. To start, research potential niche topics that will generate high site traffic, and find related keywords to drive SEO . Then, develop a unique, well-designed website loaded with focused content to appeal to your target audience. 

23. Website Development

Every small business should have a website; however, many entrepreneurs are too busy to dedicate themselves to developing an effective website for their business. A web developer can either directly assist customers in developing their website or give them easy access to the tools they need to set up their website in a snap. To make your startup stand out, get creative by designing unique templates, features, and easy-to-use editing tools. 

24. Dating Website

Be the matchmaker for an entire group of people by starting your own dating website. To develop a successful dating app that offers a unique experience for users, come up with a competitive edge that sets your app apart from the most popular ones like Tinder and Match.com. Plus, ensure your site is user friendly and creates an environment where user’s relationship goals can be met.

25. Food Truck

The benefits of starting a food truck business rather than a full-service restaurant are cost and flexibility. Additionally, with less access to indoor dining options, a food truck provides dining options without the cost of an inoperable dining area. With a food truck startup, you are able to take your business where the customers are instead of working to draw them to your concrete location. 

26. Job Board

With most workers looking for jobs online, it's a great time to start a job board site to connect eligible employees with available job opportunities. An online job board startup is essentially a platform for employers to list job openings and interested candidates to apply or inquire further. Draw in users for your website by catering to a specific industry or innovating the job search process. 

27. Blockchain Startup

Blockchain technology is an exciting new field for startups. The technology allows the sharing of transactions and information between multiple businesses, people, and software. Launching a startup in this industry provides a wide scope as you'll be finding a way to use blockchain technology to solve problems, and those can be in any space from aerospace to the food industry. The key here is to understand how this technology changes information-sharing and find a customer pain to resolve.

28. Video Game Creation

Whether you have the skills to create a video game on your own or hire someone to develop your idea collaboratively, with over $43 billion spent on video games in 2018 , this startup has the opportunity for huge success. It’s important to create an idea for a game that is innovative and offers players a unique experience.

29. YouTube Channel

Every day, millions of people take to YouTube for entertainment or to learn a new skill. Starting a YouTube channel provides you with a platform to muse, share, or educate your audience about your area of expertise. The best part of starting your own YouTube channel is you need very little outside of a niche, engaging personality, and a way to make/edit videos. Once you’ve grown your subscriber count, you can start raking in the money from advertisements. 

30. Virtual Event Planning

The virtual events space has exploded in the last few years as businesses and organizations grapple with social distancing requirements, and hosting events online has actually become a game-changer for many. The need for someone to actually plan these events has become a critical skill. If you're looking to break into virtual event planning as a startup, you'll need to differentiate yourself from others, possibly by niching down to a very specific industry. 

31. Cannabis Startup

With cannabis regulations easing up in many parts of the world, there's never been a better time to look at a cannabis startup . There are many different aspects to this industry, from growing to consumption and end-use products. This is not a space for beginners, though, so if you really want to develop an innovative and successful cannabis startup, start immersing yourself in the industry and figure out what problems need solving.

32. Coworking Space

With more and more people working remotely, there is a growing demand for places that remote workers can use as their communal workspace. Many coworking spaces provide refreshments, rentable conference rooms, and complimentary internet access to customers who lease their desk each month. 

33. SaaS Startup

As with most other industries, the key to developing a software-as-a-service (SaaS) startup is finding a problem to solve. Your software service can be as well-executed as you like, but if you're not making someone's life easier in some way, the product simply won't sell. One of the major benefits of SaaS is that it can be a really lean startup model if you have some developer skills. 

34. Interior Design

Probably one of the most famous interior design and furniture success stories is IKEA. The Swedish company saw a gap in the interior design market and took it, and if this is a space you want to be in, you'll need to do the same. Interior design can be quite a network-based industry, so finding a mentor is often key. Someone who has already walked the path you're preparing to embark on will be able to guide you. 

35. Virtual Meeting Platform

Just as the virtual events space has grown considerably, so has the need for virtual meeting services. This could mean anything from scheduling software to end-to-end management or even add-on apps that help large companies manage various meetings at once. With the digital tools already available today, this is not a difficult startup space to break into.

36. Smart Accessories Startup

Smart accessories is next up on our list of unique startup ideas. User experience is the name of the game when you’re developing a smart accessories startup. The first step is to identify a common problem that your accessory could solve or a way that a device user’s experience could be enhanced. Next, develop a prototype, and test its usability; once you’re satisfied with your smart accessories performance, your startup is ready to be born. 

37. Beverage Startup

If you have a great drink recipe or an idea for a special ingredient or function that will entice customers, start a beverage company ! A competitive edge in this industry is well-designed packaging that is catered to a target demographic and, of course, a delicious beverage inside. If you’re more of a connoisseur of beverages, a beverage distribution company is another lucrative business idea that can be focused on a specific type of beverage such as beer, soda, or wine.

38. Snack Company

Do you have a go-to homemade snack that you know other people would love as well? If so, take your tasty treats to the next level by starting a snack startup . Consumers are always looking for delicious new snack options with special ingredients or a twist on a classic snack. Growing your audience can be done by going to farmers' markets or local events and letting people try your delicious new snack!

39. Coffee Business

Coffee startups offer a wide variety of possibilities; whether you want to start your own coffee roasting business or operate a mobile coffee cart, the options are endless. What you'll need to focus on starting out is the type of coffee company that excels in your area, the quality of your products, and the amount of training you'll need to launch a successful business. Additionally, you'll need to create a business model that is flexible enough to withstand changes or health requirements in the hospitality industry.

40. Social Media Platform

With more and more people looking for a different social media platform to connect on, it may be the perfect opportunity to start a social media platform of your own. Deciding the premise of your platform starts by identifying a form of connection that isn’t being used on major social media platforms, or a group of people/specific lifestyle that isn’t being catered to.

41. Robotics Startup

If you have the skill or network contacts to build robotics, starting a robotics startup has the opportunity to be lucrative and rewarding. Before designing and building your robotics company, it is important to do sufficient research into the needs and wants of your customers. Building robotics is an expensive endeavor, therefore, the financial health of your startup is dependent on developing a product that will effectively appeal to your customer base.

42. Cybersecurity Startup

We use technology for almost everything. From online banking to streaming services, everywhere our personal information is saved needs cybersecurity to ensure our protection. Starting a cybersecurity company offers customers the protection they need and can result in a lucrative startup business. Stand out from your competitors by offering exceptional services and features such as a cybersecurity assistant that communicates with clients about their online safety.

43. Ridesharing Startup

Ridesharing is next on our list of business startup ideas. Ridesharing is extremely popular, especially in cities, making this a potentially lucrative startup idea. However, in order to reach success in this industry, you’ll have to compete with the companies that consumers already trust by offering a unique and enticing experience such as luxury cars, cheaper rates, or other benefits. 

44. Mental Healthcare Startup

Mental health is undoubtedly a far more common topic of discussion than it was a decade ago. It's become a focus, not just for individuals but also for businesses to ensure their teams are getting the support they need. If you're looking at launching a startup in the mental healthcare space , you'll definitely want to spend some time getting to know the industry, as there are many different fields in which a startup would flourish.

45. Telehealth Service

The transition to telehealth services in lieu of traditional doctor visits has opened up the market for telehealth startups to find success. A telehealth service needs to have top-tier cybersecurity features as well as a streamlined user-experience for health professionals and patients alike. To excel in this field, your telehealth service will need to offer unique tools, such as a streamlined interface or enhanced communication features, for patients and healthcare workers to easily communicate.

46. Autonomous Transportation

Autonomous transportation, otherwise known as self-driving cars , are a market that is emerging in cities around the US. Specifically, autonomous vehicle apps are on the rise. By developing an autonomous vehicle app of your own, your startup might be able to pull into the forefront of this emerging market. 

47. Fintech

Fintech, or financial technologies, serve as tools to reimagine traditional finance techniques, making investing and financial decisions easier than ever before. This startup offers a lot of potential for entrepreneurs who have a creative idea to make finances and investing more attainable. For example, apps that hold users accountable for reaching their savings goals or successfully putting aside their funds to invest in stocks are popular examples of fintech startups .

See our interview with fintech startup Tipalti !

48. Smart Home Technology

Smart home technology is an increasingly popular market. With 39% of households owning smart speakers and the same percentage planning to purchase portable smartphone chargers, there is a  growing demand for these products. Smart home products are largely about convenience; therefore, it’s a good idea for smart home technology startups to focus on creating products that make a customer’s life easier. 

49. Marketplace Website 

Become the platform your community uses to sell and exchange goods and services by creating a marketplace website startup. Elevate the online business idea by prioritizing user experience and safety protocols. The key to a successful marketplace website is to create a positive experience for users that makes buying and selling items seamless and safe. 

50. Clean Energy Startup

It’s no secret that clean energy is growing in both popularity and necessity. A clean energy startup can be either a product or service that takes a green approach to produce energy such as electricity-generating bicycles or solar paneling. Developing concepts and executing your business idea will require either knowledge of clean energy or the support of someone who has this knowledge.

51. Streaming Service

With 62% of adults subscribing to streaming services in the US, streaming services of all kinds are drawing in large numbers of subscribers that you could be tapping into. If you are a skilled curator for a genre of music, film, or other media, a streaming service startup that centers around a niche market can be a great way to appeal to a demographic whose needs aren’t being met. 

52. Crowdfunding Platform

Crowdfunding platforms are a useful tool for entrepreneurs, charitable causes, and individuals to raise money and reach their financial goals. To create a successful crowdfunding platform that is able to compete with other trusted platforms, you’ll need to create a unique idea or function that sets your platform apart. This could be a network of investors, advertisement opportunities, or specified crowdfunding topics such as real estate.

53. Software Startup

A software development startup is responsible for creating, distributing, and maintaining the programs that businesses use every day. This industry is experiencing exciting growth with annual revenue of $238 billion per year and an annual growth rate of 3.9% , which means this business idea holds a tremendous amount of opportunity for entrepreneurs.

54. SEO Services

Search engine optimization (SEO) is an essential tool for online marketing. However, to achieve a successful SEO service, you need to dedicate time and effort to creating content and staying on top of changes in search trends. Starting an SEO services startup offers customers an opportunity to cash in on this powerful internet marketing tool without spending too much of their own. To create a successful SEO services startup, you will need a deep understanding of SEO tactics and the software to do effective research. 

55. Fitness Startup

The fitness industry is enormous and one that will likely never stop growing in one way or another. Trends come and go in the fitness space, but one problem will always be universal — how do ordinary people achieve their exercise goals? Home-based fitness and online exercise platforms, like Peloton, have become very popular in the last few years, but whatever your offering, make sure you have a good understanding and some level of authority to support your fitness startup .

56. Cloud Technology

With more people working from home than ever, cloud technology is more important than ever. To start a cloud technology startup , you’ll need both hardware (a server) as well as software (a hosting control panel). Second to this, you’ll need an effective marketing strategy that works to build the trust of customers who will depend on your services to ensure their data is safe and protected. 

57. Drone Startup

Today, drones are used for everything from recreation, to commercial photography. A drone company holds opportunities for entrepreneurs, but to get started, you’ll need to do an FAA-approved aeronautical training program to get a Remote Pilot Certificate before you can begin developing and selling your drones. Once you’re ready to design your drones, keep the demands of your customers in mind to create a marketable, unique product that will appeal to drone enthusiasts. 

58. Search Engine Creation

More and more people are looking for a different online search experience, making the creation of a search engine one of the top startup ideas to consider. Make yours stand out by offering unique features such as advanced privacy settings, an algorithm that prioritizes different sources of information, or more in-depth search tools. 

59. Business Consulting

Business consulting can mean a few different things depending on your specialty. For example, if you’re skilled at marketing or business development, either of these fields could be the type of business consulting your startup offers. By establishing your specialty, you are able to better serve the needs of your customers and provide exceptional services every time.  

60. Health and Wellness Startup

Health and wellness businesses are growing rapidly in demand. From supplements to holistic food coaching, there are many avenues to take when developing a health and wellness startup . Narrowing your specialty down is important; however, researching ingredients and practices are vital to success in this industry. Make this business your own by developing an effective, personalized product that appeals to this specialized market.

61. Digital Marketing Startup

Digital marketing is a powerful and necessary tool for businesses today. By starting a digital marketing agency, you can help clients create an effective digital marketing strategy that appeals to their target audience. To make your digital marketing stand out to prospective clients, find your niche, and do your research to ensure you are on top of the most effective strategies to help your specific client base. Success in this field is dependent on results clients can see, so be prepared to reassess your strategies to ensure your business can provide substantial growth for its clients.  

62. Freelance Writing

Next on our list of successful business ideas is freelance writing, which has low startup costs and high earning potential. Writing of every kind is in demand. From copywriting to technical writing, this type of startup can provide clients with the talent they need to accomplish their business goals. Whether you are a writer yourself or plan to develop a platform that serves as a hub for writers and clients to connect, this industry offers a variety of opportunities. 

63. Handcrafted Products

Creating handcrafted products is one of the top business ideas for art-savvy entrepreneurs. The demand for handcrafted products continues to grow. If you’re a maker with the desire to sell your products, or an excellent curator of fine handmade products, this is a business idea worth considering. To excel in a market loaded with talented creators, do your research about up-and-coming trends to put your startup at the forefront and develop products that appeal to a popular market.

64. Dropshipping

If you like the idea of an ecommerce startup but don’t have the room to store items to sell, dropshipping could be the perfect solution. Dropshipping startups simply take customer’s orders online, but instead of filling orders themselves, they are sent to a third-party retailer for fulfillment. Essentially, your startup consists of customer experience management, marketing, and curating items for your dropshipping business.

65. Delivery Service

With more people staying home than ever, the demand for delivery services continues to grow. Whether it’s delivering packages, groceries, or take-out food — the appealing convenience has grown this industry exponentially in recent years. To stand out from the competition, consider creating a delivery service startup that gives customers access to a unique type of product or streamlines the business model to give customers a new delivery experience.

66. Pet Services

Pet parents want the best for their furry companions which makes the odds of a pet services startup being profitable higher than many others. For example, independent pet-sitting small business owners report making up to $57,000 a year with little overhead costs. More good news, pet services can be anything from grooming to dog-walking depending on the space you have available and your skillset. The biggest challenge when starting a pet service startup is marketing to build trust with pet owners that will choose you to take care of their furry family members.

67. Clean Mobility Startup

Sustainable transport solutions, also known as clean mobility, have been increasing in popularity for some time now. Climate change issues and the drive for a zero-carbon footprint have inspired many ideas in this space, and if you think you have an idea that solves a problem related to clean mobility, now is the time to execute it.

68. Ethical Online Marketplace

With more people at home than ever, the convenience of shopping online has grown in popularity. However, this doesn’t mean that the marketplaces available are providing products that are ethically sourced, made, or sold. That’s where you come in! An online ethical marketplace provides a platform for ethically made goods to be found and purchased by interested consumers.

69. Fair Trade Subscription Box

There are subscription boxes for everything these days. To lower costs, however, many businesses opt to sell products that the makers aren’t adequately compensated for. A fair trade subscription box startup provides the ease and excitement of a subscription box while introducing consumers to fairly traded, handcrafted products that they can feel good about purchasing.

70. Water Purification

Unfortunately, there are plenty of places in the US and across the globe that don't have access to safe, healthy drinking water. Your startup could be the answer to providing people with usable water. Whether you develop an innovative portable water purification tool or an entire system for homes and businesses, this startup idea has the potential for high profits as well as a strong social impact.

71. Charity App

Make philanthropy more accessible by creating a charity app. This could be an easy space to crowdfund for charities, make donations, or fulfill a need in your community. Since most adults have smartphones, a charity app startup can provide an easier way for charities to gain the funding and support they need in order to help the people who need it most.

72. Green Cleaning Products

With more information available about chemicals used in standard cleaning products, we know that green cleaning products are better for the environment and the consumer. A green cleaning products business creates a safe alternative to harsh chemicals and typically offers its products in eco-friendly packaging. Make your business stand out by offering refillable options, biodegradable packaging, and unique ingredients.

73. Food Waste Solution

Many of the booming spaces right now are related to sustainability, and food waste is a huge issue across most of the world. As such, developing an innovative idea in this space can be a game-changer. Startups like Misfit Market have proven how much the world wants and needs sustainable food solutions.

74. Green App

Do you have an idea for an app that can make a daily task a little more eco-friendly? If yes, consider starting a green app development startup. Most of us use apps every day to make errands and tasks easier, so why not use the same technology to make them a little more green?

If you don’t already have an idea in mind, start by considering everyday, widespread problems that could be solved or a daily activity that could be made more green by using an app, and run with your ideas.

75. Organization Business

If you are a naturally organized person, you might want to consider offering your services to individuals or businesses. In our fast-paced world, organizational talents are worth their weight in gold, and those who are not naturally skilled in this area will pay those who are to help them out. Try to niche down your offering as much as possible to improve your chances of success. 

76. Wedding Planning

Wedding planning can be one of the most stressful times in a couple's relationship and having a professional on board to help guide the decision-making process can make all the difference. In the event planning industry, networking with service providers is vital to client acquisition. Specializing in a certain type of matrimonial celebration, such as destination weddings, can also help to set you apart from the crowd. 

77. Crypto Startup

Getting into the cryptocurrency space is easier than ever right now. Whether you're creating a new coin or building a solution platform for the crypto crowd, there are a lot of opportunities to be had. It is important not to jump in head-first here, though. Do your research and make sure you deeply understand how the space is currently functioning to give your crypto startup its best chance. 

78. Smart Appliances

We all want a kettle that talks to us, right? Okay, maybe that's not the biggest need in the smart appliance space right now, but it certainly is one of the fastest-growing industries in its niche. Creating a startup in this industry doesn't need to involve manufacturing, either. Software, selling platforms, and add-on apps are all great ways to supplement smart appliances and get your startup off the ground.

79. Language Learning Startup

If you’ve learned a foreign language, you know it’s difficult, especially for adults. However, knowing a second language is not only a fun pastime, but it opens up job opportunities and helps people connect with other communities. A language learning startup can be any product or service that helps people learn a new language, such as an app, instructional website, or written guides.

To make your startup stand out, focus on making learning a new language fun for users so that they want to reach for your product or resources again and again.

80. Real Estate Tech

If you're into either tech development or real estate, the real estate tech market might be just the place for you. More than ever before, as the world becomes a global village, renters and buyers are looking to tech to help them find new homes without having to leave their current ones. With so many aspects to this industry, finding a unique problem to solve should not be difficult.

Looking for more inspiration? Check out our list of the top startups to watch in 2024 !

What is a startup?

A startup is a company that’s business model prioritizes innovation. Rather than creating a product or service that is the standard, startups develop new and innovative solutions to change their industry.

What is the difference between a small business and a startup?

Small businesses tend to focus on sustainable, long-term growth while startups are typically industry disruptors, focused on innovating new products for rapid initial growth.

Looking for some of the best small business ideas? Check out this comprehensive list !

What makes for a great startup idea?

A great business idea is creative, in-demand, and innovative. Most importantly, however, it has high growth and profitability potential.

What makes for a great entrepreneur?

The anatomy of a great entrepreneur is a collection of traits that everyone possesses; great entrepreneurs simply acknowledge and utilize these traits to propel their business forward. The five most important traits of a successful entrepreneur are passion, adaptability, observation, self-discipline, and self-assurance.

How do you come up with startup ideas?

There are a lot of tools at your disposal to help you come up with a great startup idea . To get started, try identifying the needs of the world, recognizing your passions, and conducting brainstorming sessions.

How do I choose startup ideas?

A startup business idea is most likely right for you if it aligns with your interests, experience level, and the amount of startup capital you have. Additionally, where you’re located and the available market will play an important role in knowing whether your business idea is worth pursuing.

About the Author

The TRUiC Team

TRUiC’s team of researchers, writers, and editors dedicate hours to ensure startupsavant.com’s articles are actionable and accessible for both startup founders and startup enthusiasts. From launching a startup to growing your venture, you can trust that our information is an up-to-date and reliable source.

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70 Small Business Ideas for Anyone Who Wants to Run Their Own Business

Published: March 19, 2024

A good business idea may seem hard to come by, but with some planning and preparation, you can easily launch a small business to supplement your income — or become your own full-time boss.

Maybe you already have an idea of the business you’d like to start. But while you might feel ready for a new venture and passionate about your idea, you might be looking for some direction.

To help get you started, here's a list of small business ideas separated into a few sections:

• What makes a good small business?

Best Small Business Ideas

Best businesses to start with little money, home business ideas.

• Online Businesses Ideas

Easy Businesses to Start

Business ideas for students, creative small business ideas, how to start a small business at home, starting a small business: faq.

The first step to becoming a successful entrepreneur is finding a business idea that works for you. In this article, you’ll find dozens of small business ideas you can start from home and scale up as your clientele grows. Let’s get started.

What makes a good small business idea?

Not all small business ideas are made equal: Some require more effort and funding than others, while some can be launched with few resources — or resources you already have. As a potential small business owner, you’ll want to save as much money as possible on training, rent, supplies, and other necessities.

Let’s go over what makes a good business idea:

• Requires little to no training . A good small business idea will ideally leverage your existing field of expertise and require little to no training. That will not only shorten your time-to-launch, but also lessen your expenses, since training courses can cost a significant amount of money. Plus, you’ll be more confident offering services that you feel prepared to deliver.
• Requires low setup costs. Your business should be cheap to start. Maybe you only need to purchase a website domain or buy a desk for your garage.
• Requires little hands-on inventory or supply management . A great business idea needs few supplies and little inventory management. If you want to sell physical goods, you can either try drop-shipping and manually make goods in small batches.
• Is based online . The best small business ideas are based online and can be carried out from your personal computer. This will automatically lower your commuting costs and give you greater flexibility over your personal and work life.
• Can sustainably be managed by few people . As a small business owner, you won’t have the funds to hire other people to help you run your business — at least not at first. A good business idea should give you the ability to run your business on your own.

Free Business Startup kit

9 templates to help you brainstorm a business name, develop your business plan, and pitch your idea to investors.

• Business Name Brainstorming Workbook
• Business Plan Template
• Business Startup Cost Calculator

You're all set!

Click this link to access this resource at any time.

Airbnb Co-founder, Brian Chesky, said, “If we tried to think of a good idea, we wouldn’t have been able to think of a good idea. You just have to find the solution for a problem in your own life.”

If you’re like Brian and you’ve already thought about a solution for a problem you encounter in your life — or you’re on the path to doing so — then starting a small business may be in your future. It may also be for you if you dream of clocking out of your nine-to-five job for the last time and becoming your own boss.

Below, we include the best ideas for you to start your small business — with resources and examples to help you get started.

1. Handyman

8. Life/Career Coach

If you have experience navigating career, personal, and social transitions successfully, put it to good use as a life or career coach. Many of us are looking for guidance in our careers — and finding someone with the time to mentor us can be tough.

Life/career coaches don’t come cheap, but they are able to offer clients the intense and hands-on training and advice they need to make serious moves in their personal and professional lives. After all, everyone needs some uplifting advice from time to time.

To start your life/career coaching business with confidence, you can look for a certification program (like the Life Coach School’s or Diane Hudson’s ), then apply your skills as you acquire new clients.

A resume writing business is economical, has few overhead costs, and has few educational requirements. We still recommend having an Associate’s or Bachelor’s degree and a few resume samples on hand. If you still feel that you need to brush up on your resume writing skills, you can take a course like Coursera’s or LinkedIn Learning’s .

Once you’ve gotten resume writing down, you can expand your business to include cover letter writing and even offer career coaching services in conjunction with these services.

10. Freelance Writer

If you have writing skills , there’s someone out there willing to pay you for them. Write blog posts, magazine articles, and website copy galore — just make sure you have a body of work built up to share with potential clients. Even if you create a few sample pieces to have on hand, they’ll help exhibit your work and attract new business.

To become a freelance writer, it’s essential to choose a specialty. For instance, you might choose to only write for publications in the healthcare industry (maybe because you were previously a healthcare worker) or focus on lifestyle publications. Whatever the case, specializing will help you find your niche market and gain confidence as a new freelancer writer.

There are no educational requirements for freelance writing, but you do need strong writing skills. It also helps to enjoy writing. While certification may be beneficial, getting practice and writing every day is more important. Try these writing prompts to start.

11. Landscaper

Mowing, tree-trimming, and seasonal decor are all neighborhood needs. If you have or can acquire the equipment, a landscaping business can be a lucrative affair. It’s also a great choice if you enjoy doing it for your own home and have a good eye for landscape design.

The good news is that you can start small. For instance, you could offer your neighbors seasonal planting services and start with a few perennial plants, or simply offer mulching services.

To grow your landscaping business, you should consider taking some formal training. The following organizations offer courses:

• New York Botanical Gardens

After completing a course and getting enough experience, you can apply for a certificate from a landscaping organization. While a certificate isn’t necessary to work in the field, it can build your credentials and help you make industry connections to take your landscaping business to the next level. The Association of Professional Landscape Designers offers one potential certificate you could pursue.

Some states require licensure, especially if you’ll be using pesticides and fertilizers. Be sure to review the requirements for your state.

Learn some of the basics now with this video on landscape design from Lowe’s:

12. Videographer

Video production requires you to have invested in the equipment up front, which can be quite expensive. But that’s also what makes your services so valuable. Make sure you have a reel of your work to share or create a website with several selections of your work available for interested viewers.

There are no educational or licensure requirements for starting a video production business. As with writing and other creative arts, though, it pays to specialize. Real estate videos differ radically from wedding videos, and wedding videos differ radically from in-studio interviews and testimonials. By specializing, you target a highly specific customer who’ll benefit the most from your services, and you can also skill-up more effectively in one shooting style.

While you can find general classes on videography, you should consider taking a class in the type of videography you’d like to do. For instance, you could take The Complete Wedding Videography Course .

Hot tip: If you’re interested in specializing in video marketing, check out The Ultimate Guide to Video Marketing and download our starter pack below.

13. Photographer

Start by conducting photo shoots for your family and friends. As you build a body of work, ask for referrals and reviews. Photography businesses often grow by word of mouth, so create a Facebook page where you can tag recent clients. Photos where you tag those clients will show up in their friends’ newsfeeds, where they can view your work. You can also ask them to leave reviews on your Facebook business page.

Like with a video production small business, you’ll want to specialize. Will you do product shoots or portraits? How about wedding or fashion photo shoots? Once you specialize, you’ll be able to create a body of work that most accurately represents your strengths.

There are no educational or licensure requirements for starting a small photography business. Still, we recommend investing in a few photography courses, especially if you haven’t used your camera in a while. Some courses you might start with include:

• Cornell’s Digital Photography Certificate Program
• New York Institute of Photography’s Course

From there, seek courses that help you build skills in your chosen specialty.

If you’re not sure where to start with freelance photography, take a look at Erica Clayton’s journey into the business below. Her advice? Give yourself a firm deadline to turn a profit.

14. Bed and Breakfast Owner

Some consulting industries are more competitive than others, so be sure to complete your research before starting a small consulting business. One way to find out how competitive a consulting niche is by doing keyword search . If your target niche is highly searched or is already dominated by big companies, you may have a harder time breaking in. You can use keyword research tools to uncover keyword volume and local demand.

If there’s room for you to enter the market, the next step is to land your first clients. Be sure to participate in local networking events covering your niche and reach out to potential prospects through cold calling and emailing. Investing in dedicated sales software can also help measure and improve your emailing strategy, as well as keep track of worthwhile leads.  

12. Event Planner

An event planning business is an excellent choice if you have great organizational and interpersonal skills, and it’s relatively cheap to start. You might choose to specialize in a specific type of event — like weddings or company meetings — or set yourself up as an event planner of all trades.

The good news is that event planners are always in demand. It’s not an easily automated job, so this small business idea is set to thrive regardless of the digital landscape. To start, you’ll want to look for a platform that will easily allow you to advertise your availability, such as event planner directories like Eventective and WeddingWire .

If you’re highly organized, detail-oriented, and have experience planning large events, it might be time for others to benefit from your skills.

13. Personal Assistant

Personal assistants help business owners and executives take care of administrative tasks. To launch a freelance personal assistant business, you should leverage networking opportunities on LinkedIn and attend small business events at local chambers of commerce. Most local business owners might not even know they need a personal assistant until you market your services to them.

If you’re an organized, highly-detailed person, the life of a personal assistant might be for you. Don’t want to be tied to one office or person all day, every day? Consider becoming a virtual assistant, which allows you a more flexible work environment.

To become an assistant, choose a niche — will you be helping women business owners specifically? Do you have a specific field of expertise, like bookkeeping? A website can also go a long way, and be sure to print business cards for you to hand out during networking events.

14. Consignment Shop Owner

If you have an eye for style but don’t want to invest in the inventory of a brand-new boutique, consider starting a consignment shop. It will allow you to curate a collection of clothing that matches your goals and aesthetic without the overhead of a boutique selling entirely new garments.

The beauty of a small consignment business is that you can now start one online. You can sign up on a platform such as Poshmark , Depop , and even Etsy , then easily start selling your own used fashion from home.

Once you’ve defined your niche — such as vintage clothing, unique locally made art, or colorful shoes — you can begin sourcing new products from your local stores and thrift shops.

15. Caterer

If the personal chef gig is too restrictive for your schedule, consider catering instead. Pick your projects, work on fewer but larger events, and hone in on your time management skills.

Becoming a caterer is a natural step for those who are used to cooking for large events — for instance, you may have already catered your friend’s wedding or brought a 20-person meal to a potluck (that counts, too!).

It’s essential that you have enough temperature-regulated storage for the meals prior to each event, and that you arrange for reliable, temperature-controlled transportation to and from your home kitchen. Alternatively, you can lower your costs by inviting customers to pick up their order at your home.

16. Gym Owner

Kickboxing gyms, yoga studios, CrossFit, oh my! Turn your passion for fitness into a community for others by creating your own gym — start one from the ground up, become an affiliate, or open a franchise location.

Available franchise opportunities include Anytime Fitness, Orangetheory Fitness, Pure Barre, Planet Fitness, Crunch Fitness, and more. Be prepared to take out a loan to finance your franchise — most agreements start with fees upward of $20,000. But the payoff can be tremendous due to brand recognition. You’ll have no trouble recruiting new members as long as you use local marketing strategies .

Alternatively, you can create a local studio, but ideally, it should be for a specific activity instead of general fitness. Yoga, pilates, bootcamp-style gyms, and martial arts perform well as independent fitness studios.

17. Boutique Agency Owner

What’s your specialty? Whether it’s marketing, social media, or PR, it might be time to start your own agency. Many other small businesses need this type of help but don’t have the resources or volume to necessitate a full-time position.

To start an agency, you would ideally have worked in your specialty for a number of years. You should also be prepared to interface directly with clients, fulfill their requirements, and temper their expectations (if they want results in an unreasonably short amount of time).

Consider building a small team and learn from other entrepreneurs who’ve successfully started their own agencies, like Duane Brown of Take Some Risk .

18. Coffee Shop Owner

Turn your caffeine addiction into something a little more lucrative. Opening a franchise or buying an existing shop are lower-risk entry points to the coffee game, but they usually require a little more cash upfront. Starting a shop from scratch requires more planning and work — but it also maximizes your earning potential in the future.

A coffee shop is an excellent fit if you already have a full-time remote job and wish to supplement your income with a small business. You can manage the coffee shop as you work at one of the tables, but be sure to have the budget to hire an experienced barista who can pick up the slack.

If you would like to open a coffee shop and run it full-time on your own, you’ll need to undertake barista training, understand worldwide coffee sources, and have excellent customer service skills.

19. Moving Company

A truck, moving equipment, manpower, and the correct permits and insurance are the building blocks of starting your own moving company . Before you buy your first fleet of trucks, however, start small with a moving van and keep your costs low.

Still sound like too much of an initial investment? Consider offering packing services only, which have a much lower financial barrier to entry. You can partner with moving companies and offer to do their packing, or have them refer clients to you.

You could even take a niche approach to the industry as Astro International has by offering international moving services.

2. Vending Machine Owner

Since 2015, the growth rate for vending machine businesses has increased 1.4%. Even as social distancing restrictions are still in place, this business can still be lucrative if you choose the right locations. High-traffic is key — places like hospitals, schools, and community centers are smart places to start placing your machines to generate enough revenue to cover cost and turn a profit.

3. Social Media Manager

Do you have a knack for social media? As a social media manager, you can use your skills to manage the social media accounts for companies and even individual people. Influencer marketing has become more common and many influencers rely on marketing agencies or employees to help them run their social channels.

Online Business Ideas

If you want a business idea that you can run entirely online, check out the ones below. These ideas are ideal for those looking for a passive income stream. In other words, you shouldn’t need to do too much manual work to launch these businesses from your home or preferred business location.

1. Become an online reseller.

To become an online reseller, all you need is some business savvy and some funds to invest in product stock from manufacturers — or, of course,the willingness to sell your own used items. Generally, this is a low-touch but high-performance way of creating a passive income online business.

Online resellers usually use a platform, such as Facebook Marketplace or Amazon Sellers, to sell either their own or manufacturers’ stock. The benefit of using Facebook Marketplace is that you can begin today with your own Facebook account, and simply list items that you already own.

Interested buyers typically drive directly to your home for pick-up — but if you’re not interested in human interaction, you can leave it outside and have the buyer pay via an online platform.

Blogging is one of the most accessible small businesses to start, and there are countless niches to choose from. That said, because there are many blogs online, you’ll need to learn blog SEO and keyword research to ensure your audience finds you. That way, you actually make money out of your blogging efforts.

The great news is that a small blogging business has a ridiculously low overhead. All you need is a custom domain and your time for writing blog posts. Although finding the right topic ideas and outlining your posts may seem challenging at first, especially if you’re new to writing, you can let a blog ideas generator do most of the grunt work for you.

These tools leverage Artificial Intelligence to help you brainstorm ideas and set up your content structure. That way, you can kickstart your creative juices and begin writing about what you love right away. 

5. Home-Baked Goods Seller

Warehouse-made, store-bought chocolate chip cookies will never compare to a batch made with love in someone’s home. Simple desserts can be easily baked and packaged to sell at local events or around your neighborhood. Use custom labels and watch the word spread about your goods!

You can begin a baked goods business easily by opening a Facebook and Instagram profile. Facebook and Instagram are both excellent platforms to market your goods, show pictures of your previous baked products, and even showcase happy clients.

Build a loyal following slowly, and save on costs by asking clients to drive to your home to pick up their order. Choosing a niche can be helpful here, or baking in a specific style that can’t be found at grocery store bakeries. The overhead can be especially low if you already have most essential baking supplies.

6. Ecommerce Store Owner

Do you create, collect, or curate anything special? Consider starting an ecommerce store and turning your hobby into a full-time job. Whether you need somewhere to sell all that pottery you’ve been making, or an excuse to search for the sports memorabilia you love tracking down, an ecommerce store can make it financially viable for you to pursue your passion.

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Starting an ecommerce store is simple and easy. You can set up a shop using an ecommerce website builder , all of which start at a minimal monthly subscription (some even start at free). Be sure to take good photos of your products and write descriptive product pages .

If you don’t have inventory, you can always own an ecommerce store by using dropshipping . Instead of creating and shipping your products yourself, you’ll instead partner with a dropshipping website and have them mail out the orders directly to your client.

7. House Cleaner

With a low barrier to entry, house cleaning can be a great way to start doing what you love — soon. Consider advertising to homes in your neighborhood and get more bang for your buck by earning a few small businesses as clients as well. They’ll usually bring in a higher paycheck for a similar amount of work.

To become a house cleaner, you should be prepared to invest in cleaning supplies and accessories, or be willing to use your own. If you plan to serve small businesses, you should buy industrial janitorial supplies so you can get work done more effectively.

Need some inspiration? This small business cleaning service grew virtually overnight on Instagram after their content went viral during the pandemic.

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4. create a business plan..

No business plan? No business. Particularly if your small business idea requires investors, you'll need to draft up a business plan to provide an overview of your market positioning, your financial projections, and your unique competitive advantages. You can download HubSpot's free business plan templates for free to get started.

Learn more about choosing the right structure for your business from the Small Business Administration.

6. Create a business bank account.

Once you have a legally formed business and have been issued an Employer Identification Number (EIN), open a bank account specifically for your business. Having a business bank account is essential for keeping your personal and business finances separate which can help you gain an accurate picture of your business’s cash flow and financial health.

Additionally, keeping your personal and business finances separate makes bookkeeping and tax preparation easier.

Many banks offer business checking and savings accounts. Business checking accounts typically do not have a limit on the number of transactions that can take place, and issue a debit card that can be used for making business purchases. However, these checking accounts do not accrue interest.

Business savings accounts typically earn interest over time but have a limited number of transactions that can occur each month. When you’re just starting out, look for a business bank account that does not have a minimum balance requirement so you are not penalized for having low funds as you work to build your business.

7. Determine if your business idea works well from home.

Ask yourself whether your business idea will work well from home. Some businesses simply aren’t suited to be based from home. If you want to run a dog boarding center but live in an apartment without a backyard, you might want to consider a dog walking business instead.

8. Set up an office.

If your business idea is well-suited for being run from home, it’s still important you have a designated workspace. While a home office might not be possible, consider setting aside a corner in your living room or putting a desk in your bedroom for a space that inspires you and creates the conditions for success.

Need a more professional space? If you conduct client-facing work requiring you to be on video calls, no one wants to see your rumpled sheets in the background. Check out local coworking spaces for memberships that earn you access to conference rooms, desk space, and more.

9. Get to work!

You’ve put in the hard work, but I’ve got bad news — it’s only going to get harder. But most entrepreneurs will agree that the payoff of being your own boss, making your own hours, and working on projects that you’re passionate about will pay dividends for the rest of your life.

What are the types of small businesses?

The types of small business structures are sole proprietorships, partnerships, limited liability companies (LLCs), and corporations.

• Sole Proprietorship — The simplest type of business structure is a sole proprietorship, which is also the easiest to start. As a sole proprietor, you are personally responsible for the business's liabilities and profits, and you have complete control over your business. If you are a solopreneur, you are automatically considered a sole proprietor.
• Partnership — A partnership is a business model involving two or more individuals who agree to share the business‘s profits and liabilities. Each partner contributes to the business and shares the risks and rewards. It’s essential to have a partnership agreement that defines each partner's roles and responsibilities to ensure clarity and prevent potential misunderstandings.
• Limited Liability Company (LLC) — An LLC, or limited liability company, is a common option for small businesses because it protects its owners by separating personal assets from the company's liabilities. To form an LLC, the business owner must file the required paperwork with the state.
• Corporation — A corporation is an independent legal entity distinct from its owners. It provides limited liability protection to its shareholders, who are not held personally accountable for the company's debts. Corporations have formal requirements and often raise capital by issuing stocks or shares.

Which business type is best?

The best business type is a limited liability company (LLC). Operating as an LLC means that your personal assets are separate from your business assets. If your business goes bankrupt, your personal holdings won’t be affected. That said, it’s also one of the costlier types, requiring a fee paid to the state.

The easiest business type to start is a sole proprietorship. The main downside is that there’s no differentiation between you and your business.

It's crucial to seek advice from legal or accounting professionals to determine the best business structure based on your unique needs and objectives. Each structure has advantages, legal requirements, tax implications, and flexibility considerations.

How do I create a business idea?

To create a business idea, determine your skill set, work preferences, startup budget, and available resources. It’s important to strike the right balance between what you can feasibly offer and what you can feasibly afford in the short and long term.

We recommend starting with your skill set so that you can easily determine the niche in which you can effectively compete. For instance, if you have ample experience as a writer, you might consider starting a freelance writing business. But if you know you’d prefer to work with clients face-to-face, you might choose to start a ghostwriting business instead. That’s why it’s so important to take your work preferences into account, as well.

After that, take a look at your budget and determine the type of business you can start based on the resources at your disposal. For instance, you might not be able to afford a physical office or location, so a location-based business will likely not be a good fit. In that case, starting an online business is your best option.

What resources or tools can I use to refine and validate my business ideas during the brainstorming process?

Online market research tools like Google Trends, Keyword Planner, and SEMrush can provide insights into market demand, competition, and keyword trends related to your business niche. Industry reports and market analyses from reputable sources such as IBISWorld, Gartner, Statista, and industry-specific publications can offer valuable data and trends to inform your decision-making. Ensure you know the industry risk before embarking on your small business venture.

→ Download Now: Market Research Kit [Free Download]

Additionally, joining entrepreneurial communities, forums, and social media groups can provide opportunities to seek feedback, network with like-minded people, and gain insights from experienced entrepreneurs. Finally, consider conducting surveys or interviews with potential customers to gather feedback and validate your business concept before investing significant time and resources.

What are some of the most successful small businesses?

Every small business has the potential to be successful and profitable, provided it’s backed by a strong product-market fit and a robust business plan . These two elements are essential. Maybe postnatal services are one of the most successful small businesses to launch, but if you live in an area with declining population or a large elderly population, then that small business idea won’t yield a high return on investment.

Think carefully about the market where you’re launching your business, and you’ll be more than likely to see lasting success.

What are the top growing small businesses?

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Start Your Venture in 2024 with These 15 Tech Startup Ideas

• Updated on 17 May 2024

Last year was tough for startups, especially in Europe. 

Atomico report says funding from investors nearly dropped by half in 2023, leaving many early-stage companies feeling down.

But things are looking up for 2024 and beyond. 

The pandemic’s effects are fading, and the economy is expected to bounce back. Despite the challenges, the AI sector remained strong, with a growing demand for its products.

Startups using tech have a huge chance to shake up industries and make life better.

So, even if you’re not a tech expert, you can still come up with amazing IT business ideas for startups. 

This guide will walk you through 15 top technology startup ideas for 2024. We will be covering different fields like entertainment, healthcare, security, environment, and more. 

Whether you’re experienced in business or new to startups, you’ll find here helpful tips and ideas for starting your own tech business.

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An Overview of the Tech Market Growth

A recent report from Crunchbase looked at startup funding worldwide in January. 

They found that startups received about $22 billion in funding during this time, which is a bit less than usual. 

Most of this money ($10 billion) went to more established startups, while newer startups got around $9.4 billion for early-stage projects and $2 billion for seed funding.

Even though overall funding was a bit lower, some areas like Artificial Intelligence (AI) saw a lot of investment. 

Some startups did really well and got more valuable (“up rounds”), while others, like Quora, saw their value go down (“down rounds”).

In the tech industry, some companies continued to let employees go, although not as many as before.

Looking ahead, investors think funding will stay about the same unless more companies start going public (IPOs). If that happens, investors might be willing to take more risks and put more money into startups.

Let’s explore a few tech startups that have managed to raise investments recently. 

The first one is Aleph Alpha . This company aims to be Europe’s version of OpenAI. 

They want to make AI easy to understand and trustworthy for businesses and governments. 

Founded in 2019 by Jonas Andrulis in Heidelberg, they just raised over $500 million, with Innovation Park Artificial Intelligence leading the way.

Another European player challenging OpenAI and Google, Mistral , based in Paris, reached unicorn status after securing €385 million in funding . The round was supported by Andreessen Horowitz, Nvidia, and Salesforce.

Founded by former researchers from Google’s DeepMind and Meta, Mistral is dedicated to developing open-source large language models.

These are just 2 examples of major startup funding, and every day, there are a bunch of other revolutionizing ventures that raise investments. One day, yours will join the list!

Let’s delve into the 2024 technology industry outlook and explore the trends and strategies that tech leaders are likely to focus on this year and beyond. 

Angling for a Comeback with Cloud, AI, and Cybersecurity

Despite facing challenges over the past few years, the tech industry is poised for a potential comeback. 

Economists have lowered recession risk assessments, and analysts anticipate modest growth in 2024.

Enterprise spending on cloud services is expected to enable significant growth. Companies continue to migrate workloads to the cloud, enhancing scalability, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness.

AI adoption is on the rise, with applications spanning from predictive analytics to personalized experiences. Tech companies will experiment with generative AI to drive efficiency and productivity.

As cyber threats persist, investments in robust cybersecurity solutions will remain crucial for safeguarding data and systems.

Balancing Globalization and Self-Reliance

The interconnected nature of the tech industry exposes it to risks such as geopolitical unrest, supply chain volatility, and regulatory changes. 

Tech leaders must balance global collaboration and building resilient, self-reliant systems.

Next year, generative AI will be transitional. Tech companies will explore applications that enhance efficiency and productivity. 

Whether it’s automating tasks, generating content, or optimizing processes, AI-driven innovation will play a pivotal role.

Preparing for Regulatory Requirements

As new regulations and policies emerge, tech companies need to adapt swiftly. Staying informed about compliance requirements and adjusting business practices accordingly will be 

In summary, the tech industry is poised for a dynamic year ahead, fueled by innovation, strategic investments, and adaptability. Tech leaders who embrace these trends can position themselves for a robust and resilient future.

Now, let’s delve into the best tech business ideas you can build this year.

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15 Tech Startup Ideas for 2024

2024 is a great time for tech startups! Whether you’re experienced or just starting out, here are 15 cool startup ideas to think about. We’ve explored the market cap, challenges to solve, development costs, and expertise required. However, the software development pricing is just an approximation since it depends on various factors.  

You can calculate app development costs with our calculator.

Now, let’s move on to the startup ideas for 2024. 

AI-Driven Virtual Assistants for Businesses

AI software development is on top of our tech startup ideas for 2024. 

Here’s a glimpse of the market state and some notable examples of startups in this domain.

The global Intelligent Virtual Assistant (IVA) market is thriving, driven by the need for increased efficiency across service-based businesses. 

The IVA market was valued at USD 2.48 billion in 2022.

It is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 24.3% from 2023 to 2030.

IVAs fulfill various customer service roles, such as providing product information, assisting with navigation, bill payments, and directing queries to human agents.

They are actively used across industries like retail, IT, banking, and automotive. IVAs enhance the customer experience by offering better conversational responses.

Here are a few things to remember when building virtual assistant solution:

AI assistants are here to make your business operations smarter and more efficient! 

Innovative AI-Powered CRM Solution

Companies seek tailored software solutions to enhance efficiency. 

Hence, now is a great time to develop custom software that addresses specific business challenges, such as customer relationship management (CRM) .  

The growing market offers significant profit potential.

The global CRM market was valued at $52.4 billion in 2021 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 13.3% between 2022 and 2030, reaching an estimated $157.6 billion by 2030.

Cloud-based CRM solutions are gaining traction, constituting 50% of the total market share in 2021. 

The SaaS CRM market grew by 14.14% in 2021, with the market size expected to expand by $44.17 billion between 2020 and 2025.

Thinking of developing your own CRM System? Here are a few things to consider: 

Overall, developing an innovative AI-powered CRM solution requires a multidisciplinary team to deliver a scalable, secure, and user-friendly platform that enhances customer engagement and business productivity.

EdTech Platform

Revolutionize education with online learning platforms, personalized tutoring, or skill-based training programs. The demand for lifelong learning is on the rise.

The global education technology (EdTech) market has been growing rapidly, driven by technological advancements and the increasing adoption of digital learning solutions . 

The EdTech market size varies slightly across different reports, but it’s consistently substantial.

According to a Grand View Research report, the global EdTech market was estimated at USD 142.37 billion in 2023 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 13.4% from 2024 to 2030.

Another report by Straits Research states that the EdTech market was valued at USD 105.48 billion in 2021 and is projected to reach USD 436.68 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 17.10% during the forecast period.

Yet another source, Virtuemarket Research, indicates that the EdTech market was valued at USD 136.92 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach USD 344.72 billion by the end of 2030, with a CAGR of 14.1%.

Here are a few things to consider if you choose to build edtech solutions:

Financial Fraud Detection and Prevention Apps

The need for security never ceases. So, developing a fraud prevention app is always a good idea.

For example, you can develop advanced algorithms to detect fraudulent activities in financial transactions. This can benefit banks, e-commerce platforms, and other businesses by safeguarding against fraud.

These apps are crucial in safeguarding financial institutions, businesses, and consumers from fraudulent activities. 

The global FDP market has been witnessing substantial growth. 

According to various reports:

The market size was valued at USD 43.97 billion in 2023 and is projected to grow to USD 255.39 billion by 2032, exhibiting an impressive CAGR of 21.8% during the forecast period (2024-2032).

Another report suggests that the market will reach USD 126.69 billion by 2029, growing at a CAGR of 21.48%.

Additionally, the market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 17.6% from 2023 to 2030, driven by factors such as increased sophistication of cyberattacks and rising online fraud.

Remember that these apps continuously evolve to stay ahead of fraudsters. As the threat landscape changes, FDP apps will play a pivotal role in maintaining trust and security in financial transactions! 

Thinking of building a fintech app? Check out our guide for the best fintech app ideas . 

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Telemedicine platform

The global telemedicine market has been experiencing significant growth. 

In 2023, the telemedicine market was valued at USD 114.98 billion.

It is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17.96% from 2024 to 2030.

Factors driving this growth include industry consolidation, strategic initiatives by key companies, and increasing healthcare consumerism.

Let’s explore the fascinating world of telemedicine platforms , including their market size and some notable examples:

Telemedicine platforms play a crucial role in expanding healthcare access, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, and they continue to evolve to meet patient needs.

Elderly Care Tech 

The global senior care technologies market was valued at USD 43.38 billion in 2022. 

It is projected to reach USD 76.23 billion by the end of 2032, growing at a rate of 5.8% annually.

As a result of demographic shifts, particularly in the United States, the number of adults aged 65 and older is expected to increase to nearly 81 million by 2040.

However, there is a shortage of healthcare professionals and technologies to meet this growing demand. To address these healthcare needs, emerging technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT) and Augmented Reality (AR) are expected to play a critical role.

To meet the market demand, you can develop solutions catering to the needs of elderly populations. For example, remote health monitoring devices, smart home adaptations, and social connectivity platforms.

Here are a few things to consider before making your choice. 

Entering the elderly care tech market requires technical expertise, healthcare knowledge, and a focus on user experience.

These elements are essential for developing successful solutions tailored to the needs of this growing demographic.

Personalized Fitness App

Are you into sports? Then, it would be a great idea to develop your very own fitness app that will help people feel their best! With the right approach, it can be a great earning opportunity, too. 

The global Fitness App market was valued at USD 3.7 billion in 2022 and is expected to grow rapidly, reaching USD 18.4 billion by 2028 with a high annual growth rate.

Excited to join the club?

Here’s what you need to know first:

Developing successful personalized fitness requires expertise in health and fitness, software development, AI, and user experience design. 

The goal is to create engaging fitness experiences tailored to individual needs, empowering users to achieve their wellness goals.

Check out some of the best fitness app ideas you can build in 2024.

Digital Mental Health Solution

Mental health has been neglected for many years, and now, people finally understand its importance.

If you agree that mental health is important, developing a mental health app or a meditation app might be a good choice for your business venture.

The mental health apps market was worth about $5.05 billion in 2022. It’s expected to go from around $5.72 billion in 2023 to a much larger $16.50 billion by 2030. 

Additionally, increasing government efforts in many countries to raise mental health awareness are also increasing the demand for these apps.

Developing successful digital mental health solutions requires expertise in healthcare.

It also involves knowledge of technology and design. 

Virtual Shopping Assistant 

Virtual shopping assistants have become increasingly popular, and there are several innovative features that can enhance their capabilities.

As technology continues to evolve, we can expect even more innovative features to enhance these AI-powered tools. 

These examples demonstrate how virtual shopping assistants enhance the customer experience, streamline navigation, and boost sales in the online retail world ! 

I have an app idea – where do I even begin?

Check out our guide for the best business strategies

Interactive Content Creation Tool

Develop innovative tools for creating interactive and engaging digital content, such as interactive storytelling apps, AR filters for social media, or user-generated content platforms.

Creating media and entertainment software offers several key advantages:

• Interactive content demonstrates a genuine interest in your customers’ opinions, fostering loyalty among your audience.
• It provides deeper insights into your brand’s thinking and offerings, which helps in building trust with your audience.
• Interactive content typically generates 2x more engagement compared to static content, helping your brand gain more exposure and attention.
• With a significant portion of marketers already utilizing interactive content (62% of B2B marketers), its effectiveness in capturing attention and enhancing brand messaging retention is widely recognized.

With a significant portion of marketers already utilizing interactive content (62% of B2B marketers), its effectiveness in capturing attention and enhancing brand messaging retention is widely recognized. Additionally, 81% of marketers agree that interactive content grabs attention more efficiently, while 79% believe it enhances the retention of brand messaging.

This trend is expected to continue growing beyond 2024.

Emotion Detection and Analysis App

Thinking of more entertaining solutions? We’ve got you!

You can leverage AI and machine learning to analyze emotions from facial expressions, voice tone, or text. Sounds cool? We know!

Applications like these include mental health support, customer sentiment analysis, and personalized marketing.

Let’s dive in. 

Smart Home and Building Management Systems

Thinking about IoT development? Nice choice! 

Then, you can build intelligent systems that optimize energy usage, security, and comfort in homes and commercial buildings. 

Features may include automated lighting, climate control, and surveillance. Let’s explore further.

The smart building market was valued at USD 96.96 billion in 2023.

It is projected to grow from USD 117.42 billion in 2024 to an impressive USD 568.02 billion by 2032, exhibiting a CAGR of 21.8% during the forecast period.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when developing your smart home management system. 

Remember that these systems enhance convenience, energy efficiency, and safety, whether in homes or commercial buildings.

Automated Legal Document Generation App

Streamline legal processes by building platforms that generate contracts, agreements, and other legal documents.

This can save time and reduce errors for legal professionals and businesses.

The global legal technology market is growing significantly, with generative AI (GenAI) playing a crucial role.

GenAI tools like ChatGPT and Bard are accelerating automation in the legal space.

The market is projected to reach $50 billion by 2027, driven by established legal technology use cases.

Let’s explore some Legal Document Automation Software options, along with their challenges and software development costs. 

If you choose to build a legal document automation tool, you can help companies significantly improve efficiency, reduce errors, and enhance collaboration within legal teams! 

Sustainable Energy Management Solutions for Households

These innovative technologies are crucial for promoting energy efficiency, reducing carbon footprints, and ensuring a greener future. 

The global Energy Management System (EMS) market is witnessing significant growth. Efficiencies in energy utilization in residential and commercial spaces are driving this trend.

In 2023, the EMS market was valued at USD 31.76 billion.

By 2032, it is projected to reach an impressive USD 112.32 billion, exhibiting a robust CAGR of 15.3% during the forecast period.

EMS caters to various sectors, including smart homes, commercial buildings, and industrial complexes.

It is pivotal in property safety, automation, energy distribution, design, and e-mobility.

Governments worldwide are digitizing national energy systems to enhance efficiency and promote sustainable energy.

EMS helps companies reduce energy consumption by up to 30% , ensuring operational efficiency and safety.

If you decide to build a sustainable energy startup in 2024, here are a few things you need to consider: 

This startup will drive a positive change. As we move toward a cleaner and greener future, their innovations play a vital role in shaping our energy landscape!

Blockchain-Based Supply Chain

Beyond cryptocurrencies, blockchain has applications in supply chain transparency, secure voting systems, and decentralized finance (DeFi). 

For example, supply chains involve networks of suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, retailers, auditors, and consumers. 

Dive into this transformative technology by creating a top-notch supply chain application. 

Developing a successful blockchain-based supply chain solution requires collaboration among supply chain experts, software developers, and blockchain specialists. This teamwork is essential to address challenges and deliver features that enhance transparency, efficiency, and trust in the supply chain ecosystem.

How to Start a Tech Startup?

Getting into a tech startup is an ambitious and exciting endeavor. Although it may seem simple and straightforward, there can be many pitfalls and challenges along the way.

But don’t worry—we’re here for you. Since we’ve been working with startups for over 10 years now, we can share some guidelines for making your business successful.

Let’s go! 

First, you need to identify what problem you are going to solve. 

You need to observe the market and identify a common problem or pain point that many people or businesses face.

For example, Airbnb identified the problem of travelers struggling to find affordable and unique accommodations, leading to its innovative platform for short-term rentals.

Once you’ve identified the problem, brainstorm and develop a unique solution using technology.

Consider how your solution can provide significant value or convenience to users compared to existing options.

For instance, Slack revolutionized team communication by offering a user-friendly messaging platform tailored for businesses.

Then, you need a business plan !

Outline your startup’s vision, goals, target market, competitive analysis, revenue streams, and operational plan in a business plan.

Define your unique selling proposition (USP) and market positioning to differentiate your startup.

Use tools like business model canvases or pitch decks to clearly communicate your startup’s value proposition.

Is your business plan looking good? Nice, now it’s time to make it work. 

Develop a minimum viable product (MVP) or prototype to demonstrate your solution’s core functionalities.

Focus on building the essential features that address the main problem you’re solving.

Dropbox, for example, started with a basic file-sharing MVP to validate demand before expanding its features.

You also need to assess your funding needs and explore different funding sources . These are personal savings, angel investors, venture capital, or crowdfunding platforms.

Prepare a compelling pitch deck highlighting your startup’s value proposition, market opportunity, and growth potential.

Seek mentorship from experienced entrepreneurs or join startup accelerators to access funding opportunities.

To develop a working solution, you also need a team. 

Assemble a talented and diverse team with skills in technology, product development, marketing, sales, and operations.

Look for team members who share your passion and vision for the startup.

In this article, we’ve covered everything you should know about hiring developers as a startup . 

If you are looking for a team of professionals who can help you develop your startup from scratch – we are here for you.

You can count on us whether you need product discovery , MVP development, app development, design, testing, and maintenance.  Just contact us now and share your ideas to kick off the successful collaboration.

Our CEO, Max, has an impressive 11-year background in SaaS development. His strong analytical skills have played a critical role in driving the company's growth and success in the highly competitive tech landscape.

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Six strategies for growth outperformance

Growth is the lifeblood of any successful business, but achieving growth that is both profitable and sustainable has proved especially difficult in recent years. Business leaders need a strategic approach that combines courage, innovation, and a willingness to make bold moves. In this episode of the Inside the Strategy Room podcast, McKinsey partners Rebecca Doherty and Kate Siegel and senior partner Jill Zucker share their insights on how companies can grow faster and more consistently than their peers. This transcript has been edited for clarity and length. For more discussions on the strategy issues that matter, follow the series on your preferred podcast platform .

Sean Brown: This may seem like a naive question, but why does growth matter?

Jill Zucker: Growth drives performance. It drives culture. It drives employee satisfaction. It helps you retain the best talent. And it fosters innovation in the marketplace. But it’s important to grow profitably. Top-line-only growth tends to catch up with you over time. And while most organizations aspire to grow, we find that growth is quite hard to achieve. Only 25 percent of companies grow sustainably over time. But if you can achieve it, that growth is rewarded, with sustainable growth outperformers generating seven percentage points more annual total shareholder returns than their peers.

Sean Brown: What does it take to be a growth outperformer?

Jill Zucker: We studied what drives growth at more than 4,000 companies around the globe, and we found a set of ingredients that are true across industries. We recognize the challenges that companies are facing today because of the global economy, so our research spans a period of ebbs and flows in the economy.

The first thing that we found is that it’s important to wake up in the morning and actively choose growth. We meet many executives who say they want their companies to grow, but they don’t allocate resources to support that growth over time.

You also need the courage to make bold moves, even in a time of economic uncertainty. In previous decades, you could choose not to pursue growth in a temporarily challenging environment. These challenging events, however, have become so pervasive that we need to have a through-cycle growth mindset. During the financial crisis, the gap between those companies that chose growth and those that stuck to maintaining the core business was reasonably narrow, but as the economy settled, that gap significantly widened. You saw a much steeper growth curve among those that had made bold bets during the downturn.

Sean Brown: How do you ensure that the pathways you choose lead you to the intended destination?

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Jill Zucker: You need to lay the foundation for more dynamic resource allocation, by which we mean both capital and talent. It means being careful in your culture to shut off projects without shutting off the talent. Just because a talented executive pursued a good experiment that didn’t work out doesn’t mean the executive should leave. Talent remains scarce in many business areas, so it’s important to allocate it to growth projects. It also means allocating resources to areas you are convinced will grow and eliminating the hobbies.

Secondly, you need to think about inorganic opportunities—both acquisitions and divestitures. The third part of the foundation is building functional capabilities, whether it’s marketing or digital or innovation.

Sean Brown: What strategies do you find growth outperformers pursue?

Rebecca Doherty: We looked at what companies have done both during the uncertainty over the past five years as well as over the longer term and found six differentiating strategies. One of the timeless approaches is to continue innovating in the core. Eighty percent of growth comes from maximizing the value of your core [exhibit]. But that’s not enough to put you in the echelon of companies that achieve growth on a sustained basis. To achieve that remaining 20 percent, you need to move into adjacencies in your value stream, such as new geographies, and build breakout businesses.

The third timeless element is putting people at the heart of what you do, whether it’s day-to-day growth or a broader transformation. Having your core people involved in growth initiatives with an ownership mindset is critical.

The three strategies that have emerged in more recent years include building an innovation culture , using sustainability as an accelerant to growth, and portfolio reallocation, including what we call shrinking to grow. The bold moves you make could include divesting assets where you may not be the best owner and then reallocating those resources toward growth opportunities.

Sean Brown: You talked about the timeless growth strategies. What makes them timeless?

Rebecca Doherty: The ratio of growth that comes from the core versus adjacencies or breakout business is pretty consistent over time. We’ve also found that companies that grow in all directions over a ten-year period have double the chance of outperforming their peers.

Sean Brown: How do the strongest growers embed an innovation culture?

Rebecca Doherty: We ran an executive survey of more than 1,000 companies, and I was surprised, frankly, to see how important innovation is across all the growth paths. Historically, people think of innovation as a way to turbocharge the core business. But leading growers look just as much at innovating new offerings and permeating that mindset through the company.

Sean Brown: Many companies still see sustainability more as a cost than a growth generator. How do you envision it accelerating growth?

About QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey

QuantumBlack, McKinsey’s AI arm, helps companies transform using the power of technology, technical expertise, and industry experts. With thousands of practitioners at QuantumBlack (data engineers, data scientists, product managers, designers, and software engineers) and McKinsey (industry and domain experts), we are working to solve the world’s most important AI challenges. QuantumBlack Labs is our center of technology development and client innovation, which has been driving cutting-edge advancements and developments in AI through locations across the globe.

Rebecca Doherty: We’ve found that if you already have growth and profitability in place, sustainability can be that extra punch  that gives you a lift over your competitors. Sustainable growth is not a substitute for profitability, but companies that have been able to embed sustainability in their businesses have been rewarded. Perhaps intuitively, those that deliver growth and profits show a five-percentage-point outperformance in TSR. If you add ESG [environmental, social, and governance] into the mix—and this isn’t dabbling but integrating ESG priorities into your strategy and sharing the messages with investors—you see seven points of outperformance. In some sectors such as retail, you have brands that have brought sustainability into the core and have done strings of acquisitions over the years to drive impact.

Sean Brown: How do you balance the bets on breakout or adjacent growth against building up the core? If 80 percent of the growth comes from the core, should that much of your investment go there as well?

Rebecca Doherty: It depends in part on the maturity of the business and where you are on the growth curve. If it’s early, you should focus on propelling that core growth strategy. If it’s a mature business and you’re only making incremental gains, maybe you look to invest beyond the core. How much you invest does matter, though. Companies sometimes simply take last year’s budget and tweak it by a few percent. For a breakout business, sometimes you need to invest more—and not just more money. I worked with one company that put its chief technology officer into the new business to help grow it. The initial investment in dollars wasn’t large but the investment in talent was.

You should also think about the investment in stage gates. Some bets may require a large up-front investment, and you will not see much revenue for a while. Others, you could start with smaller investments, and the funding could grow proportionately with revenue. Different profiles can work, but it’s important to have a sound business plan, understand the operational and financial milestones, and be willing to pull the plug if it’s not panning out—which is a bold move in itself.

Sean Brown: Reallocation of resources includes both people and capital, but people tend to have incentives. How do you maintain incentives when you’re moving somebody from a stable business into a riskier growth project?

Rebecca Doherty: It ties to what Jill said earlier: a failed business doesn’t mean a failed executive. The culture needs to reward risk taking, and management has to accept that you won’t have 100 percent success. In terms of incentives, you can align an individual’s incentives to delivering the project, but also implement incentives that reward thinking about what is best for the broader company.

Jill Zucker: We see some management teams reward managers uniformly on EPS [earnings-per-share] growth of the business or total shareholder return, and therefore whether you’re innovating or you’re maximizing the core, you are rewarded equally. It’s not about giving more money to one person or another but about what will grow the total shareholder return. This encourages managers to give up some capital for innovation if they believe that doing so will improve the company’s growth.

Sean Brown: Can you elaborate on how companies should pursue growth through adjacencies?

Kate Siegel: Finding growth outside your core business is challenging, so we looked at how growth outperformers approach adjacencies. Our sample was about 250 companies that had announced significant adjacency moves over the past 20 years. We found four types of rationales, or approaches, that underpinned these moves. The first was based on customer relationships and the knowledge of customers’ pain points. The second was capabilities, where companies could use their existing assets, people, or processes in new markets. Expansion into the value chain—going upstream or downstream to capture various synergies—was another rationale. The last one was finding opportunities for disruption and business model innovation. What’s interesting is that the more approaches they used, the higher the reward, and that included both outperformers and other companies.

Sean Brown: How do companies identify those adjacencies? Is it based on experience and team discussions, or do they use tools?

Kate Siegel: There is a variety of data you can scan on trends, technologies, changes in preferences. You can also consider similarities of your offerings to certain businesses and capabilities. For example, we recently helped a software company that was struggling with high competition find diversification opportunities. We used AI to scan unstructured online data to identify more than 500 growth ideas based on the value creation approaches . Another set of AI analyses helped prioritize the opportunities based on trends, news mentions, momentum, and patent intensity to give the management team a short list of ideas. The company then considered which were the best fit, what talent they would need, or whether the market was big enough. One of these ideas was one they hadn’t talked about before. AI is a powerful tool for challenging orthodoxies.

Sean Brown: One strategy we haven’t yet touched on is shrinking to grow. What does that mean?

Kate Siegel: We know only about 10 percent of companies are able to maintain positive growth rates across a decade. But suppose you don’t have this consistent growth engine. The next-best strategy is to periodically prune back your portfolio and then grow healthily from a new base. You divest parts of the business one or two years out of the decade, but in every other year, you grow from that new base. We’ve seen that work in some conglomerates, where they regularly look at their portfolio to see if there are less attractive assets they could divest and then reinvest the proceeds into ones that could be better platforms.

Sean Brown: What if the businesses you want to prune have some star performers? How are companies thinking about that talent dimension?

Kate Siegel: Divestitures typically have key-member clauses to ensure business continuity, but you can take steps to understand which talent you would like to retain. The worst thing you can do is not think about talent when you sell a business, because it could have the best technology officer for a new growth entity you plan to reinvest in.

Rebecca Doherty: When we consider an acquisition, we often think about it as one plus one equals more than two. Likewise, when we think about divestitures or spinouts, it’s usually not two minus one equals one, because you’re not the best owner of the business, and someone else might be, or it might flourish on its own. Separations might not only give you proceeds to reinvest but also help the other entity perform better.

Sean Brown: Once you have laid out the various growth paths and developed strategies, you need to execute them well. What does excellence look like for execution?

Kate Siegel: People are at the heart of a successful transformation. Transformations that activate the full organization are eight times more likely to succeed. In addition, those in which more than 20 percent of employees owned transformation initiatives saw nearly twice the excess shareholder return than their peers did. Once you have the right aspiration mindsets and culture, with clarity on the growth pathways, the most important thing is to involve as many people as possible in the growth effort. That includes getting everyone aligned on the growth aspiration, building the skills they need, having leaders consistently talk about the growth targets, and implementing processes to verify whether the bets are working.

Sean Brown: Are you optimistic that companies can revive growth?

Jill Zucker: There is not a single company I can point to that’s not focused on growth today, despite the economic backdrop. When I think back to other periods of economic uncertainty, the hunkering down, the fixation on the core, the focus on efficiency were much more at the forefront. Now, growth remains a priority.

Jill Zucker   is a senior partner in  McKinsey’s New York office,  Kate Siegel  is a partner in the Detroit office, and  Rebecca Doherty is a partner in the Bay Area office.  Sean Brown is global director of communications for the Strategy & Corporate Finance Practice and is based in the Boston office.

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Scaling a Midsize Startup

• Benjamin Hallen

In between unicorns and mom-and-pop startups lies the “mighty middle.”

The “mighty-middle” segment of startups falls between venture-scale unicorns and small businesses. These startups aim for valuations in the high single-digit to high tens of millions within 5-10 years, targeting midsize niches with significant growth potential. Enabled by internet tools, global advertising, and affordable tech, mighty-middle businesses often bootstrap, use contractors, and require entrepreneurs to acquire diverse skills. They offer a favorable risk-reward tradeoff, allowing founders to retain control and start paying themselves earlier. Investors and corporations find them attractive for their innovation and substantial returns. But to support mighty-middle startups, tailored support is required, emphasizing mentorship and showcasing successful mighty- middle examples.

The popular conception of entrepreneurship is that it comes in two sizes. Venture-scale startups aim for billion-dollar valuations within a decade by targeting large markets disruptively through innovative technologies or business models. Such aspiring “unicorns” capture the attention of many venture capitalists and angels and include success stories such as Google, Meta, and Airbnb. On the other end of the spectrum, small business entrepreneurship encompasses ventures that start small and often remain so, competing in mature markets using established templates, such as local restaurants, retailers, and service firms.

• BH Benjamin Hallen is the Dempsey Endowed Professor in Strategy and Entrepreneurship at the Foster School of Business, University of Washington and an associate editor at the  Strategic Management Journal.  
• EH Ed Hallen is co-founder, chief product officer, and a board member of Klaviyo, a leading provider of marketing powered by data science. He is also the co-founder of Team Engine.

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Igniting Innovation: Qatar's Startup Ecosystem Is A Rising Hub For Entrepreneurial Growth In The Middle East When compared with its GCC counterparts, Qatar has a relatively fresher market, and it has been actively making efforts in working towards evolving its landscape, which is creating a favorable environment for startups.

By Paulina Zalewska- Dzieciuchowicz May 27, 2024

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

You're reading Entrepreneur Middle East, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.

Qatar has been making significant strides in recent years to position itself as a thriving central hub for startups in the Middle East. With a host of new events, initiatives, programs, and reductions in cost, Qatar's evolving market is aiming to promote entrepreneurial growth, and it is rapidly emerging as a preferred destination for startups that are looking to establish and expand their business in the region.

When compared with its GCC counterparts, Qatar has a relatively fresher market, and it has been actively making efforts in working towards evolving its landscape, which is creating a favorable environment for startups. Of the recent updates that Qatar has undergone, a key factor that will drive momentum is significant reductions in setup and licensing costs that are being made in order to reduce barriers for entry into the market for aspiring entrepreneurs and businesses. The Ministry of Culture (MoC) significantly reduced the costs of all license fees in relation to the culture and media sector in the country, and it is actively reducing costs across an increasing number of sectors of licenses.

Qatar has also witnessed growth in a number of areas, platforms, and entities such as labs and research institutions, educational centers, events, consultancies, and other industry associations. This highlights the country's dedication to be supporting startups across various sectors. New initiatives and incubators -such as the recently unveiled Startup Qatar Investment Program, powered by Qatar Development Bank (QDB), which aims to attract tech startups through providing financial support and other resources to startups involved in technological developments- are encouraging the innovation and growth of startups within the local ecosystem. This particular initiative by QDB features up to QAR18 million of financing towards offering solutions as well as empowering startups to expand their businesses to Qatar.

In addition, Qatar boasts of world-renowned educational institutions and infrastructure, and it has invested heavily into building the necessary support systems required to encourage startup growth. These institutions, which include the Qatar campus of Carnegie Mellon University (CMU-Q) and Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), seek to attract knowledge and talent into the region. Besides having esteemed educational institutions in Qatar, there is also robust infrastructure in place for supporting wider business growth and prosperity, which play a crucial role in encouraging research, development, and entrepreneurship.

More recently, the Investment Promotion Agency (Invest Qatar) has made a strong push for encouraging entrepreneurs and startups into the country through launching a program called Startup Qatar. This initiative has been created to act as a one-stop online platform that caters to all of the requirements that a business may have, and it serves as a complete single comprehensive resource for information, business support, and the opportunities that are on offer to startups in the nation. The creation of these initiatives aim to streamline market entry, and ease the processes for doing business as a startup in Qatar.

Related: Following Qatar's Successful Staging Of The FIFA World Cup 2022, Qatar Tourism COO Berthold Trenkel Believes The Nation's Appeal As A Tourist Destination Is Primed For Growth

There has also been a surge in funding for platforms such as co-working spaces and hubs across Qatar, which reflects the ever-growing demand from startups and smaller-sized businesses for cost-effective and collaborative work environments. The increase in these spaces not only provides startups with access to the essential amenities for successfully running a business, but also assist in facilitating networking and collaboration amongst like-minded individuals and companies, which creates a competitive and business- friendly knowledge-sharing environment.

The increased focus onto startups through investments and building towards an encouraging ecosystem that Qatar and other GCC nations have shown can be attributed to several factors. There is growing recognition for the need to diversify the economy, and reduce its reliance on traditional sectors such as oil and gas. Through building and encouraging a nurturing startup ecosystem, Qatar is poised to experience new sources of innovation and economic development.

Qatar and neighboring GCC countries are all investing into attracting foreign investment and entrepreneurial talent. By positioning itself as an attractive destination for startups, Qatar is attempting to set itself apart, and capitalizing on the opportunities presented by engaging with startups. This regulatory evolution, paired with the added benefits of the startup's entrepreneurial innovation, provides Qatar with innovative competitiveness, both in the region, and on a global scale. Plus, it is anticipated that there is an imminent announcement of a freelance visa in Qatar, which is expected to provide additional flexibility and support options for individuals who are looking to embark on entrepreneurial ventures. This will offer an additional route through which individuals can look to explore the business environment and market in Qatar, and potentially seek to establish a startup company.

The recent Web Summit event held in Qatar served as a testament to the country's growing prominence as a startup hub in the Middle East. With participation from 1,043 startups representing 81 countries, the event provided a platform for like-minded startup busi- nesses to network, collaborate, exchange knowledge, and explore opportunities in Qatar. These gatherings of businesses, budding entrepreneurs, and stakeholders within the startup ecosystem will further catalyze discussions and initiatives aimed at driving innovative solutions and programs for growth. The resulting fast-tracked startup setup process in Qatar showcases the country's commitment to boosting entrepreneurship as well as attracting global talent and investment.

The strategic focus on startups mirrors the ambitious investment and regulatory efforts the country is making to diversify the economy. With the supportive startup environment, reduced costs, and initiatives on offer, Qatar is positioning itself to emerge as a leading hub for foreign direct investment (FDI) and innovation-driven growth. As the country continues to improve and develop its infrastructure, initiatives, and strategic partnerships, the fostering environment of Qatar's startup ecosystem continues to be promising for entrepreneurs in the Middle East.

Related: Enabling Entrepreneurs: Invest Qatar Launches Startup Qatar

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