How to Write a Business Plan for a Small Business

Determined female African-American entrepreneur scaling a mountain while wearing a large backpack. Represents the journey to starting and growing a business and needi

Noah Parsons

24 min. read

Updated September 2, 2024

Download Now: Free Business Plan Template →

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 writing a business plan

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

You understand that writing a business plan helps you: 

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

As you start to write your business 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 writing your business 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

When writing a business plan, the produces and services section 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

When writing a business plan, 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

The last section of your business plan is your financial plan and forecasts. 

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 to write a 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

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 writing 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.

Writing 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 writing 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.

Content Author: Noah Parsons

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.

Check out LivePlan

Table of Contents

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

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Steps: add an existing domain to your microsoft 365 business standard subscription.

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Steps: set up business email with a new domain.

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On the Windows Start menu, search for Outlook, and select it.

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HOK Selected for the Planning and Design of the New Office Annex in Moscow, Russia

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Trump Tower Moscow

The Truth Behind Trump Tower Moscow: How Trump Risked Everything For A (Relatively) Tiny Deal

This story appears in the June 30, 2019 issue of Forbes Magazine. Subscribe

I t’s getting late, and Felix Sater—a onetime Trump partner, two-time convicted felon and longtime government cooperator—sits in the back of a New York City restaurant, ready for a drink. “A very dirty martini, Russian vodka,” he tells the waiter. “A collusion martini.”

No one outside of the Trump Organization has more firsthand knowledge of Donald Trump's connections to Russia than Felix Sater. In 2006, he scouted a potential deal in Moscow with the president's children Don Jr. and Ivanka. In 2007, he stood alongside Trump at a launch party for a hotel Sater had helped get built, Trump SoHo, which marketed partially to Russian buyers. And during the 2016 presidential campaign, Sater helped plan a giant Trump tower in Moscow.

"Here's to fun times," he says, hoisting his martini glass in the air.

Fun times indeed. Special Counsel Robert Mueller's 448-page report highlights three separate proposals to develop a Trump property in Moscow around the time of the election. Yet key details have remained vague. Forbes got in touch with the people at the center of all three—and uncovered concrete answers to fundamental questions about Trump's plans in Russia.

Three years ago, Michael Cohen was working on a potential Trump tower in Moscow. Today he is in prison for crimes that include lying to Congress about the project.

Such as who was actually going to pay for the project. Trump, now more of a licensor than builder, certainly wasn't planning on putting in much of his own money. And according to Sater, who brokered the proposal that extended furthest into the campaign, nor was Trump's official partner, Andrey Rozov. Instead, Sater says, he was cooking up a plan to raise huge sums from additional investors, including two of Vladimir Putin's closest cronies, Boris and Arkady Rotenberg . "We would have gone to them and asked them for four or five hundred million dollars cash," Sater says.

Another big, previously unsettled question: How much money could Trump have made in all of this? Both Mueller and former Trump attorney Michael Cohen have suggested, vaguely, "hundreds of millions." After mining business agreements and surveying real estate experts in Moscow, however, Forbes believes that's almost impossible. It seems more likely that Trump would have walked away with roughly $35 million up front and $2.6 million or so in annual fees, if everything went according to plan. In the rosiest of scenarios, Sater says, Trump could have gotten about $50 million. A lot of money to most people but less than 2% of the president's net worth ( estimated at $3.1 billion ).

Taken together, these revelations paint a new picture of Trump's plans in Russia and the president's way of doing business. His deal came with far greater risk—and far less reward—than previously understood. In short, candidate Trump jeopardized his eventual presidency on a middling deal and one that would have had Vladimir Putin's fingerprints all over it.

P art of the reason the Trump Tower Moscow narrative confuses people: There were three different attempts to attach the president's name to a Russian property in recent years. The first one emanates from the infamous 2013 Miss Universe contest, where 86 women strutted through a Moscow concert hall. Donald Trump, the co-owner of the pageant, took home the money, collecting an estimated $3 million from the local hosts: billionaire real estate tycoon Aras Agalarov and his son Emin, a pop singer. "I had a great weekend with you and your family," Trump tweeted afterward, tagging the elder Agalarov. "You have done a FANTASTIC job. TRUMP TOWER-MOSCOW is next."

One month later, in December 2013, the Trump Organization signed an agreement to brand an Agalarov property in Moscow, according to the Mueller report. The plan eventually called for 800 apartments near the concert venue that hosted the Miss Universe event, with 3.5% of sales going to Trump. If the whole building sold out, Emin Agalarov estimates Trump would have come away with $17 million or so.

2013 Miss Universe Pageant. Miss Venezuela took home the crown, but Donald Trump took home the money, collecting an estimated $3 million for bringing the pageant to Russia

Trump's daughter Ivanka toured the site in February 2014. That same month, though, the geopolitical landscape was shifting. Crowds were in the streets of Kiev, protesting Ukraine's Russia-friendly president, Viktor Yanukovych. He ultimately fled Ukraine, reportedly with the help of Putin. Within weeks, Putin sent soldiers into Crimea, a Ukrainian region neighboring Russia, effectively taking over. The landgrab sparked outrage in the international community, and the United States retaliated with economic sanctions.

Those measures, combined with falling oil prices, crippled the Russian economy—including the Moscow real estate market. The average price of new apartments plummeted an estimated 30% in 2014. Condos were selling for less than the cost of construction. Even in the unlikely event that the Agalarovs managed to build something amid all the turmoil, Emin Agalarov tells Forbes that Trump's payout would have been cut in half. Communications between the Trumps and the Agalarovs began to fade in the fall of 2014, according to the Mueller report. Donald Trump Jr. later told the Senate Judiciary Committee the project died because of "deal fatigue." A more likely cause of death: U.S. sanctions.

Who's Who In Towergate

With donald trump on one end and vladimir putin on the other, the web of people involved in trump's plans for moscow included members of the first family, oligarchs and russian officials..

In November 2015, Donald Trump, by then a presidential candidate, sat down with former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly, who challenged him over his accommodating stance toward Russia. "[Putin] doesn't make deals," O'Reilly reasoned. "He just rolls soldiers in to cause destruction and shoots down airplanes."

"Well," Trump replied, "he does what he has to do."

Unbeknownst to the American public, the Trump Organization, which did not respond to requests for comment on this story, was secretly communicating about a second potential deal in Russia around the same time. In September 2015, nearly a year after the Agalarov partnership dropped off, and with Trump now leading the Republican primary race, his lawyer Michael Cohen traded messages with a man named Giorgi Rtskhiladze, according to the Mueller report. Cohen and Rtskhiladze had previously worked together on business in the former Soviet states of Georgia and Kazakhstan.

Rtskhiladze sent Cohen a draft of a letter ultimately intended for the mayor of Moscow, which pitched a Trump development as a symbol of strengthening ties between the United States and Russia, according to the Mueller report. "[The mayor] is aware of the potential project and will pledge his support," the note said, according to the report.

Today Rtskhiladze says he was just passing along the message on behalf of a longtime friend and that friend's acquaintance. He claims the letter never made it to the mayor. And he suggests he's not even sure if what he sent Cohen was accurate. "I don't know if it's true or not if [the] mayor's office was ever notified, okay."

That's how it goes in Russia, a place where trust is in short supply and outsiders can suddenly find themselves in unnerving situations. Rtskhiladze says he had previously warned Cohen of the risks: "You have to be careful who you get involved with."

C aution, however, is not the Trump way. Cohen dismissed the Rtskhiladze plan and chose to pursue a third proposal, brokered by a man with a checkered past: Sater. Moscow-born, Brooklyn-bred, Sater started a career on Wall Street, until a bar fight—he stabbed a man in the face with a margarita glass—led to 15 months in prison. Three years after his release, he pleaded guilty to racketeering in a mob-connected pump-and-dump stock scheme. He stayed out of prison this time by working with the feds, ultimately supplying information about the Mafia, North Korea, Russian cybercriminals, even Osama bin Laden. At Sater's sentencing, about a decade after he began cooperating with the government, FBI agent Leo Taddeo, one of Sater's handlers at the bureau, credited him with helping pave the way for law enforcement to "basically eliminate" the mob from Wall Street's penny stock business. Former FBI official Ray Kerr adds: "There was nothing he wouldn't do or wouldn't try."

At the same time that he was serving as a government cooperator, Sater reinvented himself as a real estate dealmaker. It was in that role that he ended up working with the Trump Organization, on projects in Arizona, Florida, New York and, ultimately, Russia. For the Moscow effort, Sater served as both broker and dealmaker. His friend Andrey Rozov, who did not respond to our request for comment, was officially the local developer in Russia, but Sater says he expected a cut for himself as well. Trump signed the letter of intent, dated October 28, 2015, the same day as the third Republican presidential debate.

Felix Sater (right) stands alongside Donald Trump and Tevfik Arif at the Trump Soho Launch Party on September 19, 2007 in New York.

The tower was meant to be the tallest building in Europe, featuring a few floors of prime shopping, a high-end hotel and new office space, topped with 250 luxury residences, homes for the Russian elite. According to the terms, Rozov was on the hook for construction while Trump would simply lend his name and help manage the place once it opened. In exchange, according to the Mueller report, the presidential contender would get a cut of condo sales, beginning with 5% of the first $100 million and gradually stepping down to 1% of everything over $1 billion. Sater says each unit would have been about 2,500 square feet, far larger than the typical luxury condo in Moscow. They were targeting a price of about $1,500 a square foot, about 30% above the average for luxury apartments in town. If all went well, Trump would have walked away with an estimated $34 million from condo sales and upfront fees. Big money, sure, but nothing life changing for a guy worth $3.1 billion.

To juice the numbers, Sater says, he wanted to give away a penthouse to Putin. On top of the terrible optics, this could have put the Trump Organization in danger of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which bans American companies from bribing foreign officials. Sater says the plan was not meant to entice the Russian president. "You've got to have a billion dollars for [Putin] to take you seriously," he says. "It's good for Congressman [Nancy] Pelosi or [Adam] Schiff to say that, but in the real world, Vladimir Putin ain't getting bought with a penthouse." When contacted, a representative of Putin deflected questions, saying, "We believe that you should address to relevant authorities, not to the press office of the president of Russia."

To Trump small amounts of money matter—the tower agreement details the slices he could shave off every year, including hotel management fees (an estimated $1.3 million), office rents (est. $240,000), residential management fees (est. $225,000), spa operations (est. $75,000) and so on. Add everything up and Forbes figures Trump could have gotten an additional $2.6 million annually—math verified by Sater, who confirmed an Excel spreadsheet that details the projected payments line by line.

Count enough years and it's theoretically possible to get to any number: $13 million over 5 years, $67 million over 25, $94 million over 35. Regardless, even with the condo deals, it wasn't really close to the "hundreds of millions" Cohen and Mueller cited.

R obert Mueller did not find collusion to steal the 2016 election—but he did find evidence of collusion to try to make money. Sater and Cohen did the work on the ground, rubbing elbows with oligarchs and Russian-government entities.

In sworn testimony before Congress, Cohen left no doubt about who was ultimately in charge: "To be clear, Mr. Trump knew of and directed the Trump Moscow negotiations throughout the campaign and lied about it."

There was good reason to lie, given the cast of characters involved. On October 9, 2015, before Trump had even signed the letter of intent, Sater wrote that he was meeting with Andrey Molchanov , a former member of the Russian senate who controlled a plot of land that could work for the tower. Three days later, Sater claimed the chairman of VTB, a Kremlin-controlled bank on which the U.S. imposed sanctions, was "on board" with the project. A spokesperson for VTB said the bank never dealt with Sater or his affiliates in Russia. Ultimately, Sater secured an invitation to Russia from a different bank, days after it had also landed on the U.S. sanctions list.

“You've got to have a billion dollars for [Putin] to take you seriously. It's good for Congressman [Nancy] Pelosi or [Adam] Schiff to say that, but in the real world, Vladimir Putin ain't getting bought with a penthouse.” Felix Sater

Then there was Sater's plan to get billionaire brothers Arkady and Boris Rotenberg to invest hundreds of millions in the project. From a political standpoint, it would be hard to think of a more problematic pair to bring into a deal with a U.S. presidential candidate. Arkady Rotenberg has known Vladimir Putin since childhood, when they were judo partners. He and his brother are now among Russia's richest people, worth an estimated $3.7 billion combined, with interests in banking and construction. Arkady Rotenberg's companies got $7.4 billion in government contracts for the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, over $5 billion for the 2018 World Cup (which Russia hosted) and more to build a bridge connecting Russia and Crimea. In 2014, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned both brothers, identifying them as members of Putin's "inner circle." The Rotenbergs did not respond to our request for comment.

The same thing that made the Rotenbergs targets of the U.S. government—their ties to Putin—made them appealing to Sater. In his mind, if he could get Putin's associates to invest $400 million or $500 million, then the Russian president would surely greenlight the project—a key step in a country where the government calls the shots on major real estate developments. Trump would have theoretically had to sign off on bringing in the Rotenbergs or anyone else who wanted a piece of the action. "Everybody was going to make money on this," Sater says. "And at the end of the day, some schmuck from Vladivostok with a lot of money would have put up all the money."

It is not clear whether Trump knew about the plans to give Putin a penthouse or his cronies a chunk of the deal. Which is remarkable in itself. A presidential candidate delegated a radioactive deal, in a hostile foreign country, to a former convict (Sater) and a soon-to-be convict (Cohen).

Virtually every part of their plan involved Putin or someone close to him. The equity? Putin's boys. The debt? Kremlin-connected banks. The land? A Putin ally. The approvals? Government entities. The marketing? Putin himself. Look at Trump Moscow long enough and it gives the impression it was less of a deal between Trump and a random Russian and more of a deal between Trump and Putin.

I t also came with a lot of bluster. By December 2015, Trump's men still had not locked in a plot of land. Or financing. Or investors. And Cohen was waiting on an official invitation to Russia. "I will not let you f--- with my job and playing point person," Cohen texted Sater between Christmas and New Year's, according to correspondence first released by Buzzfeed and confirmed by Forbes . "I still have no numbers from anyone who is allegedly involved in this deal, other than the fact I will have whatever invite I need within 48 hours. Not you or anyone you know will embarrass me in front of Mr. T when he asks me what is happening."

Cohen told Sater he was done working with him, and the text stream devolved into something like a souring love affair. "Please don't do this, Michael," Sater wrote.

"We're done," Cohen responded. "Enough. I told you last week that you thinking you are running point in this is inaccurate. You are putting my job in jeopardy and making me look incompetent. I gave you two months and then best you send me is some bull---- f------ garbage invite by some no name clerk at a third-tier bank. So I am telling you enough as of right now. Enough! I will handle this myself."

Kiev Protests. Political turmoil in Ukraine led to a Russian takeover of Crimea, which in turn prompted U.S. sanctions against Putin’s regime. Those measures put a dent in Moscow’s real estate market—and Trump’s potential windfall.

Cohen, who did not respond to a request for comment on this article, reached out to the office of Putin's press secretary, Dmitry Peskov. On January 20, 2016, he heard back from Peskov's assistant. They talked for 20 minutes about a tower in Moscow, and Cohen came away impressed, according to the Mueller report. Cohen updated Trump, remarking that it would be nice if the Trump Organization had assistants who were as good as the Kremlin's, the report says.

Sater texted Cohen the next day. "Call me when you have a few minutes to chat," he wrote. "It's about Putin. They called today."

Money has a way of repairing relationships. Cohen and Sater eventually sketched out plans to travel to Russia. Cohen talked to Trump about it, and the candidate said he would be willing to go as well, so long as Cohen could "lock and load" on the deal, according to the Mueller report. Cohen settled on a rough timeline: "My trip before Cleveland," he texted Sater, referencing the Republican National Convention. "Trump once he becomes the nominee."

On May 5, 2016, Sater followed up with Cohen, offering promising news. "Peskov would like to invite you as his guest to the St. Petersburg Forum, which is Russia's Davos. It's June 16-19. He wants to meet there with you and possibly introduce you to either Putin or [Russian prime minister Dmitry] Medvedev."

But Sater was apparently bluffing. He now says he never actually had an invitation from Peskov, although he was confident he would meet some heavy hitters at the conference. When the Peskov invitation failed to materialize, Cohen called off the trip, according to the Mueller report, and checked in with Trump. But he did not tell the boss the deal was off, since there still seemed to be a chance it could come back to life in the closing months of the campaign. Or possibly afterward, when Trump would return to just being Donald Trump, private citizen.

What ultimately killed Trump Moscow was not all the bluster, nor the ties to Russian oligarchs, nor even the limited financial upside. When asked why the deal ended, in a sworn congressional hearing, Cohen pointed to one part of the plan that went awry: "He won the presidency."

Dan Alexander

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EU Nations Question IMF Chief Over New Russia Engagement

new office business plan

(Bloomberg) -- Several European Union nations are challenging International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva about the Washington-based lender’s plan to engage with Russia on economic issues for the first time since the invasion of Ukraine. 

At a meeting of EU envoys Wednesday, France, Belgium and Poland, as well as several Baltic and Nordic nations, said they were surprised by the IMF’s decision earlier this month to restart annual economic reviews with Moscow, according to people familiar with the matter.

A Lithuanian representative said the country planned to raise the issue directly with Georgieva during a lunch meeting Friday in Budapest with European finance ministers, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the meeting was private. France said that the visit should not serve to legitimize sanctions circumvention by Putin, the people said.

The diplomat added that they see the move offering President Vladimir Putin economic assistance and a veneer of legitimacy as the EU and the US seek to isolate Russia. 

Lithuania’s representative also said during the Wednesday meeting that the first mission by a major international organization to Russia since the February 2022 invasion could be used by Moscow as propaganda to show its international isolation is easing, the people said. 

“We are shocked by this decision of the IMF leadership,” Lithuanian Finance Minister Gintare Skaiste said Friday. “We believe that any re-engagement of cooperation with Russia would be a sign of a step towards the normalization of relations with the aggressor, while Russia’s aggression in Ukraine is still ongoing.”

A group of nine Baltic and Nordic countries sent a letter to Georgieva Friday, expressing concern over a process that they said risks leading toward normalizing relations with Moscow.

“We thus call on the IMF not to resume cooperation with Russia and to remain committed to the purposes and principles of the UN Charter,” the letter, signed by finance and economy ministers, said.

The IMF said earlier this week that it’s restarting annual reviews of Russia’s economy because the region’s economic situation is “more settled” than before. The review, known as an Article IV evaluation, is a “mutual obligation” of the fund and its members, it had said. 

“Article IVs are not an option, but an institutional obligation for the fund and are carried out for the benefit of the whole of the membership,” the IMF said in an emailed response to questions Thursday. 

“We now believe that we are in a situation where we can provide economic analysis,” the head of the fund’s European Department, Alfred Kammer, said in an interview. 

Both the IMF and Russia declined to clarify who initiated the restart. 

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in an interview last week that she didn’t object to the annual review, but would have an issue with Moscow receiving IMF financial support. Treasury declined to comment further. Russia hasn’t applied for IMF aid since 2000.

The IMF has said its staff would start discussions virtually with Russian authorities on Sept. 16 and then travel to the country for in-person discussions. That visit is scheduled to start Oct. 1, according to the people, with one adding that the IMF had tried to convince Russia to hold the meetings in a third country. 

The move came shortly after Ksenia Yudaeva, a former first deputy governor at Russia’s central bank, was appointed by Moscow as its representative on the executive board. She’s replacing Alexey Mozhin, who had held the position since the 1990s.

Russia’s economy grew 4% annually in the second quarter, the country’s Federal Statistics Service estimated last month. Growth is likely to slow over the rest of the year, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

--With assistance from Daryna Krasnolutska and Eric Martin.

(Updates with the Lithuanian finance minister, joint letter starting in sixth paragraphs. An earlier version had the incorrect day for the lunch meeting of European finance ministers.)

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

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  15. HOK Selected for the Planning and Design of the New Office Annex in

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