business plan 5 anni excel

Free Business Plan Excel Template [Excel Download]

Written by Dave Lavinsky

A business plan is a roadmap for growing your business. Not only does it help you plan out your venture, but it is required by funding sources like banks, venture capitalists and angel investors.

Download our Ultimate Business Plan Template here >

The body of your business plan describes your company and your strategies for growing it. The financial portion of your plan details the financial implications of your business: how much money you need, what you project your future sales and earnings to be, etc.

Below you will be able to download our free business plan excel template to help with the financial portion of your business plan. You will also learn about the importance of the financial model in your business plan.

Download the template here: Financial Plan Excel Template  

How to Finish Your Business Plan in 1 Day!

Don’t you wish there was a faster, easier way to finish your business plan?

With Growthink’s Ultimate Business Plan Template you can finish your plan in just 8 hours or less! It includes a simple, plug-and-play financial model and a fill-in-the-blanks template for completing the body of your plan.

What’s Included in our Business Plan Excel Template

Our business plan excel template includes the following sections:

Income Statement : A projection of your business’ revenues, costs, and expenses over a specific period of time. Includes sections for sales revenue, cost of goods sold (COGS), operating expenses, and net profit or loss.

Example 5 Year Annual Income Statement

Cash Flow Statement : A projection of your business’ cash inflows and outflows over a specific period of time. Includes sections for cash inflows (such as sales receipts, loans, and investments), cash outflows (such as expenses, salaries, and loan repayments), and net cash flow.

Example 5 Year Annual Cash Flow Statement

Balance Sheet : A snapshot of your business’ financial position at a specific point in time. Includes sections for assets (such as cash, inventory, equipment, and property), liabilities (such as loans, accounts payable, and salaries payable), and owner’s equity (such as retained earnings and capital contributions).

Example 5 Year Annual Balance Sheet

Download the template here: Business Plan Excel Template 

The template is easy to customize according to your specific business needs. Simply input your own financial data and projections, and use it as a guide to create a comprehensive financial plan for your business. Remember to review and update your financial plan regularly to track your progress and make informed financial decisions.

Finish Your Business Plan Today!

The importance of the financial model in your business plan.

A solid financial model is a critical component of any well-prepared business plan. It provides a comprehensive and detailed projection of your business’ financial performance, including revenue, expenses, cash flow, and profitability. The financial model is not just a mere set of numbers, but a strategic tool that helps you understand the financial health of your business, make informed decisions, and communicate your business’ financial viability to potential investors, lenders, and other stakeholders. In this article, we will delve into the importance of the financial model in your business plan.

• Provides a roadmap for financial success : A well-structured financial model serves as a roadmap for your business’ financial success. It outlines your revenue streams, cost structure, and cash flow projections, helping you understand the financial implications of your business strategies and decisions. It allows you to forecast your future financial performance, set financial goals, and measure your progress over time. A comprehensive financial model helps you identify potential risks, opportunities, and areas that may require adjustments to achieve your financial objectives.
• Demonstrates financial viability to stakeholders : Investors, lenders, and other stakeholders want to see that your business is financially viable and has a plan to generate revenue, manage expenses, and generate profits. A robust financial model in your business plan demonstrates that you have a solid understanding of your business’ financials and have a plan to achieve profitability. It provides evidence of the market opportunity, pricing strategy, sales projections, and financial sustainability. A well-prepared financial model increases your credibility and instills confidence in your business among potential investors and lenders.
• Helps with financial decision-making : Your financial model is a valuable tool for making informed financial decisions. It helps you analyze different scenarios, evaluate the financial impact of your decisions, and choose the best course of action for your business. For example, you can use your financial model to assess the feasibility of a new product launch, determine the optimal pricing strategy, or evaluate the impact of changing market conditions on your cash flow. A well-structured financial model helps you make data-driven decisions that are aligned with your business goals and financial objectives.
• Assists in securing funding : If you are seeking funding from investors or lenders, a robust financial model is essential. It provides a clear picture of your business’ financials and shows how the funds will be used to generate revenue and profits. It includes projections for revenue, expenses, cash flow, and profitability, along with a breakdown of assumptions and methodology used. It also provides a realistic assessment of the risks and challenges associated with your business and outlines the strategies to mitigate them. A well-prepared financial model in your business plan can significantly increase your chances of securing funding as it demonstrates your business’ financial viability and growth potential.
• Facilitates financial management and monitoring : A financial model is not just for external stakeholders; it is also a valuable tool for internal financial management and monitoring. It helps you track your actual financial performance against your projections, identify any deviations, and take corrective actions if needed. It provides a clear overview of your business’ cash flow, profitability, and financial health, allowing you to proactively manage your finances and make informed decisions to achieve your financial goals. A well-structured financial model helps you stay on top of your business’ financials and enables you to take timely actions to ensure your business’ financial success.
• Enhances business valuation : If you are planning to sell your business or seek investors for an exit strategy, a robust financial model is crucial. It provides a solid foundation for business valuation as it outlines your historical financial performance, future projections, and the assumptions behind them. It helps potential buyers or investors understand the financial potential of your business and assess its value. A well-prepared financial model can significantly impact the valuation of your business, and a higher valuation can lead to better negotiation terms and higher returns on your investment.
• Supports strategic planning : Your financial model is an integral part of your strategic planning process. It helps you align your financial goals with your overall business strategy and provides insights into the financial feasibility of your strategic initiatives. For example, if you are planning to expand your business, enter new markets, or invest in new technologies, your financial model can help you assess the financial impact of these initiatives, including the investment required, the expected return on investment, and the timeline for achieving profitability. It enables you to make informed decisions about the strategic direction of your business and ensures that your financial goals are aligned with your overall business objectives.
• Enhances accountability and transparency : A robust financial model promotes accountability and transparency in your business. It provides a clear framework for setting financial targets, measuring performance, and holding yourself and your team accountable for achieving financial results. It helps you monitor your progress towards your financial goals and enables you to take corrective actions if needed. A well-structured financial model also enhances transparency by providing a clear overview of your business’ financials, assumptions, and methodologies used in your projections. It ensures that all stakeholders, including investors, lenders, employees, and partners, have a clear understanding of your business’ financial performance and prospects.

In conclusion, a well-prepared financial model is a crucial component of your business plan. It provides a roadmap for financial success, demonstrates financial viability to stakeholders, helps with financial decision-making, assists in securing funding, facilitates financial management and monitoring, enhances business valuation, supports strategic planning, and enhances accountability and transparency in your business. It is not just a set of numbers, but a strategic tool that helps you understand, analyze, and optimize your business’ financial performance. Investing time and effort in creating a comprehensive and robust financial model in your business plan is vital for the success of your business and can significantly increase your chances of achieving your financial goals.

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10 Free Business Plan Templates in Word, Excel, & ClickUp

Praburam Srinivasan

Growth Marketing Manager

February 13, 2024

Turning your vision into a clear and coherent business plan can be confusing and tough. 

Hours of brainstorming and facing an intimidating blank page can raise more questions than answers. Are you covering everything? What should go where? How do you keep each section thorough but brief?

If these questions have kept you up at night and slowed your progress, know you’re not alone. That’s why we’ve put together the top 10 business plan templates in Word, Excel, and ClickUp—to provide answers, clarity, and a structured framework to work with. This way, you’re sure to capture all the relevant information without wasting time. 

And the best part? Business planning becomes a little less “ugh!” and a lot more “aha!” 🤩

What is a Business Plan Template?

What makes a good business plan template, 1. clickup business plan template, 2. clickup sales plan template, 3. clickup business development action plan template, 4. clickup business roadmap template, 5. clickup business continuity plan template, 6. clickup lean business plan template, 7. clickup small business action plan template, 8. clickup strategic business roadmap template , 9. microsoft word business plan template by microsoft, 10. excel business plan template by vertex42.

A business plan template is a structured framework for entrepreneurs and business executives who want to create business plans. It comes with pre-arranged sections and headings that cover key elements like the executive summary , business overview, target customers, unique value proposition, marketing plans, and financial statements.  

A good business plan template helps with thorough planning, clear documentation, and practical implementation. Here’s what to look for:

• Comprehensive structure: A good template comes with all the relevant sections to outline a business strategy, such as executive summary, market research and analysis, and financial projections 
• Clarity and guidance: A good template is easy to follow. It has brief instructions or prompts for each section, guiding you to think deeply about your business and ensuring you don’t skip important details
• Clean design: Aesthetics matter. Choose a template that’s not just functional but also professionally designed. This ensures your plan is presentable to stakeholders, partners, and potential investors
• Flexibility : Your template should easily accommodate changes without hassle, like adding or removing sections, changing content and style, and rearranging parts 🛠️ 

While a template provides the structure, it’s the information you feed it that brings it to life. These pointers will help you pick a template that aligns with your business needs and clearly showcases your vision.

10 Business Plan Templates to Use in 2024

Preparing for business success in 2024 (and beyond) requires a comprehensive and organized business plan. We’ve handpicked the best templates to help you guide your team, attract investors, and secure funding. Let’s check them out.

If you’re looking to replace a traditional business plan document, then ClickUp’s Business Plan Template is for you!

This one-page business plan template, designed in ClickUp Docs , is neatly broken down into the following sections:

• Company description : Overview, mission, vision, and team
• Market analysis : Problem, solution, target market, competition, and competitive advantage
• Sales and marketing strategy : Products/services and marketing channels
• Operational plan : Location and facilities, equipment and tools, manpower, and financial forecasts
• Milestones and metrics: Targets and KPIs

Customize the template with your company logo and contact details, and easily navigate to different sections using the collapsible table of contents. The mini prompts under each section guide you on what to include—with suggestions on how to present the data (e.g., bullet lists, pictures, charts, and tables). 

You can share the document with anyone via URL and collaborate in real time. And when the business plan is ready, you have the option to print it or export it to PDF, HTML, or Markdown.

But that’s not all. This template is equipped with basic and enterprise project management features to streamline the business plan creation process . The Topics List view has a list of all the different sections and subsections of the template and allows you to assign it to a team member, set a due date, and attach relevant documents and references.

Switch from List to Board view to track and update task statuses according to the following: To Do, In Progress, Needs Revision, and Complete. 

This template is a comprehensive toolkit for documenting the different sections of your business plan and streamlining the creation process to ensure it’s completed on time. 🗓️

If you’re looking for a tool to kickstart or update your sales plan, ClickUp’s Sales Plan Template has got you covered. This sales plan template features a project summary list with tasks to help you craft a comprehensive and effective sales strategy. Some of these tasks include:

• Determine sales objectives and goals
• Draft positioning statement
• Perform competitive analysis
• Draft ideal customer persona
• Create a lead generation strategy

Assign each task to a specific individual or team, set priority levels , and add due dates. Specify what section of the sales plan each task belongs to (e.g., executive summary, revenue goals, team structure, etc.), deliverable type (such as document, task, or meeting), and approval state (like pending, needs revisions, and approved).

And in ClickUp style, you can switch to multiple views: List for a list of all tasks, Board for visual task management, Timeline for an overview of task durations, and Gantt to get a view of task dependencies. 

This simple business plan template is perfect for any type of business looking to create a winning sales strategy while clarifying team roles and keeping tasks organized. ✨

Thinking about scaling your business’s reach and operations but unsure where or how to start? It can be overwhelming, no doubt—you need a clear vision, measurable goals, and an actionable plan that every member of your team can rally behind. 

Thankfully, ClickUp’s Business Development Action Plan Template is designed to use automations to simplify this process so every step toward your business growth is clear, trackable, and actionable.

Start by assessing your current situation and deciding on your main growth goal. Are you aiming to increase revenue, tap into new markets, or introduce new products or services? With ClickUp Whiteboards or Docs, brainstorm and collaborate with your team on this decision.

Set and track your short- and long-term growth goals with ClickUp’s Goals , break them down into smaller targets, and assign these targets to team members, complete with due dates. Add these targets to a new ClickUp Dashboard to track real-time progress and celebrate small wins. 🎉

Whether you’re a startup or small business owner looking to hit your next major milestone or an established business exploring new avenues, this template keeps your team aligned, engaged, and informed every step of the way.

ClickUp’s Business Roadmap Template is your go-to for mapping out major strategies and initiatives in areas like revenue growth, brand awareness, community engagement, and customer satisfaction. 

Use the List view to populate tasks under each initiative. With Custom Fields, you can capture which business category (e.g., Product, Operations, Sales & Marketing, etc.) tasks fall under and which quarter they’re slated for. You can also link to relevant documents and resources and evaluate tasks by effort and impact to ensure the most critical tasks get the attention they deserve. 👀

Depending on your focus, this template provides different views to show just what you need. For example, the All Initiatives per Quarter view lets you focus on what’s ahead by seeing tasks that need completion within a specific quarter. This ensures timely execution and helps in aligning resources effectively for the short term.

This template is ideal for business executives and management teams who need to coordinate multiple short- and long-term initiatives and business strategies.

In business, unexpected threats to operations can arise at any moment. Whether it’s economic turbulence, a global health crisis, or supply chain interruptions, every company needs to be ready. ClickUp’s Business Continuity Plan Template lets you prepare proactively for these unforeseen challenges.

The template organizes tasks into three main categories:

• Priorities: Tasks that need immediate attention
• Continuity coverage: Tasks that must continue despite challenges
• Guiding principles: Resources and protocols to ensure smooth operations

The Board view makes it easy to visualize all the tasks under each of these categories. And the Priorities List sorts tasks by those that are overdue, the upcoming ones, and then the ones due later.

In times of uncertainty, being prepared is your best strategy. This template helps your business not just survive but thrive in challenging situations, keeping your customers, employees, and investors satisfied. 🤝

Looking to execute your business plan the “lean” way? Use ClickUp’s Lean Business Plan Template . It’s designed to help you optimize resource usage and cut unnecessary steps—giving you better results with less effort.

In the Plan Summary List view, list all the tasks that need to get done. Add specific details like who’s doing each task, when it’s due, and which part of the Business Model Canvas (BMC) it falls under. The By Priority view sorts this list based on priorities like Urgent, High, Normal, and Low. This makes it easy to spot the most important tasks and tackle them first.

Additionally, the Board view gives you an overview of task progression from start to finish. And the BMC view rearranges these tasks based on the various BMC components. 

Each task can further be broken down into subtasks and multiple checklists to ensure all related action items are executed. ✔️

This template is an invaluable resource for startups and large enterprises looking to maximize process efficiencies and results in a streamlined and cost-effective way.

The Small Business Action Plan Template by ClickUp is tailor-made for small businesses looking to transform their business ideas and goals into actionable steps and, eventually, into reality. 

It provides a simple and organized framework for creating, assigning, prioritizing, and tracking tasks. And in effect, it ensures that goals are not just set but achieved. Through the native dashboard and goal-setting features, you can monitor task progress and how they move you closer to achieving your goals.

Thanks to ClickUp’s robust communication features like chat, comments, and @mentions, it’s easy to get every team member on the same page and quickly address questions or concerns.

Use this action plan template to hit your business goals by streamlining your internal processes and aligning team efforts.

For larger businesses and scaling enterprises, getting different departments to work together toward a big goal can be challenging. The ClickUp Strategic Business Roadmap Template makes it easier by giving you a clear plan to follow.

This template is packaged in a folder and split into different lists for each department in your business, like Sales, Product, Marketing, and Enablement. This way, every team can focus on their tasks while collectively contributing to the bigger goal.

There are multiple viewing options available for team members. These include:

• Progress Board: Visualize tasks that are on track, those at risk, and those behind
• Gantt view: Get an overview of project timelines and dependencies
• Team view: See what each team member is working on so you can balance workloads for maximum productivity

While this template may feel overwhelming at first, the getting started guide offers a step-by-step breakdown to help you navigate it with ease. And like all ClickUp templates, you can easily customize it to suit your business needs and preferences.

Microsoft’s 20-page traditional business plan template simplifies the process of drafting comprehensive business plans. It’s made up of different sections, including:

• Executive summary : Highlights, objectives, mission statement, and keys to success
• Description of business: Company ownership and legal structure, hours of operation, products and services, suppliers, financial plans, etc.
• Marketing: Market analysis, market segmentation, competition, and pricing
• Appendix: Start-up expenses, cash flow statements, income statements, sales forecast, milestones, break-even analysis, etc.

The table of contents makes it easy to move to different sections of the document. And the text placeholders under each section provide clarity on the specific details required—making the process easier for users who may not be familiar with certain business terminology.

No business template roundup is complete without an Excel template. This business plan template lets you work on your business financials in Excel. It comes with customizable tables, formulas, and charts to help you look at the following areas:

• Highlight charts
• Market analysis
• Start-up assets and expenses
• Sales forecasts
• Profit and loss
• Balance sheet
• Cash flow projections
• Break-even analysis

This Excel template is especially useful when you want to create a clear and visual financial section for your business plan document—an essential element for attracting investors and lenders. However, there might be a steep learning curve to using this template if you’re not familiar with business financial planning and using Excel.

Try a Free Business Plan Template in ClickUp

Launching and running a successful business requires a well-thought-out and carefully crafted business plan. However, the business planning process doesn’t have to be complicated, boring, or take up too much time. Use any of the above 10 free business plan formats to simplify and speed up the process.

ClickUp templates go beyond offering a solid foundation to build your business plans. They come with extensive project management features to turn your vision into reality. And that’s not all— ClickUp’s template library offers over 1,000 additional templates to help manage various aspects of your business, from decision-making to product development to resource management .

Sign up for ClickUp’s Free Forever Plan today to fast-track your business’s growth! 🏆

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• Business Plan Budget 5 Years M1 Free Excel Template

Business Plan Budget 5 Years M1 Free Excel Template.

Do you need to establish an annual budget of income and expenses for 5 years?

With this simple, free and open Excel template, you will be able to prepare the annual budget for 5 years, with up to 10 income categories and 100 expense concepts. The application has a column of deviations between the budget and the actual.

This excel spreadsheet is an example of how to enhance an economic budget for a 5-year Business Plan, it is a base that can be expanded with functionalities and can be combined with other budget control tools.

Download this Template here

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How to write a 5-year business plan faster with the right tool

Did you know that 70% of firms still in business after five years, have a strategic plan in place?

A business plan helps outline your goals and explains how you plan to achieve them and is crucial if you want to raise financing and plan your outlook for both the short and long-term future.

However, writing a five-year business plan can be a daunting task, especially when you're juggling numerous responsibilities as a small business owner.

Incorporating the right tools into your strategy makes a creating 5-year business plan a breeze while ensuring accuracy and thoroughness.

In this guide, we'll cover what a five-year business plan is, why you need to write one, what tool you should use and the content that should be included!

Ready? Let's get started!

In this guide:

What is a 5-year business plan?

Why is a 5-year business plan crucial for business success, how does a 5-year business plan differ from a 3-year business plan, is a 5-year business plan right for you, how to write a 5-year business plan efficiently, 5-year business plan templates and examples, why you shouldn't be using excel and word to write a 5-year business plan, how do i write a 5-year business plan in practice, how to make sure your 5-year business plan stays relevant.

It follows the same structure as most other business plans. It contains all of the key sections from the executive summary to the financial statements.

A 5-year business plan serves as a roadmap for your company's future, guiding strategic decisions and ensuring alignment with your long-term goals.

In today's dynamic business landscape, having a clear and comprehensive plan in place is essential for navigating uncertainties and capitalizing on opportunities.

Consider a small manufacturing business seeking to invest in new equipment and technology to enhance production capabilities.

Without a 5-year plan outlining growth targets, market analysis, and financial projections, the company may struggle to secure funding or make informed investment decisions.

By developing a strategic roadmap that extends five years into the future, the business can anticipate challenges, capitalize on emerging trends, and adapt to evolving market conditions.

Furthermore, a 5-year business plan provides a framework for accountability and performance measurement. For instance, a construction and real estate company embarking on a major development project can use the plan to track progress against milestones, monitor expenses, and evaluate the project's overall feasibility.

By regularly revisiting and updating the plan, the company can ensure its strategies remain relevant and aligned with its overarching objectives.

Now that we've highlighted the importance of a 5-year plan, let's compare it to its shorter-term counterpart, the 3-year business plan.

Need a convincing business plan?

The Business Plan Shop makes it easy to create a financial forecast to assess the potential profitability of your projects, and write a business plan that’ll wow investors.

The key difference is that those financials are projected for 5 years instead of 3 years. This means that the business is providing a long(er) term outlook.

It also means that sections detailing the actions planned - such as business strategy, sales & marketing plan and milestones - have to be written in greater depth because a lot more will be implemented in a 5-year business plan (vs. a 3-year business plan).

Business plans can be highly volatile tools, especially for startups. If a business plan turns out to be inaccurate at the end of year one, it is likely that the following years will follow suit.

In essence, the further you plan into the future, the less certainty you have. This means that 5-year business plans tend to be higher level than 3-year business plans given that it’s difficult to accurately predict what might happen after year 3.

Because of the uncertainty regarding long-term projections we just explained in the section above, 5-year business plans tend to be quite rare.

As a rule of thumb, they are mostly useful in the following situations:

• When the business is highly predictable
• When the business is in transition

Highly predictable businesses

Some businesses are predictable with a high level of certainty and can therefore afford to take a long(er) term view.

This usually applies to businesses with the following characteristics:

• They have limited competition: monopolies or oligopolies
• They sell products or services with limited substitution options

Infrastructure companies are the perfect example of this. If you are the only water provider or train operator in the region and have been given a 10 years concession, you can comfortably project your financials over longer periods.

Businesses in transition

5-year business plans are also useful for businesses that want to model a transition from one state to another.

Good examples of this are when there is a one-off important change in the business, or a high level of inertia:

• The business is expected to go through a phase of reorganization or restructuring, after acquiring another business, or because it needs to shut down a division which is no longer competitive, for example
• The business is investing in a capital-intensive project that will take time before yielding a return on investment. If constructing a new factory takes two years before the business can benefit from the increased production capacity, for example
• There is inertia in the sales cycle. If the business is launching a new product marketed to big corporations with an expected 12-18 months sales cycle, for example

As you can see from above, 5-year business plans are often overkill for startups or small “brick and mortar” businesses such as retail shops and restaurants.

Now let’s look at how you should write your 5-year business plan, the benefits of doing so, the tools you can use to help you and the factors to consider when selecting a business plan software.

Use software to write a 5-year business plan

Utilizing business planning software offers numerous advantages for small business owners embarking on the journey of creating a 5-year business plan.

These tools are specifically designed to simplify the planning process, saving you time and effort whilst helping you avoid silly errors along the way.

By leveraging business planning software, you can access pre-built templates that contain industry-specific financial models and forecasting tools. This allows you to focus on refining your growth strategy rather than starting from scratch.

Now, let’s take a further look at how these tools allow you to streamline the process of writing a business plan.

How these tools simplify the planning process

Using an online business planning software such as the one offered by The Business Plan Shop is the most efficient and modern way to write a five-year business plan.

An online business planning software streamlines the process because:

• You can easily create your financial forecast by letting the software take care of the financial calculations for you without errors
• You are guided through the writing process by detailed instructions and examples for each part of the plan
• You can access a library of dozens of complete business plan samples and templates for inspiration
• You get a professional business plan, formatted and ready to be sent to your bank or investors
• You can easily track your actual financial performance against your financial forecast
• You can create scenarios to stress test your forecast's main assumptions
• You can easily update your forecast as time goes by to maintain visibility on future cash flows
• You have a friendly support team on standby to assist you when you are stuck

If you're interested in using this type of solution, you can try The Business Plan Shop for free by signing up here .

Above is an example of how a cover page and table of contents look like on The Business Plan Shop's online business planning software.

What to consider when choosing a business plan software

Now, let's explore key factors to consider when choosing the right business planning software to facilitate your 5-year business plan:

• Compatibility with 5-year planning: Ensure that the software you choose supports the creation and management of 5-year business plans, allowing you to set long-term goals, forecast financials, and track progress over an extended period.
• Ease of use: Look for software with an intuitive interface and user-friendly features that make it easy for small business owners to navigate and utilize effectively without extensive training or technical expertise.
• Customization options: Evaluate the software's ability to tailor templates, and forecasting models to your specific business needs and industry requirements. Seek solutions that allow for flexibility and customization, enabling you to adapt the plan to changing market conditions and internal priorities.
• Integration capabilities: Assess whether the software integrates seamlessly with other tools, such as accounting software. Integration ensures consistency and accuracy across your business operations, streamlining data management and decision-making. The Business Plan Shop offers integration with QuickBooks and Xero.
• Cost and scalability: Consider the pricing structure and scalability of the software, ensuring it aligns with your budget and growth trajectory. For example, The Business Plan Shop offers flexible pricing plans based on your business size and needs, with options to upgrade or downgrade as your business evolves.

Most of the business plan templates offered by The Business Plan Shop are examples of three-year business plans.

However, since there isn't any fundamental difference between a three-year and five-year business plan, you can use one of our templates to help structure your own plan (simply increase the number of years to 5 in the settings and adjust your forecast accordingly).

When considering using a tool like Word or Excel to craft a 5-year business plan, it is important to be aware of the drawbacks.

Though both programs may offer some basic formatting and calculations, they are not tailored for creating business plans.

Using Excel can be risky due to potential errors in data entry as a consequence of inputting data manually. A single mistake could lead to financial statements being inaccurate and with hundreds of lines of data, you might struggle to locate where the mistake was made.

Investors are likely to frown upon the use of Excel when creating a forecast for this reason, and it's unlikely that they would trust your numbers unless you have a background in accounting or finance.

Even if you do have a background in finance. With Excel, you'll need to compute key formulas yourself, which means that modelling complex elements is likely to be frustrating. Modelling D&A tables, advanced payment terms, or variable interest rate loans in the financial forecast are good examples of this.

If you're using Word to write up your business plan, you might find yourself overwhelmed by all the details that must be included. And unlike The Business Plan Shop, which offers you structured templates for each section of your plan, with Word there are no examples or instructions to guide you either.

Following a set structure makes it much easier to write a five-year business plan - which is why we've broken it down into simple questions and sections for you to follow!

How do you set 5-year business (growth) goals?

When writing a 5-year business plan, it's important to set achievable goals within that timeframe. Looking back at previous business performance can offer indications as to what your team can achieve with the resources they have at their disposal.

Be sure to set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound) objectives: there's no point in saying that you want to open 10 new stores within the next five years, if you know that's virtually impossible.

Similarly, an increase in customer satisfaction by itself is not a measurable goal and would need to lead to greater customer retention and repeat purchases for it to be quantified in numerical terms.

Remember that your goals are likely to shift as time goes by and you might want to make small changes to them. Whilst it's good to be specific, there's no need to mention every single aspect of your strategy in the business plan. You are trying to impress stakeholders such as investors, not bore them with the details!

What is the content of a 5-year business plan?

A 5-year business plan is composed of 7 main sections, let's have a look at each of them.

Executive Summary

The executive summary is arguably the most important part of your business plan. It provides readers (such as banks and investors) a rundown of your business as a whole.

You should explain what type of business you are, what goods or services you sell and to whom, forecasted revenues and profitability in the next five years, as well as the amount of financing that is required (if any).

Remember that this is the first section of your business plan. Keep it short and snappy to persuade stakeholders such as investors to continue reading.

Company Overview

The company overview section of a five-year business plan usually covers three key areas:

• Structure and Ownership
• Business Location
• Management team

You should start by summarising how your business is funded to date and who owns it (be sure to state shareholder names and percentage ownership if it is equity funded). Plus, you should declare what type of legal structure you've chosen (sole trader, limited company, partnership, etc.).

Then give an overview of the location(s) of your business Simply explain where you chose to set up your business(es) and why you chose that particular area(s) - strong transport links and parking facilities, large footfall of potential customers nearby are two such examples.

Finally, you should introduce the management team. This part is particularly important to demonstrate to investors that your management team has the necessary skills and experience to run the business successfully.

Market analysis

This is likely to be the lengthiest section of your 5-year business plan. In general, the market analysis should include the following sections:

• Demographics and segmentation
• Target market
• Competition
• Barriers at entry

Demographics are essential for understanding who is likely to be interested in purchasing your products or services. Segmenting demographics further can also provide insight into what types of goods customers prefer and the price that they are willing to pay for them.

This section can also help you understand any upcoming trends in the market that are likely to affect your strategy within the next five years.

Then comes the target market part, where you will explain which segments are targeted by your business and how you meet their needs.

For example, if you were running a wellness spa, your target market could be women aged between 20 and 45 who work full-time and are looking to relax and de-stress after their workday and on the weekends. They might be drawn to your salon because of your high-quality customer service and convenient opening times.

It's also important to explain who your business will be competing against in the local market. Think about direct and indirect competition so that you can devise strategies to gain an edge over them. 

The next part of your market analysis will be to detail potential barriers to entry. Barriers to entry are best defined as any hurdles that prevent competing firms from entering the market and stealing your hard-earned market shares. A large investment in R&D or production capacities would be good examples.

Finally, you should state what regulations are already in place in the market and how you plan to abide by them. Examples of such regulations include The Data Protection Act (prominent for businesses with a website) and health and safety regulations.

Products and services

The products and services section of your 5-year business plan should include detailed descriptions of all the products and/or services that your business offers.

For example, if you run a coffee shop, you should detail the ingredients used, such as the type of milk, flavourings, and toppings available. The reader will want to understand what makes your coffee unique from other businesses in this competitive market.

You could also list any offers that customers can obtain (coffee and cake deals for example). You might also have delivery options available or loyalty programmes for customers who purchase multiple drinks over time.

It may also be useful to explain how you intend to keep up with current trends by introducing new flavours and seasonal beverages throughout the year (pumpkin flavour during Halloween for example).

Including these details in your 5-year business plan helps paint a clear picture for potential investors about what they can expect now and in the future.

Strategy Section

This section should outline the pricing strategy, marketing plan, milestones to be achieved, as well as any risks and mitigants associated with your venture.

You should explain how you charge for your goods and services, why you chose to price them at that level, and how they compare with prices charged by your competition.

In your marketing plan, you could outline how you plan to implement a set strategy to attract and retain customers.

Your business milestones are important because they summarise what your goals are and where you want to be in five years' time. For an existing business, it might look like this:

• In year one: open a second store in the region
• In year two: go national with another 5 new stores in major cities
• From year three to five: open 10 new stores each year to reach a network of 37 stores

Finally, talk about the risks and mitigants that could affect your business within the next five years. Try to cover major risks such as changes in the competitive environment, new regulations, key staff leaving, etc.

Operations Section

In your five-year business plan operations section, you should outline any staff that you've recruited (or plan to recruit), the qualifications & experience they hold and their responsibilities.

Your business might employ more staff as time goes on (perhaps as you obtain a stronger cash flow position in year 3 of the business plan). Be sure to state any future recruitment plans.

Talk about the suppliers that you've chosen to work with and the reason for picking them over others.

Finally, you should state any key assets required for the business to operate such as leases, patents, or specialized equipment.

For any business plan, the financial section is crucial. Your five-year business plan should contain a full set of financial statements: a balance sheet, a profit & loss statement and a cash flow statement.

Below is an example of how five-year forecasted revenues might look like for one of your product or service. This chart was created using The Business Plan Shop's 5-year financial forecasting software .

Obtaining inputs from key stakeholders before writing your 5-year business plan

To help ensure that your business plan is accurate, it should ideally be written by your management team (one or more managers who are responsible for overall strategy and the day-to-day running of the business).

It's also important to obtain input from key staff members. For example, the head of sales should help build the sales forecast because they are the one responsible for executing the sales strategy.

How many pages does a 5-year business plan have?

Like most business plans, there's no specific number of pages that yours must have. A good rule of thumb, however, is to keep it between 15 and 35 pages.

As long as you've covered all of the key sections, ranging from the executive summary to the financial projections, your five-year business plan should be good to go!

Remember, quality is more important than quantity.

Writing a comprehensive business plan takes time, to get a return on investment at this time, you need to actually use and maintain your plan.

To do so, you will want to regularly compare your actuals (actual data from your accounting software) with your financial projections to check you are on track to deliver the plan.

Then you will want to adjust your forecast and plan as time goes by so that your plan stays current and your business can maintain clear visibility of its future cash flows.

If you used The Business Plan Shop to create your forecast, this is easy to do as actuals vs. forecast tracking is built-in our solution:

In simple terms, creating a 5-year business plan means plotting out where you want your business to go over the next five years. This involves setting goals, predicting what the market will be like, and estimating how much money you'll make.

Planning for the long term helps you prepare for challenges, take advantage of opportunities, and stay on track toward your goals.

Using business planning software makes this whole process faster and easier. It comes with ready-made templates, tools for working together with others, and ways to connect with other software you might use. This makes it simpler to organize information and make decisions.

These tools give small business owners the ability to make detailed plans that match up with their big-picture goals. It helps keep things clear, focused, and ready to adapt to whatever changes come your way in the business world.

That's it for now, we hope this article has helped you better understand how to write a 5-year business plan.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions related to business planning or our solution.

Also on The Business Plan Shop

• How to do a market analysis for a business plan?
• Business plan vs budget: what's the difference?
• How to choose the best business plan software for you?
• 69 mistakes to avoid in your business plan
• Business plan steps: everything you need to know
• Practical examples of a business plan outline

Founder & CEO at The Business Plan Shop Ltd

Guillaume Le Brouster is a seasoned entrepreneur and financier.

Guillaume has been an entrepreneur for more than a decade and has first-hand experience of starting, running, and growing a successful business.

Prior to being a business owner, Guillaume worked in investment banking and private equity, where he spent most of his time creating complex financial forecasts, writing business plans, and analysing financial statements to make financing and investment decisions.

Guillaume holds a Master's Degree in Finance from ESCP Business School and a Bachelor of Science in Business & Management from Paris Dauphine University.

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Business Plan: How to Create Great Financial Plans in Excel

I guess, you are about to write a business plan and that is why you have come to this page. Very good – because in this article I am going to write down my experience with business plans and what I have learned creating them with Microsoft Excel. As I will point out again further down, I will only concentrate on the financial part of business plans. Specifically, how to set it up in Excel. Of course, you can also download an Excel template .

Parts of business plans

As you reached this page I suppose you already have a rough idea of what a business plan is. So, we will skip this part here.

A business plan is a formal written document containing the goals of a business, the methods for attaining those goals, and the time-frame for the achievement of the goals.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_plan

But one comment concerning the scope of this article: The formal business plan has usually many different parts, in which you describe the business idea and product, the market, competition, legal construct and so on. But typically, investors are most interested in the financial part. They want to know first, what they can get out of it. Of course, the other parts are also very important, but the financial topics usually put everything described in the other sections into numbers.

I’m not going further into the details of all the other parts than then financial section here. Specifically, we will dive into the basics of the financial part and how to model it in Excel.

Please scroll down to download the business plan template. We are going to explore all the following advice with this template.

How to create a business plan in Excel

Advice 1: be clear about the purpose and the recipient of the business plan.

Before you start opening Excel, make sure that you are 100% clear of the purpose this business plan. Is the business plan just for you? Or do you create it for someone else, for example an investor or bank? Although the next steps might still be the same, the focus might be different. For example: Maybe you have a very good understanding of the major assumptions because you have been working in this field for some time. But for someone external you still need to validate them. Of course, in both cases the assumptions should be realistic and goals should be achievable. But maybe for your own peace of mind you would choose more pessimistic assumptions if the plan was only for you.

Advice 2: Go top-down in terms of line items

Now, let’s start in Excel. But how do we start?

My approach is to go top-down. I usually use a basic P&L (“Profit- and loss” calculation) structure to start with, having some placeholders for revenue and costs.

Specifically, I go through the following parts (also shown on the right-hand side).

Let’s assume that you develop and sell Excel add-ins: 50 EUR per license – once-off. You would now start with assumptions of how many you can sell per month and the price. This is your first revenue item. At this point in time, I would leave it like this. We can later drill further down as much as we need (for example modeling discounts, the connection between marketing spending and number of units sold, price changes, etc.).

If we have multiple products, we calculate them in a similar manner.

Cost of goods sold

Cost of goods sold – or COGS – refers to the direct costs of producing the goods sold. Depending on the complexity you could also summarize cost of sales here or keep it separately.

Often, the COGS are directly linked to the number of units produced so you could refer to the numbers already calculated for the revenues.

In our example from above, we don’t have any direct costs for producing the Excel add-ins because we develop them ourselves and our salary will be regarded under “Salaries and Benefits”.

All other expenses

The structure of the expenses highly depends on your business. I usually start with these:

• Salaries and Benefits
• Rent and Overhead
• Marketing and Advertising
• Other expenses

Again, these items might look completely different for you. Example: if you travel a lot for your business, you might plan travel costs separately.

Subtracting costs from the revenue leads to the EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization). This is one of the important financial performance indicators.

Amortization and depreciation

If you buy any assets for your business (for example machines, computers, even cars), you usually plan to use them over a certain period. When you first buy them, let’s say for 1,000 USD, you basically just exchange money for assets in the same amount. The problem: The assets will decrease in value the longer you use them. Within the cost items above, you don’t regard the acquisition value. So, how to regard them in your business plan?

You only regard the annual decrease of value. If you plan to use your 1,000 USD item for 5 years, you could (plainly speaking), each year regard 200 USD as depreciation.

Please note: If you later plan your cash, you have to make sure that you fully regard the initial sales price and not the depreciation.

The key difference between amortization and depreciation is that amortization is used for intangible assets, while depreciation is used for tangible assets. https://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/whats-the-difference-between-amortization-deprecia.aspx

Subtracting the amortization and depreciation from the EBITDA leads to the second key performance indicator, the EBIT (earnings before interest and tax).

Interest and taxes

Eventually, you have to prognose your interest costs (for example what you have to pay for bank loans) and your taxes, which is typically just a percentage of the EBT (the earning before taxes).

Advice 3: Think about the business drivers carefully

Good business plans are driver based.

Business drivers are the key inputs and activities that drive the operational and financial results of a business. Common examples of business drivers are salespeople, number of stores, website traffic, number and price of products sold, units of production, etc. https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/knowledge/modeling/business-drivers/

Let me explain with an example: You want to plan the revenues. You have two different options:

• Revenue per month is split into number of units sold times price per unit.
• Number of units sold is further split into number of salespersons and number of items sold per salesperson and month, and so on.
• Or you could just write a number and every following year you assume a growth in percentage (e.g. +2% per year).

Let’s finish this section with some final comments:

• Choose drivers that are measurable. You will most probably later on compare the drivers to reality and therefore make sure that they are not impossible to measure.
• Figure out, which driver has most impact. You should focus on those first. Driver with no or very limited impact can be skipped initially.
• Are drivers depending on each other? If yes, it should be modeled accordingly.

Advice 4: Choose the smallest period from the beginning in your business plan

So far, we have been focusing on the line items, for example costs, revenue, or drivers. Now, let’s talk about the time frame.

The question is: Should you plan on annual, monthly or any other basis? Or a mix?

I have seen many business plans doing it something like this:

• Plan on monthly basis for the first 24 to 36 months.
• Switch to annual planning for the years 3/4 to 5.

Most business plans are not going beyond 5 years planning period.

My recommendation: Plan on monthly basis for the full period. There will be a point in time when you need to break it down into months. And it is always easier to sum up 12 months for annual values than to drill down from years to months.

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Advice 5: Keep a unified, professional business plan structure

This advice should count for most Excel models: Try to keep the same structure throughout the whole Excel file.

• Structure of worksheets: Make sure that most worksheets are set up with the same structure. For example, start with a headline in cell B2, years starting in column H, content in row 10.
• Layout / format of cells: Make sure you use a consistent formatting. For example, Excel provides cell styles – use them. For more recommendations about professional formatting, please refer to this article .
• Universal settings and assumptions should be consolidated on one sheet (for example tax rates, start date, company name).

Advice 6: Document business plan assumptions well

I can not say this often enough: Document your assumptions! Not only the values or variables, also your thoughts behind them. Why have you chosen this value? What is it based on? What is it used for?

Advice 7: Gross vs. net values

This question I am asked quite frequently: Should you use gross or net values? That means, include tax in revenues and costs?

Typically, you only work with net values, excluding VAT. For Germany with a tax rate of 19%, for example, if you invoice 119 EUR to a customer, you would only regard 100 EUR. Also, for costs, you would only regard net values.

Then, in your business plan, you start with revenue minus costs and eventually reach the EBT (earning before tax, please scroll up to see the P&L). From this, you calculate your company tax.

Advice 8: Think ahead

Some more things you should keep in mind when creating your business plan.

• Business plans are “living documents”. Keep in mind that at some point in the future you have to update it or extend it.
• Validate your assumptions: After some time, you will come back to your plan having real life figures. Now, it’s time to compare and – if necessary – adjust the plan.
• a valuation (“Discounted Cash Flow model”),
• liquidity planning,
• bank loan simulations,
• financial dashboards,
• budget planning,
• maybe even the first real official P&L (at least when it comes to the line items of your business plan)
• and much more…

Download business plan template

So, after reading all this description and advice, it’s time to start. Probably many things I have written above sounds like common sense, right? But I can assure you: Doing it and regarding as much advice as possible is not necessarily simple.

That’s why I have decided to create a template. I have pre-filled it with an imaginary example.

I know, there are countless Excel business plan templates around. So, why should you use this one?

• This template is very flexible: I have always included place holders so that you can add much more items if needed.
• In terms of the time frame, I have created monthly columns for up to ten years. Typically, you need less. Then just hide the extra columns.
• Also, I have created a consistent structure throughout the model.
• No fancy Excel functions and formulas, mainly just plain links.

Please feel free to take a look at it. If you like it, just use it. If not, please feel free to create your individual business plan – you now know how to do it!

Download link: Click here to start the download .

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Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

Image by Memed_Nurrohmad from Pixabay

Henrik Schiffner is a freelance business consultant and software developer. He lives and works in Hamburg, Germany. Besides being an Excel enthusiast he loves photography and sports.

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

Noah Parsons

24 min. read

Updated April 17, 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

Free business plan templates and examples

Kickstart your business plan writing with one of our free business plan templates or recommended tools.

Free business plan template

Download a free SBA-approved business plan template built for small businesses and startups.

Download Template

One-page plan template

Download a free one-page plan template to write a useful business plan in as little as 30-minutes.

Sample business plan library

Explore over 500 real-world business plan examples from a wide variety of industries.

View Sample Plans

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.

See why 1.2 million entrepreneurs have written their business plans with LivePlan

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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Download Business Plan Template In Excel

• Budget , Business management , Excel Templates

Kickstart Your Business Success with Our Free Excel Business Plan Template

Charting a path to success for your business can be overwhelming, especially when it comes to organizing and managing the myriad elements that constitute a business plan. That’s why we’re thrilled to introduce our free, comprehensive Business Plan Excel template. With multiple, integrated sheets for every facet of your planning needs, this template streamlines your strategic process, saving you time and effort.

What Is Included in Our Sample Business Plan Template in Excel?

Our Excel business plan template is meticulously designed and includes the following components:

• Sales Planning / Forecasting Template : This template enables you to plan product-wise and year-wise sales. By analyzing trends over the previous two years, you can forecast sales for the coming year and make informed business decisions.
• Profit and Loss Template : This sheet will help you track your revenues, costs, and expenses to determine your business’s profitability over a period of time.
• Balance Sheet Template : It provides a snapshot of your company’s financial position at a particular moment, illustrating what the company owns (assets) and owes (liabilities), and the amount invested by shareholders (equity).
• Cash Flow Template : With this, you can manage your cash position by tracking the inflow and outflow of cash in your business. This template helps in monitoring your liquidity and understanding if you have enough cash to cover your expenses.
• Budget Template : This facilitates the allocation and tracking of financial resources, ensuring you don’t overspend and stay on the right financial track.
• Break-Even Analysis Template : This crucial template calculates the point where your total cost equals your total revenue. Understanding your break-even point can help guide pricing strategy, monitor efficiency, and make profitable business decisions.

How to Use the Excel Business Plan Template?

Using our comprehensive Excel business plan template is simple:

• Download the Template : Start by downloading our free Business Plan Excel template.
• Input Your Data : Enter your business data into each sheet. Each section comes with clear instructions on what information is needed.
• Analyze and Plan : Use the data you’ve entered to analyze your current business situation, make projections, and develop strategic plans.
• Update Regularly : As your business evolves, so should your business plan. Regularly update the data in the template to keep your plan relevant and responsive to your business’s changing circumstances.

Why Use the Excel Business Plan Template?

Our Excel business plan template offers a host of benefits:

• Comprehensive : It covers every aspect of your business plan, eliminating the need for multiple documents or programs.
• Easy to Use : The template is designed to be user-friendly, making it easy for anyone, regardless of their familiarity with Excel.
• Customizable : The template can be modified to suit the specific needs and nature of your business.
• Effective Visualization : The template includes graphs and charts, transforming your data into a visual format that’s easier to understand and present.
• Free : Our template is completely free, making it a cost-effective solution for business planning.

In conclusion, our Excel business plan template simplifies the planning process by consolidating all elements of a business plan into a single, comprehensive document. Whether you’re drafting your first business plan or refining an existing one, this template can be an invaluable tool. So, download our free Excel business plan template today and embark on a strategic journey to business success!

Users of This Free Business Plan Template

The Excel Business Plan Template is designed for a wide variety of users who need to develop a structured and strategic approach to their business planning. Here’s a list of individuals and entities who could greatly benefit from using this template:

• Entrepreneurs and Startups : If you’re in the initial stages of starting a business, this template can help you plan, analyze, and forecast various aspects of your business such as sales, finances, and cash flow.
• Small Business Owners : For existing small businesses, this template can help monitor performance, manage finances, and plan for future growth.
• Financial Analysts and Managers : These professionals can use this template to gain insights into the financial health of a business, plan budgets, and conduct break-even analysis.
• Freelancers and Solopreneurs : Even if you’re a one-person business, this template can help keep track of your finances, forecast your revenue, and manage your cash flow efficiently.
• Consultants and Business Advisors : These individuals can utilize the template to assist their clients in developing business plans, improving financial management, and setting strategic goals.
• Non-profit Organizations : Even though their goals might not be profit-oriented, non-profit organizations can also benefit from this template to manage their finances, plan budgets, and conduct break-even analysis for their fundraising events or projects.

Remember, the key to leveraging this tool effectively is to customize it to the unique needs and circumstances of your business or project. No matter your industry or the size of your business, our Excel Business Plan Template can be a valuable tool in your strategic planning toolkit.

Download this Business Plan template in Excel Format

Our easy to use editable Excel templates and save your significant amount of time and effort. Here’s how to download and use one of our templates:

Download this free Excel Template : Once you’ve browsed through our collection of templates and find the one that best fits your needs. Once you’ve found the template you want, click on the download button.

Replace sample data with your actual data: Once the template is downloaded, open it in Excel. You’ll see that it is already set up with sample data. To start analyzing your own data, simply replace the sample data with your actual data.

Customize the template: Our templates are completely editable, which means you can customize them to fit your specific needs. For example, you can change the formatting, add or remove columns, or create new charts and graphs.

Use the Excel template: Once you’ve fed in your data and customized the template, you’re ready to start using it for data analysis. Use the various tools and features of Excel to analyze and visualize your data, and make informed business decisions.

Save and share: Once you’ve finished working on the template, save it to your computer and share it with other members of your team or stakeholders as needed.

Click Download Button To Get Business Plan Excel Template

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Another advantage is that these templates are often fully editable, allowing users to customize them to meet the specific needs of their organization or project. This can include adding or deleting rows and columns, changing the formatting and layout, and adding custom formulas and functions .

Some examples of professional Excel templates that may be available for free include budgeting templates for personal or business use , project management templates for tracking tasks and deadlines, and sales tracking templates for analyzing and forecasting sales data. There are also a wide variety of templates available for specific industries, such as real estate, marketing , human resource , Payroll management and among others.

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Free Financial Templates for a Business Plan

By Andy Marker | July 29, 2020

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In this article, we’ve rounded up expert-tested financial templates for your business plan, all of which are free to download in Excel, Google Sheets, and PDF formats.

Included on this page, you’ll find the essential financial statement templates, including income statement templates , cash flow statement templates , and balance sheet templates . Plus, we cover the key elements of the financial section of a business plan .

Financial Plan Templates

Download and prepare these financial plan templates to include in your business plan. Use historical data and future projections to produce an overview of the financial health of your organization to support your business plan and gain buy-in from stakeholders

Business Financial Plan Template

Use this financial plan template to organize and prepare the financial section of your business plan. This customizable template has room to provide a financial overview, any important assumptions, key financial indicators and ratios, a break-even analysis, and pro forma financial statements to share key financial data with potential investors.

Download Financial Plan Template

Word | PDF | Smartsheet

Financial Plan Projections Template for Startups

This financial plan projections template comes as a set of pro forma templates designed to help startups. The template set includes a 12-month profit and loss statement, a balance sheet, and a cash flow statement for you to detail the current and projected financial position of a business.

‌ Download Startup Financial Projections Template

Excel | Smartsheet

Income Statement Templates for Business Plan

Also called profit and loss statements , these income statement templates will empower you to make critical business decisions by providing insight into your company, as well as illustrating the projected profitability associated with business activities. The numbers prepared in your income statement directly influence the cash flow and balance sheet forecasts.

Pro Forma Income Statement/Profit and Loss Sample

Use this pro forma income statement template to project income and expenses over a three-year time period. Pro forma income statements consider historical or market analysis data to calculate the estimated sales, cost of sales, profits, and more.

‌ Download Pro Forma Income Statement Sample - Excel

Small Business Profit and Loss Statement

Small businesses can use this simple profit and loss statement template to project income and expenses for a specific time period. Enter expected income, cost of goods sold, and business expenses, and the built-in formulas will automatically calculate the net income.

‌ Download Small Business Profit and Loss Template - Excel

3-Year Income Statement Template

Use this income statement template to calculate and assess the profit and loss generated by your business over three years. This template provides room to enter revenue and expenses associated with operating your business and allows you to track performance over time.

Download 3-Year Income Statement Template

For additional resources, including how to use profit and loss statements, visit “ Download Free Profit and Loss Templates .”

Cash Flow Statement Templates for Business Plan

Use these free cash flow statement templates to convey how efficiently your company manages the inflow and outflow of money. Use a cash flow statement to analyze the availability of liquid assets and your company’s ability to grow and sustain itself long term.

Simple Cash Flow Template

Use this basic cash flow template to compare your business cash flows against different time periods. Enter the beginning balance of cash on hand, and then detail itemized cash receipts, payments, costs of goods sold, and expenses. Once you enter those values, the built-in formulas will calculate total cash payments, net cash change, and the month ending cash position.

Download Simple Cash Flow Template

12-Month Cash Flow Forecast Template

Use this cash flow forecast template, also called a pro forma cash flow template, to track and compare expected and actual cash flow outcomes on a monthly and yearly basis. Enter the cash on hand at the beginning of each month, and then add the cash receipts (from customers, issuance of stock, and other operations). Finally, add the cash paid out (purchases made, wage expenses, and other cash outflow). Once you enter those values, the built-in formulas will calculate your cash position for each month with.

‌ Download 12-Month Cash Flow Forecast

3-Year Cash Flow Statement Template Set

Use this cash flow statement template set to analyze the amount of cash your company has compared to its expenses and liabilities. This template set contains a tab to create a monthly cash flow statement, a yearly cash flow statement, and a three-year cash flow statement to track cash flow for the operating, investing, and financing activities of your business.

Download 3-Year Cash Flow Statement Template

For additional information on managing your cash flow, including how to create a cash flow forecast, visit “ Free Cash Flow Statement Templates .”

Balance Sheet Templates for a Business Plan

Use these free balance sheet templates to convey the financial position of your business during a specific time period to potential investors and stakeholders.

Small Business Pro Forma Balance Sheet

Small businesses can use this pro forma balance sheet template to project account balances for assets, liabilities, and equity for a designated period. Established businesses can use this template (and its built-in formulas) to calculate key financial ratios, including working capital.

Download Pro Forma Balance Sheet Template

Monthly and Quarterly Balance Sheet Template

Use this balance sheet template to evaluate your company’s financial health on a monthly, quarterly, and annual basis. You can also use this template to project your financial position for a specified time in the future. Once you complete the balance sheet, you can compare and analyze your assets, liabilities, and equity on a quarter-over-quarter or year-over-year basis.

Download Monthly/Quarterly Balance Sheet Template - Excel

Yearly Balance Sheet Template

Use this balance sheet template to compare your company’s short and long-term assets, liabilities, and equity year-over-year. This template also provides calculations for common financial ratios with built-in formulas, so you can use it to evaluate account balances annually.

Download Yearly Balance Sheet Template - Excel

For more downloadable resources for a wide range of organizations, visit “ Free Balance Sheet Templates .”

Sales Forecast Templates for Business Plan

Sales projections are a fundamental part of a business plan, and should support all other components of your plan, including your market analysis, product offerings, and marketing plan . Use these sales forecast templates to estimate future sales, and ensure the numbers align with the sales numbers provided in your income statement.

Basic Sales Forecast Sample Template

Use this basic forecast template to project the sales of a specific product. Gather historical and industry sales data to generate monthly and yearly estimates of the number of units sold and the price per unit. Then, the pre-built formulas will calculate percentages automatically. You’ll also find details about which months provide the highest sales percentage, and the percentage change in sales month-over-month. 

Download Basic Sales Forecast Sample Template

12-Month Sales Forecast Template for Multiple Products

Use this sales forecast template to project the future sales of a business across multiple products or services over the course of a year. Enter your estimated monthly sales, and the built-in formulas will calculate annual totals. There is also space to record and track year-over-year sales, so you can pinpoint sales trends.

Download 12-Month Sales Forecasting Template for Multiple Products

3-Year Sales Forecast Template for Multiple Products

Use this sales forecast template to estimate the monthly and yearly sales for multiple products over a three-year period. Enter the monthly units sold, unit costs, and unit price. Once you enter those values, built-in formulas will automatically calculate revenue, margin per unit, and gross profit. This template also provides bar charts and line graphs to visually display sales and gross profit year over year.

Download 3-Year Sales Forecast Template - Excel

For a wider selection of resources to project your sales, visit “ Free Sales Forecasting Templates .”

Break-Even Analysis Template for Business Plan

A break-even analysis will help you ascertain the point at which a business, product, or service will become profitable. This analysis uses a calculation to pinpoint the number of service or unit sales you need to make to cover costs and make a profit.

Break-Even Analysis Template

Use this break-even analysis template to calculate the number of sales needed to become profitable. Enter the product's selling price at the top of the template, and then add the fixed and variable costs. Once you enter those values, the built-in formulas will calculate the total variable cost, the contribution margin, and break-even units and sales values.

Download Break-Even Analysis Template

For additional resources, visit, “ Free Financial Planning Templates .”

Business Budget Templates for Business Plan

These business budget templates will help you track costs (e.g., fixed and variable) and expenses (e.g., one-time and recurring) associated with starting and running a business. Having a detailed budget enables you to make sound strategic decisions, and should align with the expense values listed on your income statement.

Startup Budget Template

Use this startup budget template to track estimated and actual costs and expenses for various business categories, including administrative, marketing, labor, and other office costs. There is also room to provide funding estimates from investors, banks, and other sources to get a detailed view of the resources you need to start and operate your business.

Download Startup Budget Template

Small Business Budget Template

This business budget template is ideal for small businesses that want to record estimated revenue and expenditures on a monthly and yearly basis. This customizable template comes with a tab to list income, expenses, and a cash flow recording to track cash transactions and balances.

Download Small Business Budget Template

Professional Business Budget Template

Established organizations will appreciate this customizable business budget template, which  contains a separate tab to track projected business expenses, actual business expenses, variances, and an expense analysis. Once you enter projected and actual expenses, the built-in formulas will automatically calculate expense variances and populate the included visual charts. 

‌ Download Professional Business Budget Template

For additional resources to plan and track your business costs and expenses, visit “ Free Business Budget Templates for Any Company .”

Other Financial Templates for Business Plan

In this section, you’ll find additional financial templates that you may want to include as part of your larger business plan.

Startup Funding Requirements Template

This simple startup funding requirements template is useful for startups and small businesses that require funding to get business off the ground. The numbers generated in this template should align with those in your financial projections, and should detail the allocation of acquired capital to various startup expenses.

Download Startup Funding Requirements Template - Excel

Personnel Plan Template

Use this customizable personnel plan template to map out the current and future staff needed to get — and keep — the business running. This information belongs in the personnel section of a business plan, and details the job title, amount of pay, and hiring timeline for each position. This template calculates the monthly and yearly expenses associated with each role using built-in formulas. Additionally, you can add an organizational chart to provide a visual overview of the company’s structure. 

Download Personnel Plan Template - Excel

Elements of the Financial Section of a Business Plan

Whether your organization is a startup, a small business, or an enterprise, the financial plan is the cornerstone of any business plan. The financial section should demonstrate the feasibility and profitability of your idea and should support all other aspects of the business plan. 

Below, you’ll find a quick overview of the components of a solid financial plan.

• Financial Overview: This section provides a brief summary of the financial section, and includes key takeaways of the financial statements. If you prefer, you can also add a brief description of each statement in the respective statement’s section.
• Key Assumptions: This component details the basis for your financial projections, including tax and interest rates, economic climate, and other critical, underlying factors.
• Break-Even Analysis: This calculation helps establish the selling price of a product or service, and determines when a product or service should become profitable.
• Pro Forma Income Statement: Also known as a profit and loss statement, this section details the sales, cost of sales, profitability, and other vital financial information to stakeholders.
• Pro Forma Cash Flow Statement: This area outlines the projected cash inflows and outflows the business expects to generate from operating, financing, and investing activities during a specific timeframe.
• Pro Forma Balance Sheet: This document conveys how your business plans to manage assets, including receivables and inventory.
• Key Financial Indicators and Ratios: In this section, highlight key financial indicators and ratios extracted from financial statements that bankers, analysts, and investors can use to evaluate the financial health and position of your business.

Need help putting together the rest of your business plan? Check out our free simple business plan templates to get started. You can learn how to write a successful simple business plan  here . 

Visit this  free non-profit business plan template roundup  or download a  fill-in-the-blank business plan template  to make things easy. If 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  startup business plan templates  or  free 30-60-90-day business plan templates  to find more tailored options.

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Excel Made Easy

Business plan 101.

Creating your company will require a business plan. This plan will list every possible detail you can think about that is relevant for your company to become a success.

It will be read not only by yourself or your wife but by the investors that you will ask to join the company or the banks you will ask money from. It will also be useful in the future when you are so overwhelmed with work and help to put you back on the right track.

A business plan explains why your company is in business. It will go from an executive summary that will in two sentences describe your business to how many of your products you plan to sell in 5 years.

It is a living document that you will update on a regular base according to your experience and the development of your company. This should be done once or twice a year. Even more if you are just starting.

To start a business plan , the best way is to create a business model for your company. This business model will help you to get the overview before starting to dig into the sordid little details that only your accountant will be interested in (;-).

Everything box in the business model should then be described in more details in the business plan.

So follow the links here under and start your business model and use our free business model canvas template for excel. Good luck. It is also called a businee plan template.

To help you further in the development of your business plan, you need to make a fair and honest analysis of your Strength and Weaknesses as well as the Opportunities and Threats that you will be facing. For this you will use the so called SWOT matrix that does exactly this. It is a listing of your Strength, Weakness, Threath and Opportunities related to your product business plan.

A SWOT Matrix  (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) is also used to define the strategy of your company when used in conjunction with the business model. The SWOT matrix can also be used for personal development, for example to compare yourself to other for a certain situation.

For this purpose we have created this SWOT matrix Template.

Please Tweet, Like or Share us if you enjoyed.

Business plan in excel: 5 modelli efficaci

Ci sono diversi modelli di business plan Excel che possono essere efficaci a seconda delle esigenze specifiche dell’azienda o del progetto. Per un’azienda fare un business plan è essenziale perché consente di organizzare le informazioni in modo dettagliato e strutturato, suddividendo il piano aziendale in sezioni chiare e di analizzare i dati finanziari in modo appropriato per riuscire a fare previsioni finanziarie corrette.

Approfondimenti

Accantonamenti: calcolo e gestione efficiente in Excel Accantonamenti: calcolo e gestione efficiente in Excel

Imposte differite e anticipate: 3 esempi pratici per la tua contabilit ... Imposte differite e anticipate: 3 esempi pratici per la tua contabilità

Calcolo media ponderata con Excel: 4 passaggi Calcolo media ponderata con Excel: 4 passaggi

3 modelli Excel per pianificare i turni di lavoro 3 modelli Excel per pianificare i turni di lavoro

Un business plan aiuta anche nella comunicazione e nella promozione del proprio progetto e della propria azienda. Comunicare in modo efficace i tuoi obiettivi e in che modo desideri realizzarli è essenziale per avere un finanziamento o dei creditori. Non solo, il business plan ti aiuta anche ad organizzare il lavoro e ad avere tutti i dati a portata di mano in modo chiaro così da poter monitorare le tue prestazioni e per prendere decisioni future informate.

5 modelli di business plan in excel

Ecco 5 tipi di modelli di business plan Excel efficaci:

1. Modello di business plan tradizionale : Questo modello include sezioni come executive summary, analisi di mercato, pianificazione finanziaria, strategie di marketing, piano operativo, etc. Puoi strutturare le varie sezioni in fogli diversi all’interno di un unico file Excel per organizzare le informazioni in modo chiaro e accessibile.

2. Modello di previsioni finanziarie : Questo tipo di modello si concentra principalmente sulle proiezioni finanziarie, inclusi flussi di cassa, bilancio, previsioni di entrate e spese, analisi di break-even e così via. Utilizzando le funzioni finanziarie di Excel , puoi creare fogli di calcolo specifici per calcolare e visualizzare queste previsioni.

3. Modello di valutazione delle startup : Se stai lavorando su una startup , potresti voler utilizzare un modello che ti aiuti a valutare il tuo business attraverso metriche come il tasso di crescita, l’analisi del mercato, la penetrazione del mercato e i potenziali investimenti. Puoi creare fogli specifici per ciascuna metrica e utilizzare formule e grafici per analizzare i dati.

4. Modello di piano di marketing e vendite : Se il tuo focus è sul marketing e sulle strategie di vendita, un modello di business plan può concentrarsi su queste aree. Creare fogli Excel per analizzare il mix di marketing, la pipeline delle vendite, i costi di acquisizione cliente, il ritorno sugli investimenti in marketing, ecc.

5. Modello di business plan settoriale: A seconda del settore in cui operi, potresti creare un modello specifico che tenga conto delle caratteristiche del tuo settore. Ad esempio, per il settore dell’ospitalità potresti concentrarti su metriche come il tasso di occupazione , il costo per camera, la redditività per cliente, ecc.

Per ciascuno di questi modelli, è importante utilizzare le funzionalità avanzate di Excel come le formule, i grafici, le tabelle pivot, ecc., per elaborare e analizzare i dati in modo efficace. Inoltre, puoi utilizzare modelli predefiniti disponibili online come punto di partenza e personalizzarli in base alle esigenze specifiche del tuo business.

Modelli di business plan excel

Ci sono tanti altri modelli di business plan excel devi solo scegliere il modello che più si addice alle tue esigenze. Puoi scegliere il Business Plan Generale che include anche sezioni come analisi di mercato, piano di marketing, piano operativo, analisi finanziaria e previsioni. È un formato completo che fornisce una visione globale del business. Ci sono anche modelli specifici come quello per il settore immobiliare o quello per progetti di investimento, utile per per coloro che cercano finanziamenti per progetti specifici. Include dettagli sui costi del progetto, previsioni finanziarie, analisi del ritorno sull’investimento e piani di rimborso.

Inoltre, se gestisci un ristorante puoi scegliere il Business Plan per Ristoranti o Alimenti e Bevande, specifico per aziende del settore alimentare. Contiene sezioni come piano del menu, proiezioni di costi alimentari, previsioni di vendita e analisi delle tendenze del settore. Se offri servizi professionali come consulenza, marketing, design, ecc., un modello potrebbe concentrarsi sulle capacità e le competenze del team, sui servizi offerti, sui prezzi, sul marketing e sulla strategia di acquisizione clienti nel settore dei servizi.

Ricorda che ogni business plan dovrebbe essere adattato alle esigenze specifiche del tuo progetto o azienda. Puoi trovare molti modelli gratuiti online o puoi anche creare il tuo modello personalizzato utilizzando Excel, incorporando le sezioni e le metriche più pertinenti per il tuo caso specifico. Il business plan è essenziale per ogni azienda perché racchiude e sintetizza tutte le caratteristiche di un progetto imprenditoriale in modo da presentarlo in modo esaustivo ad investitori e in generale è un prodotto fondamentale per la comunicazione aziendale esterna.

Il business plan è un documento che bisogna sfruttare al meglio e al massimo e deve essere dinamico e aperto a cambiamenti per questo motivo deve essere strutturato bene per essere subito efficace nella presentazione. Scegliere il modello di business plan excel è quindi una decisione importante che caratterizzerà il tuo biglietto da visita.

• modelli Excel

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Analyze your ventures through extensive business plans aligned with your vision and goals.

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Back your business with a solid plan that aligns with your vision and goals. Perfect for startups and small businesses.

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Funding ready business plan, executive summary, company overview.

Problem Statement

Business Description

Mission Statement

Business Model

Products and Services

Additional Features

Revenue Model

Market Analysis

Target Market

Market Size and Segments

Unique Value Proposition

Risks and Mitigations

Identified Risks

Mitigation Strategies

Financial Overview

Income Statement

Marketing and Sales Plan

Focus On Your Vision

Key features & benefits, ai editing companion.

Modify and regenerate sections of your business plan using premade or custom prompts. Our AI will help you refine your plan to perfection.

Multi-User Collaboration

Invite team members with easy sharing to collaborate on your business plan in real-time. Communicate and make changes together. Collaborate with your partners in real-time as you perfect your plan.

Education Center

Immerse yourself in a rich library of articles, tools, templates, webinars and resources for continuous business and professional growth. Learn all about the key aspects of starting, running and growing a business.

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Our algorithms are powered the latest in AI technology to ensure the most accurate and relevant output. We use OpenAI's GPT 4 and 3.5 engines for the perfect blend of accuracy and speed.

Business Resources

We recommend a variety of useful tools and resurces that help sustain your growth. We only recommend the best in the business. Filter your needs and equip yourself with the best tools.

Plan Samples

Explore a library of sample business plans we generated to get the idea of what to expect. Currently able to generate viable plans for 50+ industries.

Financial Projections

Take an additional questionnaire about your financial trajectory and get a detailed financial projection + 3 year income statement for your business.

Tools and Templates

Plannit's comprehensive suite that accompany business planning. From pitch decks to financial models, we have you covered.

Plan Export

Download your business plan in an editable .docx format. Fully edit & share your plan with investors, partners, and stakeholders.

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Rest assured, your privacy is our top priority, and we're committed to keeping your information safe and confidential.

PLANNIT BUSINESS ECOSYSTEM

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

• Initiate with Your Business Concept: Lay the Groundwork: Start by introducing your business idea into Plannit AI's Business Plan Generator. This first step is crucial, as it sets the tone for a tailored, insightful business plan that truly resonates with your vision. Capture the Essence: Our platform is designed to grasp the nuances of your concept, ensuring that the generated plan accurately reflects the core and potential of your business.
• Navigate Through the AI-Guided Questionnaire: Tailored Interactive Experience: Plannit AI’s AI-guided questionnaire is your interactive guide through the planning process. It meticulously gathers information about your business's objectives, strategies, and market positioning, ensuring a comprehensive and reflective plan. Intelligent Feedback and Suggestions: As you progress through the questionnaire, benefit from smart prompts and suggestions, ensuring that your plan is not just detailed but also strategically sound and aligned with industry standards.
• Generate Your Plan with Advanced AI: Intuitive Plan Creation: With the questionnaire complete, Plannit AI's advanced algorithms intelligently analyze your responses. They then craft a detailed, customizable, and strategically aligned business plan, providing you with a structured, coherent, and actionable format. Benefit from AI-Powered Insights: Plannit AI offers AI-driven insights and suggestions, ensuring your plan is not just a document but a strategic tool equipped with tailored AI prompts and an in-app plan editor. Get inspired by browsing through our sample business plans, a collection of successful strategies across various industries.
• Finalize Your Plan with Confidence: Dynamic Adaptation and Refinement: Plannit AI recognizes that a business plan is a living document. Our platform allows for continuous adaptation and refinement, ensuring your strategy remains agile, relevant, and aligned with your evolving business goals. Professional Presentation and Sharing: Once your plan meets your standards, utilize Plannit AI's export features to present your plan professionally. Choose between various formats for exporting your business plan, ready to impress stakeholders, attract investors, or guide your team. Review and Adapt: Ensure your business plan is a living document, ready to evolve with your growing business. Plannit AI's dynamic platform allows you to adapt your strategy as new opportunities or challenges arise.
• Roadmap for Success: At its core, a business plan acts as a strategic guide, providing detailed steps on how your business will achieve its objectives. It helps you navigate the startup phase, manage growth effectively, and tackle unforeseen challenges with a well-thought-out strategy.
• Securing Funding: For startups and businesses looking to expand, a business plan is crucial for securing loans or attracting investors. It demonstrates to potential financial backers that your business has a clear vision, a solid strategy for profitability, and a plan for delivering returns on their investment.
• Informed Decision-Making: A well-prepared business plan offers valuable insights into your market, competition, and potential challenges. This information is vital for making informed decisions, from day-to-day operations to long-term strategic shifts.
• Market Analysis and Strategy: It allows you to conduct an in-depth analysis of your target market, understand customer needs, and position your product or service effectively. The marketing strategy outlined in your business plan helps in identifying the best channels and tactics to reach your audience and achieve market penetration.
• Financial Planning: One of the most critical components of a business plan is the financial forecast. It outlines your funding requirements, expected revenue, profit margins, and cash flow projections. This section is essential for budgeting, financial management, and ensuring the financial viability of your business.
• Goal Setting and Performance Measurement: A business plan sets clear, measurable goals and objectives. It provides a framework for monitoring performance, measuring success, and making necessary adjustments to stay on track.
• Aspiring Entrepreneurs: If you're at the idea stage, looking to transform your vision into a viable business, Plannit AI offers the tools and guidance to bring your concept to life. Our platform helps you articulate your business idea, define your target market, and develop a solid plan to turn your dream into reality.
• Students and Educators: For students delving into the intricacies of business planning and educators teaching the fundamentals of entrepreneurship, Plannit AI serves as an invaluable resource. It provides a practical, hands-on tool for learning and teaching how to create detailed business plans, analyze markets, and understand financials in a real-world context.
• Startup Founders: In the dynamic startup environment, Plannit AI is the ideal partner for founders looking to pivot quickly, secure funding, or understand their competitive landscape. With our AI-driven insights and market analysis tools, startups can make informed decisions and adapt their strategies to thrive in competitive markets.
• Small Business Owners: For small business owners seeking to optimize their operations, expand their customer base, or explore new markets, Plannit AI offers targeted solutions. Our platform simplifies the planning process, enabling owners to focus on growth while managing the day-to-day challenges of running their business.
• Consultants and Freelancers: Consultants and freelancers specializing in business development, strategic planning, or financial advising will find Plannit AI a powerful addition to their toolkit. It allows them to provide clients with comprehensive, data-driven business plans and strategies, enhancing the value of their services.
• Non-Profit Organizations: Leaders of non-profit organizations can leverage Plannit AI to plan initiatives, secure funding, and manage resources more efficiently. Our platform helps non-profits articulate their mission, set achievable goals, and measure their impact, ensuring they can make a difference in their communities.
• Innovators and Inventors: Individuals looking to commercialize innovative products or technologies can use Plannit AI to navigate the complexities of bringing new ideas to market. From patent strategies to go-to-market plans, our platform covers all bases, ensuring innovators can focus on what they do best.
• Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) and Government Agencies: Government and SBA backed entities can greatly benefit from integrating Plannit AI into their services, enhancing their ability to support a larger number of clients more efficiently. By facilitating quicker, more in-depth business plan development, these organizations can spend more time assisting with plan execution and less time on creation, ultimately serving their communities more effectively.
• Anyone with a Business Idea: Ultimately, Plannit AI is for anyone with a business idea, regardless of industry, experience, or stage of business development. Our mission is to democratize business planning, making it accessible, understandable, and actionable for everyone.
• Interactive Questionnaire and ChatGPT Integration: Plannit AI transforms the business planning process into an engaging conversation. Through our advanced ChatGPT integration, we offer a questionnaire that dynamically adapts to your responses, ensuring your plan is personalized, comprehensive, and aligned with your business goals.
• Dynamic Planning Environment: Unlike static templates provided by many, Plannit AI introduces a living platform that grows with your business. It features real-time updates, strategic insights, and a feedback mechanism that keeps your business plan current and actionable.
• Extensive Educational Resources: Our Education Center is packed with articles, guides, and sample plans to bolster your planning process. It's designed to arm you with the knowledge to navigate the complexities of your industry confidently.
• Enhanced Collaboration and Customization: Recognizing the collaborative essence of business planning, Plannit AI supports team efforts with multi-user editing, annotations, and feedback features, ensuring a comprehensive approach to your strategy.
• Customer Success Stories: Our users' achievements are a testament to Plannit AI's effectiveness. These success stories illustrate how diverse businesses have utilized our platform for strategic planning and growth.
• Tailored Business Plan Creation: Our platform stands out with its tailored approach, featuring customizable templates that directly cater to your business type and industry, making plan creation straightforward and relevant.
• Content Generation:: ChatGPT helps draft various sections of a business plan, from executive summaries to marketing strategies, by providing structured and coherent text based on the prompts given.
• Strategic Insights: It can offer suggestions on business strategies by analyzing trends and providing examples from a wide range of industries.
• Financial Planning: While it can't replace professional financial advice, ChatGPT can guide the structure of financial projections and statements, helping you consider important financial aspects of your plan.

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Esempi di Business Plan: Modelli e Template Excel e PDF

Stai pensando di aprire un ristorante, bar, azienda agricola, negozio, altra attività commerciale?

Oppure vuoi avviare la tua startup tecnologica, di servizi o ancora vuoi investire in un’attività industriale?

O, invece, hai già un’attività avviata, ma hai bisogno di trovare nuovi capitali, investitori o finanziatori oppure ti sei deciso a venderla per fare cassa?

In tutte queste ipotesi, probabilmente ti servirà o ti verrà chiesto un business plan efficace.

Ma come si fa un business plan efficace ? Ne abbiamo parlato nella guida su Come Fare un Business Plan, a Cosa Serve e Cosa Deve Contenere .

In questo post, però, ci focalizziamo sugli esempi di Business Plan da cui puoi prendere ispirazione e idee.

Vediamo qualche esempio pratico di business plan con modelli e template disponibili online nei formati Excel, PDF o Doc.

Indice degli Argomenti

Vediamo prima una serie di esempi di business plan gratuiti, da scaricare online e in lingua italiana. Partiremo con modelli generici per poi passare a template di business plan più specifici per startup o attività ricettivo-turistiche.

Infine, passeremo a modelli di business plan in lingua inglese e a template grafici professionali, belli esteticamente e originali (a pagamento) per chi vuole realizzare business plan davvero efficaci per vendere o per attrarre investitori.

Esempi e Modelli di Business Plan Gratuiti, Scaricabili Online e in Lingua Italiana

Esempi di business plan generici e per attività industriali.

Partiamo da modelli ed esempi di business plan gratuiti che si possono scaricare online.

Sono molto utili presentazioni e template di alcune Università e Camere di Commercio italiane, in particolare per business plan di attività industriali:

• La Camera di Commercio di Torino fornisce un esempio di progetto di impresa e business plan PDF per un maglificio
• Altro utile modello in Excel di Business Plan scaricabile e da compilare è fornito dalla Camera di Commercio di Bolzano
• Una guida con (nella parte finale) un esempio di business plan di attività avviata che vuole investire in un macchinario, illustrato in PDF e pubblicato dal sito dell’ Università di Verona

Diversi siti di business forniscono esempi e modelli di business plan in Excel, PDF o Doc pronti all’uso, da scaricare online.

Template.net – raccolta di Business Plan in Word, Google Docs, PDF e Excel

Template.net è un sito con una mega raccolta di centinaia di template di ogni tipo, con tantissimi esempi di Business Plan per ogni tipo di attività.

Ecco una raccolta di 573 template Business Plan filtrabili per formato (tra cui Microsoft Word, Google Docs e Adobe PDF) e tipologia, editabili online e scaricabili gratuitamente.

Si trovano ovviamente anche Business Plan in formato Excel .

Altri siti e portali con Esempi e Modelli di Business Plan

• Il Portale per le PMI della Svizzera  ha messo a disposizione diversi esempi e modelli di business plan in Doc e Pdf  sia per piccole che per medie imprese
• Bpexcel.it  è un portale web per la gestione d’impresa che raccoglie tanti modelli di business plan in Excel da scaricare  per vari settori d’impresa

Esempi di Business Plan per StartUp Innovative

Ripartendo dal sito sopra citato, Bpexcel.it fornisce un modello in Excel di Business Plan per StartUp innovative  utile proprio per chi sta avviando quelle startup innovative promosse dal Ministero dello Sviluppo Economico .

Esempi di Business Plan per Ristorante, Bar e Hotel

Per avviare un’attività turistico-ricettiva , come ad esempio aprire un ristorante, bar o hotel, possiamo trovare esempi e modelli di business plan specifici, come l’ esempio pratico di business plan per hotel  scaricabile dal sito di GestioneHotel.guru .

Altri modelli utili arrivano ancora da Bpexcel.it, con il modello gratuito di business plan per ristorante in Excel  e il modello di business plan per bar e caffetteria .

Esempi di Business Plan per Negozi e Attività Commerciali

Dal sito dell’ Università di Siena , si può trovare questo caso pratico di business plan di un’attività commerciale (nello specifico un centro servizi di solarium e di estetica).

Bpexcel.it offre anche un esempio e modello di business plan per negozio di abbigliamento .

Modelli e Template di Business Plan in Lingua Inglese

Se stai cercando esempi e modelli di business plan in lingua inglese gratuiti da scaricare , puoi provare uno di questi:

• I template di business plan di Microsoft Office pronti da usare e compilare in vari formati Power Point, Excel o Word
• I business template dell’autorevole sito americano Entrepreneur.com , che contiene anche altri tipi di modelli di lavoro, business e altri accordi commerciali
• Il template di business plan per una startup  che comprende una dettagliata guida dal sito Score , molto utile per chi vuole creare una startup da sviluppare in ambito internazionale
• Smartsheet.com offre tantissimi consigli, guide e template gratuiti dedicati alle startup

Servizi e Template di Business Plan Professionali a Pagamento

Se hai qualche decina di Euro da spendere, vale la pena sfruttare template di business plan professionali, graficamente impattanti e di qualità da scaricare e compilare dietro un piccolo pagamento:

• Template.net offre interessanti modelli di business plan   per vari settori , ma anche altri template per lavoro e business
• iPlanner.net fornisce diversi esempi di di business plan con servizi annessi in base all’obiettivo e alla fase di sviluppo dell’attività

Alcuni servizi online (a pagamento) professionali per realizzare business plan da tenere sott’occhio sono:

• LivePlan  è un tool online per generare business plan professionali senza avere alcuna competenza grafica
• Bplans  è un blog ricco di guide, download, esempi pratici su business plan, avvio di startup e sviluppo di business in generale
• Enloop , che ha una versione base gratuita con limitazioni e varie versioni con funzionalità premium a pagamento

Realizzare un Business Plan: Corsi Online Utili

Aggiungiamo una sezione dedicata ad alcuni corsi utili online selezionando tra i più quotati e i best-seller su Udemy, piattaforma di videocorsi riconosciuta a livello internazionale.

I corsi sul Business Plan proposti sono in italiano:

Consigliamo alcuni corsi molto venduti e recensiti su Udemy che possono tornare utili:

Esempi di Business Plan Conclusioni

Ora che hai a disposizione tantissimi esempi, modelli, template di business plan in Excel, PDF, Doc, Power Point, puoi scegliere la tua opzione preferita e dedicarti alla redazione di un business plan efficace.

Anzi, prima di iniziare a realizzare il tuo business plan, prova a dare un’occhiata alla guida su come fare un business plan .

In caso tu non abbia sufficiente tempo, energia o competenza, ma puoi investire del budget per delegare la realizzazione del business plan è il caso di farti aiutare da studi di consulenza, agenzie di marketing, consulenti manageriali e per startup.

Dai un’occhiata anche alle  Risorse per Avviare StartUp e Sviluppare il Proprio Business  per trovare altri servizi e guide utili.

Immagine Analytics Blur Business da Lukas – Flickr.com (licenza:  CC BY-ND 2.0 )

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Modello di Business Plan per Excel

Se vuoi gestire la strategia della tua impresa in maniera agile e semplice, i modelli Excel ti possono aiutare. I fogli di Excel da scaricare risultano molto utili, tanto nell’eventualità tu sia un imprenditore che voglia avviare una nuova azienda, così come nel caso l’impresa sia già operativa.

Come fare una strategia aziendale con Excel

Esistono una serie di elementi que non puoi omettere in un foglio di calcolo nel momento di avviare un’azienda o, semplicemente, per la sua gestione. Possiamo fare ricorso a diversi documenti Excel per analizzare i diversi ambiti aziendali , o in alternativa includerli tutti in un singolo file Excel, completo di un piano finanziario e gli altri modelli indispensabili quali ad esempio:

Business Plan per Excel da scaricare gratis

Il business plan con Excel include l’insieme completo di tutti questi modelli Excel, indispensabili per analizzare l’intero dipartimento finanziario con un solo documento. Devi semplicemente scaricare il modello e riempirlo con i dati dell’impresa ; spetterà poi alle funzioni Excel inserite nei rispettivi fogli di calcolo mostrare e salvare i risultati.

La redazione di Forbes Advisor è indipendente e obiettiva. Per sostenere il nostro impegno e per continuare a fornire contenuti gratuiti ai nostri lettori, riceviamo un compenso dalle aziende che pubblicizzano i loro prodotti e servizi sul nostro sito. Nello specifico, Forbes Advisor è finanziato mediante due principali modalità.

In primo luogo, mettiamo a disposizione degli inserzionisti spazi pubblicitari in cui presentare le proprie offerte. I compensi che percepiamo a fronte delle inserzioni influiscono sul formato e sulla collocazione all’interno del nostro sito delle offerte in questione. I contenuti che pubblichiamo non interessano la totalità delle aziende o dei prodotti disponibili sul mercato.

In secondo luogo, alcuni dei nostri articoli contengono link a offerte di inserzionisti. Se cliccati, questi “link di affiliazione” possono produrre entrate a favore del sito. I compensi che percepiamo da parte degli inserzionisti, tuttavia, non influenzano il parere o i consigli espressi dalla nostra redazione, né incidono in alcun modo sui contenuti editoriali di Forbes Advisor.

Nonostante l'impegno quotidiano nell'offerta di contenuti dettagliati, aggiornati e in linea con le aspettative dei propri lettori, Forbes Advisor non può garantire la completezza delle informazioni riportate nei propri articoli e declina ogni responsabilità in merito all'accuratezza o alla validità di tali informazioni.

Come creare un business plan: esempio pratico (2024)

Pubblicato: 21/09/2023, 11:18 am

Revisione di

Perché creare un business plan?

Business plan: esempio in 6 punti, 1. mission o vision, 2. offerta e proposta di valore, 3. pubblico di riferimento e potenziali clienti, 4. flussi di ricavi, canali di vendita e di marketing, 5. organizzazione, fornitori e gestione delle attività, per concludere.

Un business plan è un documento utilizzato per definire obiettivi e strategie che consentano a un’attività di raggiungere il successo. Nell’articolo che segue forniremo un semplice esempio di business plan, che copre le indicazioni essenziali per l’avvio di una piccola impresa o di un’attività in proprio: se hai intenzione di dare vita a un progetto imprenditoriale, questo esempio può rappresentare un punto di partenza per sviluppare una pianificazione più completa.

La creazione del business plan è un processo essenziale per comprendere meglio costi, incarichi, opportunità di guadagno e quali modelli di business siano più remunerativi. Non sono solo gli imprenditori alle prime armi a dover sviluppare un business plan: si tratta di un’operazione preziosa per chiunque gestisca un’attività. Un business plan può essere strutturato secondo diversi gradi di complessità, dai più basilari ai piani più dettagliati, comprensivi di ricerche di mercato, costi e previsioni sui ricavi. Che tu sia un imprenditore in proprio o abbia lanciato una startup in cerca di finanziamenti, creare un business plan ben strutturato è un passo fondamentale per avviare un’impresa .

Un business plan completo dovrebbe comprendere sei elementi chiave, illustrati in questo esempio. Il livello di approfondimento richiesto dipende principalmente dalla scelta di avviare una piccola impresa o di ricorrere a un finanziamento da parte di un investitore. Le imprese finanziate da investitori, infatti, richiedono ricerche di mercato più approfondite e dettagli operativi e finanziari a sostegno del progetto.

Inizia il tuo business plan con un resoconto conciso che racchiuda la tua idea. Questa sezione deve rispondere in modo sintetico a cinque domande fondamentali. Le risposte saranno approfondite nelle sezioni successive del nostro esempio di business plan.

• Di cosa si occupa la tua azienda? Vendi prodotti, servizi, informazioni o un insieme di queste cose?
• Dove si svolge l’attività? La tua attività si svolge online, in negozio, tramite dispositivi mobili o in un luogo o ambiente specifico?
• A chi si rivolge la tua attività? Qual è il mercato di riferimento della tua azienda e che caratteristiche ha il tuo cliente ideale?
• Perché i potenziali clienti dovrebbero considerarla? Cosa dovrebbe spingere i tuoi clienti ideali a notare la tua attività?
• In che modo i tuoi prodotti e/o servizi si distinguono da quelli della concorrenza? Cosa dovrebbe spingere i tuoi clienti ideali a scegliere la tua attività rispetto a quella di un concorrente?

Se hai difficoltà a fornire risposte a queste domande nella sintesi del tuo business plan, non preoccuparti. Man mano che lavorerai al piano, è molto probabile che scoprirai possibili risposte a queste domande, identificando nuove opportunità per la tua idea di business.

In questa sezione del business plan, dovrai illustrare la tua offerta commerciale. È inoltre il momento di definire la tua proposta di valore, spiegando perché la tua attività potrebbe risultare preziosa per dei potenziali clienti.

Lavorando a questa parte, potresti scoprire nuove opportunità di mercato che inizialmente non avevi considerato. Per esempio, una startup specializzata in prodotti senza glutine e chetogenici potrebbe ampliare la propria proposta di valore preparando dolci personalizzati per occasioni speciali adatti a diverse preferenze alimentari.

In questa sezione identificherai il tuo pubblico di riferimento, parlando dei problemi e delle esigenze specifiche a cui il tuo prodotto o servizio può fornire risposte. Questa fase è fondamentale per sviluppare una strategia di marketing e un’offerta di prodotti.

Per farlo in modo efficace, individua un problema che il tuo target si trova ad affrontare. Per esempio, la startup specializzata in cibi senza glutine e chetogenici può rivolgersi a persone attente alla salute e alla ricerca di questi prodotti. Tuttavia, è essenziale accertarsi di rivolgersi a una base di clienti sufficientemente ampia da poter sostenere l’attività, il che potrebbe significare che dovrai offrire una varietà di prodotti da forno tradizionali insieme quelli più particolari.

La nostra economia è trainata dalle tecnologie informatiche e grazie a internet oggi le startup possono contare su molte opportunità di guadagno e raggiungere un pubblico di riferimento sempre più variegato. In questo contesto, i flussi di ricavi e i canali di vendita divengono anche strumenti di marketing: la presente sezione è dedicata a tutti questi aspetti.

Flussi di ricavi

I flussi di ricavi corrispondono ai molti modi in cui è possibile generare guadagni con la propria attività. Nel tuo business plan, elenca le fonti di entrate al momento del lancio e indica eventuali idee che consentano di ampliare l’attività in futuro.

Ad esempio, il business plan della startup specializzata in prodotti gluten free potrebbe contemplare i seguenti flussi di ricavi:

• Vendita di prodotti: online, in negozi pop-up, all’ingrosso e (in futuro) in negozio
• Ricavi derivanti da campagne di affiliazione: monetizzazione dei post contenenti link di affiliazione pubblicati all’interno di un blog e/o sui profili social
• Entrate derivanti dalle inserzioni pubblicitarie: annunci pubblicitari sul sito web
• Vendite di ebook: (in futuro) pubblicazione di ebook di ricette di dessert senza glutine e compatibili con la dieta chetogenica
• Ricavi ottenuti grazie ai video: (in futuro) monetizzazione di un canale YouTube con video informativi sulla realizzazione di dessert senza glutine e chetogenici
• Webinar e corsi online: (in futuro) monetizzazione di webinar orientati al coaching e corsi online dedicati a consigli e tecniche di cottura
• Contenuti riservati ai soci: (in futuro) monetizzazione di una sezione del sito web riservata ai soci e dedicata a contenuti speciali a integrazione dei webinar e dei corsi online
• Franchising: (in futuro) vendere l’idea di aprire forni specializzati nella realizzazione di questi prodotti di nicchia a imprenditori di franchising.

Canali di vendita

I canali di vendita consentono di generare flussi di ricavi. Questa sezione risponde anche alla domanda “dove si svolge l’attività?” contenuta nel secondo punto della vision del progetto.

Ad esempio, nel business plan della startup specializzata in prodotti senza glutine potrebbero essere indicati i seguenti canali di vendita:

• POS: un sistema di vendita per dispositivi mobili come Shopify o Square POS per la gestione delle vendite in mobilità in contesti quali mercati, eventi e fiere
• Piattaforma ecommerce: un negozio online come Shopify , Square o WooCommerce per le vendite al dettaglio online e gli ordini di vendita all’ingrosso
• Canali social: post e pin con pulsanti per l’acquisto su Facebook , Instagram o Pinterest, che consentano di vendere online attraverso i propri profili
• Negozio: una sede fisica, quando l’attività sarà cresciuta al punto di consentirti di gestire un negozio.

Di seguito elenchiamo ulteriori canali che possono fungere da fonti di reddito:

• Ricavi derivanti da campagne di affiliazione: sezione blog sul sito di ecommerce e partner affiliati
• Entrate derivanti dalle inserzioni pubblicitarie: annunci pubblicitari sul sito di ecommerce
• Vendite di ebook: vendite di ebook su Amazon tramite Kindle Direct Publishing
• Ricavi ottenuti grazie ai video: canale YouTube con monetizzazione degli annunci pubblicitari
• Webinar e corsi online: piattaforme dedicate a corsi online e webinar che consentano di gestire la creazione di account per gli iscritti e il caricamento e la riproduzione di contenuti registrati
• Contenuti riservati ai soci: contenuti protetti da password tramite applicazioni per la creazione di community di utenti iscritti come MemberPress.

Canali di marketing

Spesso i canali di marketing e di vendita utilizzati dalle imprese presentano forti sovrapposizioni. I video e le piattaforme online come i social media, i siti web o i blog fungono sia da strumenti di marketing che da fonti di ricavi, risultando particolarmente utili per le startup e le imprese di piccole dimensioni.

Ad ogni modo, i canali pubblicitari tradizionali come la radio, la TV, le comunicazioni dirette per posta e la carta stampata hanno mantenuto il proprio valore per molte attività e, pertanto, devono essere presi in considerazione al momento della creazione di un piano di marketing e di un budget all’interno di un business plan.

In questa sezione del nostro esempio di business plan spieghiamo come indicare la struttura, le modalità di gestione dell’azienda ed eventuali certificazioni o permessi necessari per l’avvio dell’impresa.

La startup specializzata in prodotti senza glutine potrebbe elencare alcuni punti simili ai seguenti:

• Struttura aziendale: definizione dell’organizzazione dell’attività
• Permessi e certificazioni: licenza per il trattamento degli alimenti e per la produzione alimentare artigianale. In alternativa, affitto di una cucina commerciale in possesso dei requisiti necessari
• Ruoli e responsabilità: imprenditore in proprio, tutti i ruoli e le responsabilità sono in capo al titolare
• Attività quotidiane: procurarsi gli ingredienti e cucinare tre giorni a settimana per rispondere agli ordini. Riservare del tempo agli eventi di settore, ai mercati e agli ordini dei partner all’ingrosso, se necessario. Spedire a giorni alterni gli ordini effettuati online. Aggiornare il sito web e creare post social, sul blog e contenenti link di affiliazione nei giorni in cui non vengono effettuate le spedizioni.

L’ultimo passaggio nella stesura del business plan consiste nell’elencare i costi previsti per l’avvio e la gestione dell’attività, oltre che i ricavi attesi. Grazie a strumenti gratuiti come Square e alle opportunità di marketing offerte dai social media, è possibile lanciare una startup a costi molto contenuti.

In molti casi, il costo della merce, della spedizione e dell’imballaggio, delle autorizzazioni e licenze, e della stampa dei biglietti da visita sono le uniche spese da sostenere.

Sviluppare al meglio il business plan della propria attività è un passaggio fondamentale per chi si appresta a lanciare un’impresa, ma è altrettanto importante che la fase di pianificazione non si trasformi in un ostacolo per l’avvio dell’attività.

Tieni presente, inoltre, che un business plan non è mai un documento destinato ad assumere valore definitivo. I mercati, il pubblico e le tecnologie sono in costante evoluzione, così come gli obiettivi aziendali e le strategie sviluppate per raggiungerli. Considera il tuo business plan, quindi, come un documento dinamico, soggetto a revisioni periodiche, da ampliare e modificare in risposta alle opportunità di mercato e alla crescita della tua attività.

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Krista Fabregas è una professionista esperta nell'ambito dell'ecommerce e della redazione di contenuti online. Vanta oltre vent'anni di esperienza pratica, che mette al servizio di chi desidera lanciare e far crescere società di successo nel settore tecnologico. Tra le sue competenze rientrano l'avvio e lo sviluppo di attività di ecommerce, operazioni e logistica per le PMI, piattaforme per la creazione di siti web, sistemi di pagamento, marketing multicanale e redditi da attività collaterali e programmi di affiliazione. Krista ha conseguito la laurea in Lettere presso la University of Texas di Austin e ha ricoperto posizioni apicali presso la NASA, un'azienda Fortune 100 e diverse startup digitali.

Modelli ed esempi gratuiti di business plan per startup

By Joe Weller | 6 Maggio 2020

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In questo articolo abbiamo raccolto una serie di modelli di business plan per startup progettati in modo professionale, tutti scaricabili gratuitamente in formato, Word ed Excel.

In questa pagina troverete un modello di business plan per startup di una pagina , un modello di business plan per startup , un modello di business plan per startup con una linea temporale e un esempio di business plan per startup .

Modello di business plan per startup

Scarica il modello di business plan per startup - Word

Questo modello di business plan per startup contiene i componenti essenziali necessari per comunicare l'idea e la strategia aziendale a investitori e stakeholder, ma è possibile personalizzarlo per adattarlo alle proprie esigenze. Il modello offre spazio per includere un sommario esecutivo, una panoramica finanziaria, una strategia di marketing, dettagli sull'offerta di prodotti o servizi e altro ancora.

Modello di business plan di una pagina per startup

Scarica il modello di business plan di una pagina per le startup

Questo business plan di una pagina è ideale per le imprese in fase di avviamento che vogliono documentare e organizzare i concetti chiave dell'attività. Il modello offre un layout di facile consultazione, ideale per investitori e stakeholder. Utilizzate questo piano per creare una visione di alto livello della vostra idea imprenditoriale e come riferimento per elaborare una tabella di marcia più dettagliata per la vostra attività.

Per ulteriori risorse, visitate " Modelli gratuiti di business plan di una pagina con una guida rapida "

Un semplice modello di business plan da compilare per le startup

Scarica un semplice modello di piano d'impresa da compilare per le start-up

Questo modello completo di business plan da compilare è stato progettato per guidare gli imprenditori attraverso il processo di costruzione di un business plan di una startup. Questo modello è dotato di una copertina e di un indice personalizzabili e ogni sezione include contenuti di esempio che potete modificare per adattarli alle esigenze della vostra azienda. Per altri modelli di business compilabili, leggete il nostro articolo  "Free Fill-In-the-Blank Business Plan Templates"  .

Modello di business plan snello per le startup

Scarica il modello di business plan Lean per le startup

Questo modello di business plan Lean prende lo schema di un business plan tradizionale e ne estrae gli elementi più essenziali. Utilizzate questo modello per delineare la panoramica dell'azienda e del settore, illustrare il problema che state risolvendo, identificare i segmenti di clientela, evidenziare le principali metriche di performance ed elencare un calendario delle attività principali.

Modello di schema di business plan per startup

Scarica il modello di schema del business plan per le startup

Potete usare questo schema di business plan come base per creare il vostro business plan. Questo modello contiene tutti gli elementi di un business plan tradizionale, tra cui un frontespizio, un indice e informazioni su cosa includere in ogni sezione. Semplificate o ampliate questo schema in base alle dimensioni e alle esigenze della vostra startup.

Modello di pianificazione aziendale per startup con cronologia

Scarica il modello di pianificazione aziendale per le startup con la linea del tempo

Durante la creazione del business plan, questo modello di pianificazione aziendale funge da calendario e da pianificazione per tenere traccia dei progressi delle attività principali. Questo modello consente di suddividere il piano in fasi e offre spazio per includere i compiti chiave e le date per ogni compito. Per ottenere una linea temporale visiva, ombreggiate le celle in base alle date di inizio e fine di ogni attività. La tempistica assicura che il piano rimanga in linea con i tempi.

Modello di valutazione del business plan per le startup

Scarica il modello di valutazione del business plan per le startup

Excel | Word

Se state avviando un'impresa e volete avere tutte le carte in regola, utilizzate questa griglia per valutare e assegnare un punteggio a ogni aspetto del vostro business plan. È possibile adattare questo modello alle esigenze della propria azienda, evidenziando anche le aree del piano che richiedono miglioramenti o ampliamenti. Utilizzate questo modello come strumento per assicurarvi che il vostro piano sia chiaro, articolato e organizzato. Un piano acuto, perspicace e ben congegnato attirerà sicuramente l'attenzione di potenziali investitori e partner.

Per ulteriori risorse a supporto della pianificazione aziendale, consultate il sito "Modelli gratuiti di piani, budget e costi per l'avviamento"

Qual è il miglior modello di business plan per le startup?

Il modello scelto per la vostra startup dipende da una serie di fattori, tra cui le dimensioni e le esigenze specifiche della vostra azienda. Inoltre, man mano che la vostra azienda cresce e i vostri obiettivi cambiano, dovrete adattare il vostro piano (e possibilmente la scelta del modello) di conseguenza.

Alcuni imprenditori trovano utile utilizzare un modello di business plan Lean per annotare un'idea di business e verificare se è fattibile prima di proseguire. In genere da una a tre pagine, un modello di business plan Lean vi incoraggia a mettere in evidenza le idee principali e le attività strategiche e a rimanere concentrati sui punti chiave.

Altri imprenditori preferiscono un modello con un design più tradizionale del business plan, che consente di entrare più nel dettaglio e di assicurarsi di includere ogni particolare. Un piano tradizionale può variare da 10 a 100 pagine e coprire sia i dettagli di alto livello che quelli granulari del concetto generale, degli obiettivi e della strategia.

Non esiste una soluzione unica per tutti, ma la sezione seguente delinea il minimo che il modello di business plan dovrebbe includere per ottenere il consenso dei potenziali investitori.

Cosa includere in un business plan per startup

Sia che si scelga di utilizzare un modello per sviluppare il business plan della propria startup, sia che si decida di scriverne uno da zero, è necessario includere i seguenti elementi:

• Una panoramica della vostra azienda e del settore in cui opera
• Il problema che si sta risolvendo e la soluzione proposta
• Descrizione dell'offerta di prodotti o servizi, comprese le caratteristiche principali
• Le alternative esistenti utilizzate dai clienti e il vostro vantaggio competitivo
• I segmenti di clienti target e i canali da utilizzare per raggiungerli
• La struttura dei costi e i flussi di reddito associati alla vostra attività
• Un piano finanziario, comprese le proiezioni delle vendite e dei ricavi (idealmente per 3-5 anni)
• Se applicabile, i requisiti finanziari per l'avvio dell'attività, comprese le modalità di reperimento e allocazione dei fondi

Ciascuna delle seguenti sezioni fornisce un esempio di business plan da utilizzare come riferimento per lo sviluppo del proprio.

Esempio di business plan Lean di una pagina

Questo esempio di business plan Lean mostra un'illustrazione di una pagina di un business plan visivamente accattivante e scannerizzabile. Trasmette le strategie chiave necessarie per raggiungere gli obiettivi principali. Ogni elemento di questo piano conciso fornisce agli stakeholder e ai potenziali investitori i link alle risorse che supportano e ampliano i dettagli del piano, e può anche servire come pitch deck per gli investitori.

I 10 migliori consigli per creare un business plan per startup

La stesura di un business plan può essere un'operazione travolgente e dispendiosa in termini di tempo, soprattutto se non si sa da dove cominciare. Di seguito, condividiamo i suggerimenti che possono essere utilizzati per semplificare il processo di sviluppo di un business plan per startup.

• Utilizzate un modello di business plan o iniziate con uno schema di business plan che fornisce tutti gli elementi di un piano standard per mettere su carta le vostre idee in modo strutturato. (Potete scegliere dalla selezione di modelli qui sopra)
• Eliminate dal vostro schema le sezioni che non sono rilevanti o che non sono necessarie per avviare e gestire la vostra attività.
• Compilate i dati raccolti sulla vostra attività e sul settore, comprese le ricerche sul mercato di riferimento e sulle offerte di prodotti o servizi, i dettagli sul panorama competitivo e un piano finanziario che preveda i prossimi tre-cinque anni. Utilizzate queste informazioni per compilare le sezioni dello schema del piano.
• Ottenere input e feedback dai membri del team (ad es, finanza, marketing, vendite) ed esperti in materia per garantire che le informazioni inserite nel piano siano accurate.
• Assicuratevi che gli obiettivi del piano siano in linea con quelli di marketing, vendita e finanziari, per garantire che tutti i membri del team si muovano nella stessa direzione.
• Anche se questa sezione del piano viene prima, scrivete il sommario esecutivo per ultimo per fornire una panoramica dei punti chiave del vostro business plan.
• Preparate un pitch deck per i potenziali clienti, partner o investitori con i quali intendete incontrarvi per condividere informazioni vitali sulla vostra attività, tra cui ciò che vi contraddistingue e la direzione che state prendendo.
• Chi sono i fondatori e i dirigenti e che esperienza hanno?
• Qual è il problema che state risolvendo e in che modo la vostra soluzione è migliore di quella attuale?
• Qual è la dimensione del mercato e qual è la quota di mercato che intendete conquistare?
• Quali sono le tendenze del vostro mercato e come le state applicando alla vostra attività?
• Chi sono i vostri concorrenti diretti e qual è il vostro vantaggio competitivo?
• Quali sono le caratteristiche principali del vostro prodotto o servizio che lo distinguono dalle offerte alternative e quali pensate di aggiungere in futuro?
• Quali sono i rischi potenziali associati alla vostra attività e come pensate di affrontarli?
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14 Best Excel Templates for Business in 2024 (Free & Premium)

• Last updated March 21, 2024

Fact Checked By Cindy Wong

Let’s talk about Excel templates. These pre-made spreadsheets help you improve productivity quickly. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll dive deep into the world of Excel templates, equipping you with the knowledge and tools to streamline your tasks, boost productivity, and make informed decisions.

From understanding what Excel spreadsheet templates are to exploring specialized templates for various industries, we’ve got you covered. Whether you’re a seasoned Excel user or just starting, our friendly yet professional approach will simplify complex concepts and empower you to harness the full power of Excel templates.

What Are Excel Templates?

We provide a host of spreadsheet templates for our readers. And Excel templates are no exception. These pre-designed spreadsheets created to simplify various tasks and processes. They serve as starting points, offering predefined structures, formulas, and formatting. These templates are designed to save you time and effort by eliminating the need to build spreadsheets from scratch.

Key Features of Excel Spreadsheet Templates

• Structured Layout: Templates come with organized rows and columns tailored to the specific task or use case. For instance, a budget template might include categories for income, expenses, and savings.
• Predefined Formulas and Functions: Excel spreadsheet templates often include formulas and functions that perform calculations automatically. For example, a mortgage calculator template may already have formulas for calculating monthly payments and interest.
• Formatting and Styling: Templates feature consistent design, including fonts, colors, and cell borders. This makes your data visually appealing and easy to read.
• Placeholder Data: Templates often contain placeholder data or instructions to guide you in entering your information. These placeholders help you understand how to use the template effectively.
• Customizability: While templates provide a structured framework, they are highly customizable. You can modify them to suit your specific needs by adding or removing columns, changing labels, or adjusting formulas.

Common Uses of Excel Templates

• Budgeting: Excel templates for budgeting help individuals and businesses manage their finances effectively by tracking income and expenses, projecting future financial goals, and analyzing spending patterns.
• Project Management: Project management templates assist in planning, tracking, and managing projects. They often include Gantt charts, task lists, and progress trackers.
• Data Analysis: Excel offers templates for data analysis, such as pivot tables, allowing you to quickly summarize and analyze large datasets.
• Accounting: Accounting templates help businesses maintain accurate financial records, including ledgers, income statements, and balance sheets.
• Inventory Management: Inventory templates help businesses track stock levels, monitor product sales, and manage inventory turnover.

Types of Excel Templates

Excel spreadsheet templates come in various categories, each designed to address specific needs and tasks. Here are some of the most common types of Excel templates:

Financial Excel Templates

Financial templates are geared towards managing finances, budgeting, and financial analysis. You can make your own cash flow template , or use one that’s already made. Common financial spreadsheets include:

• Budget Templates: These templates help individuals and businesses create and manage budgets, ensuring that income and expenses are balanced. Check out our top budget templates for Google Sheets .
• Financial Models: Financial modeling templates are used for forecasting financial performance, especially in business planning and investment analysis.
• Income Statements: Templates for income statements track revenues and expenses to determine profitability.
• Balance Sheets: These templates provide a snapshot of a company’s financial position by displaying assets, liabilities, and equity.

Project Management Excel Templates

Project management templates are essential for planning, executing, and monitoring projects. For example, we covered our favorite project status report templates . Other common templates include:

• Gantt Charts: Gantt chart templates visually represent project schedules, showing tasks, timelines, and dependencies.
• Project Timelines: These templates offer a simplified view of project milestones and deadlines.
• Task Tracking Templates: Task tracking templates help teams assign, track, and manage tasks to keep projects on schedule.

Data Analysis Excel Templates

Data analysis templates are invaluable for individuals and businesses working with data. Key templates include:

• Pivot Tables: Pivot table templates simplify data summarization and analysis, allowing users to create interactive reports.
• Data Visualization Templates: Templates for charts and graphs help transform raw data into visual representations for easier understanding.
• Statistical Analysis Templates: Statistical analysis templates include tools for performing statistical tests and calculations.

Personal and Business Excel Templates

Personal and business templates cover a wide range of tasks. We have an article that covers payment receipt templates . Other common personal and business spreadsheets include:

• To-Do List Templates: These templates help you stay organized by listing tasks and priorities.
• Invoice Templates: Invoice templates streamline the invoicing process for businesses, including itemized lists and payment tracking.
• Business Plan Templates: Business plan templates provide structured frameworks for creating comprehensive business plans, helping startups and established companies alike.

Whether you’re managing finances, overseeing a project, analyzing data, or organizing personal tasks, Excel templates offer a time-saving solution to enhance your productivity.

Top 14 Excel Templates for Business

Now, let’s delve into the top Excel templates that can significantly boost your productivity across various domains. We’ll explore each template, highlighting its key features and benefits.

Financial Management Excel Templates

1. financial model.

The Financial Model Excel template is a versatile tool designed to help businesses of all sizes and types manage their finances effectively. Whether you’re a business, a startup , or operating in specific niches like SaaS , E-Commerce , or Marketplace , this template offers comprehensive financial projections, including income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements. It’s essential for budgeting, forecasting, and making informed financial decisions.

• Accurate Projections: Generate precise financial projections for different business scenarios, aiding in strategic planning.
• Scenario Analysis: Easily assess the impact of various decisions on your financial health by running multiple scenarios.
• Investor-Ready: Impress investors and stakeholders with professional financial reports and insights.
• Data Visualization: Utilize charts and graphs to visualize financial trends and make data-driven decisions.

Price: $74-139 (Use code SPoint10 for 10% off)

2. Profit and Loss Statement

The Profit and Loss Statement Excel template is tailored to specific business models, including startups , marketplaces , SaaS , and E-Commerce ventures. It helps you track your revenues, costs, and expenses to calculate your net profit or loss accurately. With clear and customizable categories, you can gain a deep understanding of your business’s financial performance.

• Business-Specific Tracking: Choose a template that aligns with your business model for precise financial insights.
• Expense Categorization: Easily categorize expenses for better cost management and identification of cost-saving opportunities.
• Year-over-Year Comparison: Track your financial performance over time to identify growth trends or areas that need improvement.
• Tax Preparation: Simplify tax preparation by neatly organizing your income and expenses.

Price: $74 (Use code SPoint10 for 10% off)

3. Revenue Forecasting Tool

The Revenue Forecasting Tool Excel template is indispensable for businesses focused on revenue growth. With different versions tailored to Marketplace , SaaS , E-Commerce , and Agency models, it enables you to project your future revenues based on historical data, market trends, and growth strategies. This tool empowers you to set realistic revenue targets and make informed decisions to achieve them.

• Data-Driven Projections: Utilize historical data and market insights to generate accurate revenue forecasts.
• Goal Setting: Set achievable revenue targets and track progress towards your financial goals.
• Scenario Planning: Assess how changes in pricing, marketing, or sales strategies impact revenue.
• Informed Decision-Making: Make strategic decisions backed by comprehensive revenue projections.

Price: $46 (Use code SPoint10 for 10% off)

Budgeting and Tracking Excel Templates

4. zero-based budget template.

Zero-based budgeting is a meticulous approach to budgeting where you allocate every dollar of your income to expenses, savings, or investments. The Zero-Based Budget Excel template simplifies the zero-based budgeting process, ensuring that your budget accurately reflects your financial priorities and goals.

• Financial Clarity: Gain a clear understanding of where your money goes and prioritize spending according to your goals.
• Savings and Investments: Systematically allocate funds for savings, investments, and debt reduction.
• Expense Tracking: Monitor daily expenses to identify areas for potential savings.
• Emergency Fund Planning: Create a buffer for unexpected costs by including an emergency fund category.

Price: $4.99

5. Inventory and Sales Tracking Template

Managing inventory and tracking sales is crucial for businesses, especially those in retail or e-commerce. The Inventory and Sales Tracking Excel template streamlines inventory management, allowing you to efficiently track stock levels, sales, and product performance.

• Real-Time Inventory: Monitor inventory levels in real-time, ensuring you never run out of stock or overstock products.
• Sales Analysis: Analyze sales data to identify top-performing products and optimize your product offerings.
• Cost Control: Keep tabs on inventory costs and prevent financial losses due to mismanagement.
• Data-Driven Decision-Making: Use sales insights to make informed decisions about restocking, promotions, and pricing strategies.

Price: $19.99

6. Capital Expenditure Planning Template

Capital expenditures (CapEx) are essential for businesses looking to grow and invest in assets like equipment, technology, or infrastructure. This free CapEx Excel template simplifies the planning and tracking of capital expenditures, ensuring efficient allocation of resources.

• Streamlined Planning: Plan and prioritize capital expenditures in a structured manner.
• Budget Control: Stay within budget by tracking expenses against planned allocations.
• ROI Assessment: Evaluate each capital expenditure’s return on investment (ROI) to make informed decisions.
• Asset Management: Keep a comprehensive record of your business’s assets and their depreciation.

Price: Free!

Investment and Financial Analysis Excel Templates

7. simple investment template.

The Simple Investment Excel template is perfect for individuals or businesses looking to analyze potential investments. It assists in evaluating the financial feasibility of investments, calculating returns, and making informed investment decisions.

• Investment Evaluation: Assess the attractiveness of various investment opportunities.
• Risk Analysis: Consider the risks associated with each investment and their impact on returns.
• Return Calculations: Calculate potential returns, including net present value (NPV) and internal rate of return (IRR).
• Decision Support: Make well-informed investment choices based on financial analysis.

8. Mortgage Calculator with Amortization Table

Mortgages are a significant financial commitment. This Mortgage Calculator Excel template simplifies mortgage calculations, helping individuals and homeowners understand their loan terms, amortization schedules, and total interest payments.

• Loan Clarity: Understand your mortgage terms, including interest rates, monthly payments, and loan duration.
• Amortization Schedule: View the full amortization schedule, tracking principal and interest payments over time.
• Interest Savings: Explore strategies for paying off your mortgage early to reduce interest costs.
• Financial Planning: Incorporate mortgage payments into your long-term financial planning.

9. CLV vs. CAC Analysis Template

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) and Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) are critical business metrics. The CLV vs. CAC Analysis Excel template simplifies the calculation and analysis of CLV and CAC, aiding in strategic marketing and growth decisions.

• Customer Profitability: Determine the profitability of acquiring and retaining customers.
• Marketing Efficiency: Evaluate the effectiveness of marketing campaigns by comparing CAC to CLV.
• Retention Strategies: Identify opportunities to increase CLV through customer retention and loyalty programs.
• Data-Driven Marketing: Allocate marketing budgets more efficiently based on CLV and CAC insights.

Data Analysis and Metrics Tracking Excel Templates

10. cohort analysis template.

Cohort analysis is a powerful method for examining user behavior over time. The Cohort Analysis Excel template simplifies the process, helping businesses gain insights into customer retention, engagement, and more.

• User Segmentation: Group users into cohorts based on signup date or other criteria for focused analysis.
• Retention Insights: Identify trends in user retention and pinpoint when users drop off.
• Product Improvement: Use cohort analysis to inform product improvements and marketing strategies.
• Churn Reduction: Develop strategies to reduce customer churn based on cohort analysis findings.

11. MRR Dashboard Template

Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) is a vital metric for subscription-based businesses. The MRR Dashboard Excel template provides a comprehensive dashboard for tracking MRR, analyzing trends, and making data-driven decisions.

• MRR Overview: Get a real-time overview of your MRR, including new revenue, lost revenue, and net MRR growth.
• Churn Analysis: Identify reasons for churn and implement strategies to reduce it.
• Growth Tracking: Monitor your subscription business’s growth and set goals for MRR expansion.
• Data Visualization: Visualize MRR trends with charts and graphs for easier interpretation.

12. User Engagement Dashboard Template

User engagement is critical for online businesses. The User Engagement Dashboard Excel template provides a user-friendly dashboard for tracking user engagement metrics, analyzing user behavior, and optimizing user experiences.

• Comprehensive Metrics: Track key engagement metrics such as session duration, bounce rate, and conversion rate.
• Segmentation: Analyze user engagement based on demographics, devices, or referral sources.
• Content Performance: Identify high-performing content and optimize the user journey accordingly.
• Conversion Optimization: Implement strategies to improve user engagement and conversion rates based on insights.

Business Planning and Management Excel Templates

13. software license management tool.

The Software License Management Excel tool simplifies the process for businesses managing software licenses. It allows you to track software licenses, renewal dates, and compliance, ensuring efficient software management.

• License Tracking: Easily keep track of all software licenses in use across your organization.
• Renewal Alerts: Identify license renewals timely to prevent interruptions.
• Cost Control: Avoid unnecessary software purchases and optimize license utilization.
• Compliance Assurance: Ensure compliance with software licensing agreements to avoid legal issues.

14. Workforce Planning Tool

Effective workforce planning is crucial for businesses of all sizes. The Workforce Planning Excel template streamlines the process by helping you manage employee information, staffing levels, and workforce optimization.

• Employee Database: Maintain a centralized employee information database, including roles, qualifications, and contact details.
• Staffing Analysis: Analyze staffing levels and plan for hiring, training, or restructuring as needed.
• Cost Projections: Estimate labor costs and budgets for workforce expansion or reduction.
• Scenario Planning: Model various workforce scenarios and their financial implications.

These Excel spreadsheet templates cover a wide range of business and financial needs, making them invaluable tools for improving productivity, making informed decisions, and achieving your goals. Whether you’re a financial analyst, business owner, or simply looking to better manage your finances, Excel templates offer a user-friendly and robust solution.

Best Practices for Excel Templates

Excel spreadsheet templates are powerful tools that can significantly enhance your productivity , but it’s essential to follow best practices to make the most of them. Here are some tips and strategies to help you use Excel templates effectively.

Choose the Right Template

Selecting the appropriate template for your specific task is the first step to success. Consider the following factors when choosing a template:

• Task Complexity: Ensure the template aligns with the complexity of your task. Simple tasks may require basic templates, while more complex tasks need advanced templates.
• Customizability: Look for templates that allow customization. Templates that are too rigid may not suit your unique needs.
• Industry or Use Case: Many templates are designed for specific industries or use cases. For financial tasks, for instance, choose templates tailored to your industry, such as retail, healthcare, or real estate.
• Scalability: If your task may grow in complexity or data volume, opt for a template that can scale with your needs.

Understand Formulas and Functions

Excel templates often come with built-in formulas and functions to automate calculations. To use these templates effectively, it’s crucial to understand how these formulas work.

• Learn the Basics: Familiarize yourself with common Excel functions like SUM, AVERAGE, IF, VLOOKUP, and more. These are the building blocks of many templates.
• Review Formulas: Take time to review the formulas used in the template. Understand how they calculate results and what data they depend on.
• Customize Formulas: If needed, customize formulas to suit your specific requirements. Modify cell references or add new calculations as necessary.

Input Data Accurately

Accurate data input is essential to obtain meaningful results from Excel spreadsheet templates.

• Double-Check Data: Ensure all data entered into the template is accurate and error-free. A slight mistake can lead to significant inaccuracies in calculations.
• Use Data Validation: Implement data validation rules to prevent incorrect data entry. Excel can prompt users when data doesn’t meet specified criteria.
• Consistent Formatting: Maintain consistent formatting throughout the template. This includes date formats, number formats, and currency symbols.
• Document Data Sources: Keep track of your data sources, especially if you’re pulling data from external sources. This documentation can help troubleshoot discrepancies later.

Regularly Save and Backup

Excel templates represent valuable work, so protecting your data is essential.

• Frequent Saving: Save your work regularly to prevent data loss in case of unexpected software crashes or power outages.
• Version Control: Maintain version control by saving different iterations of your template. Use meaningful file names and dates to track changes.
• Backup Files: Implement a backup strategy. Regularly create copies of your Excel files and store them in a secure location, whether it’s a cloud service or an external drive.

Understand Template Limitations

Excel spreadsheet templates have limitations, and it’s essential to be aware of them.

• Data Volume: Excel may not handle very large datasets efficiently. Consider using a database or specialized software for extensive data management.
• Complexity: Templates have limits in terms of complexity. You might need to consider custom software or consulting with a specialist for more advanced or intricate tasks.
• Data Security: Be cautious when handling sensitive or confidential data within Excel. Implement password protection and encryption where necessary.

Customize for Your Needs

While templates provide a structured starting point, don’t hesitate to customize them to better suit your unique requirements.

• Add or Remove Fields: Include additional or remove unnecessary fields to streamline data entry and reporting.
• Format and Styling: Adjust the template’s formatting and styling to match your preferences and branding guidelines.
• Automate Repetitive Tasks: Excel allows you to automate repetitive tasks using macros. Learn how to create and use macros to save time.

Stay Updated and Educated

Excel is a continually evolving software, and staying updated with the latest features and best practices can benefit your productivity.

• Software Updates: Keep your Excel software up-to-date to access new features and security patches.
• Online Resources: Explore online resources, spreadsheet tutorials , and forums to expand your Excel skills and troubleshoot issues.
• Advanced Training: Consider advanced Excel training courses or certifications to become an Excel power user.

By following these best practices, you can harness the full potential of Excel spreadsheet templates, streamline your tasks, and make more informed decisions. Excel templates are versatile tools that can save you time and effort, but mastering them requires a combination of knowledge, practice, and attention to detail.

Get Started with the Financial Spreadsheet Template Bundle

Ready to take control of your finances and make smart financial decisions? Our Financial Spreadsheet Template Bundle is the ultimate solution to simplify financial management, investment analysis, and mortgage planning.

This bundle includes five powerful templates that can help you achieve your financial goals with ease:

• Cryptocurrency Portfolio Tracker: Keep track of your cryptocurrency investments, monitor real-time market prices, and analyze your portfolio’s performance effortlessly.
• Inventory and Sales Tracking Spreadsheet Template: Optimize your business operations with this template. Efficiently manage inventory, track sales, and make data-driven decisions.
• Simple Investment Template: Make informed investment choices by analyzing potential returns and risks. This template simplifies investment planning for beginners and experts alike.
• Extra-Payment Mortgage Calculator: Take control of your mortgage payments and reduce the total interest you pay. This tool helps you plan extra payments to pay off your mortgage faster.
• Mortgage Calculator Spreadsheet with Amortization Table: Understand your mortgage terms, visualize your amortization schedule, and make sound financial decisions regarding homeownership.

Purchasing these templates individually would cost you more than $69, but with the Financial Spreadsheet Template Bundle , you can access all of them at a fraction of the price. Save over 40% off the list price and embark on your journey to financial success today!

Price: $39.99

Excel templates are your secret weapon for accomplishing tasks faster and more efficiently. With the right template at your fingertips, you can conquer financial challenges, manage projects like a pro, and analyze data with ease. The best part? You don’t need to be an Excel expert to reap the benefits. These templates are designed to simplify your life and make complex tasks feel like a breeze.

So, whether you’re tracking expenses, planning a project, or diving into data analysis, remember that Excel spreadsheet templates are your trusty companions on the journey to productivity and success. Embrace them, customize them, and watch your tasks transform from daunting to doable. Excel templates are your shortcut to getting things done, and the possibilities are endless. Start using them today and take control of your tasks, one spreadsheet at a time!

Free Multiple Project Tracking Template for Excel (2 Options)

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How to Use TODAY() to Highlight Fast-Approaching Dates in an Excel Sheet

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Many applications track dates for lots of different reasons. You might track due dates, delivery dates, appointments and so on. Depending how you use these dates, you might want to highlight specific dates as they approach the current date in Microsoft Excel. Similarly, you might want to highlight future dates.

Using the TODAY() function and a few conditional highlighting rules, you’ll never get caught unaware.

Highlight today in Microsoft Excel

While you probably won’t want to wait until a due date to start a project, highlighting the current date can help alert you when timing is essential. Fortunately, Excel’s TODAY() function always equals the current date, so you don’t have to update the rule or even include an input value.

SEE: Explore these 87 Excel tips every user should master .

Let’s add a conditional format that always highlights the current date:

• Select the cells or rows you want to highlight. In this case, select B3:E12 — the data range.
• Click the Home tab, and then, click Conditional Formatting in the Styles group and choose Highlight Cells Rules.
• Choose A Date Occurring.
• In the resulting dialog, choose Today from the first dropdown, and then, choose Light Red Fill from the second ( Figure A ). As you can see, the current date is December 6.

This method is the easiest way to quickly apply a conditional format to highlight the current date, but it is a bit limited. First, you have only a few format combinations available. Second, it doesn’t highlight the entire row — only the cell containing the date. This rule is able to detect dates in the selected range and apply the format only to those cells. So, it doesn’t matter where the date column is in relation to the selected range.

SEE: Check out these ways to suppress 0 in Excel .

Highlight yesterday in Microsoft Excel

There are built-in rules for yesterday and tomorrow, but let’s enter a rule instead, so you’ll know how to do so when there isn’t an adequate built-in rule. Let’s start with yesterday:

• Select the data range B3:E12.
• Click the Home tab. Then, click Conditional Formatting in the Styles group, and choose New Rule.
• In the resulting dialog, select the Use a Formula to Determine Which Cells To Format option in the top pane.
• In the bottom pane, enter the expression =$B3=TODAY()-1. The simple expression TODAY()-1 subtracts one from the current date. That’s the same thing as yesterday.
• Click Format.
• Click the Fill tab, choose red and click OK. Figure B shows the rule and the format.

• Click OK to apply the format.

As you can see in Figure B , the rule highlights the entire record when the date in column B is yesterday. Notice that the rule has an absolute column reference ($B). If you omit the dollar sign, Excel applies the highlight to the cell instead of the entire row. The reference to row 3 isn’t absolute, so the rule can evaluate all of the rows in the selected range.

SEE: Here’s how to parse data in Microsoft Excel .

Highlight tomorrow in Microsoft Excel

To highlight tomorrow, repeat the above steps, but enter the rule =$B3=TODAY()+1, as shown in Figure C . Click Format, and choose any color, but I chose medium blue. Click OK (twice) to apply the format, which highlights the entire row when the date in column B is tomorrow. Again, the absolute and relative referencing is important.

All three rules are simple to implement, but they are limited to today, yesterday and tomorrow. What if you want to highlight other daily increments beyond these three?

Highlight past dates in Microsoft Excel

There may come a time when you’ll want a bit more flexibility when highlighting important dates. For instance, you might want to highlight dates that are a week ahead or a week past. When this is the case, I recommend using an input cell where you can specify the number of days. By referencing the input cell in the formula, the highlight will update automatically depending on your needs at the time.

Using Figure D as a guide, format two input cells: days in the past and days into the future. Accordingly, we’ll reference C1 in the past rule and C2 in the future.

First, let’s enter the rule for the past:

• Select the data range B5:E14. Notice that I’ve updated the range rows because I inserted rows for the input cells.
• In the bottom pane, enter the expression =$B5=TODAY()-$C$1.
• Click the Fill tab, choose yellow and click OK. Figure E shows the rule and the format.

Figure E shows the result of entering 3 in C. Once again, the absolute address, $C$1 is important. If you leave this relative, the highlight won’t work as expected. When C1 is empty or contains 0, this rule highlights the current day.

SEE: Discover how to adjust text to fit in Excel cells .

Highlight future dates in Microsoft Excel

Repeat the steps above to apply a highlight for the future. Except in step 4, enter the expression =$B5=TODAY()+$C$2, and choose green. Figure F shows the resulting sheet after entering the value 3 into C2.

With the input cells and rules in place, feel free to change the values in C1 and C2. If the value is too far into the past or into the future for the existing dates, Excel won’t apply the highlight. Go ahead now and change those dates to see how both rules work.

Helpful hints

When applying conditional formats, the position of the rule is important. The last rules you enter will take precedence because they’re the first Excel evaluates. When several rules are in play, Excel might not apply them in the order you expect.

To change this, open the rules using Manage Rules on the Conditional Formatting dropdown and move the rules accordingly. One more thing that you might consider. Use the fill color of C1 and C2 to match the highlight fill color in the rule, as shown in Figures E and F . Doing so will offer a visual clue for the users, so they don’t have to remember what those two colors mean.

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