liveplan business plan reviews

• LivePlan Review 2024

Is It the Best Business Plan Software?

• Resources For Planning A Business

Last Updated: January 23, 2024 By TRUiC Team

If you're an entrepreneur, one of the most important parts of starting a business is  writing a business plan ; however, you may need a step-by-step process to help lead your small business to success. That’s where  LivePlan  comes in.

Created by Palo Alto Software, LivePlan is a cloud-based  business plan software that walks you through the entire planning process. With video tutorials and examples at each section, it helps you write a solid business plan in half the time.

Read our LivePlan review to discover the pricing and features that set the tool apart, compare customer reviews, and more. By the end, you’ll know if it is the best business planning software for you.

Recommended: Transform your idea into an investor-ready business plan—Try LivePlan today and save 40% on an annual subscription!

Pros & Cons of LivePlan

Pros of liveplan.

• You don’t need prior experience with professional business planning because the LivePlan software is designed for startups and entrepreneurs who don’t have the time or budget for collegiate-style planning.
• According to many positive online LivePlan reviews, customers are incredibly satisfied with the business plan software.
• LivePlan’s user-friendly website makes it easy to focus and build presentation-ready plans. Also because it’s cloud-based, you can trust LivePlan to keep your data safe and 100% accessible.
• LivePlan provides elegant and fully-customizable template themes you can brand so your business plan looks amazing in presentations with investors, potential partners, lending institutions, etc.
• LivePlan allows you to easily import financial data from other platforms like QuickBooks and Xero…a big time-saver that gives you the peace of mind everything is importing correctly.
• With an annual subscription to LivePlan, you get access to tons of legal forms, fantastic educational e-books, and even an employee handbook template. Their system is set up so the more LivePlan features you add, the less it costs, which is awesome.
• LivePlan sports a great suite of collaboration tools for you and your small business team members. For example, LivePlan locks any section a team member is working on to prevent two users from editing the same section at the same time.

Cons of LivePlan

• You have to be connected to the Internet to use LivePlan. Cloud-based computing does still have its downsides.
• While you can develop more than one business plan using LivePlan, there is no way to copy an existing plan.

Should You Use LivePlan?

If it feels like LivePlan is the right choice, start to plan, pitch, and track your business with it today! And if you end up not liking LivePlan as much as we do, just ask for a refund within 35 days.

Get Started

LivePlan Pricing

It would be tough for LivePlan pricing to get any more straightforward, and you don't have to worry about any hidden fees. Here are the following LivePlan pricing packages that entrepreneurs and small businesses can choose from:

• Standard Monthly Subscription: Pay as you go for $15/month for first 3 months, then $20/month after
• Premium Monthly Subscription: Pay as you go for $30/month for first 3 months, then $40/month after
• Purchase a Standard annual subscription for $12/month 
• Purchase a Premium annual subscription for $24/month 

You can save 40% if you choose an annual plan. Go with whichever package you feel most comfortable with. Either way, you have 35 days to try the business planning software and explore everything it’s capable of.

With every pricing package, you'll gain access to a variety of LivePlan features, such as over 500 sample business plans, automatic financials, and more.

A Quick Look at LivePlan's Features

There are a multitude of helpful LivePlan features that guide entrepreneurs through structuring and writing a business plan. In addition to very good technical support, sample plans, and automatic financials, LivePlan offers the following features:

• Online dashboard for tracking information and creating progress reports. Simply use your LivePlan login.
• Step-by-step instructions and video tutorials
• Advice and tips from business plan experts
• Templates for financial information
• Professional business plan themes
• Tools for team collaboration
• QuickBooks and Xero integration

Granted this is just a tip of the iceberg of LivePlan features, but our favorites for getting a clean and effective business plan built as quick as possible.

LivePlan Reviews

What LivePlan review would be complete without customer testimonials? Below is a sampling of the huge growing reservoir of feedback from happy users. We didn’t cherry-pick either, as you’ll see on Shopper Approved , a third-party customer review site where LivePlan scores a 4.8/5. As of 2023, LivePlan now has over 1,500 customer reviews on Shopper Approved.

According to many LivePlan reviews, there’s some serious value in the business plan software. Customers often mention how LivePlan helps entrepreneurs and small businesses better manage, prioritize, and present a successful business plan. In regard to the non-5 star reviews, the main issue people are having is the overall LivePlan pricing, which is understandable if you’re starting a business on a budget.

"This was a wonderful tool for creating my business plan. I was overwhelmed by all of the online templates that offered no real guidelines for completing my plan. Liveplan was simple to navigate and offered “real life” examples in each section of the plan builder. I completed my plan quickly and now have a professional document that I am thrilled with! ”

"LivePlan was a great tool to use for building a Business Plan. It helped me, as a first-time business plan writer – because it outlined all the sections of the plan and gave detailed instructions and examples for each part. The financials part was great because it automatically generated graphs and charts for the financial planning of my company. ”

"LivePlan was a life-saver for me. I work for a non-profit whose potential funders require a business plan. I had no idea what a business plan looked like or even where to start, when I found LivePlan, I knew I hit the jackpot. With the examples, samples, and easy plug-in information areas, we wrote a plan that not only looks professional but meets all of the needs of the organization and our funders. I couldn’t be more grateful for everything LivePlan did for me/us. I will use LivePlan again for any other business plans I write and will certainly recommend them. Thank you LivePlan! ”

"It’s by far one of the best business plan software products that I’ve come to find. It’s very self-explanatory and user friendly. I would recommend Liveplan to anyone looking for a comprehensive business plan maker which needs to impress and get the results you are looking to achieve. ”

LivePlan also features several verified customer reviews on its website. Here are a couple more examples:

"LivePlan has reinvented business planning. It's the only tool that helps entrepreneurs track their progress with a unique dashboard specifically designed for small business."

"I needed to write a business plan for my investors. I was going nuts trying to create charts and properly format them. Then a friend recommended LivePlan! The financials were so easy to use and I liked knowing the calculations were all correct."

"I didn't only get value for the money paid but also got the best customer service experience as well. And of course, I'm sticking to LivePlan forever."

Frequently Asked Questions

What is liveplan.

LivePlan is business management software created by Palo Alto Software to help entrepreneurs and small business owners develop business plans, financial projections, and performance tracking.

How does LivePlan work?

LivePlan works through a step by step process, guiding users through customizable templates to create professional business plans. Users input their business's financial data, product plans, marketing strategies etc. and LivePlan uses the data to create a structured business plan document with projections, graphs, financial models and performance analytics.

What businesses does LivePlan work with?

LivePlan boasts over 500 sample plans, covering just about every business model imaginable. From mom-and-pops to larger corporations, from freelancers to nonprofit entities, LivePlan really does cover every possible base.

Does LivePlan have any hidden fees?

There are up-charges for premium features like the ability to simultaneously edit multiple business plans. But, LivePlan clearly communicates these from the get-go. Also, most people probably won’t need them because they’re working on one plan at a time.

How do I cancel my LivePlan subscription?

Within the first 35 days, if you decide you’d rather not use LivePlan after all contact them via their app, by email or by phone. They’ll cancel your account and refund your money, no questions asked.

How is LivePlan customer support?

LivePlan customer support is surprisingly responsive. Use the site’s live-chat option or give them a call on their toll-free line.

Is LivePlan secure?

LivePlan is about as secure as it gets. Your business plan — and all of the information within — is entirely confidential. All credit card transactions get bank-level encryption treatment. Also, your account and plan are both backed up to the cloud every few seconds, so there’s no chance you’ll ever lose any work.

How much does LivePlan cost?

Here are the LivePlan pricing plans:

• Standard monthly: $15/month for first 3 months, then $20/month after
• Premium monthly: $30/month for first 3 months, then $40/month after
• Standard annual subscription for $12/month 
• Premium annual subscription for $24/month 

We've chosen LivePlan as the best business plan software – it helped us get Startup Savant off the ground. Being able to take our core data and translate it into a beautiful presentation-ready business plan that’s refined and customizable was a lifesaver in so many ways.

If it feels like LivePlan is the right choice, start to plan, pitch and track your business growth with it today. And if you end up not liking LivePlan as much as we do, just ask for a refund within 35 days.

Showcase your startup with confidence — Try LivePlan and create an investor-ready business plan today.

Featured Articles

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Lean Startup Business Plan Guide

How to Write a Business Plan

LivePlan Reviews

Review Highlights

Overall rating, ratings breakdown, secondary ratings.

Ease-of-use

Customer Support

Value for money

Functionality

Pros and Cons

Have you used LivePlan and would like to share your experience with others?

Filter reviews

Company size.

• Self-Employed
• 1,001-5,000
• 5,001-10,000
• Less than 6 months
• Less than 12 months
• Less than 2 years
• More than 2 years

User Rating

All liveplan reviews.

1-25 of 125 Reviews

Verified reviewer

Computer Software , 11-50 employees

Used daily for less than 12 months

OVERALL RATING :

EASE OF USE

VALUE FOR MONEY

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

FUNCTIONALITY

Reviewed November 2018

The best software for making business plan

It has been a great experience to create business plans on the fly and also to track the actual results against your plan

- Very easy and flexible software - Its an excellent software for making business plan without the hassles of learning excel formula - Very easy depiction of balance sheet and P&L statement and auto generation

- There is absolutely nothing I don't like about this software

11-50 employees

Used monthly for more than 2 years

Reviewed March 2018

Good for planning and forecasting, rubbish at Actuals to compare performance against plan

Checked my business plan was viable, helped me clarify my thought processes. Gave me something to measure performance against. Unfortunately doesnt integrate to Zoho Books (as of March 2018), nor is there any opton to import from a CSV or other spreadsheet format. If you are a Xero or QB user you can link to get your actuals for comparison against plan, BUT proceed with caution. You cant undo the data import - everything needs deleting manually, and you cant choose which timeframe you import data for. Its last 2 years plus current year and thats that. So if your business has changed significantly and you only want say last six months dat you cant achieve this

Cloud based, easy step by step process for planning for novices. Once you have put in the basics of revenue streams and costs its very easy to play "what if" type questions and see the impact on your forecast. You can get into enormous detail if you want or build this up over time as you develop your thought process.

Where the product really falls down is when you want to compare with Actuals. It only connects to Xero and Quick Books and you have no control over the data or time period that it syncs at all - current year plus last two years, which is rubbish if your business has pivoted and you only want the last six months data for example. Whats worse is you cant roll back the sync - you have to manually delete all sync'd data. Further if you dont use Xero or QBooks, there is no option to import from a spreadsheet - so again you need a data entry person to manually enter actual data unless you want to spend ages doing it yourself... Very disappointed as up to this point had liked the platform.

Accounting , 2-10 employees

Used weekly for less than 12 months

Reviewed April 2020

Decent enough for SMEs

Overall a good starting point to assist a small business entrepreneur with little or no business planning experience,should consider more options to integrate with accounting apps and visually biased analytical tools to enable better tracking of post planning perfomance on more devices as well.

I like the ease and simplicity of building the projections and adjusting them with different scenarios.

The write up section is a bit limiting in certain aspects for example there are no font selection options if one wants to change to their company document preferred font style ( Century Gothic) as well as set my paragraphs as justified as opposed to left indented.I cannot import tables and adjust them within the plan document, The graphical representations of the projections are a bit visually limited in color and info graphic presentation options .particularly if one wants a more visual document.It would also be nice to have a quick preview option for the document as u build it without necessarily having to export or down load a pdf to get and idea of how it look in print.

E-Learning , 1 employee

Used more than 2 years

Reviewed February 2020

Too expensive

Ok to use but when done with the plan, there is not really a reason to keep paying.

Easy to use and good help for creating a Business plan

When you have done the plan it is just there and I have been paying a lot of money for just storing my Business plan for 2 years. Now I have to prioritize what I spend my money on and this is one thing I dont need at the moment.

Vendor Response

Thanks for your feedback Jeanette, we appreciate you taking the time to leave it! Many people keep their subscription long term, because they use the Dashboard feature to track their progress, compare their actual results to their plan, and continually update their plan based on what they've learned from experience. LivePlan is a great tool in this regard to manage your business if it is already running, or when you begin operations. LivePlan is also non-contract, so you can use the software for as long as you like, and cancel when you need. So if you need it just to make one plan quickly, you are welcome to cancel when you are finished with no risk. You can also switch a monthly plan to annual billing later to take advantage of the savings offered there if you plan on using it for longer.

Replied February 2020

Wine and Spirits , 11-50 employees

Used less than 6 months

Reviewed December 2015

Absolutely the stand-out business plan writing / sales forcasting / start-up tool available.

I've checked out no fewer than 10 other options. This is by far the most simple, the most user friendly, and the most feature-rich option out there. It's not only the cleanest and best-working (no bugs!), but it actually gives you the tools you need to cover a wide variety of business planning needs. Given the range of functionality (for example, you can do month-by-month sales forecasting for 36 months at the basic price level - something that most other services charge you an arm and a leg to upgrade tiers to gain access to), no other software comes close to this. And the final output of the business plan is SO CLEAN. A nice variety of example plans are available, and the "guided" element of going step-by-step is really actually helpful (instead of prohibitive, as I've found some guided software just takes you too far away from what you should really be focusing your time on).

Price is very affordable Extremely rich feature set Very flexible Easiest and cleanest user interface Fantastic examples Rich and clean output

This software really only seems to lack a timeline option - you can't custom map a gantt chart for your project timeline. I had to go to another piece of software to get this element in place. But I used LivePlan for the rest of the business plan.

Reviewed June 2018

My Go To Software For My Clients

The ability to provide a workable and successful business plan.

I can produce a business plan for my clients extremely quick using LivePlan. I have used it on startups and other business types, in different industries.

The template choices and overall look and feel of the templates I would like to see improved much more.

Environmental Services , 2-10 employees

Used weekly for more than 2 years

Reviewed January 2020

Very easy to put together a professional business plan and slide deck for investor presentations.

Monthly fee. Expensive during times we weren't actually using it

Thanks for taking the time to review LivePlan, we really appreciate it Trevor!

Replied January 2020

Farming , 2-10 employees

Used weekly for less than 2 years

EXCELLENT PRODUCT

Farm setup business plan

I like the reviews form the pitch and the task reminders some days before it is to happen. It is simple t use if one just follows every direction and guide provided.

You can only work online. If it can be designed in such a way that you work offline and then upload online, that would be nice. Anyway that's my thought.

Thanks for leaving feedback Seyi!

Replied March 2020

Information Technology and Services , 11-50 employees

Reviewed May 2023

Great product

It's been a great run with Liveplan for over 5years now

Product way of use and how it makes my financial planning easy

The new price upgrade does not make subscribing easy anymore

Best software in financial management

I can change the structure and model of our business much easier and accurate

The price set to pay for in order to use the software is friendly There is training on site afforded by the developer There is online support available to help new users

It is not easy to integrate this software with other business plan software that were available for use by the company before moving into this one

Internet , 1 employee

Reviewed June 2020

The only business planning software that gets the job done

It took a few attempts to put together a business plan, but it worked out.

This is all-in-one software that helps you organize thoughts, data, expectations and organize everything in a meaningful way that helps you plan, budget and forecast.

It’s needed at the beginning, but not later.

Reason for choosing LivePlan

LivePlan is the only product for business plan creation that is worth considering. I tried many different products and they all sucked. I remember that it was difficult to distinguish liveplan from other products at the beginning, at least its advantages were not obvious upfront.

Reasons for switching to LivePlan

Because no other products are even close to liveplan in terms of usability and sensibility.

Food & Beverages , 2-10 employees

Used daily for more than 2 years

Reviewed December 2017

LivePlan is an excellent business planning solution

I love the output of LivePlan. The business plans and one-pagers look clean, modern, and professional. It's very simple to enter information about our business into LivePlan, and the software asks great questions.

If you already have a separate financial model or set of financial projections for your company, it can be difficult to enter them into LivePlan.

Reviewed March 2023

This as a complete scam

Service seemed generic and automated. No personalization or attention to care.

I did the 35 day trial...thinking it was just a trial. The catch is that they will charge you $180.00 and if you contest it, they will not refund you. This product was not easy to use and it's interface wasn't clear so I didn't use it at all. I'm out $180.00 because they care more about money than the quality of services or customer care.

I dislike that they seem more concerned about money than service.

Financial Services , 1 employee

Excellent Business Plan Writing and Easy Forecast Models

Overall the software excellent. I wish I could get my customers to utilize it more on a consistent basis.

LivePlan takes you through the process of writing a business plan and putting together financial forecasts in an easy, step-by-step manner. Built in benchmarks are great for planning and analysis. The Pitch is excellent for summarizing the focus of any business. QuickBooks integration and Financial Dashboards are outstanding tools for tracking actual vs. budgeted income and expenses. The milestones are perfect for keeping everyone on task.

Could have better interface and step-by-step instructions for the assets and liabilities - how the items in QBO relate to LivePlan. The financial portion of the plan could be better formatted when printing.

Consumer Services , 2-10 employees

Used less than 2 years

Reviewed December 2019

Cash flow Companion

The cash flow report showed me how much funding we would need, and when, in order to keep the doors open.

LivePlan gave me the answer I needed to make that go, no go decision to even start a new business by showing me the cash flow I needed, not only to start up but also to operate the business month after month.

LivePlan totally met all our needs. The bank loan officer said it was one of the best business plans they have seen, and wished every applicant could submit such a professional document.

Thanks so much Rosario, we really appreciate you taking the time to review LivePlan!

Medical Devices , 2-10 employees

Reviewed September 2022

Live plan review EE , not to short

Error free budgetting

User friendly, structured, easy to deploy

Inflexibel, not exportable to Excel, output too rigid structured

Excel is error sensitive

Information Technology and Services , 1 employee

Used less than 12 months

Easy to use and professional software

LivePlan was excellent for writing a business plan, it helped to guide the actual planning for the business by allowing us to change variables and see the results. The end product is very detailed and professional looking. The best part of the software was the easy walk-through process, it made it very easy to enter data and return to revise it later. Being able to collaborate with peers on the process and have a partner enter data at the same time was also very useful.

I can't think of any significant issues with the software, it worked very well.

Thanks for you review Michael!

Food & Beverages , 1 employee

Reviewed March 2020

Great tool to prepare business plans.

Even I couldn't continue using the platform because I decided not to cotinue preparing the business plan, I am 100% I will use again LivePlan software to prepare my business plan for another business idea.

It is really professional, it guide you step by step as you are preparing the business plan in the process. Easy to use online and has a very good technical support. It is great that they keep your files or give files to you if you decided to cancel the account, that made me trust LivePlan more.

I didn't see dificulties using this software.

I save time working online.

Construction , 2-10 employees

Reviewed August 2019

Helps you set the scene!...

Brilliant! I just keep renewing, checking and playing with my business financials and have used it to collaborate too!

I love the intuitive nature of this product, it literally takes you through the steps of a business plan, and to really think about all the little elements within your business. It also Synchronises with XERO with is a bonus, so you can see forecast vs actual etc..

Some of the settings for tax and other, for a layperson, are hard to get your head around, I think some videos or other resources would help here?

Reviewed January 2017

Business Helper

Cheap, easy to use and provided us with a plan that made sense. I don't know how else our business would survive without it.

Perfect for budgeting and our financials.

Farming , 1 employee

Used daily for less than 6 months

Business plan

Excellent. Very easy to use and details

It provides details in planning with example

Some examples use is very hard to understand in the business that I Have

Insurance , 2-10 employees

Didn't help me

I purchased this to help create a business plan and it may work for other businesses but the help given was mostly for retail companies. Not much help for an insurance agency.

Customer service is excellent, I was able to reach someone immediately when calling.

It is a little difficult to try and figure out even after watching the tutorials.

Thanks for your feedback Nancy - greatly appreciated.

Replied December 2019

Used weekly for less than 6 months

Easy way to keep track of a constantly changing business structure

When we found LivePlan we were looking for an easy way to record our business structure so that we could show it to stakeholders. This application turned out to be a great tool for that task. We enjoyed it enough to where we keep our account going and now we regularly update our structure to make it easier to have conversations with potential investors, our banker, and other stakeholders.

The ability to collaborate sounds nice but the price associated with doing this makes it slightly prohibitive to us at this point. Perhaps in the future when we expand our business and the potential for a spin off becomes viable we might use this feature.

Marketing and Advertising , 11-50 employees

Used monthly for less than 12 months

Reviewed September 2018

I Loved this software to get my ideas off the ground

Positive. Once we wrote out a business plan for a project that never got off the ground. I was grateful. Had we not developed the business plan - we would have gone into a very unprofitable venture.

I think this is a great guide to get you in the planning aspect of any business. It forces you to go through the process and make sure you have clarity in your ideas, so that it all fits together nicely and aligns well.

I had a hard time going back to the plan - and comparing how i was doing in the forecast. I think that in any project one is extremely positive at getting the right results easily, but that is not the case in reality. That is not the plans fault though.

Automotive , 2-10 employees

Reviewed September 2019

Ease of usec

Helped to establish the base ability to understand running costs in good detail.

Found it to be simple easy and suitable yet very profound covering all aspects

I suppose the only negative i think of is the price and even that is not bad for what you get.

Simple and ease of use

LivePlan Review: How It Transforms Business Planning for Entrepreneurs

So, you’re thinking about taking your business plan from a napkin sketch to something a bit more professional? Enter LivePlan, the tool that’s been buzzing in entrepreneur circles. It promises to simplify the daunting task of business planning, but does it deliver? Let’s dive in.

LivePlan boasts features that aim to streamline the planning process, whether you’re a startup wizard or looking to expand your empire. But with so many tools out there, you’re probably wondering if it’s the right fit for you. Stick around as we break down what LivePlan offers, its ease of use, and whether it’s worth the investment for your business.

Key Takeaways

• LivePlan is a comprehensive tool designed to simplify the business planning process, from initial ideation to financial forecasting and performance tracking.
• With its user-friendly interface, LivePlan guides entrepreneurs through creating a business plan, making the process accessible even to those without a background in business or finance.
• The software offers valuable features such as Pitch Creation for crafting compelling business overviews, Financial Forecasts to handle complex data with ease, and Performance Tracking to monitor real-time progress against goals.
• LivePlan’s adaptability makes it a suitable option for both startups and established businesses looking to pivot or expand, thanks to its dynamic planning capabilities.
• Given its cost-effective pricing and the range of features it offers, LivePlan is a worthy investment for entrepreneurs seeking a reliable and efficient way to develop and manage their business plans.

What is LivePlan?

As an entrepreneur and business enthusiast who’s ventured through the labyrinth of startups, side hustles, and the quest for success, I’ve found that one of the keystones to a flourishing business is a solid plan. That’s where LivePlan comes into play. Picture this as your behind-the-scenes partner, meticulously designed to guide you through the intricacies of crafting a business plan that resonates with your vision.

LivePlan simplifies the process, breaking down the daunting task of business plan writing into manageable pieces. It’s not just about putting your ideas on paper; it’s about shaping them in a way that speaks volumes to investors, team members, and even yourself. With an intuitive interface and step-by-step guidance, LivePlan transforms your rough ideas into a polished and professional plan.

But it’s not all about the initial setup. LivePlan is dynamic, acknowledging that businesses evolve. It allows you to adjust your strategy on the fly, making it a tool not just for startups but for established businesses looking to pivot or expand. This adaptability is crucial in today’s ever-changing business landscape.

Here are a few highlights of what LivePlan offers:

• Pitch Creation : Summarize your business plan into a compelling pitch that grabs attention.
• Financial Forecasts : With built-in formulas, generate financial projections that make sense.
• Performance Tracking : Compare your actual performance against your plan in real time.

Leveraging LivePlan means you’re not just planning for today but preparing for success tomorrow. It’s a blend of simplicity and depth, making it ideal whether you’re sketching out your very first business model or refining an existing one.

In exploring LivePlan, you’ll uncover its potential to streamline your planning process, making room for what you do best: innovating, strategizing, and growing your business.

Features of LivePlan

When you’re diving into the world of entrepreneurship, tools like LivePlan are goldmines. This software stands out not just for its ability to help you draft up a stellar business plan but also due to its rich features tailored for businesses at any stage; whether you’re brainstorming your initial idea or scaling an established entity. Let’s unpack some of these features that make LivePlan a go-to for entrepreneurs like us.

First up, Pitch Creation . This is essentially your business’s first impression, a concise overview capturing the essence of what you’re all about. LivePlan simplifies this process, guiding you through creating an elevator pitch that’s not only persuasive but also crystal clear to potential investors. Imagine having your business’s mission, vision, and value proposition neatly wrapped up in a package that speaks volumes in a few seconds. That’s what LivePlan’s pitch creation feature does for you.

Then, there’s the Financial Forecasts feature. Numbers can be daunting, but they’re the backbone of any solid business plan. LivePlan comes equipped with built-in formulas, making financial projections less of a headache. You don’t need to be a finance whiz to forecast your cash flow, profit, and loss or balance sheet accurately. LivePlan turns complex data into understandable metrics, enabling you to make informed decisions. This feature ensures that your financial health is always in check, preparing you to sway investors with hard-hitting stats.

Lastly, the Performance Tracking feature. It’s not just about setting goals but keeping an eye on them. LivePlan allows you to track your business’s performance against your plan in real-time. This constant monitoring helps in identifying areas needing improvement and celebrating milestones achieved. It’s like having a roadmap where you can trace your journey and tweak your strategies as you go.

In the entrepreneurial journey, being equipped with the right tools can make a difference. LivePlan’s comprehensive features offer more than just business plan creation; they equip you with a suite of resources to pilot your business idea towards success.

Ease of Use: Is it user-friendly?

When you’re diving into the world of business planning, especially if you’re balancing the demands of running your startup or side hustle, the last thing you need is a complex tool that’s hard to navigate. You’re in luck with LivePlan. Here’s the real scoop on its ease of use from someone who’s been in your shoes.

First thing’s first, LivePlan greets you with a clean, intuitive interface. Think of it as the friendly handshake that kickstarts a meaningful conversation. This platform knows you’re not here to waste time. Whether you’re crafting your very first business plan or refining the strategy for your current venture, finding your way around the tool is a breeze. Navigation is straightforward , with clear labels and a well-organized layout that ensures you don’t get lost in a maze of features.

For the entrepreneurs who’ve faced the dread of a blank page, LivePlan’s step-by-step approach acts as your personal guide through the business planning wilderness. It asks you simple, yet profound questions about your business and neatly slots your answers into the right sections of your plan. This not only builds your business plan piece by piece but also educates you about the critical components of a successful blueprint along the way.

Moreover, for those who dread numbers and forecasts, LivePlan turns the daunting task of financial projections into child’s play. Built-in formulas and drag-and-drop tables mean you don’t need to be a wizard with spreadsheets to predict your business’s financial future.

Getting your business plan to resonate with potential investors or partners is essential. That’s why LivePlan’s pitch creation feature is a game-changer. It helps you distill your vision into a clear, concise, and compelling pitch, ensuring you make a strong impression right out of the gate.

To sum up, whether you’re a seasoned entrepreneur or just starting out, LivePlan is designed with your needs in mind. Its user-friendly interface and comprehensive features simplify the business planning process, letting you focus on what you do best – running your business.

Is LivePlan Worth the Investment?

When you’re diving into the world of startups and side-hustles, every dime counts. You’re looking for tools that not only simplify your life but also give you a solid return on your investment. Let’s talk about LivePlan from that angle—because, let’s face it, even the most promising tools need to prove their worth.

First off, it’s important to acknowledge LivePlan’s intuitive interface and its direct approach to business planning. It’s like having a mentor that guides you through the complex process with ease. This kind of streamlined planning tool is invaluable, especially when you’re juggling business operations and maybe a side hustle or two.

Financial projections can often feel like you’re trying to decode an ancient language. Here’s where LivePlan really shines. It simplifies this daunting task with built-in formulas and user-friendly drag-and-drop tables . Imagine the hours you’d save, hours that could be invested back into refining your product or marketing strategy.

Let’s not forget the pitch creation feature. Crafting a compelling pitch is art and science combined, and LivePlan equips you with the right tools to make your pitch resonate with potential investors or partners. This could be the difference between a nod and a handshake or a pass.

To give you a clearer picture, here’s a quick rundown of LivePlan’s cost versus benefits:

Considering the costs, which typically range from a monthly subscription that’s less than the cost of a daily cup of coffee to an annual plan that provides even more savings, it’s hard not to see the value.

For entrepreneurs embarking on various ventures, being efficient and effective is key. What LivePlan offers is a pathway to not just articulate your vision but to do so with confidence and precision, without breaking the bank.

Wrapping up, LivePlan stands out as a beacon for entrepreneurs navigating the often turbulent waters of business planning. It’s not just about the sleek interface or the step-by-step guidance. It’s about how it transforms complex financial projections into a walk in the park and turns your pitch into a compelling story that resonates with investors and partners alike. With LivePlan, you’re not just saving time and sidestepping errors; you’re setting the stage for your business’s success. So whether you’re sketching out your first business plan or fine-tuning your pitch, LivePlan is your go-to tool for articulating your vision with clarity and confidence. And the best part? It does all this without stretching your budget.

Frequently Asked Questions

LivePlan is a business planning tool designed to help entrepreneurs create comprehensive business plans. It offers a clean and intuitive interface, step-by-step guidance, financial projection capabilities with built-in formulas, and a pitch creation feature for articulating business visions effectively.

How does LivePlan simplify the business planning process?

LivePlan simplifies the business planning process by providing a step-by-step guided journey, making it easy for entrepreneurs to navigate and complete their business plan. Its drag-and-drop tables and built-in financial formulas make financial forecasting straightforward and error-free.

Can LivePlan help in creating pitches for investors?

Yes, LivePlan includes a pitch creation feature specifically designed to help entrepreneurs create clear and compelling pitches. This tool is aimed at securing potential investors or partners by succinctly articulating the business vision and plan.

What are the main benefits of using LivePlan?

The main benefits of using LivePlan include its ease of use, the time saved in drafting plans, accuracy in financial projections, and its efficacy in assisting in securing funding and partnerships. Its intuitive design and comprehensive features streamline the planning process, making it an efficient tool for entrepreneurs.

Is LivePlan cost-effective?

The article suggests that LivePlan is cost-effective, emphasizing its value by highlighting the efficiency, effectiveness, and potential for error reduction in business planning. The benefits of time-saving, simplification, and improved chances of securing funding significantly outweigh the cost, making it a smart investment for entrepreneurs.

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LivePlan Software Review

Back to Business Plans

Written by: Carolyn Young

Carolyn Young is a business writer who focuses on entrepreneurial concepts and the business formation. She has over 25 years of experience in business roles, and has authored several entrepreneurship textbooks.

Edited by: David Lepeska

David has been writing and learning about business, finance and globalization for a quarter-century, starting with a small New York consulting firm in the 1990s.

Published on September 15, 2023 Updated on December 13, 2023

When you’re starting a business , a business plan is essential whether you’re going to obtain financing or not. Creating a business plan helps you to research and analyze every aspect of your business and create a strategy for success. But for most entrepreneurs, a business plan is not easy to create from scratch without guidance. 

Many online services offer tools to help you create your business plan, but it can be hard to decide which one to choose. In this review, we’ll delve deep into the workings of LivePlan, unpacking its features, analyzing user feedback, and determining whether it’s the go-to tool for aspiring entrepreneurs and established business owners.

• Service Overview
• Our Verdict on LivePlan

LivePlan, created by Palo Alto Software, is a highly regarded cloud-based business plan software designed primarily for startups and entrepreneurs without prior business planning experience.

Its intuitive interface, coupled with video tutorials and comprehensive templates, allows users to craft a professional business plan efficiently.

While the cost of LivePlan’s packages can be prohibitive for some potential users, the overwhelmingly positive reviews, transparent pricing, and extensive feature set make LivePlan an optimal choice for business planning needs.

For those uncertain, the 35-day refund policy offers an added layer of confidence in trying out the software.

Plans and Pricing

Customer Service

Customer Satisfaction

Site Usability

Overall Score: 4.3/5

• Pros and Cons 
• Intuitive step-by-step instructions, simplifying the business planning process
• Comprehensive financial planning features including budgeting and forecasting
• Transparent pricing with 35-day refund policy
• The software contains built-in, customizable templates
• Collaboration capabilities allow partners to concurrently input and revise data
• The subscription model of LivePlan can be prohibitive for some potential users
• Transfering documents to common formats like Word or PDF can be challenging
• What is LivePlan?

LivePlan (product of Palo Alto Software ) is an online business planning app that offers tools, guidance, and resources to help you create a business plan. They provide full guidance through the planning process and help you to develop strategies to grow your business. It’s more than just a template – the LivePlan app guides you through the process of creating your plan and strategy.

• LivePlan Features and Pricing 

LivePlan offers a comprehensive suite of features designed to simplify and enhance the business planning process. It provides step-by-step guidance coupled with expert advice throughout each phase of creating a business plan.

The software supports automatic generation of financials, charts, and graphs, eliminating the need for complex spreadsheets or intricate formulas. With visually compelling performance dashboards, it brings data to life, offering a clear perspective of the business’s standing.

Furthermore, LivePlan enables the use of real accounting data, allowing users to compare their forecasts against actuals through seamless integrations with Quickbooks & Xero. Users also benefit from industry benchmarks, facilitating a comparison of actual performance against industry competitors of similar size.

To cap it off, the platform supports planning for both best-case and worst-case scenarios, ensuring that businesses can use data to create a strategic roadmap, preparing them for various eventualities.

LivePlan’s Standard package costs $20 per month and includes step-by-step planning, lender-ready financial statements, a full financial forecast, and a one-page pitch builder. You’ll also have access to more than 500 sample business plans. 

Their Premium package costs $40 per month ($20 in the first month) and includes everything above plus industry benchmark data and “what if” guides to help you prepare for the unexpected. 

It also includes performance dashboards, real-time profit and cash forecasting, an automatic forecast builder, the ability to export sheets to Excel, and syncing with Quickbooks or Xero. 

LivePlan offers a 25% discount on both plans if you pay annually instead of monthly (Standard Plan is $15/month and Premium Plan is $30/month if billed annualy), as well as a 35-day money-back guarantee, which in effect acts as a free trial. 

• Site Navigation

When you first go to the site, you have to click Start Your Plan to see their plans and pricing.

Then you can sign in with Google or email and you’ll go immediately to checkout.

From the home page you can instead choose to watch a video tour to see how it works.

You’ll see that the business planning page is well laid out so that you can click on any section to start writing.

The site will provide instructions to give you some guidance.

You can elect to have AI rewrite what you wrote.

The site also gives much guidance in the financials section of the plan.

The guidance even includes suggested revenue streams based on your business type.

LivePlan does the calculations for you.

The tutorial is a great way to see what you’re getting for your money, and entering your information to create the plan seems incredibly easy. I was also impressed with the financial guidance that it offers, since that’s an area that many entrepreneurs struggle with. 

Overall, the site is quite easy to use and is loaded with information.

• Customer Support

I started a chat and after going through a few prompts I was connected to an agent, Lindsay, in a few minutes. I asked about their cancellation policy and procedure.

I received this message almost immediately. 

Chat Support Rating:

Response time:

The answer was clear – that you can cancel through your LivePlan account and you don’t have to call or email, which is convenient.

I sent an email to ask a slightly different cancellation question and received an immediate auto reply.

Support Rating:

I received an actual response within an hour, which is impressive! The answer was clear and professional.

I called customer service to ask a similar question, but I got a recording that told me that they offered their support through LiveChat and directed me there. I don’t particularly mind this, since I prefer chat, but I’m sure that many customers would prefer to have the phone option. 

• LivePlan Reviews

Palo Alto Software is not an accredited business with the Better Business Bureau and has a D-rating. They have no customer reviews on the BBB website, but they do have a few complaints. The complaints revolved around issues with cancellation and getting a refund, as well as unauthorized re-activation of an account and getting un-authorized charges.

Here are some positive reviews from LivePlan users:

LivePlan is my primary financial forecasting and issue raising tool. I build out annual Pro-forma in Q4 with detailed revenue and expense category forecasts. The ability to build revenue and expense forecasts by category and the appropriate level of detail is highly useful. Monthly, and especially quarterly, we can see if and where we are off track relative to original goals and make necessary adjustments in the business. In my opinion, this is the best tool of its kind for business owners/operators. Well done. – Jason Ogden, President

LivePlan has been a key product in our company when dealing with planning of our company business. It makes it easy for us to keep our entire business enterprise organized for better productivity. More to planning, it offers us an outstanding platform for budgeting, keeping a track of our business progress a d performance as well as doing accurate forecasts on the future of our business. It has made it possible for us to simplify the planning and funding various business projects aimed at promoting the agility and the productivity of our business. – Mariana Jones, National Key Account Manager- Fleet Sales

I started my startup consultancy in 1997. Soon after, I bought my first Palo Alto Business Plan Pro disc and spent quality time chatting with Tim about how helpful the financial section was. Since then, I have recommended this program MANY times and am thrilled to be able to recommend it again to whoever reads this review. Live Plan is wonderful, convenient, and worth every penny! – Victoria D.

Live Plan was perfect for my needs – it helped me shape my strategic plan and think through my start-up capital requirements and revenue projections. I loved that it gave me some industry benchmarks and suggested budget items (like employee payroll liabilities) I hadn’t thought of. The templates were also very helpful to show me what a plan should look like. – Laurie S.

Here’s a selection of constructive feedback from LivePlan users:

Where the product really falls down is when you want to compare with Actuals. It only connects to Xero and Quick Books and you have no control over the data or time period that it syncs at all – current year plus last two years, which is rubbish if your business has pivoted and you only want the last six months data for example. Whats worse is you cant roll back the sync – you have to manually delete all sync’d data. Further if you dont use Xero or QBooks, there is no option to import from a spreadsheet – so again you need a data entry person to manually enter actual data unless you want to spend ages doing it yourself… Very disappointed as up to this point had liked the platform. – Lucy B.

Generally going out 5 years is more than fine with projections. However, we did have a situation where we brought a new division in 2 years later and we need to combine it with the original plan and would have liked it going 6 or even 7 years. – Reid J.

• LivePlan Alternatives 

BizPlan offers monthly ($29), annual ($249), and lifetime access ($349) payment options. Their business plan software offers full guidance as you write your plan and calculates financial statements.

Their crowdfunding platform, Fundable, can help promote your plan and raise funding from the public and investors. In addition, you can access self-guided courses and educational videos and talk with expert mentors. Visit Bizplan.com here .

Founded in 2010, Enloop stands out with an automatically generated text tool that users can edit as they wish. Enloop offers a seven-day free trial and two paid plans. 

The seven-day trial and the two paid plans (Detailed and Performance) all include a host of features. The Detailed plan costs $19.95 per month, while the Performance plan runs $39.95 monthly.  Visit Enloop.com here .

PlanGuru 

PlanGuru is not business plan software, but rather a sophisticated financial planning tool that can help prepare your company’s budget and financial plan. It’s available as either a cloud-based or desktop app. Both apps cost $99 per month or $899 annually. Visit PlanGuru.com here .

Conclusion – Is LivePlan Worth it?

LivePlan offers robust business planning tools for quite a reasonable price. You can get a professional looking business plan for funding, or just to create your strategy. Their phone support can be a bit better, but live chat and email support are great.

Overall, we would highly recommend LivePlan to new and existing entrepreneurs.

You can cancel your LivePlan subscription at any time through your LivePlan account on the site.

LivePlan’s pricing is quite transparent, with no hidden fees.

LivePlan claims to have bank-level security so you should have no security concerns.

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• Conclusion - Is LivePlan Worth it?

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LivePlan   Reviews

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Reviews 2.4.

Most relevant

Liveplan is very basic and simlple so…

Liveplan is very basic and simlple so simple you can't do basic control over forecast in taxes and dividends. It lets you add pictures but it can't handle that as well giving you errors when you try to download it later. Very buggy and will take your time away from you, thinking it is going good then to find out one of their many shortcomings ends up costing you twice as much work as you have put in. They are deceitful saying they have a number, it only directs you to recorded prompts telling you to email them.

Date of experience : April 22, 2024

Tell you it's $20

Tell you it's $20 - $30 monthly depending on the plan you selected. They charged my card for the entire $360 upfront. I had to submit for a refund.

Date of experience : March 13, 2024

Greedy policy makes me sick.

They use refund only as a sales strategy but never to satisfy a customer. I have realized inside in 24hrs that i forgot and sticked to premium instead of standard one. When i reach to them for a downgrade refund they say they can't do that. I should be able to get a refund if i let them know in less than 48 hours. I was their customer for 3-4 months but this approach is not acceptable, so looking for new alternatives. Hope it worths to lose a customer for only a 20$ for a service im not using.

Date of experience : November 29, 2023

They tell you it is only £12 a month…

They tell you it is only £12 a month which is a real good deal so I sign up and they charge me for the full 12 months £113.88 it is a very shady move with no transparency. Let your customers know exactly what they are going to pay rather than trying to suck people dry.

Date of experience : January 05, 2024

5 on 5 as they really deserve it

5 on 5 as they really deserve it. I couldn't ask for more. PS you just need to invest some time to understand how it works but this is not related to them while it is related to the BP itself

Date of experience : September 05, 2022

LivePlan is a professional tool able to…

LivePlan is a professional tool able to customize and design a perfect business plan by including financial projections. It provides the opportunity to download the final file in DOCX and PDF formats. The unique weaknesses are the no opportunity to export the projections into Excel-based formats.

Date of experience : April 28, 2020

• SOFTWARE CATEGORIES
• FOR REMOTE WORK
• Business Intelligence Software

LivePlan Review

What is LivePlan?

• LivePlan benefits
• Overview of LivePlan features

What Problems Will LivePlan Solve?

• Awards & quality certificates
• LivePlan pricing
• User satisfaction

Technical details

• Support details
• User reviews

LivePlan is a business planning software with a unique approach to the process. It enables you to produce a one-page plan in a short period for you to move on to other critical tasks like marketing and sales campaigns.

With LivePlan, you can also keep tight control on your budget since it has a financial forecasting tool. Meanwhile, you do not have to deal with spreadsheets since the financials are automated. The platform has a drag-and-drop function as well, which makes it easier for you to generate budget forecasts.

Moreover, LivePlan has business management dashboards. These allow you to gain the insights that can point you to the right decisions. These control panels also assist you in tracking your progress towards your business objectives so you can determine when to step up your efforts.

Concisely, LivePlan enables you to protect your business from future tribulations and to create plans that can accelerate your growth.

Overview of LivePlan Benefits

One-Page Business Pitch

Business plans do not have to be thick documents. In fact, they can be as brief as one page. LivePlan helps you generate such concise pitches that can aid you in determining who your target customers are and in describing your products or services to your selected audiences. Additionally, the solution assists you in building your marketing and sales activities for you to reach your sales goals effectively.

Walkthrough Planning and Automated Financials

If you are unsure of how to start using LivePlan, the application has a systematic guide to facilitate your planning process. It includes prompts, definitions of important terms, and video and text tutorials. Since they are built right into the platform, you do not have to go far for instant support.

On top of that, LivePlan automates your financial reporting. It has the same comprehensive walkthrough that helps you enter the data required by the system to generate reports. This way, you do not have to deal with spreadsheets and formulas, thus allowing even people with no prior business experience to utilize the tool.

Forecasting for Any Business Type

Regardless of the industry you are in, LivePlan can aid you in forecasting your sales outlook. That is because it is equipped with numerous forecasting selections, which include subscription revenue, hourly sales, and individual product transactions.

Powerful Accounting Software Integrations

To create a general outlook of your business, LivePlan synchronizes with QuickBooks Online, Quickbooks Desktop, and Xero. This streamlines the flow of numbers to your system and abstracts the need to enter information manually. As a result, you can be confident that you are working with accurate information.

Competitor Benchmarking

LivePlan can tell you how well you are performing compared to your competitors. With this benchmarking capability, you can get in-depth insights that can support your business decisions.

Visual Reports

Instead of lackluster text-only reports, you can engage your audience with visually appealing documents. As such, you can get your point across without resorting to complex spreadsheets that can confuse your audience and lose their attention.

Reliable Support Assistance

With LivePlan, you can always count on reliable support. The team is knowledgeable and prompt in replying to emails and chats as well as in taking calls.

Overview of LivePlan Features

• Walkthrough Planning
• Plan Examples
• Business Plan Template
• Industry Benchmarks
• Financial Forecasting
• Sales Forecasting
• Professional Documents
• One-Page Pitch
• Lean Planning
• Multiple Plans
• Plan Export
• Business Model Canvas
• QuickBooks Online, Quickbooks Desktop & Xero Integration
• Performance Dashboards
• Collaboration Tools

Problem #1: Idea Validation

Before production and market rollout, businesses can use LivePlan to validate their ideas and to forecast its success. The process includes building a pitch, foreseeing the financial success of the idea, and how it compares to the competition.

Problem #2: Comprehensive Business Plans

Apart from one-page pitches, LivePlan helps businesses come up with detailed business plans. This helps in showing the strategy of the business and in winning financial backers.

Problem #3: Smart Financial Decisions

With LivePlan, decision-makers can be confident because the solution offers accurate information via its dashboard, lean pitch, and forecast scenarios.

Awards & Quality Certificates

LivePlan Position In Our Categories

Because companies have special business-related needs, it is only wise that they avoid going for an all-in-one, “perfect” software system. Having said that, it is futile to stumble on such a software product even among branded software solutions. The logical step to do would be to spell out the different significant aspects which demand scrutiny like major features, plans, skill capability of the users, company size, etc. Then, you must do the product research exhaustively. Browse over some of these LivePlan reviews and scrutinize each of the software products in your shortlist more closely. Such well-rounded product investigation ensures you steer clear of mismatched software products and pay for the system which has all the benefits your company requires for optimal results.

Position of LivePlan in our main categories:

LivePlan is one of the top 50 Business Intelligence Software products

LivePlan is one of the 50 Collaboration Software products

LivePlan is one of the top 50 Project Management Software products

If you are considering LivePlan it may also be sensible to investigate other subcategories of Business Intelligence Software listed in our database of SaaS software reviews.

There are well-liked and widely used solutions in each software category. But are they essentially the best fit for your company’s unique requirements? A market-leading software application may have thousands of subscribers, but does it offer what you require? For this reason, do not blindly shell out for popular systems. Read at least a few LivePlan Business Intelligence Software reviews and think about the elements that you want in the software such as the cost, main features, available integrations etc. Then, select a few solutions that fit your requirements. Check out the free trials of these apps, read online comments, get explanations from the maker, and do your homework thoroughly. This in-depth homework is sure to help you find the finest software platform for your firm’s unique needs.

How Much Does LivePlan Cost?

LivePlan Pricing Plans:

What are LivePlan pricing details?

LivePlan Premium

LivePlan Standard

All subscriptions come with a 35-day money-back guarantee and access to expert customer support.

User Satisfaction

We are aware that when you choose to purchase a Business Intelligence Software it’s important not only to find out how professionals score it in their reviews, but also to find out whether the actual people and businesses that use these solutions are indeed content with the service. Because of that need we’ve devised our behavior-based Customer Satisfaction Algorithm™ that aggregates customer reviews, comments and LivePlan reviews across a wide array of social media sites. The data is then featured in an easy to understand format revealing how many people had positive and negative experience with LivePlan. With that information at your disposal you will be prepared to make an informed business choice that you won’t regret.

Devices Supported

• iPhone/iPad
• Cloud Hosted

Language Support

Pricing Model

• Monthly payment
• Annual Subscription

Customer Types

• Small Business
• Medium Business
• Freelancers

What Support Does This Vendor Offer?

• live support

What integrations are available for LivePlan?

LivePlan supports the below integrations:

• QuickBooks Online

LivePlan User Reviews

LivePlan average rating:

Overall impression

Customer Support

Value for Money

Ease of Use

Write your own review of this product

The most favorable review

Verified user

Average score

PROS: LivePlan is more than just a tool for mapping out your business plan. It serves as a checklist for all things that I need in one too. As someone who's just starting, this has been really helpful to me.

CONS: Everything works, so far. I haven't noted anything that I don't like about it yet.

Reviewed 4 years ago

The least favorable review

PROS: It gives me pretty accurate financial estimations, for one. Another thing that I like about LivePlan is its straightforward reports and well-integrated dashboard.

CONS: I got a little impatient in answering some of its questions about my business and marketing strategy.

More reviews from 12 actual users:

• Most useful
• Most positive
• Most negative

Great for start-ups like me.

PROS: This is the perfect tool for beginners. I had no idea where to start in creating a business plan, but LivePlan was able to set me off in the right direction.

CONS: The initial plan that I subscribed to had been a little pricey. Although I do love that when I decided to downgrade, they allowed me to keep all of my data.

What do you think about this review?

One of the essential programs for business planning.

PROS: I love how it goes beyond just providing me with a financial estimate for my business. It follows through by integrating with programs such as QBO and Xero to allow me to check its reports against the actual performance of my business. It provides various possibilities and scenarios that might lead to each one.

CONS: I think it's simple enough, but I'd probably appreciate a bit more sophistication for my more complex business ideas.

Perfect for business planning and computing.

PROS: I love how I can simply input my information and it automatically gives me an expense and feasibility report.

CONS: It doesn't really help with the computation of commission. It is only best for conservative business models.

Very easy to use and edit.

PROS: I think one of LivePlan's main selling points is its usability. It hooks the user up with multiple solutions in one, including a business proposal creator.

CONS: I can't seem to export my reports in parts. If I want a particular portion, I have to download everything else. If anyone knows a workaround for this, please let me know.

Gives a pretty accurate business forecast.

PROS: I cannot stress the importance of creating a business plan before diving headfirst on any venture. LivePlan is a great tool to use for start-ups. It takes the complexity away from business planning and gives you a clear and honest projection of where you might be in the next few years.

CONS: The learning curve is a bit steep, albeit necessary. After all, you don't want to enter a business without doing a bit of research yourself.

It carefully walks me through the entire business planning process.

PROS: I love how LivePlan makes it easy for me to enjoy the dreaded business planning process. It is both thorough and easy to use. It has guided me every step of the way, plus the prompts on each section give me a heads-up on what to expect next too. It automatically provides me with a business forecast based on the data that I've previously inputted. I'm glad that I discovered this program. Seeing a tabular view of my business makes the data easier to digest and understand.

CONS: I feel like LivePlan would benefit by adding more forecasting options. Right now, it only gives a limited projection of revenue and volume per month. Another thing is that I wish it would have the capacity to compute commissions of sales employees too. I've been doing this manually for some time now and it chips away on my work hours.

User-friendly and intuitive–5 stars!

PROS: I instantly liked the idea of using a program such as LivePlan, and did not hesitate to sign up for it. I love how it is intuitive and easy-to-use. It offers plenty of editing options as well.

CONS: I find it a bit difficult to export documents in Word and PDF format. The comments section are difficult to find too.

Just what m our start-up needs.

PROS: Out of all the business planning programs we've used, LivePlan is probably the best. We decided to forego our previous program for this web-based solution, and we're glad that we made the jump. It has everything that we need in one, easy-to-use package. It syncs seamlessly with QuickBooks, takes into account deferred revenue, and automatically adjusts reports to fit your needs best.

CONS: We had to manually distinguish annual vs monthly deferred revenue because LivePlan can't differentiate these. It's not retroactive too. So any deferred avenue needs to be calculated as we go, and can only be computed going forward. It would be much easier for us if we can input deferred revenues from, say, a year ago.

Works with just about any business–I love it!

An ace of a program for every start-up.

PROS: I've been dreading the whole financial planning process, and LivePlan has managed to take a load off my shoulder. I found it just as I was about to start crunching the numbers for my monthly and yearly projections, and I've been able to generate a full report (projections of up to 5 years) in just a matter of hours! It helps me come up with just about everything I need--from balance sheets to cashflow to income statements. I love how the program really pays attention to the seemingly little things just to give me an accurate projection. It asks me questions about the nature of my business, what I sell, how many units are sold per month, etc. From this information, it gives a projection and drills down to the details every month as it learns more about my business. The business plan itself is easy to understand. They're marked properly and I can customize it any way that I like. I've been able to share the plan with some of my investors without fear of them accidentally editing some cells of my presentation. I recommend this program to all start-ups.

CONS: As far as I know, LivePlan still doesn't allow business plan to be exported in Excel version. I've managed to find a workaround on this by exporting the file on Word and then simply cutting and pasting it on Excel.

Makes business planning seem like a breeze.

PROS: Thanks to LivePlan, crunching the numbers for my business is now a no-brainer! All I have to do is to input the numbers in tables, and it automatically gives me all that I need to know. From financial forecasts to generating charts and figures for my reports--LivePlan is probably all that I need to build a feasible business plan. Not to mention, it offers some free plan templates too!

CONS: My only issue with LivePlan is that it is very US-centric. It does not take my location into account so computing taxes and other nuances can be such a pain. For example, I like in the UK and out taxed and insurances are computed differently here. I had to compute for these separately and manually.

Just what I need for elevator pitches for my business.

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By Jenny Chang

Jenny Chang is a senior writer specializing in SaaS and B2B software solutions. Her decision to focus on these two industries was spurred by their explosive growth in the last decade, much of it she attributes to the emergence of disruptive technologies and the quick adoption by businesses that were quick to recognize their values to their organizations. She has covered all the major developments in SaaS and B2B software solutions, from the introduction of massive ERPs to small business platforms to help startups on their way to success.

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How to Conduct a Monthly Business Plan Review Meeting

Posted june 21, 2021 by noah parsons.

Most people think that meetings are a waste of time. They’re right.

The fact is, too many meetings are run poorly, have no real objective, and waste employees’ time — which kills productivity.

I absolutely encourage you to be ruthless in your pursuit of fewer and more efficient meetings. There’s tons of advice out there on how to run better meetings and cut down on useless touch bases that waste time and make your organization move slower.

For example, here at Palo Alto Software , we’ve found one meeting that is simply indispensable. It only takes an hour each month, keeps the management team up to speed on everything that’s going on in the company, and helps us plan and manage in a quick and effective way .

This meeting is our monthly plan review meeting. 

What is a plan review meeting?

A monthly review meeting is a time for you and your team to review current progress against your ideal performance. This one-to-two-hour meeting should be spent dissecting parts of your strategy, reviewing financials, and making adjustments based on overall performance. It has been a fixture of our management strategy for years and is simply one of the most effective ways for us to continue to grow the company and adjust our course as necessary.

For us, business planning isn’t just a one-time or annual event. Instead, it’s an ongoing process where we are constantly reviewing and adjusting course as necessary while ensuring that we’re staying on track toward our larger goals .

Why is it important to conduct a monthly plan review?

Every business of any size can benefit from a calculated time to stop, review and revise. When done correctly, this meeting can help you focus on what’s vital for your company, identify what data you need to accurately measure it and how to best present and review these results. Additionally, your monthly plan review process can help your business in the following ways.

Commits your business to learn and act

It can become very easy to let operations and processes become stagnant and standard. Without a regular performance review, any potential problems may remain to fester well beyond when they are first identified. You don’t want to waste company time and resources on things that are ineffective, but it’s difficult to change course without first processing it.

By setting aside this monthly time, it provides the opportunity to commit to learning and adjusting anything and everything. This isn’t based on off-hand information but on solid information and data that helps you identify and evaluate what’s most important for your business. 

Engages individuals across your entire business

Depending on how you present this meeting, it has the potential to pull in greater insight from across your business. Whether you’re sharing information company-wide or sticking with select leaders from each department, it immediately expands the scope of expertise. 

The more that every leader and employee knows what’s going on with everyone else, the better you can align and produce effective goals . It also provides the opportunity to identify potential solutions or issues from outside your core team’s responsibilities. Maybe your product team sees a potential gap in your marketing messaging. Or someone in HR sees a potential work/life balance misalignment in the sales team. None of this would come to life without a core review meeting like this.

Influences better business conversations

Engaging more people across your business and providing more detailed information typically leads to more fruitful conversations outside the core meeting. Yes, the meeting itself is vital for actively reviewing and adjusting your strategy at the moment. However, this information being top of mind means that potential issues or innovations will be dealt with outside of the planning meeting. This is due to your employees having a clear direction to reference in the day-to-day. They know the strategy and data are up-to-date and that it serves as a north star for their own projects and initiatives.

How to run an effective monthly plan review meeting

We treat planning not as a document, but as a management tool that helps guide decisions and strategy. It’s this mindset that helps our team run these monthly meetings successfully. We have a strategy in place, steps to walk through and key objectives we expect to find.

Here’s a quick overview of how we structure our monthly plan review meetings and what’s worked well for us over the years. 

1. Review your financial statements

We always start with the numbers first . How did we do last month compared to our forecast ? How did we do compared to the same month last year? What does our year-to-date performance look like?

What financial statements to review

Ideally, you’ll have the opportunity to review all relevant monthly financial statements. At a minimum, you should review your Profit and Loss Statement , Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow Statement . These will provide a high-level overview of your financial position and help identify any obvious anomalies. If possible, it’s valuable to look at these all together through a business dashboard , that way you can immediately start making connections.

With that top-level exploration in mind, you can then start looking into your budget, financial forecast scenarios, and any specific elements that may seem relevant. This may include things like your expense categories, accounts receivable/payable payment schedules, etc. 

Look beyond top-line performance

We always spend time drilling into the numbers, beyond the top-line revenue and expenses to better understand what the drivers were behind our performance. Did all product lines perform well? Or did some underperform? Did we spend as planned or were there some areas that we overspent in?

Most importantly, we review our cash position and cash flow . Did we collect money as planned? What does our cash flow forecast look like for the next few months?

There are benefits to looking at financials together

While financial reports can be reviewed outside of a meeting, reviewing them together as a team encourages questions and discussion around our revenue and spending. It also helps you uncover specific issues or opportunities that you may miss on your own. And of course, gives everyone a voice to determine the next steps for the company as well as their specific teams.

Of course, we use LivePlan to review our numbers because it’s much easier than drilling through exported reports from QuickBooks . But if you’re not ready to make that jump, you can always start out with a simple cash flow template in Excel.

2. Reevaluate your milestones

Once we review our financial performance, we review our “ major milestones ”—the big tasks we had hoped to get done in the past month and our plans for the next month.

We discuss how various teams might be working with each other on different projects and talk about the specific milestones that we have planned. Are these still the tactics that we want to work on that will help achieve our goals? Do we need to shift priorities? Is there new learning and information that would have us change our schedule?

By reviewing major initiatives on a monthly basis, we can stay agile and make changes as needed. That’s also why we review them after parsing through our financials, to determine if our current milestones should still be a priority. As we learn more about our customers and our market , we might shift strategies and develop new milestones .

3. Review your long-term goals and strategy

Next, we review our long-term strategic goals. While this doesn’t change too often in our situation as an established company, new startups might shift their strategy frequently as they search for a business model that works.

For those early-stage startups, this step of the meeting may be the most important step and often takes the longest. For more established companies, this part of the meeting might typically only take a few minutes. This is where having a brief and functional business plan can really help speed up the process.

Instead of delving deep into a 40-page business plan document to review our strategy, we review our our one-page business plan (in LivePlan, it’s called the Pitch ). It covers our company identity, the core problem we solve for our customers, our solution, competition , and sales and marketing strategy . It’s all on one page so it’s easy to read, review, and change quickly .

4. Provide time to discuss any company issues

Finally, anyone on the team can bring forward any issues that they want to discuss. This could include new opportunities to consider, prioritization of product features, potential partnerships, or internal HR issues.

Everything is fair game and we try to come up with resolutions and next steps for any issue that’s brought up.

We’ve found that this type of open-ended discussion really helps generate new ideas and brings different perspectives from managers of different teams.

5. Set meeting guidelines

I believe that all companies would benefit from a monthly review of their business. These types of meetings keep everyone on the same page, help share information about progress, and turn planning into a tool that helps teams make informed decisions. 

But in order to run these monthly meetings successfully, you’ll need to do some preliminary work to keep you and your team on track. Here are three tips to successfully establish your monthly business plan review.

Put the meeting on the calendar

It’s important to make it a formal event that’s on the schedule. It can’t be optional and it has to be at a regular time so that everyone always knows when the meeting is.

For us, we started out with the meeting on the 3rd Thursday of every month. As our bookkeeping and accounting processes have become more efficient, we’ve been able to move our meeting to the 2nd Friday of the month.

Follow a repeatable agenda

While different topics will come up for discussion, it’s important that your plan review meeting has a repeatable agenda. Not only does it provide structure, but it gives your team specific action items to review beforehand.

That means making sure that you have your numbers ready for review and that your team has updates on their goals. Try to set time limits for each section if you can, and overestimate the length of the meeting with the full intention of finishing earlier than planned. This part will be a continuous work in progress and you and your team will gradually improve your efficiency with each subsequent meeting.

Be prepared to change the plan

These plan review meetings aren’t just about staying the course and blindly following the plan. Instead, they are about adjusting the plan. Perhaps you’ll discover that you should be investing more in marketing, or that you’re going to be able to expand and hire faster than you originally planned.

The plan review meeting is about making adjustments to your goals and strategies based on what you’ve discovered in the past month.

Use your monthly plan review to redefine how you do meetings

Keep in mind that running your meetings more successfully won’t just happen overnight. It takes time to develop a structure that works best for you and your team. As I outlined in this article, the best place to start your meeting restructure is with your monthly plan review meeting.

It’s a necessary review that can be consistently repeated, refined, and adjusted, which makes it the perfect testing ground for a new system. 

Editors’ Note: This article was originally written in 2018 and updated for 2021.

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Noah Parsons

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