What is a Business Plan?
A business plan is a document that defines a company’s goals and how it will achieve them. The business plan can consist of planning for the marketing, management, operations, finances, and more. A company will follow a business plan to guide decision-making and create agreement on how to run the company.
There are no rules or defined details to follow. Companies of different industries all make business plans in different ways, and even two companies in the same industry can have completely different business plans.
Why are Business Plans Important?
Running a business without a startegy is like driving a car blindfolded. Sure you have a chance to get where you need to go, but it’s going to be a bumpy ride getting there! Without a definite direction and goal, there’s no telling what path you are on.
A good business plan will have all aspects of the company taken into account. If there’s a question about how or why something has to be done, the plan should be able to answer that.
The most common and fundamental parts of a business plan include:
- Executive Summary
- Company Description
- Marketing Strategy
- Cost Structure
- Revenue Streams
- Key Metrics
- Value Proposition
While there’s no required length, but it is best to not cut corners and make sure to plan from all angles. The plan should also take into account what the company will be.
Business Plans in Startup Wars
In Startup Wars, you create a business plan when creating your startup. You will choose your location, company branding, business strategy, and more. Startups heavily rely on business plans to help the company stay aligned as it starts to kick off. It’s easy to get swept up in the allure of possibility when first starting a company, so the plan helps keep you aligned and realistic with where the company needs to go.
As the startup grows, the business plan should scale alongside it. It has to take into account the resources available, and since startups have low resources they are limited in their scope and vision. However, startups can scale at a fast rate, so their plan can grow to have wildly different metrics than when it was first created.
