what is the purpose of a business plan chegg

What Are the Main Purposes of a Business Plan?

If you are preparing to start your own business, you should first write a business plan. A good business plan acts as a dynamic blueprint for running and expanding your business, according to Inc.com. To write a business plan you can use, however, it is necessary for you to understand the main purposes of one.

Maintaining Business Focus

A business plan contains all of your product information, manpower and financial estimates and your plans for the future. As you look to grow your business, you should refer to your business plan, according to the Small Business Administration. When you decide to make changes to your business, those changes should be reflected in your business plan. When you make updates to your business plan, you get to see how your proposed changes will affect your entire business.

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

Your business plan reminds you of why you started your business in the first place, what your original goals were and how business changes will affect your original vision.

More For You

The importance of a business plan, what are the benefits of a business plan, why is it important for entrepreneurs to develop financial plans for their companies, how do i write an executive summary for a start up business, how to simply write a business plan for a loan, securing outside financing.

As you start your business, and even as your business moves along, you will constantly need to concern yourself with financing your business. Financing concerns begin with the start-up costs and then continue with business expansion and new product development. When you look for outside financing, one of the first things the investor will want to see is your business plan, according to Inc.com.

Private investors, banks or any other lending institution will want to see how you plan on running your business, what your expense and revenue projections are and whether or not your plans for the future are attainable with the business you have created. All of this can be answered by a well-written and thorough business plan.

Fueling Ambitions and Mapping Growth

Starting your own business can seem like a daunting task if you have never done it before. When you break down your business into a business plan, it can motivate you because it presents the business in an organized fashion, according to the University of Colorado. When you spend the time to outline your business in detail, you begin to understand what it will take to get your dream off the ground. Following a business plan can help you to map out the growth of your company and give you confidence when you need it.

Enlightening Executive Talent

As your business grows, you will need to consider adding executives to your team that can help move your company in the right direction. A business plan will help executive talent see your business vision and determine whether or not your company is a worthwhile investment of time and resources.

• Inc.: How to Write a Great Business Plan
• Entrepreneur: How to Find the Purpose of Your Business Plan
• University of Central Arkansas: Small Business Advancement National Center

George N. Root III began writing professionally in 1985. His publishing credits include a weekly column in the "Lockport Union Sun and Journal" along with the "Spectrum," the "Niagara Falls Gazette," "Tonawanda News," "Watertown Daily News" and the "Buffalo News." Root has a Bachelor of Arts in English from the State University of New York, Buffalo.

What is the Purpose of a Business Plan

Starting a new business is an exciting but challenging journey. To steer your venture towards success, it’s crucial to have a well-thought-out business plan. What is a business plan and why is it important? In this article, we will explore what a business plan involves and highlight why it’s an essential tool for every business, no matter its size or stage. Let’s look at the key reasons that make a business plan not just useful, but indispensable for achieving business success.

What is a Business Plan?

A business plan is a formal document that details your business goals and outlines the strategies you intend to implement to achieve them. It describes your business’s organizational structure, market positioning, financial background, and projected growth path. 

What is the Purpose of a Business Plan?

A business plan is more than just a tool to impress investors; it’s a strategic guide that helps you manage your business with a clear objective in mind. Whether you are seeking funding, planning to expand your operations, or simply setting up your business, a well-prepared business plan is crucial for outlining the steps you need to take to succeed. 

The main purpose of writing a business plan is to provide a clear roadmap for your business’s growth and development, while why you need a business plan encompasses securing funding, guiding your strategy , and effectively managing your resources. This comprehensive approach is essential for achieving long-term success and sustainability.

Who Should Develop Business Plans?

• Established Businesses
• Small Business Owners and Entrepreneurs
• Freelancers and Independent Contractors

In essence, every business should have a written business plan. Whether you are just starting out or looking to grow an existing business, a well-documented plan is essential for guiding strategic decisions and fostering sustainable growth.

Why are Business Plans Important Even for Small Businesses or Side Hustles?

Business plans are crucial for small businesses and side hustles because they provide a structured framework for mapping out key strategies, goals, and challenges. This clarity helps even the smallest enterprises or new ventures understand their market better, manage resources more efficiently, and set realistic milestones. 

By articulating a clear direction and method for achieving success, a business plan empowers small business owners and side hustlers to track progress, adapt to changes, and make informed decisions, which are essential for growth and sustainability in a competitive landscape.

Let's Get Started!

• Your Name *
• Email Address *
• Phone Number

20 Reasons Why a Business Plan is Important

A comprehensive business plan is not just a document for attracting investors; it’s a crucial tool that guides every aspect of business operations. Below, we’ll explore how working on a business plan helps you articulate your vision, secure resources, and manage your company effectively, emphasizing the benefits of a business plan through detailed expansions on its critical roles:

• Clarifies Your Business Vision

Before creating a business plan, an entrepreneur must research businesses in the past to understand what has led to success or failure. A business plan then allows you to define and refine your company’s vision, providing a clear direction and objectives for your team. This alignment ensures that everyone is working toward common goals, embodying the importance of business planning.

• Essential for Funding

One major reason businesses seek investment is to fund operations and growth without straining cash flows. The goal of a business plan is to get investors buy in by demonstrating that your business model is well-thought-out and holds potential for profitable returns. This increases your chances of securing the necessary funds, illustrating the business plan importance.

• Attracts Business Partners

A well-structured business plan showcases your business’s organized approach and clear growth strategy, highlighting the business plan benefits for potential partners. This not only attracts but also reassures potential partners of the viability and future profitability of your enterprise, making them more likely to invest their time and resources

• Improves Decision Making

A comprehensive business plan includes thorough market research and competitor analysis, which are fundamental for informed decision-making. By basing decisions on solid data and industry benchmarks, you mitigate risks associated with assumptions, demonstrating how a business plan is useful to guide strategic choices.

• Helps Manage Cash

Effective financial management is critical to the survival and growth of any business. A business plan is more likely to make a difference when the entrepreneur and management team are actively engaged in its implementation. It helps you forecast financial needs, manage budgets efficiently, and safeguard against potential cash flow issues, ensuring that financial resources are used wisely and sustainably. 

• Guides Marketing Efforts

Your business plan outlines target audiences, marketing strategies, and sales goals, providing a strategic framework for effective customer engagement and brand development. The goal of a business plan is to integrate all marketing activities into a cohesive strategy that supports the broader vision and goals of your company.

• Identifies Potential Challenges

Anticipating potential risks is a cornerstone of strategic planning. The importance of a business plan lies in its ability to help you identify these risks early on and develop strategies to address them, thereby ensuring business continuity and resilience. This proactive approach is crucial for navigating challenges effectively and maintaining the stability of your business.

• Sets Achievable Goals

The goal of a business plan is not only to set a direction but also to establish realistic and measurable objectives. These goals provide a framework to track progress and make adjustments, facilitating continuous improvement.

• Tracks Business Performance

A business plan enables you to monitor your business’s performance against its planned objectives. This tracking helps you pinpoint areas of success and those needing improvement, essential for dynamic business environments. The business planning benefits include this ability to continuously assess and adapt your strategies, ensuring your operations remain effective and responsive to market changes.

• Increases Operational Efficiency

Detailing operational strategies and processes in your business plan helps streamline operations, improve productivity, and reduce costs. This efficiency is vital for maintaining a competitive advantage. The benefits of business planning are clearly evident in how it optimizes every aspect of operations, ensuring that resources are used effectively and strategically to support business growth and sustainability.

• Attracts Executive Talent

A good business plan will attract top executive talent by demonstrating the ambitious yet achievable roadmap of the company. Talented leaders are crucial for implementing strategic visions and driving growth.

• Prepares for the Unexpected

Incorporating contingency plans into your business plan prepares your organization to handle unexpected disruptions effectively, minimizing impacts on performance and finances. Addressing the needs of a business to remain resilient in the face of unforeseen challenges, such planning ensures that your enterprise can continue operations smoothly under various circumstances.

• Improves Supplier Negotiations

With a clear forecast of production needs and expected growth, you can negotiate better terms with suppliers. One major reason businesses seek investment is to ensure they have the financial resources necessary to capitalize on such opportunities, enhancing their bargaining position and overall market competitiveness.

• Facilitates Effective Management

A business plan clarifies management roles, responsibilities, and expectations, promoting effective governance and operational control. This clarity is key to maintaining order and accountability within the company.

• Plans for Business Exit

Whether planning to sell the business or pass it on, a business plan outlines the necessary steps for a profitable and smooth transition, ensuring the long-term legacy of your business. This strategic framework addresses key business reasons for planning ahead, such as maximizing value and facilitating a seamless change of ownership, vital for the sustained success of the enterprise.

• Builds Credibility and Trust

A professionally prepared business plan enhances your business’s credibility among all stakeholders, including investors, partners, customers, and employees, fostering trust and confidence in your business model. The benefits of business planning extend to establishing a solid reputation and reliable image, which are critical for securing support and resources necessary for growth and success.

• Encourages Regular Review

Regularly reviewing your business plan ensures that your strategies adapt to changing market conditions and technologies, maintaining your business’s relevance and competitive edge. Highlighting the business planning importance, such regular assessments enable you to stay agile, responsive, and ahead of industry trends, which is crucial for sustained success in a dynamic business environment.

• Promotes Learning

A business plan is helpful to entrepreneurs as it involves significant learning about the industry, market trends, and customer preferences. This deep dive into research can reveal new opportunities and areas for innovation. 

• Outlines Organizational Structure

A clear organizational structure within your business plan facilitates efficient management and communication, crucial for operational success. Planning a business with a detailed structure helps clarify roles and responsibilities, ensuring that all team members understand their tasks and how they contribute to the organization’s goals. 

• Benchmarks for Success

Your business plan sets benchmarks for success, allowing you to celebrate achievements and recognize when strategic changes are needed to stay on track with your business goals. This illustrates how important is a business plan in providing measurable targets and a clear framework for evaluating progress, ensuring that your business remains focused and adaptable.

These expanded points underline the purpose of business planning, emphasizing that a well-prepared business plan is fundamental not just for launching a business, but for its sustained growth and adaptation in an ever-changing business landscape.

Secure Your Business’s Future with a Solid Plan

In conclusion, a business plan is essential—it’s the blueprint for your business’s success. It serves as a fundamental tool for anyone from startups to established businesses, guiding everything from defining clear goals to securing necessary funding and managing resources efficiently. With a business plan, all stakeholders can see the planned path to success and the steps needed to get there. If you are starting a new venture or aiming to grow your existing business, creating a solid business plan is your crucial first step.

Don’t tackle the challenge of business planning on your own. Let BSBCON help you create a detailed and practical business plan tailored to your unique needs. Whether you are just beginning or ready to expand, our expert consultants are here to guide you through every phase of your business journey. Contact us today to start turning your business ideas into achievable plans. Let’s lay a strong foundation for your business’s future together.

How can we help you?

Get in touch with us or visit our office

• Customer Reviews
• Net 30 Account
• Wise Services
• Steps & Timeline
• Work at a Glance
• Market Research at a Glance
• Business Plan Writing Services
• Bank Business Plan
• Investor Business Plan
• Franchise Business Plan
• Cannabis Business Plan
• Strategic Business Plan
• Corporate Business Plan
• Merge and Acquisition Business Plan (M&A)
• Private Placement Memorandums (PPM)
• Sample Business Plans
• Professional Feasibility Study
• PowerPoint Presentations
• Pitch Deck Presentation Services
• Business Plan Printing
• Market Research
• L-1 Business Plan
• E-2 Business Plan
• EB-5 Business Plan
• EB-5 Regional Centers
• Immigration Attorneys
• Nonprofit Business Plan
• Exit Business Planning
• Business Planning
• Business Formation
• Business License
• Business Website
• Business Branding
• Business Bank Account
• Digital Marketing
• Business Funding Resources
• Small Business Loans
• Venture Capital
• Net 30 Apply

What is a business plan? Definition, Purpose, and Types

In the world of business, a well-thought-out plan is often the key to success. This plan, known as a business plan, is a comprehensive document that outlines a company’s goals, strategies , and financial projections. Whether you’re starting a new business or looking to expand an existing one, a business plan is an essential tool.

As a business plan writer and consultant , I’ve crafted over 15,000 plans for a diverse range of businesses. In this article, I’ll be sharing my wealth of experience about what a business plan is, its purpose, and the step-by-step process of creating one. By the end, you’ll have a thorough understanding of how to develop a robust business plan that can drive your business to success.

What is a business plan?

A business plan is a roadmap for your business. It outlines your goals, strategies, and how you plan to achieve them. It’s a living document that you can update as your business grows and changes.

Looking for someone to write a business plan?

Find professional business plan writers for your business success.

Purposes of a Business Plan

These are the following purpose of business plan:

• Attract investors and lenders: If you’re seeking funding for your business , a business plan is a must-have. Investors and lenders want to see that you have a clear plan for how you’ll use their money to grow your business and generate revenue.
• Get organized and stay on track: Writing a business plan forces you to think through all aspects of your business, from your target market to your marketing strategy. This can help you identify any potential challenges and opportunities early on, so you can develop a plan to address them.
• Make better decisions: A business plan can help you make better decisions about your business by providing you with a framework to evaluate different options. For example, if you’re considering launching a new product, your business plan can help you assess the potential market demand, costs, and profitability.

What are the essential components of a business plan?

Executive summary

The executive summary is the most important part of your business plan, even though it’s the last one you’ll write. It’s the first section that potential investors or lenders will read, and it may be the only one they read. The executive summary sets the stage for the rest of the document by introducing your company’s mission or vision statement, value proposition, and long-term goals.

Business description or overview

The business description section of your business plan should introduce your business to the reader in a compelling and concise way. It should include your business name, years in operation, key offerings, positioning statement, and core values (if applicable). You may also want to include a short history of your company.

Product and price

In this section, the company should describe its products or services , including pricing, product lifespan, and unique benefits to the consumer. Other relevant information could include production and manufacturing processes, patents, and proprietary technology.

Competitive analysis

Every industry has competitors, even if your business is the first of its kind or has the majority of the market share. In the competitive analysis section of your business plan, you’ll objectively assess the industry landscape to understand your business’s competitive position. A SWOT analysis is a structured way to organize this section.

Target market

Your target market section explains the core customers of your business and why they are your ideal customers. It should include demographic, psychographic, behavioral, and geographic information about your target market.

Marketing plan

Marketing plan describes how the company will attract and retain customers, including any planned advertising and marketing campaigns . It also describes how the company will distribute its products or services to consumers.

After outlining your goals, validating your business opportunity, and assessing the industry landscape, the team section of your business plan identifies who will be responsible for achieving your goals. Even if you don’t have your full team in place yet, investors will be impressed by your clear understanding of the roles that need to be filled.

Financial plan

In the financial plan section,established businesses should provide financial statements , balance sheets , and other financial data. New businesses should provide financial targets and estimates for the first few years, and may also request funding.

Funding requirements

Since one goal of a business plan is to secure funding from investors , you should include the amount of funding you need, why you need it, and how long you need it for.

• Tip: Use bullet points and numbered lists to make your plan easy to read and scannable.

Access specialized business plan writing service now!

Types of business plan.

Business plans can come in many different formats, but they are often divided into two main types: traditional and lean startup. The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) says that the traditional business plan is the more common of the two.

Lean startup business plans

Lean startup business plans are short (as short as one page) and focus on the most important elements. They are easy to create, but companies may need to provide more information if requested by investors or lenders.

Traditional business plans

Traditional business plans are longer and more detailed than lean startup business plans, which makes them more time-consuming to create but more persuasive to potential investors. Lean startup business plans are shorter and less detailed, but companies should be prepared to provide more information if requested.

Need Guidance with Your Business Plan?

Access 14 free business plan samples!

How often should a business plan be reviewed and revised?

A business plan should be reviewed and revised at least annually, or more often if the business is experiencing significant changes. This is because the business landscape is constantly changing, and your business plan needs to reflect those changes in order to remain relevant and effective.

Here are some specific situations in which you should review and revise your business plan:

• You have launched a new product or service line.
• You have entered a new market.
• You have experienced significant changes in your customer base or competitive landscape.
• You have made changes to your management team or organizational structure.
• You have raised new funding.

What are the key elements of a lean startup business plan?

A lean startup business plan is a short and simple way for a company to explain its business, especially if it is new and does not have a lot of information yet. It can include sections on the company’s value proposition, major activities and advantages, resources, partnerships, customer segments, and revenue sources.

What are some of the reasons why business plans don't succeed?

• Unrealistic assumptions: Business plans are often based on assumptions about the market, the competition, and the company’s own capabilities. If these assumptions are unrealistic, the plan is doomed to fail.
• Lack of focus: A good business plan should be focused on a specific goal and how the company will achieve it. If the plan is too broad or tries to do too much, it is unlikely to be successful.
• Poor execution: Even the best business plan is useless if it is not executed properly. This means having the right team in place, the necessary resources, and the ability to adapt to changing circumstances.
• Unforeseen challenges:  Every business faces challenges that could not be predicted or planned for. These challenges can be anything from a natural disaster to a new competitor to a change in government regulations.

What are the benefits of having a business plan?

• It helps you to clarify your business goals and strategies.
• It can help you to attract investors and lenders.
• It can serve as a roadmap for your business as it grows and changes.
• It can help you to make better business decisions.

How to write a business plan?

There are many different ways to write a business plan, but most follow the same basic structure. Here is a step-by-step guide:

• Executive summary.
• Company description.
• Management and organization description.
• Financial projections.

How to write a business plan step by step?

Start with an executive summary, then describe your business, analyze the market, outline your products or services, detail your marketing and sales strategies, introduce your team, and provide financial projections.

Why do I need a business plan for my startup?

A business plan helps define your startup’s direction, attract investors, secure funding, and make informed decisions crucial for success.

What are the key components of a business plan?

Key components include an executive summary, business description, market analysis, products or services, marketing and sales strategy, management and team, financial projections, and funding requirements.

Can a business plan help secure funding for my business?

Yes, a well-crafted business plan demonstrates your business’s viability, the use of investment, and potential returns, making it a valuable tool for attracting investors and lenders.

Quick Links

• Investor Business Plans
• M&A Business Plan
• Private Placement
• Feasibility Study
• Hire a Business Plan Writer
• Business Valuation Calculator
• Business Plan Examples
• Real Estate Business Plan
• Business Plan Template
• Business Plan Pricing Guide
• Business Plan Makeover
• SBA Loans, Bank Funding & Business Credit
• Finding & Qualifying for Business Grants
• Leadership for the New Manager
• Content Marketing for Beginners
• All About Crowdfunding
• EB-5 Regional Centers, A Step-By-Step Guide
• Logo Designer
• Landing Page
• PPC Advertising

• Business Entity
• Business Licensing
• Virtual Assistant
• Business Phone
• Business Address
• E-1 Visa Business Plan
• EB1-A Visa Business Plan
• EB1-C Visa Business Plan
• EB2-NIW Business Plan
• H1B Visa Business Plan
• O1 Visa Business Plan
• Business Brokers
• Merger & Acquisition Advisors
• Franchisors

Proud Sponsor of

• 1-800-496-1056

• (613) 800-0227

• +44 (1549) 409190

• +61 (2) 72510077

• Starting a Business
• Growing a Business
• Small Business Guide
• Business News
• Science & Technology
• Money & Finance
• For Subscribers
• Write for Entrepreneur
• Tips White Papers
• Entrepreneur Store
• United States
• Asia Pacific
• Middle East
• United Kingdom
• South Africa

Copyright © 2024 Entrepreneur Media, LLC All rights reserved. Entrepreneur® and its related marks are registered trademarks of Entrepreneur Media LLC

How to Find the Purpose of Your Business Plan Deciding how you intend to use your business plan is an important part of preparing to write it.

By Teresa Ciulla Nov 4, 2014

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

In the book, Write Your Business Plan , the staff of Entrepreneur Media offer an in-depth understanding of what's essential to any business plan, what's appropriate for your venture and what it takes to ensure success. In this edited excerpt, the authors explain how your business plan will differ depending on what you plan to use it for.

Your business plan can be used for several things, from monitoring your company's progress toward goals to enticing key employees to join your firm. Deciding how you intend to use yours is an important part of preparing to write it.

Do you intend to use your plan to help raise money? In that case, you'll have to focus very carefully on the executive summary, management, and marketing and financial aspects. You'll need to have a clearly focused vision of how your company is going to make money. If you're looking for a bank loan, you'll need to stress your ability to generate sufficient cash flow to service loans. Equity investors, especially venture capitalists, must be shown how they can cash out of your company and generate a rate of return they'll find acceptable.

Do you intend to use your plan to attract talented employees? Then you'll want to emphasize such things as stock options and other aspects of compensation, as well as location, work environment, corporate culture and opportunities for growth and advancement. If you're a high-tech startup, top employees are likely to ask to see your plans for attracting venture capital and later selling out to a bigger firm or going public so they can realize the value of their stock options.

Do you anticipate showing your plan to suppliers to demonstrate that you are a worthy customer? A solid business plan may convince a supplier of some precious commodity to favor you over your rivals. It may also help you to arrange supplier credit—one of the most useful forms of financing to a small business. You may want to stress your blue-ribbon customer list and spotless record of repaying trade debts in this plan.

Do you hope to convince big customers that you'll be a dependable supplier? Then you'll want to emphasize your staying power, innovation and special capabilities. In this plan, unlike the supplier-targeted one, you may want to play down relationships with other big customers, especially if they're foes of the one you're wooing.

Do you expect to use your plan only for internal purposes? Then you'll want to build in many milestones, benchmarks and other tools for measuring and comparing your future performance against the plan. Such things may be of little interest to a banker evaluating your loan-worthiness but could make all the difference between a useful plan and one that's no good at all for monitoring corporate performance.

These distinctions are not merely academic. A plan that's well-suited for internal purposes would probably be completely wrong for taking to a potential Fortune 500 customer. Actually, the marketplace of business plan consumers is even more finely segmented than that. A plan for a bank, for instance, wouldn't accomplish much by including a strategy for selling the company to a large conglomerate several years down the road, whereas a venture capitalist would look for your exit strategy very early on.

Think about all this, and keep it in mind as you create your plan. Along the way, you'll have to make many decisions about what to include or leave out and what to stress or play down. Setting some direction now about how you intend to use your plan will make those later decisions faster and more accurate.

Because many entrepreneurs utilize business plans for various purposes, you'll want to have several versions available. By carefully editing and rewriting certain sections with your audience in mind, you can have plans ready for different occasions. The plan for raising funding will likely be more extensive and detailed than the plan for attracting new employees, who may not want to read as much but will want some answers to the question, "Why should I work at your company?" While the business plan is the sum of various sections, how you massage and edit those sections can help you utilize it for a variety of purposes.

Consider that once you've created a good business plan, you should use it in as many ways as possible, including self-motivation and guidance as you make business decisions and undergo changes.

Freelance Editor

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Editor's Pick Red Arrow

• She Started a Business When She Couldn't Satisfy a European Craving in the U.S. — and It Made More Than $30 Million Last Year
• Lock Use This 'Simple Yet Timeless' Career Advice That Will Change Your Outlook on Career Advancement
• How to Overcome Imposter Syndrome and Start a Business, According to Gary Vee, a Serial Entrepreneur Worth Over $200 Million
• Lock Most People Hate This One Leadership Style — Here's How to Avoid It
• An Iconic McDonald's Treat Is About to Get a Makeover — Here's What to Expect
• Lock Is Your Co-Worker a 'Workplace Catfish'? An Expert Explains How to Uncover the Truth — Before You Pay the Price.

Most Popular Red Arrow

She turned her airy side hustle into a $255 million business and 'captured lightning in a bottle' — here's how.

The first Drybar opened in 2010.

These Are Companies With the Most AI-Related Job Postings, Hiring Everything From Technical Writers to Engineers

AI-related jobs are plentiful — if you know where to look.

Why Every Leader Should Write a "How to Work With Me" Manual

Do your team members really know how you work? Here's why creating a manual to your working style and preferences is so essential as a leader.

63 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2024

We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for entrepreneurs to pursue in 2024.

Google Co-Founder Sergey Brin Is Back at the Company 'Pretty Much Every Day.' Here's What He's Working On.

Brin publicly confirmed for the first time that he's back at Google and working on AI.

Use This Scientific Approach to Transform Your Idea Into a Million-Dollar Success

Even when approaching the unknown, we always have a tool to draw conclusions for better-informed decision-making — the scientific method.

Successfully copied link

How to Write a Business Plan for a Small Business

Noah Parsons

24 min. read

Updated September 2, 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 writing a business plan

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

You understand that writing a business plan helps you: 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Brought to you by

Create a professional business plan

Using ai and step-by-step instructions.

Secure funding

Validate ideas

Build a strategy

• What to include in your business plan

Executive summary

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

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

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

Your executive summary should include:

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

Dig Deeper: How to write an effective executive summary

Products and services description

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

This is usually called a problem and solution statement .

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

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

Market analysis

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

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

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

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

Related: Target market examples

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

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

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

Dig Deeper: Learn how to write a market analysis

Competitive analysis

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

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

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

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

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

Marketing and sales plan

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Business operations

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Key milestones and metrics

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

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

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

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

Possible milestones might be:

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

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

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

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

Dig Deeper: How to use milestones in your business plan

Organization and management team

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

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

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

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

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

• Sole proprietor
• Partnership

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

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

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

Financial plan

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

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

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

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

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

Dig Deeper: How to create financial forecasts and budgets

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

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

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

Dig Deeper : What to include in your business plan appendix

Optional: Business plan cover page

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

Your cover page should be simple and include:

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

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

Dig Deeper: How to create a business plan cover page

How to use AI to help write your business plan

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

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

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

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

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

• Writing tips and strategies

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

Determine why you are writing a business plan

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

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

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

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

Keep things concise

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

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

Have someone review your business plan

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Common pitfalls and how to avoid them

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Use your business plan to manage your business

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Learn More: How to run a regular plan review

How to write a business plan FAQ

What is a business plan?

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

What are the benefits of writing a business plan?

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

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

What are the 7 steps of writing a business plan?

The seven steps to writing a business plan include:

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

What are the 5 most common business plan mistakes?

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

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

What questions should be answered in a business plan?

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

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

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

How long should a business plan be?

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

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

What are the different types of business plans?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Related Articles

7 Min. Read

How to Write a Bakery Business Plan + Sample

1 Min. Read

How to Calculate Return on Investment (ROI)

5 Min. Read

How To Write a Business Plan for a Life Coaching Business + Free Example

3 Min. Read

What to Include in Your Business Plan Appendix

The LivePlan Newsletter

Become a smarter, more strategic entrepreneur.

Your first monthly newsetter will be delivered soon..

Unsubscribe anytime. Privacy policy .

The quickest way to turn a business idea into a business plan

Fill-in-the-blanks and automatic financials make it easy.

No thanks, I prefer writing 40-page documents.

Discover the world’s #1 plan building software

Business Plan Executive Summary Example & Template

Updated: Jun 3, 2024, 1:03pm

Table of Contents

Components of an executive summary, how to write an executive summary, example of an executive summary, frequently asked questions.

A business plan is a document that you create that outlines your company’s objectives and how you plan to meet those objectives. Every business plan has key sections such as management and marketing. It should also have an executive summary, which is a synopsis of each of the plan sections in a one- to two-page overview. This guide will help you create an executive summary for your business plan that is comprehensive while being concise.

Featured Partners

ZenBusiness

$0 + State Fees

Varies By State & Package

On ZenBusiness' Website

Northwest Registered Agent

$39 + State Fees

On Northwest Registered Agent's Website

Tailor Brands

$0 + state fee + up to $50 Amazon gift card

Varies by State & Package

On Tailor Brands' Website

$0 + State Fee

On Formations' Website

The executive summary should mimic the sections found in the business plan . It is just a more concise way of stating what’s in the plan so that a reader can get a broad overview of what to expect.

State the company’s mission statement and provide a few sentences on what the company’s purpose is.

Company History and Management

This section describes the basics of where the company is located, how long it has been in operation, who is running it and what their level of experience is. Remember that this is a summary and that you’ll expand on management experience within the business plan itself. But the reader should know the basics of the company structure and who is running the company from this section.

Products or Services

This section tells the reader what the product or service of the company is. Every company does something. This is where you outline exactly what you do and how you solve a problem for the consumer.

This is an important section that summarizes how large the market is for the product or service. In the business plan, you’ll do a complete market analysis. Here, you will write the key takeaways that show that you have the potential to grow the business because there are consumers in the market for it.

Competitive Advantages

This is where you will summarize what makes you better than the competitors. Identify key strengths that will be reasons why consumers will choose you over another company.

Financial Projections

This is where you estimate the sales projections for the first years in business. At a minimum, you should have at least one year’s projections, but it may be better to have three to five years if you can project that far ahead.

Startup Financing Requirements

This states what it will cost to get the company launched and running. You may tackle this as a first-year requirement or if you have made further projections, look at two to three years of cost needs.

The executive summary is found at the start of the business plan, even though it is a summary of the plan. However, you should write the executive summary last. Writing the summary once you have done the work and written the business plan will be easier. After all, it is a summary of what is in the plan. Keep the executive summary limited to two pages so that it doesn’t take someone a long time to peruse what the summary says.

Start A Limited Liability Company Online Today with ZenBusiness

Click to get started.

It might be easier to write an executive summary if you know what to expect. Here is an example of an executive summary that you can use as a template.

Bottom Line

Writing an executive summary doesn’t need to be difficult if you’ve already done the work of writing the business plan itself. Take the elements from the plan and summarize each section. Point out key details that will make the reader want to learn more about the company and its financing needs.

How long is an executive summary?

An executive summary should be one to two pages and no more. This is just enough information to help the reader determine their overall interest in the company.

Does an executive summary have keywords?

The executive summary uses keywords to help sell the idea of the business. As such, there may be enumeration, causation and contrasting words.

How do I write a business plan?

If you have business partners, make sure to collaborate with them to ensure that the plan accurately reflects the goals of all parties involved. You can use our simple business plan template to get started.

What basic items should be included in a business plan?

When writing out a business plan, you want to make sure that you cover everything related to your concept for the business,  an analysis of the industry―including potential customers and an overview of the market for your goods or services―how you plan to execute your vision for the business, how you plan to grow the business if it becomes successful and all financial data around the business, including current cash on hand, potential investors and budget plans for the next few years.

• Best LLC Services
• Best Registered Agent Services
• Best Trademark Registration Services
• Top LegalZoom Competitors
• Best Business Loans
• Best Business Plan Software
• ZenBusiness Review
• LegalZoom LLC Review
• Northwest Registered Agent Review
• Rocket Lawyer Review
• Inc. Authority Review
• Rocket Lawyer vs. LegalZoom
• Bizee Review (Formerly Incfile)
• Swyft Filings Review
• Harbor Compliance Review
• Sole Proprietorship vs. LLC
• LLC vs. Corporation
• LLC vs. S Corp
• LLP vs. LLC
• DBA vs. LLC
• LegalZoom vs. Incfile
• LegalZoom vs. ZenBusiness
• LegalZoom vs. Rocket Lawyer
• ZenBusiness vs. Incfile
• How To Start A Business
• How to Set Up an LLC
• How to Get a Business License
• LLC Operating Agreement Template
• 501(c)(3) Application Guide
• What is a Business License?
• What is an LLC?
• What is an S Corp?
• What is a C Corp?
• What is a DBA?
• What is a Sole Proprietorship?
• What is a Registered Agent?
• How to Dissolve an LLC
• How to File a DBA
• What Are Articles Of Incorporation?
• Types Of Business Ownership

Next Up In Business

• Best Online Legal Services
• How To Write A Business Plan
• Member-Managed LLC Vs. Manager-Managed LLC
• Starting An S-Corp
• LLC Vs. C Corp
• How Much Does It Cost To Start An LLC?

What Is SNMP? Simple Network Management Protocol Explained

What Is A Single-Member LLC? Definition, Pros And Cons

What Is Penetration Testing? Definition & Best Practices

What Is Network Access Control (NAC)?

What Is Network Segmentation?

How To Start A Business In Louisiana (2024 Guide)

Kimberlee Leonard has 22 years of experience as a freelance writer. Her work has been featured on US News and World Report, Business.com and Fit Small Business. She brings practical experience as a business owner and insurance agent to her role as a small business writer.

Cassie is a deputy editor collaborating with teams around the world while living in the beautiful hills of Kentucky. Focusing on bringing growth to small businesses, she is passionate about economic development and has held positions on the boards of directors of two non-profit organizations seeking to revitalize her former railroad town. Prior to joining the team at Forbes Advisor, Cassie was a content operations manager and copywriting manager.

• Search Search Please fill out this field.
• Building Your Business
• Becoming an Owner
• Business Plans

Executive Summary of the Business Plan

How to Write an Executive Summary That Gets Your Business Plan Read

Susan Ward wrote about small businesses for The Balance for 18 years. She has run an IT consulting firm and designed and presented courses on how to promote small businesses.

CP Cheah / Getty Images

An executive summary of a business plan is an overview. Its purpose is to summarize the key points of a document for its readers, saving them time and preparing them for the upcoming content.

Think of the executive summary as an advance organizer for the reader. Above all else, it must be clear and concise. But it also has to entice the reader to read the rest of the business plan.

This is why the executive summary is often called the most important part of the business plan. If it doesn’t capture the reader's attention, the plan will be set aside unread—a disaster if you've written your business plan as part of an attempt to get money to start your new business. (Getting startup money is not the only reason to write a business plan; there are other just-as-important reasons .)

Because it is an overview of the entire plan, it is common to write the executive summary last (and writing it last can make it much easier).

What Information Goes in an Executive Summary?

The information you need to include varies somewhat depending on whether your business is a startup or an established business.

For a startup business typically one of the main goals of the business plan is to convince banks, angel investors , or venture capitalists to invest in your business by providing startup capital in the form of debt or equity financing .

In order to do so you will have to provide a solid case for your business idea which makes your executive summary all the more important. A typical executive summary for a startup company includes the following sections:

• Business Opportunity: Describe the need or the opportunity.
• Taking Advantage of the Opportunity: Explain how your business will serve the market.
• Target Market : Describe the customer base you will be targeting.
• Business Model : Describe your products or services and what will make them appealing to the target market.
• Marketing and Sales Strategy : Briefly outline your plans for marketing your products and services.
• Competition: Describe your competition and your strategy for getting market share. What is your competitive advantage, e.g. what will you offer to customers that your competitors cannot?
• Financial Analysis: Summarize the financial plan including projections for at least the next three years.
• Owners/Staff: Describe the owners and the key staff members and the expertise they bring to the venture.
• Implementation P lan: Outline the schedule for taking your business from the planning stage to opening your doors.

For established businesses, the executive summary typically includes information about achievements, growth plans , etc. A typical executive summary outline for an established business includes:

• Mission Statement : Articulates the purpose of your business. In a few sentences describe what your company does and your core values and business philosophy.
• Company Information: Give a brief history of your company —describe your products or services, when and where it was formed, who the owners and key employees are, and statistics such as the number of employees, business locations, etc.
• Business Highlights: Describe the evolution of the business and how it has grown, including year-over-year revenue increases, profitability, increases in market share, number of customers, etc.
• Financial Summary: If the purpose of updating the business plan is to seek additional financing for expansion, then give a brief financial summary.
• Future Goals: Describe your goals for the business . If you are seeking financing explain how additional funding will be used to expand the business or otherwise increase profits.

How Do I Write an Executive Summary of a Business Plan?

Start by following the list above and writing one to two sentences about each topic (depending on whether your business is a startup or an established business). No more! 

The Easy Way of Writing One

Having trouble getting started? The easiest way of writing the executive summary is to review your business plan and take a summary sentence or two from each of the business plan sections you’ve already written.

If you compare the list above to the sections outlined in the  business plan outline , you’ll see that this could work very well.

Then finish your business plan’s executive summary with a clinching closing sentence or two that answers the reader’s question, “Why is this a winning business?”

For example, an executive summary for a pet-sitting business might conclude: “The loving on-site professional care that Pet Grandma will provide is sure to appeal to both cat and dog owners throughout the West Vancouver area.”

(You may find it useful to read the entire Pet Grandma  executive summary example  before you write your own.)

Tips for Writing the Business Plan’s Executive Summary

• Focus on providing a summary.  The business plan itself will provide the details and whether bank managers or investors, the readers of your plan don’t want to have their time wasted.
• Keep your language strong and positive.  Don’t weaken your executive summary with weak language. Instead of writing, “Dogstar Industries might be in an excellent position to win government contracts,” write “Dogstar Industries will be in an excellent position.”
• Keep it short–no more than two pages long . Resist the temptation to pad your business plan’s executive summary with details (or pleas). The job of the executive summary is to present the facts and entice your reader to read the rest of the business plan, not tell him everything.
• Polish your executive summary.  Read it aloud. Does it flow or does it sound choppy? Is it clear and succinct? Once it sounds good to you, have someone else who knows nothing about your business read it and make suggestions for improvement.
• Tailor it to your audience.  If the purpose of your business plan is to  entice investors , for instance, your executive summary should focus on the opportunity your business provides investors and why the opportunity is special. If the purpose of your business plan is to get a small business loan , focus on highlighting what traditional lenders want to see, such as management's experience in the industry and the fact that you have both collateral and strategies in place to minimize the lender's risk.
• Put yourself in your readers’ place. And read your executive summary again. Does it generate interest or excitement in the reader? If not, why? Also try giving it to a friend or relative to read, who is not engaged in the business. If you've done a good job on the executive summary, an impartial third party should be able to understand it.

Remember, the executive summary will be the first thing your readers read. If it's poorly written, it will also be the last thing they read, as they set the rest of your business plan aside unread.

Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. " Business Plan Guidelines ," Page 2.

Corporate Finance Institute. " Executive Summary ."

Iowa State University. " Types and Sources of Financing for Start-up Businesses ."

U.S. Small Business Administration. " Write Your Business Plan ."

Clute Institute. " Using Business Plans for Teaching Entrepreneurship ," Page 733.

What is Chegg? Our Complete Review

What is Chegg?

Based in Santa Clara, California, Chegg is a disruptive education technology company that offers textbook rentals (digital and physical), textbooks, and a plethora of online student services. Chegg’s student services include online tutoring, online homework assistance, and scholarship and internship search engines.

Chegg’s slogan, “A Smarter Way to Student”, shows the breadth of the student services they offer. In practice, many college students also use Chegg to complete homework assignments, papers, quizzes and exams.

According to the company’s mission statement, “We support students on their journey from high school to college and into their career with tools designed to help them learn their course materials, succeed in their classes, save money on required materials, and learn the most in-demand skills.”

We’ll dive further into these specific services, but first let’s take a look at Chegg’s history and development as a company. 

It all began in 2000, when three Iowa State students got together and launched Cheggpost, a service similar to Craigslist for Iowa State students.

The name Chegg is a combination of chicken and egg. According to this New York Times article , the students were frustrated that you couldn’t get a job without experience, and couldn’t get experience out of a job.

Five years later, the company incorporated with humble beginnings, providing similar services to education blogs today, including:

• Scholarship searches
• Internship matching
• College admissions advice

It wasn’t until 2007 that Chegg took a page out of the Netflix book and centered all their efforts on renting out textbooks to college students. This turned out to be a great plan, as many college students only use their textbooks during the course anyway.

Expanding to the national stage, Chegg went public in 2013, and continued to grow through partnerships with college textbook giants such as Pearson and Ingram Content Group. Most recently, Chegg partnered with Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab (OWL), home to some of the best free college writing resources online.

Chegg has also bought quite a few companies, which helps explain how the education technology powerhouse has grown and evolved over the past decade.

Chegg History and Growth

Seeing what companies Chegg has bought gives a clearer picture of the services they offer today. By our counting, Chegg has acquired at least 9 other companies to expand their business areas throughout the past few years, including:

• Zinch, a website offering scholarship searches and college recruiting
• Cramster, an online company helping students with homework and exam prep
• Notehall, a company that sold course notes
• 3D3R, a software company acquired to launch multiple Chegg digital initiatives
• InstaEDU, another (larger) online tutoring company
• Internships.com, a website focused on (you guessed it) connecting students with internships
• Imagine Easy Solutions, a company helping students with research and bibliographies
• WriteLab, an artificial intelligence tool similar to Grammarly
• StudyBlue, an flash card software company
• ThinkFul, an online platform with courses in computer science

As you can see, Chegg’s services have expanded to include online tutoring, scholarship and internship search engines and resources, college writing resources such as bibliography tools, online flash cards. With the acquisition of ThinkFul, we may even see Chegg branch out into providing its own standalone educational tracks.

What Services Does Chegg Offer?

Chegg offers digital textbook rentals, physical textbook rentals, textbook purchases, and a host of online student services. These online services encompass almost everything you can think of that would help a college student with their studies:

• Chegg Study: Answers to textbook questions and an expert question-and-answer service
• Chegg Math Solver: A graphic calculator and step-by-step math solutions so you can understand both the answer and the process to get there
• Chegg Writing: This service check for grammar and plagiarism, and also assists students with citations for papers
• Chegg Practice: Practice exams for a wide variety of study areas, with detailed step-by-step explanations of each answer so that you can review

We’ll dive further into these services individually, but first let’s discuss how they provide such high-quality and on-demand answers to a vast number of college students.

How Does Chegg Work?

Chegg works by harnessing the most modern educational technology to help students with a broad variety of needs, from renting textbooks to writing papers to doing homework to finding internships. If there’s something students need, there’s a good chance Chegg has a service to meet that need.

In terms of how they provide the specific services, eTextbook rentals are available through the website. If you rent a physical textbook, you’ll sign in to your online Chegg account, print your prepaid UPS return label, put the books in a box, and drop it off at UPS.

Chegg’s online services are all accessed by creating an online student account. Once you have an account, you can enroll in one or multiple services, or get a bundle such as the Chegg Study Pack.

How does Chegg get answers for students? According to a scouring Forbes piece which we’ll reference again later, Chegg “employs more than 70,000 experts with advanced math, science, technology and engineering degrees” in India, who are available around the clock to answer subscriber questions.

How to Rent Textbooks on Chegg

As we cover Chegg’s multitude of services, we’ll start with their roots in textbook rental. To rent digital or physical textbooks on Chegg, simply visit their website, put the name of your desired textbook into the search box, add the book to your cart, click checkout , create an account as prompted, and complete your online purchase.

As this is a rental, you must create a Chegg account to rent a book. When it’s time to return your book, you’ll need to log back into your online Chegg account, print out the UPS return label, and drop your book or books off at a UPS location near you.

The process is much the same for online rentals, and your Chegg account login will allow you to access your eTextbooks with your devices. 

Textbook rental, sales, and purchases were the services that launched Chegg’s success, so it’s no surprise that the process is fully optimized for a smooth and user-friendly interaction.

What is Chegg Study?

Chegg Study is a subscription service providing online homework help for students. Chegg Study provides step-by-step answers to questions found in textbooks, and also allows subscribers to submit their own questions to experts. These experts provide detailed answers within 15 minutes to 24 hours.

Chegg Study is at the core of Chegg’s success and it’s controversy over the past years, as we’ll get to in the later sections on cheating accusations. While Chegg Study can be used simply to understand the problems, its use to answer homework questions is against many colleges’ codes of conduct.

The Covid-19 pandemic only exacerbated the drama, as students taking quizzes and exams online have also been able to access Chegg Study answers, making a marked improvement in their grades. 

We’ll cover this drama more in a later section, but we wanted to mention this debate now because it shows something: Chegg Study is incredibly effective. If the Chegg study answers weren’t comprehensive, fast, and accurate, then universities wouldn’t be up in arms about its use.

We’re not commenting either way on the ethics yet, just the quality, and Chegg Study offers incredible quality. With a vast database of textbook answers, answers to other students’ questions, and quick answers to new questions, Chegg Study is disrupting the entire landscape of higher education.

Let’s check out a couple of quotes from a Reddit thread before we move on. According to u/pzezson, Chegg is “100% worth it” because they have answers to almost every textbook question out there, as well as answers for specific assignments.

Reddit user u/Fishskull3 shares an answer for those in more technical majors. “Personally in an engineering discipline it’s extremely helpful because it can walk through how to solve very difficult [homework] problems and class problems, and often help you see first hand how to use concepts you don’t fully understand. If you’re also in a class where a professor always gives more hw than necessary it can really save you a lot of time if you don’t need to solve every single problem to ‘get it’.”

Fishskull3 goes on to argue against Chegg Study’s detractors, noting that Chegg Study is “an excellent tool and most people that think that it is a crutch, or not worth it, either don’t have many difficult classes or lack the self discipline to not just mindlessly copy every single [homework] problem down without ever looking back, then curse it for ruining their grade.”

Chegg Study is at the core of Chegg’s growing revenue and growing controversy. When people discuss Chegg or “chegging”, they’re most commonly referring to the answers on Chegg Study.

What is Chegg Math Solver?

Chegg Math Solver is much more than a powerful graphing calculator. The Math Solver can take you photo and spit out the math equation within seconds, showing you how each step was completed!

According to Chegg, the free version of the Math Solver (limited to three problems per day) gives you the solution and a basic explanation. The paid version includes unlimited problems, detailed explanations with sub-steps for each problem, and a graphic calculator.

The Math Solver is capable of handling almost any math problem, including those found in:

• Pre Algebra including powers, roots, and linear equations
• Algebra including polynomials, quadratic expressions, and quadratic equations
• Pre Calculus including matrixes and logarithmic functions
• Calculus including general and fundamental derivatives
• Linear Algebra including determinants, matrix operations, and eigenvalues

While Chegg Math Solver has seen some level of success, it’s still definitely a background player compared to the comprehensive and personal answers found on Chegg Study.

What is Chegg Writing?

Chegg Writing is an advanced AI software to proofread, improve grammar, scan for plagiarism, and create instant citations. Chegg Writing also includes a person expert review of your paper.

The Chegg website boasts that this AI has put in some serious work with:

• 7+ million assignments checked
• 4+ million plagiarism scans
• 15+ million grammar errors caught
• 1.7 billion citations generated

If you haven’t heard of Chegg Writing, then Grammarly is the best comparison, and the two services compete for subscriptions.

Chegg Writing’s plagiarism checker is arguably the most advanced on the market. If Chegg finds plagiarism in your paper, it will help you to either remove it or to cite the source accurately.

Chegg Writing’s plagiarism checker is actually quite similar to Turnitin, which is used by many universities to check papers for plagiarism. You guessed it, this similarity between Chegg Writing and Turnitin has also led to more drama and cheating accusations, as Chegg allows students to see whether their paper will likely be flagged by the university’s software or not. Whew!

If you do ask for an expert review of your paper, Chegg will get back with your review within 24 hours.

While Chegg lacks some of Grammarly’s most impressive features such as its tonality check, it’s still more than capable for college coursework. Being specifically designed for college students, it ticks all the right boxes. Perhaps too many boxes, according to the plagiarism whistleblowers. 

What is the Chegg Study Pack?

The Chegg Study Pack is a subscription that bundles Chegg’s core student services: Chegg Study, Chegg Math Solver, and Chegg Writing. These resources include homework solutions, video walkthroughs, expert Q&A, plagiarism and grammar checks, practice sets, and the Chegg Math Solver.

The study bundle claims to enable students to “learn anything, anytime”. The Chegg website describes it this way: 

“From core classes to tough upper levels, Chegg Study Pack has tools to help you crush the class. Get a better understanding of complex problems, so you can finish homework faster and get better grades.”

In essence, the Chegg Study Pack just gives you access to all of their core online student success resources for a discounted monthly subscription.

How Much Does Chegg Cost? Is Chegg Free?

Unfortunately no, Chegg is not free. However, Chegg does offer 5 free Chegg Practice questions per month, 3 Chegg Math Solver solutions per day, and a 3-day trial of Chegg Writing.

For their core online offerings, Chegg charges by monthly subscription fees. These core offerings are Chegg Study, Chegg Math Solver, and Chegg Writing. You can also bundle these services to save money with the Chegg Study Pack.

If you subscribe to these services individually, the prices are:

• $14.95 a month for Chegg Study
• $9.95 a month for Chegg Math Solver
• $9.95 a month for Chegg Writing

The bundled price is thankfully much lower, coming in at $19.95 a month for the Chegg Study Pack.

There’s no way to buy these services outright, so you’re stuck with the monthly bill, unless you’re one of those nefarious students looking to unblur Chegg answers (we’ll cover that later).

What is Chegg Uversity?

According to the official press release on BusinessWire in June of 2021, Uversity is “a platform for educators and faculty to share their education content with millions of learners on Chegg to help support their studies and enhance learner outcomes. The content will augment and enhance Chegg’s existing Chegg Study service that already contains 59 million step-by-step solutions.”

In short, Uversity will allow for professors to share videos and other more in-depth content students, rather than the straightforward question-and-answer format that is available now.

How will this work practically? The news release states that, “Educators will be compensated for their content contributions and will retain ownership of their intellectual property rights and give Chegg certain limited exclusive licenses.”

From this it sounds like professors will still be able to create content for their universities and other platforms, but will get paid to give Chegg exclusive access to their video and related course content.

To see how professors feel about this, we checked in on r/Professors, where the profs weighed in on the press release.

“In the long term, what such companies want is to set up a parallel education economy where obtaining degrees will not be possible without using their services,” said a skeptical u/seidenkaufman.

Others were less gentle. “PAY ME, Chegg, and maybe I’ll give you some old (vulgarity)”, wrote salty professor u/larry_birb. 

User OphidiaSnaketongue concurred, saying, “I would rather eat live worms than support those parasites.” Okay, so there’s no live lost between Chegg and the professors apparently. Let’s move on.

It’s unclear whether this will be part of Chegg’s subscription offerings, or more similar to the massive open online course (MOOC) providers such as Coursera and edX.

For now, Uversity remains in the preparation stage, as Chegg recruits faculty to create content for its new service. We’ll have to wait and see how it shakes out for students!

How Many Devices Does Chegg Allow?

You may only use two devices, and you can only swap to a new device once every 30 days.

According to Reddit user u/ginginpowpow , “Chegg is very anal about keeping track of how many devices are being used for one account. [I’m] constantly asked to change my password because I log in on library computers and it doesn’t recognize them as the same device.”

As you can guess, this two-device limit is intended to prevent students from sharing Chegg membership logins with their friends, so be prepared for strict enforcement of the two-device policy.

It sounds like asking users to change their password is another method to prevent the sharing of Chegg accounts.

Is Chegg a Legit Site?

Chegg is a legit site in terms of being a reputable, publicly-owned American company which offers proven resources. Chegg is less than legit in that you wouldn’t want any professor to know that you use Chegg, and it will be considered cheating by the vast majority of faculty and universities, even if you personally don’t use it to cheat.

The word legit can have a range of connotations, so the answer is either a strong yes or a strong no depending on your perspective. On the one hand, Chegg is never going to steal your credit card information and sell it on the dark web. They’re a huge public company based in California, and as such have a high level of accountability.

Chegg has a strong interest in protecting their excellent reputation with college students, so their customer service and products will remain top-notch.

With all that said, some detractors claim that Chegg’s subscription services are actually illegal in many America states, which we’ll get to later. It’s also undeniable that many Chegg subscribers use the services to cheat.

Is Chegg Cheating?

Yes, Chegg is cheating. Using Chegg Study to answer homework questions, quiz questions, or exam questions is almost universally considered to be cheating. Universities and faculty frown heavily on student Chegg usage, and may discipline students for breaking the university code of conduct. 

It is possible to use Chegg for personal use outside of coursework, which is not cheating.

The Forbes piece we mentioned earlier interviewed 52 students who use Chegg, and apart from the students Chegg had provided for the interviews, all but four students admitted they use Chegg Study to cheat.

These students cited a variety of reasons for using Chegg to cheat, like struggling to get through homework at midnight, or simply not knowing how to solve a quiz problem.

Also, there’s always that wise guy who asks if renting Chegg textbooks is cheating. Don’t be that guy. We’re not even going to answer.

Do Professors Check Chegg?

Yes, many professors check Chegg, though not all do. Professors can check Chegg by Googling the problem, as Chegg answers may have slight variations from other correct answers. Professors may also notice when students ace homework but fail tests.

To illustrate, let’s recap a story that u/Mwxh shared on the ProRevenge subreddit. Mwxh had an engineering course with an older prof who didn’t seem too technologically savvy.

An upstanding student, Mwxh felt irritated that half of his classmates had to use the bathroom “for totally unknown reasons” during his engineering final. 

Still, Mwxh did fine on the exam except for one question that totally stumped him. Later, professor sent out an email “explaining his diabolical plan to catch cheaters”.

The professor had designed a question that was impossible to solve and gotten his TA to post the question on Chegg. The professor then created his own Chegg account and submitted a flawed answer for that question!

About a dozen students had submitted this flawed answer. The professor emailed the names of the 14 cheaters to all the department professors, gave them all a 0 on the exam, and reported them for breaking the university’s academic honor pledge.

As this example shows, at least some professors do check Chegg, and there are several ways they can find that students are using Chegg to cheat:

• One obvious sign is when students ace the homework but fail quizzes or exams.
• In more technical majors, using advanced procedures that haven’t been taught in the class can be a giveaway, especially if students can’t replicate or explain that work themselves.
• If the problem-solving method or notation is significantly different than what is taught in class, professors may wonder where students learned this and investigate further.
• Finally, if many students submit answers phrased the same way, it’s easy for professors to plug those answers into Google and find Chegg showing up as the top result.

Does Chegg Notify Your School?

According to Chegg’s strict privacy policy, they will not release student information on used their service or viewed a particular page. However, Chegg may be allowed to give student information to a college as part of an official academic dishonesty investigation.

So no, Chegg isn’t composing thousands of emails ratting out students to their colleges. If a student is already under suspicion or investigation however, it’s very possible that Chegg would divulge some level of information to a college or university.

When considering this question, it’s helpful to think of Chegg’s interests. On the one hand, they would be shooting their own foot as a business by telling colleges about cheating students. This would lead to their entire business collapsing, leaving them only with the textbook rentals (which bring in much lower revenue).

However, Chegg also doesn’t want to be openly antagonistic to governments or universities, as  these institutions also have great power to bring Chegg down if they choose to try. As such, it shouldn’t be surprising that Chegg might cooperate with colleges when cases of extreme cheating are under investigation.

It’s also unclear how Chegg would respond to individual professors who reach out to see if their students have signed up for Chegg. Especially if the professor just wants to confirm that a couple students are using Chegg, there’s a significant chance that Chegg would provide that information.

Some professors have reported that Chegg gave them information such as IP addresses, which show compliance and goodwill while still making it awfully difficult for professors to act on the information. 

It’s frustrating not to have more hard facts on how and when Chegg would answer queries from universities, but a rule of thumb is to expect that they would cooperate with colleges regarding any students suspected of cheating.

A final note is that student to specifically submit questions are in more danger, as there are reports of Chegg providing the username or IP address of the account that requested a specific solution.

Again, we don’t have hard evidence either way, but that’s our best read on the situation.

How Can I Get Chegg Answers for Free?

To get Chegg answers for free, some students have employed dubious methods which generally fall into two categories. The first is to join a community where people share Chegg answers with others, and the second is to use technical skills to unblur Chegg answers.

For example, there are multiple Discord servers whose sole purpose is to provide their members with free Chegg answers, even using bots to automate and speed up the process. 

The CheggAnswers Reddit forum is another of these community sharing options that students use to view Chegg answers for free.

When you think about it, it’s kind of ironic really. The same students using Chegg to cheat in college also want to cheat Chegg out of the monthly subscription fee. Chegg could have seen this coming, you know?

Still, with their revenue continuing to skyrocket because of these services, Chegg seems to be doing just fine for themselves. 

Obviously, they’ll continue to work on new methods to crack down on unofficial distribution of Chegg answers, so that more students are forced to pay for the monthly subscription.

Finally, there’s also the temporary ethical solution of just using Chegg’s free four-week trial of Chegg Study.

Does Chegg Have Coupons?

Chegg does offer coupons from time to time. For example, RetailMeNot has a $5 off offer for the first month of Chegg Study or Chegg Study Pack.

A much better offer is Chegg’s four-week free trial, but this promotion isn’t available all the time either. Unfortunately, most students aren’t going to save much money with Chegg coupons.

How Can You Unblur Chegg Questions?

To unblur Chegg questions, some students have found technical workarounds to view blurred answers. These involve variations of using “Inspect Element” in a web browser, then mousing over the blur effect and deleting the blur’s <div> tag.

A Quora answer from Azlan Ahmad Salmini outlines the process in three steps:

• Right-click on page in your web browser and click “Inspect Element”
• When a list appears, move your cursor over each item until the blur effect is highlighted.
• Place the cursor there on the pop-up box and delete that one <div> tag, then the pop-up box will disappear and you can view the content.

Again, this is a case of students cheating Chegg out of subscriptions in order to cheat in college, so the irony is strong.

Chegg obviously doesn’t want students to unblur questions—they want students to pay for their services. It’s highly likely that future tech changes from Chegg’s side will make it impossible to unblur questions.

Sharing methods, on the other hand, may prove much more difficult for Chegg to control, but there will always be plenty of students willing to pay for the convenience of using Chegg’s services directly, and these workarounds obviously don’t provide a comparable experience.

Obviously, we should mention that these methods are also unethical, just like cheating at college. When it comes to Chegg, there’s just a lot of unethicality going around!

Is Chegg Illegal?

Citron Research claims that Chegg is illegal in 17 states. These state laws forbid companies from making a profit distributing college answers with “reasonable knowledge” that the users will submit these answers for academic credit.

Before we go further, we should mention that we aren’t lawyers and this is certainly not legal advice, just an interesting theoretical question.

While Citron Research makes a compelling case that Chegg Study should be illegal in some states, we don’t know of any lawsuits that states or universities have brought against Chegg. Chegg would seemingly have a good chance to successfully defend themselves in a lawsuit as well.

The state laws use different phrasing, but Chegg doesn’t have reasonable knowledge that any specific user is cheating with Chegg Study, and Chegg seems to comply to a large extent with university misconduct investigations (and even provides some assistance to individual professors).

While states may be able to prove that Chegg knows some users are using Chegg to cheat, Chegg could provide an almost endless list of services that some students are cheating with.

Whether or not Chegg Study services are illegal in some states, Chegg does continue to operate without hindrance in the entire United States.

A more dangerous scenario for Chegg is a lawsuit from their former partners at Pearson Education. Pearson claims that Chegg has violated Pearson copyrights in a massive fashion by providing answers and explanations to problems in Pearson workbooks.

This sort of lawsuit would impact Chegg’s future in all 50 states, and seems to have much more potential danger for Chegg as a company.

Is it illegal for students to use Chegg? According to Lutins and Pilgreen Law , cheating in college is sometimes a crime:

“For example, if you cheat by bribing a professor with money or something else they want, then that could be a punishable offense. Cheating on an SAT or ACT test and applying to a college could lead to accusations of fraud.”

The authors do note that “the average student isn’t cheating in a way that is going to result in criminal prosecution”. Criminal charges are much more likely to arise in situations that involve a large number of students cheating that impacts the entire school. 

Defrauding and bribery are two other types of college cheating that can lead to criminal charges.

In general, students cheating with Chegg are much more likely to be warned, suspended, or expelled for breaking their university’s student honor code. 

While these repercussions aren’t criminal charges or necessarily illegal, they can still have a dramatic negative impact on students’ lives.

Even if it isn’t illegal for students to use Chegg Study to cheat in college, there can still be very serious outcomes for students.

How to Cancel Chegg Study?

To cancel Chegg Study, simply log in to your account on Chegg’s website and follow this link . You can also search for “cancel Chegg Study” into your search engine and follow the directions on Chegg’s website.

Chegg Study subscriptions through iTunes and Google Play have slightly different cancellation links, but don’t worry. If you can’t figure out how to cancel your account, Chegg does have solid customer support.

Chegg even has taken the unusual step of having an actual phone number to call support. The Chegg support line is 855-477-0177.

Can you delete Chegg accounts?

Yes, you can delete your Chegg account. Before you can delete your account, you must return all rented textbooks (digital or physical), and cancel all of your active subscriptions.

From there, you can follow Chegg’s instructions here to request complete deletion of your user account data.

With Chegg’s reputation among professors, some students want to delete their Chegg accounts entirely. It’s doubtful that this would have any impact on a potential academic investigation, or on what information Chegg might hand over to a university.

Of course, there are others who simply used Chegg for textbook rentals and want to delete their accounts.

Who Owns Chegg?

Initial founders and stakeholders include Josh Carlson, Mike Seager, Mark Fiddleke, Aayush Phumbhra, and Osman Rashid. Today, Chegg is owned by public stakeholders, including Chegg CEO Dan Rosensweig, who owns a significant amount of shares.

As a publicly traded company, you can own a slice of Chegg too! In fact, Chegg stock holders have been rising quite a wave as Chegg’s stock price has risen dramatically in the Covid-19 pandemic era.

As we mentioned before, this rise has been met with sharp criticism from some, as remote quizzes and testing have made it harder for institutions to prevent cheating.

Are there more Websites like Chegg?

Yes, there are more websites like Chegg with online question solving services. Chegg competitors include Course Hero, Crazy for Study, SolutionInn, StudentShare, Transtutors, and Quizlet.

These Chegg competitors each have their unique spin related to online answer services, with various differences in offerings and price.

Here’s a quick rundown:

1. Course Hero

Course Hero is one of Chegg’s best known competitors, offering on-demand homework help and textbook solutions.

With the slogan, “Make every study hour count”, Course Hero has created 60 million study materials, divided into their courses. 

Like most Chegg competitors, Course Hero also emphasizes the in-depth nature of their textbook solutions and explanations.

Course Hero also offers Homework Help services that are available 24 hours a day, with answers in as little as 15 minutes.

Course Hero’s free plan is more extensive than Chegg’s, and they also offer a similar premium subscription model.

2. Crazy for Study

Based in Delaware, Crazy for Study offers two core services: homework help and textbook solutions. 

The textbook solutions include “step-by-step textbook solutions by our PhD experts”, and Crazy for Study claims to have answered millions of textbook problems.

For their assignment help, Crazy for Study entreats students to “Get the best assignment assistance by our PhD experts. Our experts customize the answers to meet your professor’s expectations. Get plagiarism-free assignment solutions 24×7.”

3. SolutionInn

SolutionInn is a Chegg alternative where you can hire online tutors for homework help. Their three core offerings are:

• Textbook Solutions
• Expert Q&A
• Live Tutor Sessions

The live tutor sessions set SolutionInn apart, but the textbook solutions and expert question and answer services are in direct competition with Chegg’s services.

4. StudentShare

While some of Chegg’s other competitors seem almost like Chegg clones, StudentShare is more specialized, and more shady. 

StudentShare allows students to download papers “for inspiration” for as low as 23 cents a day. Students can search by topic to find a paper on the subject.

For as low as $9.78 a page, StudentShare will have someone “eliminate plagiarism from the essay”. It sounds as though a human will take the downloaded paper and write it in their own words. As we said, it sounds pretty shady.

Or, you can pay as low as $13.60 per page to just write your essay from scratch.

With slightly different services, StudentShare isn’t as direct of a Chegg competitor.

5. Transtutors

Transtutors doesn’t seem to have joined the textbook solution game, but they do have a question and answer service as well as online tutoring. 

The Transtutors slogan reads, “Get Answers. Get Unstuck. Study Faster.” With a database of over four million questions and answers spanning 10 subjects, you can find a lot of questions already answered on Transtutors.

Their 24/7 tutor service is a similar service to SolutionInn’s live tutors, while the question and answer section is a direct Chegg competitor.

Quizlet is another Chegg competitor with textbook solutions on a wide variety of subjects. With thousands of textbooks in their database, they offer trusted step-by-step answers to all of these textbook problems.

Quizlet allows you to browse by subject or search to find your textbook. Once you find the question you’re looking for, you can reveal the answer explanation bit by bit, so that you can work along with the problem.

Quizlet’s advanced flashcard technology and database is another strength of their offering.

Chegg is a disruptive leader in the EdTech industry which has grown explosively in the pandemic era. The increased revenue has come with increased controversy, and it’s hard to deny that many students do use Chegg to cheat in college.

We’ll be curious to see where Chegg moves from here, as their new Uversity initiative seems to seek a new status quo in higher education.

Massive open online course providers like Coursera and edX have blazed a trail here, but both are beholden to universities (whom they partner with).

On the other hand, Uversity aims to partner with individual professors, meaning the learning platform might aim to replace the traditional college experience entirely. Chegg CEO Dan Rosensweig was quoted by Forbes as saying, “I don’t know why you can’t binge-watch your education.”

With their Chegg Study model in danger from the Pearson lawsuit, we’ll see if Chegg pivots to the more reputable strategy of replacing colleges entirely.

For now, Chegg will keep dishing out solutions to thousands of college students and raking in the dough.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this comprehensive review of Chegg and Chegg’s services! For more of the latest news and reviews in college, you can check out our latest blog articles here .

Share this post:

Privacy overview.