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How to Fund Your Business Idea

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Few things are more exciting than coming up with a business idea you believe in. But bringing that idea to life typically requires an investment — and funding a business can be tricky for entrepreneurs without a financial history or fully developed product.

A traditional small-business loan often won’t be possible until your business has been up and running for a few months, at least. Still, you can turn to other sources to invest in your idea while you get your business off the ground, including friends, family, professional investors, startup grants and your own bank account.

Here’s how to decide which funding options make sense for you.

How much do you need?

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We’ll start with a brief questionnaire to better understand the unique needs of your business.

Once we uncover your personalized matches, our team will consult you on the process moving forward.

Types of business funding

In general, there are two types of business funding:

Zero-debt financing: You use savings or give someone something nonmonetary in exchange for an investment, like equity in your company or a custom piece of merchandise.

Debt financing: You borrow money and promise to pay it back with interest, regardless of how successful your business becomes.

At the idea stage, zero-debt options are typically the better choice, especially if you have limited business experience, and you want to avoid taking on debt that you may not be able to handle.

Debt financing may make sense once you have a detailed business plan that includes market research, a competitor analysis, financial projections and an explanation of how you’ll earn enough revenue to pay back the amount borrowed.

» MORE: Debt vs. equity financing: Which is right for you?

Ways to fund your business without taking on debt

When starting a business, your idea may be your most important asset. If you can convince others of the value of your business idea, they might be willing to invest in it without requiring you to pay them back.

Startup grants can be a source of free money for getting your business off the ground, but securing the award is not easy. Applying for funding often requires time and effort, but it can be worth it with grant amounts ranging from $1,000 to $25,000 or more.

You’ll want to check the eligibility requirement before applying, start preparing your grant application early and follow the instructions provided. You may be asked about your plan for your business, details about your market and competitors and how you would use the funds.

There are federal, state and private grants for small businesses as well as those designed for underserved groups and communities such as business grants for women , grants for minority entrepreneurs and grants for veterans .

Equity financing, including angel investment and venture capital

Equity financing gives individuals or firms a share of ownership in your business in exchange for the capital they provide to you.

Angel investing and venture capital are probably the two best-known methods of equity financing for startups. Angel investing is generally easier for aspiring entrepreneurs to secure — angel investors tend to be wealthy individuals, not investment firms, who focus on smaller investments. Venture capital firms, on the other hand, seek to invest in fast-growing startups that have the potential to be lucrative businesses.

With any type of investor, make sure to spell out the terms of the investment agreement in writing so all parties know what to expect and when.

Every investor will look for slightly different qualifications from the businesses they invest in. But like any other form of financing, you’ll probably need to demonstrate that your business plan is viable, your product or service fulfills a need in the market and your team can deliver on the idea.

You may be able to connect with angel investors and venture capitalists through your local business incubator or startup accelerator. An online search for your city or region and "business incubator" should lead you to any such organizations in your region.

Self-funding

Entrepreneurs often have to dip into their own pockets to get started. Doing so can help you avoid giving up control of your business to investors or paying interest on debts. On the other hand, if your business fails , you’ll lose your investment.

There are a variety of ways to self-fund your business, including tapping your retirement savings with a Rollover as Business Start-up or ROBS . Or, if you’re working a traditional full- or part-time job and starting a side hustle, consider remaining in your job as long as you can to maintain your personal financial security. Also, writing a business plan can help you come up with a strategy for growing your business to the point that it can support you.

Friends and family

Asking friends and family for a loan to start your business is a tried-and-true strategy for securing business funding. But mixing money and family matters can be complicated.

To preserve your relationships, treat your loved ones like any other investor. Share your business plan, answer their questions and be transparent about the risks. If they choose to invest in your idea, put your agreement in writing so everyone is on the same page. And if they choose not to, don’t take it personally — they need to look out for their own finances, too.

» MORE: Should you invest in a friend’s business?

Crowdfunding

If your business idea is developed enough to have garnered a dedicated audience — for instance, if you’re a home baker seeking to expand into a storefront or an artist who wants to make a certain piece of work — crowdfunding might be an option for you.

In general, there are three types of crowdfunding:

Rewards-based crowdfunding : Supporters donate to your business and receive a non-financial reward — like a piece of merchandise or exclusive access to an event — in return. Kickstarter and Indiegogo are platforms that support rewards-based crowdfunding.

Equity crowdfunding : Supporters receive equity in your company in anticipation of future returns. Wefunder is a platform that supports these kinds of campaigns, though investors may look for more established businesses.

Debt-based crowdfunding: Supporters essentially give you a loan, which you pay back on a prescribed schedule with interest or another kind of fee. Honeycomb Credit is one platform that offers these kinds of deals; although again, investors might lean toward more established businesses.

Debt-based financing options for your business idea

If you have a clear vision for your product or service, your business model and your market, taking on some debt can help accelerate your growth. You can generally spend debt-based financing as you see fit. However, make sure you’re prepared to pay it back on your lender’s schedule — because you may face late fees, liens or a lower credit score if you don’t.

Business credit cards

Depending on how much startup funding you need, a business credit card may provide enough financing to get your business up and running. Your credit limit will depend on the card issuer’s assessment of your creditworthiness. A card with a limit of several thousand dollars might be enough to create a product prototype or cover your business expenses while you secure your first few clients.

You can typically qualify for a business credit card if you have good or excellent credit (a FICO score of at least 690) and know your business structure; choosing a sole proprietorship works if you don’t have a formal structure yet.

Some business credit cards offer an introductory period with 0% APR, which allows you to carry a balance on the card for several months without accruing interest. Once the introductory period is over, the APR can be very high — above 20% in some cases. Make sure you have a plan to generate enough revenue to make those payments when the bill comes due.

» MORE: Business credit cards vs. business loans

The U.S. Small Business Administration offers SBA microloans of up to $50,000 to all kinds of businesses, including startups. The program is designed for businesses traditionally underserved by lenders, which can make microloans easier to qualify for than other types of business loans.

Lots of nonprofit microlenders also make small loans to startup businesses. Like SBA microlenders, these mission-driven organizations often have less stringent application requirements than banks or online lenders.

Personal loans

You can use a personal loan for pretty much anything you need capital for, including your business. Since you are personally responsible for the debt, lenders only consider your personal financials and credit history on your application.

That personal responsibility can be a double-edged sword, though. If you default on a personal loan, your own assets could be seized. It can also be risky to commingle your personal and business finances.

In general, personal loans for businesses are similar in size to microloans: You may be able to borrow up to $50,000. However, APRs can vary widely — from as low as 5% to as much as 35%.

Funding your business’s growth

After a year or two in business, you’ll have access to some larger financing options that can help your business expand.

Business loans

Small-business term loans aren’t usually a good fit for startups, but they can help your business expand once it’s established. In general, you’ll need at least two years in business to qualify for the lowest interest rates and most favorable terms from banks, along with good personal credit and collateral.

Some online business loans have less stringent requirements, but typically still require at least a year in business.

Business lines of credit

Business lines of credit are similar to business credit cards. A line of credit gives you access to a set amount of funding, and you can spend as needed up to the limit. Once you repay what you withdraw, you can borrow funds up to your credit limit again.

If you work with an online lender, you may be able to qualify for a business line of credit with as little as six months in business.

» MORE: Best business loans for the self-employed and sole proprietors

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• Small Business

How to Maximize Your Business Plan to Secure Funding

Updated Aug. 5, 2022 - First published on May 18, 2022

By: Jennifer Post

Writing a business plan for your small business should be one of the first steps you take when a business idea pops into your head. This is how you’ll discover whether your idea can actually be a profitable business. Lenders will want to know the business you plan on starting will make enough money for you to be able to pay back a loan or other forms of investment.

Why is having a business plan important to get funding?

Investors want to invest in a business projected to be profitable within a certain amount of time, has a marketing strategy ready to go, and will exist in a receptive market. All of that information is provided in a business plan. Here are a few reasons why having a business plan is crucial to get funding.

Credibility

Before anyone invests money in your business, lenders will want to know you have a concrete, detailed plan for paying the loan back. Provide information such as:

• Market value of your product or service
• Projected sales in the first year against projected expenses
• Projected profit during your first five years in business

Going through the process of putting all of this together is just another aspect of your credibility as a future business owner, no matter how much money you’re asking for.

Why a Business Credit Card Could Transform Your Small Business

These business credit cards that offer a convenient and efficient way to separate personal and business expenses, simplifying accounting and tax reporting.

Additionally, business cards can provide valuable perks such as rewards points, cashback, and expense tracking tools, enhancing financial management and the potential to help save money in the long run.

You don’t want to earn the reputation of being an ill-prepared entrepreneur. If you take your business idea seriously, show it.

Business need

Just because you’ve thought of a business idea and have outlined every aspect of it doesn’t mean investors and banks will feel the same way. Banks mostly care about whether or not you can pay back a loan, while investors tend to back businesses they connect with.

The need for your business is much more important than it might seem. In order to pay back a loan, your business needs to be profitable. In order for that to happen, you need customers. To get customers, you have to offer something they can’t get anywhere else, whether that’s a product, a service, or an experience.

What should you include in your business plan for funding?

Be detailed and thorough in every idea you present since you’ll most likely have to explain yourself and your business idea. Here’s what should be included in your business plan if you’re seeking funding.

1. Details about your business and company as a whole

It’s important to think about how you plan on setting up your business -- and for more than one reason. Some things to consider:

• Will you be a sole proprietor?
• Do you have a business partner?
• LLC vs. incorporation?

Business structure also matters for paying back a loan. If your business is unable to pay back a loan, the legal structure can be the difference between you having to pay it back somehow (with your home or other assets) or splitting the remaining balance among shareholders or partners.

2. Target market

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, your business can’t make money without customers. Take your business idea and research different locations to find your customers, and ask yourself a few questions:

• Are there a lot of other businesses like yours already out there?
• Are those businesses doing well?
• Is there a gap in what they offer?

You could also pick your target audience first. Let’s say you want young adults between the ages of 25 and 40 to be your main customers. You need to find where those people are and ask the questions noted above. Either way, those questions need to be answered and in a lot of detail.

3. How you plan to make money

This is so much more than just saying, “by selling a lot of product,” or “having a long list of clients.” Anyone can say that. Ask yourself a few questions, just like you did with the market aspect above:

• How much will you charge for your offerings?
• Will people actually pay that amount?
• How much do you need to sell to break even? To make a profit?

Even if your product is worth x amount of dollars in market terms, the harsh reality is it’s only worth what people are actually willing to pay for it. It’s best to underestimate and over-deliver -- as long as your plan still guarantees your ability to pay off a loan.

4. How much funding you’re seeking and its intended use

You need to have a firm grasp on how much funding you need to accomplish your goal, and don’t be shy about it. If you’re seeking a bank loan, it’s a little different because you will qualify for a certain amount based on a number of factors.

Some lenders also have use case limitations, where there are restrictions on what you can use the money for. Consider that, among all of the other qualifications, before deciding if that type of loan is the way you want to go.

If you’re going with an investor, it’s not usually a make-or-break factor to detail what you plan on using the money for, but the more information you provide, the better.

How to write your business plan for funding

Now that you know why a business plan is crucial for funding and what needs to be included in one, let’s get to actually writing it. There are also business plan templates and sample business plans available online that are a good guide to get you started.

Step 1: Write your executive summary

This is generally the first section of your business plan and your first chance to make an impression. As with most introductions, this is where you’ll summarize all the other sections of the business plan, such as your mission statement , general company information, products or services, and financials.

Step 2: Explain your company overview

All that time you spent researching different business formation options will pay off in this section. You’ll explain the structure of your company, exactly what your business does, and the target market you plan on addressing. You’ll want to get into detail about the market you’ve chosen, why you fit into that market, and how you plan on expanding within it.

Step 3: Detail your market analysis

This is the section where you will dive into the nitty-gritty of your intended market. Explain the following aspects:

• What audience lives within that market?
• What do they want?
• How do you plan on providing what they want?
• How much is your product worth?
• What are your plans for growth?
• Are there setbacks you might run into? How will you overcome them?

As anyone who has started a business knows, it’s not all gains. Letting investors know that you recognize there will be obstacles shows that you’ve really thought all of this out.

Step 4: Describe your product/service

In this section, you’ll do more than just explain what you will sell, although that’s part of it. If you’ve invented something or patented something, include that in this section. Don’t only show what you’re offering but explain how it works and how it improves on what’s already out there. If it’s a service, explain how you will produce better results than others.

Additionally, if you have to source materials or equipment from somewhere else, outline whom you will work with and what the process will be to secure those materials.

Step 5: Write out your sales plan

Here are a couple of steps you’ll want to take to outline your sales plan.

• Have some branding ideas on hand: These might include a company name, logo, color scheme, and sample materials, such as business cards or brochures. This will position your product for sale.
• Explain how you’ll market your product: Decide whether you will go with free online marketing, such as social media, or paid marketing, such as online or print ads. While you can choose among options, it will come down to your target audience. Do they spend most of their time online, or do they still read the newspaper every morning? That will determine where you should put your marketing efforts, and since ad return is a business metric you’ll want to track later on, having a solid plan in the initial stages will make that process smoother.

Step 6: Detail and explain your financial projections

This section should come fairly easily once you’ve completed the others. You should have an idea of what it will cost to produce your product or service, how much you can charge for it, your market share, and how you will spend money on marketing.

Do your projections in time increments for the lifecycle of your business , such as the first year, first five years, and looking ahead at 10 years and beyond.

The first couple of years you can be pretty specific about your projections, whereas your long-term projections can be offered up more as goals you would like your company to reach in a certain period of time and how you plan to achieve them.

4 tips for writing effective business plans to secure funding

Now that you have a firm grasp on what needs to be in your business plan, how you obtain that information, and how you actually create a business plan, here are some tips to make sure you’re getting the most out of it.

1. Don’t leave anything out

Leaving bits and pieces of your business up for interpretation or guessing will only hurt your chances of securing funding. If investors are left to fill in the blanks, you have no control over what they fill them with. Make sure you’re as thorough as possible in your research and writing so that nothing is left out.

2. Write with personality

There’s a scene from Parks and Recreation where Tom is presenting a business to a potential investor. His original idea, Tom’s Bistro, is one he’s extremely passionate about. Ben comes in with another idea that has a greater chance of being profitable. Tom starts presenting that and soon finds both he and the investor are bored. As soon as he switches back to Tom’s Bistro, the mood in the room completely changes.

Even though that’s a scene from a television show, it’s a good representation of how adding a little bit of your personality and passion into your business plan can pay off, literally.

3. Don’t speak in general terms

Be as detailed as you possibly can. Use exact numbers, names, dates, etc. Doing this will not only show that you’ve done your homework, but that you’re committed to reaching those numbers by the dates you list.

It can seem daunting to feel like you’re committing to so much, but commitment is what investors are looking for. They need to see that you’re serious about your business, and the amount of detail you include in your business plan will reinforce that.

4. Be upfront about what you’re asking for

Don’t be afraid to ask for the amount you really need, even if it’s high. Being wishy-washy about the number might not present so well. As previously mentioned, bank loans are different in that you only receive an amount you qualify for. If you’re meeting with angel investors , it’s important to go in with a specific number in mind.

While the process doesn’t need to be as dramatic as Shark Tank , expect some back and forth once you present your business plan and offer up how much money you’re asking for.

Final thoughts

A business plan is one of the most important documents you’ll create for your business. It’s where you introduce who you are, what your business is, and how it will be successful. If, as most people do, you’re using your business plan to secure funding, you’ll want to be as detailed and thorough as possible in your research and writing.

You want potential investors to be as serious about your business as you are, so convey to them why you’re serious and how you’re bringing something unique to the table that they would be lucky to be a part of.

Our Research Expert

Jennifer Post writes about marketing and software for small businesses for The Ascent and The Motley Fool.

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Home > Business > Business Startup

How To Write a Business Plan

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Starting a business is a wild ride, and a solid business plan can be the key to keeping you on track. A business plan is essentially a roadmap for your business — outlining your goals, strategies, market analysis and financial projections. Not only will it guide your decision-making, a business plan can help you secure funding with a loan or from investors .

Writing a business plan can seem like a huge task, but taking it one step at a time can break the plan down into manageable milestones. Here is our step-by-step guide on how to write a business plan.

Table of contents

• Write your executive summary
• Do your market research homework
• Set your business goals and objectives
• Plan your business strategy
• Describe your product or service
• Crunch the numbers
• Finalize your business plan

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Step 1: Write your executive summary

Though this will be the first page of your business plan , we recommend you actually write the executive summary last. That’s because an executive summary highlights what’s to come in the business plan but in a more condensed fashion.

An executive summary gives stakeholders who are reading your business plan the key points quickly without having to comb through pages and pages. Be sure to cover each successive point in a concise manner, and include as much data as necessary to support your claims.

You’ll cover other things too, but answer these basic questions in your executive summary:

• Idea: What’s your business concept? What problem does your business solve? What are your business goals?
• Product: What’s your product/service and how is it different?
• Market: Who’s your audience? How will you reach customers?
• Finance: How much will your idea cost? And if you’re seeking funding, how much money do you need? How much do you expect to earn? If you’ve already started, where is your revenue at now?

Step 2: Do your market research homework

The next step in writing a business plan is to conduct market research . This involves gathering information about your target market (or customer persona), your competition, and the industry as a whole. You can use a variety of research methods such as surveys, focus groups, and online research to gather this information. Your method may be formal or more casual, just make sure that you’re getting good data back.

This research will help you to understand the needs of your target market and the potential demand for your product or service—essential aspects of starting and growing a successful business.

Step 3: Set your business goals and objectives

Once you’ve completed your market research, you can begin to define your business goals and objectives. What is the problem you want to solve? What’s your vision for the future? Where do you want to be in a year from now?

Use this step to decide what you want to achieve with your business, both in the short and long term. Try to set SMART goals—specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound benchmarks—that will help you to stay focused and motivated as you build your business.

Step 4: Plan your business strategy

Your business strategy is how you plan to reach your goals and objectives. This includes details on positioning your product or service, marketing and sales strategies, operational plans, and the organizational structure of your small business.

Make sure to include key roles and responsibilities for each team member if you’re in a business entity with multiple people.

Step 5: Describe your product or service

In this section, get into the nitty-gritty of your product or service. Go into depth regarding the features, benefits, target market, and any patents or proprietary tech you have. Make sure to paint a clear picture of what sets your product apart from the competition—and don’t forget to highlight any customer benefits.

Step 6: Crunch the numbers

Financial analysis is an essential part of your business plan. If you’re already in business that includes your profit and loss statement , cash flow statement and balance sheet .

These financial projections will give investors and lenders an understanding of the financial health of your business and the potential return on investment.

You may want to work with a financial professional to ensure your financial projections are realistic and accurate.

Step 7: Finalize your business plan

Once you’ve completed everything, it's time to finalize your business plan. This involves reviewing and editing your plan to ensure that it is clear, concise, and easy to understand.

You should also have someone else review your plan to get a fresh perspective and identify any areas that may need improvement. You could even work with a free SCORE mentor on your business plan or use a SCORE business plan template for more detailed guidance.

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The takeaway

Writing a business plan is an essential process for any forward-thinking entrepreneur or business owner. A business plan requires a lot of up-front research, planning, and attention to detail, but it’s worthwhile. Creating a comprehensive business plan can help you achieve your business goals and secure the funding you need.

Related content

• 5 Best Business Plan Software and Tools in 2023 for Your Small Business
• How to Get a Business License: What You Need to Know
• What Is a Cash Flow Statement?

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How to Finance a Business: 4 Options to Consider

• 04 Aug 2020

In entrepreneurship, the old adage “you must spend money to make money” often rings true.

Once you’ve developed an innovative business idea , identified a market need, and created a value proposition , you need to acquire funding to get your company up and running.

The key to financing a business is keeping expenses as low as possible. You also want to ensure invested money is used to gain insight into how to proceed.

In the online course Entrepreneurship Essentials , taught by Harvard Business School Professor William Sahlman, entrepreneurship is described as the process of "spending money to produce information about future possibilities."

For instance, using funds to rent a beautiful office may be tempting, but leveraging it to run tests, conduct market research, or identify more efficient means of production can help you learn about your product, pivot accordingly, and expand your company’s growth potential.

Here’s a guide for assessing startup costs and expenses, along with four business financing options to consider.

Access your free e-book today.

How Difficult Is It to Fund a Startup Business?

Securing adequate funding for your business can be challenging. However, it’s important to remember that starting your own business is a large investment that should be given an appropriate period of time to succeed.

Often, new businesses need to raise funding quickly and efficiently to properly grow and thrive in their given market, but it can be difficult to adhere to various lending requirements without existing financial information. In spite of these challenges, there are various financial resources that can help you get your business off the ground.

Evaluate Startup Costs and Expenses

Before deciding how to finance your business, determine how much money you anticipate needing for startup costs and regular expenses. Whether you run a brick-and-mortar or online business, consider the following when taking stock of expenses:

• Licenses and permits
• Trademarks, copyrights, or patents for your brand and products
• Business insurance
• Legal or accounting assistance
• Rent and utilities (for brick-and-mortar businesses)
• Equipment required for production
• Website platforms
• Marketing materials (both print and digital)
• Shipping supplies
• Subscriptions to content management systems and sales or marketing platforms
• Market research

As your business scales , you may need to expand your expense list to include:

• Employee salaries
• Rent and utilities for office space
• Travel expenses
• Conferences, conventions, and networking events

These lists aren’t exhaustive—every business’s needs are different—but they provide a starting point for you to brainstorm all possible expenses for your startup. When your list is complete, calculate your total estimated startup cost. This number is the amount of funding you’ll need to invest when starting your company.

Before raising capital, it’s also wise to familiarize yourself with how to read and create a balance sheet, income statement, and statement of cash flows. Financial literacy is a critical skill for entrepreneurs , and being aware of these financial statements will ensure you’re taking the necessary steps to become a responsible business owner.

Now, how do you obtain this necessary capital? Here are four sources of funding for your business’s launch.

Related: 6 Questions to Ask Before Starting a Business

How to Finance a Business

1. self-funding.

If your projected expenses add up to a manageable amount, you may be able to fund the business yourself. This can involve taking money from your personal savings account, dipping into your retirement funds, using credit cards and paying back the debt, or asking for donations from friends and family.

Self-funding comes with the risk of long-term debt or losing personal savings and, potentially, money from loved ones. However, it’s a financing option that allows you to retain full ownership over your business, which is often seen as a downside of raising venture capital from investors.

2. Crowdfunding

If you believe your business can garner a fan base, crowdfunding could be a good option. Crowdfunding platforms, such as Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and Patreon enable entrepreneurs to pitch their products and request financial backing.

If people are intrigued and support your product, they can donate to your company in exchange for a free item, discount code, or acknowledgment once your business is up and running. For this reason, crowdfunding is typically a good fit for business-to-consumer startup companies with physical products, although there are exceptions. Each platform has its own terms and conditions, which you should read before selecting one.

Like self-funding, crowdfunding allows you to maintain full ownership of your company, as long as you’re willing to thank your donors with free or discounted products. A few brands that got their start using crowdfunding are Oculus, PopSockets, and Allbirds.

3. Taking Out a Small Business Loan

Applying for a small business loan is another way to secure necessary startup funds. Before applying to banks and credit unions, prepare a business plan, value proposition, expense report, and financial projections for the next five years. Most banks or credit unions will ask to see some combination of these documents when considering your application.

Be sure to weigh the pros and cons of every bank loan offer you receive. Which gives you the lowest interest rate? What are the terms and conditions?

As Sahlman says in Entrepreneurship Essentials , “The terms of financing have a major impact on the success or failure of a venture.”

Related: What Does It Take to Be a Successful Entrepreneur?

4. Raising Venture Capital from Investors

Another avenue for funding your business is raising venture capital from investors.

“Successful companies are always forming hypotheses and testing all aspects of their business,” Sahlman explains in Entrepreneurship Essentials . “Ventures typically need outside investors to run experiments.”

Before reaching out to investors, prepare a business plan, value proposition, financial projections, and a tight, effective pitch deck.

The process of obtaining venture capital has been likened to dating —investors typically want to get to know you and your business before they commit.

One way to start this process is by asking a mutual connection to introduce you to investors. Your contact can serve as a character reference, if needed.

This process can take a while. If you’re looking for quick, easy money to start your business, raising venture capital may not be the right choice. Investors often want to see how you run your company before deciding to invest. Even after they supply funding, they may bide their time to see what you do with the money before investing more.

“Sensible investors stage their commitment to a company—they give enough money to conduct a value-changing test,” Sahlman says. “They preserve the right to abandon the venture by refusing to invest more money. They also design contracts that give them the right to invest more if the test yields encouraging results.”

There’s one factor that sets this option apart: Investors want to own a large, valuable share of your company in return for their investment. This allows them to sell their share in the future, when they predict your company will be worth a lot of money.

In Entrepreneurship Essentials , Sahlman shares Facebook’s journey with various investors and notes that it received $500,000 from angel investor Peter Thiel in its first round of funding in 2004. Just one year later, Facebook received a $12.7 million investment from prominent venture capitalist Jim Breyer.

Resist the urge to go big right away. Perhaps raising venture capital from investors is a second or third step for the funding of your business.

What's the Best Way to Finance Your Business?

Keep in mind that no two businesses are the same—only you know the ins and outs of your company’s needs. By weighing the risks and rewards of each funding option, along with your personal finances, predicted startup costs, and business expenses, you can select the best option for financing your business.

Are you looking to learn more about financing your venture? Explore our four-week online course Entrepreneurship Essentials and our other entrepreneurship and innovation courses to learn to speak the language of the startup world. If you aren't sure which course is the right fit, download our free course flowchart to determine which best aligns with your goals.

This post was updated on June 3, 2022. It was originally published on August 4, 2020.

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How to start and fund your own business

Learn how to start and manage your small business, and find local support if you need help.

How to start a business

If you want to start a new business, the Small Business Administration (SBA) can help. SBA’s 10-step guide explains how to plan, launch, and manage your business. 

As you grow your business, it’s important to understand taxes, how to hire and manage employees, and your legal responsibilities. SBA's Business Guide can help you manage day-to-day operations and prepare for success.

Funding your small business

Businesses need money to start and grow. And they may need money to recover after a disaster. There are no federal grants for starting a business . But small business owners can get money in different ways. This includes using personal funds, finding investors, or taking out loans.

The SBA also has funding for groups such as:

• Women-owned businesses
• Minority-owned businesses
• Native American-owned businesses
• Veteran-owned businesses
• Military spouse-owned businesses
• LGBTQ-owned businesses

If you own a rural business, you can find support to start, expand, or maintain your farm or rural business. Resources include:

• SBA financing options for rural businesses
• Farm Service Agency loans for farmers or ranchers

Find local support

The SBA provides free or low-cost counseling and training. You can:

• Find support to learn new skills
• Connect with other business owners
• Apply for a loan for a declared disaster area
• Find help with government contracting, and more. 

Contact SBA by:

• Calling SBA’s Answer Desk at 1-800-827-5722 or emailing [email protected]   
• Searching SBA’s network of partners for low-cost or free services in your area

LAST UPDATED: August 22, 2024

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• Business Loans

11 Startup Funding Options To Grow Your New Business

Updated: Feb 1, 2022, 9:00am

Startup funding can be difficult to find as a fledgling business, but it’s often necessary to a company’s success. Luckily, there are several financing options for starting or expanding a business—each with its own advantages and disadvantages.

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1. Online Startup Loans

Online lenders and other fintech companies are becoming an increasingly common way to get a business loan . Business owners can typically borrow up to $500,000, but limits may extend up to $1 million; annual percentage rates (APRs) usually range anywhere from 5% to 99% or above. Online startup loans are an excellent option for eligible startup owners who want a traditional term loan experience without the hassle of visiting a bank branch.

Pros and Cons of Online Startup Loans

2. SBA Microloans

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Microloan program extends up to $50,000 loans to small business owners who need money to grow or get their business off the ground. Because loans are backed by the federal government, interest rates range from just 8% to 13%, terms extend up to six years and approved lenders are hand-selected to provide the best support to small business owners.

Consider an SBA Microloan if you struggle to qualify for a traditional loan, but note that the application process is extensive and competitive.

Pros and Cons of SBA Microloans

3. business line of credit.

Business lines of credit let startup founders access money up to a set borrowing limit and on an as-needed basis. Interest only accrues on the portion of the line the borrower accesses, and amounts that are paid off can be reused until the draw period ends (up to five years). Borrowing limits are usually lower than for term loans—from $2,000 to $250,000—and APRs range anywhere from 5% to 80% or higher.

Still, this unsecured financing may impose more accessible eligibility requirements, making it an excellent choice for startup owners who need to cover ongoing business costs or other cash flow issues.

Pros and Cons of Business Line of Credit

4. invoice factoring.

Invoice factoring is the process of selling a business’ outstanding invoices to a factoring company for around 85% of the total invoice amount. Under this type of financing arrangement, the factoring company takes over collections. Once an invoice is paid, the business receives a portion of the remaining invoice amount, less a factoring fee.

Unlike some startup funding options, invoice factoring usually does not require businesses to have extensive financial records or an established credit score.

Pros and Cons of Invoice Factoring

5. invoice financing.

Invoice financing provides startup owners the ability to borrow money that is secured by the value of current unpaid invoices. With invoice factoring, the factoring company is responsible for collections—but with invoice financing, the business must collect payment on the underlying invoices and then repay the loan with the customer’s payment.

Invoice financing can be a good option for startups without established credit or other financial records because the borrowed funds are collateralized by outstanding invoices.

Pros and Cons of Invoice Financing

6. startup business credit cards.

Business credit cards can make it easier for new business owners to access revolving credit for startup costs and day-to-day operations. Not only is the application for business credit cards less involved than for many financing options, but qualification requirements are also typically less demanding—especially for new business owners.

The best startup business credit cards typically come with APRs up to about 25%, but cardholders only pay interest on balances that carry over from one billing cycle to the next.

Pros and Cons of Startup Business Credit Cards

7. small business grants.

Small business grants are cash awards that can help eligible startups begin—and grow—operations. Grants are available from a range of sources but are commonly offered by corporate organizations, state and local governments, and the federal government.

Notably, grants do not require repayment, but this means they are extremely competitive and may be in short supply. Many small business grants also are reserved for businesses owned by women, minorities, veterans and immigrants, so it can be difficult to find a good fit.

Pros and Cons of Grants

Find the best small business loans of 2024, 8. friends and family.

Borrowing funds from friends and family to start a business can be a great way to get cash without qualifying for traditional financing. Family members may not charge interest, and the financial risks of nonpayment may be less serious than for loans from financial institutions. But, this type of financing arrangement also can be rife with emotions that make it unappealing to many business owners.

What’s more, friends and family can’t report payments to credit bureaus, so this form of financing won’t help your credit or that of your new business. If you do choose to borrow from friends or family, get all of the terms in writing and ensure all parties understand how and when the loan will be repaid.

Pros and Cons of Friends and Family

9. personal loans for business.

Qualifying for a business loan as a startup can be difficult in the absence of financial records and established revenue. Business owners can, instead, opt for a personal loan based on their personal creditworthiness and finances. Just like business term loans, personal loans for business are disbursed as a lump sum and are repaid monthly over a set loan term. However, not all personal loan providers allow borrowers to use funds for business purposes.

Pros and Cons of Personal Loans for Business

10. angel investors.

An angel investor is an individual who provides startups with the funds they need to succeed. Angel investors may include friends and family but also extend to other people with interest in the business. Unlike many types of startup financing, funds from angel investors do not require repayment and generally involve an exchange of equity.

This structure can result in a loss of control by the startup founder but also opens the door to more extensive networking opportunities and greater odds of success if the investor has experience in the industry.

Pros and Cons of Angel Investors

11. crowdfunding.

Crowdfunding involves raising funds from a large group of friends, family, investors and even strangers who are excited to support a new venture. There are a number of online platforms—like Kickstarter—that simplify the crowdfunding process and make it easier for business owners to connect with investors.

Keep in mind, though, that crowdfunding isn’t always easy, and it may be difficult to raise as much as a business needs to get off the ground. Many crowdfunding campaigns also rely on gifts or other incentives to encourage donations. This makes crowdfunding best for businesses that have a product that makes it easy to build hype and make a campaign go viral.

Pros and Cons of Crowdfunding

How to choose the best startup funding.

Choosing the best small business loans for your company can be intimidating, but there are a few things you can consider when bankrolling your startup. Compare these factors when choosing the best startup funding:

• Don’t borrow more money than you need to get started, especially if you’re paying interest
• Consider how quickly you need to access funds, and whether you want to receive money up front or on a rolling, as-needed basis
• Build business credit by choosing a lender that reports payments to the major credit bureaus
• When working with angel investors, choose one with industry expertise and pay careful attention to the term sheet

While there are several types of business loans , the best option for startup funding ultimately depends on the needs of the business and which lenders are willing to extend funds. Opt for financing that provides the funds you need while sticking to your budget and operating your business consistent with your vision.

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Kiah Treece is a small business owner and personal finance expert with experience in loans, business and personal finance, insurance and real estate. Her focus is on demystifying debt to help individuals and business owners take control of their finances. She has also been featured by Investopedia, Los Angeles Times, Money.com and other financial publications.

Jordan Tarver has spent seven years covering mortgage, personal loan and business loan content for leading financial publications such as Forbes Advisor. He blends knowledge from his bachelor's degree in business finance, his experience as a top performer in the mortgage industry and his entrepreneurial success to simplify complex financial topics. Jordan aims to make mortgages and loans understandable.

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66 grants, loans and programs to benefit your small business.

When you know where to look, help for your small business is there for the taking.

Whether you’re starting a new small business or looking to grow the one you already own, finding funding can be a challenge for businesses of all sizes. If you’re looking for a small business loan or grant, CO— is here to help.

Each week, we update this list of loans, small business grants, or other opportunities to connect with programs and organizations that can help you with your business. Come back often to see the latest. And, if your organization has a program or grant you’d like to see listed here, email us at [email protected] .

If you’re not sure of the difference between a loan and a grant, check out our explainer here . You can also learn more about all funding options in our small business financing guide here .

Government grants

Begin your search for a grant from the federal government at Grants.gov . This government site offers the most comprehensive database of funds the government is going to give away. There are thousands of grants to apply for, with opportunities for companies from all backgrounds.

Keep in mind that not all assistance flows directly from the federal government to small businesses. Some funds are distributed to state and local governments and agencies, nonprofit organizations, and institutions of higher learning. These entities, in turn, distribute the funds or use them to provide technical or educational assistance on a local level.

In addition to the programs listed here, be sure to check with your state and local governments and use the resources listed below. When searching through grant and contracting options, note that you may qualify for more than one program.

As illustrated by the following sampling of grants, the assistance available to you from the government will vary, depending on your specific situation.

• The Blueprint Medtech Small Business Translator Grant. This is a government grant for small businesses working on creating medical devices to treat nervous system disorders. It supports activities like making prototype devices, safety testing, and clinical studies to get approval from the FDA. The grant is a cooperative program where the NIH helps plan and monitor the research. It also provides funding and access to experts for things like regulations, patents, and manufacturing. Small businesses with their device ideas or collaborations with manufacturers can apply for this grant to advance their projects. The next deadline to apply is September 27, 2024.
• Employee Retention Credit. The Employee Retention Credit (ERC), sometimes called the Employee Retention Tax Credit, is a stimulus program established by the CARES Act. This refundable tax credit functions as a grant that helps businesses impacted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Eligibility guidelines are available on the IRS website .
• Illinois Infrastructure Grants. In 2020, Governor Pritzker launched an initiative to improve Illinois' infrastructure. $3 billion of this was allocated for capital grants through the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) . These capital grants, part of Illinois' $45 billion infrastructure initiative, are designed to support various projects that benefit local communities and businesses. The DCEO maintains a transparent list of these grants, which can be either general or specific project grants. You can find more information about these grants on the GATA website .
• The Minnesota Emerging Entrepreneur Loan Program (ELP). ELP is an initiative aimed at supporting the growth of Minnesota businesses owned by minorities, low-income individuals, women, veterans, and persons with disabilities. The program provides grant funds to nonprofit lenders across the state, which in turn offer loans to startup and expanding businesses. These loans not only foster business development but also aim to create jobs for minority and low-income individuals, strengthen minority-owned enterprises, and boost economic growth in disadvantaged areas. To participate in the program, eligible businesses must apply through certified nonprofit lenders, with DEED assisting in lender identification if needed, and loans are subject to DEED's approval.
• National Institute of Health Grants . The National Institute of Health (NIH) is currently funding grant opportunities related to COVID-19 research. These grants are reserved for small businesses that develop and research biomedical technology. There are multiple grants available with deadlines throughout 2024 and beyond.
• NIDILRR's SBIR program . The SBIR program aims to support organizations to help advance technology and research, as well as support the social/economic benefits for the nation. The SBIR will be backing the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) through the Administration for Community Living (ACL) to provide 10 grants that support the improvement of the lives of those with disabilities. The total grant funding is estimated to be $1 million, and an outline of the available grants under this program can be found on the ACL website.
• San Francisco Accessibility Grant. Small business owners in San Francisco can apply for a grant to enhance accessibility in their establishments. The grant can cover expenses like accessible equipment, construction to remove ADA barriers, CASp inspections, design services, and relevant permit fees, with a maximum grant amount of $10,000. Eligible businesses must be registered in San Francisco, have less than $2.5 million in gross revenue for a single location, and employ an average of 100 or fewer employees. The application process is fast, and applicants can expect a response within 15 days of submission. Upon approval, they will need to provide proof of payment and photos showcasing accessibility improvements.
• Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR) . The SBIR offers grants to small businesses so they can participate in federal research and development with the potential for commercialization. It’s a highly competitive awards-based program that helps businesses achieve scientific excellence and technological innovation. To qualify for SBIR grants, you must operate a for-profit company and satisfy other requirements.
• Small Business Technology Transfer Program (STTR) . Similar to SBIR, the STTR program focuses on funding research in the R&D arena. However, what separates the STTR is the requirement that the small business has a formal collaboration with a research institution. To qualify for STTR grants, you must operate a for-profit company and satisfy other requirements.
• Texas Enterprise Fund (TEF). The Texas Enterprise Fund (TEF) offers "deal-closing" grants to companies competing with out-of-state sites for new projects in Texas. These grants are based on performance, encouraging significant capital investment and job creation. Eligible companies must meet criteria related to job creation, capital investment, financial stability, and local support. Once approved, grantees sign contracts committing to job and wage targets, with clawback provisions in case of non-compliance. The application process includes a thorough screening, and unanimous support from top state officials is required for approval.
• U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Business Programs. The USDA’s Rural Development Business Programs provide financial support and technical assistance to promote rural business growth. They offer loans, grants, and guarantees with the goal of enhancing economic opportunities and job creation in rural communities; deadlines and eligibility requirements vary by program.
• U.S. Department of Commerce Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) . Targeted grants and loans designed to aid minority-owned businesses are offered throughout the year. Minority-owned businesses can find information about local MBDA Business Centers at MBDA.gov .
• U.S. Department of Education (DOE) Grants. The U.S. DOE has various grants available to small businesses in the education sector. Each grant has unique eligibility criteria, with some opportunities set aside for public schools, state agencies, or nonprofit organizations; however, others allow applications from for-profit private sector companies. Deadlines for currently available DOE grants run through September 16, 2024.
• U.S. Small Business Administration State Trade Expansion Program (STEP) . Intended to assist small businesses desiring to export product, this program distributes federal funds through state entities . Small businesses that meet the criteria set by each state can use the financial assistance to participate in foreign trade missions and shows, obtain entry to foreign markets, develop websites, and design international marketing products or campaigns.
• U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) . The EDA is part of the U.S. Department of Commerce and offers ongoing funding opportunities for projects that support regional and national economic development. Applicants can apply for a variety of rolling-basis EDA investments that fund projects in construction, non-construction, planning, technical assistance, research and evaluation, higher education, and more.

As you would expect, acceptance of free money from the government comes with a fair amount of paperwork. Applying for a grant can be time-consuming and technical. You want to make sure, therefore, that you are eligible before applying. In addition to the legal and administrative prerequisites, there are ongoing reporting and auditing requirements.

Government contract assistance

The federal government spends billions of dollars on goods and services each year. A lot of that money is spent through a competitive bidding process. Programs have been put in place to assist some small businesses with the process, allowing them a better chance to compete for those federal dollars.

• Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business Program . The federal government seeks to award at least 3% of all federal contracting dollars to veteran-owned businesses annually, so this program helps with meeting that target. This federal contracting program offers assistance to small business owners who are service-disabled veterans . Eligible small businesses must be over 50% owned/controlled by one or more service-disabled veterans, have day-to-day operations and long-term goals managed by at least one service-disabled veteran and have a service-connected disability.
• Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) Federal Contracting Program . The federal government seeks to award at least 5% of federal contracting dollars to women-owned small businesses annually. Through this SBA program , the Office of Women’s Business Ownership provides support to women entrepreneurs by offering business training, counseling, federal contracts and access to credit and capital. Their goal is to offer equal opportunities for all women in business.
• 8(a) Business Development Program . The purpose of this program is to assist small businesses owned by socially and economically disadvantaged entities. This is achieved by limiting competition for certain government contracts to businesses participating in the 8(a) business development program. To participate a business must be certified as an 8(a) entity.
• HUBZone Program . This program aids businesses in underutilized business zones by making them more competitive in regard to some government contracts. Businesses that join the HUBZone program can compete for set-aside contracts as well as receive preference on others, including a 10% price evaluation preference in open contract competitions.

Natural Resource Sales Assistance Program

In addition to the billions of dollars spent purchasing goods and services, the federal government also sells large amounts of natural resources and surplus property. The SBA Natural Resource Sales Assistance Program sets aside a percentage of these goods for bidding by small businesses only. In addition, federal agencies sometimes divide surplus materials into smaller parcels, making it easier for small businesses to purchase. The five categories are:

• Timber and related forest products.
• Strategic materials.
• Royalty oil.
• Leases involving rights to minerals, coil, oil and gas.
• Surplus real and personal property.

The program also provides training for small businesses on government sales and leasing.

General small business grants

There are many nonprofit and corporate entities offering grants and other assistance to small businesses. Here are a few such programs that are open to qualifying small businesses in any industry:

• 500 Global Flagship Accelerator Program . Startups and small businesses seeking funding can do so on a rolling, year-round basis with the 500 Global Flagship Accelerator program . Since 2010, this program has offered businesses the opportunity for a four-month accelerator program based in San Francisco in addition to a $150,000 investment. Rules for applying can be found on the company's website.
• Awesome Foundation Grants. Each month, the Awesome Foundation awards grants of $1,000 to individuals and groups looking to fund various projects. The Awesome Foundation is made of 84 independently-run chapters, with members contributing to a micro-funding pool that goes towards grant projects. Though funding is not limited to businesses, startups, and small businesses have been among the recipients of the monthly grants. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.
• Bizee Entrepreneur Grant . Bizee (formerly Incfile) offers two grants to support aspiring entrepreneurs and students. The "Young Entrepreneur Scholarship Grant" provides $2,500 to a high school senior, undergraduate, graduate, or trade school student in the U.S. with a GPA of 3.0 or higher and an interest in starting a business. The "Fresh Start Business Grant" offers $2,500 and Bizee's Gold plan for free to adult entrepreneurs (21 years or older) in the U.S. planning to start a new business or significantly grow an existing one. Though dates for the next round of funding are "coming soon," entrepreneurs can review eligibility and application criteria in the interim.
• The Freed Fellowship Grant. U.S.-based small business owners can apply for a monthly $500 grant from The Freed Fellowship . Applicants are evaluated based on the 5C Framework, which assesses various aspects of applicants’ business. Along with the grant, applicants receive feedback on their business and a two-month free membership in the Freed Studio, a community of ambitious business owners. Grant recipients are also eligible for an end-of-year grant of $2,500.
• GoFundMe Small Business Relief Fund . GoFundMe’s Small Business Relief Fund will match $500 grants to qualifying small businesses that have been negatively impacted by COVID-19 and raise at least $500 through a GoFundMe campaign. The fund is backed by GoFundMe and corporations like Intuit QuickBooks, Yelp, GoDaddy, and Bill.com. Small business owners with existing campaigns can add the hashtag #SmallBusinessRelief to their campaign and fill out this form to confirm their business.
• Hustler’s Microgrant. The Hustler's MicroGrant offers $1,000 in funding to support passionate entrepreneurs in their small business ventures. Presented by Deja Vu Parker of WBLS and HerSuiteSpot, this grant provides financial assistance and resources to promising small businesses across the United States, helping them grow their operations. Applications are accepted monthly, and eligible small business owners are encouraged to apply.
• Secretsos™ Small Business Grant. The Secretsos™ Small Business Grant offers $2,500 to help entrepreneurs overcome challenges and accelerate growth. To apply, business owners must be 21 or older and operate in eligible U.S. states, excluding Alaska, Florida, Hawaii, New York, and Rhode Island. Applications are due by September 30, 2024, at 11:59 pm CST.
• Skip Monthly Grants. Small business aggregator Skip offers monthly grants for U.S.-based small business owners and entrepreneurs; grants are typically set at $1,000, though the exact amount varies by Skip’s monthly YouTube revenue. To be considered, you must have a Skip account and add the monthly grant to your Funding Assistant, as well as be subscribed to Skip’s YouTube channel. Deadlines for the next round of grant applications are expected to be announced soon.
• Skip Instant Grants. Skip offers Instant Grants on a rolling basis, providing funding opportunities with shorter turnaround windows. These grants are announced a couple of days in advance and generally occur twice a month. Applicants are required to participate in Skip’s YouTube livestream during the selection process. Learn more about these ongoing funding opportunities by following Skip on social media.
• Small Business Digital Readiness Program. In partnership with Verizon, National ACE has developed a digital readiness program to help small business owners succeed in a digital world. The free online curriculum includes expert coaching, peer networking, and other resources to support your small business. Those who register for the program and take two courses are eligible for a $10,000 grant. This opportunity is rolling and you can learn more at the program’s webpage .
• Small Business Readiness for Resiliency Program. Small businesses often feel the effects of a natural disaster the hardest. It can be difficult when starting a business to suddenly have to raise money to repair a roof or attend to flood damage. To help offset some of these concerns and costs, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation and FedEx have teamed up to create the Small Business Readiness for Resiliency (R4R) Program. The program helps small businesses put plans in place to prepare for disaster and also provides immediate emergency funding when necessary. Businesses are asked to complete a four-step process to be eligible for funding opportunities.
• Walmart Spark Good Local Grants. Organizations can apply for the Walmart Spark Good Local Grants program provided by Walmart and Sam’s Club, which offers grants ranging from $250 to $5,000 to address the unique needs of local communities. Tax ID status determines eligibility, with 501(c)(3) charities, public entities, and educational institutions qualifying. Grant applications are accepted quarterly, with the current round open through October 15, 2024. All organizations must be Deed verified and have a Spark Good account to apply.

Industry-specific and diversity small business grants and programs

Some small business grant programs are confined to a specific entrepreneur demographic or business profile and they often have an application process that is easier to navigate. This is a sample list, so be sure to check with nonprofits and large corporations in your geographic area or industry.

• 2024 Black Girl Ventures Pitch Program. The 2024 Black Girl Ventures Pitch Program is designed to support Black and Brown entrepreneurs from Los Angeles, Chicago, and NYC by offering coaching, a live crowdfunded pitch competition, and networking opportunities. To qualify, applicants must be revenue-generating, in good standing, and located in the city for which they are applying. The remaining application deadlines are October 9 for NYC applicants and November 6 for Los Angeles applicants. Winners will receive cash prizes ranging from $5,000 to $15,000, as well as access to the BGV Connect Incubator and a new network of business owners and investors.
• Accion Opportunity Fund. The Accion Opportunity Fund grants small business loans ranging from $5,000-$250,000, along with educational resources, coaching, and support networks in both English and Spanish. This program offers mentorship programs, microloans, and a hubzone program for small business owners’ financial needs. Accion Opportunity Fund works with a clientele that is 90% diverse, has created and retained over 50,000 jobs, and has generated $1 billion in economic activity. Those interested in applying for a loan can do so here .
• Amazon’s Black Business Accelerator Program. If you're a seller in Amazon's store, you may be eligible for the Black Business Accelerator Program. Created to support Black entrepreneurs, the program offers financial support, mentorship, business advice, and promotional support. Eligible sellers will have access to free imaging services, cash grant opportunities, advertising credits, and money toward start-up costs. You can learn more about this opportunity at their website .
• Amazon Business Small Business Grant Program. Amazon Business’s third annual Small Business Grant Program is set to award over $250,000 this year to eligible U.S.-based small businesses. There will be one grand prize winner who will receive $25,000, along with four $20,000 finalists and 10 $15,000 semi-finalists. Grant recipients will also walk away with one year of free Business Prime membership, Amazon devices, and Amazon Basics products. Current Amazon Business customers with an annual revenue of $1 million or less are eligible to apply; applications are due on May 24, 2024, with winners announced on July 22, 2024.
• Amber Grant Foundation . With a simple goal of supporting women entrepreneurs, the Amber Grant Foundation was founded by WomensNet in 1998. The foundation awards a series of grants throughout the year, including the $10,000 Monthly Amber Grant, two $25,000 Annual Amber Grants, and $10,000 each quarter for The Startup Grant and The Non-Profit Grant, respectively. There are also 12 Business Category Grants — an additional $10,000 each month — with all eligible applications remaining active until the month of their specific category.
• America’s Seed Fund. America’s Seed Fund, sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF), offers up to $2 million for U.S.-based startups and small businesses that are developing innovative technology. Project pitches are accepted on a rolling basis, and official responses from NSF typically take one month.
• Backstage Capital. Backstage Capital supports underrepresented founders by investing in startups led by women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs. They focus primarily on U.S.-based, scalable businesses with the potential for high growth. Investments typically range from $100,000 and up, predominantly targeting early-stage companies. Applications are reviewed regularly and feedback is provided to those not selected with encouragement to reapply in the future.
• Binc Foundation Emergency Financial Assistance. The Binc Foundation provides emergency financial assistance to bookstore owners, booksellers, and comic store employees and owners facing unforeseen financial needs. Eligibility criteria include specific employment durations and financial hardship resulting from qualifying life events. Binc's assistance process involves a confidential application and documentation verification, aiming to help individuals regain financial stability.
• Boundless Futures Foundation. The Boundless Futures Foundation awards grants to U.S.-based female entrepreneurs and nonprofits that support female entrepreneurship. The EmpowHer Grant offers entrepreneurs up to $25,000, with funds provided as reimbursements for business expenses upon proof of payment. Nonprofits that support female entrepreneurs through education, mentorship, or financing can request up to $30,000 in grant funding through the Her Village Grant. Applications for the EmpowHer Grant are accepted quarterly, while the Her Village Grant follows a biannual cycle, with details on the next round to be announced soon.
• Carhartt For the Love of Labor Grant. Carhartt, a popular workwear distributor, created the Love of Labor grant program to help connect workers with trade programs in their local communities during an unprecedented labor shortage. Awards will be distributed on a rolling basis to “like-minded organizations” that are dedicated to the education, training, and placement of workers into trade jobs. Organizations with interest in the program can apply by reaching out to Carhartt directly. Nominations are accepted as well.
• Casper Accelerate Grant Program. The Casper Association aims to support the adoption of blockchain technology via Casper, a scalable blockchain network. To support innovation within the blockchain industry, Casper has opened the Casper Accelerate Grant Program. Those who want to build apps to support infrastructure, end-user applications, and research innovation are invited to apply. This $25 million grant program has a rolling application deadline, so you can apply anytime here .
• Child Care Business Opportunity Fund. The Child Care Business Opportunity Fund , offered by the Women's Business Development Council (WBDC) in partnership with the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood, offers grants of up to $25,000 to support child care businesses in Connecticut. These grants are designed to help both licensed and aspiring businesses at different stages, whether they're just starting or ready to expand. Eligibility differs based on each grant offering, with application deadlines running through November 15, 2024.
• DoorDash Restaurant Disaster Relief Fund. The DoorDash Restaurant Disaster Relief Fund offers $10,000 grants to help restaurants recover from natural disasters, severe weather, or major infrastructure failures. Eligible applicants include U.S.-based restaurants, gastropubs, or bakeries with brick-and-mortar locations that have experienced revenue loss due to a declared disaster within the past 12 months. To qualify, businesses must have no more than three locations, have been in operation for at least six months, employ fewer than 50 people at each location, and generate less than $3 million in annual revenue per location. Applications are accepted quarterly, with fall applications open through December 2, 2024, at 6:00 p.m. ET.
• Etsy Emergency Relief Fund. If you’re an Etsy business owner, you may be qualified to apply for relief funding courtesy of a partnership with CERF+, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping artists prepare for and recover from emergencies and disasters. The partnership was established in 2017, and both companies continue to provide up to $2,500 in funding through the grant program. To apply, you must have been a registered Etsy business for at least one year and have been affected by a natural disaster. This grant opportunity is rolling.
• Female Founder World Grant . The Female Founder World Grant , offered by VistaPrint and Female Founder World , will award a $15,000 cash grant plus marketing support to one small business owner. To qualify, businesses must be part of the Female Founder World community, have annual revenue between $40,000 and $1,000,000 and fewer than 10 employees, and sell a physical product. The grant funding must be used for marketing, manufacturing, or research and development. Applications are open through September 17, 2024.
• Foundation for a Just Society Grants . Foundation for a Just Society offers grants to local, national, regional, and global organizations and networks that support the rights of women, girls, and LGBTQI individuals. Grants are issued four times each year (March, June, September, and November), with invitations for proposals extended two months prior.
• Galaxy Grants. Galaxy Grants is on a mission to support women and minority entrepreneurs with their small businesses by offering valuable resources, tools, funding, and knowledge. They are running a $4,250 Galaxy Grant Giveaway , sponsored by Hidden Star, a 501(c)(3) organization, with a quick 30-second entry process. The deadline to enter is September 30, 2024, and winners will be announced the following week. Plus, there's an opportunity to win for both you and a friend, as each of you could receive a $4,250 grant if your friend wins, subject to the Terms and Conditions.
• Hawai'i FoundHer Business Accelerator. The Hawai'i FoundHer Business Accelerator offers capital and resources to women-founded businesses in Hawai’i, focusing on AAPI and Native Hawaiian wāhine who have historically been overlooked. To qualify, businesses must be for-profit entities based in Hawai'i, with at least 51% ownership by women of Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, or Asian descent, and should be in the early stages of development. Applications are due by September 30, 2024, at 11:59 PM HST, and participants must engage in regular mentorship meetings, complete surveys, and attend various program events if selected.
• The Heinz Black Kitchen Initiative. The Heinz Black Kitchen Initiative , now in its fourth year, is awarding grants to support Black-owned restaurants across the U.S. In partnership with the Lee Initiative and Southern Restaurants for Racial Justice, the initiative has provided over $1 million in grants and resources to date. To qualify, businesses must be Black-owned food establishments with at least one year of sales records. Applications are due by 11:59 p.m. EST on September 15, 2024.
• HerRise MicroGrant. The HerRise MicroGrant offers financial aid to U.S.-registered businesses that are majority-owned by women of color, with a focus on businesses with innovative community solutions that are still struggling to obtain funding. Applications are reviewed monthly, with winners announced during the subsequent month's HerSuiteSpot First Friday Mixer. Nonprofits, franchises, direct sellers, authorized resellers, and independent consultants are ineligible to apply.
• The High Five Grant for Moms. The High Five Grant for Moms , hosted by The Mama Ladder, offers financial support to ambitious mom entrepreneurs, with awards ranging from $1,000 to $10,000. Winners will also receive additional prizes, including travel vouchers and health supplements. To qualify, applicants must be mothers — with kids of any age — or expectant mothers, own at least 50% of a for-profit business, have generated between $10,000 and $500,000 in revenue over the past year, and be based in the U.S. or Canada. Applications are open through September 30, 2024.
• Hivers and Strivers Investment Program. As an angel investment group, Hivers and Strivers works to provide capital to qualifying businesses. Specifically, the investment group funds projects submitted by veteran-owned and veteran-led businesses. Funding opportunities can range from $250,000 to $1 million. Those who qualify can apply for funding for a business idea on a rolling basis, but businesses reliant on government contracts are not eligible to apply.
• IFundWomen Universal Grant Application. This is a resource for female entrepreneurs seeking grants . Through partnerships with brands like Visa, Caress, and Comcast, IFundWomen has deployed over $170 million in grants to entrepreneurs. Applicants gain priority access to funding opportunities and resources within the IFundWomen community.
• #MomsMeanBusiness. ZenBusiness, a company that helps others launch and run their own businesses, has created the #MomsMeanBusiness campaign to recognize the resilience of moms and celebrate their accomplishments. To help mothers take the first step toward entrepreneurship, ZenBusiness is covering business formation costs and will help entrepreneurs form an LCC, track expenses, secure a business name, and more. All mothers are eligible and costs will be covered for “every mom in America.” The program is rolling and you can sign up here .
• National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE) Growth Grants . According to its website, the NASE has distributed over $1,000,000 in grants to its members. Its growth grants provide up to $4,000 to assist with training, marketing, and more. You must be a member for 90 days before you are eligible to apply.
• Olga Loizon Memorial Foundation. The Olga Loizon Memorial Foundation offers grants of up to $10,000 to aspiring women entrepreneurs in Michigan who embody the passion and vision of Olga Loizon, the founder of metro Detroit's Olga's Kitchen. Applicants must have a business located in Michigan and demonstrate financial need through a personal statement; a formal business plan is also required. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.
• Patagonia Corporate Grant Program . Patagonia’s corporate grant program offers between $10,000 and $20,000 of funding to nonprofits with missions to protect and preserve the environment. Though grants are awarded by invitation only, Patagonia accepts recommendations for organizations that meet program criteria.
• RTC Women in Tech Fund. Rewriting The Code (RTC) works to support college and early-career women in tech by providing them with opportunities to help disrupt gender and racial inequality in the industry. The RTC Women in Tech Fund provides financial resources to women enrolled in undergraduate tech programs to help cover costs that may be an obstacle to education. There are three different grants available depending on each applicant’s specific financial needs. All applications are accepted on a rolling basis.
• StartHER Grant. The StartHER Grant , offered by the Center for Women Entrepreneurs , provides $5,000 to support women-owned startups in Texas. To qualify, businesses must be 51% woman-owned, have five or fewer employees, and operate in Texas as a legal entity formed after October 4, 2019. Applications are due by 5:00 p.m. on October 4, 2024.
• StartOut Scholarship Program . StartOut offers scholarship opportunities to LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs who wish to participate in their Founder Program and become a Giving Member. The initiative provides a 12-month membership for those LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs who have been underrepresented, underserved, and underestimated within their community.
• Supplier Innovative Finance Program. The Empire State Development’s Supplier Innovative Finance Program offers up to $5,000 in unrestricted grants to help socially and economically disadvantaged businesses (SEDI) in New York grow and access capital. In addition to funding, businesses can access educational resources designed to help founders improve their funding readiness and connect them with funders in matchmaking sessions. To be eligible, companies must be headquartered in New York with annual revenues between $250,000 and $10 million and certified as minority, women, veteran, or LGBTQ+ owned. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.
• Veteran Shark Tank . Veteran business owners can compete for $50,000 in the 11th annual Veteran Shark Tank , held on December 9, 2024, in Philadelphia. To qualify, businesses must be less than three years old, and veterans must own at least 50% of their company, have a clean legal record, and use the prize money for business improvement. Applications, due by October 6, 2024, must include a brief video pitch and a PowerPoint presentation detailing the business plan.
• The Wish Local Empowerment Program. This program brought to you by the e-commerce brand, Wish, assists Black-owned small businesses by dedicating a $2 million fund to support approximately 4,000 Wish Local partners. Recipients can receive financial assistance ranging from $500 to $2000, with flexibility in fund allocation. Eligible businesses must meet criteria such as having a Black-owned business with 20 or fewer employees and an average annual revenue under $1 million. Successful applicants will also join Wish Local, gaining access to its consumer base through various partnership opportunities.
• The TRANSFORM Business Grant. The TRANSFORM Business Grant provides $1,000 microgrants to entrepreneurs from systemically marginalized communities. In addition to funding, grantees also gain access to a year-long, tailored business development program featuring pro bono support from experts in areas such as branding, coaching, skill-building, and marketing. To qualify, applicants must be based in the U.S., show financial need, and focus on creating social impact by addressing systemic injustices. Applications will be accepted between September 15 and September 30, 2024.

Additional resources

The programs listed above are a good start when it comes to grants and funding. You may find additional resources available by following the links below.

• Agricultural Justice Project (AJP) , a program offering free resources and guidance for owners of farms and food businesses.
• Challenge.Gov , part of the General Services Administration's Technology Transformation Services, aids federal agencies in utilizing prize competitions and crowdsourcing to advance their goals. Hosting over 1,300 challenges since 2010, Challenge.Gov facilitated 105 in 2021 alone, totaling a prize pool of over $60 million alongside non-monetary rewards.
• Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund , a government agency that offers financial support to certified lenders serving low-income communities. The CDFI is broken up into several different program areas, including Native Initiatives that provide training and assistance to Native communities, and the Capital Housing Fund that delivers affordable housing for low-income communities.
• Fearless Fund , a venture capital firm that actively invests in businesses led by women of color across the United States. Concentrating on early-stage investments in various industries, the fund looks for companies at the Pre-seed, Seed, or Series A financing stages, offering up to $3 million in exchange for a minimum equity stake of 10%.
• Funding options for Black-owned businesses , including venture capital firms and programs offering financing to Black entrepreneurs.
• Funding options for LGBTQ+-owned businesses , including resource networks and organizations that offer grants to LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs and those from other underrepresented backgrounds.
• Funding options for Hispanic-owned businesses , including funding sources and organizations aimed at supporting Latinx and Hispanic entrepreneurs.
• Funding options for minority-owned businesses , including multiple grants, funding sources, and low-cost loans that are intended to help minority-owned businesses grow.
• Funding options for veteran-owned businesses , from government-backed programs to pitch competitions and business accelerators.
• Funding options for women-owned businesses , including ten programs, agencies and organizations that are helping women entrepreneurs be better represented in the ranks of American business owners.
• GrantsForWomen.org , an online directory that provides a comprehensive database of grants for women globally, along with valuable advice on securing grants and information on relevant events and workshops for female business owners. The grants featured in the directory are sourced from reputable organizations, foundations, and venture capital funds, covering both nonprofit organizations and for-profit businesses.
• Live Your Dream Awards , sponsored by Soroptimist International of the Americas, which offers grants of up to $16,000 in financial support to help women overcome financial barriers and achieve their educational and career goals. Applications for this cycle are accepted through November 15, 2024.
• Resources and funding opportunities for AAPI-owned businesses , including accelerator programs, grants for AAPI entrepreneurs, and networking groups.
• SBA Small Business Development Centers , which can help companies of all kinds locate additional funding opportunities at the national and local level.
• SCORE , which can assign a volunteer business mentor who can provide guidance on numerous topics, including funding and operations.
• Sephora Accelerate , a six-month incubation program for beauty brand founders of color. Eligible applicants must lead an early-stage beauty brand based in North America that is not yet widely distributed. Applications are due by September 23, 2024, at 4:59 p.m. PST.
• Tory Burch Foundation Funding Finder , a tool for founders that provides personalized funding recommendations and resources based on their responses to a few questions about their business financials and aspirations.
• Warrior Rising , a national organization designed to turn Veterans (and their immediate families) into “vetrepreneurs” through business opportunities in the form of mentorship, funding, education, and training. Since its inception in 2015, the program has supported over 26,000 Veterans — more than 5,400 so far in 2024 alone — and helped 21 Veteran-run businesses achieve a $1 million valuation.

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How to Create a Startup Funding Proposal: 8 Samples and Templates to Guide You

Being a founder is difficult. Managing the day-to-day as a founder while trying to secure capital for your business can almost feel impossible. Thankfully, there are different tools and techniques that founders can use to systemize their fundraise to focus on what truly matters, building their business.

One of those tools is a startup funding proposal. In this guide, we’ll break down what a startup funding proposal is and how you can leverage it to build momentum in your fundraise.

What Is a Startup Funding Proposal?

A startup funding proposal is a document that helps startup founders share an overview of their business and make the case for why they should receive funding. A startup funding proposal can be boiled down to help founders layout 3 things:

• What — what does your startup do
• How — how does your startup or product help customers accomplish what they are seeking
• Why — why does your startup need funding and why should an investor fund your business

Related Resource: How to Write a Business Plan For Your Startup

Types of Startup Funding Proposals

Like any business document, there are many ways to approach a startup funding proposal. Ultimately it will come down to pulling the pieces and tactics that work best for your business. Investors are seeing hundreds, if not thousands, of deals a month so it is important to have your assets buttoned up to move quickly and build conviction during a raise. Check out a couple of popular types of funding proposals below:

Traditional Startup Funding Proposal

The most traditional or “standard” standard funding proposal is generally a written and visual document that is created using word processing software and/or design tools.

A traditional proposal is great because it allows you to share context with every aspect of your business. For example, if you include a chart of growth you’ll be able to explicitly write out why that was and what your plan is for future growth.

This document is generally designed to fit your brand and will hit on the key components of your business is structured and predictable way. We hit on what to include in your proposal below.

Startup Funding Proposal Pitch or Presentation

The most common approach we see to a fundraise or proposal is the pitch deck. Pitch decks take the same components as any proposal and fit them into a visual pitch deck that can be easily navigated and understood by a potential investor.

Pitch decks are not required by investors by are generally expected and are a great tool that can help you efficiently close your round. To learn more about building your pitch deck, check out a few of our key resources below:

• Tips for Creating an Investor Pitch Deck
• 18 Pitch Deck Examples for Any Startup
• Our Teaser Pitch Deck Template

1-on-1 Proposals (Elevator Pitch)

A 1 on 1 proposal or an elevator pitch is the quickest version of any proposal. Every founder should have an elevator pitch in their back pocket and is a complementary tool to any of the other funding proposals mentioned here.

As the team at VestBee puts it, “Elevator pitch” or “elevator speech” is a laconic but compelling introduction that can be communicated in the amount of time it takes someone to ride an elevator, usually around 30 seconds. It can serve you for fundraising purposes, personal introduction, or landing a prospective client.”

Email Proposal

Another common way to share a startup funding proposal via email. While the content might be similar to what is seen in a “traditional” funding proposal this allows you to hit investors where they spend their time – their inbox.

The format will follow a traditional proposal with less emphasis on visual aspects and more emphasis on the written content. Check out an example from our Update Template Library below:

Related Resource: How to Write the Perfect Investment Memo

Investor Relationship Hub

Lastly, there is an investor relationship hub or data room that can be used to share your proposal with potential investors. A hub is a great place to curate multiple documents or assets that will be needed during your fundraise. For example, you could share your funding proposal and your financials if they are requested by a potential investor.

Related Resource: What Should be in an Investor Data Room?

What to Include in Your Startup Funding Proposal

How you share your funding proposal might differ but ultimately the components are generally closely related from one proposal to the next. However, be sure that you are building this for your business. There is no prescriptive template that will work for every business.

Project Summary

First things first, you’ll want to start with a summary of your project or your business. This can be a high-level overview of what your proposal encompasses and will give an investor the context they need for the rest of the proposal. A couple of ideas that are worth hitting on:

• What your company does and how it’s different from existing solutions to pressing problems.
• Existing market gaps and how your product covers them.
• The importance of your product in your industry and how it improves the industry.
• Existing resources and manpower, investment requirements, and potential limitations.

Current Performance and Financial Report

Of course, investors want to see how your business has been performing. The data and metrics around your business are generally how an investor builds conviction and further interest in your business. We suggest using your best judgment when it comes to the level of metrics or financials that you’d like to share. A couple examples of what you might share:

• Current assets and liabilities
• MVP presentation for companies still in the ideation stage
• Appendix with financial reports

Related Resource: ​​ Building A Startup Financial Model That Works

Existing Investors and Partners

Inevitably investors will want to know who else you have raised capital from and partnered with in the past. Include a brief description of the different investors you have on your cap table and be ready to field additional questions if they have any.

Pro tip: The first place an investor will go to when performing due diligence is your current investors. Make sure you have a strong relationship and good communication with your current investors.

Market Study and Sales Goals

Investors will also care about your customer acquisition efforts and want to make sure you can repeatably find and close new customers. A couple of things that might be important to include in this section:

• Product pricing and information
• Revenue targets and goals
• Customer acquisition model and efforts
• Sales and marketing related KPIs
• Stories or testimonials from happy customers

Current Valuation, Investment Requirements, and Expected Returns

This is an opportunity to lay out your cap table and explain your current valuation, investment requirements, and what future valuations could look like. As always, we suggest using your best judgment when it comes to what level of detail you’d like to share about your cap table.

Potential Pitfalls and Solutions

There is an inherent risk when investing in any startup. It is important to make sure potential investors are aware of this. Layout the common pitfalls your startup might face and stop you from achieving your goals. Next, lay out the solutions to these problems and how you plan to tackle them if/when they arise.

8 Startup Funding Proposal Samples and Templates

Below are 8 proposal templates to help you kick off your next fundraise. Note that some of these are technically investor updates and not designed for first-time fundraising. Keep in mind that a startup funding proposal could also be utilized for additional funding after the first round of funding.

1. An Investment Summary Template by Underscore VC

Underscore VC is a seed-stage venture fund based out of Boston. As the team at Underscore writes :

“As part of this, we strongly recommend you write out a pitch narrative before you start to build a pitch deck. “Writing the prose forces you to fill in the gaps that can remain if you just put bullets on a slide,” says Lily Lyman, Underscore VC Partner. “It becomes less about how you present, and more about what you present.”

This exercise can help you synthesize your thoughts, smooth transitions, and craft a logical, compelling story. It also helps you include all necessary information and think through your answers to tough questions.

Check out the template here .

2. The Visible “Standard” Investor Update Template

Our Standard investor update template is great for communicating with existing investors. If you are regularly sending Updates to their investors they should know when you are beginning to raise capital again and can almost be treated as an investment proposal.

Check out the template for our standard investor update template here .

3. Sharing a Fundraising Pitch via Video

Videos are a great way to give the right context to the right investors in a concise and quick way. Video is a great supporting tool for any other information or documents you might be sending over. For example, you can include a few charts or metrics and some company information and use the video to further explain the data and growth plans. Check out the template here .

4. Financial Funding Proposal

The team at Revv put together a plug-and-play financial funding proposal. As they wrote, “A funding proposal must provide details of your company’s financials to obtain the right amount of funding. Check out our funding proposal template personalized for your business.” Check out the template here .

5. Investor Proposal Template for SaaS Companies

The team at Revv put together a template to help founders grab the attention of investors. As they wrote, “With so many Investing Agencies, this Investor proposal will surely leave an impact on your company in the long run.” Check out the template here .

6. Startup Funding Proposal Sample

Template.net has created a downloadable funding proposal template that can be edited using any tool. As they wrote, “Get your business idea off the ground by winning investors for your business through this Startup Investment Proposal. Fascinate investors with how you are going to get your business into the spotlight and explain in vivid detail your goals or target for the business.” Check out the template here .

7. Simple Proposal Template

Best Templates has created a generic proposal template that can be molded to fit most use cases. As they wrote, “Use this Simple Proposal Template for any of your proposal needs. This 14-page proposal template is easily editable and fully customizable using any chosen application or program that supports MS Word or Pages file formats.”

8. Sample Investment Proposal for Morgan Stanley

Another example is from the team at Morgan Stanley. The template is commonly used by their team and can be applied to most proposal use cases.

Connect With More Investors and Tell Your Story With Visible

Being able to tie everything together and build a strategy for your fundraise will be an integral part of your fundraising success. Check out how Visible can help you every step of the way below:

Visible Connect — Finding the right investors for your business can be tricky. Using Visible Connect, filter investors by different categories (like stage, check size, geography, focus, and more) to find the right investors for your business. Give it a try here .

Pitch Deck Sharing — Once you’ve built out your target list of investors, you can start sharing your pitch deck with them directly from Visible. You can customize your sharing settings (like email gated, password gated, etc.) and even add your own domain. Give it a try here .

Fundraising CRM — Our Fundraising CRM brings all of your data together. Set up tailored stages , custom fields , take notes, and track activity for different investors to help you build momentum in your raise. We’ll show how each individual investor is engaging with your Updates, Decks, and Dashboards. Give it a try here .

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How to Write a Business Plan in 9 Steps (+ Template and Examples)

Every successful business has one thing in common, a good and well-executed business plan. A business plan is more than a document, it is a complete guide that outlines the goals your business wants to achieve, including its financial goals . It helps you analyze results, make strategic decisions, show your business operations and growth.

If you want to start a business or already have one and need to pitch it to investors for funding, writing a good business plan improves your chances of attracting financiers. As a startup, if you want to secure loans from financial institutions, part of the requirements involve submitting your business plan.

Writing a business plan does not have to be a complicated or time-consuming process. In this article, you will learn the step-by-step process for writing a successful business plan.

You will also learn what you need a business plan for, tips and strategies for writing a convincing business plan, business plan examples and templates that will save you tons of time, and the alternatives to the traditional business plan.

Let’s get started.

What Do You Need A Business Plan For?

Businesses create business plans for different purposes such as to secure funds, monitor business growth, measure your marketing strategies, and measure your business success.

1. Secure Funds

One of the primary reasons for writing a business plan is to secure funds, either from financial institutions/agencies or investors.

For you to effectively acquire funds, your business plan must contain the key elements of your business plan . For example, your business plan should include your growth plans, goals you want to achieve, and milestones you have recorded.

A business plan can also attract new business partners that are willing to contribute financially and intellectually. If you are writing a business plan to a bank, your project must show your traction , that is, the proof that you can pay back any loan borrowed.

Also, if you are writing to an investor, your plan must contain evidence that you can effectively utilize the funds you want them to invest in your business. Here, you are using your business plan to persuade a group or an individual that your business is a source of a good investment.

2. Monitor Business Growth

A business plan can help you track cash flows in your business. It steers your business to greater heights. A business plan capable of tracking business growth should contain:

• The business goals
• Methods to achieve the goals
• Time-frame for attaining those goals

A good business plan should guide you through every step in achieving your goals. It can also track the allocation of assets to every aspect of the business. You can tell when you are spending more than you should on a project.

You can compare a business plan to a written GPS. It helps you manage your business and hints at the right time to expand your business.

3. Measure Business Success

A business plan can help you measure your business success rate. Some small-scale businesses are thriving better than more prominent companies because of their track record of success.

Right from the onset of your business operation, set goals and work towards them. Write a plan to guide you through your procedures. Use your plan to measure how much you have achieved and how much is left to attain.

You can also weigh your success by monitoring the position of your brand relative to competitors. On the other hand, a business plan can also show you why you have not achieved a goal. It can tell if you have elapsed the time frame you set to attain a goal.

4. Document Your Marketing Strategies

You can use a business plan to document your marketing plans. Every business should have an effective marketing plan.

Competition mandates every business owner to go the extraordinary mile to remain relevant in the market. Your business plan should contain your marketing strategies that work. You can measure the success rate of your marketing plans.

In your business plan, your marketing strategy must answer the questions:

• How do you want to reach your target audience?
• How do you plan to retain your customers?
• What is/are your pricing plans?
• What is your budget for marketing?

How to Write a Business Plan Step-by-Step

1. create your executive summary.

The executive summary is a snapshot of your business or a high-level overview of your business purposes and plans . Although the executive summary is the first section in your business plan, most people write it last. The length of the executive summary is not more than two pages.

Generally, there are nine sections in a business plan, the executive summary should condense essential ideas from the other eight sections.

A good executive summary should do the following:

• A Snapshot of Growth Potential. Briefly inform the reader about your company and why it will be successful)
• Contain your Mission Statement which explains what the main objective or focus of your business is.
• Product Description and Differentiation. Brief description of your products or services and why it is different from other solutions in the market.
• The Team. Basic information about your company’s leadership team and employees
• Business Concept. A solid description of what your business does.
• Target Market. The customers you plan to sell to.
• Marketing Strategy. Your plans on reaching and selling to your customers
• Current Financial State. Brief information about what revenue your business currently generates.
• Projected Financial State. Brief information about what you foresee your business revenue to be in the future.

The executive summary is the make-or-break section of your business plan. If your summary cannot in less than two pages cannot clearly describe how your business will solve a particular problem of your target audience and make a profit, your business plan is set on a faulty foundation.

Avoid using the executive summary to hype your business, instead, focus on helping the reader understand the what and how of your plan.

View the executive summary as an opportunity to introduce your vision for your company. You know your executive summary is powerful when it can answer these key questions:

• Who is your target audience?
• What sector or industry are you in?
• What are your products and services?
• What is the future of your industry?
• Is your company scaleable?
• Who are the owners and leaders of your company? What are their backgrounds and experience levels?
• What is the motivation for starting your company?
• What are the next steps?

Writing the executive summary last although it is the most important section of your business plan is an excellent idea. The reason why is because it is a high-level overview of your business plan. It is the section that determines whether potential investors and lenders will read further or not.

The executive summary can be a stand-alone document that covers everything in your business plan. It is not uncommon for investors to request only the executive summary when evaluating your business. If the information in the executive summary impresses them, they will ask for the complete business plan.

If you are writing your business plan for your planning purposes, you do not need to write the executive summary.

2. Add Your Company Overview

The company overview or description is the next section in your business plan after the executive summary. It describes what your business does.

Adding your company overview can be tricky especially when your business is still in the planning stages. Existing businesses can easily summarize their current operations but may encounter difficulties trying to explain what they plan to become.

Your company overview should contain the following:

• What products and services you will provide
• Geographical markets and locations your company have a presence
• What you need to run your business
• Who your target audience or customers are
• Who will service your customers
• Your company’s purpose, mission, and vision
• Information about your company’s founders
• Who the founders are
• Notable achievements of your company so far

When creating a company overview, you have to focus on three basics: identifying your industry, identifying your customer, and explaining the problem you solve.

If you are stuck when creating your company overview, try to answer some of these questions that pertain to you.

• Who are you targeting? (The answer is not everyone)
• What pain point does your product or service solve for your customers that they will be willing to spend money on resolving?
• How does your product or service overcome that pain point?
• Where is the location of your business?
• What products, equipment, and services do you need to run your business?
• How is your company’s product or service different from your competition in the eyes of your customers?
• How many employees do you need and what skills do you require them to have?

After answering some or all of these questions, you will get more than enough information you need to write your company overview or description section. When writing this section, describe what your company does for your customers.

The company description or overview section contains three elements: mission statement, history, and objectives.

• Mission Statement

The mission statement refers to the reason why your business or company is existing. It goes beyond what you do or sell, it is about the ‘why’. A good mission statement should be emotional and inspirational.

Your mission statement should follow the KISS rule (Keep It Simple, Stupid). For example, Shopify’s mission statement is “Make commerce better for everyone.”

When describing your company’s history, make it simple and avoid the temptation of tying it to a defensive narrative. Write it in the manner you would a profile. Your company’s history should include the following information:

• Founding Date
• Major Milestones
• Location(s)
• Flagship Products or Services
• Number of Employees
• Executive Leadership Roles

When you fill in this information, you use it to write one or two paragraphs about your company’s history.

Business Objectives

Your business objective must be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound.) Failure to clearly identify your business objectives does not inspire confidence and makes it hard for your team members to work towards a common purpose.

3. Perform Market and Competitive Analyses to Proof a Big Enough Business Opportunity

The third step in writing a business plan is the market and competitive analysis section. Every business, no matter the size, needs to perform comprehensive market and competitive analyses before it enters into a market.

Performing market and competitive analyses are critical for the success of your business. It helps you avoid entering the right market with the wrong product, or vice versa. Anyone reading your business plans, especially financiers and financial institutions will want to see proof that there is a big enough business opportunity you are targeting.

This section is where you describe the market and industry you want to operate in and show the big opportunities in the market that your business can leverage to make a profit. If you noticed any unique trends when doing your research, show them in this section.

Market analysis alone is not enough, you have to add competitive analysis to strengthen this section. There are already businesses in the industry or market, how do you plan to take a share of the market from them?

You have to clearly illustrate the competitive landscape in your business plan. Are there areas your competitors are doing well? Are there areas where they are not doing so well? Show it.

Make it clear in this section why you are moving into the industry and what weaknesses are present there that you plan to explain. How are your competitors going to react to your market entry? How do you plan to get customers? Do you plan on taking your competitors' competitors, tap into other sources for customers, or both?

Illustrate the competitive landscape as well. What are your competitors doing well and not so well?

Answering these questions and thoughts will aid your market and competitive analysis of the opportunities in your space. Depending on how sophisticated your industry is, or the expectations of your financiers, you may need to carry out a more comprehensive market and competitive analysis to prove that big business opportunity.

Instead of looking at the market and competitive analyses as one entity, separating them will make the research even more comprehensive.

Market Analysis

Market analysis, boarding speaking, refers to research a business carried out on its industry, market, and competitors. It helps businesses gain a good understanding of their target market and the outlook of their industry. Before starting a company, it is vital to carry out market research to find out if the market is viable.

The market analysis section is a key part of the business plan. It is the section where you identify who your best clients or customers are. You cannot omit this section, without it your business plan is incomplete.

A good market analysis will tell your readers how you fit into the existing market and what makes you stand out. This section requires in-depth research, it will probably be the most time-consuming part of the business plan to write.

• Market Research

To create a compelling market analysis that will win over investors and financial institutions, you have to carry out thorough market research . Your market research should be targeted at your primary target market for your products or services. Here is what you want to find out about your target market.

• Your target market’s needs or pain points
• The existing solutions for their pain points
• Geographic Location
• Demographics

The purpose of carrying out a marketing analysis is to get all the information you need to show that you have a solid and thorough understanding of your target audience.

Only after you have fully understood the people you plan to sell your products or services to, can you evaluate correctly if your target market will be interested in your products or services.

You can easily convince interested parties to invest in your business if you can show them you thoroughly understand the market and show them that there is a market for your products or services.

How to Quantify Your Target Market

One of the goals of your marketing research is to understand who your ideal customers are and their purchasing power. To quantify your target market, you have to determine the following:

• Your Potential Customers: They are the people you plan to target. For example, if you sell accounting software for small businesses , then anyone who runs an enterprise or large business is unlikely to be your customers. Also, individuals who do not have a business will most likely not be interested in your product.
• Total Households: If you are selling household products such as heating and air conditioning systems, determining the number of total households is more important than finding out the total population in the area you want to sell to. The logic is simple, people buy the product but it is the household that uses it.
• Median Income: You need to know the median income of your target market. If you target a market that cannot afford to buy your products and services, your business will not last long.
• Income by Demographics: If your potential customers belong to a certain age group or gender, determining income levels by demographics is necessary. For example, if you sell men's clothes, your target audience is men.

What Does a Good Market Analysis Entail?

Your business does not exist on its own, it can only flourish within an industry and alongside competitors. Market analysis takes into consideration your industry, target market, and competitors. Understanding these three entities will drastically improve your company’s chances of success.

You can view your market analysis as an examination of the market you want to break into and an education on the emerging trends and themes in that market. Good market analyses include the following:

• Industry Description. You find out about the history of your industry, the current and future market size, and who the largest players/companies are in your industry.
• Overview of Target Market. You research your target market and its characteristics. Who are you targeting? Note, it cannot be everyone, it has to be a specific group. You also have to find out all information possible about your customers that can help you understand how and why they make buying decisions.
• Size of Target Market: You need to know the size of your target market, how frequently they buy, and the expected quantity they buy so you do not risk overproducing and having lots of bad inventory. Researching the size of your target market will help you determine if it is big enough for sustained business or not.
• Growth Potential: Before picking a target market, you want to be sure there are lots of potential for future growth. You want to avoid going for an industry that is declining slowly or rapidly with almost zero growth potential.
• Market Share Potential: Does your business stand a good chance of taking a good share of the market?
• Market Pricing and Promotional Strategies: Your market analysis should give you an idea of the price point you can expect to charge for your products and services. Researching your target market will also give you ideas of pricing strategies you can implement to break into the market or to enjoy maximum profits.
• Potential Barriers to Entry: One of the biggest benefits of conducting market analysis is that it shows you every potential barrier to entry your business will likely encounter. It is a good idea to discuss potential barriers to entry such as changing technology. It informs readers of your business plan that you understand the market.
• Research on Competitors: You need to know the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors and how you can exploit them for the benefit of your business. Find patterns and trends among your competitors that make them successful, discover what works and what doesn’t, and see what you can do better.

The market analysis section is not just for talking about your target market, industry, and competitors. You also have to explain how your company can fill the hole you have identified in the market.

Here are some questions you can answer that can help you position your product or service in a positive light to your readers.

• Is your product or service of superior quality?
• What additional features do you offer that your competitors do not offer?
• Are you targeting a ‘new’ market?

Basically, your market analysis should include an analysis of what already exists in the market and an explanation of how your company fits into the market.

Competitive Analysis

In the competitive analysis section, y ou have to understand who your direct and indirect competitions are, and how successful they are in the marketplace. It is the section where you assess the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors, the advantage(s) they possess in the market and show the unique features or qualities that make you different from your competitors.

Many businesses do market analysis and competitive analysis together. However, to fully understand what the competitive analysis entails, it is essential to separate it from the market analysis.

Competitive analysis for your business can also include analysis on how to overcome barriers to entry in your target market.

The primary goal of conducting a competitive analysis is to distinguish your business from your competitors. A strong competitive analysis is essential if you want to convince potential funding sources to invest in your business. You have to show potential investors and lenders that your business has what it takes to compete in the marketplace successfully.

Competitive analysis will s how you what the strengths of your competition are and what they are doing to maintain that advantage.

When doing your competitive research, you first have to identify your competitor and then get all the information you can about them. The idea of spending time to identify your competitor and learn everything about them may seem daunting but it is well worth it.

Find answers to the following questions after you have identified who your competitors are.

• What are your successful competitors doing?
• Why is what they are doing working?
• Can your business do it better?
• What are the weaknesses of your successful competitors?
• What are they not doing well?
• Can your business turn its weaknesses into strengths?
• How good is your competitors’ customer service?
• Where do your competitors invest in advertising?
• What sales and pricing strategies are they using?
• What marketing strategies are they using?
• What kind of press coverage do they get?
• What are their customers saying about your competitors (both the positive and negative)?

If your competitors have a website, it is a good idea to visit their websites for more competitors’ research. Check their “About Us” page for more information.

If you are presenting your business plan to investors, you need to clearly distinguish yourself from your competitors. Investors can easily tell when you have not properly researched your competitors.

Take time to think about what unique qualities or features set you apart from your competitors. If you do not have any direct competition offering your product to the market, it does not mean you leave out the competitor analysis section blank. Instead research on other companies that are providing a similar product, or whose product is solving the problem your product solves.

The next step is to create a table listing the top competitors you want to include in your business plan. Ensure you list your business as the last and on the right. What you just created is known as the competitor analysis table.

Direct vs Indirect Competition

You cannot know if your product or service will be a fit for your target market if you have not understood your business and the competitive landscape.

There is no market you want to target where you will not encounter competition, even if your product is innovative. Including competitive analysis in your business plan is essential.

If you are entering an established market, you need to explain how you plan to differentiate your products from the available options in the market. Also, include a list of few companies that you view as your direct competitors The competition you face in an established market is your direct competition.

In situations where you are entering a market with no direct competition, it does not mean there is no competition there. Consider your indirect competition that offers substitutes for the products or services you offer.

For example, if you sell an innovative SaaS product, let us say a project management software , a company offering time management software is your indirect competition.

There is an easy way to find out who your indirect competitors are in the absence of no direct competitors. You simply have to research how your potential customers are solving the problems that your product or service seeks to solve. That is your direct competition.

Factors that Differentiate Your Business from the Competition

There are three main factors that any business can use to differentiate itself from its competition. They are cost leadership, product differentiation, and market segmentation.

1. Cost Leadership

A strategy you can impose to maximize your profits and gain an edge over your competitors. It involves offering lower prices than what the majority of your competitors are offering.

A common practice among businesses looking to enter into a market where there are dominant players is to use free trials or pricing to attract as many customers as possible to their offer.

2. Product Differentiation

Your product or service should have a unique selling proposition (USP) that your competitors do not have or do not stress in their marketing.

Part of the marketing strategy should involve making your products unique and different from your competitors. It does not have to be different from your competitors, it can be the addition to a feature or benefit that your competitors do not currently have.

3. Market Segmentation

As a new business seeking to break into an industry, you will gain more success from focusing on a specific niche or target market, and not the whole industry.

If your competitors are focused on a general need or target market, you can differentiate yourself from them by having a small and hyper-targeted audience. For example, if your competitors are selling men’s clothes in their online stores , you can sell hoodies for men.

4. Define Your Business and Management Structure

The next step in your business plan is your business and management structure. It is the section where you describe the legal structure of your business and the team running it.

Your business is only as good as the management team that runs it, while the management team can only strive when there is a proper business and management structure in place.

If your company is a sole proprietor or a limited liability company (LLC), a general or limited partnership, or a C or an S corporation, state it clearly in this section.

Use an organizational chart to show the management structure in your business. Clearly show who is in charge of what area in your company. It is where you show how each key manager or team leader’s unique experience can contribute immensely to the success of your company. You can also opt to add the resumes and CVs of the key players in your company.

The business and management structure section should show who the owner is, and other owners of the businesses (if the business has other owners). For businesses or companies with multiple owners, include the percent ownership of the various owners and clearly show the extent of each others’ involvement in the company.

Investors want to know who is behind the company and the team running it to determine if it has the right management to achieve its set goals.

Management Team

The management team section is where you show that you have the right team in place to successfully execute the business operations and ideas. Take time to create the management structure for your business. Think about all the important roles and responsibilities that you need managers for to grow your business.

Include brief bios of each key team member and ensure you highlight only the relevant information that is needed. If your team members have background industry experience or have held top positions for other companies and achieved success while filling that role, highlight it in this section.

A common mistake that many startups make is assigning C-level titles such as (CMO and CEO) to everyone on their team. It is unrealistic for a small business to have those titles. While it may look good on paper for the ego of your team members, it can prevent investors from investing in your business.

Instead of building an unrealistic management structure that does not fit your business reality, it is best to allow business titles to grow as the business grows. Starting everyone at the top leaves no room for future change or growth, which is bad for productivity.

Your management team does not have to be complete before you start writing your business plan. You can have a complete business plan even when there are managerial positions that are empty and need filling.

If you have management gaps in your team, simply show the gaps and indicate you are searching for the right candidates for the role(s). Investors do not expect you to have a full management team when you are just starting your business.

Key Questions to Answer When Structuring Your Management Team

• Who are the key leaders?
• What experiences, skills, and educational backgrounds do you expect your key leaders to have?
• Do your key leaders have industry experience?
• What positions will they fill and what duties will they perform in those positions?
• What level of authority do the key leaders have and what are their responsibilities?
• What is the salary for the various management positions that will attract the ideal candidates?

Additional Tips for Writing the Management Structure Section

1. Avoid Adding ‘Ghost’ Names to Your Management Team

There is always that temptation to include a ‘ghost’ name to your management team to attract and influence investors to invest in your business. Although the presence of these celebrity management team members may attract the attention of investors, it can cause your business to lose any credibility if you get found out.

Seasoned investors will investigate further the members of your management team before committing fully to your business If they find out that the celebrity name used does not play any actual role in your business, they will not invest and may write you off as dishonest.

2. Focus on Credentials But Pay Extra Attention to the Roles

Investors want to know the experience that your key team members have to determine if they can successfully reach the company’s growth and financial goals.

While it is an excellent boost for your key management team to have the right credentials, you also want to pay extra attention to the roles they will play in your company.

Organizational Chart

Adding an organizational chart in this section of your business plan is not necessary, you can do it in your business plan’s appendix.

If you are exploring funding options, it is not uncommon to get asked for your organizational chart. The function of an organizational chart goes beyond raising money, you can also use it as a useful planning tool for your business.

An organizational chart can help you identify how best to structure your management team for maximum productivity and point you towards key roles you need to fill in the future.

You can use the organizational chart to show your company’s internal management structure such as the roles and responsibilities of your management team, and relationships that exist between them.

5. Describe Your Product and Service Offering

In your business plan, you have to describe what you sell or the service you plan to offer. It is the next step after defining your business and management structure. The products and services section is where you sell the benefits of your business.

Here you have to explain how your product or service will benefit your customers and describe your product lifecycle. It is also the section where you write down your plans for intellectual property like patent filings and copyrighting.

The research and development that you are undertaking for your product or service need to be explained in detail in this section. However, do not get too technical, sell the general idea and its benefits.

If you have any diagrams or intricate designs of your product or service, do not include them in the products and services section. Instead, leave them for the addendum page. Also, if you are leaving out diagrams or designs for the addendum, ensure you add this phrase “For more detail, visit the addendum Page #.”

Your product and service section in your business plan should include the following:

• A detailed explanation that clearly shows how your product or service works.
• The pricing model for your product or service.
• Your business’ sales and distribution strategy.
• The ideal customers that want your product or service.
• The benefits of your products and services.
• Reason(s) why your product or service is a better alternative to what your competitors are currently offering in the market.
• Plans for filling the orders you receive
• If you have current or pending patents, copyrights, and trademarks for your product or service, you can also discuss them in this section.

What to Focus On When Describing the Benefits, Lifecycle, and Production Process of Your Products or Services

In the products and services section, you have to distill the benefits, lifecycle, and production process of your products and services.

When describing the benefits of your products or services, here are some key factors to focus on.

• Unique features
• Translating the unique features into benefits
• The emotional, psychological, and practical payoffs to attract customers
• Intellectual property rights or any patents

When describing the product life cycle of your products or services, here are some key factors to focus on.

• Upsells, cross-sells, and down-sells
• Time between purchases
• Plans for research and development.

When describing the production process for your products or services, you need to think about the following:

• The creation of new or existing products and services.
• The sources for the raw materials or components you need for production.
• Assembling the products
• Maintaining quality control
• Supply-chain logistics (receiving the raw materials and delivering the finished products)
• The day-to-day management of the production processes, bookkeeping, and inventory.

Tips for Writing the Products or Services Section of Your Business Plan

1. Avoid Technical Descriptions and Industry Buzzwords

The products and services section of your business plan should clearly describe the products and services that your company provides. However, it is not a section to include technical jargons that anyone outside your industry will not understand.

A good practice is to remove highly detailed or technical descriptions in favor of simple terms. Industry buzzwords are not necessary, if there are simpler terms you can use, then use them. If you plan to use your business plan to source funds, making the product or service section so technical will do you no favors.

2. Describe How Your Products or Services Differ from Your Competitors

When potential investors look at your business plan, they want to know how the products and services you are offering differ from that of your competition. Differentiating your products or services from your competition in a way that makes your solution more attractive is critical.

If you are going the innovative path and there is no market currently for your product or service, you need to describe in this section why the market needs your product or service.

For example, overnight delivery was a niche business that only a few companies were participating in. Federal Express (FedEx) had to show in its business plan that there was a large opportunity for that service and they justified why the market needed that service.

3. Long or Short Products or Services Section

Should your products or services section be short? Does the long products or services section attract more investors?

There are no straightforward answers to these questions. Whether your products or services section should be long or relatively short depends on the nature of your business.

If your business is product-focused, then automatically you need to use more space to describe the details of your products. However, if the product your business sells is a commodity item that relies on competitive pricing or other pricing strategies, you do not have to use up so much space to provide significant details about the product.

Likewise, if you are selling a commodity that is available in numerous outlets, then you do not have to spend time on writing a long products or services section.

The key to the success of your business is most likely the effectiveness of your marketing strategies compared to your competitors. Use more space to address that section.

If you are creating a new product or service that the market does not know about, your products or services section can be lengthy. The reason why is because you need to explain everything about the product or service such as the nature of the product, its use case, and values.

A short products or services section for an innovative product or service will not give the readers enough information to properly evaluate your business.

4. Describe Your Relationships with Vendors or Suppliers

Your business will rely on vendors or suppliers to supply raw materials or the components needed to make your products. In your products and services section, describe your relationships with your vendors and suppliers fully.

Avoid the mistake of relying on only one supplier or vendor. If that supplier or vendor fails to supply or goes out of business, you can easily face supply problems and struggle to meet your demands. Plan to set up multiple vendor or supplier relationships for better business stability.

5. Your Primary Goal Is to Convince Your Readers

The primary goal of your business plan is to convince your readers that your business is viable and to create a guide for your business to follow. It applies to the products and services section.

When drafting this section, think like the reader. See your reader as someone who has no idea about your products and services. You are using the products and services section to provide the needed information to help your reader understand your products and services. As a result, you have to be clear and to the point.

While you want to educate your readers about your products or services, you also do not want to bore them with lots of technical details. Show your products and services and not your fancy choice of words.

Your products and services section should provide the answer to the “what” question for your business. You and your management team may run the business, but it is your products and services that are the lifeblood of the business.

Key Questions to Answer When Writing your Products and Services Section

Answering these questions can help you write your products and services section quickly and in a way that will appeal to your readers.

• Are your products existing on the market or are they still in the development stage?
• What is your timeline for adding new products and services to the market?
• What are the positives that make your products and services different from your competitors?
• Do your products and services have any competitive advantage that your competitors’ products and services do not currently have?
• Do your products or services have any competitive disadvantages that you need to overcome to compete with your competitors? If your answer is yes, state how you plan to overcome them,
• How much does it cost to produce your products or services? How much do you plan to sell it for?
• What is the price for your products and services compared to your competitors? Is pricing an issue?
• What are your operating costs and will it be low enough for you to compete with your competitors and still take home a reasonable profit margin?
• What is your plan for acquiring your products? Are you involved in the production of your products or services?
• Are you the manufacturer and produce all the components you need to create your products? Do you assemble your products by using components supplied by other manufacturers? Do you purchase your products directly from suppliers or wholesalers?
• Do you have a steady supply of products that you need to start your business? (If your business is yet to kick-off)
• How do you plan to distribute your products or services to the market?

You can also hint at the marketing or promotion plans you have for your products or services such as how you plan to build awareness or retain customers. The next section is where you can go fully into details about your business’s marketing and sales plan.

6. Show and Explain Your Marketing and Sales Plan

Providing great products and services is wonderful, but it means nothing if you do not have a marketing and sales plan to inform your customers about them. Your marketing and sales plan is critical to the success of your business.

The sales and marketing section is where you show and offer a detailed explanation of your marketing and sales plan and how you plan to execute it. It covers your pricing plan, proposed advertising and promotion activities, activities and partnerships you need to make your business a success, and the benefits of your products and services.

There are several ways you can approach your marketing and sales strategy. Ideally, your marketing and sales strategy has to fit the unique needs of your business.

In this section, you describe how the plans your business has for attracting and retaining customers, and the exact process for making a sale happen. It is essential to thoroughly describe your complete marketing and sales plans because you are still going to reference this section when you are making financial projections for your business.

Outline Your Business’ Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

The sales and marketing section is where you outline your business’s unique selling proposition (USP). When you are developing your unique selling proposition, think about the strongest reasons why people should buy from you over your competition. That reason(s) is most likely a good fit to serve as your unique selling proposition (USP).

Target Market and Target Audience

Plans on how to get your products or services to your target market and how to get your target audience to buy them go into this section. You also highlight the strengths of your business here, particularly what sets them apart from your competition.

Before you start writing your marketing and sales plan, you need to have properly defined your target audience and fleshed out your buyer persona. If you do not first understand the individual you are marketing to, your marketing and sales plan will lack any substance and easily fall.

Creating a Smart Marketing and Sales Plan

Marketing your products and services is an investment that requires you to spend money. Like any other investment, you have to generate a good return on investment (ROI) to justify using that marketing and sales plan. Good marketing and sales plans bring in high sales and profits to your company.

Avoid spending money on unproductive marketing channels. Do your research and find out the best marketing and sales plan that works best for your company.

Your marketing and sales plan can be broken into different parts: your positioning statement, pricing, promotion, packaging, advertising, public relations, content marketing, social media, and strategic alliances.

Your Positioning Statement

Your positioning statement is the first part of your marketing and sales plan. It refers to the way you present your company to your customers.

Are you the premium solution, the low-price solution, or are you the intermediary between the two extremes in the market? What do you offer that your competitors do not that can give you leverage in the market?

Before you start writing your positioning statement, you need to spend some time evaluating the current market conditions. Here are some questions that can help you to evaluate the market

• What are the unique features or benefits that you offer that your competitors lack?
• What are your customers’ primary needs and wants?
• Why should a customer choose you over your competition? How do you plan to differentiate yourself from the competition?
• How does your company’s solution compare with other solutions in the market?

After answering these questions, then you can start writing your positioning statement. Your positioning statement does not have to be in-depth or too long.

All you need to explain with your positioning statement are two focus areas. The first is the position of your company within the competitive landscape. The other focus area is the core value proposition that sets your company apart from other alternatives that your ideal customer might consider.

Here is a simple template you can use to develop a positioning statement.

For [description of target market] who [need of target market], [product or service] [how it meets the need]. Unlike [top competition], it [most essential distinguishing feature].

For example, let’s create the positioning statement for fictional accounting software and QuickBooks alternative , TBooks.

“For small business owners who need accounting services, TBooks is an accounting software that helps small businesses handle their small business bookkeeping basics quickly and easily. Unlike Wave, TBooks gives small businesses access to live sessions with top accountants.”

You can edit this positioning statement sample and fill it with your business details.

After writing your positioning statement, the next step is the pricing of your offerings. The overall positioning strategy you set in your positioning statement will often determine how you price your products or services.

Pricing is a powerful tool that sends a strong message to your customers. Failure to get your pricing strategy right can make or mar your business. If you are targeting a low-income audience, setting a premium price can result in low sales.

You can use pricing to communicate your positioning to your customers. For example, if you are offering a product at a premium price, you are sending a message to your customers that the product belongs to the premium category.

Basic Rules to Follow When Pricing Your Offering

Setting a price for your offering involves more than just putting a price tag on it. Deciding on the right pricing for your offering requires following some basic rules. They include covering your costs, primary and secondary profit center pricing, and matching the market rate.

• Covering Your Costs: The price you set for your products or service should be more than it costs you to produce and deliver them. Every business has the same goal, to make a profit. Depending on the strategy you want to use, there are exceptions to this rule. However, the vast majority of businesses follow this rule.
• Primary and Secondary Profit Center Pricing: When a company sets its price above the cost of production, it is making that product its primary profit center. A company can also decide not to make its initial price its primary profit center by selling below or at even with its production cost. It rather depends on the support product or even maintenance that is associated with the initial purchase to make its profit. The initial price thus became its secondary profit center.
• Matching the Market Rate: A good rule to follow when pricing your products or services is to match your pricing with consumer demand and expectations. If you price your products or services beyond the price your customer perceives as the ideal price range, you may end up with no customers. Pricing your products too low below what your customer perceives as the ideal price range may lead to them undervaluing your offering.

Pricing Strategy

Your pricing strategy influences the price of your offering. There are several pricing strategies available for you to choose from when examining the right pricing strategy for your business. They include cost-plus pricing, market-based pricing, value pricing, and more.

• Cost-plus Pricing: This strategy is one of the simplest and oldest pricing strategies. Here you consider the cost of producing a unit of your product and then add a profit to it to arrive at your market price. It is an effective pricing strategy for manufacturers because it helps them cover their initial costs. Another name for the cost-plus pricing strategy is the markup pricing strategy.
• Market-based Pricing: This pricing strategy analyses the market including competitors’ pricing and then sets a price based on what the market is expecting. With this pricing strategy, you can either set your price at the low-end or high-end of the market.
• Value Pricing: This pricing strategy involves setting a price based on the value you are providing to your customer. When adopting a value-based pricing strategy, you have to set a price that your customers are willing to pay. Service-based businesses such as small business insurance providers , luxury goods sellers, and the fashion industry use this pricing strategy.

After carefully sorting out your positioning statement and pricing, the next item to look at is your promotional strategy. Your promotional strategy explains how you plan on communicating with your customers and prospects.

As a business, you must measure all your costs, including the cost of your promotions. You also want to measure how much sales your promotions bring for your business to determine its usefulness. Promotional strategies or programs that do not lead to profit need to be removed.

There are different types of promotional strategies you can adopt for your business, they include advertising, public relations, and content marketing.

Advertising

Your business plan should include your advertising plan which can be found in the marketing and sales plan section. You need to include an overview of your advertising plans such as the areas you plan to spend money on to advertise your business and offers.

Ensure that you make it clear in this section if your business will be advertising online or using the more traditional offline media, or the combination of both online and offline media. You can also include the advertising medium you want to use to raise awareness about your business and offers.

Some common online advertising mediums you can use include social media ads, landing pages, sales pages, SEO, Pay-Per-Click, emails, Google Ads, and others. Some common traditional and offline advertising mediums include word of mouth, radios, direct mail, televisions, flyers, billboards, posters, and others.

A key component of your advertising strategy is how you plan to measure the effectiveness and success of your advertising campaign. There is no point in sticking with an advertising plan or medium that does not produce results for your business in the long run.

Public Relations

A great way to reach your customers is to get the media to cover your business or product. Publicity, especially good ones, should be a part of your marketing and sales plan. In this section, show your plans for getting prominent reviews of your product from reputable publications and sources.

Your business needs that exposure to grow. If public relations is a crucial part of your promotional strategy, provide details about your public relations plan here.

Content Marketing

Content marketing is a popular promotional strategy used by businesses to inform and attract their customers. It is about teaching and educating your prospects on various topics of interest in your niche, it does not just involve informing them about the benefits and features of the products and services you have,

Businesses publish content usually for free where they provide useful information, tips, and advice so that their target market can be made aware of the importance of their products and services. Content marketing strategies seek to nurture prospects into buyers over time by simply providing value.

Your company can create a blog where it will be publishing content for its target market. You will need to use the best website builder such as Wix and Squarespace and the best web hosting services such as Bluehost, Hostinger, and other Bluehost alternatives to create a functional blog or website.

If content marketing is a crucial part of your promotional strategy (as it should be), detail your plans under promotions.

Including high-quality images of the packaging of your product in your business plan is a lovely idea. You can add the images of the packaging of that product in the marketing and sales plan section. If you are not selling a product, then you do not need to include any worry about the physical packaging of your product.

When organizing the packaging section of your business plan, you can answer the following questions to make maximum use of this section.

• Is your choice of packaging consistent with your positioning strategy?
• What key value proposition does your packaging communicate? (It should reflect the key value proposition of your business)
• How does your packaging compare to that of your competitors?

Social Media

Your 21st-century business needs to have a good social media presence. Not having one is leaving out opportunities for growth and reaching out to your prospect.

You do not have to join the thousands of social media platforms out there. What you need to do is join the ones that your customers are active on and be active there.

Businesses use social media to provide information about their products such as promotions, discounts, the benefits of their products, and content on their blogs.

Social media is also a platform for engaging with your customers and getting feedback about your products or services. Make no mistake, more and more of your prospects are using social media channels to find more information about companies.

You need to consider the social media channels you want to prioritize your business (prioritize the ones your customers are active in) and your branding plans in this section.

Strategic Alliances

If your company plans to work closely with other companies as part of your sales and marketing plan, include it in this section. Prove details about those partnerships in your business plan if you have already established them.

Strategic alliances can be beneficial for all parties involved including your company. Working closely with another company in the form of a partnership can provide access to a different target market segment for your company.

The company you are partnering with may also gain access to your target market or simply offer a new product or service (that of your company) to its customers.

Mutually beneficial partnerships can cover the weaknesses of one company with the strength of another. You should consider strategic alliances with companies that sell complimentary products to yours. For example, if you provide printers, you can partner with a company that produces ink since the customers that buy printers from you will also need inks for printing.

Steps Involved in Creating a Marketing and Sales Plan

1. Focus on Your Target Market

Identify who your customers are, the market you want to target. Then determine the best ways to get your products or services to your potential customers.

2. Evaluate Your Competition

One of the goals of having a marketing plan is to distinguish yourself from your competition. You cannot stand out from them without first knowing them in and out.

You can know your competitors by gathering information about their products, pricing, service, and advertising campaigns.

These questions can help you know your competition.

• What makes your competition successful?
• What are their weaknesses?
• What are customers saying about your competition?

3. Consider Your Brand

Customers' perception of your brand has a strong impact on your sales. Your marketing and sales plan should seek to bolster the image of your brand. Before you start marketing your business, think about the message you want to pass across about your business and your products and services.

4. Focus on Benefits

The majority of your customers do not view your product in terms of features, what they want to know is the benefits and solutions your product offers. Think about the problems your product solves and the benefits it delivers, and use it to create the right sales and marketing message.

Your marketing plan should focus on what you want your customer to get instead of what you provide. Identify those benefits in your marketing and sales plan.

5. Focus on Differentiation

Your marketing and sales plan should look for a unique angle they can take that differentiates your business from the competition, even if the products offered are similar. Some good areas of differentiation you can use are your benefits, pricing, and features.

Key Questions to Answer When Writing Your Marketing and Sales Plan

• What is your company’s budget for sales and marketing campaigns?
• What key metrics will you use to determine if your marketing plans are successful?
• What are your alternatives if your initial marketing efforts do not succeed?
• Who are the sales representatives you need to promote your products or services?
• What are the marketing and sales channels you plan to use? How do you plan to get your products in front of your ideal customers?
• Where will you sell your products?

You may want to include samples of marketing materials you plan to use such as print ads, website descriptions, and social media ads. While it is not compulsory to include these samples, it can help you better communicate your marketing and sales plan and objectives.

The purpose of the marketing and sales section is to answer this question “How will you reach your customers?” If you cannot convincingly provide an answer to this question, you need to rework your marketing and sales section.

7. Clearly Show Your Funding Request

If you are writing your business plan to ask for funding from investors or financial institutions, the funding request section is where you will outline your funding requirements. The funding request section should answer the question ‘How much money will your business need in the near future (3 to 5 years)?’

A good funding request section will clearly outline and explain the amount of funding your business needs over the next five years. You need to know the amount of money your business needs to make an accurate funding request.

Also, when writing your funding request, provide details of how the funds will be used over the period. Specify if you want to use the funds to buy raw materials or machinery, pay salaries, pay for advertisements, and cover specific bills such as rent and electricity.

In addition to explaining what you want to use the funds requested for, you need to clearly state the projected return on investment (ROI) . Investors and creditors want to know if your business can generate profit for them if they put funds into it.

Ensure you do not inflate the figures and stay as realistic as possible. Investors and financial institutions you are seeking funds from will do their research before investing money in your business.

If you are not sure of an exact number to request from, you can use some range of numbers as rough estimates. Add a best-case scenario and a work-case scenario to your funding request. Also, include a description of your strategic future financial plans such as selling your business or paying off debts.

Funding Request: Debt or Equity?

When making your funding request, specify the type of funding you want. Do you want debt or equity? Draw out the terms that will be applicable for the funding, and the length of time the funding request will cover.

Case for Equity

If your new business has not yet started generating profits, you are most likely preparing to sell equity in your business to raise capital at the early stage. Equity here refers to ownership. In this case, you are selling a portion of your company to raise capital.

Although this method of raising capital for your business does not put your business in debt, keep in mind that an equity owner may expect to play a key role in company decisions even if he does not hold a major stake in the company.

Most equity sales for startups are usually private transactions . If you are making a funding request by offering equity in exchange for funding, let the investor know that they will be paid a dividend (a share of the company’s profit). Also, let the investor know the process for selling their equity in your business.

Case for Debt

You may decide not to offer equity in exchange for funds, instead, you make a funding request with the promise to pay back the money borrowed at the agreed time frame.

When making a funding request with an agreement to pay back, note that you will have to repay your creditors both the principal amount borrowed and the interest on it. Financial institutions offer this type of funding for businesses.

Large companies combine both equity and debt in their capital structure. When drafting your business plan, decide if you want to offer both or one over the other.

Before you sell equity in exchange for funding in your business, consider if you are willing to accept not being in total control of your business. Also, before you seek loans in your funding request section, ensure that the terms of repayment are favorable.

You should set a clear timeline in your funding request so that potential investors and creditors can know what you are expecting. Some investors and creditors may agree to your funding request and then delay payment for longer than 30 days, meanwhile, your business needs an immediate cash injection to operate efficiently.

Additional Tips for Writing the Funding Request Section of your Business Plan

The funding request section is not necessary for every business, it is only needed by businesses who plan to use their business plan to secure funding.

If you are adding the funding request section to your business plan, provide an itemized summary of how you plan to use the funds requested. Hiring a lawyer, accountant, or other professionals may be necessary for the proper development of this section.

You should also gather and use financial statements that add credibility and support to your funding requests. Ensure that the financial statements you use should include your projected financial data such as projected cash flows, forecast statements, and expenditure budgets.

If you are an existing business, include all historical financial statements such as cash flow statements, balance sheets and income statements .

Provide monthly and quarterly financial statements for a year. If your business has records that date back beyond the one-year mark, add the yearly statements of those years. These documents are for the appendix section of your business plan.

8. Detail Your Financial Plan, Metrics, and Projections

If you used the funding request section in your business plan, supplement it with a financial plan, metrics, and projections. This section paints a picture of the past performance of your business and then goes ahead to make an informed projection about its future.

The goal of this section is to convince readers that your business is going to be a financial success. It outlines your business plan to generate enough profit to repay the loan (with interest if applicable) and to generate a decent return on investment for investors.

If you have an existing business already in operation, use this section to demonstrate stability through finance. This section should include your cash flow statements, balance sheets, and income statements covering the last three to five years. If your business has some acceptable collateral that you can use to acquire loans, list it in the financial plan, metrics, and projection section.

Apart from current financial statements, this section should also contain a prospective financial outlook that spans the next five years. Include forecasted income statements, cash flow statements, balance sheets, and capital expenditure budget.

If your business is new and is not yet generating profit, use clear and realistic projections to show the potentials of your business.

When drafting this section, research industry norms and the performance of comparable businesses. Your financial projections should cover at least five years. State the logic behind your financial projections. Remember you can always make adjustments to this section as the variables change.

The financial plan, metrics, and projection section create a baseline which your business can either exceed or fail to reach. If your business fails to reach your projections in this section, you need to understand why it failed.

Investors and loan managers spend a lot of time going through the financial plan, metrics, and projection section compared to other parts of the business plan. Ensure you spend time creating credible financial analyses for your business in this section.

Many entrepreneurs find this section daunting to write. You do not need a business degree to create a solid financial forecast for your business. Business finances, especially for startups, are not as complicated as they seem. There are several online tools and templates that make writing this section so much easier.

Use Graphs and Charts

The financial plan, metrics, and projection section is a great place to use graphs and charts to tell the financial story of your business. Charts and images make it easier to communicate your finances.

Accuracy in this section is key, ensure you carefully analyze your past financial statements properly before making financial projects.

Address the Risk Factors and Show Realistic Financial Projections

Keep your financial plan, metrics, and projection realistic. It is okay to be optimistic in your financial projection, however, you have to justify it.

You should also address the various risk factors associated with your business in this section. Investors want to know the potential risks involved, show them. You should also show your plans for mitigating those risks.

What You Should In The Financial Plan, Metrics, and Projection Section of Your Business Plan

The financial plan, metrics, and projection section of your business plan should have monthly sales and revenue forecasts for the first year. It should also include annual projections that cover 3 to 5 years.

A three-year projection is a basic requirement to have in your business plan. However, some investors may request a five-year forecast.

Your business plan should include the following financial statements: sales forecast, personnel plan, income statement, income statement, cash flow statement, balance sheet, and an exit strategy.

1. Sales Forecast

Sales forecast refers to your projections about the number of sales your business is going to record over the next few years. It is typically broken into several rows, with each row assigned to a core product or service that your business is offering.

One common mistake people make in their business plan is to break down the sales forecast section into long details. A sales forecast should forecast the high-level details.

For example, if you are forecasting sales for a payroll software provider, you could break down your forecast into target market segments or subscription categories.

Your sales forecast section should also have a corresponding row for each sales row to cover the direct cost or Cost of Goods Sold (COGS). The objective of these rows is to show the expenses that your business incurs in making and delivering your product or service.

Note that your Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) should only cover those direct costs incurred when making your products. Other indirect expenses such as insurance, salaries, payroll tax, and rent should not be included.

For example, the Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) for a restaurant is the cost of ingredients while for a consulting company it will be the cost of paper and other presentation materials.

2. Personnel Plan

The personnel plan section is where you provide details about the payment plan for your employees. For a small business, you can easily list every position in your company and how much you plan to pay in the personnel plan.

However, for larger businesses, you have to break the personnel plan into functional groups such as sales and marketing.

The personnel plan will also include the cost of an employee beyond salary, commonly referred to as the employee burden. These costs include insurance, payroll taxes , and other essential costs incurred monthly as a result of having employees on your payroll.

3. Income Statement

The income statement section shows if your business is making a profit or taking a loss. Another name for the income statement is the profit and loss (P&L). It takes data from your sales forecast and personnel plan and adds other ongoing expenses you incur while running your business.

Every business plan should have an income statement. It subtracts your business expenses from its earnings to show if your business is generating profit or incurring losses.

The income statement has the following items: sales, Cost of Goods Sold (COGS), gross margin, operating expenses, total operating expenses, operating income , total expenses, and net profit.

• Sales refer to the revenue your business generates from selling its products or services. Other names for sales are income or revenue.
• Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) refers to the total cost of selling your products. Other names for COGS are direct costs or cost of sales. Manufacturing businesses use the Costs of Goods Manufactured (COGM) .
• Gross Margin is the figure you get when you subtract your COGS from your sales. In your income statement, you can express it as a percentage of total sales (Gross margin / Sales = Gross Margin Percent).
• Operating Expenses refer to all the expenses you incur from running your business. It exempts the COGS because it stands alone as a core part of your income statement. You also have to exclude taxes, depreciation, and amortization. Your operating expenses include salaries, marketing expenses, research and development (R&D) expenses, and other expenses.
• Total Operating Expenses refers to the sum of all your operating expenses including those exemptions named above under operating expenses.
• Operating Income refers to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization. It is simply known as the acronym EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization). Calculating your operating income is simple, all you need to do is to subtract your COGS and total operating expenses from your sales.
• Total Expenses refer to the sum of your operating expenses and your business’ interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization.
• Net profit shows whether your business has made a profit or taken a loss during a given timeframe.

4. Cash Flow Statement

The cash flow statement tracks the money you have in the bank at any given point. It is often confused with the income statement or the profit and loss statement. They are both different types of financial statements. The income statement calculates your profits and losses while the cash flow statement shows you how much you have in the bank.

5. Balance Sheet

The balance sheet is a financial statement that provides an overview of the financial health of your business. It contains information about the assets and liabilities of your company, and owner’s or shareholders’ equity.

You can get the net worth of your company by subtracting your company’s liabilities from its assets.

6. Exit Strategy

The exit strategy refers to a probable plan for selling your business either to the public in an IPO or to another company. It is the last thing you include in the financial plan, metrics, and projection section.

You can choose to omit the exit strategy from your business plan if you plan to maintain full ownership of your business and do not plan on seeking angel investment or virtual capitalist (VC) funding.

Investors may want to know what your exit plan is. They invest in your business to get a good return on investment.

Your exit strategy does not have to include long and boring details. Ensure you identify some interested parties who may be interested in buying the company if it becomes a success.

Key Questions to Answer with Your Financial Plan, Metrics, and Projection

Your financial plan, metrics, and projection section helps investors, creditors, or your internal managers to understand what your expenses are, the amount of cash you need, and what it takes to make your company profitable. It also shows what you will be doing with any funding.

You do not need to show actual financial data if you do not have one. Adding forecasts and projections to your financial statements is added proof that your strategy is feasible and shows investors you have planned properly.

Here are some key questions to answer to help you develop this section.

• What is your sales forecast for the next year?
• When will your company achieve a positive cash flow?
• What are the core expenses you need to operate?
• How much money do you need upfront to operate or grow your company?
• How will you use the loans or investments?

9. Add an Appendix to Your Business Plan

Adding an appendix to your business plan is optional. It is a useful place to put any charts, tables, legal notes, definitions, permits, résumés, and other critical information that do not fit into other sections of your business plan.

The appendix section is where you would want to include details of a patent or patent-pending if you have one. You can always add illustrations or images of your products here. It is the last section of your business plan.

When writing your business plan, there are details you cut short or remove to prevent the entire section from becoming too lengthy. There are also details you want to include in the business plan but are not a good fit for any of the previous sections. You can add that additional information to the appendix section.

Businesses also use the appendix section to include supporting documents or other materials specially requested by investors or lenders.

You can include just about any information that supports the assumptions and statements you made in the business plan under the appendix. It is the one place in the business plan where unrelated data and information can coexist amicably.

If your appendix section is lengthy, try organizing it by adding a table of contents at the beginning of the appendix section. It is also advisable to group similar information to make it easier for the reader to access them.

A well-organized appendix section makes it easier to share your information clearly and concisely. Add footnotes throughout the rest of the business plan or make references in the plan to the documents in the appendix.

The appendix section is usually only necessary if you are seeking funding from investors or lenders, or hoping to attract partners.

People reading business plans do not want to spend time going through a heap of backup information, numbers, and charts. Keep these documents or information in the Appendix section in case the reader wants to dig deeper.

Common Items to Include in the Appendix Section of Your Business Plan

The appendix section includes documents that supplement or support the information or claims given in other sections of the business plans. Common items you can include in the appendix section include:

• Additional data about the process of manufacturing or creation
• Additional description of products or services such as product schematics
• Additional financial documents or projections
• Articles of incorporation and status
• Backup for market research or competitive analysis
• Bank statements
• Business registries
• Client testimonials (if your business is already running)
• Copies of insurances
• Credit histories (personal or/and business)
• Deeds and permits
• Equipment leases
• Examples of marketing and advertising collateral
• Industry associations and memberships
• Images of product
• Intellectual property
• Key customer contracts
• Legal documents and other contracts
• Letters of reference
• Links to references
• Market research data
• Organizational charts
• Photographs of potential facilities
• Professional licenses pertaining to your legal structure or type of business
• Purchase orders
• Resumes of the founder(s) and key managers
• State and federal identification numbers or codes
• Trademarks or patents’ registrations

Avoid using the appendix section as a place to dump any document or information you feel like adding. Only add documents or information that you support or increase the credibility of your business plan.

Tips and Strategies for Writing a Convincing Business Plan

To achieve a perfect business plan, you need to consider some key tips and strategies. These tips will raise the efficiency of your business plan above average.

1. Know Your Audience

When writing a business plan, you need to know your audience . Business owners write business plans for different reasons. Your business plan has to be specific. For example, you can write business plans to potential investors, banks, and even fellow board members of the company.

The audience you are writing to determines the structure of the business plan. As a business owner, you have to know your audience. Not everyone will be your audience. Knowing your audience will help you to narrow the scope of your business plan.

Consider what your audience wants to see in your projects, the likely questions they might ask, and what interests them.

• A business plan used to address a company's board members will center on its employment schemes, internal affairs, projects, stakeholders, etc.
• A business plan for financial institutions will talk about the size of your market and the chances for you to pay back any loans you demand.
• A business plan for investors will show proof that you can return the investment capital within a specific time. In addition, it discusses your financial projections, tractions, and market size.

2. Get Inspiration from People

Writing a business plan from scratch as an entrepreneur can be daunting. That is why you need the right inspiration to push you to write one. You can gain inspiration from the successful business plans of other businesses. Look at their business plans, the style they use, the structure of the project, etc.

To make your business plan easier to create, search companies related to your business to get an exact copy of what you need to create an effective business plan. You can also make references while citing examples in your business plans.

When drafting your business plan, get as much help from others as you possibly can. By getting inspiration from people, you can create something better than what they have.

3. Avoid Being Over Optimistic

Many business owners make use of strong adjectives to qualify their content. One of the big mistakes entrepreneurs make when preparing a business plan is promising too much.

The use of superlatives and over-optimistic claims can prepare the audience for more than you can offer. In the end, you disappoint the confidence they have in you.

In most cases, the best option is to be realistic with your claims and statistics. Most of the investors can sense a bit of incompetency from the overuse of superlatives. As a new entrepreneur, do not be tempted to over-promise to get the interests of investors.

The concept of entrepreneurship centers on risks, nothing is certain when you make future analyses. What separates the best is the ability to do careful research and work towards achieving that, not promising more than you can achieve.

To make an excellent first impression as an entrepreneur, replace superlatives with compelling data-driven content. In this way, you are more specific than someone promising a huge ROI from an investment.

4. Keep it Simple and Short

When writing business plans, ensure you keep them simple throughout. Irrespective of the purpose of the business plan, your goal is to convince the audience.

One way to achieve this goal is to make them understand your proposal. Therefore, it would be best if you avoid the use of complex grammar to express yourself. It would be a huge turn-off if the people you want to convince are not familiar with your use of words.

Another thing to note is the length of your business plan. It would be best if you made it as brief as possible.

You hardly see investors or agencies that read through an extremely long document. In that case, if your first few pages can’t convince them, then you have lost it. The more pages you write, the higher the chances of you derailing from the essential contents.

To ensure your business plan has a high conversion rate, you need to dispose of every unnecessary information. For example, if you have a strategy that you are not sure of, it would be best to leave it out of the plan.

5. Make an Outline and Follow Through

A perfect business plan must have touched every part needed to convince the audience. Business owners get easily tempted to concentrate more on their products than on other sections. Doing this can be detrimental to the efficiency of the business plan.

For example, imagine you talking about a product but omitting or providing very little information about the target audience. You will leave your clients confused.

To ensure that your business plan communicates your full business model to readers, you have to input all the necessary information in it. One of the best ways to achieve this is to design a structure and stick to it.

This structure is what guides you throughout the writing. To make your work easier, you can assign an estimated word count or page limit to every section to avoid making it too bulky for easy reading. As a guide, the necessary things your business plan must contain are:

• Table of contents
• Introduction
• Product or service description
• Target audience
• Market size
• Competition analysis
• Financial projections

Some specific businesses can include some other essential sections, but these are the key sections that must be in every business plan.

6. Ask a Professional to Proofread

When writing a business plan, you must tie all loose ends to get a perfect result. When you are done with writing, call a professional to go through the document for you. You are bound to make mistakes, and the way to correct them is to get external help.

You should get a professional in your field who can relate to every section of your business plan. It would be easier for the professional to notice the inner flaws in the document than an editor with no knowledge of your business.

In addition to getting a professional to proofread, get an editor to proofread and edit your document. The editor will help you identify grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, and inappropriate writing styles.

Writing a business plan can be daunting, but you can surmount that obstacle and get the best out of it with these tips.

Business Plan Examples and Templates That’ll Save You Tons of Time

1. hubspot's one-page business plan.

The one-page business plan template by HubSpot is the perfect guide for businesses of any size, irrespective of their business strategy. Although the template is condensed into a page, your final business plan should not be a page long! The template is designed to ask helpful questions that can help you develop your business plan.

Hubspot’s one-page business plan template is divided into nine fields:

• Business opportunity
• Company description
• Industry analysis
• Target market
• Implementation timeline
• Marketing plan
• Financial summary
• Funding required

2. Bplan’s Free Business Plan Template

Bplans' free business plan template is investor-approved. It is a rich template used by prestigious educational institutions such as Babson College and Princeton University to teach entrepreneurs how to create a business plan.

The template has six sections: the executive summary, opportunity, execution, company, financial plan, and appendix. There is a step-by-step guide for writing every little detail in the business plan. Follow the instructions each step of the way and you will create a business plan that impresses investors or lenders easily.

3. HubSpot's Downloadable Business Plan Template

HubSpot’s downloadable business plan template is a more comprehensive option compared to the one-page business template by HubSpot. This free and downloadable business plan template is designed for entrepreneurs.

The template is a comprehensive guide and checklist for business owners just starting their businesses. It tells you everything you need to fill in each section of the business plan and how to do it.

There are nine sections in this business plan template: an executive summary, company and business description, product and services line, market analysis, marketing plan, sales plan, legal notes, financial considerations, and appendix.

4. Business Plan by My Own Business Institute

My Own Business Institute (MOBI) which is a part of Santa Clara University's Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship offers a free business plan template. You can either copy the free business template from the link provided above or download it as a Word document.

The comprehensive template consists of a whopping 15 sections.

• The Business Profile
• The Vision and the People
• Home-Based Business and Freelance Business Opportunities
• Organization
• Licenses and Permits
• Business Insurance
• Communication Tools
• Acquisitions
• Location and Leasing
• Accounting and Cash Flow
• Opening and Marketing
• Managing Employees
• Expanding and Handling Problems

There are lots of helpful tips on how to fill each section in the free business plan template by MOBI.

5. Score's Business Plan Template for Startups

Score is an American nonprofit organization that helps entrepreneurs build successful companies. This business plan template for startups by Score is available for free download. The business plan template asks a whooping 150 generic questions that help entrepreneurs from different fields to set up the perfect business plan.

The business plan template for startups contains clear instructions and worksheets, all you have to do is answer the questions and fill the worksheets.

There are nine sections in the business plan template: executive summary, company description, products and services, marketing plan, operational plan, management and organization, startup expenses and capitalization, financial plan, and appendices.

The ‘refining the plan’ resource contains instructions that help you modify your business plan to suit your specific needs, industry, and target audience. After you have completed Score’s business plan template, you can work with a SCORE mentor for expert advice in business planning.

6. Minimalist Architecture Business Plan Template by Venngage

The minimalist architecture business plan template is a simple template by Venngage that you can customize to suit your business needs .

There are five sections in the template: an executive summary, statement of problem, approach and methodology, qualifications, and schedule and benchmark. The business plan template has instructions that guide users on what to fill in each section.

7. Small Business Administration Free Business Plan Template

The Small Business Administration (SBA) offers two free business plan templates, filled with practical real-life examples that you can model to create your business plan. Both free business plan templates are written by fictional business owners: Rebecca who owns a consulting firm, and Andrew who owns a toy company.

There are five sections in the two SBA’s free business plan templates.

• Executive Summary
• Company Description
• Service Line
• Marketing and Sales

8. The $100 Startup's One-Page Business Plan

The one-page business plan by the $100 startup is a simple business plan template for entrepreneurs who do not want to create a long and complicated plan . You can include more details in the appendices for funders who want more information beyond what you can put in the one-page business plan.

There are five sections in the one-page business plan such as overview, ka-ching, hustling, success, and obstacles or challenges or open questions. You can answer all the questions using one or two sentences.

9. PandaDoc’s Free Business Plan Template

The free business plan template by PandaDoc is a comprehensive 15-page document that describes the information you should include in every section.

There are 11 sections in PandaDoc’s free business plan template.

• Executive summary
• Business description
• Products and services
• Operations plan
• Management organization
• Financial plan
• Conclusion / Call to action
• Confidentiality statement

You have to sign up for its 14-day free trial to access the template. You will find different business plan templates on PandaDoc once you sign up (including templates for general businesses and specific businesses such as bakeries, startups, restaurants, salons, hotels, and coffee shops)

PandaDoc allows you to customize its business plan templates to fit the needs of your business. After editing the template, you can send it to interested parties and track opens and views through PandaDoc.

10. Invoiceberry Templates for Word, Open Office, Excel, or PPT

InvoiceBerry is a U.K based online invoicing and tracking platform that offers free business plan templates in .docx, .odt, .xlsx, and .pptx formats for freelancers and small businesses.

Before you can download the free business plan template, it will ask you to give it your email address. After you complete the little task, it will send the download link to your inbox for you to download. It also provides a business plan checklist in .xlsx file format that ensures you add the right information to the business plan.

Alternatives to the Traditional Business Plan

A business plan is very important in mapping out how one expects their business to grow over a set number of years, particularly when they need external investment in their business. However, many investors do not have the time to watch you present your business plan. It is a long and boring read.

Luckily, there are three alternatives to the traditional business plan (the Business Model Canvas, Lean Canvas, and Startup Pitch Deck). These alternatives are less laborious and easier and quicker to present to investors.

Business Model Canvas (BMC)

The business model canvas is a business tool used to present all the important components of setting up a business, such as customers, route to market, value proposition, and finance in a single sheet. It provides a very focused blueprint that defines your business initially which you can later expand on if needed.

The sheet is divided mainly into company, industry, and consumer models that are interconnected in how they find problems and proffer solutions.

Segments of the Business Model Canvas

The business model canvas was developed by founder Alexander Osterwalder to answer important business questions. It contains nine segments.

• Key Partners: Who will be occupying important executive positions in your business? What do they bring to the table? Will there be a third party involved with the company?
• Key Activities: What important activities will production entail? What activities will be carried out to ensure the smooth running of the company?
• The Product’s Value Propositions: What does your product do? How will it be different from other products?
• Customer Segments: What demography of consumers are you targeting? What are the habits of these consumers? Who are the MVPs of your target consumers?
• Customer Relationships: How will the team support and work with its customer base? How do you intend to build and maintain trust with the customer?
• Key Resources: What type of personnel and tools will be needed? What size of the budget will they need access to?
• Channels: How do you plan to create awareness of your products? How do you intend to transport your product to the customer?
• Cost Structure: What is the estimated cost of production? How much will distribution cost?
• Revenue Streams: For what value are customers willing to pay? How do they prefer to pay for the product? Are there any external revenues attached apart from the main source? How do the revenue streams contribute to the overall revenue?

Lean Canvas

The lean canvas is a problem-oriented alternative to the standard business model canvas. It was proposed by Ash Maurya, creator of Lean Stack as a development of the business model generation. It uses a more problem-focused approach and it majorly targets entrepreneurs and startup businesses.

Lean Canvas uses the same 9 blocks concept as the business model canvas, however, they have been modified slightly to suit the needs and purpose of a small startup. The key partners, key activities, customer relationships, and key resources are replaced by new segments which are:

• Problem: Simple and straightforward number of problems you have identified, ideally three.
• Solution: The solutions to each problem.
• Unfair Advantage: Something you possess that can't be easily bought or replicated.
• Key Metrics: Important numbers that will tell how your business is doing.

Startup Pitch Deck

While the business model canvas compresses into a factual sheet, startup pitch decks expand flamboyantly.

Pitch decks, through slides, convey your business plan, often through graphs and images used to emphasize estimations and observations in your presentation. Entrepreneurs often use pitch decks to fully convince their target audience of their plans before discussing funding arrangements.

Considering the likelihood of it being used in a small time frame, a good startup pitch deck should ideally contain 20 slides or less to have enough time to answer questions from the audience.

Unlike the standard and lean business model canvases, a pitch deck doesn't have a set template on how to present your business plan but there are still important components to it. These components often mirror those of the business model canvas except that they are in slide form and contain more details.

Using Airbnb (one of the most successful start-ups in recent history) for reference, the important components of a good slide are listed below.

• Cover/Introduction Slide: Here, you should include your company's name and mission statement. Your mission statement should be a very catchy tagline. Also, include personal information and contact details to provide an easy link for potential investors.
• Problem Slide: This slide requires you to create a connection with the audience or the investor that you are pitching. For example in their pitch, Airbnb summarized the most important problems it would solve in three brief points – pricing of hotels, disconnection from city culture, and connection problems for local bookings.
• Solution Slide: This slide includes your core value proposition. List simple and direct solutions to the problems you have mentioned
• Customer Analysis: Here you will provide information on the customers you will be offering your service to. The identity of your customers plays an important part in fundraising as well as the long-run viability of the business.
• Market Validation: Use competitive analysis to show numbers that prove the presence of a market for your product, industry behavior in the present and the long run, as well as the percentage of the market you aim to attract. It shows that you understand your competitors and customers and convinces investors of the opportunities presented in the market.
• Business Model: Your business model is the hook of your presentation. It may vary in complexity but it should generally include a pricing system informed by your market analysis. The goal of the slide is to confirm your business model is easy to implement.
• Marketing Strategy: This slide should summarize a few customer acquisition methods that you plan to use to grow the business.
• Competitive Advantage: What this slide will do is provide information on what will set you apart and make you a more attractive option to customers. It could be the possession of technology that is not widely known in the market.
• Team Slide: Here you will give a brief description of your team. Include your key management personnel here and their specific roles in the company. Include their educational background, job history, and skillsets. Also, talk about their accomplishments in their careers so far to build investors' confidence in members of your team.
• Traction Slide: This validates the company’s business model by showing growth through early sales and support. The slide aims to reduce any lingering fears in potential investors by showing realistic periodic milestones and profit margins. It can include current sales, growth, valuable customers, pre-orders, or data from surveys outlining current consumer interest.
• Funding Slide: This slide is popularly referred to as ‘the ask'. Here you will include important details like how much is needed to get your business off the ground and how the funding will be spent to help the company reach its goals.
• Appendix Slides: Your pitch deck appendix should always be included alongside a standard pitch presentation. It consists of additional slides you could not show in the pitch deck but you need to complement your presentation.

It is important to support your calculations with pictorial renditions. Infographics, such as pie charts or bar graphs, will be more effective in presenting the information than just listing numbers. For example, a six-month graph that shows rising profit margins will easily look more impressive than merely writing it.

Lastly, since a pitch deck is primarily used to secure meetings and you may be sharing your pitch with several investors, it is advisable to keep a separate public version that doesn't include financials. Only disclose the one with projections once you have secured a link with an investor.

Advantages of the Business Model Canvas, Lean Canvas, and Startup Pitch Deck over the Traditional Business Plan

• Time-Saving: Writing a detailed traditional business plan could take weeks or months. On the other hand, all three alternatives can be done in a few days or even one night of brainstorming if you have a comprehensive understanding of your business.
• Easier to Understand: Since the information presented is almost entirely factual, it puts focus on what is most important in running the business. They cut away the excess pages of fillers in a traditional business plan and allow investors to see what is driving the business and what is getting in the way.
• Easy to Update: Businesses typically present their business plans to many potential investors before they secure funding. What this means is that you may regularly have to amend your presentation to update statistics or adjust to audience-specific needs. For a traditional business plan, this could mean rewriting a whole section of your plan. For the three alternatives, updating is much easier because they are not voluminous.
• Guide for a More In-depth Business Plan: All three alternatives have the added benefit of being able to double as a sketch of your business plan if the need to create one arises in the future.

Business Plan FAQ

Business plans are important for any entrepreneur who is looking for a framework to run their company over some time or seeking external support. Although they are essential for new businesses, every company should ideally have a business plan to track their growth from time to time.  They can be used by startups seeking investments or loans to convey their business ideas or an employee to convince his boss of the feasibility of starting a new project. They can also be used by companies seeking to recruit high-profile employee targets into key positions or trying to secure partnerships with other firms.

Business plans often vary depending on your target audience, the scope, and the goals for the plan. Startup plans are the most common among the different types of business plans.  A start-up plan is used by a new business to present all the necessary information to help get the business up and running. They are usually used by entrepreneurs who are seeking funding from investors or bank loans. The established company alternative to a start-up plan is a feasibility plan. A feasibility plan is often used by an established company looking for new business opportunities. They are used to show the upsides of creating a new product for a consumer base. Because the audience is usually company people, it requires less company analysis. The third type of business plan is the lean business plan. A lean business plan is a brief, straight-to-the-point breakdown of your ideas and analysis for your business. It does not contain details of your proposal and can be written on one page. Finally, you have the what-if plan. As it implies, a what-if plan is a preparation for the worst-case scenario. You must always be prepared for the possibility of your original plan being rejected. A good what-if plan will serve as a good plan B to the original.

A good business plan has 10 key components. They include an executive plan, product analysis, desired customer base, company analysis, industry analysis, marketing strategy, sales strategy, financial projection, funding, and appendix. Executive Plan Your business should begin with your executive plan. An executive plan will provide early insight into what you are planning to achieve with your business. It should include your mission statement and highlight some of the important points which you will explain later. Product Analysis The next component of your business plan is your product analysis. A key part of this section is explaining the type of item or service you are going to offer as well as the market problems your product will solve. Desired Consumer Base Your product analysis should be supplemented with a detailed breakdown of your desired consumer base. Investors are always interested in knowing the economic power of your market as well as potential MVP customers. Company Analysis The next component of your business plan is your company analysis. Here, you explain how you want to run your business. It will include your operational strategy, an insight into the workforce needed to keep the company running, and important executive positions. It will also provide a calculation of expected operational costs.  Industry Analysis A good business plan should also contain well laid out industry analysis. It is important to convince potential investors you know the companies you will be competing with, as well as your plans to gain an edge on the competition. Marketing Strategy Your business plan should also include your marketing strategy. This is how you intend to spread awareness of your product. It should include a detailed explanation of the company brand as well as your advertising methods. Sales Strategy Your sales strategy comes after the market strategy. Here you give an overview of your company's pricing strategy and how you aim to maximize profits. You can also explain how your prices will adapt to market behaviors. Financial Projection The financial projection is the next component of your business plan. It explains your company's expected running cost and revenue earned during the tenure of the business plan. Financial projection gives a clear idea of how your company will develop in the future. Funding The next component of your business plan is funding. You have to detail how much external investment you need to get your business idea off the ground here. Appendix The last component of your plan is the appendix. This is where you put licenses, graphs, or key information that does not fit in any of the other components.

The business model canvas is a business management tool used to quickly define your business idea and model. It is often used when investors need you to pitch your business idea during a brief window.

A pitch deck is similar to a business model canvas except that it makes use of slides in its presentation. A pitch is not primarily used to secure funding, rather its main purpose is to entice potential investors by selling a very optimistic outlook on the business.

Business plan competitions help you evaluate the strength of your business plan. By participating in business plan competitions, you are improving your experience. The experience provides you with a degree of validation while practicing important skills. The main motivation for entering into the competitions is often to secure funding by finishing in podium positions. There is also the chance that you may catch the eye of a casual observer outside of the competition. These competitions also provide good networking opportunities. You could meet mentors who will take a keen interest in guiding you in your business journey. You also have the opportunity to meet other entrepreneurs whose ideas can complement yours.

Exlore Further

• 12 Key Elements of a Business Plan (Top Components Explained)
• 13 Sources of Business Finance For Companies & Sole Traders
• 5 Common Types of Business Structures (+ Pros & Cons)
• How to Buy a Business in 8 Steps (+ Due Diligence Checklist)

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Martin luenendonk.

Martin loves entrepreneurship and has helped dozens of entrepreneurs by validating the business idea, finding scalable customer acquisition channels, and building a data-driven organization. During his time working in investment banking, tech startups, and industry-leading companies he gained extensive knowledge in using different software tools to optimize business processes.

This insights and his love for researching SaaS products enables him to provide in-depth, fact-based software reviews to enable software buyers make better decisions.

Startup Funding: What It Is, How It Works, & 5 Tips for Landing It

Published: January 24, 2023

Raising startup funding is one of the most exciting and challenging times for a company.

Searching for investors, loans, grants, and other forms of funding is a big step toward business growth. It can give your startup the capital you need to keep building products or offering customers new features.

Global venture funding fluctuates wildly depending on what is happening in the world. Startups worldwide raised a total of $415.1 billion from investors in 2022, down 35% from 2021's all-time high.

So, how do you get the funding you need? This post explains the essentials of startup funding. Keep reading or jump ahead to a section to learn:

What is startup funding?

Types of startup funding for business, how startup funding works, startup funding rounds, how to get startup funding.

Startup funding is the money a business uses to start or support a new business. There are many different types of funding. Startups use these funds to cover marketing, growth, and operating expenses to launch the business.

The number and types of funding options can be overwhelming for a new startup. Understanding the types of startup funding can help you understand what's out there and how it aligns with your company's goals, so let’s cover that next.

• Self-Funding
• Crowdfunding
• Private Equity Firms
• Incubators and Accelerators

Free Business Plan Template

The essential document for starting a business -- custom built for your needs.

• Outline your idea.
• Pitch to investors.
• Secure funding.
• Get to work!

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Click this link to access this resource at any time.

1. Self-Funding

39% of business founders fund startups with personal funds. Self-funding means that you independently provide the funding you need for your startup. This might mean personal savings, starting your business with a long timeline, or running on a tight budget .

These are some other self-funding strategies:

Bootstrapping

Bootstrapping isn't just using personal funds to start a business. Bootstrapped businesses also use early startup revenue to continue running the business rather than seeking outside funding.

Bootstrapping is a hotly-debated topic. It helps founders keep control of their businesses — instead of giving equity to investors — and avoid interest payments from taking out loans. The downside? If the startup fails, the founder loses their savings or that of their family and friends.

Credit cards

Credit cards can help you get the resources you need to grow your startup and offer backup cash flow when things don't go as expected.

17% of businesses use credit cards as a source of startup funding. That said, keep a close eye on interest rates, penalties, and payments to make sure that your credit doesn't suffer as you grow your business.

Bartering can be a useful way to finance big purchases like furniture, phones, or advertising for your startup. Startups that use bartering offer a useful product or service in return. This can save operating funds and expand your network.

Customer Commitment

Some startups begin with a commitment from an early customer who believes in their value. In this situation, the customer's payments alone can fund the startup at the beginning.

2. Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding is a way to raise money online through online platforms. While some sites have a built-in audience, many need you to build your own following with your own promotional strategy. It's a low-commitment way for you to get support and build early interest in your startup.

Small businesses can use crowdfunding sites to quickly access cash. These gains may mean giving up equity in the business or offering rewards. It's also important to be transparent about your company's health throughout the process.

Friends and Family

Many startups begin with funds from close friends and family. If you're not sure about asking for a loan, crowdfunding can be a simple way to ask your community to support your new venture.

Interested? Get your next business or product off the ground with the help of these crowdfunding sites .

You can also fund your startup with loans. You can use the money to build, repair, enhance, or re-open a business. What you'll need to qualify for a loan will vary depending on the lender, amount, and type of loan you borrow.

These are some popular loan choices for startups:

SBA Microloan

The U.S. Small Business Administration offers programs, such as SBA microloans , to provide companies with up to $50,000 of working capital.

Microlenders

Another option is microlending . These organizations lend small amounts of money, usually between $5,000-$50,000 to entrepreneurs.

This choice is great for founders who may not qualify for standard business loans. This type of capital can help a founder build their credit score so they can access more funding in the future.

Microlenders may be more responsive to business plans that might seem risky to another lender. These loans can also have more flexible loan and repayment terms.

According to 2021 Guidant research , 10% of startups receive loans from family and friends.

If you plan to go this route, create a clear plan for how you'll present the idea to your people. This overview should talk about the risks involved, set the terms of the loan, and share potential mutual benefits.

Friends and family loans often help startups in the pre-seed or seed funding stages.

Personal Business Loans

If you have a strong credit score and personal finances, you can also take out a personal business loan. This type of loan may have a lower interest rate and a quicker approval time. At the same time, do your research before you borrow. Some lenders have restrictions about taking out a loan for startup funding.

Learn more about financing your startup in this post.

A grant is a financial award for a business from a government, corporate, or nonprofit entity. Grants are gifts, so they don't need to be repaid.

These mission-driven investments are often quite competitive. For many grants, to qualify for funding your startup goals and values need to align with those of the organization you're applying to.

Small Business Grants

The Small Business Administration offers some small business grants to states and community organizations. This is where many startups begin their search for funding.

But don't stop there. There are many other resources to begin your search for small business grants.

Featured resources:

• Small business grants for startups
• Grants for veterans
• Small business grants for minority entrepreneurs
• Grants for black women
• How to find and apply for grants for women
• Funding resources for black-owned businesses

5. Private Equity Firms

High-growth companies are enticing for venture capitalists. Unlike other forms of startup funding, there's significant risk involved.

If a company fails, the investors won't see a return on their contributed capital. But if a company succeeds, the payout can be in the millions.

Investors hope the companies they invest in do one of three things:

• Get acquired
• Pay back their investment with interest

Private equity firms often sit on the board of a startup or act as advisors. They have a stake in the business and will do what they can to help it succeed.

Venture Capital

These are usually large investments. This startup funding is for a startup that's prepared to use a large investment and grow quickly. That said, micro VCs can work for startups that don't need as much financing.

Venture capitalist funding is difficult to get and often takes time and preparation.

Success can also mean that you will lose some control over your startup. Changes like staffing or spending often mean conversations with investors. Instead of quick decisions, all parties must come to an agreement.

Angel Investors

Angel investors , private investors , and silent partners are other options for startup funds. These are individuals who fund startups, often with their own money. This investment may be in exchange for equity or partial ownership of the business.

6. Incubators and Accelerators

Startup funding once focused on a small, elite group of founders. But the industry has been shifting to support founders who haven't had access to private equity, loans, or grants.

Sustainable funding resources are essential for equitable entrepreneurship. These programs also support funding for people with marginalized identities, such as:

• People of color
• The LGBTQI+ community
• People with disabilities

Incubators and accelerators are essential programs for startup founders, especially those starting a business for the first time. They offer capital, mentorship, and networking. There's a slight difference between the two , which you need to know if you're considering this type of startup funding.

Incubators help entrepreneurs build their businesses. They focus on developing a business plan, name, website, and minimum viable product (MVP). If a company already has an MVP, an accelerator expedites growth. Here, founders receive mentorship, funding, and networking connections. Incubators also run on a flexible schedule.

Accelerators are competitive mentor-based programs. They offer guidance, support, and limited funding in exchange for equity. These programs often run on a shorter schedule than incubator programs.

Ultimately, every founder needs to figure out which type of funding is right for their startup. But how does startup funding work? Let's walk through a typical funding process.

Now that you understand the different types of funding, let's walk through the typical funding process.

Let's say you're a startup founder. Your business is growing and you want to hire more employees to manufacture your product prototype. But you need funding to make it happen. You decide to search for investors.

Investors want to support startups they believe in. They also want to make a return on their investments. That's why almost all deals with angel investors, venture capitalists, or private equity firms include equity.

That way, when the company begins to earn a profit, the investors will get their money back — plus an extra slice of equity for taking a chance.

Companies looking for outside funding usually begin with a seed round. Then, some will continue on to Series A, B, and C rounds.

But before any rounds begin, a company valuation must take place. This can impact investor interest in the company and how much new capital a startup can bring in.

A valuation considers:

• The startup's maturity
• Market size
• Track record

Once the valuation is complete, startups can begin a funding round. The timeline and process vary by company. Some founders search for investors for months, while others close a round in a matter of weeks.

And while certain startups move slowly through each funding round, others build capital much faster. It's not uncommon for an innovative startup to raise a few million in one to two rounds, while another company raises $25 million in the same number of rounds.

This video by The Rest of Us gives a detailed explanation of the funding process.

The startup funding that gets the most news involves raising money through outside investment. In those cases, investors exchange capital for equity — or partial ownership — of the company.

The investment process is broken up into funding rounds. Funding rounds can be confusing. Let's look at each phase in the process and what it means for founders, companies, and investors.

Pre-Seed Funding

Pre-seed funding takes place as founders are getting their companies off the ground.

It's the earliest stage of funding a company. Pre-seed funding usually involves an investment from:

• The founder's personal savings
• A network of other founders

This round can go on for years as a company develops. Or, if a company proves itself, it can happen rather quickly.

Seed Funding

Seed funding is the first official funding a company raises, and it's often tied to equity.

This capital helps a startup finance early steps, like:

• Conducting product research
• Launching a product
• Marketing to a target audience
• Building an audience

Think of this stage as the "seed" by which the rest of the company is able to grow and flourish. Without it, a founder wouldn't be able to hire a team or test their idea in the market.

Seed funding can come from family, friends, angel investors, incubators, or private equity firms. But the amount varies widely — some companies raise $10,000, while others raise $2 million.

Funding for this round varies . It usually depends on what resources the business needs to grow and what investors feel is worth their time and financial investment.

Series A Funding

Once a business uses its seed funding to develop a product and build a customer base, it's time for the next step. A Series A funding round can help to:

• Expand a company's product offerings
• Bring in more customers
• Develop a long-term plan for growth

Startups in this funding round often attract investors from traditional private equity firms.

The average U.S. Series A for funding in the first half of 2022 was $20.4 million . Valuations in the tech industry vary and this impacts the average funding amounts.

Series B Funding

Series B rounds are about business development and how to reach the next level of growth. The capital raised in this round often supports:

• Hiring new talent
• Boosting sales
• Tech development
• Customer service

Average Series B round funding was $50 million in 2022, up from $35 million in 2020.

This funding round can attract both traditional private equity and later-stage investment firms.

Series C Funding

Series C funding rounds are for successful startups that need extra funding to:

• Create new products
• Acquire other companies
• Expand into new markets
• Hire an exceptional leadership team
• Boost numbers before an initial public offering (IPO)

The capital should help scale the company's efforts so it can grow as quickly as possible. Series C funding averages range from $88 to $89.5 million in 2022.

Because these startups are already successful, this round of investment can be less risky. With that in mind, there are often more investors getting involved at this level.

Series C investors can include:

• Private equity firms
• Hedge funds
• Secondary market groups
• Investment banks

Series D and Beyond

Few companies extend beyond Series C into Series D or E rounds. Businesses seeking this funding are often looking for a final influx of capital to achieve their goals.

A company at this stage of funding should have an established customer base, revenue streams, a track record of growth, and a solid plan for how it will use new capital.

• Calculate your funding needs.
• Create a business plan.
• Check your financial health.
• Research funding options.
• Make a repayment plan.

Startup funding depends on your business idea, experience, and access to financing. There are many factors that can influence funding and following these steps can help improve your chances.

1. Calculate your funding needs.

Before contacting investors or applying for a loan, you need to know how much money you need to achieve your business goals.

Looking for a small, one-time sum? A business loan or grant might be the right fit.

Need a larger contribution? An angel investor may make more sense.

Understanding your funding needs lets you take the best approach. This calculator can help you figure out your startup costs.

More resources:

• Startup costs
• Startup marketing budget

2. Create a business plan.

A business plan can help you build confidence with investors, lenders, and family members who can help fund your startup.

Your business plan should outline your vision. It should highlight the opportunity, target market, and industry you want to impact. It should also include:

• Marketing plans
• Competitive analysis

This business plan template makes it easy to create a detailed business plan so you can start pitching your idea.

Featured resource: Business plan template

3. Check your financial health.

You can't figure out what type of funding you need if you don't know your current financial status. Gather the documents you need to make an assessment including:

• Business and personal tax returns
• Bank statements
• Projected expenses

Then, create a profit and loss statement and revenue projections. These can help you (and investors) understand how much funding you have on hand — and how much you still need.

4. Research funding options.

Reading this post may have opened your eyes to the types of available funding. Before you make any choices, do an extensive amount of research to see if it's right for your business. There are hundreds of resources available online about approaching investors , your debt-to-equity ratio , and distributing equity .

• Tips for pitching to investors
• Preparing for investors

5. Make a repayment plan.

Accepting capital is no small gesture, especially if it's millions of dollars. Most founders only need a few thousand dollars to get started, but it's still wise to create a plan for paying back the money you borrow.

You can use a business loan calculator to estimate payments and work them into your budget. If you can't make the payment, don't take the funding.

Find the Right Startup Funding for Your Business

Some businesses need a massive amount of capital to bring their ideas to life. Others need a small loan to push them toward higher revenue and financial freedom.

Whatever the case may be for your business, it's best to figure out your current finances and funding options before choosing a path. Look to similar businesses in your industry, look at loans, or find inspiration for a crowdfunding campaign.

Use this starting point to find the funding you need to bring your business to life. Then, go out and get that money.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in February 2022 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Don't forget to share this post!

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DEVELOPING: FBI investigating second attempted assassination of Trump; suspect in custody

Speaker Johnson sticks to government funding plan despite GOP opposition

WASHINGTON — Despite mounting opposition from his own party, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., vowed Tuesday to stay the course and put his government funding package on the House floor Wednesday.

His initial strategy to avert a government shutdown at the end of the month is expected to fail and deal House Republicans an embarrassing blow. Due to their paper-thin majority, Republicans can afford only a handful of GOP defections on the vote, and many more than that have publicly voiced their opposition.

But the party’s standard bearer, Donald Trump, has called on Johnson and Republicans to shut down the government if they can’t link a funding bill to the SAVE Act , which would overhaul voting laws to require people to show proof of citizenship when registering to vote .

"If Republicans in the House, and Senate, don’t get absolute assurances on Election Security, THEY SHOULD, IN NO WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM, GO FORWARD WITH A CONTINUING RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET. ... CLOSE IT DOWN!!!" Trump posted Tuesday on Truth Social.

Johnson has followed Trump's lead, even though that plan is dead on arrival in the Democratic-controlled Senate, faces a veto threat from the White House and likely won’t even get out of the House. Democrats and some Republicans want a “clean” continuing resolution or CR, keeping the government’s lights on until December, past the election.

Speaking to reporters after a closed-door meeting with Republicans on Tuesday, Johnson wouldn’t say whether he was willing to heed Trump’s suggestion and shut down the government over the voting legislation, but he aggressively defended his play call, a six-month CR that would fund the government through March and is tied to the SAVE Act.

“I am in this to win this,” Johnson told reporters at his weekly news conference.

Afterward, the speaker added: “We are going to put the SAVE Act and the CR together, and we’re going to move that through the process. And I am resolved to that; we’re not looking at any other alternative. … I think almost 90% of the American people believe in that principle and that’s why we’re going to stand and fight.”

“You know how I operate: You do the right thing and you let the chips fall where they may," he said.

The first test came Tuesday afternoon when Republicans passed the rule dictating debate time and how the CR comes to the floor. Only two Republicans — Reps. Matt Rosendale of Montana and Andy Biggs of Arizona — joined all Democrats in voting against the rule. But more GOP members have said they'll vote against the underlying bill Wednesday.

It’s unclear how Johnson and his leadership team get rebellious members back in line. Republicans can afford only four GOP defections if all lawmakers vote, and at least a half-dozen Republicans — including Reps. Jim Banks of Indiana, Cory Mills of Florida, Tim Burchett of Tennessee, Biggs and Rosendale — have vowed to vote no.

Mills argued this week that passing the SAVE Act and a CR will do nothing to secure the southern border with Mexico and rein in government spending.

Leaving the morning GOP meeting, Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., said it didn’t appear that any minds had been changed in the room, but he stood by the speaker’s plan, suggesting extending funding into early 2025 would avoid a package loaded up with legislative goodies and jammed through right before the holidays.

“By doing a CR into December gives us really no advantage, frankly, from a Republican standpoint, to bring any responsibility to a budget,” Meuser said. “We know that in December, if we were writing something, it would be more than a Christmas tree — it would be lots of gifts underneath it. So we’re gonna hold fast.”

Some Senate Republicans are leery of their House colleagues picking a fight that could spark a government shutdown so close to the election.

“Shutdowns always backfire on Republicans,” said Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C.

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said he doesn’t want to see a stopgap bill into next year. “I’m always a big believer — let the new Congress start with a clean slate. So my bias would be to get it done now,” Cassidy told reporters.

Scott Wong is a senior congressional reporter for NBC News.

Ali Vitali is a Capitol Hill correspondent for NBC News, based in Washington. She is the author of "Electable: Why America Hasn’t Put a Woman in the White House ... Yet."

Money blog: Here's how money can actually buy you happiness - according to psychologists

The Money blog is your place for personal finance and consumer news. Our feature this weekend seeks answers to the age-old question: can money buy you happiness? Tell us your happiness hacks in the box below - and we'll be back with live updates on Monday.

Saturday 14 September 2024 08:51, UK

Essential reads

• Here's how money really can buy you happiness
• Everything you need to know about new Renters' Rights Bill
• Paul Kelso: Chancellor signals first budget will be painful
• Pints, pies and season tickets - all Premier League prices compared
• 'Set-jetting' is the latest travel trend - have you joined in?

Tips and advice

• Data roaming charges compared by network
• Free school meals guide
• How much should you spend on wedding gift? 'Annoyed' Britons give verdict
• Savings market acting unpredictably - here's how you can benefit

Ask a question or make a comment

By Brad Young , from the Money team

Can money buy happiness?

When most people think about this question their minds turn to lottery winners. Does all that money really make them happy, they wonder with at least as much envy as curiosity.

But what about the rest of us? The average UK salary is £36,000 a year - so we set out to discover whether normal Britons, the ones who can't purchase yachts and flashy Italian cars, are truly able to make themselves happy with the swipe of a plastic card, and if so, what's the best way to go about it.

It turns out that the types of things you buy, how you purchase them and who you buy them for can be the difference between fleeting joy, lasting happiness and even an insight into what it means to be a human being…

Experiences v material goods

One of the most popular pieces of advice is to spend money on experiences rather than material goods, but this is not just for the reasons you might think, according to Kristen Duke, a social scientist at the University of Toronto.

Going to gigs or on holiday is more memorable and more social than the short-term high gained from buying clothes or gadgets, creating longer-lasting happiness, she said.

But the period before an experience also gives you access to a form of happiness thought to be unique to humans: anticipated joy.

"You're getting essentially a taste of how you will feel at that experience," Ms Duke says

"So if I'm anticipating going on vacation to Hawaii, then I can imagine the sun shining on me and imagine the peace I'll get from having the waves wash over me, and I get a little dose of that happiness," said Ms Duke. 

She said the ability to simulate how we might feel in different situations is "something some people have argued makes people different from animals".

Hybrid purchases

The problem, according to Ms Duke, is that what makes experiences "so special and interesting and meaningful and social also means that they are inherently ephemeral and fading and we lose them".

Hybrid purchases like musical instruments, video games or souvenirs add a material dimension to an experience that allows them to live on, she said.

"The combination of both - being very material and being very experiential - can tend to yield the highest happiness."

Minimalism 

Saving more money for days out for experiences like family trips is part of the reason why author Joshua Becker became a minimalist.

For 16 years he has practised minimalism and written multiple books on the subject, which he defines as removing things from his life that distract him from doing what he values most.

"I own fewer possessions so that I can free up time and money and energy for the things that actually matter and bring real happiness," said Mr Becker, whose lifestyle is followed by hundreds of thousands of people on YouTube and Instagram. 

"The happiness that we get from possessions is always short and temporal."

Mr Becker has downsized his home by a third, spends little on storage, keeps no more than 33 articles of clothing and owns no homeware extras like spare towels, bedsheets and tupperware.  

"I could have a house full of clutter or I could make these amazing memories with my family that they'll remember for the rest of their lives."

He added: "I look back on those last 16 years and I don't regret a thing. I love the memories we've had."

Social spending 

Mr Becker has also found happiness in donating to his church or investing it in his non-profit, The Hope Effect, which supports foster-style care in countries without a fostering system.

His positive emotional response will be familiar to Lara Aknin, professor of social psychology at Simon Fraser University, Canada.

Her research found that spending money on others instead of yourself can boost wellbeing.

Choosing to be generous gives people a sense of autonomy, social connection and positive impact.

This is especially true when paying for a shared dinner instead of a gift voucher, or collaborating to raise money for charity rather than making a solitary donation.

"Humans are very social creatures and these gifts that we give to other people allow us to build, strengthen and maintain relationships that are important to us," said Prof Aknin. 

"We see these emotional benefits with as little as $2.50 (£2), it's not necessarily about big, grand gestures."

Choice overload  

You might assume having a world of options at our fingertips would make it more likely you're happy with a product - but that's not exactly right.

The number of choices you face can become so large that it can cause buyer's regret, said Ms Duke.

This is because people are more likely to imagine that an alternative they didn't purchase could have been better. 

Ms Duke said consumers should use online tools to reduce their choices - and remember that just because information about small differences is available, that doesn't mean they will affect your experience of the product.

Addiction 

For a few, the process of choosing and buying products can become compulsive, as Nuno Albuquerque, an addictions counsellor with 20 years of experience in the field, knows well. 

The same fleeting "high" obtained from buying a product can become an obsession for some, often as a result of underlying mental health issues like low self-esteem, depression or trauma, he said.

"We know that buying such items or spending money can have an effect on the brain, on the dopamine levels," said Mr Albuquerque. 

"It's like using a drug, and people start to rely on that and the obsession starts to kick in."

He said shopping around can activate dopamine production as much as the purchase itself, much like the pursuit of success in gambling.

People can spend hours shopping online, sometimes forgoing food or sleep, or causing financial or relationship breakdown, he said.

The crash that comes after the product arrives can cause shame, guilt or self-loathing, Mr Albuquerque explained.

"It is about trying to feel better. It's like the slogan: Happiness is an inside job."

By Jimmy Rice , Money blog editor

The most notable news in Money this week was Labour's cut to the winter fuel allowance being voted through by MPs, albeit with 52 Labour MPs abstaining.

The payment of up to £300 had been universal to those aged 66 and over, with 11.4 million in receipt last winter.

Now only those on certain means-tested benefits will get it - some 1.5 million.

It is estimate the change will save the Treasury £1.5bn a year - but it's not clear what price the government has paid in good will.

Political editor Beth Rigby described "disquiet" on the Labour benches and summarised it as "the first big challenge to Keir Starmer's authority".

If you're confused about who is now eligible for the winter fuel payment, we explain all here...

In related news, it is now likely there will be a 4% uplift in the state pension in April - equating to approximately £8.85 extra a week or £460 a year. 

The triple lock commits the government to increasing pensions every April by whichever is highest - inflation (the figure for September, published in October), average wage growth between May and July (4%, as published on Tuesday) or 2.5%.

Another significant moment in the Commons this week came on Thursday, when the Renters' Reform Bill returned, five years and four prime ministers after it was first promised.

This time it's Labour's version - with the new government vowing to improve and complete the set of proposals to strengthen renters' rights that the Tories pledged, then watered down and then abandoned altogether before the election.

The Renters' Rights Bill aims to "decisively level the playing field between landlords and tenants", according to housing minister Matthew Pennycook.

Crucially, it includes a blanket ban on no-fault evictions under Section 21 (S21) of the 1988 Housing Act, which allows landlords to evict tenants with two months' notice without providing a reason.

Housing campaigners say they are a major contributing factor to rising homelessness.

Our politics team run through all other areas the legislation will cover - from pets to rent increases - in this explainer: 

We've heard repeated warnings from Sir Keir Starmer and his top team that the country's finances are in a dire state and Rachel Reeves's first budget as chancellor next month will be "painful".

Our business correspondent Paul Kelso  got further insight this week when he sat down with the chancellor after official figures showed the UK economy had unexpectedly flatlined for the second month in a row.

She signalled the budget could be a painful mix of spending cuts, tax rises and increased borrowing, telling Paul: "I've been really honest that there are difficult decisions to come in the budget, on spending, on taxation and welfare, after the mess that the previous government created with the public finances and the state that they are in, that was inevitable.

"I was clear during the election campaign that, if I became chancellor of the exchequer, tough choices lie ahead."

For Paul's full interview with the chancellor, click below:

Here in Money, we published a few explainers that are well worth checking out...

We'll be back with live updates on Monday - but check out our Saturday morning feature on: Can money buy you happiness?

Have a good weekend.

Hundreds of you have shared your thoughts with us this week.

We've gone through our mailbox to find out what got you talking. 

One of the biggest developments of the week came when MPs voted through Labour's cut to the winter fuel allowance. 

Here's what you thought...

What's next? Bus passes and prescriptions? But just keep giving £6bn to foreign aid whilst pensioners freeze to death - shame on Labour. Winter fuel

Savings on winter fuel payments will be eaten away by the extra cost to the NHS of elderly people being admitted to hospital because of the cold weather. Any winter fuel payments should go directly to energy companies. MoJo

Why is this government taking away the winter fuel allowance with one hand and increasing pensions with the other? Shall46

A lot of you had thoughts on a survey that found police officers, social workers and community nurses have some of the most stressful jobs in the UK. 

It's safe to say this one got you talking... 

Didn't see Member of Parliament make the list… Neiljo

Why is farming not on the list? Totally dependent on the unpredictable weather for success or failure, highest suicide rate of any profession! Haybales

Teachers, and all the holidays they get over the year. Give us a break Nigel

The stressful jobs list is a joke! Where are firemen, doctors, scaffolders, traffic wardens? What are national govt admins? But HR managers are on there? The majority sit behind a desk and manage people on a computer. Morgg

Finally, we had lots of questions about cheap flights, including this one...

Flying with Quantas next February how do we get a good seat or complimentary upgrade it's a very special holiday 60th birthday. Registered on frequent flyers and are bronze for registering any help Daisy62

First, a very happy birthday for when it comes, and while we'll have to leave the upgrade side of things with you to chance at the airport gate - you can check out our guide to cheap flights right here... 

Junk food ads will be banned before the 9pm watershed , the health minister has announced.

Andrew Gwynne also said the government would introduce a total ban on paid-for online ads for junk food.

"These restrictions will help protect children from being exposed to advertising of less healthy food and drinks, which evidence shows influences their dietary preferences from a young age," he said.

Both bans will come into effect on 1 October next year.

Some customers are being saddled with "unfair" interest rates for paying monthly , according to Which?.

The consumer group called on the Financial Conduct Authority to act swiftly to prevent people from being "penalised" for being unable to pay for a year of insurance upfront.

Its analysis found annual rates as high as 45% could potentially be charged.

Which? asked 49 car and 48 home insurers how much interest they charged customers to pay for cover monthly, with the annual percentage range (APR) across car insurers being 22.33% and the average across home insurers being 19.83%.

Nearly 20% of female business leaders have been forced to delay or cancel their company plans due to difficulties securing financing , research suggests.

A YouGov survey commissioned by HSBC showed one in 10 women entrepreneurs said securing the financial support they need was their top challenge.

The poll of more than 1,000 female business owners revealed nearly half are planning to expand their businesses in the UK or overseas next year - but many are being held back by not being able to access loans or financing.

Nearly one in five (18%) of female business leaders consider access to funding a barrier to growing their business, while nearly a fifth (19%) had to postpone or cancel their business plans as they have not been able to access the necessary funding.

Anyone who has had to move into a rental property lately will know how challenging finding a new place can be, and we can now put a number on how tough the competition is.

Around 21 people compete for every rental property, according to property website Zoopla.

It said the average rent was £1,245 a month in July - £63 a month higher than a year ago.

Zoopla said a lack of supply remains a major challenge for renters.

Although the number of homes to rent is higher than last year, it remains lower than the pre-coronavirus pandemic average, it said.

One in eight (12.5%) of homes listed for sale on Zoopla in July were previously rented.

The website suggested higher mortgage rates have acted as an additional catalyst for landlord sales over the past two years, on top of longer-term tax and regulatory changes.

Nathan Emerson, chief executive of property professionals' body Propertymark, said: "The rental market has been suffering from a lack of supply against an ever-growing demand for a concerningly long period of time.

"The housing sector continues to see issues escalate year-on-year and the real-world effect is that renters face an increasing challenge to secure a suitable property for their needs."

By Sarah Taaffe-Maguire , business reporter

It may be worth keeping an eye on US markets today amid recent signals that borrowing could become even cheaper in the US.

Officials from the US central bank, known as the Fed, have signalled a larger cut than first priced in may be needed - its decision will be announced next Wednesday.

Market expectations are now showing a 41% chance of the first interest rate cut in more than four years being 0.5 percentage points.

That's brought good news for those heading to the US on holidays or buying things in dollars, one pound is back buying $1.31, an amount that had been the greatest in more than a year.

There's little change for sterling against the euro with a pound equalling $1.1847.

Oil is ending the week slightly up from the multi-year low of $70 seen a few days earlier but still at the comparatively low sum of $72.43 for a barrel of the benchmark oil, Brent crude.

After yesterday's market rally, the benchmark UK stock index (the FTSE 100) was slightly down 0.07% this morning with the more UK-focussed FTSE 250 index up 0.38%.

Everyone has their superstitions - but ones about today's date are having a real impact on the housing market.

Analysis by Rightmove shows that Friday the 13th tends to be quieter for house sale completions than any other Friday - which which is usually the busiest day of the week for home moves.

And the 13th day of the month is typically the quietest day for completions compared to any other day of the month.

Rightmove also found that houses numbered 13 are valued at £5,521 lower than the average of £364,139.

Meanwhile, houses with the "lucky" number seven have an average valuation of £369,770.

Tim Bannister, Rightmove's property expert, said: "Despite the superstitions surrounding the number 13 and Friday the 13th, buyers willing to challenge these traditions could find themselves in a prime position to negotiate better deals.

"Our data shows that significant discounts are often available on properties with this traditionally unlucky number.

"With potential savings of over £5,000 - money that could be put towards stamp duty or other moving expenses - even the most superstitious buyers might be tempted to overlook the number on the door."

Friday the 13th is considered unlucky by some for biblical reasons - Judas, who betrayed Jesus, was the 13th guest at the last supper.

Some tall buildings don't list the 13th floor, instead jumping from 12 to 14, and some airlines don't have a row 13 on their flights.

Every Friday we take an overview of the mortgage market, hearing from industry voices and getting a round-up of the best rates courtesy of the independent experts at  Moneyfactscompare.co.uk .

Halifax, Barclays and TSB were among the big lenders announcing cuts this week - as all eyes turn to next Thursday's base rate decision from the Bank of England.

As of yesterday afternoon, markets were pricing in just a 19% chance of a cut - with the strong expectation that the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee will hold fire until its next meeting at the start of October.

The momentum behind a lowering of interest rates has been helped by uncertainty in the US economy - fears of a recession eased somewhat at the end of last week with improved jobs data, but a struggling economy is likely to persuade the Fed to lower rates at a faster than expected rate.

That is helping to bring down swap rates - which dictate how much it costs lenders to lend.

Peter Stimson, from MPowered Mortgages, told industry news wire Newspage: "Fears of a US recession are proving a real fillip to UK borrowers. 

"The two-year swap, which two-year fixed rate mortgages are priced off, is now at its lowest level for 18 months and is even lower than it was at the start of the year when lenders were cutting across the board. Five-year swaps are also falling."

Finance expert Rachel Springall said: "Fixed rate mortgage reductions have taken precedence so far this week, with a few prominent brands making tweaks.

"Home movers who want to lock into a longer-term fixed mortgage will find the average overall five-year fixed rate is much higher than it was back in September 2019, which was 2.79%. Week on week, the overall average two- and fixed rate fell to 5.50% and 5.17% respectively.

"Borrowers searching for a deal may find it encouraging that the average shelf-life of a mortgage product rose to 21 days, up from 17 days. Our analysis at Moneyfacts also revealed that the average two-year fixed rate is now at its lowest level since February 2024, the five-year is at its lowest level since March 2024."

Moneyfacts has looked at the best rates on offer now...

The comparison site also looks at what it calls "best buys" - which considers not just the rate, but other costs and incentives. These are their top picks this week...

Ipswich Town is the cheapest Premier League team to follow this season, according to a new study - though a surprising team pipped it to the cheapest pint by 50p.

Topping this particular table, Ipswich Town - who were promoted to the league this season - comes out as the cheapest team when prices for food and drink in the stadium, adult tickets and season tickets are taken into account.

Sports company  Flashscore , which published the study, also compared the price of a standard home shirt and average ticket price.

Arsenal was found to be the most expensive team to follow this season.

The Emirates sells the joint most expensive beer, at £6.30 a pint, while Arsenal's cheapest season ticket - at £1,073 - is the most expensive in the league. 

It also sells the most expensive adult ticket at £141.

At £372 Ipswich has the second-most affordable season ticket, with the most expensive adult ticket at £48 also under the league average of £71.25.

West Ham have the cheapest season ticket at £345, but scored more highly on other prices.

The cheapest ticket at £29 is also under the £31.07 average.

Once inside Ipswich's Portman Road Stadium, a pint of beer costs £3.50 - the second cheapest to... Manchester United.

The revelation might surprise fans, with United known as the commercial pioneers of the Premier League, adept at driving profit through sponsorship, merchandise and shirt sales.

The club led the way in terms of monetising football beyond tickets, opening a megastore and hotel at Old Trafford in the 1990s, while also popularising stadium tours.

The Red Devils remain one of the world's five richest clubs, despite posting a loss of more than £110m in their latest financial results this week.

Snapdragon, the US technology firm, will pay the club around £60m per year in a shirt sponsorship deal for its men's and women's teams agreed this summer.

Perhaps this has allowed the club to give a little back to fans with a cheap matchday pint.

This chart compares all Premier League prices, from pies to pints and tickets...

Feeling priced out of going to matches? Pints getting more expensive? Share your stories with us in the box at the top of the page.  

A three Michelin-starred meal will soon be available for delivery for £80. 

Uber Eats has teamed up with one of the most celebrated British chefs, Simon Rogan, to offer customers dishes from his restaurant L'Enclume.

The menu has been created using ingredients grown on Rogan's farm in the Lake District, and aims to be the most sustainable in the UK. 

It consists of five courses, with snacks consisting of a Park House pudding glazed in birch sap, a chicken offal doughnut, and Diana radishes with lovage emulsion, followed by a salad with 51 ingredients. 

The centrepiece of the meal is a heritage breed beef short rib from Lake District farmers served with fermented cabbage, chanterelles and an indulgent beef sauce featuring ramson stems, pickled tapioca and ramson oil. 

The menu will conclude with petit fours (little bite-sized desserts). 

It will be available to London-based customers on 18 and 19 September between 5pm and 10pm, priced at £80. 

Pairing wines will also be available for £30. The first night will be available to Uber One users only, and the second night will be available to all customers. 

It will be delivered in biodegradable packaging and transported using electric vehicles. 

"My cooking philosophy has always been influenced by the natural environment, while sustainability is at the forefront of everything we do. Uber Eats have truly gone above and beyond to match this ethos with this project," Rogan said.

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My dad sacrificed everything to retire early — only to die before he could enjoy it. I'll never recommend early retirement to anyone.

• Rebekah Sanderlin's father lived frugally, saving money and working hard his entire life.
• He retired early at age 50 but lived in a "monastic frugality prison" before dying from cancer at 58.
• Sanderlin has inherited some of her father's frugal ways but feels that no one should retire early.

My father was always a thrifty guy, and he tried — mostly unsuccessfully — to pass that trait along to me and my siblings.

When I was six years old, he gave me a small lidded basket to save the money I earned from the Tooth Fairy and doing chores. When my basket got full, he took a very disappointed me to the bank to put it all in a savings account. According to a story my parents loved to tell, I exclaimed, "But I've already saved it! Now it's time to spend it!"

My dad lived a frugal lifestyle

Working hard and saving money , my three siblings and I were told, was the only pathway to real happiness, and my parents practiced what they preached. My dad worked for the same sausage company for nearly his entire life; he started working there at 15, sweeping the parking lot, and he stayed until he was in charge of all the plant's operations by his early 30s.

When the company was sold and his location was shuttered, my father — by then divorced from my mother — moved six hours away to run the new location. He could more easily imagine himself starting over alone in a new town than starting over with a new company.

He visited my siblings and me every other weekend. He was a master of finding frugal ways to have fun and always generously gave his time and attention.

A typical Saturday would include lunch at Sam's Club, where he encouraged us to eat all the free samples . Then we might take a stale loaf of bread to feed the ducks at the park or spend an entire afternoon riding the elevators in the buildings downtown. We went to airshows and free concerts and loaded up on cheap candy at the dollar store before taking our seats in a 99-cent movie theater.

He couldn't wait to retire and actually start living

My father had many penny-pinching ways. He price-shopped every purchase and always bought store-brand products which, after decades in the food industry, he preached were the same quality and often made by the same manufacturers as name brands. He never once bought a new car — only used ones — and he drove them until they no longer made financial sense.

When the headliner in one sagged so badly it blocked the rearview mirror, his solution was dozens of colorful thumbtacks pushed haphazardly into the ceiling of his sedan. I used to move them around while he drove, like his car was a mobile Lite Brite.

It would've been a perfectly fine solution for a teenager, college student, or someone struggling to make ends meet, but my father was the top boss at the largest employer in his town. He could've afforded a new — or at least newer — car, and even would've been able to pay cash for it.

But his plan had always been to retire early . He couldn't wait to wrap up his working life. To him, work was something you did until you could afford to quit and actually start living. Every paycheck got him closer to that goal.

His life became tiny

At age 45, he got laid off . He hadn't planned to retire that early and he tried to find another job, but after several years of searching and a few short stints at jobs he hated, he looked at his accounts and realized he didn't really have to work anymore. At 50, he could retire early, and have plenty of time to do whatever he wanted.

The problem was that he had never figured out what he actually wanted to do with his time. Whole weeks would go by without him doing anything at all. He had never developed the kinds of interests that can sustain people once they stop working.

Moreover, his retirement budget was so tight that he couldn't afford to explore anything new; he once told me that all his monthly expenses including housing, utilities, vehicle, food, and everything else, were just $900. His parents had both lived into their 90s and, though he had quite a bit saved for retirement, he worried that his savings might not last his entire life.

He wouldn't even go out to eat with my siblings and me because restaurants simply weren't in his budget. We would have paid for him, of course, but he was too proud to let us do that. My father's life became tiny — a monastic frugality prison .

Related stories

Most critically, his budget left no room for health insurance. This was prior to the Affordable Care Act, and he found out that buying health insurance would have cost him more than $1,200 a month, an expense he felt he couldn't justify. He reasoned that his health would likely be fine until he was old enough for Medicare, but he was wrong.

A cancer diagnosis changed his money outlook

He lived that way for eight years, until January 2008. Although he had lost a lot of weight and complained of a sore throat for months, he refused to see a doctor because he was worried about the expense .

After my siblings and I convinced him to see a family friend who was a doctor, we finally found out what was going on: at age 58 my father was diagnosed with Stage 4 esophageal cancer and told he had six months to live. When the reality of his diagnosis settled in, it also hit him that he would never get to spend the money he had been saving since he was 15.

One day, he wrote each of his children a check for $10,000, saying he wanted us to go shopping and buy ourselves something expensive, something he had never done for himself. He joked that he'd already saved the money and now it was our turn to spend it, laughing as he turned that old family story on its head.

By then he was too sick to go shopping with us, but we each showed off our purchases to him. I was pregnant at the time and bought myself an expensive designer diaper bag. I also bought a pair of real diamond earrings, and his eyes lit up as he watched me slide them into my ears.

It turned out that the same man who had thumbtacked up the headliner in his car really enjoyed being the kind of father who could buy his daughter diamond earrings and a designer diaper bag.

He died not long after that, exactly six months after being diagnosed.

I don't think anyone should ever fully stop working

Nowadays, when I hear people say they want to retire early , I feel like I'm watching a teenager in a horror movie go alone into the basement. With all the ways that exist for people to engage with work and monetize their passions, I don't think anyone should ever fully stop working, or at least doing things that bring them purpose .

Stop working a job you hate? Absolutely. Spend more time on pursuits that don't pay very well, if at all? Hello, I'm a writer! Volunteer in your community or be a caregiver for family members or friends? Please, do that. But fully retire with no plan to engage in activities that provide a sense of purpose? I just don't see how that is good for anyone.

I did inherit a few of my dad's frugal ways, though. I always price-shop my purchases and fill my grocery cart with store-brand food. That old designer diaper bag now serves as my laptop bag, a reminder of everything I learned from my dad.

And thanks to his lessons, I have a financial plan and solid savings. I plan to slow down as I age, but I don't plan on ever retiring . I'll write as long as I'm able, volunteer as long as I'm needed, and do it all wearing the diamond studs I got from my father.

Rebekah Sanderlin is a freelance journalist, copywriter, screenwriter, and marketing strategist.

If you retired early and would like to share your story, email Jane Zhang at [email protected] .

Watch: How a sheep wagon became one man's doomsday survival plan

• Main content

How to Write a Convincing Business Plan for Investors

Noah Parsons

9 min. read

Updated August 1, 2024

Raising money for your business is a major effort. You need lists of investors to reach out to and you need to be prepared for your investor meetings to increase your chances of getting funded . You need to practice your pitch and be ready to intelligently answer any number of questions about your business. A key to making this entire process much easier is to invest a little time and write a business plan . It’s true — not all investors will ask to see your business plan.

But putting together a business plan will ensure that you’ve considered every aspect of your business and are ready to answer any questions that come up during the fundraising process.

• Why do investors want to see a business plan?

The business plan document itself isn’t what’s important to investors. It’s the knowledge that you’ve generated by going through the process that’s important. Having a business plan shows that you’ve done the homework of thinking through how your business will work and what goals you’re trying to achieve.

When you put together a business plan, you have to spend time thinking about things like your target market , your sales, and marketing strategy , the problem you solve for your customers, and who your key competitors are . A business plan provides the structure for thinking through these things and documents your answers so you’re prepared for the inevitable questions investors will ask about your business. 

Even if investors never ask to see your business plan, the work you’ve done to prepare it will ensure that you can intelligently answer the questions you’ll get. And, if an investor does ask for your business plan, then you’re prepared and ready to hand it over. After all, nothing could be worse than arriving at an investor meeting and then getting a request for a business plan and not having one ready.

Beyond understanding your business strategy, investors will also want to understand your financial forecasts. They want to know how your business will function from a financial standpoint — what is typically called your “ business model .” They’ll also want to know what it will take for your business to be profitable and where you anticipate spending money to grow the business. A complete financial plan is part of any business plan, so investing a little time here will serve you well. 

• What do investors want to see in a business plan?

There’s no such thing as a perfect business plan and investors know this. After all, they’ve spent years, and often decades, hearing business pitches, reading business plans, investing in companies, and watching them both succeed and fail. As entrepreneur and investor Steve Blank likes to say, “No business plan survives first contact with a customer.” 

If this is true, then why bother writing a business plan at all? What’s the value of planning and why do investors want them if they know the plan will shortly be outdated?

The secret is that it’s the planning process, not the final plan, that’s valuable. Investors want to know that you’ve thought about your idea, documented your assumptions, and are on track to validate those assumptions so that you can remove risk from your business. 

So what do investors want to see in your business plan? Beyond the typical sections , here are the most important things that investors want to see in your plan.

A vision for the future

Investors, particularly those investing in early-stage startups, want to understand your vision . Where do you see your company going in the future? Who will your customers be and what problems will you solve for them? Your vision may take years to execute — and it’s likely that the vision will change and evolve over time — but investors want to know that you’re thinking beyond tomorrow and into the future.

Product/market fit and traction

Investors want more than just an idea. They want evidence that you are solving a problem for customers. Your customers have to want what you are selling for you to build a successful business and your business plan needs to describe the evidence that you’ve found that proves that you’ll be able to sell your products and services to customers. If you have “traction” in the form of early sales and customers, that’s even better.

Funding needed and use of funds

When you’re pitching investors, you need to know how much you’re asking for. Your financial forecast should help you figure this out. You’ll want to raise enough money to cover planned expenses and cash flow requirements plus some additional funding as a safety net. In addition, you’ll want to specify exactly how you plan on using your investment . In a business plan, this section is often called “sources and uses of investment.”

A strong management team

A good idea is really only a small part of the equation for a successful business. In fact, lots of people have good business ideas — it’s the people that can execute well that generally succeed. Investors will pay a lot of attention to the section of your plan where you talk about your management team because they want to know that you can transform your idea into a successful business. If you have gaps and still need to hire key employees, that’s OK. Communicating that you understand what your needs are is the most important thing.

An exit strategy

When investors give you money to start and grow your business, they are looking to eventually make a return on their investment. This could happen by eventually selling your business to a larger company or even by going public. One way or another, investors will want to know your thoughts about an eventual exit strategy for your business.

• What documents do investors want to see?

Even if investors never ask for a detailed business plan, your business planning process should produce a few key documents that investors will want to see. Here’s what you need to be prepared to pitch investors:

Cover letter

These days, a lot of fundraising outreach is done over email and you’ll need a concise cover letter that sparks investor interest. Your cover letter needs to be very brief, but describe the problem you’re solving for your target market.

Great cover letters are sometimes in a “story” format that hooks readers with a real-world, relatable example of the problems your customers face and how our product or service The goal of the cover letter isn’t to explain every aspect of your business. It’s just to spark interest and get a meeting with an investor where you’ll have more time to actually pitch your business. Keep your cover letter brief, engaging, and to the point.

If you get an investor meeting, you’ll almost certainly need a pitch deck to present your idea in more detail and showcase your business idea. Your pitch deck will cover the problem you’re solving, your solution, your target market, and key market trends.

Further Reading: What to include in your pitch deck

Executive summary and/or one-page plan

You might not get a meeting right away. Your cover letter may generate a request for additional information and this is where a solid executive summary or one-page business plan comes in handy. This document, while still short, is more detailed than your cover letter and explains a bit more about your business in a page or two.

Read more about what goes into a great executive summary and how to build a lone-page business plan.

Financial forecasts

Investors will inevitably want to see your financial forecasts. You’ll need a sales forecast, expense budget , cash flow forecast , profit and loss, and balance sheet . If you have historical results, you should plan on sharing those too as well as any other key metrics about your business. Investors will always look deep under the hood of your business, so be prepared to share all the details of how your business will work from a financial perspective.

• What to include in your investor business plan

When you put together a detailed business plan for investors, you’ll follow a fairly standard format. To get started, I recommend you download our free business plan template . It’s lender-approved and, of course, can be customized to fit your business needs.

Remember: your business plan isn’t about the plan document that you create — it’s about the planning process that helps you think through and develop your business strategy. Here’s what most investor business plans will include:

Executive Summary

Usually written last, your executive summary is an overview of your business. As I mentioned earlier, you might use the executive summary as a stand-alone document to provide investors more detail about your business in a concise form. Read our guide on executive summaries here .

Opportunity

The opportunity section of your plan covers the problem you are solving, what your solution is, and highlights any data you have to prove that people will spend money on what you’re offering. If you have customer validation in any form, this is where you highlight that information.

Market Analysis

Describe what your target market is and key trends that are occurring in this market . Is the market growing? Are buying patterns changing? How is your business positioned to take advantage of these changes? Be sure to spend some time discussing your competition and how your target market solves their problems today and how your solution is superior.

Marketing & Sales Plan 

Most businesses need to figure out how to get the word out and attract customers. Your business plan should include a marketing plan that describes how you’re going to reach your target market and any key marketing initiatives that you’re going to undertake. You should also spend time describing your sales plan, especially if your sales process takes time to close customers.

Milestones / Roadmap

Outline key milestones you hope to achieve and when you plan on achieving them. This section should cover key dates for product development, key partnerships you need to create, and any other important goals you plan on achieving.

Company & Management

Here’s where you describe the nuts and bolts of your business. How is your organization structured? Who is on your team and what are their backgrounds? Are there any important positions that you still need to recruit for?

Financial Plan

As I mentioned, you’ll need to create a profit and loss, cash flow, and balance sheet forecast. Your financial plan should be optimistic, yet realistic. This is a tough balance and your forecast is certain to be wrong, but you need to document your assumptions and plans for the business.

Finally, you can include an appendix for any key additional information you want to share. Product diagrams, additional details on how you deliver your service, or additional research can all be included.

• What comes next?

Writing a business plan for investors is really about preparing you to pitch your business . It’s quite likely that you’ll never get asked for the actual business plan document. But, the process will prepare you better than anything else to answer any questions investors may have.

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

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National Science Week Grants 2025

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Closing date: Monday 28 October 2024 5:00pm AEDT Mon 28 Oct 2024 5:00pm AEDT

What do you get?

Grants of between $2,000 and $20,000 for community participation in National Science Week 2025 activities.

Who is this for?

Individuals and organisations.

National Science Week is Australia’s major national celebration of the sciences, occurring in August each year. National Science Week will be held from 9 to 17 August 2025. National Science Week provides the opportunity for community participation in high profile science engagement activities across the nation.

The objectives of the grant opportunity are to:

• inspire wide community participation in STEM
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The intended outcomes of the grant opportunity are to:

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The grant amount will be up to 100 per cent of eligible project expenditure.

• The minimum grant amount is $2,000.
• The maximum grant amount is $20,000.

You can apply if you meet the eligibility criteria. The eligibility criteria are a set of rules that describe who we can consider for this grant. You can apply if you:

• are an eligible entity
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The rules are in the grant opportunity guidelines .

Eligible entities

You can apply if you:

• are an individual 18 years of age or older, or
• have an Australian business number (ABN).

You can’t apply if you are:

• an organisation, or your project partner is an organisation, included on the National Redress Scheme’s list of Institutions that have not joined or signified their intent to join the Scheme
• an employer of 100 or more employees that has not complied with the Workplace Gender Equality Act (2012)
• a non-corporate Commonwealth entity (unless you are a publicly funded research organisation, as defined in section 14 of the grant opportunity guidelines)
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Partner with other organisations

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The lead organisation must fill out the application form, be the main driver of the project and be eligible to apply.

If your application is successful the lead organisation:

• signs the grant agreement
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• identifies all members of the proposed group and provides a letter of support from each project partner (as detailed in Section 7.2 of the grant opportunity guidelines). A template letter of support is located on this page under ‘key documents’.
• has a formal arrangement in place with all parties prior to execution of the grant agreement.

Project specific legislation requirements

If you are successful, relevant personnel working on the project must maintain the following registration/checks, and comply with the following:

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Eligible projects

You must complete your project by 15 September 2025.

To be eligible your project must:

• be directed towards a science-related activity that will be conducted in Australia during National Science Week 2025, or where appropriate, in the week before or after National Science Week 2025
• be available to the general public and engage the wider community
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Examples of eligible activities include:

• events relating to existing exhibitions (including travelling exhibitions)
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• online events that include two-way audience participation or involvement, such as interactive virtual tours, online Q&As or online workshops.

We may also approve other activities.

Eligible expenditure

You can apply for a grant between $2,000 and $20,000. The grant will be up to 100% of eligible expenditure.

You can use this grant funding for:

• travel and accommodation
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Check if you’re ready to apply for a grant

Finding a suitable grant opportunity is just the start of the process to get funding. The application process can take time and effort. Understanding the entire process will help you be grant ready and may improve your chances of getting funding.

Use our checklist to find out what it takes to apply for a grant .

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Apply using our online portal:

• Create or log into your portal account.
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Make sure you include enough detail and supporting evidence in your application to help us decide whether to award you the grant.

Don’t submit the application until it’s complete. You can’t correct a mistake.

How we assess applications

We first review your application against the eligibility criteria. Only eligible applications will proceed to the assessment stage.

We consider your application on its merits, based on:

• how well it meets the criteria
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To be competitive you must score highly against all of the assessment criteria.

• Assessment criterion 1: The reach and impact of the project (60 points)
• Assessment criterion 2: Your capacity, capability and resources to carry out the project (40 points).

When assessing whether the application represents value with relevant money, we will have regard to:

• the overall objectives of the grant opportunity
• the evidence provided to demonstrate how your project contributes to meeting those objectives
• the relative value of the grant sought
• how the grant activities will target groups or individuals, especially those historically underrepresented in STEM.

We refer your application to the National Science Week Grants Committee, an independent committee of experts. The Committee will assess your application against the assessment criteria and compare it to other eligible applications in a funding round before recommending which projects to fund.

The Program Delegate who is a manager in the Business Grants Hub with DISR, decides which grants to approve taking into account the advice of the committee and the availability of grant funds.

Apply for the National Science Week Grants 2025 now

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Using the online portal

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