Components of a Business Plan

Back to: How to Write a Show-Stopping Business Plan Step-by-Step

We believe the core components of a Business Plan fall naturally into three sections, so we’ve grouped them accordingly.

Each section asks you to think in a slightly different way about your business.

The three sections are:

1. The Business Idea
2. Planning for Success
3. Putting it all Together

The first, The Business Idea, asks you to communicate the meat of your idea simply but effectively.

The second, Planning for Success, asks you to dive into the detail and demonstrate your understanding of how the business will work on a day-to-day basis.

The third, Putting it all Together, looks at how you will create a plan which plans for the unexpected and will please any third party who may be considering lending money or partnering with you.

Within each of these three sections you will find a number of individual deliverables; these are the key components which we will be helping you create step-by-step on this course.

We’ll look at the three sections in a little more detail in the next three activities.

But before that, a quick word about the final component – the Executive Summary. The Executive Summary should be the final thing you write and is effectively a one or two page summary of the rest of the plan. We will also lead you through this in Putting it all Together.