How to make realistic financial projections, develop effective marketing strategies and refine your overall business goals.

Judging by all the hoopla surrounding business plans, you'd think the only things standing between would-be entrepreneurs and spectacular success are glossy five-color charts, bundles of meticulous-looking spreadsheets, and decades of month-by-month financial projections. Yet nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, often the more elaborately crafted a business plan, the more likely the venture is to flop. Why? Most plans waste too much ink on numbers and devote too little to information that really matters to investors. The result? Investors discount them. In How to Write a Great Business Plan, William A. Sahlman shows how to avoid this all-too-common mistake by ensuring that your plan assesses the factors critical to every new venture: The people—the individuals launching and leading the venture and outside parties providing key services or important resources The opportunity—what the business will sell and to whom, and whether the venture can grow and how fast The context—the regulatory environment, interest rates, demographic trends, and other forces shaping the venture's fate Risk and reward—what can go wrong and right, and how the entrepreneurial team will respond Timely in this age of innovation, How to Write a Great Business Plan helps you give your new venture the best possible chances for success.

A comprehensive companion to Entrepreneur's long-time bestseller Start Your Own Business, this essential guide leads you through the most critical startup step next to committing to your business vision—defining how to achieve it. Coached by a diverse group of experts and successful business owners, gain an in-depth understanding of what’s essential to any business plan, what’s appropriate for your venture, and what it takes ensure success. Plus, learn from real-world examples of plans that worked, helping to raise money, hone strategy, and build a solid business. Whether you’re just starting out or already running a business, to successfully build a company, you need a plan. One that lays out your product, your strategy, your market, your team, and your opportunity. It is the blueprint for your business. The experts at Entrepreneur show you how to create it. Includes sample business plans, resources and worksheets.

Covering all the issues in producing a business plan, this text also includes a full glossary, case histories, and a detailed section on the key issue of using internal business plans.

To win in business requires a winning business plan. To write a winning business plan requires reading Garrett Sutton’s dynamic book on the topic. Writing Winning Business Plans provides the insights and the direction on how to do it well and do it right. Rich Dad/Poor Dad author Robert Kiyosaki says, “The first step in business is a great business plan. It must be a page turner that hooks and holds a potential investor. Garrett Sutton’s Writing Winning Business Plans is THE book for key strategies on preparing winning plans for both business and real estate ventures. Crisply written and featuring real life illustrative stories, Writing Winning Business Plans discusses all the key elements for a successful plan. Topics include focusing your business vision, understanding your financials and analyzing your competition. Also covered are how to really use your business plan as a tool and how to attract funding for your new or existing businesses. As business plan competitions become more popular around the world Writing Winning Business Plans also discusses how to enter and how to win these ever more lucrative contests. In addition, how to quickly interest a potential investor, also known as the elevator pitch, is explained. And, as opportunities arise around the world, how to present your plan in various countries is explored. Writing Winning Business Plans is the complete compendium for this essential business rite of passage – preparing a winning plan.

A well-crafted business plan generates enthusiasm for your idea and boosts your odds of success--whether you're proposing a new initiative within your organization or starting an entirely new company. Creating Business Plans quickly walks you through the basics. You'll learn to: Present your idea clearly Develop sound financial plans Project risks--and rewards Anticipate and address your audience's concerns Don't have much time? Get up to speed fast on the most essential business skills with HBR's 20-Minute Manager series. Whether you need a crash course or a brief refresher, each book in the series is a concise, practical primer that will help you brush up on a key management topic. Advice you can quickly read and apply, for ambitious professionals and aspiring executives--from the most trusted source in business. Also available as an ebook.

This book is now used by the University of Kentucky entrepreneurship program. This book will give you a fresh and innovative way to write a business plan that will help you: - Complete your business plan faster - Avoid confusion and frustration - Focus on the core of your business and create more effective business strategies To help you learn the business planning process from the ground up, this book gets you started with a very basic business plan and helps you expand it as you make your way through the book. This way, you have less confusion and frustration and are more likely to finish your business plan faster and have it be better. This way you get a business plan template together practical explanations and an example. So whatever your learning style might be, this book has a high chance of being effective for you. If business planning seems to you complex and scary, this book will make it simple for you. It is written in simple and clear language to help you get started and create a great business plan. So what are you waiting for? Get this book now, and start creating a great business plan for your business today. Also recently added in the last update of this book is a business plan sample since many people commented that they wanted a business plan example. Although for my taste as an entrepreneur, I rather give you lots of great business planning strategies and theory that you can use in the real world instead of having a business plan template or workbook to write your business plan from. After all, a business plan is just a document. But to make your business a success, you will have to do it in the real world. So when you try to figure out how to create a business plan, don't just focus on the business plan document. Instead, focus on a plan for the real world with actionable and effective strategies. Get the book now, and start planning your business today.