The Business Plan Shop's financial tools for startups

The Business Plan Shop makes it easy to create forecasts, write business plans to help secure funding, and stay on top of your startup's financial performance once you start trading.

The Business Plan Shop's online business plan software for startups

With our business plan software for startups:

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Our financial forecasting tools help startups find a viable business model

Easily create and stress-test forecasts

The Business Plan Shop makes it easy to build a complete, three-way financial forecast (spanning 3 or 5 years), containing a profit and loss statement, balance sheet and cash flow forecast

Our software does the calculations for you, meaning you won't have to worry about errors

Precision is key when it comes to forecasting cash flows, that's why our financial simulator can handle elements most other solutions struggle to model such as complex payment terms, variable interest rate loans, and more

Once you've completed your first forecast, you'll instantly know whether or not the business model can be profitable and how much capital is required to launch your startup

Our scenario analysis tool will enable you to stress-test your base case against more pessimistic or optimistic assumptions, or compare different business models side by side

financial tools for startups: financial forecasting and scenario analysis cash flow statement

Demonstrate the viability of your business idea with a professional business plan

Create a robust plan covering all bases expected by lenders and investors

The Business Plan Shop's online software helps you easily write a startup business plan which can be presented to lenders and investors to secure initial funding:

Our detailed outline includes all the key sections expected in a business plan so you won't have to worry about missing out on crucial aspects

Instructions and examples in every section help you power through your plan with confidence

Avoid lengthy text by adding images, tables or charts throughout your startup business plan

Pick a professionally designed colour scheme and customise it to your brand's colours and let our software handle the formatting for you

Download your startup business plan as a PDF or Word Document and send it to investors or lenders

Online business plan software for startups: theme and cover templates
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Our complete examples help you write a startup business plan faster

Avoid writer’s block with our startup business plan templates

It's much easier to begin with a concrete example rather than a blank page - especially if you haven't drafted a business plan before.

Draw inspiration from dozens of business plan templates to write your own plan in no time.

Each business plan template contains:

A complete three-way financial forecast (P&L, balance sheet and cash flow forecast)

A complete written business plan detailing all aspects of the company

Load templates directly in our software and simply replace the text and numbers with your startups' details to make it your own.

The Business Plan Shop's online business plan software for startups: complete business plan templates

Make sure things go according to plan, or adjust if needed

Compare actuals vs. forecast to ensure that your startup is on track and reduce your personal risk

Startups are a risky business: 60% fail - it's therefore critical to understand if you are on track to deliver your initial forecast and make sure you won't run out of cash.

The Business Plan Shop enables you to compare and view the variance between what you had budgeted and what your startup actually delivered on all 3 financial statements (P&L, balance sheet and cash flow statement)

Use these insights to adjust your forecast accordingly: capitalise on your early success to accelerate growth if you're above budget, or explore options to see if you can turn things around if you're under budget

financial tools for startups: actuals vs forecast profit and loss statement
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7 day free trial. No credit card required.

Avoid classic startup founders’ mistakes in your financial forecast

Our online business plan software runs quality checks on your forecasts

Financial forecasting is vital to ensure your startup will be profitable and sufficiently capitalised to meet its financial commitments.

Forecasting can feel daunting, especially for new entrepreneurs who have little experience in making financial projections or judging how good or bad a forecast is.

The Business Plan Shop's financial dashboard software helps startups by highlighting areas of concern, through comparing key metrics against quantitative rules.

Traffic light-themed tags clearly mark out areas of concern by looking at:

Expected growth

Profitability

Cash generation and credit metrics

The Business Plan Shop's financial tools for startups: KPI dashboard software

Easily collaborate with your co-founders and advisors

Harmonise your data to create a single source of truth

Invite your co-founders or an advisor to work on your startup business plan, help forecast financials or report on business performance. Gain in productivity by allowing team members to assist in areas that they're well versed in.

Easily control user permissions with centralised access so that you can decide who views and edits what. This way, you'll have full peace of mind knowing important data remains secure.

Collaborate by writing notes in any section of our software. These notes can be kept private or shared with your team.

The Business Plan Shop's online business plan software: collaboration and permissions

500,000+ entrepreneurs have already used The Business Plan Shop

I was able to create a detailed business plan which made a strong impression on my bank and enabled me to get a loan for my business.

Julie C.

Ideal if your entrepreneurial or financial knowledge is limited! You won't have to worry about writer's block and customer service is responsive which is reassuring.

Amaury P.

Very useful and practical. A huge time saver compared to the business plans I had to draft myself using Word and Excel!

Philippe Y.

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Try The Business Plan Shop For Free

There’s only one way to make up your mind about a new service - by trying it out for free. So we’re offering a free trial run on our platform for 7 days.

Sign up for a free trial today

No credit card required & no commitment.

Learn more about The Business Plan Shop

Start your free trial

7-day free trial. No credit card required.

Staying on top of your startup financial performance is easy with The Business Plan Shop

Without us With The Business Plan Shop
Creating financial forecasts Done on spreadsheets which are error prone and where modelling complex elements takes dozens of lines With our best in class forecasting software all the calculations are done for you, without errors
Finding the best business model for your business idea Add more tabs to your spreadsheet to compare scenarios side by side Done in just a few clicks with our scenario analysis tool which shows the difference in each of your financial statements
Writing investor ready business plans Start from a blank page with no guidance Follow clear instructions and examples throughout
Collaborating with co-founders and advisors Necessitates to juggle with spreadsheet versions, discussion threads, and manage accesses Discussions are centralised inside our application where you can quickly manage access and permissions
Tracking actuals vs. forecast Punch your accounting and forecasting data manually on the same Excel spreadsheet each time you want to run the comparison. Connect your accounting software to The Business Plan Shop and compare against your forecasts in 2 clicks

Frequently Asked Questions

Do startups need a business plan?

The short answer is: yes.

The lack of a business plan is cited by the Durham City Incubator in the UK as the first reason why 60% of startups fail within their first three years. 

Writing a business plan for your startup is therefore key to increasing your chances of creating a successful venture.

Depending where you are, it might also be mandatory as some countries require that you submit a business plan when you register your company.

And it's also needed if you need to secure funding from investors or lenders to start your venture.

How long should a business plan for a startup be?

The short answer is: how long as it needs to convince the reader without boring them. A good rule of thumb is to keep it to between 20 and 30 pages maximum (excluding the appendices), but it really depends on:

  • The complexity of your business idea and whether or not the reader is familiar with your market (they need to understand what you do, who you sell to and be convinced that your product/service and sales plan are relevant)
  • How much financing you're trying to secure with your business plan (the more you're trying to raise the more convincing it takes)
  • Your track record as a team (are you new to the sector and entrepreneurship, or industry veterans with multiple successful businesses under your belt?). It also needs to be professional, well-structured and investor-friendly.

The Business Plan Shop's online business plan software can help startups write their own business plan with ease. It's a very efficient way to write a high-quality plan without breaking the bank.

How do I write a business plan for a startup business?

Writing a startup business plan is no different than writing a normal business plan.

A startup business plan should include:

  • A complete three-way financial forecast (B/S, P&L and cash flow forecast)
  • A written business plan that explains the goals of the business and how it plans to achieve them
Is The Business Plan Shop the best business plan software for startups?

The Business Plan Shop arguably offers the best business plan software for startups on the market:

  • Our text editor includes instructions and examples help you negate writer's block
  • Our business plan templates help you write your startup business plan faster by letting you replace both the text and numbers with your own startups details
  • Our business plan software automatically creates a table of contents and cover page for you upon downloading your plan as a PDF or Word Document, saving you time and effort
  • Our financial forecasting software lets you easily build a complete three-way financial forecast that's error-free
  • Our smart tags help keep your business plan's financial plan up-to-date, no matter how much the numbers change
  • Our scenario analysis tool lets you compare multiple startup models to help you stumble upon a business structure that makes sense financially
  • Our all-in-one software lets you harmonise your data, creating a single source of truth and allowing for easy collaboration
  • And many more...

But you shouldn't take our word for it: try our solution for free and make your own opinion as to whether or not we are truly the best business plan software for startups!

How much does The Business Plan Shop’s online software cost for startups?

Please visit our pricing page to learn about this in more detail.

How does the free trial work?

The free trial enables you to try the software for free during 7 days in order to verify that it meets your startup's requirements before buying.

Some features are limited during the free trial. The main limitations are:

  • You can only create one business plan
  • You can only view the financials for the first 12 months
  • You can export your plan in PDF but not in Word or CSV
  • You can only view our business plan templates after you subscribe to a paid plan

You can create your account and start your free trial here.

Will you help me write my startup business plan?

The Business Plan Shop's online business plan software for startups includes detailed instructions and examples to guide you through each step of writing your business plan.

Our support team can also assist you by explaining where and how to input your data in the software.

However, we cannot write or proofread your business plan, or give you an opinion on the relevance or chances of success of your project.

Can I collaborate with my co-founders, investors or advisors inside your platform?

Yes, you can invite co-founders, advisors, team members and other users to help you:

  • Write your initial business plan to get started
  • Forecast your finances and draw up a budget for the upcoming period/s
  • Make business decisions by testing the impact of each decision on your finances
  • Report and analyse on financial and non-financial performance including the use of KPIs
  • And more...

Similarly, you can also invite investors to view your business plan and forecast directly in our online software to help raise financing for your startup.

Will my startup business plan made on your site be good enough for my bank or investors?

Raising financing is one of the primary reasons startups' use The Business Plan Shop (once they've validated the viability of their business ideas).

We've been in business almost a decade and have a solid track record of startups using our business plan software to raise financing successfully.

Whilst we provide the tools necessary, we cannot guarantee that you will secure funding for your startup.