Business plan is a document that is written to present a business strategy, projections, market analysis, and resources necessary to start a business and evaluate its possible profitability. It can be also created by an existing business entity planning expansion into new markets or changing its strategy and direction. It can be presented to investors or a bank to attract funds or for mergers and acquisitions. This business plan table of contents can help you understand the structure and parts and use a sample to create a perfect business plan for your startup or company seeking to handle operational scaling. You will learn how to use such frameworks as PESTEL, SWOT, porter’s 5 forces, Porter’s generic strategies, VRIO, Ansoff matrix, value chain analysis, and 4 Ps.
Table of Contents
- Business Plan Table of Contents
- Brief Sample of a Business Plan for TeleHealth Monitoring App to Seek Investments
- Takeaways
1. Business Plan Table of Contents
Use this business plan table of contents for creating a perfect business plan:
Business Plan Parts
- Executive Summary
Overview of findings and recommendations
- Introduction
Background information
- Company Overview
History, mission, vision, values, product/service, employees
- Industry Analysis and Target Market
Environmental scanning and target market segmentation
- Business Model and Organizational Structure
Business Model Canvas and management
- Product, Service Line, and Strategy to Bring Value Through These
Product/service and Value or Selling Proposition
- Marketing and Sales Plan
Promotion channels
- Operational Plan
Supply and production or service delivery processes; outsourcing plan; technology and equipment
- Financial Plan
Calculations of startup costs, marketing and operational expenses, projections of 5-year revenue
- Appendices
Visuals, market and industry data
Executive Summary
Write a short overview of the key parts of the business plan with recommendations on strategy implementation in executive summary. It can serve the purpose of guiding entrepreneurs on the key steps of starting a business with strategies to follow.
Introduction
Although Executive Summary comes first, start creating business plan table of contents and outline with introduction. The key difference from Executive Summary is that introduction presents background information instead of the overview of business plan parts.
Company Overview
If you are planning a startup, write the basic information about the company here. Present a plan on the business location, employees, products or services, and customers.
For an established company, discuss its history, staff and their number, mission, vision, and the present strategy, products/services, etc.
Industry Analysis and Target Market
Use environmental scanning tools (Porter’s 5 forces, PESTEL, etc.) to analyze the industry and competitors.
PESTEL involves the discussion of external factors affecting the company:
- Political (country policies)
- Economic (inflation, unemployment)
- Social and cultural (cultural traditions and social norms)
- Technological (new advancements in the field of technology)
- Environmental (concerns about eco-friendly products, organic goods, or the environment)
- Legal (country laws)
Porter’s 5 forces (determine the extent of impact – low, moderate, strong for each force):
- Bargaining power of suppliers
- Bargaining power of buyers
- Threat of new entrants
- Threat of substitutes
- Rivalry
SWOT for the whole industry and the company operating in it:
- Strengths (5 strong points for the company)
- Weaknesses (5 weak points)
- Opportunities that the industry offers
- Threats in the industry like rivalry
Create a Buyer Persona to understand target market needs and value that the business may bring. Evaluate opportunities from which it can benefit.
Conduct market segmentation analysis:
- Demographic characteristics – segments by age, gender, income, social status
- Behavioral – buying habits
- Psychographic groups – lifestyle and interests
Business Model and Organizational Structure
Business Model Canvas with 9 key elements is the basic tool to present the business model.
Create a visual to identify:
- Partners,
- Activities,
- Resources,
- Value Propositions,
- Customer Relationships
- Customer Segments,
- Channels,
- Revenue Sources,
- Cost Structure.
Discuss the roles of managers and functions of departments, hierarchy, and necessary employees. Determine the type of ownership.
Product, Service Line, and Strategy to Bring Value Through These
Present the product or service offered.
You can use the VRIO framework for this purpose:
- Value that the product or service provides to customers
- Rarity of this product or service
- Imitability or difficulty and costs for competitors to create the same product or offer the same service
- Organization or business structure to benefit from value, rarity, and imitability
Discuss the strategy how the product or service can bring value to customers (Value or Selling Proposition). A useful tool is Porter’s generic strategies for a competitive industry:
- Cost leadership – lower production costs and lower prices than those of competitors
- Differentiation – unique or premium value proposition
- Differentiation focus – focus on uniqueness provided to a narrow target market
- Cost focus – focus on lower costs provided to a narrow target market (University of Cambridge, n.d.).
Another great framework to use is Ansoff’s matrix:
- Market development with available products offered on new markets or to new market segments.
- Product development with creating new products for existing markets.
- Market penetration with the increased selling of available products and services on markets where the company is operating currently.
- Diversification with new products and new markets (The Strategy Institute, 2024).
You can discuss expected research and development and product lifecycle (from developing to its growth, maturity, and decline).
Marketing and Sales Plan
Include steps to promote your service or product, channels you will use for this purpose, and 4Ps of place, price, product, and promotion.
Operational Plan
Discuss all operations for the business to function daily:
- Sourcing materials and supplies
- Producing products
- Delivering services to customers
- Distributing
- Training employees and installing equipment and technology
Conduct value chain analysis. It is a useful framework for an already operating business, helping to provide maximum value at minimum cost and resource use. Analyze:
- Primary activities (production and supply chain management)
- Secondary activities (HR, infrastructure)
Financial Plan
It is a section to present data in tables and figures (in Appendix) and discuss them by referring to Appendix:
- Create a table with startup costs or expenses required to implement a new strategy
- Include operational and marketing expenses
- Develop a balance sheet with all business assets, equity, and liabilities
- Determine the break-even point at which the company will become profitable
- Include 5-year projections for cash flow, expenses, and revenue
Appendices
It is part to include all visuals like diagrams, tables, calculations, market data, interviews, questionnaires, etc.
2. Brief Sample of a Business Plan for TeleHealth Monitoring App to Seek Investments
Executive Summary
TeleHealth Monitoring App is an innovative solution that can meet increasing needs of patient and healthcare providers for remote health monitoring. The objective of Startup A is to provide a fully functional HIPAA-compliant app to 10,000 clients for the first year. The projected revenue is 1.5 million dollars in one years. The break-even point is 1.5 years. To achieve this, the company seeks investments in the sum of 2 million dollars for the development and promotion of the app.
Company Overview
Startup A is an innovative company with the mission to implement breakthrough technologies into remote monitoring with the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) insights. It is founded in 2024 with 50 employees.
Industry Analysis and Target Market
The healthcare industry is projected to grow in the next 10 years. Change in regulations, policies, and laws may affect Startup A operations with the adoption of policies to control AI use. Economic factors like employment can affect customer’s buying power to purchase app plans. however, social factors are favorable, as customers are becoming more interested in remote health monitoring. Technological landscape requires new solutions like TeleHealth Monitoring App. Environmental concerns may relate to the decrease in gas emissions due to having to get to visit a health care provider.
- Demographic characteristics – middle-income patients from 25 to 60
- Behavioral – healthy buying choices
- Psychographic groups – increased interest in achieving wellness and leading a healthy life
AI predictive analytics will differentiate the app from competitors.
Business Model and Organizational Structure
The company will get revenue from subscription plans. Organizational structure includes the CEO, CFO, CTO, CMO, Research & Development, and HR.
Product, Service Line, and Strategy to Bring Value Through These
Startup A will use the differentiation strategy for unique or premium value proposition.
Marketing and Sales Plan
Pricing will be based on enterprise packages and individual subscription plans. Promotion will be done through social media and medical conferences.
Operational Plan
A team of IT professionals will constantly monitor app functionality and report on a daily basis.
Financial Plan
Initial investments are 2 million dollars. Monthly expenses on marketing and operations are 100,000. A detailed breakdown of expenses and salaries is provided in Appendix. The projected break-even point is in 1.5 years.
Takeaways
- Make the plan up to 30 pages with all visuals
- Include specific data and details
- Organize it based on business plan table of contents
- Consider risks and ways to address them if they arise in the future
- Use the third person
- Keep it focused and with facts and support from research sources
References
The Strategy Institute. (2024, May 10). The Ansoff matrix: A powerful tool for business strategy and growth. https://www.thestrategyinstitute.org/insights/the-ansoff-matrix-a-powerful-tool-for-business-strategy-and-growth
University of Cambridge. (n.d.). Porter’s generic competitive strategies (ways of competing). https://www.ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk/research/dstools/porters-generic-competitive-strategies/
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