Business Plan Cover Page






Business Plan Cover Page Example

Business Plan Cover Page

10 Examples of Business Plan Cover Sheet

To write your business plan... Uhhh!

It is certainly not the most exciting part of starting a business. In fact, if you're like many business owners, you'll probably spend a few nights doing one before moving on to your first financing proposal. Because that's the thing - your business plan is pretty important.

Every funder that's worth their money wants to see it right away. Beyond that, however, a solid business plan is a living document that will continue to guide your efforts as your business grows. I recently shared 18 Mistakes That Kill Startups, an infographic created by Mark Vital at Funders and Founders.

Business Plan Cover Page

Business Plan Cover page examples: some creative company, NASA project, some industrial company

Many of these mistakes (most of them) are the result of poor planning. A bad location, a marginal niche, no specific user in mind, too much or too little money - all of these problems can be avoided or at least mitigated with good planning.

Creating your business plan is more than just putting your ideas on paper for potential funders to see. It's an exploratory process where you can weigh your options, test your hypotheses about your idea, and even discover new possibilities. It can even cause you to overwrite certain aspects of your business before investing too much time or money in it.




7 ingredients for a successful business plan

Below are the five keys to creating a great business plan cover.
To see what to include in the other sections of your plan, refer to our comprehensive business plan template.
Make sure you include the following elements on your cover page:

Ingredient #1. Company name

First, your company name should be included on the business plan cover. This should be the most important feature of the cover and, as such, is traditionally with the largest font setting. Immediately, the reader should know your company name.

Ingredient #2. Company logos and color scheme

The best business plan covers are those that appear to be of professional quality. This can be achieved by adding a high quality image of the company logo, as well as the font and color scheme for the company's marketing materials. Like a book cover, a business plan cover should immediately attract the reader's attention. Plans with poor coverage can fall victim to false prejudices.

Ingredient #3. Title and date

When was this plan written? Readers need to know, so include the date (month and year are enough).
And what is it? The cover should indicate whether it is a business plan, executive summary, or financial projections. So, at this point, your cover page might look like this:

John's Plumbing, Inc. Business plan March 2021

Note that the title and date should appear less prominently than your company name.

 

Ingredient #4. Less is more

The executive summary of your business plan will summarize the plan's content. It is not necessary for the cover to do this either. It is also not advisable to create a business plan cover that is so graphically occupied that the information is difficult to discern. Simple, clean, and powerful are the three goals of strong business plan coverage.

Ingredient #5. CEO / Owner / Key Contact Information

Who should the reader contact if they want more information? The name and contact information of the CEO, president, owner or other important contact should not be found at the end of the document. It should be on the first page, letting the reader know who is presenting the document.

Ingredient #6. Confidentiality Statement

While not strictly necessary, you may want to add a confidentiality statement on your cover page, such as the following:


This document contains confidential and proprietary information from and regarding 0. This document is for informational purposes only. You may use this document for informational purposes only, and you may not reproduce any part of this document or distribute any of its contents without the prior written consent of 0. By accepting this document, you agree to be bound by these limitations and restrictions.

The title page of your business plan is crucial as it is the first thing readers will see and will give them an immediate impression as to whether you are professional or not. As such, the page is one of the critical components of a business plan. As part of your initial business plan, you should think about how you want others to perceive your business. Not only should this perception be established throughout your plan, but make sure you do so on the cover page of your business plan.

Many people ask for business plan cover letters to accompany their plans.

Most plans are emailed to investors or lenders nowadays. As such, business plan cover letters are often unnecessary. Instead, in the body of your email, you can include text such as the following: “Attached, find my business plan. I am available to discuss it at your convenience. I'm waiting for your news. "Such an email is usually sufficient if you are looking for a bank loan, VC loan, or angel investor loan.




Top 10 Business Plan Templates

One-page templates from Oprah.com

Sometimes a simple one-page business plan template is best. Oprah.com offers three ready-made templates for various companies. You can get ideas from these ready-made templates and easily adapt them to your company.

Oprah's website doesn't offer enough choice of business types or models here for my taste. But with all of your plan details on one page, these provide an easier way to describe your small business. This is especially true when longer, multi-page business plans seem a bit overwhelming at the moment.

Business.Govt.Nz's Template

The Business.Govt.Nz business plan template has guides and prompts to help you think through the details of your business, from business description to competitive analysis. It outlines the steps you can take for marketing strategy, fundraising, etc. The website has some step-by-step maps, but the choices aren't that great when compared to other resources.

BizGym Funding Plan Templates

If you already know that you will be contacting potential investors, the free BizGym business plan template might be an ideal choice. This template is specially designed to help showcase your start-up business. You can access one-page plans, overview versions, and full business plans.

You can even invite teammates to work online and edit the plan for a collaborative effort. One of the downsides to this model is that you have to sign up for BizGym for free to access it.

The Balance's Business Plan Template

If this is your first time writing a business plan, The Balance template is one of the more user-friendly options you will find. This template is the most useful on the list, in my opinion, as it is a comprehensive, well-written guide to help you through each section.

One of the downsides here is that there is a lot to sift through that many business owners may not need. The advantage of the template, however, is that you can copy and paste it into a Word document, which gives you flexibility in editing.

BPlans' Modern, Professional Template

The BPlans template has everything you need when you need to contact investors or get a loan for your business. Students from universities like Princeton and Babson learned how to start a business here.

This template goes into the details that are important for investors and banks, which may not be right for new founders who just want to get their business basics down on paper. This will force advanced founders to think like an investor. If you don't know where to start, the BPlans library has over 500 business plan examples to inspire you.

Plan Buildr's Step-By-Step Plan

The Plan Buildr model is a shorter, less overwhelming model and can be completed in just 10 minutes. It's broken down into easy steps and even calculates the financial data for you. One of the downsides here is that it just isn't as comprehensive as the others on my list. However, this can be an ideal choice for your first draft, especially as you are still working out the details of your financial plan.

My Own Business Institute's Comprehensive Plan Template

My Own Business Institute offers a comprehensive model that is broken down into 15 different areas. This template covers everything from your vision for your new business to acquisitions, cash flow, and more.

The formatting is simple and easy to change, refine, and customize. Sections and prompts get you to actively think about business components that you may not have planned yet. This particular model may be a little too detailed for some startup founders, but that might make it a better candidate for taking portions and combining them with other models.

After you get financing, your launch and first sales are only the beginning of your task as an entrepreneur. You must grow your business. Invoicing is one of the most essential activities that every entrepreneur has to deal with, because every paid invoice ensures your positive cash flow. Build a robust billing practice for your business that includes customizable invoice template.





Business books: Top Picks

1
ITIL 4 Foundation PDF
ITIL v4 PDF Publisher: Axelos The ITIL v4 Foundation book by AXELOS

2
Business Model Generation book
Business Model Generation By Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur

3
The Intelligent Investor PDF
The Intelligent Investor Publisher: Collins Business Essentials

4
Investment Banking: Valuation, Leveraged Buyouts and Mergers and Acquisitions
Rosenbaum and Pearl PDF Publisher: Wiley

5
Fundamentals of Corporate Finance PDF
Fundamentals of Corporate Finance Publisher: Collins Business Essentials



Best Business Management books

#1ITIL Foundation: 4th edition

The fourth edition of ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library) was presented by Axelos in February 2019. The ITIL v4 (PDF and other versions available) focuses on practical aspects of IT management and provides a holistic approach with emphasize on Agile, DevOps and digital transformation topics.

#2The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life. In this generation-defining self-help guide, a superstar blogger cuts through the crap to show us how to stop trying to be “positive” all the time so that we can truly become better, happier people. For decades, we’ve […]

#3Read People Like a Book

Read People Like a Book: How to Analyze, Understand, and Predict People’s Emotions, Thoughts, Intentions, and Behaviors (How to be More Likable and Charismatic).

#4The Intelligent Investor

One of the greatest investors of the twentieth century, Benjamin Graham, proposed his philosophy of “value investing” that could protect investors from dramatic errors and teaches them to develop long-term strategies. This approach is exhaustively explained in The Intelligent Investor (PDF download available) book, which remains the stock market bible since its first […]

#5How Money Works

Money is the oil that keeps the machinery of our world turning. By giving goods and services an easily measured value, money facilitates the billions of transactions that take place every day. Without it, the industry and trade that form the basis of modern economies would grind to a halt and the flow […]

#6Business Communication

Everyday Business Storytelling: Create, Simplify, and Adapt A Visual Narrative for Any Audience. Communication is one of the basic functions of management in any organization and its importance can hardly be overemphasized. It is a process of transmitting information, ideas, thoughts, opinions and plans between various parts of an organization. Good and effective […]

#7How Business Works

Every type of business has to choose an ownership structure. Although there are variations globally, most countries offer similar types of legal entities, from a single- person private enterprise to a massive organization trading on a stock exchange. There are three key considerations: how big the venture is expected to grow; the complexity […]

#8The Essential Manager’s Handbook

The step up to a managerial role can be an exciting, but daunting, new challenge. Suddenly, you are responsible for making sure your team is working together, achieving results, and that overall your department is running smoothly. There is no single technique to becoming an excellent manager, but the Essential Manager’s Handbook provides […]

#9Operations Management

Operations Management is important, exciting, challenging, and everywhere your look! Important, because it’s concerned with creating all of the products and services upon which we depend. Exciting, because it’s at the centre of so many of the changes affecting the world of business. Challenging, because the solutions that we find need to work […]

#10Where Are the Customers Yachts

In 1940 Fred Schwed, a stockbroker whose father had lost everything as a short seller on Wall Street during the Roaring Twenties, published this timeless classic on how the stock market really works. Schwed, a pleasure-loving, cultured man who had been expelled from Princeton University in his final year for entertaining a lady […]


Best books for entrepreneurs


#11Corporate Finance 11th Edition

Corporate Finance, Eleventh Edition This book has been written for the introductory courses in corporate finance at the MBA level and for the intermediate courses in many undergraduate programs. Some instructors will find our text appropriate for the introductory course at the undergraduate level as well.

#12ISE International Business: Competing in the Global Marketplace

The 13th edition provides a complete solution that is relevant (timely, comprehensive), practical (focus on applications of concepts), integrated (integrated progression of topics) and the most up-to-date on the market. Available with Connect: Our highly reliable homework and learning management solution that embeds learning science and award-willing adaptive tools to improve student results.

#13Winning: The Unforgiving Race to Greatness

Winning: The Unforgiving Race to Greatness (Tim Grover Winning Series) From the elite performance coach who wrote the international bestseller Relentless and whose clients included Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and Dwyane Wade, comes this brutally honest formula for winning in business, sports, or any arena where the battle is relentless.

#14Your Next Five Moves: Master the Art of Business Strategy

From the creator of Valuetainment, the number one YouTube channel for entrepreneurs, comes a practical and effective guide for thinking more clearly and achieving your most audacious business goals. Both successful entrepreneurs and chess grandmasters have the vision to look at the pieces in front of them and anticipate their next five moves. […]

#15Your Next Five Moves

Your Next Five Moves: Master the Art of Business Strategy (Hardcover / Audio / Kindle). Creator of Valuetainment, the # 1 YouTube channel for entrepreneurs and “one of the most exciting thinkers” (Ray Dalio, Principles author) in business today, provides a practical and effective guide to thinking more clearly and getting the most out […]

#16Finding the Winning Edge

When those who chronicle the history of the game list the individuals who had the greatest impact on the National Football League, Bill Walsh will clearly be among the names of Halas, Lombardi, Brown, Landry, Noll and Shula. But when you consider who has impacted the game most in terms of those who […]

#17International GAAP 2020 2021

Generally Accepted Accounting Practice under International Financial Reporting Standards. The content of this book takes into account all accounting standards and other relevant rules issued up to September 2020. Consequently, it covers the IASB’s Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting and authoritative literature listed below. References in the main text of each chapter to […]

#18Schweser FRM Part I Secret Sauce

This review book is a valuable addition to the study tools of any FRM exam candidate. It offers concise coverage of exam topics to enhance your retention of the FRM curriculum. We suggest that you use this book as a companion to your other, more comprehensive study materials.

#19We Should All Be Millionaires

We Should All Be Millionaires: A Woman’s Guide to Earning More, Building Wealth, and Gaining Economic Power. Are you ready to fill your life with more peace, power and joy? We Should All Be Millionaires details a realistic, achievable and step-by-step path to create the support, trust and plan you need to master […]

#20THE BUSINESS ANALYST’S HANDBOOK

In my previous life in chemical engineering, I used to carry around Perry’s Chemical Engineers’ Handbook—a working reference book containing every table and tool the professional might need to refer to in carrying out his or her role. When I began working as a business analyst, I looked for a similar handbook for […]