A new business generally needs two things. First, it needs a reason to exist. What are you going to bring to the marketplace that no one else is providing or how are you going to provide an existing product in a “better” fashion? Second, you’re going to need some cash. Even if you’re just going to be making websites in your bedroom, you’ll need some money for internet access, food, and some software or hosting.
These two problems can both be addressed through a solid business plan.
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A business plan tells you – and anyone you decide to share it with – what your core function is. It helps you focus in on the things that you do best and it gives you metrics to determine what your success looks like. I say, “It gives you,” but really it’s just a template for managing your own thoughts.
In the same way that a blueprint is the physical manifestation of a building plan, a business plan is the physical manifestation of your business goals. Could you build a house without drawing up a blueprint? Sure. Is it a super good idea that we’re all about to adopt? Not even close.
In addition to putting your own thoughts on paper and making the organization process more structured, a good business plan is also your pitch. When you go into the bank, you’re going in with a clear message about what you do, who buys it, and how much you’re expecting them to spend with you over time.
The forecasting and economic consolidation that happens in your business plan makes talking to the bank – or VC or neighbor or rich uncle – that much easier.
To help you pull a plan together, there are – of course – plenty of software solutions. These range from the simple to the complex. You can opt for a solution that basically just lays the material you create out or one that helps you with every step of the process.
Today, we’ll look a few free business plan software options to help get you started. I’ll also give you a few non-software solutions, just in case you want to get your hands a bit dirty.
This article looks at three free business plan software options. See the full list of free business plan software solutions here.
Note: Your hands may not get dirty, except in a metaphorical sense. Much depends on the type of pen you employ.
Free business plan software options
1. StratPad
StratPad is a cloud-based business plan software solution. There are a few different versions, depending on how many business plans you want to make, but for one plan, you can get a free account. As an additional little bonus, if you happen to teach business at a high school or university, StratCloud has a free version of its Unlimited offering.
That little bonus points to what StratCoud is really all about. The company provides workshops, videos, and educational blogs for entrepreneurs. It makes the bulk of its revenue not through subscriptions, but through the introductions it provides via StratPad Connect.
There, business coaches, accountants, and other professionals can connect with new businesses. Those leads generate a small fee from the professional, paid to StratPad. You’re not paying, so you’re the product – but it’s a pretty tame version of the old adage.
StratPad comes with follow along instructions and ends up generating a very clean and classic looking business plan. I like the layout of the system and I’m apparently not the only one. StratPad claims over 100,000 businesses are currently using its service.
2. Enloop
Enloop is another free option for those seeking a single business plan. The company attempts to bring a little bit of credibility with its offering by scoring your business plan. Once it’s been scored, bankers or investors can look to see how well you did.
The score encompasses some basics like cash flow and growth. It updates as you update the document, so you can see what metrics are having the biggest – in Enloop’s mind – impact on your business’s viability. Sharing the actual score is only available to paid users.
Enloop also makes it easy to collaborate on plans, and the free version of the service gives you one additional user. You’ll be able to forecast up to 36 months out for financials, and all of it can be dropped into a PDF.
3. Plan Cruncher
This is my wildcard entry into the mix. Plan Cruncher isn’t really a business plan software. Instead, it takes the information you give it and generates a sort of elevator pitch/cover letter for your business plan.
When you’ve input all the details, you’ll end up with a one-page overview of the business, including what you’re going to do, who’s involved in the project, where you are in the funding process, and what you’re looking for next.
I like this for two reasons. First, it’s kinda fun. The final product is covered in these little logos that Plan Cruncher has come up with, so you get a nice visual view of the business. Second, it makes you summarize the whole thing. You’ll be entering details in 140 character boxes and chopping your offering down into small consumable chunks. This is a great way to determine what the core parts of your business really are.
Plan Cruncher has just the one version. It’s free and you end up with a nice PDF when it’s all said and done. That being said, it is 100 percent focused on tech startups looking for cash from investors. If you roll into the bank with this thing, it better be because you’re the founder of Plan Cruncher and you brought it along to demonstrate what the service does. No banker is going to care about this.
Non-software options for business plan creation
Software doesn’t always have to be the solution. I mean, sure, you’ll need some software to make any business plan, but we’re talking about Microsoft Office style programs. These resources are excellent alternatives to software.
The SBA wants you to succeed in business and it’s got a whole host of resources to help you generate your own business plan on its website. One of the things you’ll miss out on by using software is a solid education.
By building your own plan, you’ll be forced to learn how the whole thing works, what investors are looking for, and what all the terms means. You’ll be forecasting and analyzing before you know it. The SBA has a great set of instructions on how to get up to speed before you head down to your bank.
Speaking of which…
Many major banks have free business planning tools to help you get started. On the Wells Fargo site, for instance, you can learn about how business plans work, use some tools to bring the whole thing together, and even do some competitive analysis.
As a major benefit, you’ll be working with the company that you’re going to be asking for money, right out of the gates. If you don’t like your bank’s offering, you can always find another bank that has better tools. Most of them are available without an account.
Another SBA shout out. The SCORE network hooks successful business folk up with the next crop of winners. You can reach out to knowledgeable, local, mentors who can help you craft a business plan. These people are there to help and to make business better.
That means 1) there’s not a cost associated with reaching out and 2) they’re not going to do your homework. If you show up with all your research and a good start, a mentor can help you put some finishing touches on or send you in search of more details. If you show up with nothing, expect to get nothing in return.
That’s probably a little unfair. I’m sure you can get help finding your way if you haven’t kicked things off yet. Just don’t expect to drop off your bank records and walk out with a plan that they’ve drawn up for you.
We’ll end on another quirky one. The BMC was developed by Swiss business consultant Alexander Osterwalder. The BMC breaks a business into nine basic building blocks and then has you fill out all those blocks. The result is a sort of brainstorm of business planning that fits on a single page.
This is a popular framework for lean start-ups, as you can present the entirety of the plan in a single slide – with more detail than Plan Cruncher provides. If that sounds intriguing, check out Alexander Cowan’s overview of the BMC for more details on how it actually works.
Final thoughts
A business plan can help you understand and champion the growth of your business. Thinking through your business’s core functions and challenges can give you a better understanding of where you should be spending your time.
You’ll also be in a better position to get the funding you need, when you need it. Business planning may be the least exciting part of starting your business, but it’s one of the most important. If you’ve got any other tools or software options that you’ve used and loved, let me know in the comments.
Frankly speaking, it is really hard to find good free business plan software. Still, there are some cloud-based programs, easy to use, accessible anytime and anywhere. You’ll see a list of 5 top free online plan generators and builders on this page.
What is a business plan?
To put it in simple words, a business plan is a vital roadmap for business success. This important document outlines the way a company intends to grow incomes in the following 3-5 years.
Without a business plan, it’s something like a mission impossible to get financing or investors to support your ideas.
If you are a startup but lack the time to do business planning, a business plan creator can do a lot of the job for you.
Moreover, the right software solutions can help you building a perfect business plan, can create it more professional and effective and can help you win investors easier. Keep in mind, that this refers mainly to premium financial and business planning software.
They are rich-featured, user-friendly and with customer support. However, if you lack the budget here is a list of free and freemium programs that still can help you a lot.
Enloop surely is one of the most popular online cloud-based business planning software and builders out there. While it is a premium creator, it also provides a free and easy plan that is always free – no trial period.
This software will walk you through every step of creating a standard business plan. Enloop also provides templates for multiple industries (exceptions are nonprofit organisations) and is one of the easiest programs to use in the industry.
What is vital here is that Enloop allows importing financial information to help you create a professional plan.
Enloop is an intuitive tool, very easy to use with step-by-step guides that make plan writing stress-free for you.
Let’s see what their free plan includes:
- You can create one plan for free.
- 3 years forecasts and financial reports. You can generate and update in real time sales, profit & loss, cash flow and balance sheet. The Free plan gives you a fast way to write a simple plan with only annual inputs.
- Interactive PDF Creation – your business plan is formatted in PDF ready to download, print and share.
- Enloop Performance Score (EPSTM) that allows you to see a FICO-like score for your business plan.
- Fast contact form support.
- Multi-currency support – you can select from 100+ worldwide currency formats.
- A report card for your business that indicates when your business is on the right path.
Besides that Enloop is a good free business plan software, its premium plans are suitable for companies on a budget that looking for cheap and low-cost solutions.
StratPad is one of the best cloud-based business plan software solutions to help small to mid-sized businesses. In addition to that, it is one of the top business plan apps available for the iPad, recognisedized by Entrepreneur and Forbes.
There are different subscription plans, depending on the number of business plans you want to make. For one plan, you can get a free solution with a lot of features.
When you sign in their free account, you can access their great additional resources, how-to tutorials and video course for business planning. It is a really smart choice for those who are writing first ever business plan.
StratPad uses questions and fill-in screens as instruments to guide you through the strategy steps and long-term goals. Its accent is on developing not only a plan but a business strategy sense. The difference that StratPad provide is: instead of creating a single plan document where are described the ways your business will grow, StratPad pulls you describe how you’ll achieve that grow.
Certainly, most free software seekers will be happy with their free version. All (free and paid) subscriptions include:
- SSL data encryption (the same as online banks)
- Anywhere, anytime access
- All reports built in charts for results tracking
- Regular free updates
- Unlimited data storage
- iPad app
- Online – no software installation.
- You can print, email, export of reports and charts.
Poindexter is an automated financial projection generator suitable for startups.
It is one of the easiest and simplest business modelling software that allows you to produce financial projections and budgets.
Easily you can create balance sheets, cash flow and full income statements for business plans. No technical knowledge is required. You can analyse multiple scenarios to adjust the profitability of your strategy.
When you start using Poindexter to forecast your business investments, you will see how quickly you are able to start generating insights.
In minutes you can produce financial data for your company. It is a real time saver. Very clean design.
Pricing is free or very cheap. Actually, this is one of the cheapest business planning and modelling programs out there.
Thier basic free plan includes:
- 1 Project
- 3 Years of financial statements
- Unlimited collaborators
- 2 Project valuation methods
- Email support
123Bizplan is not so popular. However, it has some interesting features that deserve attention. It is a premium and free business plan software with step by step guidance to create a business plan in just a few hours.
In addition, their free program allows you to create and develop as many business plan ideas as you like.
It is effortless as it sounds, 123. Not very featured reach but is a great plan builder for small business startups.
It makes the whole complicated paperwork very simple to fill out. Their free Basic Business Plan gives you access to industry examples and helpful resources. No experience necessary – “Magic Wizard Button” do the work instead of you.
Their step-by-step wizard tracks your progress and allows you to easily edit your plan. In addition, you can submit support requests through their online platform.
You can access your business plan from anywhere at any time. There is an option to create and to make edits from MAC or PC.
Let’s see their free plan features:
- Create a basic business plan.
- Access industry examples and help features.
- Access software anytime and from anywhere.
- You can create your plan with PC or MAC.
This popular builder covers a range of things and can help you come out with a good business plan.
What is SBA? It is U.S. Small Business Administration – an independent agency of the federal government to assist and protect the interests of small businesses.
Their tool is one of the most popular free business plan software tools. It is completely free but it is less featured than the above free plans.
Also, it is no very simple way to make financial projections. This tool is more suitable for people who don’t need much guidance.
Business Planning Software For Mac Free Youtube
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Regarding industry specific business plan samples, the SBA Tool provides a few examples but they are not very detailed. Also, SBA does not allow customization and no support available.
However, it is still a program featured enough to help you make a good and professional business plan for small business.
You can personalise your plan with logo and print, save and update your business plan.
SBA provides:
- A step-by-step guide to help you get started.
- Save your plan as a PDF file.
- Update it at any time.
- You can use your completed business plan to discuss next steps with a mentor from an SBA resource partner.
Share your thoughts? Which is your top free business plan software? Could you recommend it?
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About the Author Marin Valchev
Marin Valchev, PMP is an IT Project Manager with more than 10 years of experience. He implements cutting-edge technology in a wide-range of Financial and TELCO companies in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Marin shares his knowledge of software, analysis, project management and other business areas.
Marin Valchev
Business Plan Software Mac Free
Marin Valchev, PMP is an IT Project Manager with more than 10 years of experience. He implements cutting-edge technology in a wide-range of Financial and TELCO companies in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Marin shares his knowledge of software, analysis, project management and other business areas.