How Long Should Your Business Plan Be?

A business plan can be any length, from a scrawl on the back of an envelope to a detailed plan describing a complex enterprise, more than 75 pages. A typical business plan runs 15-20 pages, with a wide variation.

The nature of your business will play an important role in the length and content of the plan. If you have a simple concept, you may be able to express it in very few words. If you are proposing a new kind of business or even a new industry, it may require a bit of explanation to get the message across.

The purpose of your plan also determines its length. If you want to use your plan to seek millions of dollars in seed capital to start a risky venture, you may have to do a lot of explaining or convincing. If your plan is to be used for internal purposes to manage an ongoing business, a much more abbreviated version should be fine.

Most books on business planning are aimed at startup business owners. These individuals seem to be the least experienced of the potential plan writers, they're probably most appreciative of the guidance. Business owners find plans useful at all stages of development, whether they're seeking financing or trying to figure out how to invest a surplus.

Some business owners feel the need for a written plan to help manage an already rapidly growing business. Some use a plan as a means to understand the marketing concept to use for a particular industry. Or a plan may be seen as a valuable tool to explain the mission to prospects of the business to customers and suppliers.

Business Plan Check List

Use the following are reasons to think about updating or developing a business plan:

You have started a new business and do not have a roadmap.
Your old plan does not reflect reality; maybe things have changed faster than you expected. Or you may have changed the way your business operates.
There has been a significant market switch.
You need financing, or additional financing. You need a bank ready plan to apply for a loan.
Your company is about to develop a new product.
Your business has changed a lot since you wrote the original plan - obvious time for an update.
You have had a change in management. New management should have fresh information about your business and goals.
A new financial period is about to begin. You should update your plan annually, quarterly if your industry is a fast- changing one.
Your company has crossed a threshold, you have moved out of your home office, made the $1 million sales mark.
Market analysis was never done or a new market analysis is imperative because of the market switch.

Plans differ widely in their length, their appearance, the detail of their contents, and the varying emphases they place on different aspects of the business. Most business plans have a lot of elements in common, for example cash flow projections and marketing plans.

Your plan must present you and your business in the best and most accurate manner.