Types of Business Plans You Need to Know

Are you a new entrepreneur, eager to get your startup off the ground? Or a seasoned business owner, eyeing new opportunities and seeking investment to take the leap?

Either way, you need a business plan! But will the same business plan work for both scenarios? No.

That’s because business plans come in different shapes and sizes according to your needs and purpose.

A plan can be as detailed as 40 pages or more and as brief as one page. It can be written in 30 minutes and can take as long as a month. It all depends on the type of your business plan.

So, in this article, we’ll go over the most common types of business plans and help you understand the kind you need.

Choose the business plan type you need

Before we dive into the nitty gritty of different plans, here’s a simple table to help you get a quick idea about the variety of plans. This will help you make a faster decision!

8 common types of business plans

Now that you have a brief idea regarding the types of business plans, let’s dig in further to understand them better.

1. Traditional business plan

A traditional (AKA standard) business plan is the go-to option for most businesses because it covers A-Z of a company. That means it outlines the strategy, objectives, and operational details of a business while serving as a roadmap for the company.

Here’s what a typical traditional business plan covers to be as detailed as possible:

• Executive summary
• Description of products and services
• Market analysis
• Competitive analysis
• Marketing strategy and sales plan
• Business operations
• Milestones and key metrics
• Organization and management team
• Financial projections and plans
• Appendix

All of this data describes the company in detail, shows its current position in the market, and forecasts its future.

Moreover, because a traditional business plan is so detailed, potential investors, banks, and other stakeholders prefer this plan to understand your business’s viability.

2. One-page business plan

A one-page business plan is a lot like a traditional plan except it believes in “less is more.” This doesn’t mean it isn’t comprehensive, it’s just easier to create while following the same structure as a traditional plan.

A one-page plan is perfect if you want to quickly pitch something, or update an existing idea or strategy.

Here’s how a one-page plan usually goes:

• Business Opportunity
• Market research and requirement
• Your solution
• Competition
• Target market
• Sales and marketing plan
• Budget and sales goals
• Milestones
• Financial projections and plans
• Funding requirements.

3. Nonprofit business plan

Whether you’re trying to attract big donors or foundations to finance your projects or just want to hire board members, your secret weapon is a solid nonprofit business plan.

It's a very specific roadmap that outlines your nonprofit organization’s goals and objectives, and how you plan to achieve them typically in the next 3-5 years.

Moreover, this plan isn’t a one-and-done document. You can revisit it several times per year to check if you’re on track and if your actions align with the original plan. So make sure to update your nonprofit business plan frequently.

4. Startup business plan

As the name suggests, this business plan is for the new business idea you’ve been brewing in your head. This best represents the important details like the new business concept and how it will eventually succeed.

But here’s what’s worth noting: Startup plans are usually made from scratch. So it’s up to you how you prioritize the content in the plan.

For example, if you intend to attract funding it’s best to be as detailed as possible in the financial plans and cash flow projections section. Don’t forget to keep it in focus as well.

5. Growth business plan

Are you planning a business expansion? A growth business plan is what you need. This kind of plan has a specific intention, covering the strategies a business will use in the next year or so to expand its operations, enter new markets, or launch new products.

For example, a local café known for its unique coffee blends wants to expand the brand to other cities. Here the growth plan is location-, a new target market-, and acquiring capital-based.

That’s why it often includes:

• Financial goals and plans
• Growth opportunity analysis
• Current sales
• Revenue
• SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats)
• Marketing plans
• Capability planning

6. Operational business plan

As the name suggests, this plan is all about the operations of a business.

This is essential when your company needs to outline how it’ll manage its day-to-day operations to achieve its business goals.

For example, an electronics company that wants to successfully launch a new smart home product line, ensuring efficient production, quality control, distribution, and customer service will need an operational business plan.

Most operational plans reveal:

• Who will manage each stage of the operations plan?
• What your company needs to do to achieve the decided goals.
• When you and your team need to do each task to achieve a favorable outcome.
• How your company will reach the set goals, using resources like time, money, and labor.

7. Strategic business plan

This detailed plan focuses on your company’s goals and long-term objectives which helps align internal stakeholders and employees around your company’s mission and future. It consists of all the details of the strategies you’ll use to achieve your company goals and outlines KPIs for measuring the company’s success.

Here are the main elements of strategic business plans:

• Executive summary
• Relevant data and SWOT analysis for company success
• Assessments of company resources
• Business vision
• Company mission statement
• Action plans or strategies
• Financial projections based on those goals
• Implementation deadline
• Market research

8. Exit strategy plan

An exit strategy is a contingency plan you as a business owner can execute to say bye-bye to a business venture once predetermined criteria have been met or surpassed.

For example, you can use an exit strategy to exit your business if it becomes unprofitable to limit losses.

Or you can use it when your business venture has met its profit objective to make significant cash out.

Other reasons for executing an exit strategy may include:

• Significant change in market conditions
• Legal reasons
• Business owner wants to retire and cashout

What type of business plan do you require?

Honestly? It depends.

First, your purpose matters (how you’ll use the plan). Then your current business stage. And third, your target reader.

Keeping these aspects in mind, let’s see how you can make a choice:

1. Define the purpose of your business plan

Why are you creating a business plan? The answer to this can be securing funding, looking for potential partners for an established business, or wanting to share a unique value proposition—or something else entirely!

The point is, with a reason or intent in mind, you can decide the business plan type you need.

For example: You own a food truck that sells fusion tacos. You noticed a growing trend for gourmet food trucks in your city and believe that your unique fusion taco recipes could be a major hit. Before investing, you’ll need a feasibility business plan to assess if your idea is viable.

2. Research and check your options

Spend just a few minutes to understand the different types of business plans out there. Or just Google the kind you’re looking for. This will help you understand the basics, like what:

• Is unique about a specific plan?
• Are its benefits and drawbacks?
• Kind of businesses prefer it?
• Are its key elements?

Review the answers to these questions to understand what you’re getting into, making it easier to make a choice.

3. Take help

It’s only smart to take help when there’s ample available. For example, you can use the most basic business plan template to start off. And then build on it as and when you get more information or get familiar with the plan type.

This works because you don’t have to start from scratch, eliminating the intimidating factor.

Conclusion

To be honest, there’s a lot that goes into the business planning process. So don’t get hung up on picking a business plan. We hope the above list of plans and tips on how to make a choice will drastically reduce the time you spend on picking a business plan type. This way, you can quickly get to the main event—creating a business plan.

In fact, once you know the kind of plan you need, you can further save time by using an AI business plan generator like Bizplanr. Just answer a few questions regarding your business and the AI will generate a plan within minutes!

So what are you waiting for? Get planning!