Whether you got your business idea while in the shower or in a brainstorming session with your friends, the next step for you is to start working on a plan.
This is because it sets up the groundwork for your business to survive. You could always choose to wing it, but planning can open up more opportunities for you to build legitimacy, funding, and investor confidence. A business plan paves the way for growth by 30%.
Business plans are defined as documentation of internal and external elements of starting a company, including but not limited to funding, business model, and more.
So, if you plan on developing a brand soon, you may want to get familiar with these business plan makers.
You’ll find the best match for your startup or small business.
Before we discuss the best planning software today, let’s look at the essential elements of a business plan. Doing this gives you a better idea or even refresh your mind when creating a strategy.
When coming up with a business plan, you want to make sure that you’ve got the basics covered. Here’s a quick overview of the primary components of a business pan:
- Market analysis - Examine the industry you plan on penetrating. Study the data and statistics to get an idea of how well your business can thrive.
- Competitor analysis - Know who your direct and indirect competitors are, including their strengths and weaknesses.
- Business concept - Give a brief overview of your brand. Answer questions related to your target persona, unique selling proposition, and the like.
- Financial features - This part should include projections, ROI, sales, profits, etc. It will help your potential partners and investors see that you are worth noticing.
- Financial requirements - Funding is one of the most important aspects of launching a startup. This part should include your business capital and how it will be spent.
- Business position - Think about the current state of your company. This part involves company information, such as the present principal owners, personal, and date of establishment.
- Achievements - Has your brand achieved relevant milestones? Include that in this part. Or you could also include objectives or the ones you plan on getting like patents, prototypes, locations, KPIs, etc.
10 Business Plan Maker Software
The tools below will help you stay on top of relevant business processes to get closer to success.
Each one will help you handle finances, human resources, branding, time tracking and other critical business planning components. Having a trusted software lets you organize and input important business information better, which is essential when utilizing the services of top cloud providers for seamless integration and scalability.
Bizplan
The platform has helped over a million startups backed with a team of 10,000 expert mentors. The online tool offers courses, planning tools, mentoring, customer acquisition, staffing, and more.
Bizplan gives you the tools to create reports regarding your financial state and projections. You can get templates to help you plan more efficiently. It also has a progress tracking feature that guides you through each process.
PlanGuru
Powering users with budgeting and forecasting functionalities, this software is designed for both non-profits and businesses.
The software comes with 20 forecasting methods that can be used for 10-year projections. Its budgeting feature lets you generate a budget fit for simple high-level purposes or in-depth multi-department budgeting.
Enloop
This business planning software has a free trial for 7 days. Enloop is a forecasting and business plan maker with industry average comparisons, report cards, and more. Plus, the software also gives you a real-time performance score to track your progress.
The software has over 310,000 users as of writing. It has been featured in publications such as Forbes, Inc., Entrepreneur, and more.
Upmetrics
With tools for financial planning, canvas modeling, business plan cover page creation, and more, you can accomplish various business planning projects. Upmetrics gives users a single place for activities ranging from managing balance sheets to creating pitch decks.
The one-stop tool was created by industry experts. It has been in business since 2017.
Business Sorter
Business Sorter offers users a free 14-day trial. The cloud-based tool lets companies manage six key areas, such as finances, operations, and products, among others. It also has a feature for planning brand and marketing affairs. User data is SSL encrypted with enterprise-level managed cloud services.
LivePlan
With its 60-day free trial, users can experience different planning and financial features. The software has over 500 plans that you can apply to your business. It also has a feature that will help you identify your executive summary, business opportunity, and more.
LivePlan has been used by over 850,000 small businesses today.
Poindexter
The platform has templates for businesses dealing with professional services, SaaS, publications, mobile games, and more. Pointdexter lets users develop expert-level forecasts, marketing strategies, and track performance as well.
Planium Pro
Planium Pro has a 60-day money-back guarantee. The software lets you develop extensive financial models and marketing frameworks. It also has a user-friendly interface which hands users a series of prompts for a better experience. Planium Pro has a directory of accountants and other accredited advisors to aid users.
Go Business Plans
As an alternative, if you’re not too keen on using software, you could consult experts or hire writing experts to develop a business plan instead. Go Business Plans powers users by providing market research, business plan advice, and more. The firm has won awards such as the TopTenReviews Best Business Plan Company Award for three consecutive years.
Wise Business Plans
Wise Business Plans® is staffed with MBA-educated planning advisors and financial modelers. Get custom plans for your companies ranging from non-profit, banks, investors, and more. The company was established in 2008 and headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Wise offers a full menu of business plans, marketing, research, web design, and concierge services to businesses of all sizes, as well as providing management consulting and access to other business-building resources.
Conclusion
According to the Harvard Business Review, the most successful entrepreneurs are the ones that come up with a plan within six and twelve months of deciding to bring an idea to life. It amps up the probability of venture viability success. Now is also a great time to explore how a cloud contact center can streamline communications while supporting your growing brand. Many startups are integrating these platforms early to scale more efficiently and deliver a seamless customer experience. As your business grows, consider implementing HRMS tools to manage your expanding workforce and maintain organized employee records from the start. Additionally, exploring multi-cloud management strategies can help ensure your business planning software and other critical tools remain accessible and secure across different cloud platforms.
While you’re at it, you should also begin working on your brand identity. It’s a vital part of making your brand more distinct in the market.
Get started by getting a custom logo through a logo design contest. DesignCrowd is one of the leading crowdsourcing platforms that connect you with international freelance graphic designers. Run a contest today.
You could also use an online logo maker to kickstart your brand identity. With BrandCrowd, you can use the business logo maker to generate and personalize the perfect design. It has logos for different niches like eCommerce, construction, fashion, and more.
Plus, the logo maker also has other templates that you can use for other brand assets like brochures, social media assets, invoices, and more. Don’t miss out!
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Written by DesignCrowd on Friday, October 23, 2020
DesignCrowd is an online marketplace providing logo, website, print and graphic design services by providing access to freelance graphic designers and design studios around the world.
