Business Plan Questionnaire
A business plan is YOUR story of what you want to do and how you will do it. What you put into it is
highly individual and no two plans will look alike – even for the same kind of business in the same town.
On the other hand, bankers, investors and other who see your plan will be looking for certain things and
you need to provide them in a format they understand.
In addition, the length of the plan will vary and for all sorts of reasons. Some people are more wordy
and detailed. Some ideas are more complicated and harder to understand. There will be more
information for an established business – many decisions have already been made and there will be
some history – than for a start-up. If you have somewhere between 6 to 15 pages PLUS financials and
possibly other appendices you are probably okay.
Business plans can take many formats, but the following questionnaire follows a standard outline and
will often cover everything you need. On the other hand, it attempts to be a “one-size-fit-all” plan; parts
may be less appropriate for your needs.
Executive Summary
This is actually the last part written and is usually a paragraph or so of the main points. It might read
something like this:
The XYZ Company founded as a sole proprietorship in 1999 in QQQQQ, South Carolina
manufactures and sells widgets. The owner, John Doe, seeks to raise $00000 in order to ABCD
and will do so by a personal investment of $00 and a loan of $0000. With this money the
following will be purchased: blah, blah, blah. As shown by the financials, this will increase sales
by MM% and the company’s financial statements show that the profit margin is sufficient to pay
back the loan.
Overview of the Business Model
This may be optional for an existing business, but it’s a good idea to address anyway. For a new
business this is the section where you show why this is a good idea, a good business in which to invest.
Question 1 below is really a series of questions to get you to think of this and need not all be answered.
On the other hand, the space below may not be nearly enough to tell everything.
1. Why do you think this product/service is needed? How is it different than what is already out
there? Are you filling some sort of gap in the market? What is it that you are trying to do?
What products/services are you planning to offer? Why are you needed?
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