In brief
Crafting a high quality business plan is at the same time challenging, time consuming and, for most entrepreneurs, frightening. This post aims to provide 3 powerful alternative solutions to create a shortened version of a business plan in less than 4 hours.
These lightened versions of a business plan are highly inspired by the classic way of making a business plan. They just add some lean mindset in the loop. This allows to craft light, yet high quality business plans, in way less time.
The two presented solutions are:
- The Business case
- The one pager business plan
- The 5 statement business plan
Business case vs business plan or how to make a shortened business plan in less than 4 hours
What is a business case
A business case can be considered as a shortened version of the business plan. It’s very oriented toward business analysis. Meaning that a business case outlines the tackled problem, brainstorms on the potential solutions, then focuses on a chosen solution and analyses it further.
A business case can be appended to a business plan, as a lighter version of it. A business case can also be considered at first before the business plan in order to start small and make a first objective assessment of the proposed solution before moving forward.
Filtered parts from the full version
Executive summary
This is the 100-150 words summary of the main business idea. You can start drafting a very first version of it to have the big picture and come back to it in the end to fine tune it.
If the full business plan already exists at this stage, then you can simply copy paste the equivalent section from it here.
Product or service
This is where you present your product or service. In a business case, one can put more emphasis on the process of how the idea was generated. For example by brainstorming about potential solutions for the tackled challenge, compare those solutions and end up by choosing the proposed product or service for given objective reasons.
This section can also provide an idea about the proposed solution, its positioning in the market and its main differentiators with respect to the competition.
Financial plan
A financial plan in a business case focuses mainly on ROI and cost-benefit analysis. It should be compact, objective and straight to the point.
Risk management
Since a business case is very business analysis focused, it’s important to outline the risks and the corresponding mitigation plans. This section provides more objectivity and maturity to the crafted business case.
Blueprint to make the business case
- Start by clarifying the tackled challenge (10min)
- Brainstorm about the potential solutions (30min)
- Define a selection criterion and chose the best solution (10min)
- Deepen the analysis of the chosen solution (30min)
- Craft the financial plan (30min)
- Brainstorm about the risks and mitigation plans (10min)
- Write the executive summary (5min)
- Fill in and organize the business case report (10min)
- Gather feedback and improve (15min)
- Deliver (5min)
The One Pager Business Plan or how to make a shortened business plan in less than 2 hours
What is the one pager business plan
As its name suggests it, the one pager business plan is a condensed version of a business plan. It’s different from the business case in the way that it’s shorter, and it’s less oriented towards business analysis and more oriented towards business strategy.
The structure of a one pager business plan
- Executive summary
- Proposed product or service
- Competition, positioning and differentiation
- Financial analysis
- Risk analysis
Blueprint to make the one pager business plan
- Proposed product or service (20min)
- Competition, positioning and differentiation (20min)
- Financial analysis (20min)
- Risk analysis (15min)
- Executive summary (15min)
- Review and fine tune (15min)
- Deliver (10min)
The 5 statement business plan or or how to make a shortened business plan in less than 1 hour
The third alternative among the 3 alternative solutions to create a shortened business plan is the 5 statement business plan.
What is the 5 statement business plan
A five statement business plan is a very shortened version of the business plan that aims at presenting the main idea in a very compact way.
A 5 statement business plan can even be shorter than an executive summary. It simply provides a sentence per key topic covered by a typical business plan.
The 5 sentence business plan answers by a one sentence to each of the following sections coming from a business plan
- Product or service
- User persona (targeted customers and market)
- Competition, positioning and differentiation
- Marketing and sales planning
- Financial plan
Blueprint to make the 5 statements business plan
- Product or service (10min)
- User persona or targeted customers and market (10min)
- Competition, positioning and differentiation (10min)
- Marketing and sales planning (10min)
- Financial plan (10min)
