Recommended Business Plan Websites

There is a wide variety of sites about business plans on the internet to help students and teachers develop their ideas. Some will give you all the information you need to start writing a business plan. Others provide examples of actual business plans to give you ideas for your own.

Trusted Articles and Advice

Create an effective business plan using the UK Government's small business information website. This page provides a complete introduction to writing a business plan with helpful, practical tips. Although there is no specific advice provided, the pages provides links to knowledgable authors.

A range of templates and business plan documents are available from Entrepreneur.com for budding entrepreneurs. This site contains a great selection of planning downloads including checklists and presentations. Some are free, but most require payment to access.

The British Venture Capital Association's Guide to Venture Capital will be useful to people who want to use their business plan to raise venture capital. It has a section on writing business plans and explains the whole venture capital process. To see the Guide, click on the link above and then go to the Publications and Research page. Then scroll down, and you'll find that the Guide can be accessed either as web pages or as an Acrobat document.

Bplans.com is affiliated to Palo Alto Software, who produce the Business Plan Pro software. There is a whole range of resources on this site including a large number of sample business plans as well as an opportunity to ask questions of their experts. There used to be a dedicated UK website but that has disappeared in recent years. It's a good move on their part because both sites hosted the same content although written in British English.

The government-backed Start-up Loans company has a business plan template and downloadable guide for new business owners to explore.

Or additionally look at the vast range of templates from Score.org based in the USA.

Enterprise Agencies

If you're setting up a new business or have up to five employees, then your local enterprise agency may be able to help. They'll be able to provide free advice and guidance on how to draw up a business plan and how to make it acceptable to potential funders like bank managers. The National Federation of Enterprise Agencies website will give details of your local agency. Alternatively they can be contacted on (01234) 354055.