us small business administration business plan

Everything that you need to know to start your own business. From business ideas to researching the competition.

Practical and real-world advice on how to run your business — from managing employees to keeping the books

Our best expert advice on how to grow your business — from attracting new customers to keeping existing customers happy and having the capital to do it.

Entrepreneurs and industry leaders share their best advice on how to take your company to the next level.

• Business Ideas
• Human Resources
• Business Financing
• Growth Studio
• Ask the Board

Looking for your local chamber?

Interested in partnering with us?

Start » business ideas, the definitive guide to writing a startup business plan.

Our guide covers all the components of your startup business plan and explains why startups have unique business plan needs.

To understand what should be included in a business plan, you have to understand who the plan is for and what stage of your business you’re in. If you’ll be taking a business plan to a financial institution as part of a loan application, you’re going to want a more traditional plan. These tend to be on the longer side and should be as detailed as possible, without getting too technical.

If you’re in the early planning stages of your business or just want something to show to a few angel investors, you might consider a startup business plan format, which will be more of a summary of key points. That might only be one page long but should still hit on all the major highlights and goals of the business.

According to the Small Business Administration, the length of your business plan should be long enough to accomplish three goals: (1) excite the financing source, (2) prove that you truly understand the market, and (3) fully detail the execution strategy.

Regardless of length, your business plan must get across why you are passionate about your company and why you think it will succeed. You should have a command of your market, your subject area and be authoritative. You should include market data and financial projections, but not come across overly dry. You want the readers of your business proposal—even bank loan officers—to see your commitment to your goals and the emotional connection you have formed to your business idea. At the same time, you want your plan to appear factual and professional.

Startup business plan requirements

If you’re writing a business plan for a bank or lending institution, consider including the following major components in your plan. Keep your plan in a binder with numbered pages and provide a table of contents to make it easy to follow.

Executive summary. This is a brief (1-2 page) explanation of what your company is, what it does and why it will be successful. Although this summary will come first in the plan, you should write it last so that you have all the information to draw from. Not succinctly summarizing your business idea is one of the biggest mistakes that can be made in a business plan. If you don’t hook your reader with your executive summary, that person is not going to want to keep reading. Here are some of the pieces to include:

• The mission statement — a short statement summing up your business and explaining your product or services
• A brief overview of the structure of your company and the leadership team
• Some basic financial information, such as banking relationships and any investors
• A summary of your company growth and any financial highlights
• Company facts like number of employees, date founded and location

Mission statement. Although this is a part of the executive summary section, the mission statement deserves a separate callout because you’ll need to carefully craft your message. The statement needs to pack a punch, but remain a tight and coherent thought. Mission statements should be written in the present tense, and answer questions like who your customers are, what values are important to your business and what marker you’ll use to decide if your company is successful.

Market analysis. In your company description you started to explain why your company is a good idea. Your market analysis is where you’ll back up those statements with an authoritative understanding of your industry and target market. Address why your competitors are successful and prove that you know why what they’re doing is working. You also need to establish why your idea is better or will be more successful. The market analysis section should be between 9 and 22 pages long. In this section, include information like:

• Trends and themes in your industry
• A description and size of your target market
• Your pricing and gross margin targets
• Industry risks
• Key personnel
• Five-year projected revenues

If you need help with market research there are several free tools available. The U.S. Census is obviously data rich and can help you answer questions about the size of specific industries and businesses and which products in your industry are growing. The U.S. Census also offers Economic Indicator data that can help you digest what’s going on in different industrial sectors.

The SBA offers a tool called Sizeup that helps you process data points to get details on your competition, figure out where your competitors are located and where there might be gaps in the market. It’s important to remember that having a similar business plan as a competitor doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t be successful. It’s possible that two similar businesses can thrive, but you should be able to explain why the market you are entering is conducive to that.

Your business plan must get across why you are passionate about your company and why you think it will succeed.

You should also be able to prove that you know the customers to whom your business caters and be able define and research their habits. Know when they buy, how often they buy or how often they will need your service.

Company description. A good way to describe your company is by answering this question: What problem does your company solve? That can help determine who your customers are and what advantages your company has over your competitors. The question will also lead you to explain and highlight the expertise of your team and the benefits of your physical location. A company description is an easy place to show your commitment and passion for the company as well as boast your company's strengths.

Organization and management. Here’s another place to show your team’s competence and explain the passion behind your business. This is where you’ll outline who is running your company, how it’s structured and what you all bring to the table. The main components to include are:

• An organizational chart
• The name of all owners and percentages they own
• Resumes of some of your key staff/leaders
• The legal structure of your business (i.e., an LLC, a partnership, etc.)

Marketing and sales. It’s not enough to simply say you have a great product. In a traditional business plan, you have to explain how you intend to get this great product or service to the right customers. You should convey how your strategy is going to evolve once you have more (or any) customer data. Still, you should lay out a roadmap for how to start and potential opportunities to attract and retain customers. Consider including the following:

• An explanation of your business model and how your product leads to revenue
• How and when you will introduce new products or services
• Potential new territories for your company to enter
• The plan to boost sales on a particular product
• Potential long-term relationships with other companies or clients
• The possibility of price increases
• Improvements to your product or your processes for manufacturing or delivery
• Ideas for advertising and social media strategy

Service or product line. In this section you will need to again answer what your company does and what you’re selling. You can go into more detail about what sets your product and company apart from your competitors, as well as how you target customer benefits. Some items to include are:

• The life cycle of your product
• Information on any copyrights, patents and any other ways you protect your intellectual property
• Any non-disclosure or non-compete agreements
• Any research and development you’ve done

Funding request. If the goal of your business plan is to secure an investment or a loan, then this is where you’ll explain how much funding you need and why. In addition, you want to explain how you will pay off your debt. Also include any information that would majorly impact your future financial situation, like plans to take the company public or sell the company.

Financial information. It might seem obvious, but in your financial projections you want to show that your business is strong. If you have an established business, this is where you’ll include cash flow statements, income statements and balance sheets as well as collateral that you could put up against a loan. You should also discuss how the business is being funded and your current costs. Also, make sure that the projections clearly match up to your funding requests, avoiding overreaching. This section of your business plan should also have some heft, possibly as long as 12 to 25 pages.

Some of the documents you should provide include:

• Current financial data of all owners
• Financial data from the past three years, such as balance sheets and profit and loss statements
• A list of all your debt, including what you owe and to whom
• A five-year forecast of income and expenses
• A certification or review letter from a financial advisor saying that your information meets generally accepted accounting principles

Appendix. This section is for any supporting documents that can be used to support your plan statements. Consider including credit histories, the resumes of your staff or key leaders, product pictures, permits, patents or other relevant contracts.

Startup business plan template

For a startup business, it might be worthwhile to look at a less involved version of a traditional business plan. A popular one is the Business Model Canvas developed by Alex Osterwalder. The idea of the canvas is to explain your business model in a simple way to relevant parties, such as partners and potential investors.

Here are the main components of the Canvas model:

Key partnerships. Discuss the other businesses or services required to run your new business. This can include suppliers, contractors, manufacturers or other partners that are necessary for your company to operate.

Key activities. Format a list of how your business will gain an advantage in your industry through your chosen business model. You should highlight what makes your company more effective at reaching your target customer than your competitors.

Key resources. List your important business assets which may include staff, capital or intellectual property. These are the things that will make your chosen business model successful and help you deliver to your customer.

Value proposition. This is a good place to showcase your passion as well as your understanding of your market. You should make a compelling case for why a customer would choose you over the competition.

Customer relationships. Describe a customer’s experience working and interacting with your business. Address both customer acquisition and customer retention.

Customer segments. Explain who your customers are. You’ll want to give a clear sense of your target market and who is being served by your business. Be specific.

Channels. Describe how you will communicate with your customers and why those methods are effective. Most businesses use a mix of channels and optimize them over time.

Cost structure. Address how your company will reduce cost, maximize value and make money on your product or service. Be honest about the most significant costs that you anticipate facing.

Revenue streams. List all the revenue opportunities in your plan, including the product or service you're selling, advertising space for sale and membership fees.

See Also: Business Plan Mistakes to Avoid

CO— aims to bring you inspiration from leading respected experts. However, before making any business decision, you should consult a professional who can advise you based on your individual situation.

CO—is committed to helping you start, run and grow your small business. Learn more about the benefits of small business membership in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, here .

Subscribe to our newsletter, Midnight Oil

Expert business advice, news, and trends, delivered weekly

By signing up you agree to the CO— Privacy Policy. You can opt out anytime.

By continuing on our website, you agree to our use of cookies for statistical and personalisation purposes. Know More

Welcome to CO—

Designed for business owners, CO— is a site that connects like minds and delivers actionable insights for next-level growth.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce 1615 H Street, NW Washington, DC 20062

Social links

Looking for local chamber, stay in touch.

AI ASSISTANTS

Upmetrics AI Your go-to AI-powered business assistant

AI Writing Assist Write, translate, and refine your text with AI

AI Financial Assist Automated forecasts and AI recommendations

AI Research Assist Your go-to AI-powered research assistant

TOP FEATURES

AI Business Plan Generator Create business plans faster with AI

Financial Forecasting Make accurate financial forecasts faster

INTEGRATIONS

QuickBooks Sync and compare with your QuickBooks data

Strategic Planning Develop actionable strategic plans on-the-go

AI Pitch Deck Generator Use AI to generate your investor deck

Xero Sync and compare with your Xero data

See how easy it is to plan your business with Upmetrics: Take a Tour  →

AI-powered business planning software

Very useful business plan software connected to AI. Saved a lot of time, money and energy. Their team is highly skilled and always here to help.

- Julien López

BY USE CASE

Secure Funding, Loans, Grants Create plans that get you funded

Starting & Launching a Business Plan your business for launch and success

Validate Your Business Idea Discover the potential of your business idea

E2 Visa Business Plan Create a business plan to support your E2 - Visa

Business Consultant & Advisors Plan with your team members and clients

Incubators & Accelerators Empowering startups for growth

Business Schools & Educators Simplify business plan education for students

Students & Learners Your e-tutor for business planning

• Sample Plans

Plan Writing & Consulting We create a business plan for you

Business Plan Review Get constructive feedback on your plan

Financial Forecasting We create financial projections for you

SBA Lending Assistance We help secure SBA loans for your business

WHY UPMETRICS?

Reviews See why customers love Upmetrics

Blogs Latest business planning tips and strategies

Strategic Planning Templates Ready-to-use strategic plan templates

Business Plan Course A step-by-step business planning course

Customer Success Stories Read our customer success stories

Help Center Help & guides to plan your business

Ebooks & Guides A free resource hub on business planning

Business Tools Free business tools to help you grow

SBA Business Plan Template Essentials: The Complete Guide

Free Business Plan Template

• August 23, 2024
• 10 Min Read

Loans by the US Small Business Administration (SBA) have turned the dreams of thousands of aspiring entrepreneurs into reality.

Good news? You too can achieve your business goals with the support of an SBA loan.

One of the key requirements for securing such a loan is submitting a comprehensive business plan—a document offering an in-depth overview of your business idea and its sustainability.

Don’t worry.

Writing an SBA plan is quite easy. With this blog post, we will guide you through the process and offer a free SBA business plan template to make it even easier.

But before that…

What is an SBA Business Plan?

An SBA plan is a professional document outlining your business objectives and strategies along with a detailed action plan to execute them. This plan is specifically used by small business owners to apply for SBA loans and grants.

Like a traditional plan, an SBA plan offers a detailed overview of your entire business. It includes sections about the target market, competition, products and services, operations, marketing strategy, management team, and finances.

While there’s no fixed format, using an SBA business plan template to write your SBA plan is recommended.

Importance of an SBA business plan

Writing a business plan is helpful for organizations to get a clear understanding of their business idea and its viability. However, that’s not it.

Here are a few reasons that make your SBA plan extremely important:

• Helps secure SBA loans and even funding from investors.
• Establishes clear goals and milestones to help you stay focused.
• Offers a clear business vision and a strategic roadmap to achieve your goals.
• Solidifies your business idea by compelling you to address missing gaps.
• Establishes credibility amongst lenders and fosters growth amongst stakeholders.
• Instills clarity amongst team members bringing them all on the same page.

All in all, a well-detailed SBA plan builds the foundation for you to launch and build a successful business.

Say goodbye to boring templates

Build your business plan faster and easier with AI

Plans starting from $7/month

How to write an SBA business plan

As with traditional plans, an SBA business plan also follows a similar format. The SBA business plan template contains nine major sections, including:

1. Executive summary

An executive summary is a concise summary of your SBA business plan.

It highlights high-value points of your plan to help the readers get a quick gist of your business and its strategies.

The executive summary of your plan can touch on the following aspects:

• Business introduction: Start your executive summary by briefly introducing your business to your readers.
• Description of business opportunity: Describe the business opportunity by highlighting the problem you’re solving for your target customers.
• Target market: Mention your target customers to whom you’ll sell your product or service.
• The solution you offer: Explain how your product or service is the ideal solution for the problem your target customer is facing.
• Market competition: Identify your potential competitors and mention them.
• Marketing and sales strategy: Describe how you will market your product and mention your sales channels.
• Financial projections: This is essentially a forecast of future expenses and revenues.
• Execution of your plan: Explain how you will implement your plan and strategize all your objectives.

2. Company description

In this company overview section of your SBA business plan, you will describe what your company does and every detail about your company. It includes your target customers, your business partners, your competitors, and more.

Below are the major key points to include in the company description section:

• Identity and objective: Mention your company’s identity and what your company does. You may also include your company’s ethics and values.
• Company’s offerings: Define in detail what your company offers. Explain the product or service that you’re selling.
• The problem you solve: Specify the problem you chose to solve to cater to the needs of your customers.
• Target customers: State which section of the people you have targeted. You should also mention your customers’ priorities and values.
• Your strengths: Outline your competitive advantage over other players in the market. You can also list your competitors and mention how you’re different from them.
• Partners: Introduce your business partners and offer details such as the partnership period, their contribution, etc.

3. Market analysis

In this section, you write a detailed analysis of the market in which your business operates. The following are the market research data you should include in your SBA business plan:

• Briefly explain what other companies in your industries are doing
• Outline the strengths and advantages of your competition
• Specify the market trends occurring in your market
• Examine what makes the companies in your industry successful.
• Demonstrate your competitive advantages to outrun your competition
• Research strategic advantages of competitors like the ideal location, cheap procurement of raw materials, etc.

4. Organization and management

In this section, you will define the business structure. This includes the legal and organizational structure of your business along with the management practices you follow.

Legal structure

Here, you describe the legal structure of your business .

Is it going to be a sole proprietorship, limited partnership, limited liability company(LLC), or C or S corporation? Explain in complete detail how you’ll structure your business legally and how it’ll impact your business operations.

Organizational chart

Attach an organizational chart outlining the internal structure and hierarchy of your business. Also explain the roles, responsibilities, and relationships between individuals in the company.

5. Service or product

In this section, you give a complete description of the product or service you’re selling to your customers. The following are the key aspects that this section of your SBA business plan should have:

• Describe in detail the product or service you’re providing to your targeted customer base.
• Explain the pricing of your product. You should also mention all the costs that have contributed to the final price of the product.
• List down all the possible uses of your product and how your customers will benefit from it.
• Discuss the product life-cycle of your product. Explain in detail the four stages of a product life-cycle: Introduction, growth, maturity, and decline.
• Include a plan mentioning how you will handle the intellectual properties, copyright, and patent filings.
• Mention all or any research and developments you have regarding your business.

6. Marketing and sales

In this sales and marketing section, outline your marketing strategies , sales channels, and the budget for both. Ensure that you include the following important points in this section:

• Write a detailed plan of how you’ll market your product to draw your customers
• Provide the details of the sales process and mention the sales channels you’re choosing.
• Mention the details of your budget regarding marketing and sales of the product
• Discuss the goals of your marketing and sales strategies
• Review and address your pricing strategy as it affects your marketing and sales.

7. Funding request

The most prominent reason why entrepreneurs create an SBA business plan is to make lenders believe that they are a viable and reliable business venture. This section is simply for putting forward your funding requests .

The following should be included in this section:

• Specify how much funding you’ll require to run your business for the next five years
• Explain briefly how you’ll use the provided funding
• Mention what type of funding you’re looking for
• Add a detailed description of your future financial plans. This includes debt repayment plans, cash flow management, budgeting expenses, etc.

8. Financial Projection

The purpose of financial projection is to help the readers assess your company’s financial stability. This section includes the current financial reports of your business and future projections.

It’s focused on convincing potential funders that your company is financially stable and solvent. The below information should be included in your SBA business plan:

• Income statements for the past three to five years
• Balance sheets of the past three to five years
• Cash flow statements for the past three to five years
• Business collaterals
• Projected income statements
• Projected balance sheets
• Projected cash flow statements
• Budgeted capital expenditures

The ideal way to represent future projections is by using monthly or quarterly projections in the first year and annual projections for the years afterward.

Explain how the projections and the information represented are relevant to your funding request. Consider the SBA loan rates and the guarantee fee while projecting your new payment amounts.

9. Appendix

The Appendix is the last section of your SBA business plan. It contains all the additional and supporting documents, important to explain a specific aspect of your business.

It could also include documents that are exclusive to a particular lender that may not fit into the predefined outline of a business plan .

Usually, the common information in an appendix includes:

• Credit history
• Product photos
• Letters of reference
• Licenses and permits
• Legal documents

That’s it. Those were all the sections that an SBA business plan should include.

Resources for writing an SBA business plan

Here are a few additional resources to help you write your SBA business plan efficiently.

U. S. Small Business Administration

The SBA business planning tool offers step-by-step guidance and tips to write a fully detailed business plan. Entrepreneurs can also take online lessons on the SBA learning platform to enhance their understanding of business planning.

Apart from these, there’s an SBA’s business guide that helps with business planning, launch, and funding.

SCORE is a non-profit resource partner with SBA. It has the largest network of mentors for small businesses in the US.

Business owners can request mentorship on this platform to get advice on financial and business planning. These mentors can also assist with valuable knowledge on writing a solid business plan.

One can also choose to attend workshops and online webinars hosted by these industry veterans to strengthen their understanding of business.

Local Small Business Development Centers (SBDC)

SBDC offers training and advice to small businesses for free or extremely low fees. The experts at SBDC can help with business planning and financial management. Most SBDCs host regular sessions on writing a business plan. Some of these experts can also review your business plan and offer valuable feedback.

Women’s Business Centers (WBC)

WBC is again a resource partner at SBA offering low-cost business counseling and training to women wanting to launch, grow, or plan their business. Their one-on-one counseling and group sessions also offer help for writing a business plan.

These resources make it easier for entrepreneurs to write their business plans even with no prior experience.

Download the SBA Business Plan Template

Need help writing your SBA business plan from scratch? Here you go— download this SBA business plan template and get started.

This template is designed specifically for businesses planning to apply for SBA loans. The step-by-step guide, examples, and tips in this template will help you prepare an actionable plan that meets all the essential guidelines.

Writing a perfect business plan can be tricky, especially when you have to present it to lenders. However, once you understand what the lenders look for in a business plan, the process gets quite easier.

Fortunately, Upmetrics can simplify this process of business and financial planning with its AI-powered app. It offers step-by-step guidance, 400+ fully customizable templates, and AI assistance to help you write a solid business plan in minutes.

So why wait? Build your SBA business plan today!

Build your Business Plan Faster

with step-by-step Guidance & AI Assistance.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are there specific guidelines from the sba for business plans.

There are no specific guidelines from SBA about how the business plans should be. As long as the business plan meets your needs, any structure is acceptable.

However, SBA does offer resources to help you structure and write your business plan effectively. Following that structure will help you cover all the information essential for securing the loan.

Can I use the same plan to apply for different types of funding?

Yes, you can use the same plan for different funding applications. However, it’s important to ensure that your business plan meets the criteria laid out by that specific financial organization.

Ideally, you should customize the sections of your plan depending on where you apply to increase your chances of securing funds.

How does a business plan help you get an SBA loan?

One of the criteria for acquiring an SBA loan is to attach a fully detailed business plan along with the application. A business plan builds credibility and shows that you have put in essential efforts to understand all the aspects of your business thoroughly.

How detailed does an SBA loan business plan need to be?

An SBA plan should be comprehensive enough to offer a detailed overview of your business objectives, strategies, and finances. It should contain sections like a traditional business plan and these sections should be detailed to guide your business operations.

How long should the SBA business plan be?

An SBA business plan for investors can be anywhere between 15-40 pages long. However, your business plan can be shorter or longer depending on the scope and nature of your business. As long as your business plan contains relevant information, length doesn’t matter.

About the Author

Upmetrics Team

Upmetrics is the #1 business planning software that helps entrepreneurs and business owners create investment-ready business plans using AI. We regularly share business planning insights on our blog. Check out the Upmetrics blog for such interesting reads. Read more

Get started with Upmetrics Al

• 400+ sample business plans
• Al-powered financial planning
• Collaborative workspace

Reach Your Goals with Accurate Planning