How to Write a Business Plan
Book

How to Write a Business Plan

Win Backing and Support for Your Ideas and Ventures

Brian Finch
Kogan Page, 2025
Buy the book

Read or listen offline

Amazon Kindle
  • 0.5×
  • 0.75×
  • 1×
  • 1.25×
  • 1.5×
  • 1.75×
1×

Editorial Rating

8

getAbstract Rating

  • Applicable
  • Concrete Examples
  • For Beginners

Recommendation

To attract investors for your new company, you need a solid business plan. Instead of relying on a formulaic template, author Brian Finch advises tailoring your plan to appeal to particular potential funders. First, he explains, you need to know your investors and the nature and purpose of your business. Then, you can offer an appealing story about your concept’s history and context, practical details about how you’ll execute your idea, and an analysis of its potential risks and rewards. Finch’s practical how-to guide covers setting up your business plan, compiling and selecting the data you’ll include, and making it compelling to potential investors. After all, no one wants to get involved in a boring business, much less underwrite it.

Summary

Your business plan must show your company’s purpose and tell a story.

Your business plan is the first step to bringing people on board, whether as investors or colleagues. People need to know the nature and purpose of your proposed company, and they – like every other human – will respond to a strong story. To begin your narrative, explain the kind of business you’re launching, what product or service it provides, and the shape and character of your proposed market.

Acknowledge upfront whether you already have the rights or access to supply what you’re offering, or explain how you’ll manage that process. Cover whether you can always secure a supply of your product in a timely way and at a viable price. Detail any anticipated supply line issues. Describe who is likely to purchase your proposed offering, where these customers are, and how your product or service will reach them.

If you are taking over a family enterprise and want to move it in a 21st-century direction, your business plan will prove fairly easy to research and write. The company’s history already offers a wealth of information, including details on its evolution over time, as well as its suppliers...

About the Author

Brian Finch is the finance director of Edward Stanford Group, a British-based map and travel guide business. He is also the author of Insolvency and Financial Distress: How to Avoid It and Survive It.

Comment on this summary