Full business plans include every detail imaginable about opening a company, a requirement when you seek traditional funding. To pursue non-traditional funding, the content in your business plan depends on how much the funding source knows about your industry and your business, in particular. Vendors or distributors in your field already know about your industry, while personal friends and people not familiar with your market need more explanatory data to convince them to invest in your business.

Executive Summary

Write an executive summary that provides an overview of all of the information in your plan. This may be one of the only sections read by some investors. While most executive summaries are a few pages long, keep your version to just a page. Use the summary to convince investors that you’ve completely thought out your business idea. Start by briefly explaining your enthusiasm for starting the business, and move right into mentioning the hole in your industry that your product or service fulfills. Provide a short synopsis of your target market and how you plan to grab their attention through advertising and promotion. Briefly talk about your management team and the qualifications they bring to your business that will help it grow and succeed.


The marketing section of a typical business plan includes pages of demographic information about your primary and secondary target markets along with segmentation. This section also includes a detailed matrix showing all of your competitors and how they handle marketing, pricing and operations. In the short business plan, simply explain who you plan to sell your products and services to, the size of the market and the problems potential buyers experience for which you provide the solution. Briefly outline how you plan to sell your offerings, such as using a sales team, advertising or online strategies. Describe your main competitors and how your business differs from them to help investors understand how you plan to get -- and keep -- a slice of the market.


Typical business plans include lots of details describing day-to-day operations and descriptions of key people, including the management team. In the short business plan, write a few paragraphs about how you plan to handle daily tasks and who will manage your business. To show how qualified you are to start the business, explain your past experience, education and expertise in the field. If you need to hire staff, mention the minimal qualifications required. If you manufacture a product, provide a brief summary of the process to show you know what equipment and procedures are involved.


Rather than providing pages of detailed financial projects like a full business plan requires, draw a table that explains how much revenue your business plans to make over a period of five years. Show the pricing for products or services you sell and indicate how many buyers you expect to make a purchase. List one-time costs involved in buying office or manufacturing equipment as well as ongoing costs, such as utilities, hiring staff and keeping the business running to help explain what the investment you seek goes for.

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