Business Plan Template

How to write a business plan

Here, DEL's experts offer up advice to guide you in writing your business plan. They've prepared a template, in MS Word format, ready to be filled out, which you can download now.

The business plan is vital to any entrepreneur. It is a tool used to manage risk, both for the entrepreneur and for financial backers. A business plan must provide a realistic estimate of the feasibility and viability of your project. It is an essential planning and control tool that must be reviewed periodically.

Through this rigorous exercise, you can correct errors and inconsistencies in your project before launching it, rather than after you've begun operations. It is essential that the business plan reflect the seriousness of the project, the entrepreneur and the team.

Here is a template you can use to complete your own business plan.

Download the DEL template

Business plan objectives

Engage the reader and quickly provide information about your project.

Pique the reader's curiosity. Highlight a need in the market and provide a solution (your product or service).

Before you start writing your business plan, you must know there is quite a process to complete beforehand. Quantitative, qualitative and financial information must be collected and organized. This is a painstaking process of concrete validation “in the field”. The business plan must be written when all the scenarios have been validated and quantified. Should you need help, DEL's team of experts is available.

Before you start writing your business plan, make sure you have:

A clear mission. Your mission is your raison d'être. It’s your commitment to your clients. It must be broad enough not to be restrictive, but specific enough to clearly define your scope of action. What does the company do? For who? How? Where? And that includes the values that dictate its intervention, if that's the case.
A business model: Developed by Alexandre Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur in their book Business Model Generation, the business model is a simple conceptual tool to explore the main facets of developing a business. It allows you to turn an idea into a business plan by testing hypotheses. Use the table attached to the Business Plan Template and fill out the boxes in order, from left to right. If you're having trouble completing a section, it likely means this represents a significant risk to your business.
A realistic, comfortable, and undeniable demonstration of your company's performances over the course of its first 3 years in business.
A business name compliant with the rules of Quebec's Registraire des entreprises.
All the permits and licences that govern your business at the municipal, federal and provincial levels (operating licence, renovation permit, construction permit, zoning permit, and any restrictions depending on your business line and location). Ensure you have obtained, or are in the process of obtaining, all these permits and licences.
Begun a personal and entrepreneurial reflexion prior to the launch of your business. This step is all the more important if there are multiple partners involved in the project. Your expectations and personal and professional goals must be known and accepted by all.
Drawn up a partnership or shareholder agreement, if there are multiple partners involved. Said agreement must deal with every eventuality: profit sharing, the departure of a partner, sale of the business, etc.
Established a distribution of the tasks and responsibilities among the partners or shareholders.
Permission from all partners before mentioning them in your business plan.

More practical tips:

Provide realistic forecasts. Rely on objective and irrefutable data and facts.
Avoid long texts, and feel free to include tables, pictures or graphs to help the reader better retain information. Be careful not to go into details about an R&D project.
Be clear and avoid using any business lingo. If necessary, add a lexicon in an appendix.
Set a realistic timetable. It takes approximately 200 hours to develop a strategic business plan. This is not something you want to rush.
Focus on the executive summary at the beginning of the document: the first impression is crucial.
Feel free to consult experienced people, advisors and experts in your area, while making sure they are loyal.
A good business plan must cover the 4 "C's": Clear, Concise, Complete and Convincing.

Download the DEL template

Like any good entrepreneur, show some tenacity and perseverance. Remember that DEL's experts are available to assist you in this process. Good luck!

December 2019

DEL
Développement économique de l'agglomération de Longueuil (DEL) is your business ally, joining forces and skills with you to actively contribute to the success of your company.