How do you actually write a business plan?

[lebeho]

I've been thinking about something and I'd love to hear from people who have actually written business plans.​

If you had a business idea today and needed a proper business plan, what would you do?

Would you:

1. Write it yourself from scratch?
2. Find a template and fill it in?
3. Follow a course or guide?
4. Hire someone to help you?
5. Use ChatGPT or another AI to generate it?
6. Some combination of these?

And here's the part I'm especially curious about:

Would you rather have AI generate the business plan for you, or have a guided system teach you each part, show you examples, ask you the right questions, help with calculations, and let you build the plan yourself?


I'm interested in what people actually want—not what sounds good in theory.


If you've written a business plan before, what was the hardest part?

 

[Ozzy]

Your question seems to imply they are not the same thing.

Would you rather have AI generate the business plan for you

Yes I would.

or have a guided system teach you each part, show you examples, ask you the right questions, help with calculations,

...because this is exactly how I would prompt the AI to help me.

Except....

and let you build the plan yourself?

Using AI is not building the plan yourself; kinda.
Using AI correctly is having it teach you each part, show you examples, and ask you the right questions.

 

[SillyBill]

Given the use of the emcon and bold styling for emphasis, you probably wrote this with AI yourself.

So no surprises that most would also now use AI themselves to help write a business plan, as you clearly do.

Fools and their money can always be parted so I guess there will continue to be opportunties to take money off people for the sort of stuff you'd expect someone should really be competent to do without "help", I would've thought it'd be less over time though.

 

[lebeho]

Hmmm. Well I believe AI generated and Human written are two different types. Not many know how to write AI prompts and it's easier to get lost, distracted and whatnot. AI may not be great at step by step learning. Besides that my assumption is that it's difficult to come up with a business plan not requiring heavy edits if AI generated. I'm building a system that will solve this. I personally feel like I should be in control of my business not AI. I mean how do I take to an investor something generated in 2 minutes or less as my business plan; a plan for a business I plan to dedicate my all into. This means I plan to be against AI business plan generators. Not that AI won't be included, it will but silently. This will be a human led business plan one that you go through and are super familiar with from A to Z meaning it could take days to finish.

 

[lebeho]

Given the use of the emcon and bold styling for emphasis, you probably wrote this with AI yourself.

So no surprises that most would also now use AI themselves to help write a business plan, as you clearly do.

Fools and their money can always be parted so I guess there will continue to be opportunties to take money off people for the sort of stuff you'd expect someone should really be competent to do without "help", I would've thought it'd be less over time though.

Yep, it's AI generated. I wanted help with the phrasing so I used AI to make my point clear. But responses are written by me including this one.
I'm not against AI and plan to use it in the system, it will be used to refine if one chooses, but what it refines for clarity would be human input from A to Z.

Besides that the system will help one learn and at the same time think. My message is AI is useful, you can use it everywhere, but your business plan shouldn't fully depend on it.
I know AI is useful, I use it too, but in this system would use it if stuck somewhere.

 

[SillyBill]

Luddite philosophy, IMO. You don’t have to think AI is particularly brilliant to recognise that it is a very useful tool and aid. If you choose not to use it as a force multiplier while other highly competent people do, you’re (or the people using your tool) going to fall further behind them every day.

Take someone who can already write a good business plan without AI. Give that same person AI and they can produce a better result, faster, while expanding their own ideas more and using it to test their own assumptions along the way. The people who are already capable and ALSO learn to use AI effectively are going to clear up...

If you weren’t capable to start with, AI slop will still come out. How is this different to other technologies we've had? E-mail meant you could send more spam at a lower cost than letters... What has actually changed in terms of separating the wheat from the chaff? The differentiator is still the competence of the individual. The difference with AI is that it acts as a force multiplier, so the gap between the competent and the not so competent is only going to get larger. This is my take only, I just don't see people swimming against the tide of this as particularly sensible in the long run.

 

[SillyBill]

I see your further post and seems like we may have some agreement, if you are using AI to assist, that is my point also. Other people will too, so not sure what you are offering then?

 

[lebeho]

I see your further post and seems like we may have some agreement, if you are using AI to assist, that is my point also. Other people will too, so not sure what you are offering then?

I'm offering the experience. Like I would be proud to have actually went through the process.
It would give me a sense of accomplishment. I would not be alienated from my product. Some people are like, "you can have a business plan in a minute and I don't oppose it."

For me I'm like, "yes AI is important, it saves time and does a lot, it's super helpful in coming up with a business plan, so there it is (as in use it when stuck in this system), but hey, you didn't come here mainly for that, you came here to actually consider all things about your business step by step."

I'll be sure to share the platform for review in the next coming days. I guess we'll see more then. Thanks for the responses, they are super helpful.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

It depends on the person writing the business plan. Sure, using a bit of AI to help structure, data etc isn't a problem, however, one of the strongest benefits of writing one is understanding your business, the market, etc more.

Too many people start businesses where they have no experience, knowledge or connection to the market or operation. It is vitally important that they understand as much as possible about all aspects before committing to more time and money. Getting it written by AI (or even someone else) gives you no help at all. Researching it yourself allows you to see where the issues are/could be, makes you see more of the opportunity, will make you realise how much it will cost, etc.

 

[SillyBill]

I'm offering the experience. Like I would be proud to have actually went through the process.
It would give me a sense of accomplishment. I would not be alienated from my product. Some people are like, "you can have a business plan in a minute and I don't oppose it."

For me I'm like, "yes AI is important, it saves time and does a lot, it's super helpful in coming up with a business plan, so there it is (as in use it when stuck in this system), but hey, you didn't come here mainly for that, you came here to actually consider all things about your business step by step."

I'll be sure to share the platform for review in the next coming days. I guess we'll see more then. Thanks for the responses, they are super helpful.

Sure, look forward to seeing it and do wish you the best.

I still consider that I "own" every document I produce with AI so there is no alienation for me and I personally feel more accomplished if I can do something in a fraction of the time it used to take me and get a better result. We completely rewrote our business manual (the document that stiches together all our procedures, work instructions, structure, organisation etc.) with AI. AI didn’t provide the content itself (the prior copy largely did and we provided the updates whrere relevant), it doesn’t know my business at all, but it helped us identify duplication, poor wording and structure, and things that were superfluous. The indexing and linking was brilliant too. That would genuinely have taken weeks before, it took less than a day, and I was very pleased with the result.

I no longer see much value in the punishment of spending more time on something simply for the sake of having spent more time on it. What purpose does that serve? I also don't get why the inference is there is less understanding either because less overall time has been spent. Are we missing the point? With AI, you now get to spend more time researching and thinking because AI is your power assistant.

Part of my role within my own business is writing technical documentation. Previously, two documents per day was a good output. Now I can write eight, and they’re better than what I used to produce...I still prompt, I still proof read, I still edit, I still "humanise" at the end to make it authentic to me etc. And I can still spot a mile off when someone who is not competent churns out AI slop just to get volume output. For now at least, its me as quality control, AI as the workhorse!

 

[Ozzy]

Getting it written by AI (or even someone else) gives you no help at all.

This, I feel is the biggest point to be made because there are consultants and such out there who sell themselves as writing your business plan for you; which does defeat the whole purpose of one.

Just as an example, I have my Claude account configured to always argue with and challenge me on my instructions, especially if I give it an instruction to do something without justifying or quantifying the purpose and supporting data behind the task. That is what the exercise of writing a Business Plan should do.

 

[EnterprisePro]

I've created business plans in the past and now I tend to read them.

A lot has been answered already, but i'd add: How they're written will depend on experience I think and its important to be clear on what you want personally in the first place (your exit goal). Get that right, and you'll naturally map out your offering, market, competitors, costs, burn rate, and ROI to hit that target.

 

[Mark T Jones]

It's generally a bit crass to quote yourself. But I will, from a linkedin post https://www.linkedin.com/posts/fund...d&rcm=ACoAAAFtcYEBoOzm_Cjn570n7nB_Gbazvnw_Z-w

In fairness to AI, I've also been shite plans from templates, from business owners, from accountants, from marketing consultants etc...

The telling part is that I immediate know.

AI and guides are props - they can provide thoughts, ideas and structures.

Accountants and marketing consultants can help with specific aspects.

Business consultants are. Err, many & varied.

Uktimately though, a business plan has to achieve one thing - to demonstrate how you plan to run and grow your business and only one person can do that.

 

[EnterprisePro]

Accountants and marketing consultants can help with specific aspects.

Not sure about accountants. In my view, accountants are just dealing with retrospective data. (I'm putting my virtual shields up as I will probably get bricks thrown at me at this point). They will have little knowledge of the subject area, business model, market data, etc. in order to project the future sensibly with founded claims and will not be able to do what a financial director, CFO or similar titled people would do. Accountants are not usually part of the executive committee and don't have the mandate to give direction in business or initiative planning.

 

[lebeho]

Uktimately though, a business plan has to achieve one thing - to demonstrate how you plan to run and grow your business and only one person can do that.

I agree with you here. Except I don't know yet the number of people who feel or think this way. Some go for AI because they want to save time which I'm not against. I mean business people have so much to work on but some things should be given the time they deserve.

One may think they are saving time but in actual sense when they aren't. AI doesn't care about one's business and no one out there cares, it's its owner who would care so much.

One who cares about their business would want to be part of it from the ground up. Someone says I have no time to write a business plan and I wonder if they'll have the time to actually manage it, and how can it be managed without a plan.

I'm setting up a system called Scruttin (not live yet) to solve over reliance on AI business plan generators, not that it doesn't have AI, it does cuz that's the trend but at least one would use it when stuck, like when they don't understand something or need to think. It's not made to come up with unrealistic stuff, no. Will be sure to share it over here in a few days to see what everyone thinks.

 

[cjd]

If you've written a business plan before, what was the hardest part?

Recognising that everything written is probably utter bullshit. Then working out whether it matters.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

Who are you writing the business plan for? In all cases, it starts with you!

If you do not know how it was written and what it means, you are on the road to failure!

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Who are you writing the business plan for? In all cases, it starts with you!

If you do not know how it was written and what it means, you are on the road to failure!

Most business plans in books or templates are designed for those people wanting investments of some kind.

For a new startup for a small business like many on here a business plan can be far simpler, but the more you plan and put into it the greater the assistance to you it is

It's not a case of just making numbers up as a forecast it's Actuall understanding what will be required to succeed and how much you have to learn to make it work and make compelling reasons why it should work

As a newby, you will most likely need to learn new skills to make it work, including things like, Regulations relating to small companies, Marketing your company, Accounting and new software to help you, Hiring Personnel and laws pertaining to and accounting costs etc, ability to work out month end numbers rather than go a years to find out your in very deep water, Most likely having a website made and what goes in it, How to calculate Profit and Loss and associated tasks like cashflow thats realistic.

The plan when done correctly gives you something to monitor and update so you can follow if your original thoughts were realistic or need major rethinking.

Many can make a plan on the back of a napkin in the pub, but most will probably fail unless you have pre knowledge of running a business

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

It's not a case of just making numbers up as a forecast

Too many people create their financials to fit their goals, not to give a realistic picture.

Sometimes, the figures indicate that their business (in the form they want) will not work and, of course, they adjust them to fit their narrative.

 

[EnterprisePro]

Too many people create their financials to fit their goals, not to give a realistic picture.

Sometimes, the figures indicate that their business (in the form they want) will not work and, of course, they adjust them to fit their narrative.

That's a good observation. That means they've missed the whole point of the excercise.