Business Plan Software: Live Plan

Online planning software for quick spiffy business plans
Resource Category: 
Business

THIS MONTHLY SERVICE offers access to a website that can speed up creating a business plan.

Review: 

This can be a nice tool if you have to produce a business plan for a bank loan, angel investor, or business partners, and you have written a business plan before.

If you are a one-person business and need a simple business plan to map goals and business activities, this site is probably overkill for you.

PROS:

  • Produces very nice output of plans, including color PDFs, charts, one-page summaries, and more.
  • Does the calculations for you for pro-forma financials (after you enter the numbers).
  • Free support for operating the software and questions about how the parts of the plan and statements connect together.

CONS:

  • You still have to write the actual plan text, including doing your market research, goals, and business model.
  • Creating the pro-forma financials may require some accounting knowledge, depending on how complicated your company will be.
  • The free support does not include advice or training on business design, legal structures, or accounting.