Business plan

A business plan is the written summary of your business idea – it shows WHY your company will work.

Typical structure:

• Executive summary: 1-page summary
• Business idea: what do you offer? What problem do you solve?
• Market analysis: who are your customers? How big is the market?
• Competition: who does the same thing? What do you do better?
• Marketing: how do you reach your customers?
• Financial plan: revenue, costs, profit for 3–5 years
• Team: who's behind it?

Tip: in Germany, the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK) offers free start-up advice and business plan templates. The federal government's start-up portal (existenzgruender.de) also has excellent resources.