How to present a business plan (with tips and templates)

Before talking about your business to somebody else, you need to know everything about it yourself. From the strategic aspects to the technical details, you should know the answers to all the important questions. What is your business mission? What makes it different from other similar projects? How are you going to manage each stage of the business? How are you going to achieve longevity?

Once you’re able to answer all the important questions through research, mentoring and analysis, it’s time to lay them out in a clear and succinct way for others to visualize them. This template is an example of how to structure a business plan presentation and explain to others what you already know.

You already know how your business will operate and why it should be supported. Now it’s time to define how you’re going to share such a story.

Visuals are a great help if you need to explain your idea. Bear in mind that, up until this point, no one has heard about your business idea.

Is it an environmentally-conscious project? Is it tech-driven? Is it people-oriented? Whatever the essence of your business, the visuals should reflect that.
For example, this template reflects what a modern, sustainable and innovative business might look like.

The same idea can be said in different ways, and not all of them will be as effective. A simple way to approach the way you explain your business consists in telling a story. By establishing the conflict you’re tackling and the solution you're offering, people can sympathize with your idea and grasp its meaning much quicker.

Another thing to consider is identifying those key phrases that better describe your business. If you’re a business focused on “helping children learn to improve their reading skills through online exercises”, make sure you repeat this phrase as much as you can.

Use this business plan presentation example as a guide for how to tell the story of your business.

You have shown the research, the visuals, and the words. Now you just need to deliver each message in a way potential investors and partners will have little room for doubt.

The first thing to consider is knowing your audience so you can speak in their language. Investors might be more interested in learning how your business will turn a profit, whereas partners will need to feel confident about your abilities leading the project.

A wow moment near the end of your presentation will also contribute to seal the deal. Following up on the previous example, you might reveal near the end that you’ve tested your project to improve children’s reading skills and discovered that it costs 50% less than other methods, and it’s 60% more effective.

This beautiful template can help you showcase all your wow moments and key benefits in a compelling way.

Finally, you should end the session with an action plan. Are you going to share any extra information to your audience? Do you need to arrange a live demo of your solution? Are you going to be communicating the progress of your project?

Having each one of these next steps clearly defined will help you get people looking forward to hearing from you again. Use this template to show a timetable of what’s going to happen once the meeting is over.