17 Free Business Plan Templates to Launch Your Business
Owyn Thomas Kerr
Lark Content Manager
Aug 5, 2026
Owyn Thomas Kerr
Aug 5, 2026
13 min read
Looking for a business plan template? A business plan guides your business, anticipates challenges, and attracts investors. A template helps organize ideas and create a step-by-step plan. Whether you need financing or want to prepare, we’ve gathered top business plan templates to help you start.
Best free business plan templates
Custom template for business plans (Lark)
This template works for business plans, project proposals, and tracking business and project goals. It’s fully customizable, has a built-in dashboard, and lets you add AI-powered fields. Since it's by Lark, it integrates with the Lark ecosystem for seamless collaboration within the superapp.
Creative business plan template (Adobe/Word/Docs)
The Tory Burch Foundation provides customizable templates with instructions. Their creative business plan template suits product-based businesses and those with visual branding. The sample shown is an example—you can create your unique plan by following the instructions.
Startup business plan template (Canva)
Canva’s Startup Business Plan template helps new founders turn ideas into a professional roadmap for launch and growth. Inside, find structured pages for the executive summary, marketing strategy, and financial plan to keep projections and budgets on track. It can also serve as a small business plan template for existing businesses.
Business analysis template (Lark)
This Business Analysis template is built around the core elements of any effective business plan—clear market insights, a clear understanding of the competition, operational clarity, and solid financial assumptions. With customizable sections, it helps you turn raw information into a structured, strategic narrative. And since it’s fully integrated into the Lark ecosystem, you can collaborate in real time, discuss findings with your team, and seamlessly transform your analysis into a complete business plan within the Lark superapp.
Classic business plan template (Adobe/Word/Docs)
Another Tory Burch Foundation creation is this professional business plan, which boasts a classic look. This traditional business plan format, with a modern design, is ideal for service-based businesses and sole proprietorships. If you want to leave a good impression by keeping things neat, then this free business plan template is worth checking out.
Detailed business plan template (Word/Excel)
This business plan template provides a structured framework, complete with guiding prompts, helpful tables, and an auto-updating table of contents. It’s built for modern versions of Word and Excel (Office 2007 and above), allowing you to customize fonts, colors, and layouts with ease. You can also open and edit it seamlessly across Word and Excel’s desktop, mobile, and web apps.
Multimedia project proposal template (Lark)
This Multimedia Project Proposal Template from Lark is designed for creative projects but also covers essential business plan elements: clear objectives, audience insights, resource planning, and projected timelines. Its flexible structure lets you outline concepts, deliverables, and budgets for easy integration into a broader business strategy.
Simple sales business proposal template (Docs)
This polished, easy-to-use Google Docs template provides guided spaces for setting goals, mapping sales approaches, estimating costs, and outlining action plans. It helps sales teams present their proposals in a coherent, well-structured format that highlights both value and execution. With this format, prospects can quickly understand the strategy, the benefits, and how the plan will unfold.
General-purpose business proposal (Word)
This Microsoft Word template features a clear, organized format with sections for executive summary, market opportunities, and financial summary—perfect for showcasing your business’s growth potential. It's especially helpful if you need guidance in structuring a comprehensive plan or proposal.
B2B basic business proposal (Word)
This Microsoft Word template is structured specifically for B2B interactions, featuring five sections: Summary, Problem Statement, Solution, Market Opportunity, and Financial Summary. The layout organizes contact information in a dedicated sidebar while allowing the main content to focus on solving inefficiencies and presenting financial benefits, such as operational cost reductions.
Restaurant business plan template (PDF/Word)
The Restaurant Business Plan template from Legal Templates makes it easy to create a professional business plan entirely online. Customize the template to fit your restaurant’s unique vision, then download it in Word or PDF format for sharing or printing.
Retail business plan template (Word)
This Retail Business Plan Template provides a structured framework to help you outline your store concept, target market, sales strategies, and financial projections. Designed for easy customization, it allows you to clearly present your business goals, operational plans, and marketing approach. Ideal for new or expanding retail businesses, it can also serve as an e-commerce business plan template for online retailers.
Lean startup business plan (Canva)
This Lean Startup Business Plan Template from Canva gives entrepreneurs a concise, actionable roadmap for launching and growing a business. It covers value proposition, target audience, revenue streams, and cost structure, enabling quick idea validation and strategic decisions. Fully customizable, this template lets you create a clear, professional plan that’s easy to share with investors, partners, or your team.
One-page business plan template (Word/Docs/PDF)
The One-Page Business Plan template offers a simple, streamlined way to quickly create a working business plan. It covers essential elements like goals, strategies, key metrics, and action steps—all on a single page for clarity and focus. Available in Docs, Word, and PDF formats, this template makes it easy to customize, share, and keep your business plan concise and actionable.
Tech business plan template (Adobe)
The Tech Business Plan template from Adobe is a stylish, modern way to present your tech startup’s vision and strategy. Fully customizable in Adobe Express, it lets you adjust design elements, text, and layout to match your brand. With its sleek design and easy-to-edit format, you can create a professional, visually appealing business plan that stands out to investors and partners.
Entrepreneur business plan template (Word/Excel)
This Business Plan template is available from King's Trust, an organization that supports people aged 11 to 30 in building confidence, finding employment, or starting their own business. Use the template to begin documenting your plan, available as an editable Word document or a print-ready PDF. Additional Excel financial templates are included to help you organize budgets and projections—so you can start turning your ideas into action today.
Business continuity plan template (Word)
This Business Continuity Plan (BCP) template is a specialized business plan that prepares your organization to withstand disruptions and maintain critical operations. It provides a structured framework for assessing risks, outlining response strategies, and defining recovery procedures, helping your business stay resilient, minimize downtime, and protect employees, assets, and stakeholders during unexpected events.
If you still haven't found the template you need after reviewing these options, visit the Lark Template Library to access more free templates.
What is a business plan template?
A business plan template is a pre-formatted document—usually in Microsoft Word, Google Docs, or Excel—with standard headings and prompts for each section of a professional business plan. It serves as a structured guide to key components, from the company overview to the financial statements.
Most templates for a business plan follow a similar structure:
- Executive summary
- Company description
- Products and services
- Market analysis
- Marketing and sales strategy
- Operations plan
- Financial plan and projections
Strategic business plan templates can be industry-agnostic or industry-specific, with tailored prompts for restaurants, e-commerce stores, nonprofits, or consulting firms. Many include links to companion tools such as spreadsheet models, pitch decks, and SWOT analysis worksheets.
Why do businesses need a business plan?
A business plan guides every stage of starting and managing your business. It’s a roadmap for structuring, running, and growing your business, helping you think through core elements and supporting future planning with research.
Business plans help secure funding and attract partners. Investors want confidence in their return. Use your plan to show that working with you—or investing in your company—is smart.
Key sections of business plan templates
Regardless of format or industry, effective templates share a common backbone of core sections. Think of this as your checklist. If your chosen template is missing any of these, consider adding them or finding a more complete plan.
Tips:
- The "Five Minute" rule: Ensure your Executive Summary can be read and understood by a stranger in under five minutes.
- Industry specifics: If you are a SaaS business, pay extra attention to the Products & Services section regarding subscription tiers. If you are B2B, focus heavily on the Marketing & Sales section regarding sales cycle length.
- The quantitative check: Your Financial Plan should always include the "burn rate" (how much cash you spend monthly) if you are seeking investment.
Types of business plan templates
Different business models benefit from tailored templates with industry-specific prompts and example text. Here’s how common template categories differ in structure and focus.
Benefits of using business plan templates
Using a business plan template can save time, provide structure, and ensure you don’t miss any critical elements of your plan. Here are the key benefits:
- Saves time and effort: Templates provide pre-formatted sections for narratives, financials, and presentations, so you can focus on content rather than layout.
- Ensures completeness: A template guides you through all the essential components of a business plan—from executive summary and market analysis to financial projections—helping ensure nothing is overlooked.
- Maintains consistency: Templates keep formatting, style, and terminology consistent across sections, making your business plan more professional and easier to read.
- Facilitates collaboration: Templates on modern platforms like Lark enable multiple team members to work together in real time, track updates, and leave comments directly within the plan.
- Supports decision-making: Pre-built financial models and structured layouts help founders and stakeholders quickly analyze projections, identify gaps, and make informed decisions.
- Speeds up investor communication: With a polished, organized plan, it’s easier to share your vision with investors, partners, or lenders, and gain credibility at first glance.
Common pitfalls of using business plan templates
Templates are valuable starting points, but they aren’t perfect. Overreliance can lead to generic, cookie-cutter plans that obscure what makes your business unique.
- Generic placeholder language: Leaving in sample text instead of rewriting with specific, dated, and localized details makes your plan look lazy and unoriginal.
- Outdated assumptions: Some business plan templates are based on markets or regulations that have changed over time. Always verify that data and assumptions are up to date.
- Misaligned sections: Copying example financials without adjusting numbers to match your described strategy creates inconsistency and confusion.
- Overstuffing: Including every optional section from a template can result in a bloated, unfocused document that is time-consuming to read.
- Lack of outside feedback: Relying exclusively on templates without mentor or advisor input may lead to blind spots in risk assessment, market validation, and overall strategy.
Business plan template formats
Business plans today can be created in a variety of formats, including Microsoft Word, Google Docs, Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, Microsoft PowerPoint, Google Slides, PDF, and with next-gen collaboration tools. The best format depends on how you plan to draft, share, and update your business plan, as well as the type of content you’re focusing on.
Format | Best For |
Microsoft Word, Google Docs, Lark Docs | Writing narrative sections, capturing ideas, adding detailed comments, and collaborating in real time with your team. |
Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, Lark Sheets | Building financial models, projections, and complex calculations. Platforms like Lark enable live collaboration, so your team can update numbers together without version conflicts. |
Microsoft PowerPoint, Google Slides, Lark Slides | Creating pitch decks, visual summaries, and investor-ready presentations. With Lark Slides, you can link charts and tables from Lark Sheets directly into your slides for automatic updates. |
PDF | Sharing final, read-only versions of your business plan with investors, partners, or stakeholders to ensure formatting stays consistent. |
Lark Base | Coordinating and managing the entire business plan in one place. Ideal for teams that want to link narratives, financials, and presentations, track milestones, assign responsibilities, monitor updates in real time, and ensure all sections stay aligned and up to date. |
In the past, founders used Word, Excel, and PowerPoint to create business plans. However, modern collaboration platforms like Lark let you draft narratives, build financials, and design presentations all in one place, with real-time collaboration and AI tools that simplify planning and generate insights automatically.
How to choose the right business plan template
Selecting the right business plan template is a strategic decision based on your business stage, funding requirements, and preferred work style.
Match the business plan template to your goal
Confirm with your audience—banker, accelerator, or investor—if they have preferred formats or checklists. A good business plan meets the expectations of whoever will read it.
Consider your industry and business model
- Businesses in regulated or capital-intensive sectors (such as food and manufacturing) benefit from industry-specific templates that address compliance and high fixed costs.
- Service-based businesses (consultants, agencies, freelancers) should choose templates emphasizing client acquisition, service packages, and pricing structures.
- E-commerce (online retailers) and SaaS models need templates focusing on funnel metrics, subscriptions, and churn rather than foot traffic or table turns.
Evaluate ease of use and support
Look for templates with:
- Clear instructions and tooltips explaining what to enter
- Example text or completed sample plans for guidance
- Compatibility with your existing outline and tools (Microsoft 365, Google Workspace)
- Support resources (tutorials, FAQs)
Test the template for an hour to see if the layout feels intuitive. A customizable business plan template should feel like it’s helping you, not fighting against your natural workflow.
Launch your business faster with Lark
When you’re building a business plan, you need more than a blank page. Lark is the all-in-one "digital operating system" that takes your business from a conceptual draft to a fully operational company. By combining messaging, project management, and high-level documentation into a single workspace, Lark ensures that your strategic planning is always connected to your daily execution.
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- Chat, email, & video calls: Centralize all communications in one place with threaded messaging, high-def video conferencing, and integrated business email.
- Cloud docs, sheets, & slides: Create interactive business plans where data, videos, and task trackers are embedded directly into your document.
- No-code AI-powered platform: Leverage Lark Base to build custom databases and automated business systems—like CRMs or ticketing systems—without writing a single line of code.
- Project management: Turn your "next steps" section into a living roadmap with automated reminders, Gantt charts, and Kanban boards to track progress in real-time.
- Approval, attendance, and OKRs: Streamline back-office operations with automated approval workflows, mobile clock-ins, and transparent goal-tracking to keep the team aligned.
- Built-in AI: Supercharge productivity with built-in AI tools. From automating routine tasks and summarizing meetings to generating drafts, insights, and data visualizations.
- Cost-effective: Lark combines over 11 tools—messaging, docs, spreadsheets, presentations, calendar, email, video conferencing, automation, and more—into a single superapp, reducing the need for multiple subscriptions. With a free plan and flexible paid plans, teams can scale efficiently while saving time, money, and IT overhead, all within one integrated workspace.
Design your business plan with 100s of free templates
The hardest part of a business plan is the first page. Lark eliminates this hurdle with a library of hundreds of free, professional templates tailored for startups. Whether you need a lean canvas, a detailed financial projection, or a marketing roadmap, you can find a template that fits your industry and customize it in seconds.
FAQs
What are the 3 C's of a business plan?
The 3 C's of a business plan are Company, Customers, and Competition. "Company" explains what the business does and its goals (its mission statement). "Customers" define who the business serves, and "Competition" analyzes other players in the market.
What are the 5 questions a business plan must answer?
The 5 questions a business plan must answer are: What is the business idea? Who are the target customers? How will the business make money? Who are the competitors? What are the financial projections? Answering these clarifies the business model, market opportunity, and expected outcomes.
Can ChatGPT write a full business plan?
ChatGPT can help you write a full business plan by generating structured drafts for sections such as executive summaries, market analysis, and financial projections. However, it has limitations: it cannot access real-time market data, validate financial assumptions, or provide legal, regulatory, or industry-specific advice. Its outputs may also be generic, so human input is essential to ensure accuracy.
What are the 7 components of a business plan?
The 7 components of a business plan are Executive Summary, Company Description, Market Analysis, Organization & Management, Products or Services, Marketing & Sales Strategy, and Financial Projections. Each section details a key aspect of the business, from goals and operations to market strategy and finances. Together, they form a complete roadmap for success.
How often should I update a business plan template once it’s filled out?
Most small businesses and startups should review and update their plans at least once per year. Update more frequently during major changes, such as new funding rounds, product launches, or entering new markets. Using the same template structure lets you compare progress year over year and track whether you’re meeting business objectives.
Can I combine multiple business plan templates?
Yes, this is common. Many founders merge elements from multiple templates—for example, a traditional SBA-style narrative, a business model canvas, and a separate Excel model for cost structure and revenue forecasts. Just ensure the final document reads as a cohesive plan with consistent assumptions, dates, and formatting.
Do investors still read full business plans, or just pitch decks?
Many potential investors begin with a short deck and a one-page summary. However, they typically request a more detailed written plan and financial model once they show serious interest. Having a completed template-based plan ready can speed due diligence, answer follow-up questions, and help you attract investors more effectively.
Can I use AI tools to help complete my business plan template?
AI tools can assist with drafting language, organizing sections, and checking clarity. However, all numbers, market data, and strategic decisions must be based on your own research and judgment. Review AI-generated content carefully for accuracy, relevance, and alignment with your actual business situation. A successful business requires human insight that AI cannot fully replicate.
What should I do if my business doesn’t fit neatly into any template?
Start with the closest template (e.g., “startup” or “small business”) and customize the section titles, prompts, and tables to reflect your unique model. Consider adding a short “Business Model Overview” section near the start to explain any unconventional elements. This helps readers understand your approach before diving into standard sections such as market analysis and the financial plan.
What's the difference between a business plan and a business continuity plan template?
A business plan template outlines a company’s goals, strategies, market analysis, and financial projections to guide growth and attract investors. A business continuity plan template focuses on maintaining operations during disruptions, detailing risk management, emergency procedures, and recovery strategies. Essentially, one plans for growth, the other for resilience.
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Start using Lark today
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Boost team efficiency by 10x
Save up to 70% on software costs
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