What Belongs in a Business Plan?
A complete business plan usually consists of eight proven chapters. Here is what belongs in each one, how long the plan should be, and what the bank and the Employment Agency (Agentur für Arbeit) pay particular attention to.
Reviewed by Pavel Deuble
Start-up consultant & BAFA-registered business consultant
- BAFA-registered · ID 191790
- Last updated:
A business plan includes eight proven chapters: executive summary, business idea, founder profile, market and competition, marketing and sales, organization and personnel, SWOT analysis with risks, and financial plan (capital requirements and financing, living expenses, profitability for three years, liquidity month by month). There is no outline prescribed by law. Formal components also include a cover page, table of contents, and an appendix with supporting documents. In our experience, the text section usually runs 15 to 25 pages. Banks mainly check debt service capacity (Kapitaldienstfähigkeit); for the start-up grant (Gründungszuschuss), a qualified body (fachkundige Stelle) certifies viability.
8 chapters
proven framework, not mandatory
15–25 pages
text section, plus numbers section and appendix
1–2 pages
executive summary, written last
Format & Length at a Glance
Formally, a business plan usually consists of five components. In our experience, the text section alone usually runs 15 to 25 pages; with the numbers section and appendix, 25 to 40 pages is common, depending on complexity and industry.
- Cover page: project, name, contact details, date
- Table of contents with page numbers
- Text section: the eight chapters, 15 to 25 pages
- Numbers section: financial plan with capital requirements and financing, living expenses, profitability forecast, and liquidity plan
- Appendix: supporting documents and evidence for the statements in the text section
No body prescribes a fixed number of pages. The IHK Köln (Cologne Chamber of Commerce and Industry) recommends 10 to 40 pages. The IHK Hannover (Hanover Chamber of Commerce and Industry) considers 10 to 25 pages sufficient for most business concepts, counting the numbers section, and the IHK Rhein-Neckar (Rhine-Neckar Chamber of Commerce and Industry) advises no more than 30 pages. More important than the length is that the points on which your project succeeds or fails are covered in detail.
What a business plan looks like: form and layout
Whoever reviews your plan reads many of them. A clear form helps them find your content quickly:
- DIN A4, an easily readable font, a consistent layout
- Chapters numbered, page numbers on every page
- Full sentences instead of bullet points
- A factual tone without advertising language
- Numbers in tables, the same values in text and table
- Submitted as a single PDF
The IHK Bonn/Rhein-Sieg (Bonn/Rhein-Sieg Chamber of Commerce and Industry), for example, requires full sentences in its checklist for the start-up grant, and the IHK Köln asks for a factual plan without self-promotion. The other points are based on our consulting experience.
Business Plan Outline: Structure and Content at a Glance
The outline of a business plan follows a proven structure: cover page, table of contents, text section with eight chapters (executive summary, business idea, founder profile, market and competition, marketing and sales, organization and personnel, SWOT analysis and risks, financial plan), numbers section, and appendix. This order is not mandatory, and the guides arrange the chapters differently; it has proven itself in our consulting. What most of them have in common: a summary comes first, and the numbers come after the text section or in separate tables. More important than the order is that text and numbers match. In our experience, the text section usually runs 15 to 25 pages.
| Chapter | Content | Length (pages) | Reviewers look for |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Executive summary | Business idea, market, unique selling proposition, capital requirements, and key figures at a glance | 1–2 | Clarity; whether the idea can be understood in two sentences and the numbers match the financial plan |
| 2. Business idea & vision | Offering, problem solved, customer benefit, goals for three to five years | 2–3 | Comprehensibility for non-experts, substance instead of buzzwords |
| 3. Founder profile | Qualifications, professional experience, business knowledge, gaps and how you close them | 1–2 | Whether the person fits the project; the qualified body judges viability largely through the person |
| 4. Market & competition | Market size, target group, trends, competitors with documented figures | 3–5 | Documented sources, honest competitor analysis, derived market share |
| 5. Marketing & sales | Positioning, price, channels, measures for the first six months | 2–4 | Plausible customer acquisition; prices and marketing costs match the financial plan |
| 6. Organization & personnel | Legal form, location, processes, permits, insurance, personnel planning | 2–3 | Well-founded legal form, realistic personnel costs including non-wage labor costs |
| 7. SWOT analysis & risks | Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, risks, and one countermeasure for each | 1–2 | Risk awareness and concrete countermeasures instead of sugarcoating |
| 8. Financial plan | Capital requirements, financing, planning of revenue and costs, profitability over three years, monthly liquidity for at least twelve months (often 36 for the start-up grant), entrepreneur’s salary | 4–8 plus tables | How revenues are derived; bank: debt service capacity; qualified body: viability and living expenses |
Is There a Mandatory Outline?
No. No law requires you to have a business plan, and so no law prescribes an outline either. The plan is required by those who decide on the money: the Employment Agency, the Jobcenter, banks, development banks, and investors. They expect certain content, but no fixed order. The official guides show this, as each of them structures the plan slightly differently:
| Guide | Outline | Where the numbers are |
|---|---|---|
| Gründerplattform (BMWE and KfW) | Summary, business idea, sales and competition, team and partners, company (with location, legal form, and risks), finances | separate numbers section after the text section |
| KfW (business concept form) | Business idea, personal requirements, market, competition, production or service, location, future prospects, other aspects such as legal form and insurance | separate forms for investments, liquidity, and profitability |
| IHK Köln | Business idea, customers, competition, marketing and sales, company with team, organization and legal form, financial planning | at the end |
| IHK Hannover (information sheet) | Summary; founder and team, range of services, market, location, competition, marketing, personnel and organization, legal form, outlook with SWOT analysis; numbers section | separate numbers section after the text section |
| Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe (savings banks, sparkasse.de) | Executive summary, business idea and goals, founding team, products and services, market and competition, marketing and sales, organization, financial planning, opportunities and risks, appendix | before opportunities and risks |
| Our template (Word and Excel) | Summary, founder, business idea, market and competition, marketing, organization, opportunities and risks, financial plan, appendix | second-to-last chapter, tables in Excel |
None of these guides is binding: the Gründerplattform, a platform for founders run by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE) and KfW, Germany’s federal development bank, states that there is no fixed, prescribed outline, and KfW calls its form a framework for orientation. The guides differ on whether opportunities and risks come before or after the numbers. The Gründerplattform, the IHK Hannover, and our template put them before, the savings banks (Sparkassen) and the IHK Rhein-Neckar after. The eight chapters on this page follow our template. Whether the founder profile comes before or after the business idea is up to you; our template puts the person first.
Tip: if the body reviewing your plan specifies its own outline or checklist, for example a funding program, a competition, or your bank, use its order. If in doubt, ask beforehand.
Cover Page: What Goes on It, with a Sample
The cover page is the first page of your plan. It shows at a glance what the project is, who is behind it, and how to reach you.
- Title: “Business Plan” and the name of your company or project.
- Project in one line: what you offer, where, and from when.
- Founder: name, address, phone number, email, and website; for a team, all members.
- Legal form: if it has already been decided, for example sole proprietorship or GmbH.
- Submitted to: optional, who this version is intended for, for example the qualified body for the start-up grant, your house bank, or an investor.
- Date and version: the status of the plan, with a number if there are several versions.
- Optional: a logo, a picture of your product, or a note that the plan is confidential.
Leave out numbers, advertising slogans, and long texts. One page is enough. The chambers’ guides also list name, contact details, project, date, and logo; “Submitted to,” the version, and the confidentiality note are our recommendation from consulting.
Entirely fictitious sample cover page:
Business Plan
Radservice Muster: mobile repair service for bicycles and e-bikes in the south of Essen
Planned start: March 2027, sole proprietorship
Founder: first name last name, address, phone, email
Submitted to: house bank, application for a start-up loan
As of: January 2027, version 2
Confidential: please do not pass on to third parties.
Tip: if you give the plan to several bodies, put the date and version on the cover page and in the footer. That way, everyone knows which numbers you are discussing.
Table of Contents: Sample Business Plan Outline
The table of contents with page numbers comes after the cover page. Number the chapters consecutively and stick to two levels. If you set up the headings as styles in your word processor, the table of contents including page numbers is created automatically. For the eight chapters, it can look like this:
| Chapter | Page |
|---|---|
| 1 Executive summary | 3 |
| 2 Business idea and vision | 4 |
| 2.1 Offering and customer benefit | 4 |
| 2.2 Goals for the next three to five years | 5 |
| 3 Founder profile | 6 |
| 4 Market and competition | 7 |
| 4.1 Target group and catchment area | 7 |
| 4.2 Market volume and location | 8 |
| 4.3 Competition and differentiation | 9 |
| 5 Marketing and sales | 11 |
| 5.1 Positioning and price | 11 |
| 5.2 Channels, measures, and budget | 12 |
| 6 Organization and personnel | 14 |
| 6.1 Legal form and permits | 14 |
| 6.2 Insurance, personnel, and schedule | 15 |
| 7 Opportunities and risks (SWOT analysis) | 17 |
| 8 Financial plan | 18 |
| 8.1 Capital requirements plan and financing plan | 18 |
| 8.2 Revenue planning and profitability forecast | 19 |
| 8.3 Liquidity plan | 20 |
| 8.4 Living expenses and entrepreneur’s salary | 21 |
| Appendix | 22 |
Adapt the subsections to your project. A craft business, for example, gets its own section on registration in the register of craftsmen (Handwerksrolle), and a café one on its location. Our free business plan template for Word and Excel gives you the chapters with guiding questions.
The 8 Chapters in Detail
1. Executive summary
The summary on one to two pages, and at the same time the most important chapter of all. It is written last but placed first. With banks and investors, it often decides whether anyone reads on; the qualified body reviews the whole plan anyway, above all the numbers. Boil the business idea, market, unique selling proposition, capital requirements, and the key financial figures down to the essentials. It must be understandable on its own, because many reviewers read only this page at first.
What reviewers look for: clarity and persuasiveness in limited space. Typical mistakes: too long, too vague, or filled with platitudes instead of numbers.
What the bank / the Employment Agency checks: The bank first reads capital requirements, equity share, and expected repayment here; the qualified body for the start-up grant looks for the statement of when the entrepreneur’s salary covers living expenses. Both figures must match the financial plan exactly. In our experience, deviations between the summary and the numbers section are a common reason for follow-up questions.
The Gründerplattform considers one page enough, two at most. According to the IHK Bonn/Rhein-Sieg checklist, it should contain: business idea and customer benefit, target group, market and competition, business model, your qualifications, and the key points of the financial planning. Our guide Writing the executive summary shows how to build the summary sentence by sentence, with a complete sample.
| Building block | What belongs in it |
|---|---|
| Project | offering, location, and start in one sentence |
| Customer benefit | which problem you solve and for whom |
| Market and competition | target group, size of your market, how you stand out |
| Business model | how you earn money and sell |
| Person or team | qualifications and experience |
| Numbers | capital requirements and financing, revenue for the first three years, break-even point |
| Purpose of the plan | loan, start-up grant, equity investment, or your own planning |
2. Business idea & vision
What do you offer, which problem do you solve, and for whom? Describe your offering concretely and tangibly, including your customer benefit and your unique selling proposition. Add where the company should be heading over the next three to five years.
What reviewers look for: comprehensibility, including for non-experts. Anyone who cannot explain the idea in two sentences loses out here. Avoid buzzwords without substance.
What the bank / the Employment Agency checks: Is the offering concrete enough to derive revenue from it? The bank asks about the customer benefit someone pays for; the Employment Agency checks whether the activity is set up as your main occupation with at least 15 hours per week. So describe service, price, and customer in one sentence before you elaborate on the vision.
Also describe your business model, that is, how you earn money: with individual orders, fixed-term contracts, subscriptions, or commissions. A general description of the industry is no substitute for your own idea, and you justify a unique selling proposition instead of merely claiming it. That is what the IHK Bonn/Rhein-Sieg checklist says.
3. Founder profile
Why are you specifically the right person for this project? Professional qualifications, work experience, business knowledge, and personal suitability belong here. Banks and the Employment Agency in particular judge the viability of a project largely through the person of the founder.
What reviewers look for: Does the profile fit the idea? Gaps (e.g., lack of business knowledge) look more credible if you state honestly how you will close them, for example through funded start-up coaching.
What the bank / the Employment Agency checks: Professional qualifications and business knowledge must fit the idea. For activities that require a permit (skilled trades, hospitality, healthcare professions), both bodies expect the supporting documents in the appendix. If business knowledge is lacking, say how you will make up for it: start-up coaching, a tax advisor, or a partner with bookkeeping experience. A deficit that is honestly named and comes with a solution looks more viable than a résumé unrelated to the project.
In some outlines, this chapter is called founder, team, or company presentation. If you are starting the business with others, describe who takes on which task. Put your résumé in the appendix; according to the Gründerplattform, it should be no more than two pages long. For development loans, KfW requires that you have the professional and business qualifications for your project.
4. Market & competition
Market size, target group, trends, and competitors. Use documented figures (e.g., from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IHK), the Federal Statistical Office, or industry associations) to show that you know your market, and set yourself clearly apart from the competition.
What reviewers look for: An honest competitor analysis is more convincing than the claim that there is no competition. “No competition” is seen as a warning sign of poor market knowledge.
What the bank / the Employment Agency checks: Reviewers compare your market figures with their own experience in the industry. State the source and year of every figure (Federal Statistical Office, IHK, industry association) and derive your achievable market share from them. Anyone who names three concrete competitors with their prices and weaknesses demonstrates market knowledge; anyone who writes that there is no competition triggers follow-up questions.
Stick to your actual market, that is, your catchment area or your online customers, and name your competitors. Your location is also part of the market: its position, accessibility, and the purchasing power in the area. Our guide to market analysis shows how to obtain the figures and derive your share, and the competitor analysis provides a sample table for the comparison.
5. Marketing & sales
How do you reach your customers, and how do you sell? Positioning, pricing strategy, sales channels, and concrete measures, plausibly derived from your target group. Ideally, outline how you will win your first customers in the first six months.
What reviewers look for: plausibility of customer acquisition. The best idea fails if it remains unclear where the customers are supposed to come from.
What the bank / the Employment Agency checks: The revenue planning in the financial plan must follow from this chapter: how many customers do you reach through which channel, at what price, and what does it cost? The bank checks whether the marketing costs are in the financial plan; the qualified body, whether first customers or contacts are identifiable (letters of intent, preliminary contracts, network) or there is a realistic plan to win them.
Reviewers want to see concretely what you do, how often, through which channel, and with what goal. That is what the IHK Bonn/Rhein-Sieg checklist asks. Plan a budget for this and carry it over into the financial plan as advertising costs. You will find a sample for the first six months under creating a marketing plan and sales plan.
6. Organization & personnel
Legal form and the reasons for it, location, operating processes, and, if relevant, personnel planning. This is where it becomes clear whether the project is organizationally well thought out and whether you have thought of permits, insurance, and contracts.
What reviewers look for: Is the legal form well justified for your situation in terms of liability and taxes? Are personnel costs planned realistically?
What the bank / the Employment Agency checks: Legal form and liability matter to the bank because of collateral (with a GmbH or UG, shareholders are often also personally liable), and to the Employment Agency because of the question of whether you are genuinely self-employed and working in the business as your main occupation. Reviewers look at permits, insurance (business liability, health insurance), and whether personnel costs including non-wage labor costs are in the plan. A schedule up to the start shows that you know the order of the steps.
Depending on the project, this chapter covers the business registration (Gewerbeanmeldung) or, for freelance professions, registration with the tax office (Finanzamt); for skilled trades that require a license, registration in the register of craftsmen; permits for your industry; and the necessary insurance. You can narrow down in advance which legal form suits you with our legal form finder.
7. SWOT analysis & risks
Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and risks, and above all how you deal with the risks. Name two to three central risks and one concrete countermeasure for each.
What reviewers look for: risk awareness. Anyone who names risks openly and shows countermeasures appears considerably more credible than someone who conceals them.
What the bank / the Employment Agency checks: Reviewers look here for the answer to their own doubts. Name the two to three risks that a bank advisor sees anyway (start-up losses, dependence on a few customers, location, illness), and set a concrete countermeasure with a number against each: liquidity reserve, a second source of income, insurance. A SWOT analysis without weaknesses is not considered credible.
In some guides, the SWOT analysis appears in the outlook at the end of the text section; in others, it is a separate chapter on opportunities and risks. The IHK Bonn/Rhein-Sieg checklist expects concrete risks with measures, in other words a plan B. Our guide shows a completed sample with countermeasures under SWOT analysis.
8. Financial plan
The centerpiece. It comprises capital requirements, revenue and cost planning, the profitability forecast (usually three years), and the liquidity plan. Realistic, comprehensible numbers decide on funding and loans, not optimism. Also plan your private living expenses for the start-up phase.
What reviewers look for: whether revenues can be derived, and an account balance that, including financing, does not go negative in any month. Tip: determine your capital requirements in advance with the capital requirements calculator and transfer them to the financial plan template.
What the bank / the Employment Agency checks: The bank recalculates debt service capacity: is the surplus after taxes and entrepreneur’s salary enough for interest and repayment? The qualified body checks viability: is your profit likely to provide a sufficient livelihood after the start-up phase, and are your reserves enough to get through lean periods? The Employment Agency expects that you can live off the business after the start-up grant ends; many bodies want a liquidity plan covering 36 months for this. Disclose every assumption (price times quantity, payment terms, ramp-up time) and include a cautious scenario.
The numbers section contains the individual plans as tables. In the text of this chapter, you summarize their results and explain the most important assumptions.
| Plan | What it shows | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Capital requirements plan | investments, founding costs, start-up costs, and a justified reserve | at the start |
| Financing plan | how you cover the capital requirements: equity, loans, grants | at the start |
| Revenue plan | revenue from quantity times price, with a start-up phase | month by month |
| Cost plan and personnel plan | fixed costs, cost of goods, personnel including non-wage labor costs, advertising budget | month by month |
| Profitability forecast | profit or loss after all costs, depreciation, and interest | three years, annually |
| Liquidity plan | income and expenses including VAT, repayment, and personal withdrawals | monthly, at least twelve months, often 36 for the start-up grant |
| Living expenses and entrepreneur’s salary | your private costs including social insurance and a reserve for income tax | monthly |
The IHK Hannover names four main plans, namely capital requirements, financing, liquidity, and profitability, plus sub-plans such as revenue, personnel, advertising budget, and personal withdrawals. For the expert opinion on the start-up grant, the IHK Bonn/Rhein-Sieg and the IHK Essen (Essen Chamber of Commerce and Industry), for example, expect profitability and liquidity for 36 months. The Employment Agency itself requires a capital requirements plan and financing plan as well as a revenue forecast and profitability forecast. Our guide Creating a financial plan shows how the individual plans fit together.
Optional Chapters
A glossary and a milestone plan are optional. You almost always need an appendix as soon as you back up statements in the text section; for the start-up grant, a résumé and proof of qualifications are mandatory. What goes in it is explained in the next section.
- Appendix: résumé, proof of qualifications, contracts, permits, market studies: everything that backs up statements in the main part.
- Glossary: for technical topics or topics that need explaining, so that reviewers from outside the field can follow too.
- Milestone plan: the most important steps of the first 12–24 months with a timeline.
Appendix: Documents to Include
In the appendix, you collect the evidence for your statements. This keeps the text section short, and reviewers find everything in one place. Number the attachments and refer to them in the text, for example with “see Attachment 3.”
| Document | When it belongs in the appendix |
|---|---|
| Résumé, no more than two pages | always |
| Certificates and proof of qualifications | always; for activities that require a permit, also the permit, for example a master craftsman’s certificate (Meisterbrief) or a license |
| Quotes for purchases | if you invest |
| Draft rental or lease agreement | if you rent or lease premises |
| Letters of intent, preliminary contracts, references | if you already have prospective customers |
| Sources for market data | if you cite figures |
| Draft articles of association (Gesellschaftsvertrag) | when founding as a team or as a GmbH |
| Proof of your equity | if you contribute your own funds |
| Extract from the commercial register (Handelsregisterauszug) | if the company is already registered |
| Self-disclosure form (Selbstauskunft) and statement of assets | for the bank and the guarantee bank (Bürgschaftsbank) |
| Annual financial statements for the last two years and a current interim financial report (betriebswirtschaftliche Auswertung, BWA) | for existing companies and for a succession |
For loans with a guarantee, the guarantee banks list a résumé, self-disclosure form, and statement of assets as well as drafts of important contracts, and for a succession also the annual financial statements for the last two years and a current BWA. Our checklist of application documents shows what else you submit for the start-up grant.
Content by Purpose: Start-Up Grant, Bank, Investor
The eight chapters apply to every plan. Depending on who reads it, some parts carry more weight:
| Purpose | The focus is on | What is added |
|---|---|---|
| Start-up grant (Employment Agency) | viability and living expenses; the activity is set up as a main occupation with at least 15 hours per week | opinion from a qualified body, based on the plan, résumé, capital requirements and financing, and revenue and profitability |
| Entry allowance (Einstiegsgeld, Jobcenter) | revenue forecast and profitability forecast for three years, your living expenses | possibly an opinion from a bank or a qualified body |
| Bank loan and development loan | debt service capacity, your professional and business qualifications, collateral | self-disclosure form and statement of assets; you apply for development loans through your house bank before the project starts |
| Investor or business angel | team, market, growth | usually a pitch deck or one-pager first, the detailed plan later |
| Existing company | actual figures instead of assumptions, every change justified | annual financial statements and a current BWA |
Deadlines and the exact documents for each body are listed in our guide under Preparation. How viability is assessed is explained in our guide to the viability certificate.
These Numbers Must Be the Same Everywhere
Reviewers compare text and numbers. The IHK Bonn/Rhein-Sieg checklist explicitly requires that the two match. These values appear in several chapters and must be the same everywhere:
| Value | Where it appears |
|---|---|
| Capital requirements | executive summary, capital requirements plan, financing plan |
| Equity and loans | executive summary, financing plan, liquidity plan with interest and repayment |
| Prices | marketing and sales, revenue planning |
| Number of customers or orders | market and competition, marketing and sales, revenue planning |
| Revenue for the first three years | executive summary, revenue planning, profitability forecast |
| Advertising budget | marketing and sales, cost plan |
| Employees and wages | organization and personnel, personnel plan |
| Start date | cover page, schedule up to the start, first month in the liquidity plan |
| Entrepreneur’s salary and living expenses | executive summary, statement of living expenses, profitability forecast |
Tip: if a number changes, change it in all the places on this list in one go. Then read the executive summary against the numbers section once more.
Checklist: Is Your Business Plan Complete?
Before you submit the plan, check it component by component:
- Cover page: name of the project, founder with contact details, date, and version.
- Table of contents: chapters numbered, page numbers correct.
- Executive summary: no more than two pages, written last, the same numbers as in the financial plan.
- Business idea: offering, customer benefit, and business model described concretely.
- Founder profile: professional and business suitability documented, gaps with a solution.
- Market and competition: your actual market, sources with year, competitors named.
- Marketing and sales: price, channels, measures, and budget defined.
- Organization and personnel: legal form justified, permits and insurance listed, schedule up to the start.
- SWOT analysis and risks: two to three risks, each with a countermeasure.
- Financial plan: capital requirements, financing, revenue, profitability for three years, and liquidity month by month.
- Living expenses: private costs including social insurance and a reserve for income tax planned.
- Appendix: résumé, supporting documents, quotes, and contracts attached, and the text refers to them.
- Form: full sentences, factual tone, a single PDF.
You will also find these points in our business plan checklist to tick off. Our guide shows in which order to check before submitting and who can help you under Feedback and help.
What Does Not Belong in a Business Plan?
A business plan is a decision document, not an advertising brochure. Leave out this content or move it to the appendix:
- General industry history and textbook knowledge: reviewers know their industry; they want to see your project.
- Unsupported superlatives such as “unique,” “without competition,” or “huge market”: every statement needs a number and a source.
- Numbers without derivation: revenue of €120,000 is only convincing once price, quantity, and ramp-up time are shown next to it.
- Private details unrelated to the project: hobbies, family history, and detailed résumés belong in the appendix, not in the text section.
- Technical depth: product specifications, recipes, or source code interrupt the reading flow; one paragraph plus a reference to the appendix is enough.
- Contradictions between chapters: the price in the marketing chapter must be the price in the financial plan, and the number of employees in the organization chapter must match the personnel costs in the numbers section.
- Confidential data of third parties: customer data, other people’s contracts, or competitors’ salaries do not belong in the plan.
If a business plan grows to 60 pages, it usually has one of these problems. Cut the text section down to what is essential, in our experience 15 to 25 pages, and move supporting documents to the appendix; how to go about it is explained under writing a business plan.
Typical Mistakes in the Content
From more than 750 business plans we have supported, we know the mistakes that lead to follow-up questions or rejection:
- Executive summary too long or written first: it summarizes what does not exist yet, and in the end it does not match the numbers.
- Revenue based on wishful thinking instead of derivation: the planning starts with the amount that justifies the loan instead of with customers times price times month.
- Start-up phase forgotten: the first months bring less revenue and more costs; if you leave this curve out, the liquidity plan turns negative.
- Entrepreneur’s salary missing or unrealistic: the qualified body checks for the Employment Agency whether you can live off the profit; a plan without living costs is not viable.
- No competition named: reviewers read this as a lack of market knowledge.
- Template adopted, numbers not: sample plans provide the outline, but industry values, prices, and costs must be your own.
- Risks concealed: a SWOT analysis with only strengths looks naive; countermeasures show maturity.
- Appendix without supporting documents: cited market figures, proof of qualifications, and letters of intent should be verifiable in the appendix.
The IHK Bonn/Rhein-Sieg sees the most common shortcoming in the financial section: incomplete or incorrect financial planning.
You can calculate the capital requirements in advance with the capital requirements calculator; the business plan checklist offers a list to tick off. If you would rather have the plan created, you will find the process and costs under having a business plan created.
In What Order Do You Write the Chapters?
In terms of content, you start with business idea, target group, market, and competition, the analytical foundation. Marketing and organization build on that. You calculate the financial plan as soon as price and sales channel are set, and then align it with the text. The IHK Köln also puts financial planning at the end. You assess the risks once the market and the numbers are in place. You write the executive summary last because it condenses all the chapters, but it comes first in the document. You will find detailed instructions under writing a business plan.
Have your business plan professionally created
Together with you, we create a business plan that is eligible for funding and bankable, including the financial plan, and with a written, approved AVGS (Activation and Placement Voucher, Aktivierungs- und Vermittlungsgutschein) even 100% funded.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which chapters are mandatory in a business plan?
Legally, no chapter is mandatory, and there is no binding outline. The eight chapters (executive summary, business idea & vision, founder profile, market & competition, marketing & sales, organization & personnel, SWOT analysis & risks, and financial plan) have proven themselves and cover what banks and KfW want to know in terms of content. A cover page, table of contents, and appendix are added as formal components. For the start-up grant, the Employment Agency requires documents, not chapters: business plan, résumé, capital requirements plan and financing plan, as well as revenue forecast and profitability forecast.
How many pages does a business plan need?
In our experience, the text section of a business plan usually runs 15 to 25 pages, 25 to 40 pages with the numbers section and appendix. There is no requirement: neither banks nor the Employment Agency prescribe a page count. The IHK Hannover usually considers 10 to 25 pages sufficient, and the IHK Köln recommends 10 to 40 pages. What matters is that every chapter is coherent and the numbers are derived in a comprehensible way. Small projects without outside capital get by with 10 to 15 pages.
What is the most important chapter in a business plan?
The executive summary decides whether anyone reads on at all, and the bank and the qualified body examine the financial plan most closely. Both deserve the most care.
In what order do you write a business plan?
In terms of content, you start with the business idea, target group, market, and competition; you calculate the financial plan as soon as price and sales channel are set. The executive summary comes first in the document but is written last because it summarizes all the chapters.
Who reviews the business plan?
For the start-up grant, a qualified body reviews viability, for example the IHK, the Chamber of Crafts (Handwerkskammer), a tax advisor, or a business consultancy specializing in start-ups; you choose the body yourself. For loans, the house bank or KfW reviews it, above all the financial plan.
Is a business plan mandatory?
Legally, no: no law requires founders to have a business plan. In practice, yes, as soon as you want money from third parties: banks and KfW decide on loans based on the plan, and for the start-up grant, the Employment Agency requires an expert opinion (fachkundige Stellungnahme) from a qualified body on viability (§ 93 SGB III), which is based on your business plan. Without outside capital, it serves you as a sanity check of your own calculations.
What goes on the cover page of a business plan?
The cover page shows the title “Business Plan” with the name of your project, one line about your offering, the names and contact details of the founders, the legal form if it has been decided, and the date and version. A logo and a confidentiality note are optional. Leave out numbers and advertising.
What does a business plan look like?
A business plan is a fully written-out document in DIN A4 format: cover page, table of contents, executive summary, a text section in full sentences, a numbers section with tables, and an appendix with supporting documents. In our experience, a text section of 15 to 25 pages is common, submitted as a single PDF.
What belongs in the summary of a business plan?
The summary, also called the executive summary, covers the following on one page, two at most: your project, the customer benefit, target group and market with how you stand out from the competition, the business model, your qualifications, and capital requirements, financing, and the key planning figures. You write it last, but it comes first.
What does the table of contents of a business plan look like?
The table of contents comes directly after the cover page and lists all chapters with number and page number, usually on two levels: for example, 1 Executive summary, 2 Business idea, 3 Founder profile, 4 Market and competition, 5 Marketing and sales, 6 Organization and personnel, 7 Opportunities and risks, 8 Financial plan, followed by the appendix. A detailed sample is shown further up on this page.
What goes in the appendix of a business plan?
The appendix contains the evidence for your statements: résumé (no more than two pages), certificates and permits, quotes for purchases, drafts of the rental agreement or articles of association, letters of intent from customers, and sources for market data. Existing companies add annual financial statements and a current BWA.
Official Sources, Information Sheets & Flyers
The authoritative primary sources to read up on: information sheets and program pages of the responsible funding bodies, as well as the relevant legal texts.
We check external links to official bodies each time this page is updated (see the date above). Content and terms may change; the source itself is always authoritative.
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About the author
Pavel Deuble
Start-up consultant & BAFA-registered business consultant · Owner of Unternehmenswerk
Pavel Deuble is the owner of unternehmenswerk and managing director of UW Unternehmensweg GmbH. He is listed in the BAFA register of consultants (consultant ID 191790); the AVGS programs run through the AZAV-certified UW Unternehmensweg GmbH (provider approval Z-000392-2). Since 2018 more than 750 business plans, 4.88 out of 5 on ProvenExpert from 92 reviews.