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LivePlan guides you through writing a professional business plan, but that's not the only thing it can do. Here are some ways you might want to use LivePlan:
Build and present a pitch
If you need a presentation for investors, or an easy way to share a snapshot of your business idea with potential partners, look no further than the LivePlan Pitch section. This one-page summary is easy to build, and you can share it as either a secret web page or a PDF:
Write and share a business plan
Do you need a detailed business plan document to present to a lender? Has a potential investor requested a copy of your full plan? In that case, use the Plan and Forecast sections to build a complete plan. You can share it with others online, or download it as a PDF or Word a document.
Hammer out a financial forecast for your business
Maybe you don't need a whole business plan; you just need a tool for hammering out your numbers. The Forecast section in LivePlan will take your inputs and automatically calculate them into a Profit & Loss, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow. You add these to a business plan any time, or just use the forecast tool online:
Build a Lean Business Plan
Our founder, Tim Berry, has written extensively about the value of the Lean Business Plan - a living plan that's simple to build and maintain as your business grows. (You can learn more about it here.) If this form of business plan meets your needs, you can use the Pitch, Forecast, and Schedule sections to build one.
With the Pitch, Forecast, and Schedule sections completed, you'll have the most important elements of your plan, and it's easy to revisit them over time to make revisions as your business grows. Then, if someone requests a full business plan from you, you can flesh out this lean plan with more detail in the Plan section, and you're all set.
Compare your business with your competitors
If you've built a forecast and are wondering how it stands up against your competitors, use the Benchmarks section to view data from your industry alongside your forecast:
This feature is available to LivePlan Premium users. To learn more about LivePlan Premium, please click here.
Track your actual performance against your business plan
Your accounting data can tell you a lot about the health of your business. Once your company is up and running, the Dashboard section will give you lots of ways to look at the data to learn more about how things are going:
This feature is available to LivePlan Premium users. To learn more about LivePlan Premium, please click here.
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