Business PlanningEnroll Now

Both startups and successful growing businesses need a “plan”. Business planning forces you to put on paper your roadmap to success.

One of the best ways to learn about writing a business plan is to study the plans of established businesses in your industry.

However you decide to put your plan together, whether using packaged commercial software programs, simple outlines, or any number of very instructive books available at popular bookstores, the plan should be reviewed by someone you believe can give you honest and unbiased feedback. The SBDC at UNF offers free and confidential counseling to clients writing business plans.

One of the business planning strategies we recommend is called Pitch-Then-Plan.  This interactive business planning netware is a unique and convenient way to write your business plan. Pitch-Then-Plan was created with one goal in mind: to give you the ability to create a business plan for your organization. Every feature of the Pitch-Then-Plan program moves you toward this end.

Pitch-Then-Plan runs right off of the internet so there's no software to download or install. We take care of the technology so you can take care of managing your business. It's the way it should be.

Why Pitch-Then-Plan?
Many entrepreneurs try to perfect their business plans and then pull PowerPoint slides out of it.  This is backwards thinking. A good business plan is a detailed version of a pitch—as opposed to a pitch being a distilled version of a business plan. If you get the pitch right, you’ll get the plan right. The converse is not always true.

Pitch-Then-Plan is a business planning technique that quickly translates business ideas into business plans.  It seeks to bring clarity to the founder’s thoughts about the few things that matter most. It doesn’t try to address everything, just the most important things, for not everything can be known from the beginning. By limiting the discussion about the business, the process forces the founders to be clear, concise, and concrete about what they know and what they will do.

Pitch-Then-Plan walks you through the process with an easy-to-follow template. View PDF

1. Throw together a pitch that contains the ten slides presented in the template.
2. Try it out on some mentors, colleagues, friends, relatives, and investors. Do this about ten times.
3. Get the team together in a room and discuss what you have learned.
4. Fix the pitch.
5. Start creating the plan.  

Once the Pitch has been road-tested and refined, it’s time to complete “the Plan.”   While your Pitch is about framing your idea, the Plan is about doing your homework. The goal here is to add another 1 to 2 slides of research and supporting detail for each one of your Pitch slides or sections.  The research should tell a coherent and persuasive story. A story that tells how you will leverage the promising trends and overcome the negative ones is, in essence, your strategy. 

How to get started with Pitch-Then-Plan
Sign up for your own safe and secure account. Then using your web browser, along with your account name and password, you access Pitch-Then-Plan from anywhere at anytime. All of your work on your plan is saved from session to session and when you're done, it’s easy to export into your favorite word processor and spreadsheet program for deeper refinement.

The cost for Pitch-Then-Plan enrollment is $50.  If you’d like to sign up for Pitch Then Plan, get started here.