How to Write a One-Page Business Plan

Long business plans often go unread, and they are outdated within months. A one-page plan makes you focus on what matters and is easy to share, review and update.

The nine boxes

Divide a page into these sections and write short answers in each:

• Problem: what pain does your customer have, and how do they solve it today?
• Customer: who exactly are you serving? Be specific.
• Solution: what do you offer, in one or two sentences?
• Value: why would someone choose it over alternatives?
• Channels: how will customers find you?
• Revenue: how will you make money, and at what price?
• Costs: what are your main expenses each month?
• Competition: who else serves this need, and how are you different?
• Next steps: what will you do in the next 90 days?

Write with numbers

Replace vague statements with estimates. Instead of many people need this, write something like 2,000 local clinics, each paying $50 a month. You may be wrong, but a number can be tested.

List your assumptions

Every plan rests on guesses: customers will pay, ads will cost this much, people will stay. Mark the riskiest assumption and design a cheap experiment to check it first.

Keep it alive

Review the page every month. Cross out what you learned was wrong, and update the next steps. A plan that changes with evidence is a sign of a healthy business, not a failure.

If a bank or investor asks for more detail later, your one-pager will be the core of it.