Start-up grant Business plan

Business plan for start-up grant

The core element and the most important building block for the start-up grant application in your application is the business plan. This basically consists of two parts. In the next chapter, you can read in detail what these are and what exactly you need to pay attention to when preparing the business plan.

Business plan - Every beginning is difficult

Many people know this. In your head, your own (business) idea and the individual design are very clear and unambiguous, yet it often causes extreme difficulties to “put it all down on paper.” To stick with the proverb: Every journey begins with the first step.

In this context, people are quick to google for free business plan templates in search of a remedy for the respective endeavor. This is not wrong per se. The positive thing about templates is that the respective user understands how the business plan is structured and what information should be included in each chapter.

The structure of a business plan
Table of contents
    Add a header to begin generating the table of contents
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    Bruno Schäfer

    Management consultant | Self-employment COACH | Business graduate

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    Organization and structure of a business plan

    The basic structure of a start-up grant business plan is usually always the same and looks roughly as follows (differences in the order and possibly further sub-chapters are normal).

    The business plan consists of the written part, which mainly describes the project, and the financial part, which deals with topics such as sales and cost planning, profitability and liquidity forecasts and financing issues.

    Follow the cover sheet and table of contents:

    1. Abstract (company details in the overview)
    2. Summary (also called Executive Summary)
    3. Company and service description
    4. Legal form
    5. Registered office
    6. Target group
    7. Market and market environment
    8. Competition / rivalry
    9. Marketing
    10. Organization & Personnel
    11. Qualification
    12. Strengths and weaknesses + opportunities & risks (SWOT – ANALYSIS)
    13. Start-up costs and capital requirements
    14. Sales and cost planning
    15. Profitability and liquidity planning
    For approval, it is crucial that you manage to show that your planned business will be viable after 6 months at the latest.
    Bruno Schäfer
    How the plan convinces

    Fill the respective chapters with the right content

    Once you have understood the structure of the start-up grant business plan, the next step is to fill the respective chapters with life.

    To do this, it is not a bad idea to know roughly what to include in each section. A good guide here is the business plan template or an old business plan from a third party that you come across.

    Be careful with copy & paste: The temptation is naturally great to simply copy certain text passages in many places. However, this can quickly backfire, especially because some chapters contain very individual and industry-specific information. What should your internal marketing look like? What is the market environment like in your respective industry? What experience and knowledge do you have as a founder?

    So the key here is to think about it a little and then write it down nicely.

    Plan figures

    The financial section - the heart of every business plan

    For the start-up grant to be approved, it is crucial that you can show that your planned business will be viable after 6 months at the latest.

    Viable means that it can generate enough profit to survive on the market in the long term without external funding – including you as the owner.

    The focus when preparing the financial plan is therefore on clearly and unambiguously demonstrating how:

    1. The composition of sales and operating costs
    2. What income and expenses can be expected at a private level
    3. How all these items develop on a monthly basis over the three-year period

    It makes sense at this point to integrate the financial plan as part of the business plan and not to send it separately as a table (philosophy at this point: Don’t frustrate the decision-maker(s) with a messy application folder for the GZ)

    We recommend that you work with a business plan expert if you are having difficulties preparing your business and financial plan. This will greatly increase your chances of being approved by the GZ, as incorrect information is often given in the figures, which can easily lead to a rejection.

    As part of the start-up coaching paid for by the office, we have enough time to help you with your business and financial plan as well as all other documents and tasks for obtaining the start-up grant.

    Ready to take the first step into self-employment?

    With the right partners at your side, the risk is much lower than it seems at the beginning – all our partners have confirmed this to us so far.

    So don’t hesitate to arrange a free initial consultation, during which we’ll look at both sides to see if it’s a good fit and we can give your project a good push forward. We are ready and looking forward to meeting you!

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