Business planning made easy.
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Overview
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FAQs
From the makers of BusinessPlanPro, this interactive tool includes step-by-step guidance for creating a comprehensive pitch and business plan for your own use, to secure investment, or to share with others. LivePlan is easy to use and includes:
- Easily go from idea to business: Quickly document different business ideas in
a beautiful visual format with the LivePlan One-Page Pitch. - Collaborate with your team: Work securely with your team to come up with
ideas and easily share them with advisors, board members, and investors —
regardless of geography or system. - Test the numbers: Easily create and manage forecasts and budgets to find out
if your business can make money, and to find out how much money you need to
get started. - Build your plan and pitch for funding: Impress bankers and investors with a
proven, strategic SBA format that impresses every time. Get expert advice and
effective examples along the way. - Track your progress: Compare your performance to your peers and to your
financial forecasts using easy-to-understand dashboards. Make quick
adjustments to your business to stay on track and grow faster. - Financials made easy: LivePlan’s simplified financials guide you through the
process of creating your financial forecasts. Enter your assumptions and the
software does the calculations. Great for visual learners. - Built-in research data: Use industry benchmarks to hone your forecast and see
how you stack up against your competition. - 500+ sample business plans: More than 500 sample business plans are
included. You can compare your work to other successful plans. You can also
edit a sample plan to help you get past writer’s block. - Easy export: Simply export your plan to Microsoft Word and your pitch to
PowerPoint. You can also export you plan to Adobe PDF, making it easy to share
your plan or include it in presentations. - Scoreboard dashboard: Manually update your results or sync with your
accounting software so that you can easily compare actual results to plan and
identify key trends. - Live support: You can reach the LivePlan support team directly in the app to
help with questions you have while using the software.
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Why do I need a business plan?Business plans provide a blueprint of how a business will succeed and are often required for outside investment. Banks and investors want to ensure that business owners have a solid plan in place for a new venture before financing it. While the business planning process doesn't guarantee success of a new business, it decreases the odds of failure and reduces risk. Before putting life savings on the line, responsible business owners prepare a business plan to ensure their investment will not be lost.
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Do I need a financial or accounting background to use Palo Alto's LivePlan?No. You don't need any special expertise to use LivePlan. The software guides you through every step, helping create your plan using your own financial data.
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Will I be able to import/export business plan information into/from my accounting system?You can import your financials and company data from your spreadsheets. LivePlan guides you through every step, helping create your business plan using your financial data. You can also export your plan to Microsoft Word, PowerPoint or to Adobe PDF.
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What financial reports/statements are created by LivePlan?
LivePlan helps you build a comprehensive set of financial projections, complete with reports and charts. You'll not only know whether your idea will make money, but when it will. Unlike spreadsheets, there are no complicated calculations, formulas you need to create or reports or graphs to build.
LivePlan also allows for simplified forecasting. The drag and drop graphic forecaster allows you to easily and visually change your forecasts. Simply click to move a line on your forecast chart or apply a growth rate to a whole year. The graphic forecaster makes creating and altering your projections easy.
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Should individuals reading my business plan sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA)?
Non-disclosure agreements typically aren't required for viewing business plans. Venture capital investors and bankers know that information provided within a business plan is confidential. A "confidentiality clause" added to the beginning of the plan is often sufficient. Consult a lawyer if you believe an NDA is required.
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How far out can I plan?
LivePlan allows for long-term financial forecasting. Detailed forecasting is available through the first five years, while a long-term summary plan can be created for up to 10 years in the future.
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Is Palo Alto’s LivePlan available for all business types?Yes. The software can be used by sole proprietorships, partnerships, C corporations, S corporations, limited liability companies (LLCs), limited partnerships (LPs), limited liability partnerships (LLPs) or nonprofit corporations.
Business Plan Software
$120
12 months of LivePlan access. List price is $140, but BizFilings’ customers receive a special rate.
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