A rough outline for a simple business plan follows below. However, you'll want to tailor your plan to the audience. For most audiences, however, the purpose of the business plan is to convey the opportunity and how your business will solve for the customer need it represents.

Working with non-profits and small businesses, I've used the following general framework for a business plan:

1. Executive Summary-a 1-page summary of your business
2. Opportunity-what problem are you setting out to solve?
3. Products and Strategy-what are your products and strategy (how the products solve the problem stated above)?
4. Management Team-who are the decision-makers?
5. Marketing Plan-how will you tell customers about your products?
6. Operating Plan-how will you deliver on customer orders?
7. Financial Plan-how will your business create profits?