Got a plan?
Whether you’re starting something new, making changes to an existing business or need to show someone else what you’re thinking, we’ll help turn your ideas into a realistic business plan.
We can also build long-term forecasts for you to use within the business, giving you a picture of where things are heading and something to measure against as you go. In either case, we’ll test the assumptions, play around with the numbers and see how different ideas could affect the business over time.
What to Expect
Built around your business
We don’t use templates. Every plan and forecast is built from scratch around what you’re trying to achieve. Where we have existing data, we’ll use it. Where we don’t, we’ll use our experience and research to build sensible assumptions rather than plucking numbers out of thin air.
A healthy dose of reality
We want your plan to be ambitious, but it still needs to stand up to scrutiny. We’ll question anything that doesn’t quite stack up and help you work through the bits that need more thought.
Ideas put to the test
Once the plan or forecast is built, you’ll be able to see where your current trajectory is taking you. From there, we can test your ideas and explore different scenarios. If your plans change, we can adjust the assumptions and work out what would need to happen to get you there. If the underlying business changes, we can see what that means for your longer-term plans.
Something you can use
Whether it’s for you, a lender, an investor or someone else, we’ll make sure the finished plan or forecast does the job you need it to do. We’ll explain the assumptions we’ve used, so you can compare what happens with what we projected. If you’d like us to check in or make updates along the way, we’d love to. After all, we want to see what happens too!
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the difference between a business plan and a forecast?
A business plan tells the wider story: what you’re doing, where you want to go and how you intend to get there. A forecast puts the numbers around those plans and shows what they could mean financially. You might need one or both, whether it’s for your own use or to share with a lender, investor or someone else.
Can you help me build a plan from scratch?
Absolutely. You don’t need to arrive with everything worked out. We’ll talk through your ideas, help you work out what needs to go into the plan and build it with you from there.
Do I need to be an existing business?
Not at all. We can work with established businesses, new ventures and ideas that haven’t got off the ground yet. In fact, building the plan before you start can be a very useful way of finding out whether the idea stacks up before you commit too much time or money to it.
How far ahead can we forecast?
It depends what you need the forecast for. For internal planning, we might look one to three years ahead, while a lender or investor may want to see three to five years. The further ahead we go, the more uncertainty there is, so we’ll choose a timeframe that gives you the information you need without pretending we can predict the future.
What if I don’t have historical figures yet?
That’s fine, particularly if you’re starting something new. We’ll use whatever information you do have and talk through what we still need to work out. Where there isn’t existing data to rely on, we can use research and our experience to help you arrive at sensible assumptions.
Can you update an existing business plan or forecast?
Absolutely. If you already have something you’re happy with, there’s no need to start again. We can update the figures and assumptions and make any changes needed to bring it up to date. If we spot anything we think could be improved, we’ll talk it through with you first.
Wondering if it could work?
Whether you’ve got an idea you want to explore or you want to understand where your current plans are taking you, we’ll help you put some proper numbers around it.