questions for business planning

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50 Questions Your Business Plan Should Answer

S adly, most investors don't read business plans. However, writing one is the only way you will be able to answer the following 50 questions which an investor will ask you:

1. What is the price of your product or service and why?

2. How much capital is required to execute your business plan?

3. How much is the company is worth?

4. What existing products/services does your company provide?

5. What is the use of the proceeds?

6. On a summary basis, what is the historical financial performance of the company (even if, and perhaps particularly if, you have no revenues)?

7. On a summary basis, what is the projected financial performance of the company?

8. What new products/services are being developed and when will they be ready for market?

9. What is the size of the market for your product in dollars?

10. What is the size of the market in terms of units?

11. How has the market for the product/service changed over the past 5 years and why?

12. How do you anticipate it will change going forward?

13. At what rate is the market for your product growing?

14. Is the competition highly concentrated or highly fragmented?

15. What is your distribution channel and why is it the best one?

16. On a broad level, what are the elements of your marketing strategy?

17. What does it cost to generate a lead, and what is the ratio of leads to sales?

18. What funding is being allocated to new product development from the financing and from ongoing operations?

19. How many potential customers have you talked to?

20. What are the gross and margins on your product/service? Why are they superior or inferior to a competitor?

21. What is your assumptions on the bad debt and collection period for outstanding receivables?

22. What are your working capital needs once sales take off and how will these needs be addressed?

23. What will happen to gross and operating margins as sales rise and why?

24. What percentage of your sales are recurring?

25. Who are your top five executives and what is their professional and educational background?

26. What regulatory or legal threats are present?

27. Are there international markets for this product and is the company positioned to take advantage of them?

28. Who is the largest competitor in your industry?

29. What criteria will be used to choose locations for geographic expansion?

30. How will you get this product into mass market distribution channels?

31. Is the product/service patented?

32. Who are your suppliers and or vendors?

33. Do you have more than one for each supplier/vendor of your basic raw materials or services?

34. What are your payment terms with vendors or suppliers?

35. What will cause gross and operating margins to improve as volume increases or decreases?

36. Where is the company located and how many square feet does it lease or own?

37. What is the length of the sales cycle?

38. How did you estimate returns and allowances?

39. How are sales personnel compensated? Incentivized?

40. What, as a percentage of sales, is the industry norm for R&D expenditures?

41. What is the earnings multiple of public companies like yours?

42. What is your immediate marketing objectives?

43. Does the company have a board of directors or advisors?

44. What is the ownership structure of the company? Who else is an owner?

45. How has the company been financed to date? What other financial transactions have occurred in the past?

46. Has the product generated any publicity? Where?

47. How old are the current liabilities on the balance sheet?

48. Who has prepared the historical financial statements and have they been compiled, reviewed or audited?

49. Is there any cyclically in sales?

50. What are the competitive advantages of your products?

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

David Evanson

David R. Evanson has more than 30 years working in the media, on Wall Street and in media relations. He has worked with investment banks, asset managers, private equity investors and institutional brokers on a variety of marketing and communications challenges. David is also a recognized financial writer, having authored five books on finance and economics, and articles in Barron’s, Forbes, Investment Dealers’ Digest, On Wall Street, Financial Planning and Entrepreneur, among others. David brings to the table a well-developed understanding of the capital markets, investments and corporate finance, and a talent for creating targeted media communications programs for financial services providers.

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50 questions to ask clients in a business planning questionnaire

A strong business plan helps set the foundation for a successful business venture. Whether you’re a copywriter or a business consultant, you likely spend your days helping entrepreneurs flesh out how they want to present their business to the public, investors, or their target market. 

Half of your job involves getting inside the minds of entrepreneurs to pick out all the most necessary information you need to craft a detailed business plan they’ll be happy with. If you’re looking for a way to spend less time gathering information and more time crafting the plan, then crafting a business planning questionnaire will do you good. 

In this post, we’ll share a list of questions you can ask entrepreneurs in a business plan questionnaire, plus we’ll share a tool you can use to collect responses quicker than ever.  

Why is preparing a business plan questionnaire a good call?

A well-structured questionnaire pushes your clients to think critically about every aspect of their business, ensuring no important elements are missed in the resulting business plan. In a nutshell, the more detailed the questionnaire is, the more organized and comprehensive the business plan will be. 

A strong business plan ensures all stakeholders are on the same page when it comes to the business’s direction and objectives. It also answers all questions and concerns investors might have regarding the financial health and trajectory of the business. 

Additionally, it acts as a reference point for clients to monitor progress and hold themselves accountable for meeting business goals, providing a framework for regularly reviewing and adjusting their business strategy as needed. 

Questions to ask your clients in a business plan questionnaire 

Executive summary/business overview questions.

• What is your business name? 
• Where is your business located/based out of?
• What is your business’s legal structure? - Sole proprietorship - Partnership - Limited corporation - Unlimited corporation 
• Describe what your business does in one sentence.
• What is the market opportunity or problem that your business aims to address?
• What is your business’s mission statement?
• What is your business’s vision statement?
• What is the return on investment (ROI) your customers can expect to see?
• Why should an investor be interested in your business?
• What is your unique value proposition?

Market analysis questions 

• Who are your target customers/ target market? 
• What are the primary needs and preferences of your target customers?
• List some of your main competitors.
• List some of your indirect competitors. 
• What features/offerings differentiate your business from your competitors?

Products and services questions

• What products or services does your business offer?
• What features of your products or services make them unique compared to other market options?
• What is your pricing strategy?
• What is your revenue model?

Marketing strategy and sales questions

• What marketing channels do you currently use?
• How will you measure the effectiveness of your marketing efforts?
• What are your sales goals for the upcoming year?
• What is your sales strategy?
• What key performance indicators are you tracking to evaluate the success of your company? 

Operations questions

• What are the key operational processes in your business?
• What technology or tools do you use for your operations?
• What are the major challenges you face in your operations?
• How do you plan to scale your operations as your business grows?

Financial planning questions

• What is your current financial status (e.g., revenue, profit, cash flow)?
• What are your projected financials for the next year?
• What are your primary sources of funding?
• How do you plan to manage your financial risks?

Human resources questions

• How many employees do you have?
• How many employees make up your management team? 
• What is your hiring plan for the next year?
• What are the key roles you need to fill to achieve your business goals?
• How do you plan to develop and retain your employees?

Legal and compliance questions

• What legal structure is your business operating under?
• Are there any industry-specific regulations or compliance requirements you must meet?
• How do you plan to manage legal risks?
• What insurance policies do you have in place?

SWOT analysis questions

• What are the strengths of your business?
• What are the weaknesses of your business?
• What opportunities do you see in the market?
• What threats could impact your business?

Strategic planning questions

• What are your top three strategic priorities for the next year?
• What milestones do you need to achieve these priorities?
• What resources do you need to meet your strategic goals?
• How do you plan to measure the success of your strategic plan?

Supporting documentation

Upload any supporting documentation that can help inform the business plan. (Financial documents, business license, sales/marketing presentations, SWOT analysis image). 

What is the fastest way to put together a business plan questionnaire?

You can easily take the above sample survey questionnaire, copy and paste the questions, and throw it into a Word document or form builder tool of your own — or better yet you could save endless time on all the above by using Content Snare instead. 

In addition to providing a ready-to-send business plan questionnaire template in its dashboard, it also helps you streamline the data collection process with:

Automatic reminders Ever run into a situation where you request information from clients and they take forever to get back to you? With Content Snare, you can choose a deadline then the tool will remind your clients to complete your questionnaire on time. This means you won’t have to waste time sending endless follow-up emails. 

Large document/image uploads Content Snare supports large file size uploads so your clients can upload their business license, sales and marketing presentations, or other financial documents needed for you to write their business plan without any hassle. The tool helps you collect everything all in one place so you don’t have to collect text responses in one place and then use a whole other platform like Dropbox to gather the rest.

Approve/reject/comment features It’s not uncommon for clients to submit insufficient information or upload the wrong files once in a while. Content Snare helps you notify your clients if any of their responses need a revision within the dashboard itself, so you don’t have to chase them over email. 

An easy client experience We can all agree that there’s nothing worse than spending ages completing a form, only to get timed out and have to enter all your information again. Content Snare spares your clients from ever having to go through this inconvenience by automatically saving responses so they can exit and re-enter the form as many times as they want. It always helps to use an intuitive tool!

Ready to give it a go? Try Content Snare for free for 2 weeks below! 

Create a business plan questionnaire with Content Snare

Sign up for your trial to get our template for free. Send our business plan questionnaire to your clients as-is, or customize it as you see fit.