A business plan is one of the most important tools for business planning. It serves not only as a blueprint but also as a control mechanism for your business. However, not everyone has a background in business or financial management and certainly; and not everyone knows <a title="Writing a Business Plan for Investors – Sample Template" how to write a business plan.
You may even be able to write the theoretical aspects but many people get lost when it comes to writing financial forecasts and budgets and since hiring a business plan writing consultant is not in any way cheap, people often have no other choice but to invest in business plan writing software.
A business plan writing software takes the stress for you and makes your business plan writing an automated process; all you have to do is input your facts and figure, all the other aspects would be taken care of and you can write as many business plans as you want without stress.
There are different business plan writing software in the market but all business plan writing software are not born equal; some are superior to others. On the list of superior business plan writing software are two popular software:
- Business Plan Pro
- Live plan
Since you have to choose one out of these market leaders, we have decided to provide you with some information to make it easier for you to make your decision. When you are done reading this article, you would be able to decide on the best and most suitable business plan writing software for you. Let’s start with the similarities of both software-:
Business Plan Pro Vs Live Plan – 9 Similarities
a. Ability to customize your currency
Unlike most business plan writing software that only has dollars, pounds and euro as default currencies, you can customize your currencies and input the symbol to be used. If you have to write your figures in Naira, USDollars, Pounds, Euro for instance, you can always customize both softwares to accommodate your currency sign.
b. Ability to customize your business plan outline
Both softwares come with in-built business plan outline to make it easier for you to write your business plan without stress but if at some point you feel that you want to tweak your business plan outline a little to suit your own specific needs, you can always do that on Business plan pro as well as Live Plan.
c. Unlimited Plans
You can write as many plans as you want using either of the softwares. You can also find free samples on both softwares to guide you on how to write your business plan or what your business plan should look like especially if you are a first timer.
d. Time saving
Both softwares also make it easy for you to write your business plan easily without wasting time.
e. Video Tutorials
If you want to learn how to use the software, you would find video tutorials o both platforms that can teach you how to use the softwares. You would also get free support on both platforms.
f. Export of Business Plan
You can export your business plan to any other platform you like such as Excel, Word or any other document processor.
g. Comprehensive Financials
Investors are always very concerned with the financial projections in your business plan and both softwares provide you with tools for writing comprehensive financial projections.
h. Dashboard
You would also find a dashboard where you can track your performance on both softwares.
i. Money Back Guarantees
You are also offered sixty days money back guarantee on both platforms.
Business Plan Pro Vs Live Plan: Which is the best – Differences
As much as there are lots of similarities, there are also a lot of differences between both business plan writing softwares-:
1. Installation
Business plan pro can be bought and installed on your computer for a one-off payment of $199.95 for its premier version and $99.95 for its complete version but LivePlan is a web-based application that can only be used online.
You can have access to Live Plan for only $19.95 per month. Live Plan is good for people who only need to write one business plan or write few business plans from time to time but for a professional or a business plan writing consultant, Business Plan Pro is more suitable option.
2. Working on a Mac
If you use a Mac, then don’t bother getting Business Plan Pro because it won’t work on a Mac. Instead, you should go for Live Plan which can work with a Mac.
3. Collaboration
Sometimes, you may have to work as a team to create a business plan. You cannot collaborate with others on Business Plan Pro but Live Plan offers you collaboration options. Also, Live Plan allows more than one person to work on a business plan at a time but this feature is unavailable on Business Plan Pro.
4. Data Importation to Excel
Do you have some data on excel that you would love to incorporate in your business plan? Then you should go for Business Plan Pro Premier because this feature is absent on Live Plan and Business Plan Pro Complete.
5. Data Exportation to Power Point
You may want to make presentations to your investors and partners using PowerPoint presentation but you cannot do this on Live Plan but thankfully, you can do it on Business Plan Pro.
6. Investment Offering Template
While there is an investment offering template on Business Plan Pro, there is none on Live Plan.
7. What-if Scenarios
You can flex your cash flows and perform ‘what if’ scenarios on Business Plan Pro but you cannot on Live Plan.
8. Affordability
Live Plan is more affordable but on the long run, it becomes more expensive than live plan pro.
In conclusion, you can write winning business plans on both software and to make a choice on the best option for you, you just have to make a list of all the features that you need for your business plan and then compare it with the features available on both software.
It is important to note however, that a business plan writing software would not <a title="How to Do Market Research for a New Business idea" conduct a marketing research or survey for you and to succeed in your new business, you need to <a title="How to Conduct a Feasibility Study" carry our extensive feasibility research. Therefore, it is advisable to first carry out your research and then incorporate your findings in your business plan using software.