Lean Business Plan Template

A lean business plan is a business plan that focuses in on the key details of your business, fits on one-page, and can be created in under 20 minutes.

Your lean business plan can be used to quickly get your business idea onto paper, to quickly present your business concept to lenders or investors, or to simply get feedback on the key points of your business. Because a lean plan can be created quickly, its easy to adjust and refine as your business grows and evolves. We call this process of continually adjusting your lean plan - lean planning!

A lean plan will help you quickly develop your business strategy in a fraction of the time it will take you to write a complete business plan. Use your Lean Plan to experiment with different ideas and figure out your perfect business strategy.

1. Strategy: What you’re going to do
2. Tactics: How you’re going to do it
3. Business model: How you’re going to make money
4. Schedule: Who is doing what and when.

You can dive into more detail on what to include in each section here.

Just download the template from this page and start to fill it out - we'd recommend you print it. If you print it, use a pen and pencil or Post-It notes to add your ideas. Create multiple versions as you experiment with different business strategies, marketing and sales plans, and business models. When you’re done with your Lean Business Plan, your next step is to find out if your idea is actually any good. We’ve put together . Start there, and when you’re ready for more detail, check out our article on “demand validation” that walks you through the details of figuring out if potential customers will be willing to buy your product or service. You can do all of this with your Lean Business Plan, without having to spend a bunch of money. It’s the best way to get your business started with the least amount of risk possible.