The working business plan
What a business plan for an existing online company should contain, why the long version is rarely read, and how to.
OpenPlanning material for online companies
Plan4Business collects the plans, models, metrics and checklists that owner-managed online businesses actually use. Written as working material rather than as theory, and organised so that a single page answers a single question.
Plans
05
business, growth, exit, financing, first hundred days
Models
06
unit economics, cash flow, working capital and more
Metrics
07
the figures worth watching, defined
Checklists
04
data room, investigation, handover, review
Every planning conversation eventually comes back to this picture: what is left after each layer of cost.
Start with a plan
A growth plan that survives contact with reality
How to plan growth for an online business: choosing one constraint at a time, sizing the effect, and separating growth.
OpenPlanning an exit years before it happens
How an exit plan differs from a sale process: the work in the two years before, which dependencies to remove, and what.
OpenBuild a model
Unit economics
How to build a unit economics model for an online shop: contribution per order, the costs that belong in it, and the.
OpenThe rolling cash flow forecast
Building a thirteen week rolling cash flow forecast for an online business, what to include, and why a monthly profit.
OpenWorking capital model
How working capital is modelled for a stock-carrying online business, and how growth quietly consumes cash even when.
OpenWatch the right numbers
EBITDA
What EBITDA measures for an online business, how it is calculated from the accounts, and why it is the base most.
OpenSeller's discretionary earnings
What discretionary earnings measures for an owner-operated online business, which add-backs are legitimate and where.
OpenGross margin
How gross margin is calculated for an online shop, which costs belong above the line, and what different margin levels.
OpenPlanning towards a transaction
Several of these pages point towards the same end: a company that could change hands without falling apart. Listings of European online businesses currently offered for sale, together with valuation and investigation services, are published at Businessforsale.eu (https://www.businessforsale.eu/).