What is the best software to help create a professional looking business plan?

The first smart-ass to reply with "Wordpad" or the likes will get a smack upside the head from me :stickout

Seriously though, my roommate had to write a business plan a couple of weeks ago and I'm pretty sure he used special software to do it. I'll ask him about it when he comes home.

Good question. I have looked over the reviews at Amazon.com. It seems Business Plan Pro is good -- if -- you are NOT using Windows XP. Amazon has a rebate on Business Plan Pro 2002 that makes the final price $59.99. The older version seems to be the same, it just has fewer examples. You can find dutch auctions for it on eBay. The same seller has spammed categories on Half.com, selling it for $37.95.


Bookwise, this seems to be the best book (free shipping):

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=30528215&loc=106

I want to amend what I said. Many of the reviews on Amazon were written in December of 2001. It seems likely they were placed there by the creators of the software. I think I would purchase the cheaper, older version instead of the newer, more expensive editition.

As a follow-up, I asked my roommate and it was in fact Business Plan Pro that he used... not sure which version, though.

Maybe I read your replys too fast but I didn't see what company business plan pro was made by. Is this the correct program?

http://www.paloalto.com/ps/bp/

Palo Alto

is the best software available for writing business and marketing plans... stongly recommended

I would reccommend getting a good book and writing one from scratch... but if you can't Business Plan Pro is good.

The only thing is that these programs have set templates they use and even generic text so VC's and banks can usually spot them right away. It shows you didn't spend much time planning your business... which is the most important part.

If you do decide to use one of these programs, remember it's just to help you get your ideas and information on paper... not do it for you. You'll still need to do the majority of the work.

Planning for a business is the most important step, and one most people neglect. If more of the dot-com business actually created a real business plan with projected earnings, revenues and profits many of them would've seen they could never have been profitable... oh well.

If you were writing a few of them, then buying software to help in the creation process is fine as it expediates some of the work. I do agree totally with beley that it would be better to write it yourself or even pay someone to write you a plan which is professional and suited exactly to your business.

I actually "do" use wordpad and that is not being funny at all...just how i do anything beyond the initial planning which begins with paper and pen.

I would like to endorse Palo Alto's Business Plan Software. We purchased this software from the developer and it is very easy to use. It is basically point and click. There are audio prompts, visual aides and other visuals to assist you in the instance that you are unfamiliar with terminology relating to the business plan software.

-Easy To Use
-Professional Printouts
-Ability to export to html pages, RTF, etc
-Publish to secure business plan site.

Again, highly recommend!