a good business plan is a roadmap for success

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What is a business roadmap? Best practices to achieve your business plan

Last updated: March 2024

A business (or company) roadmap is a tool that outlines the direction you will take to achieve your business plan and meet your long-term strategic goals. Company and product leaders use business roadmaps to communicate an organization's vision and plans at every growth stage — from early-stage startup to established enterprise company.

Build your own roadmap in Aha! Roadmaps. Try it for free .

This custom roadmap created in Aha! Roadmaps shows business goals and initiatives, success metrics, and progress.

Business roadmaps can help organizations of all sizes scale and innovate. Regardless of industry or market, these are essential tools that help everyone in the organization understand key objectives, communicate status, and take action. This guide offers definitions and best practices to help you learn about what goes into creating a business roadmap. The details of your own roadmap will differ based on the unique facets of your company, but there are universal elements that apply to any business.

Use the following links to jump ahead to a specific section:

What is the purpose of a business roadmap?

Business plan vs. business roadmap: what is the difference, what to include on a business roadmap, how to build a business roadmap, who uses a business roadmap, types of business roadmaps, get started with a business roadmap template.

A business roadmap helps you visualize exactly what needs to happen — and when — to transform a company’s vision into reality. You can lay out what will happen in a given month, quarter, or year (or whatever timeline you prefer for visualizing when you will achieve your goals). A business roadmap is flexible by nature. It can be as detailed or abstract as you need it to be depending on the business's maturity and the size of your team.

You might be wondering about the differences between business roadmaps and business plans. If you already have a defined business plan, why do you need another planning tool? To make things more confusing, some people even refer to your business plan as a type of roadmap.

Although there are some areas of overlap between a business plan and a business roadmap, there are also critical distinctions. Let's take a closer look at each tool and what makes them different.

• Roadmapping: Your starter guide
• How to build a brilliant roadmap

Vision vs. mission vs. strategy

A business plan is a detailed foundational document that is generally created at any company's outset. It is essential to running a business and is especially useful for new companies. More established businesses benefit from updating their business plans or creating new ones when expanding into new markets or developing offerings that fundamentally change how their businesses operate.

Here is what you should know about a business plan:

Now, let's focus on a business roadmap. A business roadmap is a visualization of specific aspects of your business plan in a given time frame. It contains active and upcoming work at a high level and is a helpful way to gauge how well the company is tracking toward achieving its business plan.

Broadly speaking, your business roadmap should include the most important strategic plans across the company. This includes goals, initiatives, and major themes of work from cross-functional teams. Because you will likely need to adjust your roadmap over time, be sure everything you add to it deserves to be there. The more you add to your roadmap, the more difficult it can be to change course when new opportunities arise.

You might find that you create a few roadmaps concurrently. For example, you could create a long-term roadmap that covers all aspects of business planning over the next three to five (or even 10) years. This might include high-level forecasts for revenue, marketing and sales, staffing, and operations — as well as new products or services you plan to develop.

Then, you could have a shorter-term business roadmap, either a year or six months at a time. This roadmap might include corporate-level goals and initiatives as well as those of specific functions. You want to show how the entire company will work toward overall business objectives.

To truly benefit from this adaptive style of planning, it is helpful to have all teams working within a shared strategic planning tool like Aha! Roadmaps . Because planning data is updated in real time, every roadmap that the team sees will automatically show progress as it happens. This aligns the organization around what you will achieve and provides clarity into how you will work together to do it.

As you build your business roadmap, remember to keep your goals in mind. They should inform all of your plans.

Creating a business roadmap should be part of your strategic planning process. Most successful companies follow a goal-first approach to roadmapping.

Set goals: Establish what you want to achieve, from revenue to hiring.

Gather information: Seek input from organizational leaders and research your market.

Organize into themes: Identify patterns in your inputs.

Prioritize initiatives: Use those themes to define initiatives, making sure each one supports a specific goal.

Add time frames: Forecast resourcing and evaluate when each initiative would need to be completed.

Review and revise: Evaluate your progress against the roadmap often so you can spot challenges and adjust as needed.

Anyone with a vested interest in your company’s success will benefit from having access to some version of your business roadmap. Because a business roadmap visualizes the company’s goals and objectives, you can think of it as a blueprint that all stakeholders can rally around and follow. Here are some of the types of people and teams who can use a business roadmap:

Angel investors

Business owners

Consultants

Entrepreneurs

Marketing teams

Product managers

Sales teams

Startup founders

Venture capitalists

What is the best way to engage with each person? What information do they need to do their job well? What is superfluous? Use the empathy you built and seek to share what can help them succeed in their role. Alignment happens when you provide the right information at the right time. Brian de Haaff Aha! co-founder and CEO

Each functional group should have their own roadmap — from product management to marketing and IT . There might be times when you need different types of business roadmaps or different views for different audiences. Unlike a startup roadmap, these are geared toward more established companies. Here are a couple examples:

Business development roadmap: A business development roadmap outlines strategic expansion efforts. This would include things like new partnerships, sales channels, or market shifts.

Business intelligence roadmap: A business intelligence roadmap focuses on tracking and planning all business operations . This would include strategic efforts to affect performance, such as change management, process improvement, or adopting new technologies.

• What is the role of a product operations manager?

Objectives and key results (OKR) templates

Business roadmaps vs. product roadmaps

• What is an agile roadmap?

Templates help you repeat success, standardize work, and save time. Define your strategic planning process and create a format for your business roadmap that works for your company. Then, templatize it. Standardizing your business roadmap template will help reduce inefficiencies. When people do not have to guess at how to do their planning, they can spend more time on strategic thinking.

6 business model templates for product builders

100+ templates for every stage of product development

• Internal vs. external product documentation

Take a look at this roadmap template built on a whiteboard in Aha! software. You can easily customize the roadmap by adding your own goals, initiatives, milestones, and dependencies. This is a simple, lightweight way to get started with business roadmapping. For more robust roadmapping functionality, Aha! Roadmaps connects your visual plans to actual work. It also includes the whiteboard template below and many other dynamic roadmap views.

Start using this template now

FAQs about business roadmaps

What is the difference between a business roadmap and a business strategy?

A business roadmap is a visualization of your business strategy — a step-by-step, more tactical guide for how you will achieve a business plan. It ensures you can meet any long-term goals you set previously. And in particular, it involves your business's goals, initiatives , milestones , and dependencies .

A business strategy outlines how you approach your work in general. At Aha! we like to break it down into three components:

Foundation: This is where you define your strategic vision and tie it back to business models and positioning templates.

Market: The market includes your customer profiles as well as your competitors.

Imperatives: Imperatives bridge your overall strategy to the work you are going to deliver (i.e., your releases and features). In other words, imperatives link goals to the work items needed to reach them.

What is the difference between a business roadmap and a business vision?

Your business vision is all about defining what lies ahead. It covers why your company exists, where it is headed, and why you believe in that future. Because it impacts your culture, values, and strategic direction, it is important to map out this concept early on and adjust it whenever your future changes. On the other hand, a business roadmap conveys the near-term work you will do to achieve that long-term vision.

How often should you update your business roadmap?

Your business roadmap should be flexible enough that you can update it regularly and painlessly. As a general rule, you should adjust your roadmaps whenever your plans — and those plan details — happen to change. This keeps stakeholders aligned with what is happening throughout the organization in order to reach pre-defined goals.

If you already use Aha! software , we have some good news to share: Because changes you make to records in Aha! Roadmaps automatically update on your roadmap views, there is no work needed on your end to update any existing business roadmaps when plans shift. Everything happens in real time.

How should I plan my startup's first business roadmap?

The process of building a business roadmap is similar for startups and larger enterprises. Start by setting your goals and gathering insights from leadership and the market surrounding what your focus areas should be. You should then organize all of those insights into themes, prioritizing the initiatives that are most aligned with your goals. From there, add realistic time frames for completing each initiative and review your roadmap regularly to gauge progress and determine whether anything needs adjusting.

It is the actual content within a startup's business roadmap that will vary significantly. Both the goals and the work needed to get there will be much different from what you might see on a more established enterprise's roadmap. Rather than goals such as, say, launching an additional product line or expanding sales into a new country, an early-stage startup might aim to launch a Minimum Lovable Product and gain its first 50 customers. Startups seeking outside funding could set a goal to raise a specific amount of venture capital, whereas a bootstrapped startup might focus more on breaking into smaller markets and customer retention. No matter your startup's goals, though, they should appear on your business roadmap.

If you are curious about whether a product roadmap would work for your early-stage startup, try out this template . We also offer higher-fidelity business roadmapping options in Aha! Roadmaps that update automatically whenever your plans change.

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How to make a business plan

Table of Contents

How to make a good business plan: step-by-step guide.

A business plan is a strategic roadmap used to navigate the challenging journey of entrepreneurship. It's the foundation upon which you build a successful business.

A well-crafted business plan can help you define your vision, clarify your goals, and identify potential problems before they arise.

But where do you start? How do you create a business plan that sets you up for success?

This article will explore the step-by-step process of creating a comprehensive business plan.

What is a business plan?

A business plan is a formal document that outlines a business's objectives, strategies, and operational procedures. It typically includes the following information about a company:

Products or services

Target market

Competitors

Marketing and sales strategies

Financial plan

Management team

A business plan serves as a roadmap for a company's success and provides a blueprint for its growth and development. It helps entrepreneurs and business owners organize their ideas, evaluate the feasibility, and identify potential challenges and opportunities.

As well as serving as a guide for business owners, a business plan can attract investors and secure funding. It demonstrates the company's understanding of the market, its ability to generate revenue and profits, and its strategy for managing risks and achieving success.

Business plan vs. business model canvas

A business plan may seem similar to a business model canvas, but each document serves a different purpose.

A business model canvas is a high-level overview that helps entrepreneurs and business owners quickly test and iterate their ideas. It is often a one-page document that briefly outlines the following:

Key partnerships

Key activities

Key propositions

Customer relationships

Customer segments

Key resources

Cost structure

Revenue streams

On the other hand, a Business Plan Template provides a more in-depth analysis of a company's strategy and operations. It is typically a lengthy document and requires significant time and effort to develop.

A business model shouldn’t replace a business plan, and vice versa. Business owners should lay the foundations and visually capture the most important information with a Business Model Canvas Template . Because this is a fast and efficient way to communicate a business idea, a business model canvas is a good starting point before developing a more comprehensive business plan.

A business plan can aim to secure funding from investors or lenders, while a business model canvas communicates a business idea to potential customers or partners.

Why is a business plan important?

A business plan is crucial for any entrepreneur or business owner wanting to increase their chances of success.

Here are some of the many benefits of having a thorough business plan.

Helps to define the business goals and objectives

A business plan encourages you to think critically about your goals and objectives. Doing so lets you clearly understand what you want to achieve and how you plan to get there.

A well-defined set of goals, objectives, and key results also provides a sense of direction and purpose, which helps keep business owners focused and motivated.

Guides decision-making

A business plan requires you to consider different scenarios and potential problems that may arise in your business. This awareness allows you to devise strategies to deal with these issues and avoid pitfalls.

With a clear plan, entrepreneurs can make informed decisions aligning with their overall business goals and objectives. This helps reduce the risk of making costly mistakes and ensures they make decisions with long-term success in mind.

Attracts investors and secures funding

Investors and lenders often require a business plan before considering investing in your business. A document that outlines the company's goals, objectives, and financial forecasts can help instill confidence in potential investors and lenders.

A well-written business plan demonstrates that you have thoroughly thought through your business idea and have a solid plan for success.

Identifies potential challenges and risks

A business plan requires entrepreneurs to consider potential challenges and risks that could impact their business. For example:

Is there enough demand for my product or service?

Will I have enough capital to start my business?

Is the market oversaturated with too many competitors?

What will happen if my marketing strategy is ineffective?

By identifying these potential challenges, entrepreneurs can develop strategies to mitigate risks and overcome challenges. This can reduce the likelihood of costly mistakes and ensure the business is well-positioned to take on any challenges.

Provides a basis for measuring success

A business plan serves as a framework for measuring success by providing clear goals and financial projections . Entrepreneurs can regularly refer to the original business plan as a benchmark to measure progress. By comparing the current business position to initial forecasts, business owners can answer questions such as:

Are we where we want to be at this point?

Did we achieve our goals?

If not, why not, and what do we need to do?

After assessing whether the business is meeting its objectives or falling short, business owners can adjust their strategies as needed.

How to make a business plan step by step

The steps below will guide you through the process of creating a business plan and what key components you need to include.

1. Create an executive summary

Start with a brief overview of your entire plan. The executive summary should cover your business plan's main points and key takeaways.

Keep your executive summary concise and clear with the Executive Summary Template . The simple design helps readers understand the crux of your business plan without reading the entire document.

2. Write your company description

Provide a detailed explanation of your company. Include information on what your company does, the mission statement, and your vision for the future.

Provide additional background information on the history of your company, the founders, and any notable achievements or milestones.

3. Conduct a market analysis

Conduct an in-depth analysis of your industry, competitors, and target market. This is best done with a SWOT analysis to identify your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Next, identify your target market's needs, demographics, and behaviors.

Use the Competitive Analysis Template to brainstorm answers to simple questions like:

What does the current market look like?

Who are your competitors?

What are they offering?

What will give you a competitive advantage?

Who is your target market?

What are they looking for and why?

How will your product or service satisfy a need?

These questions should give you valuable insights into the current market and where your business stands.

4. Describe your products and services

Provide detailed information about your products and services. This includes pricing information, product features, and any unique selling points.

Use the Product/Market Fit Template to explain how your products meet the needs of your target market. Describe what sets them apart from the competition.

5. Design a marketing and sales strategy

Outline how you plan to promote and sell your products. Your marketing strategy and sales strategy should include information about your:

Pricing strategy

Advertising and promotional tactics

Sales channels

The Go to Market Strategy Template is a great way to visually map how you plan to launch your product or service in a new or existing market.

6. Determine budget and financial projections

Document detailed information on your business’ finances. Describe the current financial position of the company and how you expect the finances to play out.

Some details to include in this section are:

Startup costs

Revenue projections

Profit and loss statement

Funding you have received or plan to receive

Strategy for raising funds

7. Set the organization and management structure

Define how your company is structured and who will be responsible for each aspect of the business. Use the Business Organizational Chart Template to visually map the company’s teams, roles, and hierarchy.

As well as the organization and management structure, discuss the legal structure of your business. Clarify whether your business is a corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship, or LLC.

8. Make an action plan

At this point in your business plan, you’ve described what you’re aiming for. But how are you going to get there? The Action Plan Template describes the following steps to move your business plan forward. Outline the next steps you plan to take to bring your business plan to fruition.

Types of business plans

Several types of business plans cater to different purposes and stages of a company's lifecycle. Here are some of the most common types of business plans.

Startup business plan

A startup business plan is typically an entrepreneur's first business plan. This document helps entrepreneurs articulate their business idea when starting a new business.

Not sure how to make a business plan for a startup? It’s pretty similar to a regular business plan, except the primary purpose of a startup business plan is to convince investors to provide funding for the business. A startup business plan also outlines the potential target market, product/service offering, marketing plan, and financial projections.

Strategic business plan

A strategic business plan is a long-term plan that outlines a company's overall strategy, objectives, and tactics. This type of strategic plan focuses on the big picture and helps business owners set goals and priorities and measure progress.

The primary purpose of a strategic business plan is to provide direction and guidance to the company's management team and stakeholders. The plan typically covers a period of three to five years.

Operational business plan

An operational business plan is a detailed document that outlines the day-to-day operations of a business. It focuses on the specific activities and processes required to run the business, such as:

Organizational structure

Staffing plan

Production plan

Quality control

Inventory management

Supply chain

The primary purpose of an operational business plan is to ensure that the business runs efficiently and effectively. It helps business owners manage their resources, track their performance, and identify areas for improvement.

Growth-business plan

A growth-business plan is a strategic plan that outlines how a company plans to expand its business. It helps business owners identify new market opportunities and increase revenue and profitability. The primary purpose of a growth-business plan is to provide a roadmap for the company's expansion and growth.

The 3 Horizons of Growth Template is a great tool to identify new areas of growth. This framework categorizes growth opportunities into three categories: Horizon 1 (core business), Horizon 2 (emerging business), and Horizon 3 (potential business).

One-page business plan

A one-page business plan is a condensed version of a full business plan that focuses on the most critical aspects of a business. It’s a great tool for entrepreneurs who want to quickly communicate their business idea to potential investors, partners, or employees.

A one-page business plan typically includes sections such as business concept, value proposition, revenue streams, and cost structure.

Best practices for how to make a good business plan

Here are some additional tips for creating a business plan:

Use a template

A template can help you organize your thoughts and effectively communicate your business ideas and strategies. Starting with a template can also save you time and effort when formatting your plan.

Miro’s extensive library of customizable templates includes all the necessary sections for a comprehensive business plan. With our templates, you can confidently present your business plans to stakeholders and investors.

Be practical

Avoid overestimating revenue projections or underestimating expenses. Your business plan should be grounded in practical realities like your budget, resources, and capabilities.

Be specific

Provide as much detail as possible in your business plan. A specific plan is easier to execute because it provides clear guidance on what needs to be done and how. Without specific details, your plan may be too broad or vague, making it difficult to know where to start or how to measure success.

Be thorough with your research

Conduct thorough research to fully understand the market, your competitors, and your target audience . By conducting thorough research, you can identify potential risks and challenges your business may face and develop strategies to mitigate them.

Get input from others

It can be easy to become overly focused on your vision and ideas, leading to tunnel vision and a lack of objectivity. By seeking input from others, you can identify potential opportunities you may have overlooked.

Review and revise regularly

A business plan is a living document. You should update it regularly to reflect market, industry, and business changes. Set aside time for regular reviews and revisions to ensure your plan remains relevant and effective.

Create a winning business plan to chart your path to success

Starting or growing a business can be challenging, but it doesn't have to be. Whether you're a seasoned entrepreneur or just starting, a well-written business plan can make or break your business’ success.

The purpose of a business plan is more than just to secure funding and attract investors. It also serves as a roadmap for achieving your business goals and realizing your vision. With the right mindset, tools, and strategies, you can develop a visually appealing, persuasive business plan.

Ready to make an effective business plan that works for you? Check out our library of ready-made strategy and planning templates and chart your path to success.

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What is a business roadmap and how to create one with examples

If you’re working in the world of software development, then you’ve almost certainly heard of a product roadmap — the document that helps communicate the direction and progress of the product to internal teams and external stakeholders.

A product roadmap shows what high-level features will be delivered and roughly in what order and timeframe. It also facilitates communication with different groups about what is likely to happen and when without giving too much detail on how it’s being done.

This vision supports the organization in developing a product. Just as importantly, it ensures that all parties are aware of the product direction so they can adjust activities based on this summary of features.

However, although you might have seen a product roadmap , not every organization has a business roadmap. What is this document, what does it include, and how do you know if you even need a business roadmap?

What is a business roadmap?

As with a product roadmap, a business roadmap is designed to facilitate communication to various stakeholder groups on the direction of the business and plan of action to achieve business goals.

The business roadmap is a high-level visualization of objectives the organization hopes to achieve and in what order. It’s effectively a representation of the proverbial big picture.

A business roadmap should give the organization and everyone in it a general outline of short- to medium-term business goals. This allows relevant stakeholders to make appropriate business decisions that support the delivery of items in the roadmap .

Business plan vs. business roadmap

I know what you’re thinking: isn’t a business roadmap just a business plan ? The short answer is no.

The fundamental difference between a business plan and a business roadmap boils down to the granularity of detail. A business roadmap is a much higher-level overview than a business plan, which is more precise and thorough.

For example:

• A business roadmap might say that in Q1 of this year, we’re looking to expand the sales team in Europe
• A business plan might say that in Q1 of this year, we plan to hire two people in France at a cost of $100,000, two people in Germany at a cost of $100,000, and a European sales manager at the cost of $100,000. These people will all need sales materials, phones, etc.

This variation in depth means that anyone looking at a business roadmap will know what the outcomes are going to be but not specifically how the business intends to get there. Someone reading a business plan should understand the individual steps the business plans to take along the journey.

Here’s an example of what a business plan looks like:

An example of a business roadmap

When you dive deeper into a business plan, you’ll also see that it covers aspects such as market analysis, sales and marketing plans , equipment requirements, and detailed financials. This provides a full, detailed view of how the business plans to operate over the short-to-medium term, which you can’t get from a business roadmap.

It’s more “We’ll have moved into a new office” rather than “We’ll be paying X for rent, and Y for new office equipment, and Z for the redirection of the post…”

How to create a business roadmap

When creating a business roadmap, it’s important to consider that, despite the relatively high level at which they present future activities, they do take a considerable amount of effort to produce.

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As with any roadmap , there’s a need to understand inputs and priorities from across the organization and bring these together into one coherent vision. This means taking the following steps:

Develop business objectives

Identify business capabilities, identify business limitations, identify activities that facilitate the objectives, develop an outline roadmap.

Start at the beginning: what are you looking to achieve?

Your objectives should be self-contained, achievable goals that are clear for everyone across the organization to understand.

In the example business roadmap described above, the first line of the roadmap looks at the high-level primary objectives for the business — e.g., launching the business in new markets (Europe, the United States, and Canada) and moving the UK office.

From these objectives, the various functions across the business can determine their own individual milestones along the journey toward success.

Once you’ve established your objectives, the next step is to determine what is already in place to help you achieve them.

Ask yourself questions such as:

• What exists within current structures that supports your goal?
• Are there teams capable of achieving them?
• Do they have the knowledge required to succeed?
• Do they have enough funds?
• What tools are available to use in pursuit of the objectives?

The other side of business capabilities is business limitations:

• What doesn’t exist within the current organization that is needed to support your goals?
• What key skills are your teams missing?
• Where are new sources of financing required to move toward your objectives?

The final area to consider is what activities need to occur to achieve your objectives. For example:

• What specific tasks must the team complete to drive user behavior?
• What actions are requires to resolve or compensate for any limitations identified in the previous step?

Once this process is completed, activities designed to drive the business toward its objectives commence. It becomes necessary to group these tasks into some form of sequential order. That’s where the business roadmap comes in.

Let’s look at an example. If, in Q2, we’re planning to achieve X, which of our activities across our different business areas need to happen in Q1 and Q2 to reach that point? These are the building blocks of our business roadmap.

Each block represents an achievable milestone for that business area, clearly defining what they are looking to achieve at that point in time.

Common mistakes to avoid

If you’re new to business roadmaps, you’re bound to stumble here and there the first time you try to create one. It takes practice.

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However, some common mistakes businesses make include:

Not clearly defining business goals

Setting too many goals, setting unrealistic timelines, not getting business or customer validation.

Without a clear, overarching business vision, it’s impossible to dive down into the various business areas and set departmental milestones. An unclear objective leads to a muddying of activities and a lack of focus when moving forward.

It’s tempting to think you can get through huge amounts of work when looking at the long time periods considered in a business roadmap. However, because business goals are usually quite large in scale, the number of activities you can realistically achieve is relatively small.

Too many goals leads to frustration because your team will never be able to deliver on what they set out to achieve.

Unrealistic timelines make the invalid assumption that you can get through more activities than you think we can.

A roadmap is a high-level visualization of your milestones, but a roadmap entry is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the work required to deliver on those goals. Sometimes big things take time.

What’s the point of creating a roadmap if everyone isn’t onboard with it? There’s no value in creating a beautiful-looking roadmap if, as soon as you get into month one, someone holds up their hand and asks, “Why aren’t we doing X?”

An example business roadmap (template)

If we look at our example business roadmap as described above, one of the business objectives in Q3 is to launch our service in the US. This primary goal for the business will drive the business roadmap entries for our various business areas.

Sales needs to understand what our capabilities currently are in the US and what might restrict us from achieving this objective. Then, it must develop some departmental goals that help the business move toward its overall objectives. This will leave us with some roadmap entries such as:

• Hiring a new sales team in Q2
• Launching the service in Q3

Finance needs to understand the company formation and financial reporting rules within the US, as well as how the launch will be funded, which will lead to roadmap entries such as:

• Form a US company
• Secure US operational funding

Operations need to determine what we need to complete to support US recruitment and obtain an office, equipment, materials, etc. Roadmap entries directed at the operations team might include things like:

• Hire a North American team
• Source North American IT equipment

Business roadmap template

To access a full version of the business roadmap example described above, follow this link . If you’d like to use it as a template when creating your own business roadmap, click the link to download the file and, from the menu at the top of the spreadsheet, select File > Make a copy .

Start with your business roadmap

Although there is a considerable amount of effort that goes into creating a business roadmap, this document is essential in supporting the successful operation of a business.

The vision provided by a well-written roadmap gives focus and support to the entire organization and ensures that all areas of the business are driving toward the same destination.

At the end of the day, that’s what we want: a route to success.

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What is a Business Roadmap?

Product roadmaps? Old hat. Project roadmaps? Yeah, those make sense. Business roadmaps? Never heard of them.

That’s not an uncommon starting point. Roadmaps aren’t traditionally associated with more general “business” topics. But if you circle back to the concept of what is a roadmaps in general, it makes sense.

You’ve got goals and objectives, and multiple steps to get there. How are we going to make this happen? The question is where a business roadmap can create alignment by visually explaining how everything will come together to make that vision become a reality.

Most businesses start with a business plan. The business plan is often used to secure funding from banks or investors. This plan will identify opportunities and provide a market analysis of the current players and solutions addressing these opportunities.

The plan then points out how the company can attack this opportunity in a novel way. From there, it will delve into the details of the execution. It may also touch on the management team before getting into the financials.

Business plans are dense, text-heavy documents. Aside from some charts and graphs to hammer points home, they’re not particularly visual. They’re also often pretty light on the execution phase of things.

But here is where business roadmaps can shine. They complement the business plan while bringing it to life. The business plan itself doesn’t provide much specific direction. The roadmap blows out what needs to happen when it needs to happen and who needs to do it.

With a business roadmap, it becomes crystal clear how various roles, tasks, and responsibilities come together. Best of all, it’s available at a glance and easily updated, versus having to sift through pages of text or the minutiae of project plans.

Unlike product roadmaps—where dates are discouraged—they’re an essential aspect of a business roadmap. Business roadmaps are all about the logistics. Whereas, prroduct roadmaps tend to disconnect those from the vision and goals of a product .

When well constructed with thoughtful and thorough consideration, a roadmap lays out everything required to turn a business plan into reality. Stakeholders and individual contributors alike can get the full picture.

It shows the siloed activities of different departments in the context of the larger plan. The knock-on effects of any delays or disruptions are visible.

Beyond the Business Plan

Not every business roadmap needs to encompass the entirety of a company. They can map out more discrete topics, as well.

Businesses must deal with transformational activities throughout their existence. Business roadmaps can help those processes run more smoothly and build consensus within the organization.

For example, sometimes, businesses must make a significant change. This could be a change in the business model, a shift in underlying technology or suppliers, or a new go-to-market strategy. These types of undertakings involve lots of moving pieces and multiple departments. A roadmap is an excellent tool for indicating who’s on the hook for what and when.

Businesses can also benefit from a roadmap when they’re looking to add new capabilities. It could be creating a new business unit, debuting a new offering, or adding support for new platforms and partners. Once again, many teams involved, lots of dependencies, it’s a great candidate for a business roadmap.

Architectural and IT initiatives are also perfect for roadmaps, as are other strategic endeavors such as research projects, new sales initiatives, and compliance projects.

Key Ingredients in a Business Roadmap

Business roadmaps are only useful if they’re intelligible to the audience. To ease consumption, make sure they include these aspects as a baseline.

Breakdown by organizational department:

Showing what each part of the company is working on is helpful for a few reasons. First and foremost, the visual presentation of what’s on each group’s plate might surface resourcing issues. That could result in reshuffling some priorities or reassigning tasks.

It also helps the other groups in the company understand what their colleagues are working on. No more “we’re slaving away while they’re eating bon-bons” theories when it’s all laid out for everyone to see. Plus, the additional visibility builds in more accountability. Everyone knows what they’re expected to deliver and why.

State the purpose of each activity:

Spelling out what everyone’s working on is great. Still, it’s more useful when there’s an understanding of why that task is being performed at all. By putting each activity into a category identifying its purpose, business roadmap consumers get some extra context.

Tying each activity back to a strategic goal is a great way to do this. And if each activity is color-coded by a strategic goal, it’s a quick indication of the equal weight of effort or resources on one or two during particular periods of time.

Milestones:

We typically think of milestones on a roadmap as software releases or new versions of the product. But on a business roadmap, a milestone can represent any accomplishment or key event.

It could be hitting a revenue target, a trade show or industry event, a strategic partnership, an important meeting, launching in a new region. Anything that’s a noteworthy result of the combined efforts of the teams involved. Milestones add even more context, and potentially a bit of urgency, to the roadmap.

Tips for Creating a Compelling Business Roadmap

While business roadmaps are a different beast than product roadmaps, some basic principles still apply.

Step 1: Vision, strategy, and goals

Business roadmaps are execution-focused and will likely include more specificity than an ideal product roadmap. But they’re still intended to paint a picture. There’s a vision of where you want to be, a strategy on how to get there, and goals along the way.

While the vision, in this case, is probably not a finished product, employing similar conventions regarding what makes a great roadmap is still valid. All the tasks included in a business roadmap should represent the incremental steps required to turn that vision into reality according to the strategy laid out in the business plan.

Step 2: Tell a story

We’ve mentioned many times how important it is for roadmaps to be narrative and for their creators to be storytellers . This belief holds true for business roadmaps, as well.

There’s a problem to solve and a state of being for the business to achieve. There are chronological steps that various parts of the organization must take to get there. The business roadmap can paint that picture. It can show how each bit of progress builds on the next to complete the story.

Step 3: Employ themes

Another hallmark of a great roadmap is using themes to group things together. While a business roadmap may require more concurrent activity than a typical product roadmap, themes still have a role to play.

For a business roadmap, themes might be more along the lines of “setting the stage for transformation,” “updating critical systems,” “going to market,” or “engaging channel partners.” Themes further solidify the context of each task and bundling them accordingly.

Step 4: Clear outcomes for each item

Uncharted Territory

Now you know what is a business roadmap. Business roadmaps might be new to your organization (or to you). Still, they’re a powerful tool for consolidating a lot of information into an easy-to-digest, highly visible format. If you’re ready to explore how simple it can be to align your organization with a business roadmap, check out this template and see for yourself!

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How To Start Writing A Business Plan That Works

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For the entrepreneur, knowing how to start writing a business plan can be as exhilarating as it is overwhelming. The business plan is a foundational document and the blueprint of your business and is critical for securing funding, setting clear goals, and communicating your vision to the world.

Let’s explore the significance of a business plan, the essential elements it should include, and strategies to forge a plan that resonates with stakeholders and steers your business toward success.

Whether you are about to launch your first business or need to revitalize an existing business strategy, a business plan provides the foundation that supports your entrepreneurial journey.

Why a Business Plan Is Needed

A business plan is not solely for the benefit of a bank manager or an investor . The business plan is a document that helps bring clarity to your vision and can guide every decision and strategy within your company.

A well written business plan forces you to put your goals and ideas into concrete, manageable steps. It cuts through the noise, ensuring you stay focused on what truly matters for your business’s growth.

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For startups looking to secure that critical initial investment, a business plan is often the first point of reference for potential backers. It’s a chance to sell your vision, show your financial acumen, and demonstrate a roadmap to profit.

Identifying potential pitfalls early is a vital aspect of proactive business ownership. A good business plan helps you prepare for the unexpected and develop strategies to mitigate risk and safeguard the longevity of your business.

Setting clear, measurable goals in your business plan provides a framework for tracking your progress. This will give you the insight needed to pivot or double down on strategies as the market dictates.

Creating Your Story

Before you start drafting sections and compiling data, step back and consider the story of your business. Your plan should be like a good book, with a clear narrative arc that compels the reader from the first sentence to the last.

Any good story is rooted in an understanding of the world it inhabits. Your business's narrative begins with a comprehensive analysis of the industry in which you operate, as well as the consumers you aim to serve.

Think about how you define your unique selling proposition (USP) . What sets your business apart from competitors? All good stories have a unique twist, and your business plan should articulate what makes your venture different from, and better than, the competition.

Introduce your team into the story. Highlight their expertise, experience, and any relevant achievements that lend credibility to the business’s ability to execute on its vision.

Writing Your Business Plan Is Just the Beginning

A business plan can span from a quick roadmap sketched on the back of a napkin to a hefty document carefully crafted to align with industry standards. Regardless of size, it should contain certain fundamental elements .

The act of writing a business plan, while pivotal, is just the first step in an ongoing process of refinement and execution.

Here’s how to make sure your business plan is a living document:

1. Regular reviews and updates

Markets shift, consumer behavior changes, and your business will grow. Your plan must evolve with these factors, which makes regular reviews and updates a must-do.

2. Be realistic

It’s essential to be both ambitious and realistic in your plan. Don’t over-inflate projections or underestimate costs. An unrealistic plan is as unattractive to investors as a lack of vision and ambition.

3. Seek professional input

Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Experienced business advisors, accountants, and mentors can provide invaluable feedback and spot issues you may have missed.

4. Start small

Your first draft doesn’t have to be perfect. Write down your initial thoughts, outline your ideas, and refine them over time. Starting with a large plan can be intimidating but working on it gradually can be a more manageable and effective approach.

The bottom line is that writing a business plan can feel overwhelming, but with the right approach and attention to detail, you can create a document that not only articulates your vision but actively works to make that vision a reality. It’s a living, breathing narrative that outlines your business’s course of action, and should be treated with care and enthusiasm.

Melissa Houston, CPA is the author of Cash Confident: An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Creating a Profitable Business . She is the founder of She Means Profit, which is a podcast and blog . As a Finance Strategist for small business owners, Melissa helps successful business owners increase their profit margins so that they keep more money in their pocket and increase their net worth.

The opinions expressed in this article are not intended to replace any professional or expert accounting and/or tax advice whatsoever.

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7 Business Roadmap Examples To Hit Your Goals

You might have heard of roadmaps before—they’re great for planning, communicating, and aligning organizations on key initiatives and strategies. 

But, without the right tools, creating a comprehensive roadmap from your existing strategy and planning documents can take time and effort (and a lot of head-banging). And the human factor means that you’ll inevitably have to deal with inaccuracies and manual updating.

In this article, we’ll give you seven business roadmap examples and templates to get you started on the right foot with your roadmap planning.

We'll also cover the benefits business roadmaps can offer your organization and show you how to build one in 5 easy steps. 

Here’s what we’re going to cover:

• What Is A Business Roadmap? 

Business Roadmap Example

More business roadmap examples and roadmap templates.

• How Do You Create A Business Roadmap?
• Create And Track Your Roadmap With Cascade 🚀  

What Is A Business Roadmap?

A business roadmap is a visual strategic planning tool that presents a company’s strategies, strategic and operational objectives, and action plans in a Gantt chart. 

Business roadmaps serve as a guide, illustrating your business plan from the present to your envisioned success. They provide a holistic view of the organization's business goals across different departments and can be crucial for communicating big-picture initiatives to stakeholders.

They can also help you:

• Keep everyone focused on critical strategic initiatives .
• Encourage cross-functional collaboration by breaking down silos.
• Monitor critical milestones, dependencies between projects, and bottlenecks in your business strategy.
• Identify underperforming areas and risks so you can decide your next move before it’s too late.  

This Business Roadmap Template is a solid foundation to build a business roadmap from scratch. 

It comes prefilled with examples including: 

• Focus areas: The main strategic priorities that you and your teams will be working on. 
• Strategic objectives: The outcomes you want to achieve. 
• Projects: A group of actions to be executed to achieve the desired outcome.
• KPIs: Metrics that will help you measure your progress toward objectives. 

With this template, you can turn your business plan into a comprehensive strategic roadmap that can guide your strategic decisions and efficiently communicate the necessary steps, people involved, and timelines to stakeholders.

💡 Best for: Business owners, entrepreneurs, or leaders who want a solid template to create roadmaps in their business and strategic planning process.

👉 Click here to get your FREE Business Roadmap Template.

💪 Tips to customize your roadmap in Cascade:

1. Get your template and sign up to Cascade for free. The template will be automatically added to your workspace. 

2. Customize your template with your organization’s goals, business objectives, and KPIs.

3. Switch to the Timeline view to visualize your strategic plan as a Gantt-style roadmap.

4. Make adjustments and track progress to keep your business roadmap updated.

5. Bring your team on board to collaborate on your roadmap and ensure everyone is working toward the same outcomes. 

Looking for something more specific? Here are our top picks for other types of business roadmaps you can use to ensure you’re moving forward toward your goals. Each template comes pre-filled with examples and has the key elements of an effective business roadmap. 

Strategy Roadmap

A strategy roadmap helps streamline the strategic planning process, providing a clear and concise guide that helps organizations accomplish their strategic goals effectively. 

Try our Strategy Roadmap Template if you’d like to create a strategic roadmap for your business. It has all the features you’ll need to plan and visualize your business's long-term goals.

💡 Best for: C-level professionals, business managers, and team leaders who want to take a more strategic approach to planning and goal-setting. 

👉 Click here to get your FREE Strategy Roadmap Template.

Business Development Roadmap

A business development roadmap helps to guide your business as it expands and evolves. It assists leadership teams or even sales teams in setting clear overall goals and outlines the strategies needed to win in the long term. 

Our Business Development Roadmap Template is ideal for those looking to develop and execute a strategic growth strategy that is comprehensive but easy to communicate. Use it to clarify your organization's growth objectives, pinpoint opportunities, and craft a strategic approach to make the most of them.

Plus, with Cascade’s real-time dashboards , strategy reports , and data integrations , you can execute your business development plan all in one place.

💡 Best for: Executives , and business development managers responsible for taking their business's growth and development to a new level. Applicable to organizations of any size.

👉 Click here to get your FREE Business Development Roadmap Template.

Project Roadmap

A project roadmap helps teams articulate project plans, achieve goals, and monitor progress. It should guide project teams, ensuring projects remain on track, within budget, and on schedule.

Use our Project Roadmap Template to help focus your planning efforts and ensure smooth and successful execution. It has everything you need to outline scopes, establish goals and objectives, allocate resources, and plot deliverables on realistic timelines.

💡 Best for: Project teams, project managers, and project portfolio managers who want to streamline project planning, management, and execution.

👉 Click here to get your FREE Project Roadmap Template.

Product Roadmap

A product roadmap is instrumental in product management by simplifying the complex product creation cycles and communicating imperatives in your product development process. 

If you're looking for a comprehensive framework to steer teams through your product strategy, our Product Roadmap Template will start you off on the right foot.

Use it to outline your new product vision, set clear objectives, and pinpoint the necessary actions and resources to reach critical milestones.

💡 Best for: R&D teams, product leaders, and product teams looking to enhance their product development and planning approach.

👉 Click here to get your FREE Product Roadmap Template.

Technology Roadmap

A technology roadmap provides clear paths for organizations to achieve strategic technological goals and stay competitive through ongoing innovation. It’s also crucial for giving context to long-term technology goals that are often hard to communicate.

Using a visual tool like a roadmap can assist CTOs and CIOs in identifying, executing, and monitoring their technology strategies to support business growth and innovation.

Our Technology Roadmap Template is a great starting point for planning your technology strategy and making sure it runs smoothly. With it, you can establish clear objectives, prioritize projects, allocate resources, and set realistic timelines.

💡 Best for: CTOs, CIOs, and IT leaders planning their technology strategy.

👉 Click here to get your FREE Technology Roadmap Template.

Marketing Roadmap

Marketing roadmaps help you outline key marketing goals, KPIs, and projects. They can also help maintain a clear project direction and timeline and keep teams focused on results.

If you want to build your marketing roadmap, our Marketing Strategy Roadmap Template offers a comprehensive framework to start with your own. Use it to streamline your marketing planning with a comprehensive framework to guide your team through goal setting, objective identification, and action planning.

With this template, you’ll be able to craft a world-class strategic marketing plan that your organization understands and buys into.

💡 Best for: CMOs, team leads, and marketing professionals who want to build a solid marketing roadmap to drive effective marketing campaigns for their business.

👉 Click here to get your FREE Marketing Roadmap Template.

The Benefits Of A Business Roadmap

A business roadmap or any other type of roadmap tool can make a big difference in your planning and execution. Here are the key benefits business roadmaps offer:

• Improved prioritization: Business roadmaps can help identify and prioritize the most impactful actions. This approach ensures that high-priority initiatives receive attention, driving growth and progress more efficiently.
• Increased transparency: For a plan to be successful, you need buy-in at every level. By visually displaying objectives, initiatives, and progress, a business roadmap opens up your strategy to stakeholders. This, in turn, can help build trust, shared ownership, and accountability among team members.
• Confident decision-making: A business roadmap is an instrumental asset for real-time decision-making by providing valuable metrics and context in one place. With them, you get a 4D perspective on performance and quickly identify what is working and where to optimize.
• Greater adaptability: A well-designed business roadmap allows organizations to respond effectively to market, industry, or internal changes. With all data in one place, you get better visibility into how your business performs at every level. This helps you make the right decisions at the right time. 
• Focused execution: Strategic roadmaps bring structure and simplicity to building strategies by breaking them down into high-level objectives, business metrics , and a series of initiatives, milestones, and programs that are executable and trackable. This drives ownership among those responsible for the execution and business outcomes.

How Do You Create A Business Roadmap? 

If you grabbed one of the templates above , then you’re already halfway there. You just need to adjust the pre-filled “dummy data” to make them your own. Click on any element (like focus area, objective, or KPI) and edit away!

If you want to build a custom roadmap from scratch and truly tailor it to your organization's needs , then follow this five-step approach below.

💡Tip: You can use the same step-by-step process if you want to build your roadmap in manual tools like Excel. However, using Cascade offers additional free benefits such as drag-and-drop dashboards and data integrations to automate your performance tracking in one place.  

1. Create your objectives for each focus area

Start by defining your focus areas , which are high-level categories that group your objectives. For example, you might choose Operational Efficiency as one of your focus areas. 

Then, outline short-term and long-term objectives for each focus area, focusing on specific, measurable, and achievable goals. 

💡A key thing to remember: Less is better. Focus on your most critical strategic objectives . This will set the tone for strategic decision-making and ensure everyone is on the same page.

2. Add KPIs to measure performance

Key performance indicators (KPIs) are crucial for tracking progress, evaluating the effectiveness of initiatives, and informing data-driven decision-making. 

In Cascade, you can add KPI to each objective. Define KPIs that are relevant and aligned with your objectives. These will help you monitor progress, identify potential problems, and act before it’s too late. 

3. Assign initiatives and responsibilities 

Successful execution requires action and ownership. In Cascade’s Planner , you can assign key initiatives and projects under each objective. 

This functionality will allow you to co-create project and action plans with your team members and ensure you clearly understand capacities and possible constraints ahead of time. You can also add owners and collaborators to each initiative and KPI to ensure accountability across your organization.

4. Define milestones and a timeline

Milestones and timeframes help set realistic expectations and keep the organization on track. They are also crucial for prioritizing different initiatives in your strategy and ensuring your plan aligns with the company’s broader strategic initiatives .

Establish milestones that mark significant progress and create a timeline to visualize the expected completion of each initiative. 

In Cascade , you can switch to the Timeline View to get a roadmap view of your strategy, planning, and execution. This feature makes it easy to identify which projects are on track and where you need to course-correct.

5. Execute and track progress 

With Cascade, maintaining momentum in your strategy execution couldn't be easier. Use real-time dashboards to track critical metrics and create regular strategy reports to communicate priorities, inform decision-making, and keep everyone moving in the right direction.

Create And Track Your Roadmap With Cascade 🚀 

If you want to get the most out of your strategy, roadmaps are a great addition to your toolkit. 

But creating a roadmap with outdated tools and disconnected platforms is an uphill battle. Don't let multiple spreadsheets, siloed information, and static tools hold you back. You risk running your operations blindfolded and too slow to recognize and seize the opportunity. 

“Cascade provides a readily accessible platform for hosting our strategy and enables us to generate live updates at the push of a button. It has increased transparency and accountability for our strategic priorities and has allowed us to remove silo working and improve alignment. The real game changer from my perspective is the reporting function. Cascade has turned a labor-intensive manual process into something which can be completed in minutes.” - Enterprise customer from Construction Industry  (Source: G2 review )

With Cascade, effective strategic planning and strategy execution doesn’t have to be complex or chaotic where everyone works in different directions. We bring clarity to chaos by bringing together all components of successful strategy execution. 

Ready to take Cascade for a spin? 

Sign up today for free , or book a 1:1 product demo with one of Cascade’s in-house strategy experts.

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What Is a Business Roadmap? 6 Key Components for Building a Successful Business Roadmap

By Ally Lodge

A business roadmap is the visual organization of the specific processes and considerations a business must take at each stage of a business plan to achieve its goals. While a business plan defines the steps, a business roadmap provides answers to the questions a company needs to ask along the way in order for each step to be successful.

Also known as a strategic roadmap , business leaders and strategy consultants use business roadmaps to make sure each division of a company is moving in-sync towards the realization of its long-term strategic vision.

Why Is a Business Roadmap Important?

Let’s pretend you’re taking a road trip. The business plan provides the destination and the route you want to take, but is that really the only thing you need to know to ensure you reach your destination? A business roadmap takes into account important logistical considerations: Is your car in good working order? Do you need to get your oil changed before you hit the road? Where will you stop to fill up? Who will take the wheel at the different stages of the trip? Considerations such as these determine that you don’t stall out along the way.

Compared to motor vehicles, businesses have far more moving parts and more potential points of failure. Successful business leaders know that specificity is the key to success .

6 Components of a Successful Business Roadmap

A business roadmap breaks down each stage of a business plan into its granular components:

1. Challenges: What are the biggest problems you’ll potentially face in executing this step? How can you turn this problem into an opportunity?

2. Objectives: What do you need to accomplish at this stage in order to fully address those challenges? Remember, specificity is key.

3. Capabilities: Does your business have the capabilities it needs to successfully accomplish this objective? What capabilities do you need to invest in?

4. Actions: What specific actions do you need to take to solve gaps in your current capabilities?

5. Initiatives: How should these actions be grouped and prioritized? Which actions should be assigned to each team or department?

6. Time Horizon: How should you sequence your initiatives to optimize time, risk, and cost?

Business roadmap tools allow business leaders and strategy consultants to easily plot and prioritize these components within a collaborative visual document, which they can share with stakeholders, departments, and teams.

How Modern Business Roadmap Tools Help Business Leaders Save Time

Creating a business roadmap may seem like a daunting proposition. However, modern business roadmap tools are specifically designed to streamline this process. Features of strategic roadmap tools like Jibility include:

Pre-built roadmap templates: Pre-built capability-based planning and roadmap templates provide a clear outline to help business leaders build and organize their business roadmap without having to start from scratch every time.

Time-saving content libraries: Most business ventures face similar challenges, objectives, and capability-based considerations. Choosing from pre-defined content libraries allow business leaders to quickly lay out the building blocks for their business roadmap.

A 2×2 drag-and-drop prioritization matrix: An interactive matrix allows business leaders to easily organize initiatives according to ROI, risk, and effort.

Cost and benefit estimation: Built in cost estimates for your actions and initiatives gives business leaders and strategy consultants easily trackable business roadmap budget planning.

Visual document sharing and export features: The ability to share and collaborate on a business roadmap, as well as the ability to export the visual document into PDF, image, Excel, or PowerPoint, greatly reduces time costs from strategy to execution.

Extensive security features: Extensive privacy protection and security features help business leaders construct a roadmap while meeting their security requirements.

Business Roadmap Example

Below are visual examples for each phase of building a business roadmap:

Outlining Challenges

Creating Objectives

Linking Capabilities

Assigning Actions to Improve Capabilities

Prioritizing Initiatives

Creating a Business Roadmap

Ready to Start Building Your Business Roadmap?

If you’re ready to bridge the gap from strategy to execution, we invite you to try Jibility – our free strategic business roadmap tool shown in the examples above.

Building a business roadmap with Jibility is fast and thorough, with guidance at each stage to ensure that your decisions and priorities align with your strategic goals.

Get started for free

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• The Importance of a Business Plan: A Roadmap to Success

• Jean R Gunter
• 3.2k Comments

Introduction

Starting and running a successful business requires careful planning and strategic thinking. A well-defined business plan plays a pivotal role in providing entrepreneurs with a clear vision and direction for their venture. It serves as a comprehensive document that outlines the goals, strategies, and financial projections of a business, guiding entrepreneurs in navigating the complexities of the business landscape. Let's explore the various aspects of a business plan and understand its importance in achieving entrepreneurial success.

Defining a Business Plan

A business plan is a formal document that outlines the goals, strategies, and financial projections of a business. It acts as a roadmap, guiding entrepreneurs in making informed decisions and managing their operations effectively. A well-written business plan typically includes an executive summary, company description, market analysis, organizational structure, product or service offerings, marketing and sales strategies, operational plans, and financial projections.

Clarifying Business Goals and Objectives

A crucial aspect of a business plan is clarifying the goals and objectives of the business. By defining clear and measurable goals, entrepreneurs can establish a sense of direction and purpose for their venture. These goals may include revenue targets, market share objectives, customer acquisition goals, or product development milestones. A well-defined business plan helps entrepreneurs align their actions with their long-term objectives, increasing the chances of success.

Identifying Target Market and Competition

A comprehensive market analysis is an integral part of a business plan. It involves identifying the target market and understanding customer needs, preferences, and purchasing behaviors. By conducting thorough market research, entrepreneurs gain valuable insights into the competitive landscape, customer demographics, market trends, and industry dynamics. This information helps them position their products or services effectively and develop strategies to gain a competitive advantage.

Developing Effective Strategies and Tactics

A well-defined business plan enables entrepreneurs to develop effective strategies and tactics to achieve their business goals. Based on the market analysis, entrepreneurs can identify the most viable target segments and tailor their marketing and sales efforts accordingly. The business plan outlines the marketing channels, pricing strategies, promotional activities, and customer acquisition tactics that will be employed to reach the target audience. It also helps entrepreneurs develop operational plans, including supply chain management, production processes, and resource allocation strategies.

Creating a Financial Roadmap

Financial projections are a vital component of a business plan. They provide a detailed outlook on the financial performance of the business, including revenue forecasts, expense projections, profit margins, and cash flow analysis. Financial projections help entrepreneurs assess the feasibility and profitability of their business idea, identify potential funding requirements, and set realistic financial targets. By creating a financial roadmap, entrepreneurs can plan their financial strategies, monitor their progress, and make necessary adjustments to achieve their financial goals.

Guiding Decision-Making and Resource Allocation

A well-defined business plan serves as a guide for decision-making and resource allocation. It provides entrepreneurs with a framework to assess the viability of various opportunities and make informed choices. When faced with critical decisions, entrepreneurs can refer to their business plan to evaluate the alignment of the opportunity with their overall goals and strategies. Additionally, a business plan helps entrepreneurs allocate resources effectively by identifying the key areas that require investment and prioritizing initiatives based on their potential impact on the business's success.

Attracting Investors and Securing Funding

Investors and lenders often require a comprehensive business plan before considering funding a business. A well-crafted business plan demonstrates the entrepreneur's commitment, expertise, and vision, making the venture more attractive to potential investors. It provides detailed financial projections, market analysis, competitive positioning, and growth strategies that instill confidence in investors. By presenting a compelling business plan, entrepreneurs increase their chances of securing funding, whether through loans, venture capital, or angel investments.

Adapting to Changing Business Environment

The business landscape is dynamic, and entrepreneurs need to adapt to changes in the market, industry trends, and customer preferences. A well-defined business plan acts as a flexible tool that can be revised and updated to reflect the evolving business environment. It enables entrepreneurs to monitor their progress, evaluate the effectiveness of their strategies, and make necessary adjustments to stay competitive. Regularly reviewing and updating the business plan ensures that entrepreneurs stay aligned with their goals and seize emerging opportunities.

A well-defined business plan serves as a roadmap to success for entrepreneurs and business owners. It provides clarity, direction, and a comprehensive understanding of the business's objectives, strategies, and financial projections. With a solid business plan in place, entrepreneurs can make informed decisions, allocate resources effectively, attract investors, and adapt to the ever-changing business landscape. By understanding the importance of a business plan and investing time and effort into its development, entrepreneurs can increase their chances of achieving their goals and building successful ventures.

1. What should be included in a business plan? A comprehensive business plan typically includes an executive summary, company description, market analysis, organizational structure, product or service offerings, marketing and sales strategies, operational plans, and financial projections.

2. How can a business plan help in securing funding? A well-crafted business plan provides potential investors or lenders with a detailed understanding of the business's viability, market potential, growth strategies, and financial projections. It instills confidence in investors and increases the chances of securing funding.

3. How often should a business plan be reviewed and updated? A business plan should be regularly reviewed and updated to reflect changes in the market, industry trends, and business performance. It is advisable to review the business plan annually or whenever significant changes or new opportunities arise.

4. Can a business plan help in decision-making? Yes, a business plan serves as a guide for decision-making by providing entrepreneurs with a framework to evaluate opportunities, assess their alignment with business goals, and allocate resources effectively.

5. How does a business plan assist in adapting to the changing business environment? By regularly reviewing and updating the business plan, entrepreneurs can monitor their progress, evaluate the effectiveness of their strategies, and make necessary adjustments to stay competitive and capitalize on emerging opportunities.

Power of choice is untrammelled and when nothing prevents our being able to do what we like best, every pleasure is to be welcomed and every pain avoided. But in certain circumstances and owing to the claims of duty or the obligations of business it will frequently occur that pleasures have to be repudiated and annoyances accepted. The wise man therefore always holds in these matters to this principle of selection.

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A good business plan is a roadmap for success.

Brenda Reau, Michigan State University Extension , MSU Product Center - February 26, 2011

After the “bright idea” the first step to a successful business is a business plan.

A business plan should be a component of any business, but is especially critical for entrepreneurs starting new businesses. It is the roadmap for the business and helps to explain your business in common language. It can also be used as a measuring stick for performance of the business.

A business plan should be in writing. Often, creative entrepreneurs will think they can keep it all in their head. Writing it down encourages rational and critical thinking and makes it easy to share your plan with others. There are many places for entrepreneurs to seek help in writing a business plan, but it should be written by the entrepreneur. Hiring a person to write a business plan for you or “borrowing” one from the Internet is not advisable.

A business plan forces you to take a good look at all aspects of the business. It is a good tool for better and more effective management. It helps to identify opportunities and challenges and focuses attention on important questions.

Your business plan can be used as a feasibility study, a means of identifying priorities and also as a financing proposal.

The business plan should be written before anyone is hired or the first product is made or service rendered. If you think you are too busy trying to launch your business and don’t have time to do the plan the time crunch will only get worse once you launch your business.

A business plan usually starts out with an executive summary. While this is the first component in most business plan formats you should write the executive summary last after you have completed the rest of the business plan. It is a summary, not an introduction. Other components to the plan include a mission statement, goals and objectives, history, industry background, business structure, management, marketing and financial plans.

It sounds like it is a big job and it is! Creating a business plan may take a significant amount of your time but it is well worth it. A well written plan will be a useful tool in creating a roadmap for your business and help you go from a bright idea to a successful enterprise.

The MSU Product Center for Agriculture and Natural Resources provides individual counseling to assist entrepreneurs in developing a business plan. If you are starting a business or developing a product in the area of food, agriculture, natural resources or the bioeconomy the Product Center may be able to assist you. For more information visit the Product Center website .

This article was published by Michigan State University Extension . For more information, visit https://extension.msu.edu . To have a digest of information delivered straight to your email inbox, visit https://extension.msu.edu/newsletters . To contact an expert in your area, visit https://extension.msu.edu/experts , or call 888-MSUE4MI (888-678-3464).

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Creating a Roadmap for Success: How to Use Roadmap Templates

Do you ever feel like you need to start making progress toward your goals? Do you find yourself getting sidetracked and losing focus? If so, a roadmap may be just what you need to get back on track and stay there. In this article, we'll explore the importance of roadmaps, the different types of templates available, and how to choose the right one for your needs. We'll also walk you through the process of creating your roadmap step-by-step, so you can confidently achieve your goals.

Understanding the Importance of Roadmaps

First things first, let's define what we mean by a roadmap. Put, a roadmap visually represents your goals, tasks, and deadlines. It's a tool that helps you plan, prioritize, and track your progress toward achieving your objectives. Roadmaps can be used for various purposes, from managing complex projects to attaining personal goals. Regardless of your specific use case, however, the benefits of using a roadmap are clear:

* Better organization: A roadmap helps you break down your goals into manageable tasks and prioritize them. This makes it easier to stay on track and ensures nothing falls through the cracks.

* Improved communication: By sharing your roadmap with others, you can keep everyone on the same page and avoid misunderstandings or confusion.

* Increased accountability: With a clear roadmap outlining your goals and deadlines, you're more likely to stay motivated and keep pushing forward.

With these benefits in mind, let's dive deeper into the critical elements of a practical roadmap.

What is a Roadmap?

As we've already established, a roadmap visually represents your objectives, tasks, and deadlines. It's a tool for planning, organizing, and tracking progress over time. At its most basic level, a roadmap outlines the steps required to achieve your goals and provides a clear timeline.

Why Use a Roadmap for Success?

There are several reasons why you might choose to use a roadmap as a tool for achieving success:

* Focus: A roadmap helps you stay focused on your goals and avoid distractions.

* Clarity: When your goals are clearly defined and laid out in a roadmap, it's easier to see the big picture and understand where you're headed.

* Accountability: By outlining your tasks and deadlines in a roadmap, you're more likely to stay on track and hold yourself accountable for your progress.

* Collaboration: Sharing a roadmap with others can help align everyone's efforts and ensure you're all working towards the same goals.

For instance, if you plan to launch a new product, you can use a roadmap to lay out the key milestones and tasks that must be completed before the launch date. This can help you stay on track and ensure that everyone involved in the project is aware of their responsibilities and deadlines.

Critical Elements of an Effective Roadmap

While roadmaps can take many different forms and be used for a variety of purposes, there are some common elements that all effective roadmaps share:

* Clear objectives and goals: Your roadmap should clearly define your goals and why. This will help you stay focused and motivated throughout the process.

* Concrete tasks and milestones: You must break down your goals into smaller, more manageable tasks with specific deadlines. This will help you stay organized and ensure that you're making progress toward your objectives.

* Realistic timelines: Your timeline should be realistic and achievable, considering any potential roadblocks or delays. This will help you avoid burnout and ensure you can complete your tasks on time.

* Clear communication: Your roadmap should be easily understood and communicated to others. This will help ensure everyone involved in the project is on the same page and knows what's expected of them.

* Flexibility: Your roadmap should be adaptable and change as your needs evolve. This will help you stay agile and respond to unexpected challenges or opportunities.

Following these essential elements can create a practical roadmap to help you achieve your goals and succeed in your endeavors.

Types of Roadmap Templates

Creating a roadmap is essential to any successful project or business plan. It helps you visualize your goals, identify the steps needed to achieve them, and track your progress. Now that we've covered the importance and critical elements of a roadmap, let's take a deeper look at the different types of templates available:

Project Roadmap Templates

Project roadmap templates are an excellent tool for managing complex projects with multiple tasks and dependencies. They provide a clear overview of the project's goals, timelines, milestones, and task lists. With project roadmap templates, you can easily track progress and update deadlines as needed. These templates are handy for project managers, team leaders, and other professionals who need to keep track of their team's progress.

One of the significant advantages of using project roadmap templates is that they help ensure everyone is on the same page. By providing a clear overview of the project's goals and timelines, team members can easily understand what is expected of them and what they need to do to achieve them. This clarity helps minimize confusion and ensures the project stays on track.

Product Roadmap Templates

Product roadmap templates help you plan and prioritize product development tasks, from ideation to launch. They typically include product features, release dates, user stories, and the ability to track progress and update priorities as needed.

Product roadmap templates are essential for product managers and developers who must keep track of their product development process. With a product roadmap template, you can quickly identify the key features that need to be developed, prioritize them, and track progress toward launch. This helps to ensure that your product development stays on track and that you can deliver a high-quality product on time.

Business Roadmap Templates

Business roadmap templates help you plan and execute strategic initiatives for your business. They typically include goals, KPIs, budgets, timelines, and the ability to track progress and adjust priorities as needed.

Business roadmap templates are an excellent tool for business owners, executives, and managers who must keep track of their company's strategic initiatives. With a business roadmap template, you can quickly identify your company's goals, set KPIs to measure progress, allocate budgets, and track progress toward your goals. This helps to ensure that your company stays on track and that you can achieve your long-term strategic objectives.

Personal Roadmap Templates

Personal roadmap templates are designed to help you achieve your goals, whether related to career, health, or personal growth. They typically include tasks, deadlines, milestones, and the ability to track progress and adjust priorities as needed.

Personal roadmap templates are an excellent tool for anyone who wants to achieve their goals. With a unique roadmap template, you can quickly identify your goals, break them down into manageable tasks, set deadlines, and track your progress toward achieving them. This helps ensure you stay motivated and focused on achieving your goals.

In conclusion, many different types of roadmap templates are available, each designed to help you achieve your specific goals. Whether you're managing a complex project, developing a new product, executing a strategic initiative for your business, or working towards personal growth, a roadmap template can help you to stay on track and achieve your goals.

How to Choose the Right Roadmap Template

Creating a roadmap is essential to any project, initiative, or business plan. It helps you visualize your goals, identify the tasks and milestones required to achieve them, and track your progress. However, with so many different types of roadmap templates available, choosing the right one for your needs can take time.

Assessing Your Goals and Objectives

The first step in choosing a suitable roadmap template is to assess your goals and objectives. What are you trying to achieve? Are you launching a new product, implementing a new process, or expanding your business into new markets? Once you clearly understand your objectives, you can look for a template that aligns with them.

For example, choose a template with a product development timeline, marketing milestones, and sales projections if you're launching a new product. On the other hand, if you're implementing a new process, choose a template that includes workflow diagrams, process maps, and training milestones.

Identifying Your Audience

Another critical factor to consider when choosing a roadmap template is your audience. Who will be using your roadmap? Will it be for personal use, or will you share it with colleagues or stakeholders?

If you share your roadmap with others, you'll want to choose a template that's easy to understand and communicate. Look for a template that includes clear, concise descriptions of tasks and milestones and visual aids like charts, graphs, and diagrams.

Determining the Scope and Timeline

How long do you have to achieve your goals? What's the scope of the project or initiative you're trying to tackle? The scope and timeline of your project or initiative will also play a role in choosing the suitable roadmap template.

If you're working on a short-term project with a narrow scope, choose a template with a detailed timeline with specific milestones and deadlines. On the other hand, if you're working on a long-term initiative with a broader scope, choose a template that includes high-level goals and objectives, with more flexibility for adjusting tasks and milestones as needed.

Evaluating Template Features and Customization Options

Finally, when choosing a roadmap template, you'll want to evaluate the features and customization options available. Look for a template that allows you to add, remove, or modify tasks and milestones as needed. Consider whether the template includes color coding, progress tracking, and collaboration tools.

Consider whether the template is customizable to your brand or company's style. If you present your roadmap to stakeholders or investors, you can customize the template with your company's logo, colors, and branding elements.

Considering these factors, you can choose the suitable roadmap template that meets your needs and helps you achieve your goals.

Creating Your Roadmap Using a Template

Once you've chosen the suitable roadmap template, it's time to start creating your roadmap. Here's a step-by-step guide to the process:

Step 1: Define Your Goals and Milestones

The first step is to define your goals and milestones. What are you trying to achieve, and what are the key milestones?

Step 2: Organize and Prioritize Tasks

Next, you'll want to organize and prioritize your tasks. Break down your goals into smaller, more manageable tasks, then prioritize them based on importance and urgency.

Step 3: Assign Resources and Responsibilities

Who will be responsible for each task? Assign resources and responsibilities to ensure each task gets done on time and to the required standard.

Step 4: Set Deadlines and Timeframes

Once you've assigned roles and responsibilities, it's time to set deadlines and timeframes for each task. Be realistic and take into account any potential roadblocks or delays.

Step 5: Monitor Progress and Update as Needed

Finally, you'll want to monitor progress and update your roadmap. Use your roadmap to track progress, identify potential risks or roadblocks, and adjust priorities as needed.

Creating a roadmap is essential for achieving success in any area of your life, whether personal or professional. By using a roadmap template and following the steps outlined in this article, you can start achieving your goals with confidence, clarity, and focus.

Don't miss out on the opportunity to streamline your product operations and accelerate your business! Table of contents - Establishing Team Goals and Objectives - Defining Product Metrics - How to Optimize Your Product Roadmap - Maintain the Product Tech Stack - How to Scale Product Operations

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What Is a Business Plan?

Understanding business plans, how to write a business plan, common elements of a business plan, how often should a business plan be updated, the bottom line, business plan: what it is, what's included, and how to write one.

Adam Hayes, Ph.D., CFA, is a financial writer with 15+ years Wall Street experience as a derivatives trader. Besides his extensive derivative trading expertise, Adam is an expert in economics and behavioral finance. Adam received his master's in economics from The New School for Social Research and his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in sociology. He is a CFA charterholder as well as holding FINRA Series 7, 55 & 63 licenses. He currently researches and teaches economic sociology and the social studies of finance at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

A business plan is a document that details a company's goals and how it intends to achieve them. Business plans can be of benefit to both startups and well-established companies. For startups, a business plan can be essential for winning over potential lenders and investors. Established businesses can find one useful for staying on track and not losing sight of their goals. This article explains what an effective business plan needs to include and how to write one.

Key Takeaways

• A business plan is a document describing a company's business activities and how it plans to achieve its goals.
• Startup companies use business plans to get off the ground and attract outside investors.
• For established companies, a business plan can help keep the executive team focused on and working toward the company's short- and long-term objectives.
• There is no single format that a business plan must follow, but there are certain key elements that most companies will want to include.

Investopedia / Ryan Oakley

Any new business should have a business plan in place prior to beginning operations. In fact, banks and venture capital firms often want to see a business plan before they'll consider making a loan or providing capital to new businesses.

Even if a business isn't looking to raise additional money, a business plan can help it focus on its goals. A 2017 Harvard Business Review article reported that, "Entrepreneurs who write formal plans are 16% more likely to achieve viability than the otherwise identical nonplanning entrepreneurs."

Ideally, a business plan should be reviewed and updated periodically to reflect any goals that have been achieved or that may have changed. An established business that has decided to move in a new direction might create an entirely new business plan for itself.

There are numerous benefits to creating (and sticking to) a well-conceived business plan. These include being able to think through ideas before investing too much money in them and highlighting any potential obstacles to success. A company might also share its business plan with trusted outsiders to get their objective feedback. In addition, a business plan can help keep a company's executive team on the same page about strategic action items and priorities.

Business plans, even among competitors in the same industry, are rarely identical. However, they often have some of the same basic elements, as we describe below.

While it's a good idea to provide as much detail as necessary, it's also important that a business plan be concise enough to hold a reader's attention to the end.

While there are any number of templates that you can use to write a business plan, it's best to try to avoid producing a generic-looking one. Let your plan reflect the unique personality of your business.

Many business plans use some combination of the sections below, with varying levels of detail, depending on the company.

The length of a business plan can vary greatly from business to business. Regardless, it's best to fit the basic information into a 15- to 25-page document. Other crucial elements that take up a lot of space—such as applications for patents—can be referenced in the main document and attached as appendices.

These are some of the most common elements in many business plans:

• Executive summary: This section introduces the company and includes its mission statement along with relevant information about the company's leadership, employees, operations, and locations.
• Products and services: Here, the company should describe the products and services it offers or plans to introduce. That might include details on pricing, product lifespan, and unique benefits to the consumer. Other factors that could go into this section include production and manufacturing processes, any relevant patents the company may have, as well as proprietary technology . Information about research and development (R&D) can also be included here.
• Market analysis: A company needs to have a good handle on the current state of its industry and the existing competition. This section should explain where the company fits in, what types of customers it plans to target, and how easy or difficult it may be to take market share from incumbents.
• Marketing strategy: This section can describe how the company plans to attract and keep customers, including any anticipated advertising and marketing campaigns. It should also describe the distribution channel or channels it will use to get its products or services to consumers.
• Financial plans and projections: Established businesses can include financial statements, balance sheets, and other relevant financial information. New businesses can provide financial targets and estimates for the first few years. Your plan might also include any funding requests you're making.

The best business plans aren't generic ones created from easily accessed templates. A company should aim to entice readers with a plan that demonstrates its uniqueness and potential for success.

2 Types of Business Plans

Business plans can take many forms, but they are sometimes divided into two basic categories: traditional and lean startup. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) , the traditional business plan is the more common of the two.

• Traditional business plans : These plans tend to be much longer than lean startup plans and contain considerably more detail. As a result they require more work on the part of the business, but they can also be more persuasive (and reassuring) to potential investors.
• Lean startup business plans : These use an abbreviated structure that highlights key elements. These business plans are short—as short as one page—and provide only the most basic detail. If a company wants to use this kind of plan, it should be prepared to provide more detail if an investor or a lender requests it.

Why Do Business Plans Fail?

A business plan is not a surefire recipe for success. The plan may have been unrealistic in its assumptions and projections to begin with. Markets and the overall economy might change in ways that couldn't have been foreseen. A competitor might introduce a revolutionary new product or service. All of this calls for building some flexibility into your plan, so you can pivot to a new course if needed.

How frequently a business plan needs to be revised will depend on the nature of the business. A well-established business might want to review its plan once a year and make changes if necessary. A new or fast-growing business in a fiercely competitive market might want to revise it more often, such as quarterly.

What Does a Lean Startup Business Plan Include?

The lean startup business plan is an option when a company prefers to give a quick explanation of its business. For example, a brand-new company may feel that it doesn't have a lot of information to provide yet.

Sections can include: a value proposition ; the company's major activities and advantages; resources such as staff, intellectual property, and capital; a list of partnerships; customer segments; and revenue sources.

A business plan can be useful to companies of all kinds. But as a company grows and the world around it changes, so too should its business plan. So don't think of your business plan as carved in granite but as a living document designed to evolve with your business.

Harvard Business Review. " Research: Writing a Business Plan Makes Your Startup More Likely to Succeed ."

U.S. Small Business Administration. " Write Your Business Plan ."

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Roadmap for success: how to write a business plan.

Achieving success in today's business environment is an increasing challenge. There are a myriad of pitfalls that can await even the most competent construction company executive-labor issues, supply problems, timely payment, inclement weather and a host of others. How can a construction company owner navigate this climate?

If you were to set off on a long trip, you probably would not think of leaving until you had a set of detailed directions-a roadmap, if you will-of where you were headed, the key points along the way, relative distances and some idea of how long it would take you to get there. The same is true for planning your business journey. You must have a business plan, or roadmap, for your business success.

A Good Business Plan Contains the following:  

•    Executive Summary
•     Table of Contents
•     Company Description
•     Services
•     Market Analysis
•     Marketing Plan
•     Operations Plan
•     Financial Plan  
•     Management
•     Exit Strategies

Executive Summary

Perhaps the single most important part of the business plan, the executive summary, allows the business owner to capture, in a nutshell, the core essence of what his or her business will be. Think of it as the Reader's Digest version of the full business plan.  Understand, too, that it might be all that a credit grantor or potential investor reads before making a decision about meeting with you or investing.

The executive summary should quickly capture the reader's attention and generate excitement. It should focus on the hard facts and should avoid, at all costs, exaggerated optimism or "management speak." The writing of the executive summary, and the entire business plan for that matter, should be void of any words that you wouldn't use when speaking with someone in normal conversation.

Among topics to address in the executive summary are the following:  

•     what type of company it is
•     how it will differ from competitors
•     what products/services it will offer the market
•     the size of the market and amount of that market share to be captured
•     who the management team is and a brief highlight of their qualifications
•     how the company will be capitalized
•     what that initial or additional capitalization will be used for
•     what goals the company hopes to achieve

If a strong summary is written, the remainder of the business plan will be relatively easy to flesh out by using the summary as an outline and providing more details for each relevant section.  

Table of Contents

Once you've mapped out your executive summary, you can then lay out the table of contents for your business plan. The table of contents is exactly what its title implies says:  an outline of the various sections and their corresponding page numbers. The table of contents should be designed in such a way that someone reviewing your plan can readily access any section with ease.

Most likely, you will probably spend a good deal of time editing and revising your business plan. Once it has been finalized, it is always a good idea to go back and double-check that the sections and pages numbers of your table of contents are still correct.  

Company Description

The Company description is your chance to impress the reader with what will make your business different. Here you highlight the key accomplishments and history of your business to date, how it was started, significant milestones, sales growth, evolution and plans for the future. If your company is a start-up, explain what your vision is for the company and how you hope to achieve it. Another thing to consider in the company description is how you will perform the work. Will you participate in joint venture projects frequently with strategic partners, or will you perform most work yourself? Similarly, to what extent will you rely on subcontractors? These decisions can significantly change the dynamics of both your business and your plans.

This section should also include your company's mission statement. People are often confused about the distinction between a vision and mission statement and often interchange the two. In essence, the mission statement should explain in clear terms what the company is all about and what it does for customers and employees. Here is one example of a contracting company's mission statement: We aim to be a developer's first choice for the building of commercial office plazas in the metro area; to provide our employees with a career offering highly competitive pay, job security and ability to advance with unlimited potential.

A vision statement takes more of an inward focus. It describes what the company aspires to be for its owners and employees. It encompasses your long-term goals for the company and outlines specifics you hope to achieve. For example, Acme Contracting is one of the most profitable construction companies in the metro area, with more than 100 employees, dozens of major projects in progress, a value of $50 plus million and a profit margin of 17 percent.

If you find that over time you achieve what you outlined in your vision statement, congratulations, you've reached a milestone of success and are ready to take your company to another level.  

Here you should specifically describe what your company will do. What services will your firm provide? Will you try to do all things for all people (not recommended), or will you focus in on a relatively narrow niche? Try to explain how you will provide your service in a way that is unique.

If your service is routine, there will be many companies offering comparable services to the consumer. The difference from one company to the next is how that service is delivered. Is there a process you have for scoping out the job and ordering the materials that allows you to be more timely, on average, than your competitors? Do you have a foreman or project manager who is very people-oriented and speaks with the customer in a very friendly, down-to-earth way so that they are comfortable with what is going on? Or, you may have a design team that can value engineer a project to the point where it saves the client money, while still making money for your company. These are all facets that could differentiate your company.

It is vital to clearly outline your services because your business plan must serve as your guide. When a job comes up that doesn't clearly fit in with the services you outline in your business plan, that's when you make a strategic decision not to pursue the work. Perhaps the job would involve too large a risk of capital or too big a commitment of your resources. The payoff could be huge, but the risk does not fit in with the profile of your business. This allows you to focus specifically on the type of work that matches your strategy.  

Market Analysis

The next section of your business plan involves a reasonable amount of research. The Internet, various industry trade publications and word-of-mouth can be your most valuable assets. A market analysis allows you to express to the reader that you have an understanding of the competitive landscape, the market dynamics in play, trends in the market, market growth, barriers to entry, etc.

This research will help you formulate a case for why your company will truly be successful. You may identify that there is sub par competition for contractors that do mid-sized, high-end, private projects, which happen to be your niche. Or, you may unearth information that the city you plan to operate in is going to initiate a bidding process for various projects involving your company's projected specialty.  

Marketing Plan

Following your market analysis, you should address your marketing plan. This is your approach to getting your company out in front of potential customers in the marketplace. Your marketing plan should be specifically targeted to match the services you plan to offer your intended audience. For example, if you are focusing on concrete jobs for smaller residential projects, there would be little point to being involved in a large, regional builders association. Similarly, if you plan to market your services exclusively to major developers in your region, advertising in your local newspaper, while helpful for building your brand, likely would not be very effective in reaching your true customers.

As with any service-based business, you will likely find networking and word-of-mouth to be among your best vehicles for marketing your business. Your market analysis should have discovered where the players in your industry currently reside. Get involved in the business groups where builders and developers meet. Join a committee and become active. In time, you may have an opportunity to sit on the board of a local or regional construction group. Some of your best prospects may come directly from these groups.

Perhaps the group has a monthly newsletter or magazine which could be an excellent vehicle to advertise your firm and your services. Maybe you can take advantage of a public relations opportunity and write an article for the publication based on your expertise, or share a success story about how you helped a client. All of these exercises will put your company and its services in front of potential prospects. With the right mix of activities, and a little persistence, the marketplace will come to know your company and what you have to offer.  

Operations Plan

This section examines the particulars of how your company will operate to deliver your completed projects. Operations plans are centered on an organization's policies and procedures. A written policies and procedures manual is essential for a company's growth and will enhance an organization's efficiency.

During large growth phases of any company, new employees are constantly being hired or new design teams are coming on board. Invariably, everyone thinks their way is the best way of doing things. Unfortunately this will lead to inefficiencies, and worst of all, mistakes. Any business owner knows mistakes cost money-how much it costs will be dictated by the magnitude of the error and how long it goes undetected. Policies and procedures will dictate how a company bids a job and obtains pricing, procures subcontractors, orders materials, hires employees, transports equipment to jobsites (whether owned or leased), and ultimately, how bills get paid and how the company gets paid.  

The key to the enforcement of any policy and procedure is the tone set by management, with zero tolerance for deviation. Operations plans can be tweaked as you grow or change the focus of your business. New employees often bring fresh ideas and diverse ways of carrying out your plans. Alternative methods may be superior to your current system of operations. All policy changes should be implemented globally by the organization, while proper training and implementation schedules are the keys to their success.  

Financial Plan

The financial part of the business plan comes toward the end of the planning process, once all the great ideas and concepts have been mapped out. This piece is critical to the overall success of the business and for obtaining necessary credit arrangements to establish and sustain funding the business. The financial plan is often the area where contractors need the most assistance.

For many contractors, the analysis of capital requirements and funding sources requires consulting with trusted business advisors who specialize in the construction industry, specifically your CPA, a bank lender and possibly a surety. If your plan includes establishing a bonding program, you need to determine what type of program you need and if you have enough capital to support this program.

Two key questions that must be asked at this stage are: How much money is necessary to initiate operations and sustain the business until it becomes self-sufficient? Where is this money coming from? If you do not personally have the amount of capital required, other sources could include friends and family, taking in a working partner, a silent partner or outside equity financing.

It is critical that you establish a working capital line of credit with a bank to support the delay of collections of requisitions. Interrupting your business in its early stages to locate additional capital will create a serious roadblock to your success.

Another pair of key components to the financial plan are financial projections and budgets. These will serve as the landmarks on your road to business success. A full set of projections includes balance sheets, income statements and cash flow schedules.

Part of your business plan should include the form of business entity that will own this business. All forms (corporations, partnerships, limited liability companies) have their advantages and disadvantages. It is important to determine the best form for your business.  

The management structure in a business plan is usually made up of four key positions, and depending on the size of the company, the responsibilities of the positions may be spread over three or less people. Ultimately, when a company reaches certain plateaus, the four key upper management people are the chief executive officer (CEO), chief operating officer (COO), chief financial officer (CFO) and the executive in charge of business development, or for our purposes, the chief sales officer (CSO).

In the early stages of a company's life, the CEO may fill all of these positions. This person is usually the owner of the company, the entrepreneur if you will, and this individual will make all key business decisions. A business plan that is well thought-out will take many of these responsibilities away from the CEO. The CEO's responsibility is to specifically carry out the elements of the plan. He or she is the one "steering" the ship and holds all the other executives and management accountable for the company's performance.

The COO is responsible for making sure the operations plan is being followed. He or she is the enforcer of policy and the individual to go to when something is not getting done.  In a construction company, this individual monitors project teams and evaluates and measures their performance. If a project begins to fall behind schedule, a good COO can identify this and put corrective action plans in place to put it back on schedule or negotiate change orders for time and money.

The CFO is the person in charge of the company's finances. This person monitors the financial plan and reports the company's financial performance to the CEO. The CFO must act as the sanity check for operations and must have constant communication with the COO. A good CFO should be able to report potential operational issues before they become a problem. Timely monthly financial monitoring of projects is essential to sound financial risk management. There are countless organizations out there that claim they conduct monthly reporting; the problem is that many are looking at monthly reports that are four months old. The problems that are discovered have now festered for three more months, and mitigating risk or financial loss may now be compromised. The bottom-line is that upper management must have constant communication with one another and with the personnel in charge, or the business plan will fail.  

Exit Strategies

This section of the plan essentially outlines how the owners "cash out". It does not necessarily mean retirement, but it is the first step towards a retirement plan. Many closely held businesses and their owners accumulate a large net worth over time.  Unfortunately, this is not like employees socking away money in the company profit sharing plan. A business owner does not have the ability to just close up shop. If this is the plan in place, it will be a long, drawn out process that will erode a great deal of accumulated wealth. Other business owners will say, "My plan is to sell the business."  That is a great strategy, but if you don't have a buyer in place when you want to exit the business, you may never be able to retire.

While there are many continuity and succession strategies for closely held businesses, the most common we see is the sale, or "gifting" to the next generation of the family. More thought needs to be used when forming these plans. A plan that one day "junior" will take over will only work if "junior" is qualified to run the business. When dealing with succession and continuity in small businesses, ownership and leadership are often placed in the same category. Owners need to look at who brought the company to its current level of success. Most business owners will find that their upper management team raised the company to its current status. The exit strategy plan should set up both the succession and continuity components. As people are identified for key management roles, incentives should be established in order to retain them. You need full buy-in from your management team and an open line of communication to establish your plan. Whether the company is sold to a third party, the employees or the next generation, the success of the exit strategy will depend on retaining talent.

Over the years, the most successful construction business owners that we have worked with have developed formal, well-defined business plans and have implemented measurement systems that monitor their plan's progress.  They use their business plan as a "roadmap" because it contains detailed goals, responsibilities, and pre-defined end results.  Their plans are refined periodically to reflect changes related to the economy or new opportunities.  More importantly, everyone within the organization understands their individual goals and the goals of the company.  With the right "roadmap" in place, your business can be on the road to even greater success.

Construction Business Owner , January 2007

Richard E. Gavin, CPA, CCIFP and William E. Fischer, CPA are partners in the construction practice of GRASSI & CO. CPAs and Success Consultants® based in Lake Success, NY.  They are active in a variety of construction industry trade and business groups and have lectured and written extensively about construction accounting and other business topics. They can be reached at:  516.256.3500

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The complete guide to building effective roadmaps (with examples and templates)

Remember the time you tried to assemble that IKEA shelf without the manual? Neither do we. That’s because we know the value of a good guide. And in the world of product management, that guide is our beloved product roadmap . 

A product roadmap is like your North Star in the vast universe of product development. It’s a visual representation of your product’s direction, priorities, and progress over time.

We’re going to focus on product roadmaps in this article. But, we’ll discuss and show examples of other roadmap types, too.

We’ll also explain how to build and use a roadmap. These principles apply to many types of roadmaps, not just the product ones. We’ll also explore product roadmap software that makes managing roadmaps a breeze.

Let’s dive deep into the world of roadmaps and break it all down.

Why do you need a roadmap?

Here are a few reasons to start building a product roadmap.

• Strategic alignment

It ensures everyone’s paddling in the same direction.

• Sales teams won’t promise some features that PMs aren’t even aware of
• Marketing won’t build campaigns for features that aren’t in the works
• Design won’t create wireframes for low-priority features

You get the idea.

• Stakeholder communication

A roadmap is like a translator between you and your key stakeholders. There will always be people who want certain features shipped yesterday. How can you effectively communicate your current priorities? With a product roadmap, of course!

•  Resource planning

Knowing what you’re building will help determine which resources you need. You’ll also know when you need them, in what quantities, and how crucial they are. Planning simplifies everything! If you plan properly, you won’t end up with too many or too few resources.

Now that we know why roadmaps are so crucial, let’s talk about who’s involved.

Who should create the roadmap?

Navigating the vast seas of product development requires a clear map and a skilled crew. For example:

Product managers (PMs)

That’s us! The captains of the ship. As a product manager or a product owner, you’re at the heart of the product’s journey. You understand the product vision, the users, and the market. Your role is to ensure that the product’s direction aligns with the business goals and user needs. You’re setting the course, deciding which ports (features) to visit, and ensuring the crew (development team) knows the route.

Project managers

The vigilant navigators. While a PM sets the course, a project manager ensures smooth sailing. They have a keen eye on the timeline, resources, and potential obstacles. Project management helps us avoid hitting icebergs or getting caught in storms. We call them “unexpected challenges”. 

Project managers work closely with the product team to ensure the roadmap is feasible. They also help coordinate the division of work and see projects to completion.

You might not have a large team yet. In this case, you likely have someone else in charge of the roadmap. If you’re operating a startup, founders likely own the roadmap. If you’re a startup founder trying to navigate the world of roadmaps, you’re in the right place!

Similar to the point above, sometimes other team members manage the roadmap before a dedicated product owner comes on board. Engineers and product developers have deep insights into the inner workings of the product. So they’re well suited to manage the product roadmap.

C-level executives

They are the admirals looking at the bigger picture. They might not be involved in the day-to-day plotting of the course, but their vision is still crucial. They have a bird’s-eye view of the entire fleet (company). They also ensure that our ship (product) aligns with the broader fleet’s direction. They get insights from market trends, company and product strategy, and financial factors. These insights can significantly impact the roadmap’s primary goals.

While the product manager might be the primary cartographer of the roadmap, it’s a collaborative effort. Each role brings a unique perspective, ensuring that the roadmap is not only visionary, but also grounded in reality. After all, a map is only as good as the team that uses it!

Speaking of roadmap users – let’s discuss them next.

Who uses the roadmap?

Don’t let your product roadmap become another file lost in your Google Drive! It’s a living, breathing guide that serves multiple audiences. So encourage people to use it! Let’s explore who can benefit from this invaluable tool.

• Internal team

Why? So the devs don’t go rogue on you.

Internal teams are the engine room of our product ship. This includes developers, designers, and QA testers. They turn the roadmap’s vision into reality. And they all need a holistic view of where the product is headed. It helps them understand the context of their tasks.

They also learn the priority of new features. Plus, they discover the interdependencies between different components. This clarity reduces the chances of misalignment or “wildcard” features that haven’t been accounted for. It’s like giving them a compass to make sure they’re always sailing in the right direction.

• External stakeholders

Why? To keep them in the loop.

External stakeholders include investors, partners, and board members. They might not be involved in the daily grind but are still vested in the product’s success.

The roadmap is a snapshot of the product’s strategy, progress, and future direction. By sharing it with them, we’re fostering trust, setting expectations, and ensuring they’re always informed. It’s like sending them a postcard from our journey, letting them know we’re on the right track.

These stakeholders care where their money is going. If they have a way to always check in on your progress, they’ll have much more trust in you. Raising more funds will get easier!

Why? Transparency is the best policy.

In some industries, especially in the SaaS world, companies choose to share their roadmaps with their customers . When done right, this strategy can foster trust and set realistic expectations. This also creates an open communication stream. Customers can send you valuable feedback for future improvements.

They also appreciate being in the know. A public roadmap can make them feel valued and heard. It’s like inviting them on the journey with us, ensuring they know where we’re headed and why.

Curious to see how PMs build in public? Here are some of the best public roadmap examples .

Let’s talk about other types of roadmaps now.

Other types of roadmaps

Up until now, we’ve been focused on product roadmaps. There are also other types of roadmaps that you might find useful.

While product roadmaps are our bread and butter, the concept of roadmapping extends to various domains. Each type serves a unique purpose, catering to different audiences and objectives. Let’s delve deeper into these diverse roadmaps.

Technology roadmap

Purpose : navigate your tech projects

A technology roadmap shows the company’s plan to use new technology. This document helps the company connect its technology needs to its business goals. Your tech roadmap should align with your product roadmap. It lays the foundation your product is built on. 

For the tech team, it’s like having a crystal ball that predicts the future of technology within the organization. Here’s what it might look like:

Software development roadmap

Purpose : “When’s the next update?”

This roadmap is tailored for software products. It details the upcoming features, improvements, and releases. It’s a timeline of developers’ work and when users can expect updates. It’s like a product release calendar, ensuring everyone knows when the next software “season” premieres.

Some companies use their product roadmaps as a software development roadmap. If your roadmap is focused just on engineering, it’s likely a software development roadmap. If it includes other team members (designers, product marketers, etc), it’s a product roadmap. However, the lines may blur.

Here’s what a software roadmap might look like.

Business roadmaps

Purpose : zoom out to the bigger picture

This roadmap shows the company’s strategic plans, goals, and priorities at a high level.  It brings different departments together to work towards the same goals.  Think of it as the company’s strategic blueprint.

Here’s an example of a business roadmap:

“Business” is a broad term. You can also separate a few other roadmaps.

Marketing roadmap

Purpose : to spread the word about your products

This roadmap shows the plans for marketing and promoting products or services. It’s the game plan for brand visibility, ensuring the right message reaches the right audience at the right time.

A product can be exceptional, but you need users to make it profitable. That’s why outlining your marketing initiatives is so crucial.

When your product is complex, it’s easy to get confused while trying to promote it.

A marketing roadmap can help. Here’s an example of a marketing roadmap.

Let’s explore more roadmaps to help you stay organized.

Innovation roadmap

Purpose: “What’s the next big thing?”

An innovation roadmap is all about staying ahead of the curve. It charts future innovations and R&D initiatives.

 It’s hard to plan for innovation. But you can keep track of industry trends, watch the competition, and allow yourself to dream. 

Blue Ocean strategy is a popular framework for innovation. It focuses on finding untapped markets and hidden opportunities within them.

“In blue oceans, demand is created rather than fought over. There is ample opportunity for growth that is both profitable and rapid.” W. Chan Kim , professor of strategy and management at INSEAD

To create an innovation roadmap, take your business roadmap as an example. Narrow it down only to innovative ideas that could help you break through the noise.

Innovative ideas can be groundbreaking for your business.

Project roadmap

Purpose : break down complex projects

This roadmap breaks down tasks, milestones, and deadlines. It’s the project manager’s bible, ensuring every task is on track and stakeholders are informed.

Some projects are straightforward. But, managing your product becomes tougher as it matures and gets more complex. That’s where a project roadmap can really help.

Here’s an example of a sample project roadmap.

Customer journey roadmap

Purpose : try on your customer’s shoes.

This visual representation maps out the customer’s experience with your product. You’ll know where to take your product next when you lay out the whole journey from awareness to advocacy.

It’s almost a brand empathy tool. It helps you experience the product the way your users do. Only then can you understand and cater to your customers’ needs at every touchpoint.

There are a few different ways to lay out your customer journey roadmap. Here’s one of them.

Policy/regulatory roadmap

Purpose : navigating the legal jungle.

This roadmap is great for industries with significant regulatory oversight. It outlines the necessary steps to achieve compliance. It’s the company’s legal guide, ensuring they stay on the right side of the law.

Educational/learning roadmap

Purpose : help you study effectively

This roadmap is tailored for learners. It outlines learning objectives, modules, and progression. This student’s guide ensures they know what to learn, when, and why.

Let’s say you’re studying product management. There’s so much to learn! Also, because this field is relatively new, there’s no single tried and tested learning path. There are so many options to choose from:

• Traditional classes in colleges and universities
• Online courses
• Bootcamps and crash courses
• And much more

A learning roadmap can really help you get organized. You’ll know exactly:

• What you want to learn
• Where you need to start
• In what order you should approach the subject
• Where you can find the necessary information
• How to set and stick to deadlines
• How to set and measure learning outcomes
• And more

This will set you up for a successful career in product management. And speaking of careers…

Career roadmap

Purpose : climbing the corporate ladder one step at a time

This personal development tool outlines the steps, skills, and milestones you need to achieve career goals. It’s the professional’s compass that can guide you through your career journey.

Every day new jobs pop up. Do you want to become a chief automations officer? Or maybe a gamification marketing expert?

You need a plan. And a career roadmap can help you get there.

With proper research, you can get your dream job or even create a new role for yourself.

While the format might differ, the core principle of roadmaps remains the same. They aim to provide clarity, direction, and alignment. Whether you’re a tech guru, marketer, or student, there’s a roadmap tailored to your journey.

Let’s talk about actually creating roadmaps.

How to create a roadmap

Before you start, remember: it’s not about cramming everything in. It’s about prioritizing what truly matters.

We’re going to focus on product roadmaps in this article. Many of the principles apply to other types of roadmaps too.

There are several things you want to include in your roadmap to make it functional and useful.

What to include

User feedback.

Your users are the lifeblood of your product. Their feedback provides invaluable insights into what’s working, what’s not, and what’s missing. When you incorporate customer feedback, your product will evolve in a way that appeals to its audience. 

When your users can see your roadmap, they feel included in your product journey. They’ll know that their voice matters, and their ideas actually come to fruition.

A product feature is a tangible enhancement or addition to your product. Features are promises of value, solving specific user problems or needs. Clearly listing them ensures everyone knows what’s on the horizon .

Some features will come from ideas and requests from your users. Others will be a result of your research and brainstorming. And all these features should take the most prominent place on your roadmap.

We know: you don’t want to include bug reports in your roadmap. But…you should still have a place where you indicate the bugs you’re fixing.

This may seem daunting – announcing to the world that you have issues in your product. But who doesn’t?

If you’re transparent about having and fixing bugs, your users will trust you more. Admitting that you aren’t perfect but committed to improving is a very effective strategy.

Prioritization criteria

Not all features or ideas are created equal. To make sure the most important things get attention, we need clear criteria for prioritizing. This helps balance urgency and impact when allocating resources. 

There are numerous ways to prioritize your features . At Canny, we use the weighted score model. And everyone who uses Canny can customize the weighted scoring formula to suit their needs. Here’s how we use it.

We took the factors that mattered the most to us and assigned a score to each of them (up to 100%). For example, we weigh more urgent items (priority) higher than design readiness.

We add these factors to our prioritization formula in Canny. It then scores ideas for us and tells us what the biggest priority should be. From there, it’s easy to add the winning ideas to the product roadmap and get to work.

Explicitly stating the priority level helps everyone know what to do first and what can wait. This goes beyond just the prioritization criteria we discussed above.

Vote counts can indicate the demand or popularity of a feature, ensuring user needs are front and center. This is especially true for user-driven roadmaps.

You can use votes as one of your prioritization factors.

Assigning ownership ensures accountability. It shows who is in charge of a task or feature, clarifying roles and responsibilities. 

Displaying ownership publicly helps align all your teams. 

Deadlines provide a timeframe for delivery. They set expectations and ensure timely progress, keeping the momentum going.

Clearly visible deadlines help with accountability.

Keeping track of the status of each task or feature provides a real-time snapshot of progress. It helps in managing resources and setting stakeholder expectations.

Estimating how much work a task needs helps assign resources and set realistic deadlines.

Part of building your roadmap is understanding how many resources you have. You also need to clarify what tasks the team can accomplish in a given time with that set of resources.

Milestones are significant achievements or phases in the product’s journey. They provide checkpoints to gauge progress and celebrate successes, keeping the team motivated.

You can showcase your milestones through statuses or changelog entries (when a new feature is shipped).

Here’s how statuses work in Canny.

Here’s how AgencyAnalytics uses Canny’s changelog to share their important milestones.

As mentioned above, this is a very long list. So avoid including everything just for the sake of it. Rather, review this as a list of potential ideas and pick the ones that make the most sense to your organization. Focus on items that help you achieve your OKRs and boost your KPIs.

What not to include

If an item doesn’t add value, clarity, or align with the product’s direction, it’s best left out. Overloading a roadmap can dilute its purpose and make it overwhelming.

For example, if your company isn’t public, you don’t want to share any financials on your public roadmap.

If you have a low-impact feature request that you likely won’t get to, also don’t include it on your roadmap. This will set the wrong expectations.

Building a roadmap from scratch feels like a lot of work. That’s why we created our free roadmap templates !

If you’re looking for a more sophisticated roadmap tool that can help you automate this process, keep reading.

Roadmap tools 

Canny offers a streamlined approach to roadmapping. Our product roadmap tool pulls in user feedback and helps you prioritize each idea in one platform. It’s like having a GPS for your product journey, ensuring you’re always on the right path.

There are other roadmap tools out there. Many aren’t designed for roadmaps, but can be adapted. For example, companies like SocialBee use Trello for their roadmap. 

We’ve gathered the best public roadmap examples here – take a look! Drawing inspiration from successful examples can give you new ideas.

Now that you’ve built a roadmap, let’s discuss how to use it.

How to use the product roadmap

An effective product roadmap relies on its implementation. It’s not just about creating it, but also about driving alignment, decision-making, and progress. Let’s delve deeper into how to make the most of your roadmap.

• Communicate its value

It’s more than just a pretty visual. A roadmap is a strategic document that outlines a product’s vision, direction, and priorities. It is crucial to communicate its importance to all stakeholders, from developers to executives. So make sure everyone knows its purpose: to set expectations, clarify, and guide decisions. Refer to it frequently in meetings, presentations, and discussions to reinforce its importance.

Invite your users to review your roadmap if it is public . You should also provide them with the opportunity to submit ideas.

• Stick to it

It can be tempting to pursue every new idea or piece of feedback. Still, try to follow the plans you initially outlined in the roadmap. After all, you prioritized those ideas for a reason. This sets a direction and provides a sense of stability. And that’s the whole point of a roadmap!

You still need to strike a balance between consistency and adaptability, though. Your product plan can change due to market shifts, user feedback, or technological advancements. Being too rigid can lead to missed opportunities or misalignment with current needs.

Our advice: use your best judgment. Try not to get too distracted, but also be ready to pivot.

• Adjust as needed

The roadmap shouldn’t be set in stone. You may need to make changes as you collect more information, get feedback, or face unexpected obstacles.

Review your roadmap regularly. This way it’ll remain relevant and aligned with the product goal and market realities. Your roadmap will also evolve with the product, always pointing toward maximum value and impact.

A product roadmap is both a guide and a communication tool. Use it, reiterate its value, and stay consistent but flexible. And remember to make necessary adjustments. That’s how it can remain a dynamic tool that drives your product towards success.

Build better products with a roadmap

In the end, a roadmap is more than just a table. It’s your vision, strategy, and commitment to your product. So, grab that coffee, roll up your sleeves, and let’s build something amazing together!

Cheers to roadmaps and the clarity they bring! 🚀

Maria Vasserman

Maria loves all things creative – writing, photography, movies and beyond 🎥 When she's not creating content to tell the world about Canny, she's either photographing a wedding, jumping at a rock concert, camping, travelling, snowboarding, or walking her dog 🐕‍🦺

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Last Updated on March 28, 2024

How to Write a Business Plan - Your Roadmap to Success

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What is a business plan and why is it important? A business plan serves as a roadmap for your business venture, including your business objectives, strategies, and operational details. 

In this webinar Jania Bailey, CEO of FranNet, will share her expertise on the key elements of a business plan, why it's important and how to construct a comprehensive business plan.

Key takeaways include:

• Understanding the significance of a business plan
• Exploring essential elements for a business plan
• How does planning for a franchise differ from other businesses
• Identifying stakeholders interested in reviewing your business plan

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