PHY435 theme 2 guide
You are tasked with planning a new product for the UK market. You have access to a £10m seed investment
fund that is targeting innovative UK products. The fund is looking to make a number of investments in a
variety of different UK start up companies. Products that are manufactured in the UK will get priority.
This guide is a business planning template that must be completed and used as evidence during a business
pitch that will be made to one of three funding panels. Success at the panel will depend on a combination of
the material communicated in the pitch and in this plan. Pitches will last 5 minutes.
https://www.gov.uk/starting-up-a-business
Business Plan for:
Date:
Completed by (Student No.):
(You can use this template in conjunction with the guide Prepare a business plan, where you will find information
about how to use your business plan as well as instructions on how to use this template)
Business plan contents
Executive summary ............................................................................................................................................ 2
Vision.................................................................................................................................................................. 2
1 Market research .............................................................................................................................................. 3
2 Profiling customers ......................................................................................................................................... 4
3 Profiling competitors ...................................................................................................................................... 5
4 Managing market risks .................................................................................................................................... 6
5 Pricing.............................................................................................................................................................. 7
6 Promotion and advertising ............................................................................................................................. 8
7 Staff ................................................................................................................................................................. 9
8 Premises ........................................................................................................................................................ 10
9 Suppliers ........................................................................................................................................................ 11
10 Equipment ................................................................................................................................................... 12
11 Finance (start up; ...................................................................................................................................... 13
Page 1
Executive summary
You need to provide a concise but evidenced paragraph summarising the business plan, the market, competitors and the
risks. Information you provide in sections 1-11 will support this summary. You need to state how much money you will
need from the investment fund to realise your vision.
Vision
You need to explain the key idea behind the business. You also need to explain what makes your idea unique or different
compared with the competition and how you expect to grow the business.
Page 2
Sales and marketing evidence
1 Market research
Trends in your chosen market are: (Use as many fields as is applicable and add more if you need
to.)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
How you know this: (Use as many fields as is applicable and add more if you need to.)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Page 3
2 Profiling customers
The customer groups you will be selling to are: (Use as many fields as is applicable and add
more if you need to.)
1.
2.
3.
Your customer research has shown what your customers want is: (Use as many fields as
is applicable and add more if you need to.)
1.
2.
3.
How you know this: (Use as many fields as is applicable and add more if you need to.)
1.
2.
3.
Number of customers you expect to win in each group and what they might pay:
(Use as many fields as is applicable and add more rows if you need to.)
Group
Number of
customers
Price they might
pay per unit
£
£
£
Page 4
3 Profiling competitors
Use as many fields as is applicable in the table below and add more rows if you need to.
Competitor name

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Strengths
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Weaknesses

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How you can improve on their offer and/or price(s): (Use as many fields as is applicable
and add more if you need to.)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Page 5
4 Managing risks
Write down the risks you have identified: (Use as many fields as is applicable and add more if
you need to. You may have financial risks and market risks and manufacturing risks)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
How will you manage these risks so that they become less of a threat: (Use as many
fields as is applicable and add more if you need to.)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Page 6
5 Pricing
How you can calculate your prices: (Use as many fields as is applicable and add more if you
need to.)



How your prices compare with the competition: (Use as many fields as is applicable in the
table below and add more rows if you need to.)
Product/service
Your price(s)
£
£
£
£
£
£
£
Range of competitor
prices (per unit)
£
£
£
£
£
£
£
Reasons for the difference between your price(s) and your competitors’ price(s):



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6 Promotion and advertising
How and where will you promote your product/service? (Use as many fields as is
applicable and add more if you need to.)





Page 8
Running the business
7 Staff
Use as many fields as is applicable in the table below and add more rows if you need to.
Role





Total cost
£
£
£
£
£
Necessary
experience





Specialist skills and/or
qualifications

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

Page 9
8 Premises
Cost £
Premises required at start-up:
Premises required in the future (if different):
£
£
Page 10
9 Suppliers
Your key suppliers: (Use as many fields as is applicable and add more rows if you need to.)
Supplier
What you’ll buy from them
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
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10 Equipment
Use as many fields as is applicable and add more rows if you need to.
Resource
When
How funded
Cost £ per unit



£
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
£

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
£
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£
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£
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£
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£
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£
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11 Finance
Click on the links below to access a range of Microsoft Excel work sheets to input your figures.
Please note that all tables can be customised and additional rows and categories can be added.
11.1 Start-up costs Calculate how much money you need before you start trading (This helps you to
calculate the costs of starting your new business.)
Download the start up costs table in Microsoft Excel format (XLS, 44 KB)
11.2 Profit and loss forecast (Use the tabs within the Microsoft Excel work sheet to view the
second year and third year forecast templates. The profit and loss forecast is more detailed at the start
because you should have a clearer idea of your profit and loss expectations.)
Please note:

The cost of buying stock and materials should be included as a direct cost

Other indirect (overhead) costs are detailed in the excel sheet.

Gross and net profits (or losses) are calculated from revenues and costs.

Please ignore VAT for these initial costings
Download the profit and loss forecast table in Microsoft Excel format (XLS, 61 KB)
11.3 Total borrowing requirement for the business (This helps you to understand how
much money you will need to find in order to close the gap between your start-up costs as well as the
costs of operating before your business will make a profit, and the money that you have available to put
into the business yourself.)
Download the sourcing finance table in Microsoft Excel format (XLS, 46 KB)
Copy these spreadsheets into this box as evidence of financial planning.
This document has been adapted from material available at www.businesslink.gov.uk and https://www.gov.uk/startingup-a-business
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