How Long Should Your Business Plan Be? 

When developing a business plan it is only natural that the size of it is a concern, if it’s too large people just might not really pay attention to it, and is it is too short, it is possible that it doesn’t have enough details and it doesn’t cover everything that it should.

Business Plan Size May Be Important? 

However, when measuring business plan size and length, you should never be oriented by the page number it had, because it really may not provide a lot of information.

For example, if we have a business plan with 15 pages that has absolutely no images, no graphics, this business plan might still be a lot more detailed oriented than a 30 page business plan filled up with irrelevant images and graphics attempting to illustrate what it does not explain.

A plan should actually be measured by the summarization in it about what your business is about.

The business plan size may or may not be as important as you think.  Your business plan should include all of the elements that are needed to explain what your business is about.

Readability Is the Key, Not Necessarily Business Plan Size

A good business plan must get the point across even if the reader doesn’t take the time to study it completely. What I mean is, the read should be about to look at the headlines and have a general idea about your business plan is about.   

If a reader simply skims through the business plan in around 15 minutes, he should be able to understand what it is all about (of course he won’t know a lot of details or how to execute it). Illustrations and headings make a big difference in this, as readability is a key factor.

Business Plan Size Will Differentiate From Company To Company

Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t understand this, and end up using the page count as a way to measure a business plan size. In this context, taking into account that people will just look at the page count for measurement, an internal business plan should be at least 5 pages long, but if it is 10 pages long it would be a lot better. But then again, business plans for the big boys (large companies) go over the three digit count when it comes to the number of pages.

The normal business plan size for expansion and development of a company that goes through the whole staff should usually be around 30-50 pages long with easy to read text, bullet points, headings and illustrated charts. Financial details, if possible, should be included into the business plan.

Business Plan Size and Length Depends On Its Purpose

As a final note, take into account that the length of a business plan really depends on its purpose and the nature of the business itself.

There are a lot of things that sometimes need to be included, and that sometimes don’t - such as descriptions of the team and the management for outsiders, drawings and blueprints and investment proposals.

There were a few business plan contests out there that had some renown, and in them, finalists never really had less than 20 pages, but never really exceeded 50 pages as well – this without counting drawings and blueprints in the amount of pages they had.