Business Plans


Your coworking space business plan reflects who you and your team are, your goals, the conditions in which you will have to work to reach them and the plan you have to make it happen.

A business plan is great to have when working with a team as you will put everyhting about your idea, your environment and the steps to be taken further on paper, and it is also usually necessary when looking for funding or when your coworking space is a new business in your area and you need to convince other about the viability of your model. In these cases the business plan will be more formal and it is a good idea to make a long term plan of 3 to 5 years, and include an exit strategy (what happens if everything fails?). 

A business plan is always recommended. If you plan to find investors for a space a business plan is a no brainer as you won't get far without one.  For people bootstrapping a space, as with any business startup, it's still highly recommended.  A business plan is your road map to a successful coworking space. And I hope by now you understand that "successful" is not the same as "profitable". 

The business plan can be as formal or informal as you'd like (depending on who you'll be showing it to), but it definitely should include certain information.  Whole books have been written about writing business plans so that will not be discussed here.  Though, several spaces have released their business plan to the public and reading them is highly recommended.  Business Plan search in the Coworking Google Group.

 

Typical Structure

A business plan does not have a set structure, and neither a set length, but some common elements to include are:

 

Examples

 

 

 

Links