What is a business plan?
A business plan is a written document describing a company’s business model, market opportunity, products or services, target customers, competition, marketing strategy, operations, management team, financial projections and capital requirements. Traditional business plans run 20–40 pages; modern startups often use a Lean Canvas or one-page summary instead.
Investors rarely demand a full business plan today, but founders use the underlying analysis to align internally, prepare for due diligence and inform the pitch deck. Banks and government grant programmes (KOSGEB, TÜBİTAK BiGG in Türkiye) often still require formal business plans.