Business Plan Pro 2004

Rating:
Summary: Business Plan Pro-Better than a sharp stick in the eye.
Review: Business Plan Pro is better than a sharp stick in the eye, but not much better. That 5 star review sounds like it was written by a corporate shill. Let me tell you about BP Pro

Business Plan Pro is a half-fast program. It has some of the functionality of Excel but doesn't allow linking between worksheets. It has some of the functionality of Word, but you can't remove a row once you have inserted a heading. For example, if you decide that you don't need a "Personal Assistant" you still have a row in the personel spreadsheet that has to be edited later. The formula backtracker is cumbersome, it takes you back to the precedents, but doesn't have a return feature. These are only but a few of the many built-in aggrievations. Everytime you try and get some detail, it refers you to the Premier edition which costs $250. That's insulting.

If you are starting a business for the first time, my advice is to sign up for a night course on business plans and use the software they give you.

Rating:
Summary: Why reinvent the wheel?
Review: I do business plans for others, I do several dozen every year, usually working with clients. What I like about Business Plan Pro is that we don't have to reinvent the mathematics and finance behind correct financials, and we don't worry about the mechanics, so we concentrate on the ideas of the business plan, which is far more important.

I also like the flexibility, because I don't want business plans to be cookie cutters. I've bought most of their previous versions through the years, and most of their competitors, and this one is much more flexible. You can change the outline easily, which matters a lot. You can also customize the fonts and header styles, or, if you really want to, export to Microsoft Word and customize the whole thing. I rarely use the export, and rarely recommend it, because the point of a business plan is the thinking, and the numbers, not doing complicated page layout. As it is, Business Plan Pro prints it out in a nice business-like format, with the table information and color charts so the banker can read it, essentially very much like what a business plan ought to look like.

I have one client who has worked with the Word integration in this latest version. You can have Word open and Business Plan Pro open at the same time, work in Word, and refresh your tables and go back and forth between Word and Business Plan Pro. I don't think that's worth it for most, the text in Business Plan Pro is fine, but it's there if you want it.

I also like the ability to export to an Adobe Acrobat file, so you can create a file you can send as an attachment to an email, but the recipient can't edit it. We use that a lot.

So what don't I like about Business Plan Pro? I don't like the sample plans. The package includes 400 of them. There's nothing wrong with them, really, but the trouble is that people think they can just use somebody else's sample plan, and that bothers me, although there's nothing in Business Plan Pro that says you have to use a sample plan, they say they are just examples, but . By the time you start with somebody else's sample plan, you have to change your strategy, location, management team, and so much else that its really easier to just use the plan wizard in Business Plan Pro and do your own plan. The software itself gives you a lot of examples and guidance, so I like it better without starting with a sample plan.

As you actually do a business plan, use the wizard. There are instructions for every step, basically tables and texts, so you can just guide yourself through it. The truth is doing a business plan isn't that easy, it gets fairly complex, so the step by step stuff is really valuable.

I have Windows XP and this software works fine on it. I downloaded without problems, it installed fine.

Rating:
Summary: Why reinvent the wheel?
Review: I do business plans for others, I do several dozen every year, usually working with clients. What I like about Business Plan Pro is that we don't have to reinvent the mathematics and finance behind correct financials, and we don't worry about the mechanics, so we concentrate on the ideas of the business plan, which is far more important.

I also like the flexibility, because I don't want business plans to be cookie cutters. I've bought most of their previous versions through the years, and most of their competitors, and this one is much more flexible. You can change the outline easily, which matters a lot. You can also customize the fonts and header styles, or, if you really want to, export to Microsoft Word and customize the whole thing. I rarely use the export, and rarely recommend it, because the point of a business plan is the thinking, and the numbers, not doing complicated page layout. As it is, Business Plan Pro prints it out in a nice business-like format, with the table information and color charts so the banker can read it, essentially very much like what a business plan ought to look like.

I have one client who has worked with the Word integration in this latest version. You can have Word open and Business Plan Pro open at the same time, work in Word, and refresh your tables and go back and forth between Word and Business Plan Pro. I don't think that's worth it for most, the text in Business Plan Pro is fine, but it's there if you want it.

I also like the ability to export to an Adobe Acrobat file, so you can create a file you can send as an attachment to an email, but the recipient can't edit it. We use that a lot.

So what don't I like about Business Plan Pro? I don't like the sample plans. The package includes 400 of them. There's nothing wrong with them, really, but the trouble is that people think they can just use somebody else's sample plan, and that bothers me, although there's nothing in Business Plan Pro that says you have to use a sample plan, they say they are just examples, but . By the time you start with somebody else's sample plan, you have to change your strategy, location, management team, and so much else that its really easier to just use the plan wizard in Business Plan Pro and do your own plan. The software itself gives you a lot of examples and guidance, so I like it better without starting with a sample plan.

As you actually do a business plan, use the wizard. There are instructions for every step, basically tables and texts, so you can just guide yourself through it. The truth is doing a business plan isn't that easy, it gets fairly complex, so the step by step stuff is really valuable.

I have Windows XP and this software works fine on it. I downloaded without problems, it installed fine.

Rating:
Summary: Too Rigid
Review: I find the ideas solid and the package layout is good . It is just too rigid. You have to stay between their lines and if you deviate it becomes an "export, cut and paste thing". You cannot modify within their software. So if you have any customized charts or such like, these need to be store in a seperate file while the text etc. of the business plans is kept in the dedicate Business Plan Pro software.Overall it is not a "bad " product just not as flexible as you would want it.

Rating:
Summary: Too Rigid
Review: I find the ideas solid and the package layout is good . It is just too rigid. You have to stay between their lines and if you deviate it becomes an "export, cut and paste thing". You cannot modify within their software. So if you have any customized charts or such like, these need to be store in a seperate file while the text etc. of the business plans is kept in the dedicate Business Plan Pro software.Overall it is not a "bad " product just not as flexible as you would want it.

Rating:
Summary: This software is excellent!
Review: I had no background in business planning before I started using this business plan pro 2004. I desperately needed to write a good business plan for my startup software company but could not afford the high prices of a business consultant. I picked up Business Plan Pro 2004 and was amazed at how creative and professional this software is. It helps you write your plan with the Wizard, step by step. The numbers make sense in your financial forecasts and they all tie together. This is one of the most effective pieces of software I have encountered to date and I use alot of software. You get everything and more for the low price it sells for. As well, the manual, resources and support Palo Alto offers is outstanding. Very happy! This is a company to emulate.

Rating:
Summary: Great if your 15, bad if your serious.
Review: I will be returning this product! Not worth the box it came in. The examples are one line or at best a simple paragraph. Great if your 15 and wanting to start on little business. Not very professional in my opinion. you would think for $100 you would get real examples of companies and not some kid running a lemonade stand!!!

Rating:
Summary: an MBA in a box
Review: Like most people starting a business, I don't have much of a finance background and have not had to write a business plan before. Based on a recommendation from a friend, I checked out Business Plan Pro.

The software helped me the whole way through and the sample plans were a huge help. Each plan that I looked at was over 35 pages and included all the financials for the business. I was very impressed by the level of writing in the samples and used some of the examples to help with my own writing.

The financial help was enormous. I could not have done it without the software. It helped me build my sales forecast and cash flow, something I could not have done on my own.

I highly recommend this software to anyone starting a business.

Rating:
Summary: Roadmap to Success
Review: Our company lacked focus and had failed to produce any financial projections during the first 18 months of operations. We were making money but our growth was stagnant. A business coach recommended Business Plan Pro and said our first priority was to write a business plan and project revenues for 5 years out. Business Plan Pro simplified the process and helped us determine the overall direction of the company. In the last 12 months we have acquired several new clients and our sales are up 28% from the prior-year-to-date. Thanks for the great program!

Rating:
Summary: Disservice to Anyone Who Wants a Fundable Business Plan
Review: This software is a joke for anyone who would want to use it to get a bank loan or venture capital. For example, you can set a 3-year or 5-year forecast. Then it asks you to apply a growth rate to your year 1 sales, and it applies that growth rate over the entire forecast. Anyone knows that growth rates vary year-to-year based on the stage of your business.

I won't even get into how bad the expense forecasting section is.

Anyone trying to raise money will be told their plan is worthless when they present it to investors. Whether the funding source comes from a bank or VC, they will want to see a monthly (12 months) build to a quarterly (12 quarters) to an annual (5 years). In other words, they (and you should) want to see if the cash you're asking for will cover the needs within the financing period. This software won't support such a basic, critical requirement.

Don't waste your money. This software is amateur.