October 1, 2004

Product Review: Palo Alto's Business Plan Pro

By Joanna Sorocki for Smallbiztechnology.com

Ever consider starting your own business or maybe hoping to expand your company, the Business Plan Pro2005, by PaloAlto Software, could be just what you need. The program, which offers over 400 complete sample plans as guides, is comprehensible for both new and experienced business owners.

Business Plan Pro is especially useful to entrepreneurs.

The program focuses on outlining a basic business plan including startup expenses; projected costs, revenues and employee status. Plan Pro also encourages the user to develop a marketing strategy.

The sections included are step-by-step help and expert guidance, professional financial forecasting, collaborations with your team and print& publish your plan.

One especially convenient feature of the Pro Plan is its clear definitions of all business terms. These explanations make the program accessible to non-MBA's.

The program provides options such as the standard financial setup, "the cash-based simplified financials" as well as a helpful "I'm not sure, guide me" button. The "I'm not sure" buttons leads to a detailed explanation and advantages of each plan.

The Pro Plan absorbs numbers easily and sets them into clean graphs and spreadsheets making your business information easily accessible to potential partners, loan officers and yourself.

The Business Plan Pro is an excellent way for an entrepreneur to outline a clear vision for his company or for an established business owner to analyze and focus his business plan.

Along with the easy-to-install software, comes two invaluable books, Hurdle and On Target, which provide a more in-depth focus on business and marketing respectively.

On Target: The Book On Marketing Plans provides an additional more scrutinizing look at the Pro Plan's material. For instance, each term is discussed and additional example graphs are shown. Likewise, Hurdle: The Book on Business Planning offers advice especially for entrepreneurs including everything from advice on choosing a business name to estimating projected sales for new products.

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