How to Write a One-Page Business Plan

A one-page business plan forces clarity. In a single screen you capture the problem you solve, who you serve, how you’ll reach them, what it costs, and how you’ll measure progress. U.S. small-business advisors still recommend building a formal plan before seeking financing or hiring, but your first pass can be concise and highly actionable. The Small Business Administration (SBA) outlines core planning topics — market research, marketing and sales, and financial projections — that you can compress into a one-page view and expand later as needed. SCORE — the nationwide network of SBA-supported mentors — publishes both full and one-page templates, and their guidance pairs well with the Lean/Business Model Canvas approach popularized by Strategyzer and Ash Maurya. Harvard Business Review also argues that strategy can be summarized on a page with simple choices and trade-offs, which keeps teams aligned without drowning in slides. The idea here isn’t to oversimplify; it’s to remove friction so you can validate the business quickly, then add depth where investors, lenders, or partners require it. This guide shows you what to include and how to turn the page into weekly actions and measurable KPIs.

What to Include on One Page (and Why Each Box Matters)

A reliable way to structure a one-pager is to merge SBA’s emphasis on market/marketing/financials with the Lean/Business Model Canvas nine-box layout. Start with Customer Segments: describe the smallest group you can win now (role, industry, trigger), and quantify it enough to justify your next 6–12 months. State the Problem in language your customer would use and list the top two or three pains you’ll address first. Write a crisp Unique Value Proposition (UVP): the promise that makes choosing you obvious; avoid feature lists — focus on outcomes. Capture your Solution as a simple offer (packages, timelines, service levels) that maps directly to the pains listed. For Channels, name the two you’ll execute weekly (for example, targeted email and one partner), rather than a wish list. Define Revenue Streams (prices, tiers, contracts) and Cost Structure (fixed vs. variable) so you can forecast breakeven with one quick calculation. Add Key Metrics that will prove traction (e.g., qualified leads per week, trial-to-paid conversion, 30-day retention), and note any Unfair Advantage (exclusive data, certification, distribution, IP). This nine-box snapshot mirrors standard canvases while preserving SBA’s concerns around market validation, go-to-market, and money. If you later need a lender-ready plan, you’ll expand each box into SBA’s long-form headings — company, market analysis, marketing and sales, and financial projections — using the one-pager as your table of contents. The point of the page is speed: get clarity, test fast, learn, and iterate.

Structure based on Lean/Business Model Canvas conventions and SBA planning topics; add depth as you transition to a full SBA plan.

Make the Page Financially Real: Unit Economics, Breakeven, and an Initial Scorecard

A one-page plan succeeds when the math behind it is explicit. Start with unit economics: on a per-sale basis, list price, discounts, direct costs (COGS or labor), and channel fees to compute gross margin. Separate fixed costs (software, rent, base salaries) from variable costs (shipping, transaction fees, contractor labor) to understand how profit scales. A simple breakeven estimate is Fixed Costs / Gross Margin%; this tells you roughly how much monthly revenue you must hit before overhead is covered. The SBA’s plan guidance and marketing/sales pages stress that you should build projections from realistic assumptions (conversion rates, price points, time to close) and tie them to the channels you’ll actually execute. To keep momentum, create a weekly scorecard with two or three leading indicators (e.g., qualified leads, trials started) and one or two lagging indicators (e.g., revenue, retention). The Balanced Scorecard idea — popularized by HBR — reminds us to look beyond revenue alone and track a small set of measures that drive performance. For early-stage businesses, that might be response rate to outreach, meetings booked, and trial-to-paid conversion, plus a simple cash runway calculation. Recompute monthly with actuals and update your one-pager accordingly; assumptions that don’t survive contact with customers should be replaced rather than justified. When you later produce a lender-ready plan, you’ll add full income statements, cash-flow statements, and balance sheets using the same drivers from your one-page math.

Use SBA templates and SCORE’s financial galleries to expand these drivers into full financial statements when you’re ready to seek funding.

Turn the Plan into a 30-Day Execution Cadence (So It Doesn’t Live in a Drawer)

Your one-pager earns its keep when it drives weekly actions.
On Day 1, print the page, schedule a 30-minute “scorecard” meeting every Friday, and list three experiments you’ll run in the next two weeks (for example, two UVP headlines, one new outreach script).
In Week 1, complete five customer interviews and ship one demo or sample; the purpose is to validate the problem language and initial offer.
In Week 2, run your first channel cadence — send targeted emails or launch your first partner pitch — while you A/B test your landing headline against the UVP wording on the page.
In Week 3, quote three deals at your default price and track win-rate; if discovery reveals a different pain, update the Problem and Solution boxes immediately.
In Week 4, publish one short case note with real outcomes to strengthen the UVP, then tighten your Cost/Revenue math with actuals.
Keep the weekly meeting sacred: review two or three leading indicators (leads, meetings) and one or two lagging indicators (revenue, retention), decide one change to the page, and assign a clear owner and due date. This continuous loop aligns with the strategy advice to keep choices visible and simple, not buried in a 30-slide deck; HBR calls out that strategy can fit on one page precisely because it’s about choices and trade-offs. When you need funding, layer on SBA’s long-form elements — market size detail, operating plan, and multi-year financials — built from the same drivers you’ve been tracking. By keeping the plan alive, you avoid the common failure mode: a beautiful document with no behavioral change.