Palo Alto Business Plan Pro 2006

Other products by Palo Alto Software, Inc. (Consignment)

Product Features

• Browse over 500 different Sample Business Plans accepted by banks, the SBA, angel investors, and venture capitalists all around the world
• Design your own loan documents, summary memo, product descriptions, marketing plans and more
• Advanced collaboration tools -- assign portions of the plan to team members and then combine it all into a complete plan
• Print out sales forecasts and all kinds of what-if scenarios to present to possible investors -- have every possibility covered
• New Wizard-driven Financials that can be exported to Microsoft Word and Excel, PowerPoint, or to Adobe PDF documents

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0009PF1QO
• Item model number: bpp9
• Date first available at Amazon.com: June 1, 2005
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,807 in Software (See Bestsellers in Software)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #11 in	Software > Business & Office > Business Plans
  #48 in	Software > Business & Office > Business & Office Management Software

• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

From the Manufacturer
Palo Alto Business Plan Pro 2006 has everything you need to see your business plan through, from conception to completion. You can browse over 500 different sample business plans of the type commonly accepted by banks, the SBA, angel investors, and venture capitalists all around the world. You can also design your own loan documents, summary memo, product descriptions, marketing plans and more. You will get advanced collaboration tools, so you can easily assign portions of the plan to team members and then combine it all into a complete plan. The new Wizard-driven Financials can be exported to Microsoft Word and Excel, PowerPoint, or to Adobe PDF documents.

500+ Complete Sample Business Plans
You don't have to worry about writer's block with Business Plan Pro 2006. Use one of our sample business plans from a diverse list of over 500 to help you get started. This extensive library of sample plans allows you to select the plan that mirrors your general business concept, and use it as a guide to help you write your own. These plans can be viewed from our Sample Plan Browser as an example while you write your plan, or can be edited directly using Business Plan Pro. Sort the plans by industry type, view a summary paragraph of the plan, and skim the plan in a printable format.

Financial Planning Options
Business Plan Pro helps you determine your strategy whether you want to sell your business, go public, or simply stay the course and grow. Some of the new topics include detailed Exit Strategy and Financial Risks and Contingencies.

SWOT Analysis
Develop a thorough and objective study of your company's internal Strengths and Weaknesses and external Opportunities and Threats so that you can determine the best strategy for success.

Includes two business books

The Art of Start by Guy Kawasaki, an essential guide for anyone starting anything. Hurdle, a no-nonsense approach to getting your plan done right.

Industry Insight
Business Plan Pro now leverages more than 9,000 different industry profiles to give you insight into how your business compares to similar companies. The software will explain, step by step, what the data means and how you can use it to your strategic advantage.

Improved Plan Review
The automatic Plan Review included in the software now checks for even more of the common financial-planning mistakes by entrepreneurs, offering tips and suggestions on improving your plan.

Improved Table Wizards
Detailed table wizards walk you through the entire process of generating advanced financial tables for your specific business and industry niche.

Integrated Resources
Get the additional help you need directly from Business Plan Pro, including direct links to sources for market data, venture capital opportunities, and legal guidance.

New Plan Setup Wizard
Customize your plan to meet your needs with the new and improved Plan Setup Wizard. The Wizard will guide you through the process of configuring your plan outline, your financials, and other key settings to match your plan to your company and your industry.

Legal Tools & Business Reference Library Get the legal help you need to start your business. Nolo's Small Business Legal Guide is included to guide you through common legal questions. Also included is Nolo's eBook, Choosing a Legal Structure for Your Small Business. Selecting the right legal structure for your business is an important decision. This eGuide explains the advantages and disadvantages of: Sole Proprietorships, Partnerships, Corporations, Limited Liability Companies and Special Structures for Special Situations.

Creates Five Different Document Types:

• Loan Document
• New Product or Service Description
• Financial Plan
• Marketing Plan
• Complete Business Plan

EasyPlan Wizard
The EasyPlan Wizard provides step-by-step guidance and asks you simple questions to guide you through the process of producing a complete business plan. Based on your answers, the EasyPlan Wizard selects the plan outline that is right for your business.

Exit Strategy
Business Plan Pro helps you determine your strategy, whether it be to sell your business, go public, or simply stay the course and grow.

All the spreadsheets you need
Follow the EasyPlan Wizard as it guides you through your business plan tables, with instructions and examples for each as well as context-sensitive help. All the tables you need in a business plan are already linked together, financially and mathematically correct, and surrounded by easy-to-follow instructions and explanations. Just plug your numbers in and let Business Plan Pro do the rest.

Balance Sheet Break-even Analysis Cash Flow General Assumptions Inventory Detail Market Analysis Milestones Past Performance Payables Detail

Personal Net Worth Personnel Profit and Loss Ratios Receivables Detail Sales Forecast Start-up Requirements Start-up Funding

Improved Sample Plan Browser
Open a sample business plan and view the Plan Setup summary to see if it's a good match for your business. You can then make specific changes to the sample plan in order to tailor the business plan for your particular business needs, goals and objectives.

Improved Report Writer
Based on your document type, the new and improved Report Writer will generate a finished report that includes only the data relevant to your business and planning objectives.

Additional Add-in Components
Additional add-ins for specific business needs are also available. Try our Sales Forecast-Subscription Model add-in if your business sells subscriptions, memberships or similar services that involve continuing payments.

Product Description
Business Plan 2006 is the business plan software for developing a successful, profitable business. Put your ideas on paper and turn them into a viable plan that investors & banks will be attracted to -- this software makes it simple.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

98 of 101 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Business Plan Pro 2006 Review, September 14, 2005

By	BPlan Pro User "BPlan User" (CA) - See all my reviews

I have been using BPlan Pro since 2002 when they released the version "BPlan Pro 2002", and HAD been a very satisfied user of the product.
Last week I purchased (upgraded to Business Plan Pro 2006- Premier), and my experience has been pretty bad. As a rather experienced user of the product I found the following problems.

New Users


1. Exporting to MS Word gives pathetic quality for chart-images. You would never want to take anything like this to a potential investor. I contacted Palo Alto Technical help and they were LEAST helpful. The person said "That's a Microsoft problem. We cannot do anything with that". If they don't expect it to show up right in Word, I wonder what program they are expecting it to show up in. (FYI, I must say here that the resolution in Adobe Acrobat was perfect, but unfortunately you CANNOT edit a PDF document unless you have the Acrobat Writer-approx $500)
2. In short, you have to work within the Bplan Pro 2006 itself, and export directly to Adobe PDF format (which gives you very little flexibility to work on the document, outside of Bplan Pro 2006). In contrast, Bplan Pro 2002 gave you the flexibility to export it anytime (any part of the plan) into MS Word and you could edit it without losing any clarity in the charts at all! (Interestingly, I asked Bplan Tech support, why they cannot do something which they easily had in their own product 4 years back!!, and the answer again was.."it has something to do with Microsoft"

Old Users Upgrading

Stick to your older versions, unless you really need Year 2 month-wise breakup for your financials and sales projections.

1. When you export from a previous version to the current version, you need an additional utility (free download from the maker's website) to convert it. In other words it's not backward compatible like a Mircrosoft Word or Excel file. A previous version file WILL NOT open in a newer version of BPlan Pro. This is excusable, BUT the problem lies in the fact that many of the formulae that you had built into building the business plan in the OLD version WILL NOT reflect in the new version (after you convert). Instead, Bplan Pro 2006 merely puts in the "value" without showing the formula on which it was based.

2. The problem with the older versions is that, lets say you are starting your business in Sep 2005. All you can get is a monthly projection for the FIRST year (which is just the first 3 months), whereas most of the action will happen over the next year (2006), and only business plan pro premier version allows you to do a month-wise for second year. (Note:" There is NO option if you want a month-wise for year 3). In my case, the investors wanted split up for first 6 quarters. (which is Q4-2005, Q1-Q4 2006, and Q1-2007, a genuine scenario where one might need monthly/quarterly spilt up for the first 3 years because the first 6 quarters are spread over 3 separate years).

3. Few bugs in the embedded spreadsheet

4. The few plus points that I found:

a. There is a forecaster tool, that lets you "drag" charts and values on the fly, and that's pretty cool, without having to manually enter values (e.g, sales projections, expenses, etc)
b. Look and feel is slightly better.
c. Export into Excel is very much better, and in good format.
d. Again, this is just a week of playing around...so I should have more updates soon.

38 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars There is no silver bullet, February 1, 2006

By	Yogini (Chicago) - See all my reviews

I just purchased BP Pro 2006 and have completed about half of a business plan. This is less useful as a planning tool and really more practical as a presentation tool (sort've the business plan equivalent of power point). I had figured the sample plans would have actual information about the industries they cover. Since they don't, you have to figure out all that stuff yourself. That's a lot of work. Furthermore, I'm not sure there is anything in the software you can't find for free. The free sample plans that are already on the web are probably as useful as anything they supply with the software. For $75, it's not a terrible investment, but it's not a silver bullet either. The good thing about the software is that it does allow you to create a reasonably professional looking business plan. If you already feel comfortable doing it and you need to save money, you might want to think about this purchase. Of course, they have a 60 day money back guarantee so it's a pretty low risk investment. On a separate note, I called customer service with a question and was told to call technical support. I called technical support and found the person on the other end of the line about as pleasant as my snotty 15 year old niece. I just wondered at which point in his training program was he instructed that one sylable is all that is needed to answer any question. I swear he was just like David Spade in that commercial where he answers every question "no."

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not bad, but no substitute for experience, May 8, 2006

By	NYUDave "nyudave97" (Kansas City) - See all my reviews

I was trying to save a little time by using this software and I was a little disappointed. The sample business plans leave much to be desired. Still, its gives many examples of different types of businesses, which is ok if you are going into a business that is common (i.e. a retail store or food service). Just don't think you can create a business plan in a few hours that will attract investors.

Good luck!