Frequently Asked Questions

Due to the wide variety of business plan projects we develop, Masterplans prices range from $1,800 to $15,000, depending on the complexity of the business plan and the Masterplans team members required to execute it. These fees cover an extensive discovery process, detailed research from top paid research partners, writing and editing, and detailed financial modeling.

You can find more information about the pricing for different projects on our pricing page.

Depending on the complexity of the project, we work with our clients on 30-, 45-, or 70-day contracts, and we usually have a complete first draft in 2-3 weeks. We offer rush projects for an additional fee, but we always advise that thorough business planning should never be hurried. You can learn more about our process here.

We are here to help you save time. According to the SBA, a full business plan can take 150 hours to develop. You will have a quality business plan in a fraction of the time with Masterplans, but for the best results, you must actively participate in the project. For our simplest projects, plan on at least 1-2 hours of phone calls and email exchanges during the discovery phase (4-6 hours for more complex engagements), as well as an hour to carefully review a draft. A recent survey of some of our clients revealed that the average time they spent on the plan was 5.5 hours per 30-day contract period.

Our mission is to meet you where you are, and determining what you need is an important part of our 30-minute consultation call. We have clients who come to us with nothing more than an idea and need us to help them stress test it, all the way up to fully-operational businesses with lengthy business plans that need refinement or new research. No matter where you are in your entrepreneurial journey, there are a few things we recommend doing before hiring a professional business planner like Masterplans:

• Register your company with the federal government and your state (usually through the Secretary of State)
• Determine your structure and have preliminary legal documents prepared
• Consider the objectives of your business plan (funding and funding type, etc.)

While not required, we also recommend our clients to take the following steps

• Consider a name and purchase a URL
• Get a secure email address for the new URL (Google charges only $6 per month)
• Open a business bank account and use it for all business transactions
• Update your LinkedIn profile with your most recent experience and a nice-looking photo (this is the first place an investor or banker will look to learn more about you)

There are too many variables outside of our control for any reputable business planner to guarantee that your business will be funded, or accept payment based on that. However, we guarantee that your business plan will meet (and hopefully exceed) the needs of your target audience, including:

• For bank and SBA-lending business plans, we will make any changes requested by the lender, even if they are made after the contract period has expired
• For immigration business plans, we will assist our clients in responding to any Request For Evidence (RFE).

At this time, we are not offering work in exchange for equity positions or a percentage of the funding amount.

Masterplans is not a broker-dealer and thus cannot represent you in any security or trading process. We assist our clients in preparing for the funding process and can recommend bank lenders and attorneys. We also have an active partnership with Foundersuite, which allows our investment-seeking clients to cultivate an investor funnel.

At the moment, there is no degree or certification that makes someone qualified to be a business planner. But over the last 20 years, we've built internal programs for professional development to keep our team on the leading-edge of the industry. 

• #LearnByTeaching: One or two Masterplanners research a topic and prepare a presentation for the rest of the team. These seminars are frequently about business development trends. A recent presentation inspired our "Art of the Pitch Deck” blog post series.
• FedEx Day: Masterplans dedicates one day per quarter to professional development. Teams halt normal project work for one day, instead focusing on a project of their choice, with the only requirement that it benefit our clients. Previous FedEx Days resulted in our now-annual State of Startups Report and our extremely popular Pitch Deck development service 
• Blinkist: Every day, it seems like a new business book is published, not to mention podcasts, journal articles, and studies. To encourage our team to stay current on business trends, we provide each employee with a Blinkist account and encourage them to recommend Blinks to their coworkers.
• Intra-team Development: Our teams meet weekly or biweekly to discuss projects we've been working on as well as resources that can aid in plan development.
• Experience: There is simply no substitute for experience. Our team members have, on average, over ten years of experience at Masterplans, and our collaborative approach ensures that institutional know-how is brought to each new plan we create.

Although Masterplans is based in Portland, Oregon, we have created business plans for companies in all 50 states and Canada. Masterplans were used in 42 states in 2021 alone. How can we provide effective business planning for a site thousands of miles away? It all starts with the most effective market research tools. Our subscription to Esri, which is the world leader in mapping and spatial data, lets us get precise location data like demographics, consumer spending, market potential, and even traffic counts at the neighborhood level. We also provide our research analysts with access to IBISWorld, which is a database of industry research at the national and state levels. And it doesn't stop with premium research tools (though they're a good start); after 20 years of developing business plans, we can confidently say that if data is publicly available, our research analysts will find it.