How to Prepare a Financial Plan for Startup Business
If someone were to ask you about your business financials, could you give them a detailed answer?
如果有人问你关于你的企业财务状况，你能给他们一个详细的答案吗？
Let’s say they ask—how do you allocate your operating expenses? What is your cash flow situation like? What is your exit strategy? And a series of similar other questions.
假设他们问——你如何分配你的运营费用？您的现金流状况如何？你们的退出策略是什么？以及一系列类似的其他问题。
Instead of mumbling what to answer or shooting in the dark, as a founder, you must prepare yourself to answer this line of questioning—and creating a financial plan for your startup is the best way to do it.
作为创始人，与其喃喃自语地回答什么或在黑暗中开枪，不如让自己准备好回答这一系列问题——为你的创业公司制定财务计划是最好的方法。
A business plan’s financial plan section is no easy task—we get that.
商业计划的财务计划部分并非易事——我们明白这一点。
But, you know what—this in-depth guide and financial plan example can make forecasting as simple as counting on your fingertips.
但是，您知道吗——这个深入的指南和财务计划示例可以使预测像指尖一样简单。
Ready to get started? Let’s begin by discussing startup financial planning.
准备好开始了吗？让我们从讨论创业财务规划开始。
What is Startup Financial Planning? 什么是创业财务规划？
Startup financial planning, in simple terms, is a process of planning the financial aspects of a new business. It’s an integral part of a business plan and comprises its three major components: balance sheet, income statement, and cash-flow statement.
简单来说，创业财务规划是规划新业务财务方面的过程。它是商业计划的一个组成部分，包括其三个主要组成部分：资产负债表、损益表和现金流量表。
Apart from these statements, your financial section may also include revenue and sales forecasts, assets & liabilities, break-even analysis, and more. Your first financial plan may not be very detailed, but you can tweak and update it as your company grows.
除了这些报表外，您的财务部分还可能包括收入和销售预测、资产和负债、盈亏平衡分析等。您的第一个财务计划可能不是很详细，但您可以随着公司的发展进行调整和更新。
If someone were to ask you about your business financials, could you give them a detailed answer?
如果有人问你关于你的企业财务状况，你能给他们一个详细的答案吗？
Let’s say they ask—how do you allocate your operating expenses? What is your cash flow situation like? What is your exit strategy? And a series of similar other questions.
假设他们问——你如何分配你的运营费用？您的现金流状况如何？你们的退出策略是什么？以及一系列类似的其他问题。
Instead of mumbling what to answer or shooting in the dark, as a founder, you must prepare yourself to answer this line of questioning—and creating a financial plan for your startup is the best way to do it.
作为创始人，与其喃喃自语地回答什么或在黑暗中开枪，不如让自己准备好回答这一系列问题——为你的创业公司制定财务计划是最好的方法。
A business plan’s financial plan section is no easy task—we get that.
商业计划的财务计划部分并非易事——我们明白这一点。
But, you know what—this in-depth guide and financial plan example can make forecasting as simple as counting on your fingertips.
但是，您知道吗——这个深入的指南和财务计划示例可以使预测像指尖一样简单。
Ready to get started? Let’s begin by discussing startup financial planning.
准备好开始了吗？让我们从讨论创业财务规划开始。
What is Startup Financial Planning? 什么是创业财务规划？
Startup financial planning, in simple terms, is a process of planning the financial aspects of a new business. It’s an integral part of a business plan and comprises its three major components: balance sheet, income statement, and cash-flow statement.
简单来说，创业财务规划是规划新业务财务方面的过程。它是商业计划的一个组成部分，包括其三个主要组成部分：资产负债表、损益表和现金流量表。
Apart from these statements, your financial section may also include revenue and sales forecasts, assets & liabilities, break-even analysis, and more. Your first financial plan may not be very detailed, but you can tweak and update it as your company grows.
除了这些报表外，您的财务部分还可能包括收入和销售预测、资产和负债、盈亏平衡分析等。您的第一个财务计划可能不是很详细，但您可以随着公司的发展进行调整和更新。
Key Takeaways 关键要点
- Realistic assumptions, thorough research, and a clear understanding of the market are the key to reliable financial projections.
现实的假设、透彻的研究和对市场的清晰理解是可靠财务预测的关键。 - Cash flow projection, balance sheet, and income statement are three major components of a financial plan.
现金流量预测、资产负债表和损益表是财务计划的三个主要组成部分。 - Preparing a financial plan is easier and faster when you use a financial planning tool.
使用财务规划工具时，准备财务计划会更容易、更快捷。 - Exploring “what-if” scenarios is an ideal method to understand the potential risks and opportunities involved in the business operations.
探索“假设”场景是了解业务运营中涉及的潜在风险和机遇的理想方法。
Why is Financial Planning Important to Your Startup? 为什么财务规划对您的创业公司很重要？
Poor financial planning is one of the biggest reasons why most startups fail. In fact, a recent CNBC study reported that running out of cash was the reason behind 44% of startup failures in 2022.
糟糕的财务规划是大多数初创公司失败的最大原因之一。事实上，CNBC 最近的一项研究报告称，现金耗尽是 2022 年 44% 创业失败的原因。
A well-prepared financial plan provides a clear financial direction for your business, helps you set realistic financial objectives, create accurate forecasts, and shows your business is committed to its financial objectives.
精心准备的财务计划为您的企业提供明确的财务方向，帮助您设定切合实际的财务目标，创建准确的预测，并表明您的企业致力于实现其财务目标。
It’s a key element of your business plan for winning potential investors. In fact, YC considered recent financial statements and projections to be critical elements of their Series A due diligence checklist.
这是您赢得潜在投资者的商业计划的关键要素。事实上，YC 认为最近的财务报表和预测是其 A 轮尽职调查清单的关键要素。
Your financial plan demonstrates how your business manages expenses and generates revenue and helps them understand where your business stands today and in 5 years.
您的财务计划展示了您的企业如何管理费用和创造收入，并帮助他们了解您的企业今天和未来 5 年所处的位置。
Makes sense why financial planning is important to your startup, doesn’t it? Let’s cut to the chase and discuss the key components of a startup’s financial plan.
为什么财务规划对您的创业公司很重要，不是吗？让我们切入正题，讨论初创公司财务计划的关键组成部分。
Key Components of a Startup Financial Plan 创业财务计划的关键组成部分
Whether creating a financial plan from scratch for a business venture or just modifying it for an existing one, here are the key components to consider including in your startup’s financial planning process.
无论是为企业从头开始制定财务计划，还是只是为现有企业修改财务计划，以下是在初创公司的财务规划过程中需要考虑的关键组成部分。
Income Statement 损益表
An Income statement, also known as a profit-and-loss statement(P&L), shows your company’s income and expenditures. It also demonstrates how your business experienced any profit or loss over a given time.
损益表，也称为损益表（P&L），显示贵公司的收入和支出。它还展示了您的企业在给定时间内如何经历任何利润或损失。
Revenue – Expenses = Profit / Loss.
收入 – 费用 = 利润/损失。
Consider it as a snapshot of your business that shows the feasibility of your business idea. An income statement can be generated considering three scenarios: worst, expected, and best.
将其视为您业务的快照，显示您的商业理念的可行性。损益表可以考虑三种情况：最坏、预期和最佳。
Your income or P&L statement must list the following:
您的损益表或损益表必须列出以下内容：
- Cost of goods or cost of sale
商品成本或销售成本 - Gross margin 毛利率
- Operating expenses 运营费用
- Revenue streams 收入来源
- EBITDA (Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, & amortization)
EBITDA（息税折旧摊销前利润）
Established businesses can prepare annual income statements, whereas new businesses and startups should consider preparing monthly statements.
老牌企业可以编制年度损益表，而新企业和初创公司应考虑编制月度报表。
Cash flow Statement 现金流量表
A cash flow statement is one of the most critical financial statements for startups that summarize your business’s cash in-and-out flows over a given time.
现金流量表是初创公司最关键的财务报表之一，它总结了企业在给定时间内的现金流入和流出。
This section provides details on the cash position of your business and its ability to meet monetary commitments on a timely basis.
本节详细介绍了贵企业的现金状况及其及时履行货币承诺的能力。
Your cash flow projection consists of the following three components:
您的现金流预测由以下三个部分组成：
✅ Cash revenue projection: Here, you must enter each month’s estimated or expected sales figures.
✅ 现金收入预测：在这里，您必须输入每个月的估计或预期销售数字。
✅ Cash disbursements: List expenditures that you expect to pay in cash for each month over one year.
✅ 现金支出：列出您预计在一年内每个月以现金支付的支出。
✅ Cash flow reconciliation: Cash flow reconciliation is a process used to ensure the accuracy of cash flow projections. The adjusted amount is the cash flow balance carried over to the next month.
✅ 现金流量调节表：现金流量调节表是用于确保现金流量预测准确性的过程。调整后的金额是结转到下个月的现金流余额。
Furthermore, a company’s cash flow projections can be crucial while assessing liquidity, its ability to generate positive cash flows and pay off debts, and invest in growth initiatives.
此外，在评估流动性、其产生正现金流和偿还债务的能力以及投资于增长计划时，公司的现金流预测可能至关重要。
Balance Sheet 资产负债表
Your balance sheet is a financial statement that reports your company’s assets, liabilities, and shareholder equity at a given time.
您的资产负债表是一份财务报表，用于报告您公司的资产、负债和股东权益。
Consider it as a snapshot of what your business owns and owes, as well as the amount invested by the shareholders.
将其视为您的企业拥有和欠款以及股东投资金额的快照。
This statement consists of three parts: assets, liabilities, and the balance calculated by the difference between the first two. The final numbers on this sheet reflect the business owner’s equity or value.
该报表由三部分组成：资产、负债和由前两者之间的差额计算的余额。这张表上的最终数字反映了企业主的权益或价值。
Balance sheets follow the following accounting equation with assets on one side and liabilities plus Owner’s equity on the other:
资产负债表遵循以下会计等式，一方面是资产，另一方面是负债和所有者权益：
Assets = Liabilities + Owner’s equity
资产 = 负债 + 所有者权益
Here is what’s the core purpose of having a balance-sheet:
以下是拥有资产负债表的核心目的：
- Indicates the capital need of the business
指示企业的资金需求 - It helps to identify the allocation of resources
它有助于确定资源分配 - It calculates the requirement of seed money you put up, and
它计算您投入的种子资金需求，以及 - How much finance is required?
需要多少资金？
Since it helps investors understand the condition of your business on a given date, it’s a financial statement you can’t miss out on.
由于它可以帮助投资者了解您在给定日期的业务状况，因此这是一份您不容错过的财务报表。
Break-even Analysis 盈亏平衡分析
Break-even analysis is a startup or small business accounting practice used to determine when a company, product, or service will become profitable.
盈亏平衡分析是一种初创公司或小型企业的会计实践，用于确定公司、产品或服务何时盈利。
For instance, a break-even analysis could help you understand how many candles you need to sell to cover your warehousing and manufacturing costs and start making profits.
例如，盈亏平衡分析可以帮助您了解需要销售多少蜡烛才能支付仓储和制造成本并开始盈利。
Remember, anything you sell beyond the break-even point will result in profit.
请记住，您出售的任何东西超过盈亏平衡点都会带来利润。
You must be aware of your fixed and variable costs to accurately determine your startup’s break-even point.
您必须了解您的固定成本和可变成本，以准确确定初创公司的盈亏平衡点。
- Fixed costs: fixed expenses that stay the same no matter what.
固定成本：无论如何都保持不变的固定费用。 - Variable costs: expenses that fluctuate over time depending on production or sales.
可变成本：根据生产或销售随时间波动的费用。
A break-even point helps you smartly price your goods or services, cover fixed costs, catch missing expenses, and set sales targets while helping investors gain confidence in your business. No brainer—why it’s a key component of your startup’s financial plan.
盈亏平衡点可帮助您明智地为商品或服务定价、支付固定成本、捕捉遗漏的费用并设定销售目标，同时帮助投资者获得对您的业务的信心。不用费吹灰之力——为什么它是初创公司财务计划的关键组成部分。
Having covered all the key elements of a financial plan, let’s discuss how you can create a financial plan for your startup.
在涵盖了财务计划的所有关键要素之后，让我们讨论如何为您的初创公司制定财务计划。
How to Create a Financial Section of a Startup Business Plan? 如何创建创业商业计划的财务部分？
1. Determine Your Financial Needs 1. 确定您的财务需求
You can’t start financial planning without understanding your financial requirements, can you? Get your notepad or simply open a notion doc; it’s time for some critical thinking.
如果不了解您的财务要求，您就无法开始财务规划，对吗？拿起你的记事本，或者干脆打开一个概念文档;是时候进行一些批判性思考了。
Start by assessing your current situation by—calculating your income, expenses, assets, and liabilities, what the startup costs are, how much you have against them, and how much financing you need.
首先通过计算您的收入、支出、资产和负债、启动成本是多少、您有多少资金以及您需要多少融资来评估您目前的情况。
Assessing your current financial situation and health will help determine how much capital you need for your startup and help plan fundraising activities and outreach.
评估您当前的财务状况和健康状况将有助于确定您的创业公司需要多少资金，并帮助规划筹款活动和外展活动。
Furthermore, determining financial needs helps prioritize operational activities and expenses, effectively allocate resources, and increase the viability and sustainability of a business in the long run.
此外，从长远来看，确定财务需求有助于确定运营活动和费用的优先级，有效分配资源，并提高企业的生存能力和可持续性。
Having learned to determine financial needs, let’s head straight to setting financial goals.
在学会了确定财务需求之后，让我们直接开始设定财务目标。
2. Define Your Financial Goals 2. 定义您的财务目标
Setting realistic financial goals is fundamental in preparing an effective financial plan. So, it would help to outline your long-term strategies and goals at the beginning of your financial planning process.
设定切合实际的财务目标是制定有效财务计划的基础。因此，在财务规划过程开始时概述您的长期战略和目标会有所帮助。
Let’s understand it this way—if you are a SaaS startup pursuing VC financing rounds, you may ask investors about what matters to them the most and prepare your financial plan accordingly.
让我们这样理解——如果你是一家寻求风险投资轮融资的 SaaS 初创公司，你可以向投资者询问什么对他们来说最重要，并相应地准备你的财务计划。
However, a coffee shop owner seeking a business loan may need to create a plan that appeals to banks, not investors. At the same time, an internal financial plan designed to offer financial direction and resource allocation may not be the same as previous examples, seeing its different use case.
然而，寻求商业贷款的咖啡店老板可能需要制定一个吸引银行而不是投资者的计划。同时，旨在提供财务方向和资源分配的内部财务计划可能与前面的示例不同，可以看到其不同的用例。
Feeling overwhelmed? Just define your financial goals—you’ll be fine.
感到不知所措？只要定义你的财务目标，你就会没事的。
You can start by identifying your business KPIs (key performance indicators); it would be an ideal starting point.
您可以从确定您的业务 KPI（关键绩效指标）开始;这将是一个理想的起点。
3. Choose the Right Financial Planning Tool 3. 选择合适的财务规划工具
Let’s face it—preparing a financial plan using Excel is no joke. One would only use this method if they had all the time in the world.
让我们面对现实吧，使用 Excel 准备财务计划可不是开玩笑的。只有当他们有世界上所有的时间时，他们才会使用这种方法。
Having the right financial planning software will simplify and speed up the process and guide you through creating accurate financial forecasts.
拥有合适的财务规划软件将简化和加快流程，并指导您创建准确的财务预测。
Many financial planning software and tools claim to be the ideal solution, but it’s you who will identify and choose a tool that is best for your financial planning needs.
许多财务规划软件和工具声称是理想的解决方案，但您将确定并选择最适合您财务规划需求的工具。
4. Make Assumptions Before Projecting Financials 4. 在预测财务之前做出假设
Once you have a financial planning tool, you can move forward to the next step—making financial assumptions for your plan based on your company’s current performance and past financial records.
一旦你有了财务规划工具，你就可以进入下一步——根据你公司的当前业绩和过去的财务记录，为你的计划做出财务假设。
You’re just making predictions about your company’s financial future, so there’s no need to overthink or complicate the process.
您只是在对公司的财务未来做出预测，因此无需过度思考或使流程复杂化。
You can gather your business’ historical financial data, market trends, and other relevant documents to help create a base for accurate financial projections.
您可以收集企业的历史财务数据、市场趋势和其他相关文件，以帮助创建准确财务预测的基础。
After you have developed rough assumptions and a good understanding of your business finances, you can move forward to the next step—projecting financials.
在您制定了粗略的假设并充分了解了您的企业财务状况后，您可以继续进行下一步——预测财务状况。
5. Prepare Realistic Financial Projections 5. 准备切合实际的财务预测
It’s a no-brainer—financial forecasting is the most critical yet challenging aspect of financial planning. However, it’s effortless if you’re using a financial planning software.
这是不费吹灰之力的——财务预测是财务规划中最关键但最具挑战性的方面。但是，如果您使用的是财务规划软件，则毫不费力。
Upmetrics’ forecasting feature can help you project financials for up to 7 years. However, new startups usually consider planning for the next five years. Although it can be contradictory considering your financial goals and investor specifications.
Upmetrics 的预测功能可以帮助您预测长达 7 年的财务状况。然而，新的创业公司通常会考虑为未来五年做计划。尽管考虑到您的财务目标和投资者规格，这可能是矛盾的。
Following are the two key aspects of your financial projections:
以下是财务预测的两个关键方面：
Revenue Projections 收入预测
In simple terms, revenue projections help investors determine how much revenue your business plans to generate in years to come.
简单来说，收入预测可以帮助投资者确定您的企业计划在未来几年产生多少收入。
It generally involves conducting market research, determining pricing strategy, and cash flow analysis—which we’ve already discussed in the previous steps.
它通常涉及进行市场研究、确定定价策略和现金流分析——我们在前面的步骤中已经讨论过。
The following are the key components of an accurate revenue projection report:
以下是准确收入预测报告的关键组成部分：
- Market analysis 市场分析
- Sales forecast 销售预测
- Pricing strategy 定价策略
- Revenue streams 收入来源
- Growth assumptions 增长假设
- Seasonal variations 季节变化
This is a critical section for pre-revenue startups, so ensure your projections accurately align with your startup’s financial model and revenue goals.
对于未有收入的初创公司来说，这是一个关键部分，因此请确保您的预测与初创公司的财务模型和收入目标准确一致。
Expense Projections 费用预测
Both revenue and expense projections are correlated to each other. As revenue forecasts projected revenue assumptions, expense projections will estimate expenses associated with operating your business.
收入和支出预测是相互关联的。由于收入预测是预测收入假设，因此费用预测将估算与业务运营相关的费用。
Accurately estimating your expenses will help in effective cash flow analysis and proper resource allocation.
准确估算您的费用将有助于有效的现金流分析和适当的资源分配。
These are the most common costs to consider while projecting expenses:
这些是预测费用时要考虑的最常见成本：
- Fixed costs 固定成本
- Variable costs 可变成本
- Employee costs or payroll expenses
员工成本或工资支出 - Operational expenses 运营费用
- Marketing and advertising expenses
营销和广告费用 - Emergency fund 应急基金
Remember, realistic assumptions, thorough research, and a clear understanding of your market are the key to reliable financial projections.
请记住，现实的假设、彻底的研究和对市场的清晰了解是可靠财务预测的关键。
6. Consider “What if” Scenarios 6. 考虑“假设”场景
After you project your financials, it’s time to test your assumptions with what-if analysis, also known as sensitivity analysis.
在预测财务状况后，是时候使用假设分析（也称为敏感性分析）来测试您的假设了。
Using what-if analysis with different scenarios while projecting your financials will increase transparency and help investors better understand your startup’s future with its best, expected, and worst-case scenarios.
在预测财务状况时，对不同情景使用假设分析将提高透明度，并帮助投资者更好地了解初创公司的未来，包括最佳、预期和最坏情况。
Exploring “what-if” scenarios is the best way to better understand the potential risks and opportunities involved in business operations. This proactive exercise will help you make strategic decisions and necessary adjustments to your financial plan.
探索“假设”场景是更好地了解业务运营中涉及的潜在风险和机遇的最佳方式。这种积极主动的练习将帮助您做出战略决策并对您的财务计划进行必要的调整。
7. Build a Visual Report 7. 构建可视化报表
If you’ve closely followed the steps leading to this, you know how to research for financial projections, create a financial plan, and test assumptions using “what-if” scenarios.
如果您密切关注导致此目的的步骤，您就知道如何研究财务预测、创建财务计划以及使用“假设”场景测试假设。
Now, we’ll prepare visual reports to present your numbers in a visually appealing and easily digestible format.
现在，我们将准备可视化报告，以视觉上吸引人且易于理解的格式呈现您的数字。
Don’t worry—it’s no extra effort. You’ve already made a visual report while creating your financial plan and forecasting financials.
别担心，这不需要额外的努力。在创建财务计划和预测财务状况时，您已经制作了可视化报告。
Check the dashboard to see the visual presentation of your projections and reports, and use the necessary financial data, diagrams, and graphs in the final draft of your financial plan.
检查仪表板以查看预测和报告的可视化呈现，并在财务计划的最终草案中使用必要的财务数据、图表和图形。
Monitor and Adjust Your Financial Plan 8. 监控和调整您的财务计划
Even though it’s not a primary step in creating a good financial plan, it’s quite essential to regularly monitor and adjust your financial plan to ensure the assumptions you made are still relevant, and you are heading in the right direction.
尽管这不是制定良好财务计划的主要步骤，但定期监控和调整您的财务计划以确保您所做的假设仍然相关，并且您正朝着正确的方向前进，这一点非常重要。
There are multiple ways to monitor your financial plan.
有多种方法可以监控您的财务计划。
For instance, you can compare your assumptions with actual results to ensure accurate projections based on metrics like new customers acquired and acquisition costs, net profit, and gross margin.
例如，您可以将您的假设与实际结果进行比较，以确保根据获得的新客户和获取成本、净利润和毛利率等指标进行准确的预测。
Consider making necessary adjustments if your assumptions are not resonating with actual numbers.
如果您的假设与实际数字不符，请考虑进行必要的调整。
Also, keep an eye on whether the changes you’ve identified are having the desired effect by monitoring their implementation.
此外，通过监视其实施情况，密切关注您确定的更改是否具有预期的效果。