Business Plan Pro is a business planning software application, produced by Palo Alto Software Inc, which is designed to assist entrepreneurs with writing business plans.

Palo Alto Software, Inc., was founded in Palo Alto (CA) in 1983 as Infoplan by Tim Berry. In 1988 it was incorporated in California as Palo Alto Software. In 1992, Palo Alto Software moved to Eugene, Oregon, where its US headquarters are now based. Its European Operation is based in London, England with support offices in Shannon, Ireland.

History

First introduced in the early 1990's, Business Plan Pro became the market leader in its niche market. Early versions of the product included basic financial tables and text areas for developing and presenting a business concept. Over the years, the software has evolved a more graphics-based user interface and refined its built-in financial formulas to automatically calculate complicated items such as accounts receivable, inventory purchasing, and so on. The company has actively sought user feedback from a variety of sources to continue refining the software.

Market

The software is popular with both entrepreneurs starting small businesses and those seeking venture funding. In addition, it has been used by many Fortune 500 companies for departmental and product-line business planning.

Today, Business Plan Pro has the largest market share of business planning products for small businesses in the United States. People use it to create business plans for bank loans, SBA loans, and venture capital funding. In addition, it is used to manage the business planning process for existing companies who wish to track plan versus actual performance.

Formats

Business Plan Pro is available in two versions: a standard edition for those writing basic business plans and a premier version for companies that have more advanced needs. Business Plan Pro also has custom versions for eBay businesses, academic use, and social enterprises. It is currently a Windows software package.

Palo Alto Software also manages a two free business planning resource websites: Bplans.com and Bplans UK

External links

Reviews

Small Business Computing.com

Personal Computer World

PC World

BlackEnterprise.com

Plan.htm Home Office Reports

Other Links

Palo Alto Software

Palo Alto Software UK