ChatGPT can be an effective tool for shaping a business plan when used with intention. I’ll share how targeted prompts helped me refine each section and articulate my concept with greater precision.
ChatGPT Business Plan Prompts: Key Points
Key Components of a Business Plan
Writing a business plan from scratch can be overwhelming, and many founders stall out, unsure of what each section truly requires.
ChatGPT can help you break through that inertia. I tested and refined specific prompts to make it easier.
Table of Contents
1. Executive Summary
The executive overview should present what the concept is, what market gap is filling, and key financial data. Think of it as a concise case for why the rest of the plan deserves attention.
In practice, I found it easiest to write this part last, once the rest of the plan was completed, as it's easier to pull it together when everything else is laid down in detail.
Here's the prompt I used to shape it:
| Sample ChatGPT prompt for executive summary |
Assume the role of an experienced founder who has launched and scaled multiple ventures across industries. Based on the information I’ll provide — covering the company’s mission, offering, target audience, market position, growth plans, and financial outlook — draft a clear and compelling executive summary for a professional business plan. The summary should convey the core concept, define the problem being addressed, and articulate the business’s strategic edge in a way that resonates with potential investors, partners, or stakeholders. If any critical information appears incomplete or vague, identify those gaps and suggest what details would strengthen the final version. |
ChatGPT will generate a concise overview that captures the core idea, outlines the opportunity, and highlights what sets the business apart. The overview is designed to inspire confidently into the plan and signal that there’s real potential behind the venture.
2. Business Description
This section should profile what your business offers and why it matters. Focus on the problem you're solving, the solution you're delivering, and any early proof points, like traction, IP, or upcoming features, that hint toward a potential.
To turn this into a strong draft, outline your product or service in clear terms to ChatGPT. Then, ask it to turn that information into a clear explanation of what you’re selling, who it helps, and why it stands out.
The aim is to create a version that someone unfamiliar with your idea, like an investor or advisor, can quickly understand and get interested in.
| Sample ChatGPT prompt for business description |
Assume the role of a seasoned founder and brand strategist preparing a business plan. Using the details I’ll provide, write a business description that clearly defines what the company does, what it stands for, and the long-term impact it aims to make. Make sure the description reflects:
The tone should be credible and compelling, suitable for use in media kits and public-facing content. If any information is vague or incomplete, point it out and suggest what’s missing to strengthen the final output. |
What ChatGPT provided me is a first-pass version that can reveal where my messaging was clear and where it needs refining. Beyond simply generating copy, it helped surface gaps in positioning or areas where my thinking was still vague.
My advice is not to treat the output as a final version, but as a tool to clarify your own narrative, before you adjust it with a sharper focus.
3. Product and Services Overview
This section plays a defining role in your business plan. The strength of your offering and how clearly it's articulated can considerably impact how your entire concept is understood.
Before using ChatGPT to develop this part, consider the following questions. They’re designed to help clarify your thinking and provide the depth needed for a well-informed description:
- Who is the intended user or customer?
- What are the core elements of the product or service?
- When is it most useful or relevant?
- Why would someone choose it over other options?
- How does it create value or solve a problem?
- Where is it typically used or applied?
Working through these questions helped me move beyond surface-level descriptions and build a clearer, more strategic narrative around my offering.
| Sample ChatGPT prompt for product overview |
You are a serial entrepreneur preparing the “Product” section of a business plan. Based on the information I’ll share, write a clear and persuasive overview that captures the core opportunity behind the venture. [Add product info here] Your output should address the following:
If any of the input appears incomplete or unclear, flag those areas and suggest what additional details are needed to make the section stronger. Aim for clarity, focus, and relevance to stakeholders evaluating the business potential. |
I engineered this prompt to guide ChatGPT toward structuring product narratives for both strategic and descriptive impact. Evaluate the output to assess how well your value proposition holds up when examined for timing, demand, and differentiation.
4. Market and Competitor Analysis
Your market analysis is intended to show that you’ve done the groundwork and you know who your customers are. Define the audience you’re targeting, the demand you’re addressing, and how large or reachable that group actually is.
A competitive overview will further build on that foundation. Rather than listing names, focus on who else serves your audience, how they do it, and where your business stands in relation.
The intent here is to show you’ve studied the niche and know exactly where you fit. For better results, I suggest using separate prompts for each aspect:
| Prompt sample for market analysis | Prompt sample for competitor analysis |
You are a serial entrepreneur preparing the market section of your business plan. Below are details about the business:
Using this information, help me:
Additional prompt: Help identify distinct subgroups within the broader market. Are there specific niches with strong commercial potential worth focusing on? | Act as a seasoned entrepreneur preparing a competitive analysis for a business plan. Here are the relevant details:
Using this input, help me:
Additional prompt: Recommend credible sources where I can find data on industry trends, market size, and competitive benchmarks. |
Chris Heerlein, Chief Executive Officer at REAP Financial, shares how his team uses AI to inform these foundational sections:
"ChatGPT is especially useful for generating competitive analysis, market landscape overviews, and customer segmentation ideas. These sections benefit from broad context and structured patterns, which AI delivers well."
However, he emphasizes the need for human oversight:
"We use it more as a thought-starter — it’s good for framing basic revenue and cost assumptions, but we always validate projections using our internal tools and financial expertise."
It’s important to manually verify the output info, as ChatGPT doesn’t consistently cite sources and can’t guarantee accuracy. Like Heerlein, I recommend using its output as a framework and filling in the verified details yourself.
5. Pricing Strategy
For investors and lenders, your pricing strategy is a reflection of how well you understand long-term viability. The section should profile how your business can sustain itself, scale, and deliver profit.
Unlike broader narrative sections, this part relies on precise financial thinking. You'll need to account for direct costs, margins, market positioning, and projected revenue. ChatGPT can support the structure and clarity of this section, but the accuracy of the figures and their credibility rests entirely on the data you provide.
Here’s the prompt I use to help shape the financial narrative around my pricing model:
| Sample ChatGPT prompt for pricing strategy |
Assume the role of a financial planning and pricing strategist with experience developing investor-facing business plans. Create a financial plan that reflects a realistic view of revenue potential, cost structure, and optimal funding to support both short- and long-term needs. Your output should include:
Consider market demand, perceived value, competitor pricing, and customer sensitivity. The output should reflect sound assumptions, communicate financial credibility, and support the broader strategic direction of the business. If any required inputs are missing or unclear, highlight those gaps and suggest what additional data is needed to complete the section. |
This prompt won’t replace the rigor of a financial analyst, but it can accelerate the framing of your pricing logic and bring coherence to your projections, provided your inputs are grounded in real data.
If you're using ChatGPT for this section, I recommend using it as a modeling assistant, rather than a forecasting tool. Its core value lies in revealing gaps in your financial logic and translating raw numbers into a captivating, investor-facing argument.
6. Operations Plan
The operations section presents how the business functions in practical terms. It outlines the legal structure, business model, primary location (physical, digital, or hybrid), and key personnel responsible for execution.
This part of the plan should translate strategy into tangible, operational detail. Describe how the product or service is delivered, what systems or infrastructure are in place, and what resources, be it human, technical, or physical, are required to maintain daily performance.
To demonstrate operational readiness, define short- and long-term operational goals. You can use the SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) framework for this part.
The SMART methodology will help you translate broad plans into trackable benchmarks and show how you measure progress over time. Here’s a prompt you can try:
| Sample ChatGPT prompt for operations plan |
I’m preparing the operations section of my business plan and would like assistance drafting a clear and concise overview. Below are key details about the business:
Please use this information to draft a professional operations overview suitable for a business plan. If there are any critical gaps or areas that need elaboration, identify them clearly in a bulleted list with suggestions for improvement. |
The prompt is intended to show how strategy becomes structure, and how that structure enables delivery. It helps frame the operational core in a way that investors, partners, or advisors can assess for feasibility, scalability, and alignment with stated objectives.
7. Marketing strategy
A well-defined marketing strategy should convey how you plan to reach, convert, and retain customers. This section should outline your approach to promotion, pricing, distribution, and positioning within the market.
It typically includes go-to-market tactics, sales processes, value propositions, and customer engagement plans, aimed to showcase how your offering will gain traction and compete effectively.
I use the following ChatGPT prompt to develop this section of a business plan:
| Sample ChatGPT prompt for marketing plan |
Assume the role of an experienced marketing strategist. You need to prepare the “Marketing and Sales” section for a business plan. The business operates in the [insert industry] sector and serves [describe target audience]. The business aims to be perceived as [e.g., high-end, affordable, specialized], and its brand identity reflects [briefly describe brand personality or values]. The section should include:
Structure the output for inclusion in a formal business plan. If information is missing or unclear, list what should be clarified or added to strengthen the final result. |
Using this prompt, you can assess whether your marketing plan lacks clarity and whether the messaging, channels, pricing, and sales funnel are aligned as a marketing unit.
Before you test the sample, it’s important to take into account your ICP's behavior. The quality of the output depends on how well you can describe your audience, their expectations, and how your product fits into their decision-making process.
In other words, treat the prompt as a way to organize your thinking and test whether your marketing approach is as focused and investable as the product itself.
8. Go-to-Market Strategy
A go-to-market strategy explains how your business plans to enter the market and gain early traction. As a final section, it should detail your launch plan, customer acquisition channels, and the steps you’ll take to move from concept to first sales.
Here, you should cover entry points, distribution methods, sales processes, and early-stage growth tactics, or basically how you intend to build momentum.
Here’s a prompt to help you prepare this section:
| Sample ChatGPT prompt for defining a go-to-market strategy |
Assume the role of a founder with deep experience in launching and scaling new ventures. Develop a structured go-to-market strategy tailored to the following inputs: [product or service], [target audience], and [available budget]. The strategy should:
Identify any foreseeable risks to launch or early growth and offer practical solutions to mitigate them. |
The prompt is intended to present the operational blueprint of a market entry with a phased, tangible strategy. It supports founders in defining how to reach their first customers, establish presence, and build initial traction.
When using ChatGPT for this section, the value lies in how clearly you can articulate your constraints and assumptions. So, be objective, specific, and realistic about your target.
How To Guide ChatGPT Through Your Business Plan
If you consider using the platform for drafting a business plan, be intentional about how you apply it. Here are some tips for making the process more efficient:
- Segment your prompts and tackle each section of your business plan individually. Don’t rely on a single, all-encompassing prompt.
- If the response isn’t quite right, ask ChatGPT to revise it. Iterating the output is often faster than rewriting prompts from scratch.
- Ground your input on research and gather the info yourself before you begin
- Set word limits to keep the sections concise, focused, and suitable for presentation.
What Limitations Does ChatGPT Present?
While the platform can help you structure ideas and articulate your value propositions, it cannot replace your judgment or unique insight into your business.
Chris Bajda, eCommerce Entrepreneur & Managing Partner at GroomsDay, puts it this way:
"ChatGPT does not work well when it comes to more strategic aspects of the plan. You require personal information and more background of the market when it is necessary to perfect a unique value proposition or make a long-term business decision. The latter are areas where human contribution pays off and a machine cannot possibly perform as well as a person."
In addition to that, here are some limitations I’ve observed:
- ChatGPT cannot generate financial forecasts
- It lacks sector-specific nuance
- The platform can’t conduct original market research
- Generated outputs may lack creativity
These aren’t necessarily disqualifiers. They’re merely a reminder that ChatGPT works best when you lead the thinking and use the tool to complement your capabilities.
If you need hands-on expertise beyond what AI can offer, consider partnering with a proven agency.
Our team ranks agencies worldwide to help you find a qualified partner. Visit our Agency Directory for the top Business Consulting companies, as well as:
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ChatGPT Business Plan Prompts: FAQs
1. Is ChatGPT suitable for different types of business plans?
Yes, ChatGPT can be used to create business plans for a range of organizations, including startups and nonprofits. It’s been proven useful for helping users distill their ideas, structure key components of the plan, and move efficiently from a rough concept to a working draft, regardless of business type or stage.
2. Do you need technical skills to use ChatGPT for business planning?
No, you don’t need a technical background to use the platform effectively. What matters more is having a clear understanding of your business and being able to review and refine the content it generates.
