Preparing small business owners for success

History

Bplans was founded in 1995 by entrepreneur, business planning expert, and Chairman of Palo Alto Software, Tim Berry. Since then, we have been dedicated to equipping entrepreneurs and small business owners with the knowledge necessary to navigate the complexities of starting and running a business.

Today, Bplans content is read by hundreds of thousands of new and existing business owners every month. Our comprehensive articles, tools, and templates are written by seasoned entrepreneurs, active business professionals, and passionate small business owners eager to share their expertise.

Our core beliefs

Our goal is to demystify the process of starting and growing a business. To achieve this, we believe the following to be true:

• You are the most capable person to plan, build, and grow your business.
• Business planning and strategy aren't rocket science; we all just need to learn together.
• Planning and running a business can be a lot of fun... really!
• You can be successful in doing it.

Why you should trust us

At Bplans, we produce content related to starting, planning, funding, and growing small businesses.

These are the specific qualities we demonstrate in all of our content:

1. Expertise: All of our content is created by contributors well-versed in the subject they are covering or has been reviewed and edited by a subject-matter expert.
2. Experience: Contributors are asked to provide supporting research, insights from other subject-matter experts, or first-hand accounts to ensure our content is reliable and relatable. All information is reviewed and verified by our in-house experts, who adhere to our expertise requirements.
3. Clarity: We aim to make our content as understandable as possible, no matter how familiar you are with business concepts. When terminology is necessary, we provide clear definitions and additional resources to help you better understand the subject.
4. Accuracy: You should not have to go anywhere else to learn about starting, planning, funding, and growing a business. We review and update our content at least annually to ensure it is thorough and accounts for recent developments.
5. Usefulness: You should be able to take an article or download a template from Bplans and immediately put it to work. We do not strive to reiterate information available elsewhere, but to cover processes, concepts, and ideas in a way that applies to your situation.

How we operate

Bplans is owned and run by Palo Alto Software, the creator of LivePlan. With over one million users, LivePlan is the leading business plan software for small business owners. We fully support the product and actively promote it throughout Bplans to fund free and useful content for small business owners.

Meet the team

Tim Berry - Founder

After a successful career writing business plans for high-tech giants like Apple and Borland International, Tim Berry founded Palo Alto Software to make business planning accessible to all entrepreneurs.

Noah Parsons - Senior Editor

Princeton graduate and seasoned Silicon Valley entrepreneur, Noah played a pioneering role in internet marketing at Yahoo! and led product development at Epinions.com before joining Palo Alto Software, where he now serves as COO.

Elon Glucklich - Editor

Elon joined Palo Alto Software following a career as an award-winning newspaper reporter writing about the intersection of business and government policy. He has an MBA, with a focus on innovation and entrepreneurship.

Kody Wirth - Editor

Kody is a digital marketing and SEO specialist who has spent the last four years researching and covering small business topics. A business school graduate, he has a strong foundation in business principles and also runs a part-time writing business.

Disclaimers and privacy policy

To fully address how to start, plan, and fund a business, we produce content related to finances, bank loans, investments, and legal requirements. This content is intended to be informational and does not constitute legal or financial advice. Please consult an accredited professional for specific recommendations regarding your situation.

We are committed to protecting your privacy and personal information. View our full privacy policy for more details.