For Academic Institutions,
Business Resources for Entrepreneurial Study and Real-World Success
Gale Business: Plan Builder is a step-by-step online planning tool for starting, managing and optimizing a business or nonprofit. The program’s intuitive dashboard walks users through five areas of exploration to develop a business plan focused on long-term success.
Giving patrons a direct path to additional resources and tools at their points of need, Gale Business: Plan Builder provides integrated access to Gale Business: Entrepreneurship, Gale Business: DemographicsNow and Gale LegalForms when libraries subscribe to any of these products.
As new entrepreneurs or current business owners progress through the guided workflow, they will encounter up to 400 highly-curated links to “Helpful Resources” that will inform and assist them in completing business planning activities.
Five areas of guided business planning:
Gale Business: Plan Builder provides a framework to move through the entire business development lifecycle.
Entrepreneur Profile This tool helps users explore what they can
bring to the table as an entrepreneur and assess where they stand
in preparing to start a business. A one-page summary of them as an
entrepreneur is generated.
Business Ideation Users can employ tools such as Lean Canvas,
SWOT, Porter’s Five Forces, and more to plan the high-level framework
in which their business will operate.
Break-Even Analysis Delivers insight to determine when a user’s
business will be able to cover expenses and begin to realize a profit.
Business Plans Create a plan that can be presented to potential
investors and lenders, including Executive Summary, Lean Business
Plan, Full Business Plan, and Strategic Marketing Plan.
Financial Projections A robust analysis of a company’s financial future
encompassing capital expenditures, sales, equity, taxes, inventory and more.
Tools for nonprofits Nonprofit organizations in your community can benefit from Gale Business: Plan Builder as well. There are specific tools and features aligned closely to the needs of the social entrepreneur such as a Mission Canvas, Bylaws Template and Nonprofit Pitch Deck.
Learn more about the integrated access to business and legal resources >>
FEATURED TESTIMONIAL
“This is the first semester students have been required to use Gale Business: Plan Builder in my Entrepreneurial Creativity class to earn a passing grade. As a result, more viable business ideas came out of this semester than any before. Students said they were able to more concretely understand what was needed to launch a product and business by going through the steps in Gale Business: Plan Builder.”
- Dr. Eric Fretz, LSA- Entrepreneurial Creativity, University of Michigan
Look Inside
Additional Details
subjects covered
- Business & Economics
- Business and Industry
Platform Features & Tools
A Guided Approach
An intuitive dashboard leads users through five steps of business planning.
Deliverables on Demand
Download or email documents for printing, sharing, or review.
Helpful Tips
On-page “Guide me” windows give in-context help and orient users to the tools and templates.
Reviews & Testimonials
“Gale Business: Plan Builder helped us build NaperLaunch [a co-working business space] right from the start. In less than two years, we built an entire entrepreneurial ecosystem at our library. We have some attendees drive up to two hours to attend our weekly Thursday morning roundtables.”
"Gale Business: Plan Builder is an improvement over the myriad business plan wizards and templates available online. Users can easily turn small business ideas, plans, and finances into a coherent foundational document and continue to rely on the database as the business evolves. With applications that are varied and full of potential, Gale Business: Plan Builder will be a welcome resource for undergraduates, instructors, and, above all, entrepreneurs at any stage of establishing a business. Educational sessions introducing the tool may garner widespread interest."
