Is LivePlan right for your business?

Best Planning Software for a Small Start-Up

LivePlan helped me create a workable, realistic strategic plan. After one year in business, I revisited the plan and saw that my projections on revenue, margins and start up costs were spot on, thanks in part to this great software tool. I recommended it it to several prospective bakery owners as a well-priced tool to start turning their dream into a viable business reality.

Pros

Live Plan was perfect for my needs - it helped me shape my strategic plan and think through my start-up capital requirements and revenue projections. I loved that it gave me some industry benchmarks and suggested budget items (like employee payroll liabilities) I hadn't thought of. The templates were also very helpful to show me what a plan should look like.

Cons

I didn't like that the software didn't highlight at the beginning how to coordinate between my LivePlan line items and my Quick Bookls like items. It made using the review feature (to compare projections with performance) more difficult to use.

Good for planning and forecasting, rubbish at Actuals to compare performance against plan

Checked my business plan was viable, helped me clarify my thought processes. Gave me something to measure performance against. Unfortunately doesnt integrate to Zoho Books (as of March 2018), nor is there any opton to import from a CSV or other spreadsheet format. If you are a Xero or QB user you can link to get your actuals for comparison against plan, BUT proceed with caution. You cant undo the data import - everything needs deleting manually, and you cant choose which timeframe you import data for. Its last 2 years plus current year and thats that. So if your business has changed significantly and you only want say last six months dat you cant achieve this

Pros

Cloud based, easy step by step process for planning for novices. Once you have put in the basics of revenue streams and costs its very easy to play "what if" type questions and see the impact on your forecast. You can get into enormous detail if you want or build this up over time as you develop your thought process.

Cons

Where the product really falls down is when you want to compare with Actuals. It only connects to Xero and Quick Books and you have no control over the data or time period that it syncs at all - current year plus last two years, which is rubbish if your business has pivoted and you only want the last six months data for example. Whats worse is you cant roll back the sync - you have to manually delete all sync'd data. Further if you dont use Xero or QBooks, there is no option to import from a spreadsheet - so again you need a data entry person to manually enter actual data unless you want to spend ages doing it yourself... Very disappointed as up to this point had liked the platform.

Worth it!

Excellent- working together with our consultant/advisor allowed us to piece together a concrete business plan and presentation we were proud of.

Pros

This software not only integrates with our QBO, but also by utilizing the professional advisor helped us achieve the reports/business plan we needed to present to the bank. It made us feel confident and secure in our numbers and gave us a clear view of our past, present and future! I highly recommend LivePlan. If you need organization and a business plan and forecast- what are you waiting for? LivePlan makes planning easier!

Cons

I tried using on my own-it was a struggle- I found working along side a LivePlan advisor made all the difference!

No Quarter or Semi-annual projection options - only monthly or annual; not practical

Customer Service / Chat and Email - The company seems very small. There was no one to respond to questions and a ticket was created. It is not software to be used for a startup business - quarterly reporting is customary and usual in the US. I hope it improves for the benefit of others.

Pros

This product may be good for existing business - it could be utilized for other businesses we operate that have an existing track record. However, it is not software to be used for a startup business.

Cons

For a startup business looking into sales forecasting, it is highly unusual to post monthly revenues and costs - it is 'overly precise' and a recipe for failure. Quarterly and semi-annual forecasting is absent from the software package. I do not know of businesses which file taxes each month nor annually, but those are the options provided by LivePlan.

Thank you for this software

I don't think it could be easier for someone who is unfamiliar with formal business plans to produce an accurate and professional result. I learned more about running my small business from a week of focused work in this software than I have from any other single source. It has fundamentally changed the way I view my business ventures and it will undoubtedly save me from many cash flow frustrations in the future. Highly recommend.

Pros

Logical & progressive layout, detailed instructions, examples. I especially appreciate that so far, I have hardly run into any situation that I could not accurately represent in the business plan because there has always been an appropriate option.

Cons

I haven't used every feature yet. I will update if I have suggestions, but for now I'm still learning.