LivePlan

LivePlan LivePlan software simplifies business planning, budgeting, forecasting, and performance tracking for small businesses and startups.

Easily write a business plan, secure funding, and get insights to help you reach your goals - all with LivePlan!

05/31/2026

Everyone chasing the perfect business idea is ignoring the one that's been in their neighborhood for decades.

A single dead tree can run $200 to $2,000. Two guys, a couple hours, paid on the spot. The US tree trimming industry brings in close to $40 billion a year, and demand spikes every storm season.

Startup costs land between $10,000 and $50,000 once you factor in the chainsaw, the chipper, and the insurance. The work is dangerous enough that most people won’t even compete, which is exactly why the margins hold.

Start testing your business idea today using our new Idea Canvas tool.

05/29/2026

Uber raised $200K on a pitch deck that ignored their biggest risk.

Their financial slide was a masterclass. Three scenarios, worst case to best case, each tied to how many cities they'd operate in. Investors trust founders who show the full range of possibilities.

But the use case slide deserves a D minus. Business commuting, airport rides, Wi-Fi in the back seat. Not a single mention of the taxi commission, the local government, or the regulators who would eventually go after them. The risk was obvious from day one.

Show investors the full picture, including what could go wrong.

If you’re ready to create a pitch deck for your business, try our new Pitch Deck tool using the link in our bio.

05/28/2026

Loving your idea isn't the same as proving it works.

LivePlan evaluates the evidence behind every part of your business idea as you enter it. Strong evidence, moderate evidence, limited evidence. You see exactly where you stand. Then it tells you what to strengthen and where you might need to pivot before you spend money finding out the hard way.

Tools, structure, and guidance in one place.

Click the link in our bio to learn more.

05/27/2026

Who knew business planning could feel this good 😉

05/26/2026

Start with the problem, not the product.

Communities, forums, Reddit threads, competitor reviews. That's where the real market signal lives. If frustrated customers are already complaining somewhere, you've found a pain point worth testing. If nobody's talking about the problem, that's a signal too.

Then get brutally honest about three numbers. What you'll charge. What it costs to deliver. How many customers it takes to replace what you're earning now. No optimism, no rounding up.

Now take your biggest assumption, the one the whole business depends on, and ask what happens if you're wrong by half. Maybe your price point is 30% lower than you hoped. Maybe demand is thinner than you expected. Does the business still work? If the answer is no, the idea isn't ready yet.

05/22/2026

A chatbot will write your business plan in 30 seconds and tell you it's brilliant.

The content reads like a real plan, but you haven't stress-tested the strategy, the numbers, or how any of it actually fits together. And most chatbots are built to flatter, not push back. So you walk away more confident in an idea nobody has actually challenged.

That's how people end up investing their life savings in ideas that never had a real shot.

Real planning is the work of sitting with the hard questions before you put your savings on the line. If you can't defend your plan, you don't have one yet.

05/21/2026

DoorDash's pitch deck had one A+ slide and one slide that completely ignored their biggest competitor.

45 minutes after the DoorDash founders put up the Palo Alto Delivery website, the first order came in. One founder drove it over himself. That's the literal start of the $80 billion company.

Their 2013 YC Demo Day deck had one slide that earns an A+ in any pitch class. A single number, 31%, week-over-week growth, backed by over $1.5 million in annualized restaurant sales from one suburb where the four co-founders were doing the deliveries themselves.

Then there's the competitive landscape slide. A two-by-two with DoorDash sitting alone in the empty quadrant, a couple of named competitors plotted around them, and the biggest competitor of all nowhere to be found. Restaurants handling their own delivery, missing. Customers deciding to skip delivery entirely, missing.

Always pressure-test your competitive slide before an investor does it for you.

Try our new Pitch Deck tool using the link in our bio.

05/20/2026

Using ChatGPT to write your business plan without doing market research is just guessing.

Anyone investing in your business needs to see real numbers.

Use ChatGPT to help create outlines, but don't take what it gives you to a lender 😅

05/19/2026

How much money does your business actually need?

Robin Studniski, VP & Director of Lending at Stearns Bank, says it's one of her favorite questions from founders. For some businesses, the answer really is a million dollars. For others, it's a fraction of that.

The math is what decides. Borrow a million dollars and your business has to generate enough revenue, after expenses, to pay back a million dollars.

Understand your business plan before you ask for funds.

05/17/2026

A lakefront homeowner just spent $30,000 on a new dock and he’s not complaining.

Dock builders work a narrow seasonal window with equipment most contractors will never own. Pile drivers, barges, marine grade everything, plus shoreline permits and the liability of working over water. The competition thins out fast. The guy living on a lake isn't shopping for three quotes, he's waiting on the one builder who actually picks up the phone.

Standard residential builds run $9,000 to $30,000. Custom cantilever jobs push past $65,000 and the waitlist gets longer every spring.

Got a business idea you've been wanting to test? Use the link in our bio to try our new Idea Canvas tool and find out if it's worth pursuing.

Address

Eugene, OR

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 5pm
Tuesday 8am - 5pm
Wednesday 8am - 5pm
Thursday 8am - 5pm
Friday 8am - 5pm

Website

https://linkin.bio/liveplansoftware/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when LivePlan posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to LivePlan:

Shortcuts

Share