Two audiences, one document
Founders write business plans as persuasion. Lenders read them as risk documents. The version that works serves both: a short narrative that explains the opportunity, and a financial model where every number can be traced back to something you can defend in a meeting.
The sections that carry weight
Executive summary (one page). What the practice is, where, who runs it, how much capital is needed, and what it is for. Written last.
Your background. For a first practice, this is the strongest section you have. Clinical experience, leadership, production history, community ties.
Market and location. Population, pet ownership patterns, competing practices, drive times, referral relationships. Cite sources rather than asserting demand.
Services and pricing. Species mix, service lines, whether you offer boarding, grooming, retail. Pricing should be grounded in your market, not aspiration.
Staffing model. Doctors, technicians, assistants, front desk, by month. Staffing is usually the largest operating cost, and a schedule that ramps with revenue is more credible than one that starts full.
Financial projections. Monthly for the first two years, annual after that. Revenue built bottom-up from appointments per day, average transaction, and days open — never a top-down "capture one percent of the market."
Assumptions page. The most important page in the document, and the one most plans omit. State the ramp rate, average transaction, staffing timing, and cost inflation you assumed. A lender who can see your assumptions can argue with them; a lender who cannot will simply discount the whole model.
Use of funds and repayment. Where the money goes, line by line, and how the loan is serviced from projected cash flow.
Building projections you can defend
Start with capacity, not with a revenue goal:
- 01How many doctor-hours per week, by month?
- 02How many appointments per doctor-hour, realistically, during ramp?
- 03What is the average transaction for your service mix in your market?
- 04What percentage of production is collected, and when?
Then subtract: cost of professional services and pharmacy, staffing, occupancy, equipment and debt service, insurance, marketing, and your own compensation. Yes, include your compensation. A plan that shows profit only because the owner works free is not a plan.
Red flags lenders notice
- Straight-line revenue growth with no seasonality.
- No owner compensation in the model.
- Staffing costs that do not scale with the projected caseload.
- A working-capital line too small to survive the ramp the plan itself describes.
- Projections that do not tie to the requested loan amount.
Keep it maintained
The plan is not a one-time artifact. Compare actuals to plan monthly for the first two years. The variance conversation — why was this month different — is where owners learn the business faster than any book teaches it.
Where this fits in the Foundation™
The plan and the books should speak the same language. If the chart of accounts mirrors the plan's categories, monthly variance analysis takes minutes instead of an afternoon. That alignment is a structural decision worth making before the first transaction.