Can ChatGPT write a business plan? OpenAI, the artificial intelligence firm co-founded by two-time CEO Sam Altman, has gone from strength to strength with ever more powerful versions of their language model, GPT. The latest foundation model, GPT-4, is capable of complex tasks involving both input and output in natural human language. But for practical purposes, users often need more than pretty prose. Thankfully, the world’s favorite AI chatbot has been trained on all the most common document formats, including the ones you’ll need to build your business and secure investment.

Can you use ChatGPT for business?

Well-formatted and commonly-used documents like business plans can take a lot of time to write. While OpenAI makes no claims of a guaranteed unicorn on your hands, it can at least help write your business plan for you.

Provided that you have an idea and can fill in a few blanks, ChatGPT can add structure and guidance by putting a draft business plan together around the information provided to it. This would include the people involved, the idea itself, how you're going to make sales, and of course the name of your business. ChatGPT can provide suggestions for all of these, but it's up to you to weed out the good ideas from the bad.

Once you've got this information, ChatGPT can format everything for you into a neat and formal document. This is useful if you’re writing one for the first time, and so lacking a bit of know-how or, more likely, hours in the day!

With that caveat out of the way, here's how to use ChatGPT to write a business plan.

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How to use ChatGPT for business

ChatGPT can write documents for you – or at least give you a head start. If you're an executive or entrepreneur, you're looking to save time wherever possible, especially if that can be done without sacrificing results. The ability to use ChatGPT for business will become an invaluable time-saving tool if you haven't started using it already.

Can ChatGPT write a business plan?

Yes, ChatGPT can write a business plan. Thankfully, the layout of this kind of document is pretty formulaic. Even if it weren't OpenAI's LLM (Large Language Model) would have no trouble figuring it out – but consistency helps. Writing your business documents with ChatGPT can remove human error and focus on precisely what your colleagues and investors are looking for.

When starting your own business, the most critical document to flesh out is your business plan. So let's start there.

How to write a business plan with ChatGPT

Much like a good CV, every business plan has a predictable set of sections to include. There can be differences from industry to industry, and business model to business model, but there are fundamentals that every investor will want to look at. With that in mind, here's how to use ChatGPT for business – starting with how to use ChatGPT to write a business plan.

Step

1

Get a simple outline for your business plan

Just ask “Chat GPT can you help me write a simple business plan”, and await its response.

Step

2

Write a tailoired business plan

The more information you provide for Chat GPT, the better it can construct and tailor one. Here we told Chat GPT that we have a business called Random Computer Parts (we don’t), and it uses that information to tailor its response.

Step

3

Add expected costs, sales and profit

If you have already done some financial calculations, you can also include this information into your request. Chat GPT will write a business plan including it to add even more detail.

Step

4

Refine

Once you’ve got a decent layout and structure for your business plan, you can do with it as you wish.

Chat GPT can add more detail which you can then use as inspiration for your own version – you just need to ask it what you’d like to include.

Having chat GPT write a business plan is a useful tool, but it checking editing and putting it into the format you actually want will be key.

How are people using ChatGPT for business?

There are countless ways you can use ChatGPT for business. The chatbot can draft emails, generate weekly schedules, and can even help you with digital marketing. Essentially, ChatGPT can answer any query that can be solved using a text response. For example, you can ask ChatGPT to summarise meeting notes and generate reports.

What is the future of ChatGPT?

OpenAI has already made some hints revealing the future of ChatGPT. The next version of ChatGPT will be receiving some pretty wicked upgrades such as multimodality. Expect a version of ChatGPT that can take in both text and image inputs – we have to thank OpenAI’s new model, GPT-4, for this.

Moreover, OpenAI is also collaborating with other online services to bring us ChatGPT plugins. This means that ChatGPT can draw on information from other brands such as Expedia and OpenTable.

What is the cost of ChatGPT premium?

There are two paid subscriptions for ChatGPT.

The first premium tier is called ChatGPT Plus. This subscription tier costs $20/month and is designed for individuals.

The second paid tier is called ChatGPT Enterprise. This subscription tier costs a scalable amount based on your number of employees and is designed for businesses.

Final thoughts

Can ChatGPT help you with your business plan? Yes, it has a comprehensive knowledge of popular document formats and can lay out the details it deems most essential for an investor, provided you can supply the information via text prompt. It’s ideal to provide as much information as possible, without submitting anything private or confidential. However, this doesn’t mean it is error-free. AI language tools aren’t experts in your own business or ideas. And so as powerful a tool as it is, it’s a good idea to use ChatGPT as inspiration and for reference to create the final business plan you want.