Hire the Top 3% of Freelance Business Plan Consultants
Toptal is a marketplace for top business plan consultants and experts. Top companies and startups hire freelance business plan consultants from Toptal for their mission critical projects.
Vikram relaunched his consulting practice after a 25-year career in investment finance and strategy, evaluating investments and advising senior managers at Disney, Wellington Management, and Booz Allen. He enjoys freelancing because it provides him with the opportunity to work with fascinating entrepreneurs, investors, and business leaders, helping them solve noteworthy business problems, build sustainable businesses, and allocate capital wisely.
Alessandro is a financial expert who delivered over $6 billion in growth for startups and Fortune 500 corporations. He identified, pursued, negotiated, and integrated several M&A deals and demonstrated a high level of operations, sales, finance, IT, HR, legal, and cultural understanding to manage national and international growth projects. Alessandro has a background in economics, holds an executive MBA in corporate finance, and is certified in disruptive strategy by Harvard University.
Trevor is an experienced entrepreneur and banker with a background in business plan development, financial modeling, M&A, capital raising, and business valuation. He has worked and advised clients across many industries. Trevor has worked on over $5 billion of M&A and financing transactions and has advised clients ranging from early-stage startups to multi-billion dollar businesses.
Sowmitra holds an MBA in strategy and finance from HEC Paris and is a seasoned strategy and M&A specialist based out of London, United Kingdom, with nearly 12 years of experience. He has had senior roles working for organizations such as EY-Parthenon and Deloitte, leading and delivering strategic projects for clients in over ten countries. Sowmitra is eager to use his expertise and background via Toptal to help organizations achieve their full strategic potential.
Over his 16+ years as a professional, Olov has conducted 34 M&A engagements for corporate investors and 36 M&A engagements for financial investors, including private equity, investment companies, venture capital, and hedge funds. Olov has experience in M&A strategy, acquisitions, divestitures, fundraising, joint ventures, and M&A training. He has worked across many verticals in Europe, the US, and Asia.
As a Deloitte consulting manager, Aaleem led the creation of a business plan and financial model for a city-owned real estate firm that enabled them to develop 50 properties in 10 years. He has helped owners of small companies and executive teams at multi-billion dollar entities optimize their businesses through financial analysis. Aaleem travels extensively, and freelancing allows him to deliver value to companies from any city in the world.
Swapnil is a finance expert with 16 years of experience and an MBA in finance. He has advised on M&A transactions, fundraising, and valuations worth $13 billion at bulge bracket investment banks (BNP Paribas and SMTB). He is also the co-founder of two startups, and he has advised other SME entrepreneurs at the intersection of business planning, fundraising, and scaling up through M&A and organic growth. Swapnil enjoys interacting with entrepreneurs and helping them maximize business value.
Over the past twenty years, Kenny has been helping companies expand as a CEO, COO, and managing director. He has been instrumental in finding creative solutions to advance company objectives and has singlehandedly secured over $300 million in new business since 2015. Kenny has worked with WGC International, Ninety Plus Coffee, and InBEV Thailand on financial structure and strategy, technical consulting, retail franchising, and distribution. He enjoys freelancing for select companies.
Alec executed over $5 billion in corporate, private equity, and venture capital transactions during his tenure at Swiss Re Principal Investments Company and Tencent, the leading internet company. He co-founded a financial advisory company in Hong Kong, advising companies in China, Southeast Asia, and Central Asia. Alec enjoys freelancing because it allows him to connect and collaborate with other passionate business founders to seize opportunities and challenges together.
Stan worked on nine-to-ten figure M&A and IPO deals in New York and Toronto as an investment banker, turned around a public company as the CFO and COO, and invested venture capital funds into startups, helping them enter new markets in Southeast Asia. He has a bachelor of commerce, an MBA from the University of Toronto, and an accounting designation. Stan is currently investing in and building startups mainly in the fintech sector and joined Toptal to work on interesting projects worldwide.
As a skilled CFA charterholder, Sean specializes in commercial modeling and growth strategy for startups and corporate innovations. With over five years of experience working in venture capitals, accelerators, and CVC, he has helped 20+ startups to develop their growth strategies, business plans, and financial models. Currently, Sean is working with the largest insurer in Australia to create an incubation ecosystem for insurtech, which includes industry, VC, academic, and government sectors.
Business plan specialists have the industry knowledge and expertise to develop a business plan that maximizes your company’s potential and attracts investors. This guide to hiring business plan experts offers insight into best practices, skill requirements, job description tips, and interview questions and answers to help you identify the best candidate for your needs.
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Testimonials
Martin so far is a complete Rockstar.
His first bit of work produced a tool for us to model and forecast our financials and is far and away worth every penny we paid and more.
Just thought I’d share that with you.
Pete Pellizzari
CEO
Erik has been an extremely valuable member of our team who has tremendous breath of experience with start ups in our lifecycle phase. What makes his contribution unique and highly effective is not only his excellent financial modeling skills and knowledge, but also the emotional intelligence with which he manages each relationship at Vault, understands our team dynamics, and helps us tackle start up challenges effectively. It is rare to find a part-time consultant who makes you feel like he/she is genuinely invested in the success of your company.
Romy Parzick
COO
Toptal has been an incredible key partner for Sidekick. As an early-stage start-up, we’ve leveraged both design and financial talent. The experience has been incredible, with those professionals bringing creativity, expertise, and advice to ensure Sidekick succeeds. My Toptal financial expert helped steer Sidekick’s business model, which resulted in an initial ROI of 650x! My experience with Toptal has given me great confidence in the future.
Doug MacKay
Founder / CEO
Chris was great to work with and was always available on my schedule. His communication skills and personality were a 10/10. His outputs on the project were top notch and allowed us to develop more efficient forecasting and initiative prioritization frameworks. I would definitely use Chris again.
Chris Pozek
CEO
What really sets Toptal apart is the caliber of finance talent available in their network. I had a very specific and pressing need, and Toptal quickly matched me with the perfect person for the job. The expert produced a thoughtful and robust financial analysis that has ultimately allowed us to forecast and prioritize initiatives much more efficiently.
Chris Pozek
CEO
How to Hire Talent Through Toptal
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Talk to One of Our Client Advisors
A Toptal client advisor will work with you to understand your goals, technical needs, and team dynamics.
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Work With Hand-selected Talent
Within days, we'll introduce you to the right talent for your project. Average time to match is under 24 hours.
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The Right Fit, Guaranteed
Work with your new business plan consultant for a trial period (pay only if satisfied), ensuring they're the right fit before starting the engagement.
Capabilities of Business Plan Consultants
Map out your company’s growth and attract investors with a custom business plan developed by Toptal consultants. With wide-ranging expertise in market research, financial analysis, and strategic development, Toptal business experts help companies grow and thrive.
Custom Business Plan Writing
Strategic planning turns your company’s unique objectives and capabilities into a roadmap that enables leaders to set goals, establish milestones, manage risk, and secure funding. Toptal finance experts help you transform your vision and business model into a winning pathway toward growth.
Business Model Consulting
Your business model is the foundation of your company’s plan. Our finance experts help companies choose the right business model for their product, target market, and operational capabilities. They can refine your value proposition, customer segments, revenue streams, distribution channels, cost structure, and other key elements.
Business Strategy Development
Toptal consultants will analyze your company’s competitive advantages and growth opportunities, and help you set objectives, establish KPIs, develop tactics, and allocate resources. Then, they’ll translate these strategies into plans that drive value and sustainable growth.
Financial Projections and Budgeting
Financial projections and budgets are essential components of a company’s strategic plan. Toptal experts develop reliable financial projections and budgets that will enable your company to estimate future performance and allocate resources strategically.
Market Research and Analysis
In order to build an effective plan, you must understand your customers’ needs and preferences, identify opportunities, and assess the competitive landscape. Toptal finance consultants perform market research to help your company develop effective strategies, mitigate risks, and optimize your positioning for growth and success.
Risk Assessment and Mitigation
Risk management strategies are an essential components of strategic planning. Anticipating risks and knowing how to deal with them helps you protect your interests and maintain continuity during challenging times. Our consultants can help you identify potential threats and develop strategies to mitigate them.
Operational Planning and Workflow Optimization
Toptal consultants can bring your company’s plan to life with operational planning and workflow optimization. They can help you outline or improve the day-to-day functions of your business, ensuring that teams are organized, properly resourced, and pursuing goals that support your company’s strategy.
Startup Business Planning
Startups are unique among businesses. As a founder, you face high uncertainty and rely on considerable outside investment. Toptal consultants can help your startup build plans that showcase your innovation, agility, and growth potential to attract investors.
Investor-ready Business Plans
Toptal finance experts understand what investors care about most. They can build custom plans that highlight your company’s growth potential, scalability, fundraising needs, exit strategies, and potential return on investment—all geared toward attracting the interest of venture capitalists, banks, private equity, and other investors.
Ongoing Support and Revisions
A strategic plan is a living document, and you should revisit it as your company grows and changes. Our consultants can help you evaluate and update your plans to reflect new market realities, strategic shifts, fresh opportunities or threats, changes in financial performance, and more.
Find Experts With Related Skills
Access a vast pool of skilled finance experts in our talent network and hire the top 3% within just 48 hours.
To hire the right talent, it’s important to evaluate a candidate’s experience, technical skills, and communication skills. You’ll also want to consider the fit with your particular industry, company, and project. Toptal’s rigorous screening process ensures that every member of our network has excellent experience and skills, and our team will match you with the perfect talent for your project.
What do I need to look for when I choose a business plan consultant online?
Do not hire a business plan consultant online without interviewing them at least once, ideally via video conference so you can evaluate your rapport with them. It’s critical to ask them questions about your industry, their industry-specific experience, and their thoughts on current trends—all elements you can’t gauge from an online résumé. In addition to evaluating their experience and knowledge, it’s important to validate it through examples of work products and references.
How do I choose between two quality business plan consultant candidates?
When you have two highly qualified consultants vying for an engagement with your company, compare their skills with your internal capabilities and select the consultant who best complements the skills you and your team have. You’ll also want to consider their interpersonal skills and general fit with your preferred ways of working. Your objective should be to hire the consultant who rounds out the most capable team you can create to develop your business plan.
Do I need to hire a business plan consultant?
You should strongly consider hiring a business plan consultant. Business plan professionals offer significant benefits through their expertise and unbiased point of view. They’ll stress-test your current plans, identify potential risks and growth opportunities, provide a market analysis and industry insights, and ensure that your business plan is credible, positioned to maximize your company’s potential, and appealing to investors.
Who are business plan consultants and how do they add value?
A business plan consultant is a highly qualified individual who combines the skills of a management consultant and a CFO to advise and assist management teams of businesses of all sizes. Beyond creating business plans, they can assist with a number of projects, including market sizing; go-to-market and customer acquisition strategies; pricing and monetization planning; and fundraising strategy. Additionally, they can help you produce a pitch deck, board presentations and presentation materials, research and market reports, financial models, analyses, forecasts, and more.
How are Toptal business plan consultants different?
At Toptal, we thoroughly screen candidates to ensure we only match you with the highest caliber of talent. Of the more than 200,000 people who apply to join the Toptal network each year, fewer than 3% make the cut.
In addition to screening for industry-leading expertise, we also assess candidates’ language and interpersonal skills to ensure that you have a smooth working relationship.
When you hire with Toptal, you’ll always work with world-class, custom-matched talent ready to help you achieve your goals.
How quickly can you hire with Toptal?
Typically, you can hire a skilled professional with Toptal in about 48 hours. For larger teams of talent or Managed Delivery, timelines may vary. Our talent matchers are highly skilled in the same fields they’re matching in—they’re not recruiters or HR reps. They’ll work with you to understand your goals, technical needs, and team dynamics, and match you with ideal candidates from our vetted global talent network.
Once you select your talent, you’ll have a no-risk trial period to ensure they’re the perfect fit. Our matching process has a 98% trial-to-hire rate, so you can rest assured that you’re getting the best fit every time.
Can you hire talent on an hourly basis or for project-based tasks?
You can hire skilled professionals on an hourly, part-time, or full-time basis. Toptal can also manage the entire project from end-to-end with our Managed Delivery offering. Whether you hire an expert for a full- or part-time position, you’ll have the control and flexibility to scale your team up or down as your needs evolve. Our talent can fully integrate into your existing team for a seamless working experience.
What is the no-risk trial period?
We make sure that each engagement between you and your selected talent begins with a trial period of up to two weeks. This means that you have time to confirm the engagement will be successful. If you’re completely satisfied with the results, we’ll bill you for the time and continue the engagement for as long as you’d like. If you’re not completely satisfied, you won’t be billed. From there, we can either part ways, or we can provide you with another expert who may be a better fit and with whom we will begin a second, no-risk trial.
Nicholas is a corporate strategy and FP&A expert who works with businesses to optimize their operations and execute high-priority strategic initiatives. He has helped entrepreneurs raise more than $600 million.
Every Company Needs an Effective Business Plan to Maximize Its Potential
A comprehensive business plan details a company’s present and expected future status and needs in order to guide strategic decisions and resource requirements. Research has shown that, historically, companies with strategic plans have grown 30% faster than those without them and that companies with plans have been nearly twice as likely to receive funding. That’s because potential investors and investment banks often won’t take your business seriously without a comprehensive business plan.
While business plans are proven to maximize potential at all stages of maturity, many business leaders fail to develop or execute them. They may believe it isn’t worth the investment, or they may be overwhelmed by the number of steps involved and the amount of information required to get started. Other business owners may attempt to develop such plans without external assistance.
However, many company owners do recognize that specialized skills are required to maximize the impact of a strategic plan and to develop a complementary pitch deck for potential investors. These executives typically hire an expert to guide them through the entire strategic planning process. This hiring guide offers insights into how to select and hire a professional who can advise and collaborate with you to deliver the business plan you need.
What Attributes Distinguish Quality Business Plan Consultants From Others?
Above all else, quality consultants have business planning and industry-specific experience. Typically, more experience equals more expertise, but don’t get caught up in thinking about experience only in terms of years. Once a professional consultant has five or more years of experience, other factors, such as the number of plans written and the number of successful funding rounds they’ve been involved in, are more important.
When selecting an advisor, it’s important to find someone who develops complete plans frequently, has a strong track record of success, and has specialized industry experience relevant to your business. For example, the core components of business plans in healthcare and construction may be similar, but industry-specific knowledge adds significant credibility when detailing the organization’s strategic direction, financial plans and models, and resource requirements.
Quality business planners provide clear and concise guidance, and work with you and your management team to develop primary and contingency strategies. The consultant should be able to collaborate effectively during the planning process and illuminate potential shortcomings and pitfalls of an existing or new plan. While they may use a standardized template for creating strategic plans, the consultant should be willing and able to customize the plan to meet your organization’s specific needs.
How Can You Identify the Ideal Business Plan Consultant for Your Business?
The ideal consultant will possess a mix of hard and soft skills across multiple business areas so that they can skillfully craft a successful plan and pitch deck. The best consultants have these complementary skills:
Industry knowledge – The specialist best suited to help your organization will have solid industry knowledge and significant experience working with other companies in your sector. Understanding the industry, its competitive landscape, significant trends, and market segments is critical to developing an effective business and marketing plan.
Market research and analysis – This skill is required to establish accurate estimates of the total market, total addressable market, serviceable market, and obtainable markets. Consultants need to gather and analyze significant amounts of data, interpret the results, and derive target markets and market-share goals for your company.
Financial modeling and forecasting – In addition to validating existing financial plans, the consultant should be able to provide insight into current and alternative pricing strategies for revenue growth, understand whether capital and resource assumptions are valid given industry-average and best-in-class capital efficiencies, and confirm that margin expectations are reasonable given other operating assumptions. In-house financial analysts may be able to help fill this need with guidance from the expert consultant you hire.
Data analysis and visualization – A quality business planner should be able to compile and analyze all the inputs your organization provides and use them to create the components of the plan. This should include a go-to-market strategy that highlights your value proposition, identifies how you’ll reach your target market(s), and convinces investors that your organization has significant growth potential.
Presentation skills and storytelling ability – An underrated but essential value that a specialist can bring is the ability to take all the individual components of the plan and weave them together into a compelling, original story that creates stakeholder buy-in and investor interest.
In addition to the aforementioned important capabilities, the best consultant for your company should demonstrate the following soft skills:
Communication – The consultant should be able to distill complex ideas into accessible concepts to ensure understanding among stakeholders, investors, and employees. They should also be willing and able to ask hard questions and challenge assumptions.
Organization – The expert needs to gather, analyze, and organize extensive data and other inputs from multiple sources. This requires impeccable organization and attention to detail.
Critical and strategic thinking – A quality professional can consider threats, present alternatives, and stress-test the plan to ensure it is sound and considers all possibilities.
An advisor who possesses these complementary soft skills is more likely to be highly effective and deliver a plan that generates a high ROI.
What Criteria Can Hiring Managers Use to Match Business Plan Specialists to Their Specific Industry or Business Needs?
Hiring managers should consider these three critical criteria when matching professionals to their specific industries and needs:
Industry experience – Each industry has a unique environment, with unique relationships between the hiring company and its customers, suppliers, competitors, etc. Navigating different compliance requirements and barriers to entry requires specific knowledge. While there is no set requirement for years of industry-specific experience, three years is a sufficient minimum threshold.
Financial acumen – The consultant should be able to build detailed, dynamic financial models that drive the plan. Experience with three-statement modeling is ideal, as the consultant will need to understand how investment and operating plans impact cash flow, the balance sheet, and the income statement. The hiring manager should prioritize credentials such as advanced degrees and certifications pertaining to corporate finance, valuation, and modeling financial projections when evaluating candidates.
Leadership experience – Hiring managers should look for a consultant with a demonstrated history of leading teams and stakeholders through strategic initiatives. At a minimum, consultants should have reached a managerial level with a focus on strategy and planning. Director- and VP-level experience, along with a track record of successful consulting engagements, becomes more important as the scope and scale of the project at hand increases.
How to Write a Job Description for Your Project
First, define the use case for the business plan and identify the industry in which your company operates. Clearly identifying the sector will help candidates self-select, minimizing the number of irrelevant résumés to review.
Next, specify the experience and any specializations you require. Some technical expertise may be optional: For example, it may not be as important for your consultant to have in-depth financial modeling expertise—as long as that’s a strength of your internal team. On the other hand, your consultant must have extensive knowledge about your industry and market segments.
Your job description should also take into account how far along your organization is in the strategic process. If you have many of the pieces in place and simply need a professional to ensure you have a cohesive and compelling plan to present, you’ll require a different skill set than if you need someone to research, analyze, define, and document the strategic path forward.
What Are the Most Important Business Plan Consultant Interview Questions?
As you prepare to interview your top candidates, you should already have a basic understanding of their experience and skills. During the interviews, it’s important to ask questions that get to the heart of what your organization needs and whether the consultant has the expertise to deliver an effective plan. These questions will help you evaluate and select the best consultant for your situation:
How would you approach this project?
With this question, you’re looking for the consultant to explain how they would use internal and external resources to gather relevant information and craft the story that the business plan will tell as it relates to your specific case. Ideally, the consultant can identify external resources that will provide industry, competitor, and market insights, including potential environmental, regulatory, or legal hurdles and risks.
Can you share your thoughts on the industry’s current state and future outlook?
The consultant you hire should be well versed in your industry, its present state, and the key factors influencing its future. The success of a business strategy hinges on the quality of the market information, data, and insights the expert has access to, and how they will use that information to guide the plan. A qualified professional will be able to discuss total market size, growth rates, key competitors, and significant trends. Their answer should leave you confident that the candidate has the industry experience and knowledge you require.
Can you share specific examples of successful business plans you’ve developed?
The answer to this question should demonstrate how the candidate has applied their expertise in previous engagements or corporate roles. Although the consultant may be able to effectively explain their approach, specific examples will confirm they have the experience and capabilities to deliver what you need. Ask them to define the qualities of a successful engagement to be sure your expectations are aligned.
How do you ensure that a business plan is adaptable and remains relevant?
The last thing you want to do is lead your business down a path that reduces or eliminates agility. The consultant should highlight specific tools, such as scenario and sensitivity analyses, that can be used to develop contingency plans should the primary strategy shift because of changes in the market. The most qualified consultants should be able to identify gaps and trends in the market and suggest potential strategies and technologies to address them.
Additional questions to ask include how the consultant would communicate with you and your internal teams, how they handle disagreements among principals about the strategic direction the organization should pursue, and what, if any, special research and analysis they might perform for this engagement.
A well-rounded consultant will answer your questions in ways that leave you feeling confident in their ability to successfully execute the project and deliver an effective custom plan that maximizes your company’s potential and attracts investors.
How can a hiring manager ensure the confidentiality and security of sensitive information during the hiring process, especially when sharing strategic plans or proprietary data with candidates?
Hiring managers and recruiters can take decisive actions to protect their company’s confidential information during the hiring process. These include:
Requiring candidates to sign nondisclosure agreements before they receive sensitive materials.
Conducting thorough background checks to verify candidates’ credibility, trustworthiness, and adherence to data security protocols.
Using secure document-sharing platforms or virtual data rooms with access controls, encryption, and audit trails.
Using secure communication channels, such as encrypted email services or secure messaging platforms, when sharing sensitive information.
Why Do Companies Hire Business Plan Experts?
Business plan experts can deliver tremendous value to companies that are developing plans to guide strategic decisions or pursue funding. While founders and employees may have a significant grasp of the company, its strategic direction, and its business goals, they may not have the expertise to craft a compelling plan and pitch deck that attracts investors.
One of the quickest ways to lose the interest of potential investors and partners is by presenting a business plan that comes across as disorganized and fragmented. Advisors with extensive experience dealing with investors solve this problem for their clients. They have the well-rounded business background and skill set to contribute and add value to the entire strategic planning process. They have the capability to propel a business forward by weaving a company’s market data, industry trends, business strategy, business goals, and resource requirements into a compelling story for stakeholders and potential investors.
While many business owners develop plans without external assistance, hiring a business planner can significantly increase the quality and credibility of a strategic plan, its likelihood to maximize business success, and its ability to attract investors.
Featured Toptal Business Plan Consulting Publications