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How to Write the Company Overview for a Business Plan
10 min. read
Updated January 17, 2024
What does your business structure look like? Who is involved? What’s your history?
These are all important questions that you’ll answer by writing the company overview section of your business plan.
We’ll explain what to include, how to write it, and provide completed examples for you to reference.
- What is a company overview?
The company overview (or business overview) section of your business plan briefly explains the legal structure, management team, and history of your business.
The company overview is typically the shortest chapter of your plan and works as a sort of company record.
It’s incredibly important if you’re seeking investment as it explains how the business is legally structured and who is involved from an ownership and management perspective.
However, you likely don’t need a company overview if you don’t plan on presenting or sharing the plan with someone outside of your business.
- What to include in the company overview
What’s included in your company overview depends on how you intend to use your business plan.
For example , if you don’t intend on sharing your plan with anyone outside of your organization, you can likely skip documenting simple legal information.
For this guide, we’ll cover the basics that most businesses should include in their company description.
Business structure
First, you’ll want to define what type of organization your business is registered as. The most common business structures in the US include:
- Sole proprietor
- Partnership
Take some time to understand the differences. Your business structure will impact how you file your taxes , your liability for business debt, and the type of insurance you’ll need.
For the purposes of this section, it provides context for how your business legally operates. Consider adding an explanation of why you chose this specific structure and how it impacts your business.
Read More: Types of Business Structures Explained
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You’ll also need to outline the ownership stake in your company. Just list out who owns what percentage of your business, even if it’s just you.
It may also be useful to include how each individual is involved in your business.
However, if an investor or equity holder is involved in day-to-day operations, you may want to go more in depth on the management portion of your company overview, detailing each member’s experience and qualifications.
Location(s)
Include basic logistical information about where your business is located , additional locations the business owns, and any locations that may be acquired in the near future.
Don’t worry about going overly in-depth regarding each location’s facilities and operational functions. You will cover those details as part of the operations section of your business plan .
Company history
Your company background or history is the “Once upon a time…” of your business plan. At a minimum, you should include:
- When it was founded
- Who was involved
- Major milestones up to this point
The details in this section will vary depending on who this business plan is being presented to and the stage of your company.
For example: if you’re a relatively young business, don’t assume you have no history.
It may not be a lengthy epic, but you have the history of who came up with the idea , how they came up with it, and how and why other people joined.
This can matter to potential investors.
So, stay flexible when describing your history. Always keep your specific business purpose and your target reader in mind.
If you share your plan with a third party, focus on presenting a strong track record of success and good decision-making. If you have a longer history, there are likely highlights to include and some key points you want to make.
Just make sure not to bore them by overloading your plan with lengthy information that doesn’t connect back to your key business decisions.
Management team
The management team section of your business plan is where you showcase your team and their finest attributes.
Be sure to include details about yourself and your employees , including:
- Work experience
- Past successes
- Degrees or other credentials
Professional gaps and planned hires
There may be team members you know you’re lacking. In that case, mention these roles and your plans to fill them.
Include which people might be taking on multiple responsibilities to fill the current gap. Additionally, if you have specific people in mind, include them, even if they aren’t currently on staff.
It’s worth pulling in supporting data from your personnel forecast that’s part of your financial plan . It doesn’t have to be overly detailed. It can just be a simple personnel table with reference to where the full financial exploration is located.
Board of advisors
If you have mentors or board members who aren’t directly involved, but help you to define your vision and overall strategy—they’re also worth mentioning.
This can bolster your credibility through association with well-respected and experienced individuals.
Just like with your management team and staff, include their name, position, credentials, experience, and any other important information that showcases why their involvement is valuable.
Similarly, if you are working with a lawyer , accountant, or other supporting professional—include them.
- How to write your company overview
The company overview is one of the more straightforward sections when writing a business plan. You already know what to include, so here’s how we recommend you approach the writing process.
1. Cover the basics
Start by listing and grouping your business information into the appropriate sections.
Depending on what you intend to do with your plan, this may be all you need for now. This is a high-level overview of your business; the most important thing is having all the necessary information in one place.
Focus on brevity.
You can always reference other areas of your plan and house additional documents (like resumes, articles of incorporation, legal documents, full company timeline, etc.) in your appendix .
2. List the high points of your history
Take the time to accurately reflect your company history. Avoid creating a vague story or an overly long narrative documenting every small decision you’ve made.
Like everything else in this section, keep it short and sweet. Highlight key dates, milestones (like a product or service launch), and other crucial events that impacted the trajectory of your business.
Remember, you can always point to other areas of your plan when necessary.
3. Adjust to your target audience
While we recommend keeping this section simple, it may require updates depending on who is reading your plan. That typically means adding more context or reasoning for why your business is set up as it is.
For example: You start as a partnership and include your business structure as a formality. However, you are now planning to apply for a loan . It would be worth revisiting the overview at this stage to add a brief statement about why you chose this structure and how it impacts your business.
- Company overview examples
Even if you know what to include, it can still be helpful to review completed business overview examples to confirm you’re on the right track.
Agriculture farm company overview example
Ownership & structure.
Botanical Bounty is an Oregon L.L.C. owned by David and Susan Nealon. The L.L.C. business structure has been chosen as a strategic way to shield the Nealons from personal liability.
Botanical Bounty has been in operation for two years. It started as a hobby where Susan could use her plant biology skills while covering some of the costs. The Nealons were able to achieve this lifestyle due to a windfall that David received as a result of exercising stock options.
After the second year, the Nealons decided that although they had the money to live on for many years, it would be irresponsible to needlessly spend it so they got serious about the business and made a concerted effort to become profitable.
Botanical Bounty has chosen the Willamette River Valley as an ideal place to grow perennials and owns 10 acres of land used for production. During several of the winter months, production is moved into their greenhouse for propagation. Botanical Bounty employs a drip irrigation system for all of the plants.
Botanical Bounty will be led by the husband and wife team of David and Sue Nealon. David brings a wealth of business and project management skills to the company.
While working at Yahoo!, David was responsible for the successful launch and market lead capture of Yahoo!’s driving directions section. David will be responsible for the business operations of the farm.
Sue, with a background in plant biology, will be the driving force of the operation, growing the highest active ingredient content plants in the country. Additionally, because of her wealth of knowledge, she will lead the sales department.
Nursing home company overview example
Ownership & structure.
Bright House is chartered as a nonprofit 501(C)(3) corporation in Middletown, CT, with the goal of providing holistic and respectful assisted living and skilled nursing home care to a small group of elderly residents.
Our primary location is the old Wayfield Bed and Breakfast on Farmer’s Road, which we have spent the last five months converting into a two-building nursing home facility in line with Eden Alternatives “Greenhouse” model for enlightened elder living.
Management Team
Bright House offers a different management structure from that of the typical hospital-model nursing home. Our primary caregivers, the 6 Elder Assistants, work as a self-managed team. They meet with the Medical Director and the nurse on-call every morning to coordinate care for the coming day.
The Medical Director has the ultimate responsibility for the health and well-being of all residents and visitors. However, the nursing and caregiving staff have unique knowledge about the residents’ physical, social, and mental well-being. They are expected to note, discuss, and recommend courses of action for all residents who, in their combined estimation, need help.
Our compensation packages, management structure, and caregiving requirements are designed to continually remind our LPNs and Elder Assistants how very valuable they are.
Dr. Mildred Johnson is our Medical Director
Dr. Johnson has served as the head of Gerontology for six years at The Connecticut Hospital and oversaw the creation last year of their Elder Assistant training program, which provides certification for Certified Nursing Assistants (CNA) to provide in-home hospice and respite care.
Dr. Johnson has 20 years of experience working with elderly patients in this area and has been integral in designing the physical layout, management structure, and priorities of Bright House.
The rest of our already-hired caregiving staff brings a whopping 75 years of professional experience in caring for elderly patients.
Financial Management
Madeleine Morgan has been overseeing the financial management of nonprofit organizations in Connecticut for 27 years.
She became involved in our project when her mother developed a long-term care plan with Dr. Johnson which included home-based hospice care.
“I wish everyone could have the same love and attention Dr. Johnson showed to my mother,” Madeleine said.
Ms. Morgan will be in charge of all financial operations at Bright House, overseeing billing, personnel payment and benefits, and development efforts.
Advertising and Marketing
We are fortunate to have a skilled public relations officer in our group. Janice Ruthers is a retired ad executive living in Middletown with her husband (a professor at the university).
She will be working 20 hours per week in our offices as a volunteer for the first two years of our plan, helping us design advertisements and brochures and plan events like our Open House in December to let the public see the results of our efforts.
Management Team Gaps
We still need to hire one swing-shift LPN and one Elder Assistant. We are currently recruiting through Dr. Johnson’s connections at The Connecticut Hospital and expect to complete our team by mid-December at the latest.
- Explore more business plan examples
Want to see more examples like these? Check out our library of over 550+ sample business plans to see how other real-world businesses structured their company overview sections.
You can also download a free business plan template to ensure you cover all the necessary details. It includes step-by-step instructions to make writing quick and easy.
Tim Berry is the founder and chairman of Palo Alto Software , a co-founder of Borland International, and a recognized expert in business planning. He has an MBA from Stanford and degrees with honors from the University of Oregon and the University of Notre Dame. Today, Tim dedicates most of his time to blogging, teaching and evangelizing for business planning.
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When you start a company, you ideally want it to grow. If you’re seeking a business loan to scale your business or an initial investment to get your business off the ground, you’re going to need a business plan . Putting together a business plan can be an intimidating process that involves a lot of steps and writing — but breaking it down piece by piece can help you accomplish this seemingly insurmountable task.
One small piece of your business plan is the company overview, so let’s take a look at what that is, exactly, check out some company overview examples and go over how to make a company overview of your very own.
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What is a company overview?
A company overview provides the reader of your business plan with basic background information about your company so they have an understanding of what you do, who the management team is and what customers your business serves.
The company description is the second piece of a business plan, falling right after the executive summary. Similar to the executive summary, your company overview will be short and succinct. Your reader needs to have a grasp on what your business does and who your customers are, even if they have limited time.
Why do I need a company overview?
The company overview is the part of your business plan that gives the basics and background of your business. It’s the foundation on which you will build the rest of your business plan.
If you’re looking to appeal to investors or potential clients, you need a reader to make an informed decision about your company. Before they can do that, they must know what your company does and who your customer is. Lenders in particular need a reason to keep reading, since they see tons of business plans regularly. The company overview provides those answers, and it will help you get a better sense of your business so you can firm up things like your marketing plan.
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Once we uncover your personalized matches, our team will consult you on the process moving forward.
What should I include in a company overview?
The exact elements that you need in your company overview will depend upon what details of your business are important, but there are some foundational elements that will be included in every company overview.
Once you’ve covered the basics, you can include any other minor details that will benefit a reader who will need to make an informed decision about your business.
Basic company information
Consider the company overview like an introduction for your business. In the opening paragraph of your company overview, you’ll want to include basic company information. That includes:
Your company name: This should be the official name of your business, exactly as it is written when you registered your business with the state.
Business structure: Your reader will want to know what business entity your company comes in: sole proprietorship, LLC, partnership or corporation.
Location(s): Share where your business is headquartered and other locations the business owns.
Ownership and management team
Break down who owns your business and how each owner is involved with the business. What shares of the company belong to whom? If you have a highly involved management team, share their names and key roles with the company as well.
Company history
Part of what makes your company unique is its history. And, even startups have some history. Don’t put too much focus on this section, but do add some personality and interesting details if possible, especially if they relate to your company culture.
Mission statement
Your company’s mission statement should be included in the company overview. If you don’t yet have a company mission statement, that’s okay. Think of a mission statement as the purpose of your company.
If you don’t have one, you can create one with your team. Or you can simply replace the mission statement with a problem statement. Your business idea should exist to solve a problem or pain point faced by your customers. Share what that problem is and what your business does to solve it. That’s essentially your mission statement.
Product/service and customer
This section of the company overview is where you can share the nitty-gritty details of your business. Talk about what product or service you provide and to whom you provide it. You can share some numbers here, but in general, save the numbers for later in your business plan.
The company overview should give the reader a general understanding of your business, your product or service, and your customer. If they’re interested to know more, they’ll reach out to you for a meeting or take the time to read the rest of your business plan. Keep it simple and straightforward here.
Future goals
While concrete details and facts about your business are important to whoever is reading your company overview, it’s also important to share your dreams and your vision. If you’re writing a business plan for a business that’s already in place, it’s very likely you’re looking for business financing to scale or solve a business problem. If you’re just starting out, though, then it’s likely you’re hoping to find startup funding.
The section on your future business goals should include a brief description of your growth goals for your business. Where you are now tells the reader a lot, but they also want to know where you plan to go.
A company overview is comprised of many small parts. Each part shares just a little bit more about your company with your reader.
Tips for writing a company overview
While a company overview is simply the details of your company written out, it might not be easy to write. Break it down into small steps and use these tips to make putting together your company overview just a little bit easier.
Start with the elevator pitch
If your business is already in operation, then you likely have an elevator pitch. Your company overview can start off with your elevator pitch.
The first paragraph of your company overview should include just a few sentences that explain your business and what you do. The shorter and clearer this is, the more likely your reader will understand and keep reading.
Stick to the basics
It’s tempting to pile on all the details when you’re writing a company overview. Remember, many of the details of your company, including the numbers, will be included in later sections of your business plan.
Your company overview should include only the most basic details about your company that the reader needs to know.
Be passionate
When you share the history, mission statement, and vision for the future of your company, it’s okay to show your passion. You wouldn’t be in business if you didn’t love what you do.
Your excitement for your business could spark interest for the reader and keep them engaged with your company overview and business plan.
Keep it succinct
When you’re passionate about something, it’s easy to get carried away. Remember that you’ve got plenty of space for details in your business plan. The company overview should be just the most basic information someone needs to understand your business.
It’s OK if your first draft of your company overview is long. Simply go through and edit it to be shorter, removing unnecessary details and words each time you read through it. Clear, concise descriptions are more likely to be read and to keep the reader reading to other sections of your business plan.
Have structure
Your company overview is just one piece of a multi-tiered business plan. Creating a clear structure for your business plan makes it easier to read. The same is true for your company overview.
Your business plan should have chapters, one of which is the company overview. Then, you can further break down the content for easy skimming and reading by adding sub-chapters. You can denote these breaks in content with bold headers.
While you can break down each section of the company overview with bold headers based on the above suggestions, you can also interweave some information together, such as the company structure and leadership structure. Each section should be only a few sentences long.
Write it later
If you’re struggling to write your company overview, come back to it. Write the rest of your business plan first and then write your company overview.
While this might seem like the opposite way of doing things, knowing what will be contained in the rest of your business plan can help you to focus in on the very most essential details in the company overview and to leave everything else out.
Get a test reader
If you’re struggling to edit down your company overview, get a test reader. Ideally, you’ll want to ask someone who doesn’t know a lot about your business. They’ll help you understand whether or not you’ve clearly communicated your message.
Proofreading is the final step in editing something you’ve written. This type of editing looks for typos, misspellings and grammatical errors that have been missed. Many of these small errors can be difficult to spot in our own writing, so be sure to ask someone who hasn’t seen multiple drafts of your company overview.
Company overview examples
If you don’t want to shell out for business planning software, but would still like some company overview examples to get you started, there are many places online you can look to for help getting started, like the Small Business Administration and SCORE.
Many successful companies also have some version of their company overview made public as their company profile page online. There are some variations from the company overview steps we’ve listed above, of course, but you can use the language and style of these company overview examples for inspiration:
Starbucks company profile .
Puma company page .
TaskRabbit About page .
Peloton company page .
Nestlé About page .
If you’re still feeling stuck, or want more company overview examples, try searching the websites of your favorite companies for more information. You might be surprised what you find — the Nestlé page, for example, has more information about their strategy and business principles.
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