We need a business plan for the bank
Here is how to work out why.

The short answer

A lender is not reading for ambition. They are reading for whether the downside case still services the debt.

Plans written for lenders fail on the same thing: an optimistic single case with no visible arithmetic. The reader is trying to establish whether they get paid back if things go moderately wrong, and a plan with only a good case gives them nothing to test.

What survives scrutiny is a base case with stated assumptions, a downside that is genuinely bad rather than politely reduced, and a clear line from operating performance to debt service in both. The upside case matters least.

The second failure is inconsistency — a revenue line that does not reconcile to the headcount plan, or working capital that does not move with sales. Lenders read these documents for a living and find those quickly.

How to tell this is actually your problem

These three together are the signature. One on its own usually points somewhere else.

✓ You need the document by a deadline set by someone else
✓ The projections exist in a spreadsheet nobody outside the business has stress-tested
✓ There is no downside case, or it is the base case minus ten percent

The move that usually makes it worse. Writing the plan to be persuasive rather than to be checkable, which is the fastest way to lose a reader who checks for a living.

Who this is not for

Percision is the wrong tool if you already know the answer and only need execution capacity, or if the business is pre-revenue — then the constraint is evidence about the market, not analysis of your own figures. Percision is not a lawyer, tax advisor, auditor, licensed appraiser, clinical or regulatory filer, or an AI implementation shop. It does not do HR casework, creative-only brand work, or impersonate a named consulting firm. It is a strategy analysis engine — not a template library. Also wrong if you need facilitation, politics, or someone to sit with a lender or buyer. Those are human jobs.

Percision is not a lawyer, tax advisor, auditor, licensed appraiser, clinical or regulatory filer, or an AI implementation shop. It does not do HR casework, creative-only brand work, or impersonate a named consulting firm. It is a strategy analysis engine — not a template library.

What it looks like in your industry

The diagnosis changes with the shape of the business. Each of these works the same question through one industry's actual economics, with an excerpt from a real analysis run on a company of that type.

What the engine does with this question

It routes to Business Plan Studio (catalog id business-plan), one of 29 engagements. The output is a sequence with a stopping rule — which move first, what it funds next, and the observation that would say it is not working — rather than a list of things you could consider.

Read a complete report before deciding whether it is worth your time.

Published sample run

The figures an engine can cite for this question come from a completed run on Aldergate Partners, a sample profile (professional services, $88M revenue, 310 people), not a customer. Several industry variants currently republish the same excerpt — they are not different datasets.

Addressable proof excerpt — $85K diagnostic → $410K implementation, 25% of diagnostic-eligible opportunities diverted to T&M, $700K / 3.4× / NPV $2.4M, kill criteria as published.

Questions people ask about this

How long should a business plan for a lender be?

Short enough to be read and complete enough to be tested. The financials and the assumptions behind them carry the decision; narrative beyond what is needed to explain them adds risk rather than confidence.

What do lenders actually look at first?

Whether the cash flow services the debt under a case that is not the good one, and whether the numbers reconcile internally. Almost everything else is context for those two.

Do I need three-year or five-year projections?

Match the term of the facility, monthly for the first year. Detail beyond the horizon of the loan signals unfamiliarity rather than rigour.

When is Percision the wrong tool?

Percision is the wrong tool if you already know the answer and only need execution capacity, or if the business is pre-revenue — then the constraint is evidence about the market, not analysis of your own figures. Percision is not a lawyer, tax advisor, auditor, licensed appraiser, clinical or regulatory filer, or an AI implementation shop. It does not do HR casework, creative-only brand work, or impersonate a named consulting firm. It is a strategy analysis engine — not a template library. Also wrong if you need facilitation, politics, or someone to sit with a lender or buyer. Those are human jobs.

Does Percision replace a lawyer, tax advisor, auditor, or AI implementation team?

Percision is not a lawyer, tax advisor, auditor, licensed appraiser, clinical or regulatory filer, or an AI implementation shop. It does not do HR casework, creative-only brand work, or impersonate a named consulting firm. It is a strategy analysis engine — not a template library.