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Starting a business is no small feat!
Did you know 23.2% of new businesses fail in their first year? That’s why having a clear, well-structured plan can make all the difference in crossing that daunting threshold.
I recently came across Upmetrics. It’s a cloud-based business planning tool that guides you through every stage of your business plan with a seamless, user-friendly experience!
Provide Upmetrics with basic information, and the AI will generate your business plan in seconds! Otherwise, choose from one of 400+ customizable templates. From there, get Upmetrics to generate content for your business plan with AI and make manual tweaks!
Upmetrics really feels like you have a business consultant right at your fingertips, and I’m excited to show you how to use it!
In this Upmetrics review, I’ll discuss the pros and cons, what it is, who it’s best for, and its key features. Then, I’ll show you how I used Upmetrics to generate and edit a business plan and pitch deck!
I’ll finish the article by comparing Upmetrics with my top three alternatives (Plus AI, Storydoc, and 15minuteplan). By the end, you’ll know if Upmetrics is right for you!
Verdict
Upmetrics is an excellent choice for business planning with its user-friendly interface, robust collaboration tools, and AI-powered features that make plan creation easier. While there’s a slight learning curve with financial forecasting and a need for Internet access, its comprehensive templates, responsive support, and flexible plans make it a solid investment for businesses of all types!
Pros and Cons
- User-friendly interface.
- Comprehensive features for business planning, financial forecasting, and reporting.
- Real-time collaboration tools that facilitate teamwork and client feedback.
- 400+ customizable templates for different industries and business types.
- AI-powered features to help refine business plans and pitches.
- Cloud-based platform ensuring data security and accessibility.
- Responsive customer support team.
- Flexible subscription plans with the ability to upgrade/downgrade anytime.
- There may be a bit of a learning curve for new users, especially with the financial forecasting tools.
- Requires Internet connection for full functionality.
What is Upmetrics?
Launched in 2015, Upmetrics is a cloud-based business planning platform that makes business planning less intimidating and more collaborative. The platform’s biggest differentiator is its guided approach to business planning!
While competitors tend to focus heavily on financials, Upmetrics takes a more holistic view. They’ve built in these really helpful prompts throughout the planning process, making it feel like you have a business consultant right there with you!
What I love about Upmetrics is that you can access it anywhere so long as you have an Internet connection. The platform works really smoothly on desktop browsers. And while there’s no dedicated mobile app yet, their mobile-responsive web interface does the job pretty well!
The Upmetrics dashboard is clean and intuitive. Everything is organized into logical sections, and each section is color-coded and clearly labeled, making navigation a breeze!
The dashboard also includes helpful progress indicators that show how complete each section of your plan is. I find this visual feedback is really motivating, especially if you tend to get stuck in the planning process.
The financial forecasting tools deserve a special mention, too. Unlike some competitors that overwhelm you with complex spreadsheets, Upmetrics breaks everything down into manageable chunks. You input your numbers step by step, and the platform does all the heavy lifting with the calculations. No more broken formulas or Excel nightmares!
Overall, Upmetrics is a comprehensive solution for entrepreneurs and small businesses. It offers a range of features that facilitate effective business planning and financial management while ensuring ease of use and accessibility.
Who is Upmetrics Best For?
Upmetrics is designed for anyone from first-time entrepreneurs to seasoned business consultants:
- Entrepreneurs and startups can use Upmetrics to create comprehensive business plans and pitch decks. It offers over 400 customizable templates tailored to various industries, making it easier for new business owners to structure their ideas effectively!
- Small business owners can use Upmetrics to expand or launch new products. The platform provides strategic planning and financial forecasting tools to help owners map growth strategies.
- Business consultants and advisors can use Upmetrics to enhance their services and assist clients in business planning. They can also create detailed business plans and financial statements to add value to their offerings.
- Educational institutions can use Upmetrics for business plan competitions or academic projects. They can also use the resources offered by Upmetrics to learn about business planning processes.
- Non-profit organizations can use Upmetrics to develop structured plans for funding and operational strategies. Upmetrics provides financial forecasting and reporting tools, which are crucial for securing grants and donations.
Upmetrics Key Features
Here are Upmetrics’ key features:
- Business Plan Builder & Templates
- Financial Forecasting & Modeling Tools
- Real-Time Collaboration Capabilities
- Document Sharing & Export Options
- Pitch Deck Creator
- Document Management System
- Integration with Other Tools
1. Business Plan Builder & Templates
The heart of Upmetrics is its business plan builder. Upmetrics comes loaded with over 400 industry-specific templates, so getting started is as simple as picking your industry and customizing from there!
What really makes these templates shine is their flexibility. Each section has built-in prompts and examples that make sense for your industry.
2. Financial Forecasting & Modeling Tools
Here’s what I consider the platform’s secret weapon: the financial forecasting tools. Give Upmetrics your basic assumptions (e.g., projected sales, costs, and growth rates), and the AI will automatically generate your financial statements and projections!
The coolest part is that the financial projections synchronize in real-time with your written plan. No more hunting through documents to make sure all your numbers match!
3. Real-Time Collaboration Capabilities
Upmetrics’ real-time editing functions are similar to Google Docs. However, I find the comment system to be actually better than Google’s, especially for business planning!
With Upmetrics, you can tag specific sections for review and assign tasks to team members. It’s particularly helpful when working with clients who need input from different department heads.
4. Document Sharing & Export Options
With Upmetrics, you can export your plan in multiple formats: PDF, Word, and PowerPoint for pitch decks. They’ve even included different design themes, so your plan can match your brand’s style!
5. Pitch Deck Creator
The Upmetrics pitch deck creator is a handy feature. It uses AI to automatically pull key information from your business plan to create a basic pitch deck structure!
While you’ll definitely want to customize it, having that foundation saves a lot of time.
6. Document Management System
Upmetrics also comes with a document management system. You can attach supporting documents directly to relevant sections of your plan (e.g., market research reports, patents, permits, whatever you need).
I love how you can organize everything in one place instead of having files scattered across different folders and drives!
7. Integration with Other Tools
Integration-wise, Upmetrics integrates well with other tools. It connects with QuickBooks and Xero for financial data import and can sync with tools like Slack for notifications.
While the platform has many useful features, mastering all of them requires a bit of a learning curve. However, the support team is surprisingly responsive, so you have nothing to worry about!
How to Use Upmetrics to Generate a Business Plan
Here’s how I used Upmetrics to generate and edit a business plan and pitch deck:
- Choose a Plan & Create an Account
- Create a New Workspace
- Select “Business Plan”
- Fill Out the Questionnaire
- Generate & Edit a Business Plan with AI
- Download or Share Your Business Plan
- Generate a Pitch Deck
Step 1: Choose a Plan & Create an Account
I started by going to the Upmetrics homepage (upmetrics.co) and selecting “Start Planning Now.”
Next, I was asked to choose a plan.
I chose the middle tier (Premium) to access the “AI Plan Writing & Assistance.”
Step 2: Create a New Workspace
After selecting my plan and creating my account, I was taken to my “Workspaces.”
Upmetrics asked me to add my company name to create a new workspace. The workspace is the central hub where I will plan my business and manage my team.
I added my workspace name and hit “Create Workspace.”
Next, Upmetrics asked me to set up my workspace.
To set up my workspace within Upmetrics, I had to provide the following:
- Information about my business
- Country and currency
- Funding
- Business overview
Step 3: Select “Business Plan”
The workspace setup only took a few minutes!
I first wanted to create a business plan, so I hit the “Business Plan” button in my new workspace.
Next, I was given five options for how I wanted to start writing my business plan:
- Generate with AI
- Use Sample Template
- Import Document
- Start from Scratch
- Copy Existing Workspace
I was most curious about how Upmetrics would do creating a business plan with AI, so I chose that option.
Step 4: Fill Out the Questionnaire
Before generating my business plan with AI, I selected “Update Answers.”
Upmetrics will generate a questionnaire based on the information you provide when setting up your workspace. It will use this information to create an AI-generated business plan.
My questionnaire had thirteen questions.
I could answer these questions by typing them in manually or using Upmetrics’ AI suggestions! The AI suggestions were accurate and saved me a lot of time.
Step 5: Generate & Edit a Business Plan with AI
Once the questionnaire was complete, I selected “Generate with AI.”
Seconds later, Upmetrics generated an entire business plan for me!
I could see an overview of my main sections in the right sidebar:
- Executive Summary
- Company Overview
- Products and Services
- Market Analysis
- Competitor Analysis
- Marketing and Sales
- Operations Plan
- Milestones and Metrics
- Organization and Management
- Financial Plan
I really loved how organized and user-friendly the interface was.
Everything was also really customizable. I could access and organize my business plan on the right, edit the content in the middle, and add sections and other visuals from the panel on the left.
Step 6: Download or Share Your Business Plan
Once I was happy with my business plan, I could preview and download it by going to “Download” at the top and selecting “Download Business Plan” at the bottom right.
Alternatively, I could go to “Publish” at the top to copy and share a link with others.
Step 7: Generate a Pitch Deck
Back in my workspace, I wanted to create a pitch deck. I selected “Pitch Deck” from the list of options.
On the left, all of my pitch deck slides were nicely organized. By selecting the purple pen, I could generate content with AI for each section or manually fill in the content!
But before generating a pitch deck with Upmetrics, make sure your business plan is fully completed. The tool pulls information directly from your plan, so the more detailed your plan is, the better your initial pitch deck will be!
Once I was finished editing the pitch deck, I could download and share it by selecting “Download” and “Publish” at the top.
Upmetrics made generating a business plan and pitch deck easy with minimal setup! I appreciated the intuitive interface. I also loved the AI tools for generating content to speed up my process!
Top 3 Upmetrics Alternatives
Here are the best Upmetrics alternatives that I’ve tried.
Plus AI
The first Upmetrics alternative I’d recommend is Plus AI. I love Plus AI because it saves me hours by transforming prompts into slides directly in the tools I already use, like Google Slides and PowerPoint!
Upmetrics and Plus AI both offer AI tools to streamline workflows, but they cater to different needs.
On the one hand, Upmetrics focuses on business planning with financial forecasting, comprehensive templates, and collaborative tools. This makes Upmetrics an excellent choice for developing detailed business strategies.
Upmetrics also offers financial reporting and pitch deck creation for business planning. It also offers industry-specific templates and a secure, collaborative workspace.
In contrast, Plus AI excels in generating and editing presentations within Google Slides and PowerPoint. It seamlessly integrates with these platforms for quick, polished slide decks in various slide design options.
Ultimately, Plus AI focuses on quick, visual presentations from prompts or text files. It’s an excellent choice for proposals and training!
If you’re looking for a fully featured business planning tool, choose Upmetrics. For quick AI slide creation, Plus AI is the best choice!
Read my Plus AI review or visit Plus AI!
Storydoc
The next Upmetrics alternative I’d recommend is Storydoc. Its seamless, mobile-responsive design ensures content always looks polished on any device!
Like Upmetrics, Storydoc offers an intuitive, user-friendly interface with real-time collaboration features. It’s perfect for teams needing feedback on presentations or pitch decks.
Both platforms integrate AI-powered customization tools. However, Storydoc stands out for creating interactive, visually appealing presentations designed to captivate audiences.
Meanwhile, Upmetrics is more geared towards business planning. It focuses on data-driven insights and financial forecasting and offers 400+ industry-specific templates for a more practical and strategic planning experience.
Here’s the key difference between Upmetrics and Storydoc: While Upmetrics excels in structuring full-fledged business plans, Storydoc specializes in transforming complex data into sleek, shareable presentations that keep audiences engaged.
If you’re looking for interactive presentations that leave an impact, choose Storydoc. For more in-depth business planning with financial forecasting, choose Upmetrics!
15minuteplan
The final Upmetrics alternative I’d recommend is 15minuteplan. With it, you can easily create streamlined business plans with minimal input! It’s easy to use and produces results quickly.
Like Upmetrics, 15minuteplan offers an AI-based generator. However, it emphasizes speed, promising an entire plan in just 15 minutes!
In contrast, Upmetrics provides a more comprehensive toolkit with real-time collaboration, customizable templates, and in-depth forecasting for detailed planning. These features make Upmetrics better for more complex, ongoing business strategies.
Where Upmetrics shines in flexibility, 15minuteplan prioritizes ease and rapid generation, making it a go-to for people with time-sensitive needs. Both platforms are user-friendly but serve different purposes: Upmetrics handles multi-faceted, collaborative planning projects, while 15minuteplan simplifies solo or urgent business plan needs.
If you’re looking for in-depth collaboration and extensive customization, Upmetrics is the best choice. However, for a quick and ready-to-go business plan, 15minuteplan is the perfect fit!
Upmetrics Review: The Right Tool For You?
After trying Upmetrics, I found that the platform has proven to be a powerful tool for creating business plans. I love its user-friendly interface and extensive customization options!
Upmetrics does an excellent job managing complex projects and streamlining planning with AI tools. The financial forecasting tool particularly stood out, providing depth and accuracy without feeling overwhelming.
Despite the slight learning curve, Upmetrics’ intuitive design and responsive support make it an excellent choice for any entrepreneur or business team ready to develop a comprehensive business strategy!
If you’re curious about the best Upmetrics alternatives, here’s what I’d recommend:
- Plus AI is perfect for quickly generating slides in Google Slides or PowerPoint. It’s best for creating training sessions, proposals, or quick presentations.
- Storydoc is best for teams wanting polished, interactive presentations that engage audiences on any device. It’s particularly useful for storytelling and client presentations.
- 15minuteplan is a great option for people on tight timelines. It offers fast, streamlined business plan creation in just 15 minutes with minimal input!
Thanks for reading my Upmetrics review! I hope you found it helpful.
Upmetrics offers an affordable Starter plan with 400+ business plan samples, a 3-year financial forecast, a pitch deck creator, and more.
Why not try Upmetrics for yourself and see how you like it?
