Before the business plan, you need to know whether the decision makes sense.
Meridian analyses business ideas and investments on assumptions that can be checked — market, prices, capacity, costs and capital — and writes the business plan once the decision is clear and a document is genuinely needed.
Download the Meridian guide to business planning
How to Write a Business Plan That Holds Water — Before a Bank, an Investor, or Your Own Decision. How to build a plan that withstands questions about assumptions, numbers and risk.
Typical situations where this work pays for itself
- You are considering an investment and want to know what it has to return
- You have an idea but no verified numbers behind it
- You are entering a new market, channel or category
- You are buying equipment, a location or capacity
- A bank, investor or institution asks for a business plan
- You want a second opinion before committing capital
Do you need an analysis or a complete business plan?
The difference is not the page count. It is whether the decision has already been made.
Business idea or investment analysis
For a situation where you do not need a large document yet, but a clearer decision. We test the market, business model, investment, capacity, break-even point and major risks.
At the end: You know whether to proceed, under what conditions and what needs to change first.
Business plan
Structured business logic, defensible assumptions, realistic financial projections and a market rationale, prepared for a specific business purpose and reader.
At the end: You have a reasoned plan for a real decision or a defined recipient.
What the analysis actually examines
The purpose is not to confirm the idea. The purpose is to see where it breaks and under which conditions it holds.
- Who the customer is and why they would buy
- Realistic price level and volume in the target channel
- Capacity: what you can actually deliver
- Cost structure and break-even point
- Capital required and how long it stays tied up
- Scenarios: base, cautious and stress case
- The main risks and what would have to be true
- A recommendation: go ahead, change the setup, or drop it
From idea to document, in one sequence.
Every step has to withstand the next. If the assumptions fail, the figures are not made prettier — the decision changes.
- 01IdeaWhat you intend to do, and for whom.
- 02AssumptionsWhat has to be true.
- 03NumbersRevenue, costs and investment.
- 04ScenariosWhat happens if an assumption fails.
- 05DecisionProceed, stop or revise.
- 06Business planThe document for its reader.
The document is the final step, not the starting point.
You leave with numbers you can defend and a decision you can explain.
Depending on scope, the engagement leaves behind:
- A written review of assumptions and where the idea is fragile
- A financial model with prices, costs, capacity and investment
- Break-even and the volume required to reach it
- Base, cautious and stress scenarios
- An assessment of capital needed and how long it is tied up
- A list of the main risks and how to test them
- A clear recommendation on the decision in front of you
- A complete business plan document when that is part of the scope
An analysis and a full business plan are separate scopes; one does not automatically include the other.
Applying for the HZZ self-employment grant?
HZZ has its own eligibility rules, scoring and form. It is therefore a separate service, not a version of a general business plan.
What this service is — and what it is not.
We work on the substance of the decision and the plan, not on arranging money.
What Meridian does
- Analysing a business idea or investment before you commit
- Building financial projections and scenarios
- Writing a complete business plan for a defined reader
- Reviewing and reworking an existing plan when it is developed enough
- Preparing the documentation logic for a bank, investor or institution
What Meridian does not do
- Credit intermediation or arranging financing
- Investment or financial advisory in the regulated sense
- Guaranteed approval by a bank, fund or institution
- Accounting, tax or legal advice
- Numbers we cannot substantiate from your inputs
Common questions
Do I need an analysis or a full business plan?
If you are still deciding whether the idea or investment makes sense, the analysis comes first. A business plan makes sense once the decision is clear and a specific reader needs the document.
Do you help find a loan or a source of financing?
No. Meridian is not a credit intermediary or a financial adviser. We work on the substance and logic of the plan; a bank, investor or institution can be the recipient of the document, but that is not what the service is.
What do I end up with?
For an analysis: a review of assumptions, the numbers, scenarios and a clear recommendation. For a business plan: a structured document with the market, operating and financial sections and a reasoned view of viability.
How long does it take and what does it cost?
Scope, timing and price are confirmed after an initial assessment, because they depend on the type of project, the available data and the number of scenarios.
Do you prepare HZZ business plans?
Yes, but through a separate HZZ service, because that programme has its own rules, scoring and documentation.
Describe the idea or investment — we will tell you what needs checking first.
A short description of the project, the market and the stage you are at is enough. We reply with a proposed scope and what it would give you.
Tell us about your idea or investmentThe first conversation is informal and without obligation.