• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.127-139
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• 2023

During the process of preparing for and initiating a startup, startup entrepreneurs allocate a significant amount of time to developing a business plan. Within this process, the documented business plan serves not only as a roadmap for the venture but also as a communication tool for capital acquisition and internal team collaboration. However, is the business plan, meticulously crafted by entrepreneurs, actually effective in generating startup performance? To answer this question, this study empirically analyzed the impact of a business plan on startup performance. Additionally, it examined how the relationship between the business plan and performance changes based on the satisfaction levels of entrepreneurs regarding the business plan. Through the analysis, the study validated the influence of the completeness of the business plan and entrepreneurial satisfaction on startup performance, and derived implications. To conduct the empirical analysis, a survey was conducted among 150 entrepreneurs. Regression analysis was performed to examine the relationship between the completeness of the business plan and performance, and the sample was further divided into two groups: startups with less than three years of operation and startups with three or more years of operation, for secondary analysis. The analysis results revealed that the completeness of the startup's business plan has a positive impact on both financial and non-financial performance. Furthermore, it is observed that the entrepreneur's satisfaction with the business plan had a moderating effect on the relationship between the business plan and financial performance. Moreover, for startups that are less than three years old, the entrepreneur's satisfaction with the business plan exhibits a moderating effect on the relationship between the completeness of the business plan and non-financial performance. This study holds significance as it reaffirms the importance of business plan development as a means to achieve sustainable growth for early-stage startups and empirically validates its significance. It is expected that this study will provide valuable insights for future startup entrepreneurs to better understand the importance of business planning and contribute to reducing the failure rate of early-stage startups.