Lenders do not fund a story. They fund repayment capacity you can show — with assumptions you can defend when rates, volume, or costs move.
Financial projections for a loan are forward-looking statements of revenue, costs, cash flows, and balance-sheet positions over the loan term. Start from recent audited or management financials, extend line items with documented drivers, separate base / upside / downside, and show how debt service is covered if the base case slips.
✓ Revenue forecast — volume × price, not a single hopeful CAGR
✓ Operating expenses — fixed vs variable, with hiring and COGS logic
✓ Cash flow — when cash actually moves, not just accrual profit
✓ Balance sheet — working capital and debt outstanding
✓ Debt service coverage and use of proceeds
✓ Sensitivities — what happens if the two biggest drivers miss
1. Anchor in actuals. Last 12–24 months of results; do not invent a clean history.
2. Write assumptions in plain language. Contracts, pipeline, seasonality, price changes — each labeled.
3. Build three cases. Base is what you manage to; downside is what the bank will ask about.
4. Match the lender’s format. If they handed you a template, that template wins over your favorite model.
5. Separate strategy from packaging. A beautiful PDF that cannot show arithmetic will not survive credit review.
If you need a lender-ready business plan document, see the $149 one-time business plan (strategy run included). If you need ongoing strategic decisions with financials shown, start with the free diagnostic.
If the only missing piece is filling a bank Excel file, do that in Excel. Buying a strategy platform solely to re-type cells into someone else’s template is the wrong purchase — we would rather you saved the money.
Diagnostic is free. The one-time plan is for when the bank wants a package.
Run free diagnostic →Each of these works the same problem through a specific industry's economics, with an unedited excerpt from a real analysis.