Customer Reviews
business plan pro 
2007-07-05
I too have been having problems with this program. Like state above the program would just shut down (sometimes with several error messages) but unlike stated above, this crash happens everytime I start the program up. At first it was working fine but then a week or so after installment it started shutting done for no reason and I can't get it to stay running for more then a few seconds at a time. this program has given me nothing but problems since i got it.
problems exporting business plan to Word 
2007-07-04
I inserted jpg figures in my plan and then tried to export the plan to Word XP. The file was corrupt; Word could open it but could not close it; it caused Word to crash. I had to export as rtf, open the file in Word, and then save as a Word Doc. Also, when printing a business plan as a pdf, the face page, confidentiality agreement, and table of contents end up at the end of the document. The same thing happened for rtf exports. To get all the pages in the right order, you need to print from within the print preview screen.
Awesome Help 
2007-06-13
I couldn't have done a really long and complete business plan without this program. I loved how it was able to calculate all my financials, show graphs, and tell me how I did at the end. Some of it got alittle tricky, but it was no big deal. In the end, my bank loved it!
Palo Alto Business Plan Pro 2007 
2007-06-08
It is an easy to use product that walks you through building a business plan. I recommend it for the new business and new to business entrepreneur.
Easy To Use 2007-05-30
This product is very easy to use and is worth every penny. They give what they promise
Be careful with Vista 2007-10-12
BPP 2006 ran fine on xp for me. I transferred it to my new laptop with vista and could not run it. when I tried to start it, the message "unexpected error, quitting" kept coming up. I decided it wasn't ready for vista so I upgraded to 2007. Same problem. I spent a day with tech support through email trying to fix it. I "repaired" it through control panel, uninstalled and reinstalled, ran as an administrator, updated windows, ran spybot and ad-aware. At least four clean installs and twice I ran Palo Alto's diagnostic program.
It still doesn't work. Maybe it's my machine but I don't think so - I've never had that error message before and I run everything from Word to Photoshop to Vegas 7 video editing. So - try it before you buy it.
Good software 2007-10-08
This is a great program that could make anyone look like a genuis business-plan writer. I did not have any problems with it crashing at all. I would say that before using, you might want to do a lot of research on your business and also have some knowledge of how the financial statements work. For startup businesses, you want to have an estimate on all your expenses, the cash you would need, your maket analysis, and for existing businesses the same plus your current expenses and revunues.
What worked for me was also saving a lot of the information as I went along. The software is lengthy, but there is a way to delete those extras that you don't want on there. What's great about it is that you just put in your estimated numbers and it does all the math for you and all the graphs as well. I strongly recommend. However, for someone just starting their first business and who have not been familiar with these documents and procedures, it might be challenging. One good thing though, is that it gives you examples that you can take from so you're not doing it alone at all.
A nice package 2007-09-27
The program is interesting, but you really need to check out the books to make it work. The book The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki is very helpful.
On the technical side it is weak... on the business side it is hard to ask for more... 2007-08-23
Over all this software is very good.
The software does crash. But not as often as other reviews make it appear. Also, I had to download the latest update manually because it couldn't auto-magically figure out my internet connection is persistent.
My experience with this can be summed up easily. It is easy to use, when you have a question or you are at a loss, the answer is already on the screen or one click away.
This software was obviously designed with end users in mind. It has a simple layout and it just couldn't be easier to use in my opinion.
The reports look professional and clean. I find it hard to believe others were complaining about the final reports. If the reports generated aren't clean and/or professional enough, I would have to say someone is living in a fantasy world. No banker, angel, or VC wants to see animated gifs or pinstripes on a business plan. Please get a grip on reality before you attempt to start a business!
All the numbers are integrated and calculated so they are consistent across the entire business plan. If you had to do that manually you would be screwed every time you made a revision to a single entry. You would have to find where that entry was calculated across your entire plan and make the changes everywhere... This feature ALONE is worth the price of admission!
The software comes with two books also. No, not user manuals. Books that help you understand more about starting a business and how to plan appropriately.
I can see why this is highly recommended. I will recommend it to anyone who is serious about starting a business and wants to validate their assumptions or get funding.
Business plan pro 2007-08-14
This is great software that takes you through the steps to prepare a business plan. I used it in my MBA course to complete a semester long business planning project. I had a few minor probblems with the software crashing but my work was recovered without a problem.
