Building Your Business Becoming an Owner Business Plans How To Write the Company Background Part of a Business Plan Tell the story of your company's background By Ryan Robinson Ryan Robinson Ryan Robinson is a blogger, podcaster and marketing consultant with experience growing start-ups and Fortune 500 brands. learn about our editorial policies Updated on November 29, 2022 Reviewed by David Kindness Fact checked by Hans Jasperson Fact checked by Hans Jasperson Hans Jasperson has over a decade of experience in public policy research, with an emphasis on workforce development, education, and economic justice. His research has been shared with members of the U.S. Congress, federal agencies, and policymakers in several states. learn about our editorial policies In This Article View All In This Article What To Include Be Creative Company Background Examples Photo: Ezra Bailey/Taxi/Getty Images A crucial part of any business plan is spelling out your company history and telling your origin story to show potential teammates and investors how you landed on your business idea and why you are uniquely qualified to pursue it. Sharing your business background goes far beyond simply telling a clever story of how you triumphed over adversity to launch your new business. What investors will care about is how your personal history, work experience, skills, strengths, and education will help you succeed in the business. The background portion shows what you've already done to start executing and bringing your idea to life. Potential investors want to know you'll be able to return their investment with dividends in the years to come, and the background section can help. Key Takeaways Company backgrounds share a bit about the market opportunity you are pursuing (and why you're pursuing it).Company backgrounds can be brief for new companies, while established corporations will have more developed backgrounds.Company backgrounds can be more creative than other parts of your business plan that need to include industry jargon or marketing buzzwords. What To Include The company background should include a brief history of the company. Your company background could be very brief at the beginning stages of starting up, but you can still detail what you want your company to be about and the origin of your idea. Focus instead on your personal history and the journey that led you to start your business in the first place. Note In a traditional business plan, your company background (also called the "company description") follows the executive summary. Sharing the origin of the idea is valuable because it shows how you think and how you were able to take an idea, craft it into something more detailed, and ultimately build a business out of it. Detailing your progress to date, including any relevant key milestones, is an important part of this, as is listing the problems you’ve faced so far (and how you've overcome them). Describe the market opportunity you're pursuing and why. A business plan to open a pizza parlor is not particularly creative or original, but if your idea is built around a specific market that is not being tapped, you need to emphasize this and discuss your short-term plans for growth and for reaching that market. Key topics to include are: Any existing experience or relationships with customersThe market you plan to cater toYour educational backgroundOther companies you’ve worked for and the roles you've held in those businessesPrevious businesses you’ve started and their outcomes/current statusYour technical skillsYour areas of expertise in your industry segmentYour areas of weakness or inexperience and how you plan to compensate for themAny relevant professional clubs or associations you belong to Note Company backgrounds don't need to include technical details about your business structure, finances, or other information along those lines. That information will go elsewhere in the business plan. Be Creative Tell your story in a way that's more engaging than just another page that leans on industry jargon, buzzwords, and trite platitudes. To illustrate your company's history, use images that show how you started. For example, you could highlight charts and graphs to draw attention to key milestones or incorporate customer testimonials or excerpts from news stories that featured you or your business. Take it a step further toward building connections with the people reading your company history by showing vulnerability and sharing some of your past failures (and the lessons you learned from them). Note Remember to be concise and stick to just one or two creative approaches that best highlight your particular approach to business and your specific history. This section should be brief. Company Background Examples Here are some company background examples from familiar names. The Coca-Cola Company The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) is a total beverage company with products sold in more than 200 countries and territories. Our company's purpose is to refresh the world and make a difference. Our portfolio of brands includes Coca-Cola, Sprite, Fanta, and other sparkling soft drinks. Our hydration, sports, coffee, and tea brands include Dasani, smartwater, vitaminwater, Topo Chico, Powerade, Costa, Georgia, Gold Peak, Ayataka, and BodyArmor. Our nutrition, juice, dairy, and plant-based beverage brands include Minute Maid, Simply, innocent, Del Valle, fairlife, and AdeS. We're constantly transforming our portfolio, from reducing sugar in our drinks to bringing innovative new products to market. We seek to positively impact people's lives, communities, and the planet through water replenishment, packaging recycling, sustainable sourcing practices, and carbon emissions reductions across our value chain. Together with our bottling partners, we employ more than 700,000 people, helping bring economic opportunity to local communities worldwide. The Home Depot When The Home Depot was founded in 1978, Bernie Marcus ad Arthur Blank had no idea how revolutionary this new "hardware store" would be for home improvement and the retail industry. Today, we're proud to be the world's largest home improvement retailer. In 2,300 stores across North America, we aspire to excel in service—to our customers, associates, communities, and shareholders. That's what leadership means to us. That's The Home Depot difference. Want to read more content like this? Sign up for The Balance’s newsletter for daily insights, analysis, and financial tips, all delivered straight to your inbox every morning! Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit Sources The Balance uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. Nussbaum Center for Entrepreneurship. "Business Plan Outline." Small Business Administration. "Write Your Business Plan." The Coca-Cola Company. "About the Coca-Cola Company: Overview." The Home Depot. "Our Story."