If you are planning to apply for a UK Innovator Founder Visa in 2025 or beyond, one of the most important parts of the application process is preparing and submitting a business plan. The business plan you create will be used by the endorsement body to review your application to ensure that you have a well-thought-out and considered business idea that is new, innovative, viable, and scalable.
What are the business requirements for the UK Innovator Founder visa?
Innovator Founder visa applicants must intend to set up and run an innovative business in the UK. The business idea must be:
- Innovative – This means that you must have a genuine and original business plan that meets new or existing market needs and has a competitive advantage. To meet this criteria, you must be able to show that you have a clear and compelling unique selling proposition (USP). Crucially, your USP should not be easy for other businesses to replicate.
- Viable – Viable means that your business plan must be realistic and achievable given the financial and other resources available to you. The endorsing body will want to see that you are actively developing the necessary skills, knowledge, experience and market awareness to successfully run your proposed business.
- Scalable – Finally, the endorsing body assessing your business plan will want to see that you not only have a viable business but also that it can scale in the future. By scaling your business in the UK, you can take on new markets and hire new employees.
In addition to these key business requirements, you must be able to speak, read, write and understand English to the required (standard level B2 on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) scale).
Who are the approved Innovator Founder visa endorsing bodies?
There are several endorsing bodies based in the UK that are approved to endorse Innovator Founder visa applications; these include:
- UK Endorsing Services
- Innovator International
- Envestors Limited
- The Global Entrepreneurs Programme (GEP)
If you are unsure which endorsing body to approach, we recommend looking at the websites of each to determine which areas they specialise in; alternatively, please speak to a member of our Innovator Founder Visa immigration law team, who will be pleased to assist you.
Innovator Founder Visa Business Plan writing tips
There is no single way to write an Innovator Founder visa business plan, but the best plans tend to contain the same key ingredients as we will outline below.
Tip 1) Draft a clearly set out business plan that is divided into key sections
One of the main endorsing bodies in the UK, UK Endorsing Services, recommends that applicants draft a detailed business plan that includes the following key sections:
- Executive summary
- Description of your products and/or services
- How your business meets the Innovation, Viability and Scalability criteria for endorsement
- Any research and development activity in relation to the core innovation proposition
- Market analysis
- Competitor analysis: we recommend including at least 4-5 competitors and require a comprehensive analysis comparing your competitors’ features and benefits against your own offer
- Staff profile and recruitment strategy
- Marketing and sales strategy
- Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis
- Investment strategy and funding requirement
- Detailed revenue and Cost of sales forecast, reflecting customer acquisition numbers
- Cash flow forecast
- Annual Profit & Loss Forecast
- Balance sheet forecast
- Forecasted stock levels (if applicable)
- Forecasted advertising/marketing expenditure
- Forecasted fixed asset schedule
- Forecasted staff costs (salaries and related expenses such as national insurance and pensions)
- Any relevant appendices, including CVs
You don’t need to follow this exact layout for your business plan; the key is that you provide all of the information required.
Tip 2) Make sure your financial plan is detailed and suitable for the type of business you are proposing
The endorsement body assessing your application will want to see the details of your financials to verify that you have been realistic and thorough and that your business can scale in the future. Your financial plan should detail your financial projections for at least 3 years.
For a product-oriented business, you need to detail not only your marketing and staffing costs but also the cost of goods sold and planned inventory levels for each product/good. For a services business, you will need to detail your expected cost of sales.
Endorsing bodies provide business plan financial spreadsheet templates that you can download and use. These tend to have separate tabs for each area of your finances. For example, the templates provided by UK Endorsing Services have tabs for profit and loss, revenue, cost of sales/cost of goods sold, marketing expenses, staffing costs, cash flow forecast, fixed assets, research and development, balance sheet, and financial summary.
Tip 3) Have your business plan checked
Before submitting your business plan for assessment by your endorsing body, we recommend having it checked over by someone who is familiar with your chosen sector and start-up businesses. What you need is honest feedback on the areas that may need to be improved. While it can sometimes be difficult to have someone else look at our work, if you ask a person whose opinion you value and who has your best interests in mind, the feedback you receive may be extremely useful and even central to the success of your application for endorsement.
Tip 4) Consider the type of questions that you will be asked about your plan
Your endorsing body will ask you a wide range of questions about your business plan, and hence, it is essential to consider the type of answers you will give. Considering these questions in advance may mean that you need to make amendments to your business plan. Another of the endorsing bodies, Innovator International, provides examples of the type of questions they may ask, as follows:
- Innovation
- Summarise the solution you are offering and how it differs from existing products or services.Who benefits from the offering and how?Is there regional, national, or international competition?
- What is the current stage of development of the product or service?
- Viability
- Does the project have a strong chance of succeeding in the UK? Does the innovator have the skill set to make the project a success in the UK? Does the innovator have access to (or a sufficient plan to access) the intellectual, physical, and financial resources to make the project a success in the UK?
- What is the estimated financial requirement for this project, and how are these funds being provided?
- Scalable
- How will the project establish itself and grow within the UK (including recruitment)?
- How will the project establish itself and grow internationally (including recruitment)?
Tip 5) Key aspects of a successful business plan
A solid business plan must be written to a high standard and contain plenty of useful and well-considered information that will help the endorsing body to make a decision. We recommend that you:
- Have a strong executive summary which summarises your whole plan in a clear and compelling way
- Never use another person, ChatGPT (or other large language models), to write your plan. You must write it yourself.
- Make sure your business plan is of sufficient length to cover the subject matter (typically around 30 pages)
- Make sure that your business plans communicate your business journey so far and your plans for the future
- Remember, the endorsing body is looking for quality over length. Your plan should include content that is completely relevant and accurate.
- Make your business plan succinct and easy to read
- ‘A picture paints a thousand words’ – include images, graphs, and other visuals which clearly convey your business plan.
Final words
We wish you all the best with your Innovator Founder visa endorsement application. If you need any guidance or advice on the application process, please speak to one of our highly experienced immigration Solicitors. If you need any details about the endorsement process, speak directly to the endorsing body.Â
