At large companies, project sponsors often write business cases to convince leadership that a proposed project is a worthwhile investment. As an entrepreneur, you may not need executive buy-in for your business ideas, but it’s still a good idea to test it by writing a business case.
Think about it like a road map. Not only will a business case help you communicate goals and strategy to stakeholders, but it will also give you a clear view into whether a project is worth your time and resources. It can also be a good resource when pitching to investors. Learn how to write a business case below, using a free template and real-world examples.
What is a business case?
A business case is a project management tool used to evaluate whether a proposed project is a good investment. It’s typically written by project sponsors who need to make the case for why their project is worth the business’s time and resources.
In July 2026 alone, entrepreneurs in the US filed 578,926 business applications, according to Census Bureau data. You can use a business case to weigh costs, risks, and expected returns before launching a new venture, whether that's a small operational change or a bigger step, like opening a new sales channel or entering a new market. Put simply, it will help you determine whether the idea is worth pursuing.
9 elements to include in a business case
A business case works through nine core elements: the problem, the solution, resources, costs, benefits, scope, risks, stakeholders, and metrics. The challenge of writing a successful business case is that it should be brief while still covering every way in which the project will impact the business.
Here are nine key elements worth including, using the business case for Dapper Boi, a body-inclusive and gender-neutral clothing line, as an example:
1. Problem
Any business case should provide a brief overview of the problem or opportunity. A well-written problem statement will help orient readers who aren’t as familiar with the project. For entrepreneurs and project sponsors, it’s good practice to define the problem your product or service solves.
For example, Dapper Boi’s first product, gender-neutral slim-straight jeans, was inspired by a problem Cofounder and CEO Vicky Pasche experienced.
“At that time, men’s jeans really didn’t have a ton of stretch,” Vicky says on an episode of Shopify Masters. “And then also women’s jeans still to this day are just not functional. It’s kind of ridiculous, and it shouldn’t be revolutionary to have functional pockets, so that was a huge selling point for us.”
Vicky launched a crowdfunding campaign to confirm that others had the same problem: men’s jeans didn’t fit their bodies and women’s jeans lacked functionality.
2. Solution
This section of the business case explains why your proposed solution is better for solving your problem than any other options. A strong business case shares alternatives you considered and explains why each was rejected before arriving at the recommended solution.
For Dapper Boi, the solution was to use stretch denim (98% cotton, 2% spandex) to design jeans that fit curvy bodies but have deeper pockets. An alternative solution may have been to use 100% cotton denim but add an elastic waistband. This section of the business case would explain why the stretch denim solution is superior to the elastic waistband. To land on this conclusion, the brand could use surveys and focus groups to ask the target audience which design they prefer.
In addition to your primary solution and at least one other alternative solution, your business case should include a “do nothing” scenario: What would the consequences be of ignoring the problem?
Vicky, alongside her wife and cofounder, Charisse Pasche, did this exercise in the early days of launching Dapper Boi when finances were tight.
“We said, ‘Where would the world be without Dapper Boi in 10 years?’ and that to us was like the biggest gut punch,” Vicky says. “We knew in that moment the impact that we have on people and society and that we need to keep going.”
3. Resources
Next in your business case, you’ll want to examine the key resources needed to undertake the project. Which resources do you already have? Which do you need to find or invest in?
For Dapper Boi, finding a manufacturing partner was one of the biggest—and most important—hurdles. After a slew of rejections, one manufacturer’s response started their production journey.
“One manufacturer in particular finally emailed us back and was like, ‘I think you’re onto something here. I would love to connect you with our pattern maker,’” Vicky says. “This manufacturer was so helpful in showing us different brands and the kinds of fabrics we’d want to use.”
4. Costs
There are three main aspects of project costs to explore in your business case:
- Budget. What is the budget estimate for this project?
- ROI. Will this project make our business money? What is the return on investment (ROI), and when will we start to see that return?
- Cash flow. How will this project impact cash flow? Do we have the cash to invest in this now?
Two simple exercises can help answer these questions: a cost-benefit analysis and break-even analysis. A cost-benefit analysis lines up every dollar a project will cost against every dollar it’s likely to bring in, so you can see the full financial picture. A break-even analysis tells you the exact point when a project starts making money. To find that point, divide total costs by the price of each unit sold, minus the cost to produce that unit.
Dapper Boi originally set a crowdfunding goal of $18,000.
“At that time, I didn't realize all the other business expenses and marketing dollars, things like that,” Vicky says. “It was just literally for the production.”
Vicky knew there was potential for the business to become profitable, since Dapper Boi's limited pre-order stock kept selling out, but cash flow was an issue. With high demand and limited capital, Vicky and Charisse decided to sell their house. It was a hard decision, but the positive response they received from customers made it feel worthwhile.
5. Benefits
The benefits section of your business case is the place to answer the “why” behind your project or proposal. Maybe your project proposal will increase efficiency and save your company money, or perhaps it will allow you to reach a new demographic. Explain how this project will help meet current business objectives and consider adding a cost-benefit analysis.
These reasons don’t need to be only about financial benefits, either. “It’s not about the money here,” Vicky says. “It’s about that feeling of belonging.”
6. Scope
The project scope portion of your business case includes your deliverables and deadlines. You don’t need a complete timeline, but you should give readers an idea of what is and isn’t part of this project, and when it will be complete. For example, if you use crowdfunding, as Dapper Boi did, you’ll be accountable to your funders to deliver the rewards they selected.
7. Risks
There’s no way to anticipate all the challenges that might come your way, but a basic risk assessment can let your key stakeholders know what to expect. Your risk assessment should also include a risk management plan that clues stakeholders into what you will do when challenges arise.
While crowdfunding is a great way to build relationships with customers, production costs often end up being higher than anticipated. Kickstarter points to underbudgeting shipping and fulfillment as one of the most common reasons campaigns run into money trouble after they've been funded. If you launch with a crowdfunding campaign, as Dapper Boi did, it's important to have a backup financing plan.
That backup plan matters because financing isn’t guaranteed once you go looking for it. Only 42% of small employer firms that applied for financing received the full amount they sought, according to theFederal Reserve Bank’s 2026 Small Business Credit Survey. Options like Shopify Capital, which offers eligible merchants funding based on their store’s sales history rather than a credit check, can give store owners another path to cover a shortfall.
8. Stakeholders
List the key stakeholders associated with a project, such as the project sponsor, project manager, project team, and heads of teams or departments that the project will involve. For entrepreneurs, the stakeholders section might look a little different.
For Dapper Boi, the initial stakeholders were Vicky, followed by their crowdfunding investors. Once they found a manufacturer and pattern maker, those partners became stakeholders, too. It’s important to identify your stakeholders early on, since their availability and capacity will influence your project timeline.
9. Metrics
Your business case should include how you plan to measure your project’s success. For a clothing line like Dapper Boi, that might look like the number of jeans sold or total sales revenue.
Sales and total revenue are the most commonly tracked metrics among store owners, with 77% of owners tracking one or both, according to Shopify's Q4 2025 Survey of Store Owners.* Fewer than half track profit margin, traffic, average order value, or conversion rate. When choosing metrics for your business case, consider looking beyond revenue to these other measures, since they can reveal whether a project is actually profitable, not just whether it's generating sales.
Business case template
Once you know what goes into a compelling business case, it helps to have a simple structure you can fill in every time. Below is a straightforward template based on the nine elements covered above. Copy it into a doc, then work through each section for your own project.
- Problem: What issue or opportunity does this project address, and why does it matter now?
- Solution: What’s your recommended fix, what alternatives did you consider, and why did you rule them out?
- Resources: What people, tools, and time does this project need to get done?
- Costs: What’s the budget, the expected return, and the impact on cash flow?
- Benefits: What does the business gain if this project succeeds?
- Scope: What’s included in this project, and just as important, what’s not?
- Risks: What could go wrong, and what’s the plan if it does?
- Stakeholders: Who’s involved, who needs to approve it, and who does the work affect?
- Metrics: How will you know if the project worked? Pick numbers you can actually track.
Work through each section in order, but don’t feel like each one needs the same amount of space. A small internal project might cover risks in a sentence or two, while a bigger investment, like a new product line or a move into wholesale, might need a full page on costs and risks alone.
How to write a business case
You have a great idea—now it’s time to sell it. Here’s how to write a well-crafted business case that convinces executives (or yourself!) it’s a worthwhile venture.
1. Choose your template
Starting with a solid template gives you one less thing to worry about. Use the business case template above as a starting point, or build your own; just create clear visual breaks between sections so readers can scan it easily.
2. Make your case
Now, it's time to identify the problem, solution, resources, costs, benefits, scope, risks, stakeholders, and metrics associated with your project. That might sound like a lot, but ideally, your finished business case won’t be longer than two pages.
Write a brief, easy-to-read overview for each section, using the template prompts and examples from Dapper Boi as a guide. If you're stuck, it can help to write out all of your ideas in a separate document, then edit them.
A few common mistakes can weaken an otherwise solid business case process, including:
- Skipping the alternatives. Sharing only your preferred solution makes it look like you didn't consider other options, even if you did.
- Underestimating costs. Leaving out line items like marketing, staffing, or a contingency budget makes a project appear cheaper than it actually is.
- Vague benefits. Statements like “this will help the business grow” don't give decision-makers anything concrete to go off of.
- No risk management plan. Stating a risk without a plan for it leaves stakeholders wondering what will happen if the risk materializes.
- Metrics that don't match the goal. Tracking a number that doesn’t actually reflect whether the project succeeded makes it hard to judge results later.
A business case can also steer you away from an idea that sounds appealing but doesn’t fit your market. Jeff Eyser, cofounder at Revenge Of, ran into this early on.
“We had looked at having a higher-end price point collectible when we started,” says Jeff in an interview with Shopify Masters. “But when we did like our cost analysis on the neighborhood that we were moving into, we kind of quickly recognized that those things weren’t going to be of interest to that neighborhood.”
3. Write your executive summary
Once you have a solid draft of your business case, it’s time to write the executive summary. Your executive summary should be just a few sentences long and provide a very brief overview of the project. It’s easiest to write this section last after you’ve already analyzed the nine aspects of your project.
4. Get feedback
Share your business case with someone you trust and ask for their feedback. Is the document easy to read and understand? After reading the business case, do they have a sense of why the project is worthwhile?
Once you've incorporated their feedback, you can share your business case with your executives, stakeholders, or advisers. If you're presenting in person or over video, consider turning your business case into a short slide deck. A deck forces you to distill each section into key points, which can make your case easier to follow than reading a full document on-screen.
Business case example
Here's what a business case might look like for Dapper Boi, based on the decisions the brand made when it was getting off the ground:
- Problem. Curvy customers struggled to find jeans that fit well and had enough pocket space to be practical, not just decorative.
- Solution. Design jeans in stretch denim (98% cotton, 2% spandex) with deeper pockets built for curvy bodies. The team considered a 100% cotton denim option with an elastic waistband instead, but stretch denim tested better with the target audience.
- Resources. A small founding team, a denim manufacturer able to produce the stretch-denim design, and a crowdfunding platform to raise launch capital.
- Costs. An $18,000 crowdfunding goal to cover production. In hindsight, that budget didn’t leave room for marketing or other business expenses, and cash flow stayed tight even after the campaign was funded.
- Benefits. Early market demand outpaced supply, with limited pre-order stock selling out repeatedly, a strong signal that the product had found its audience.
- Scope. Launch with one core product, the jeans, rather than a full clothing line, to keep production and fulfillment manageable at the start.
- Risks. Production costs could run higher than the crowdfunding budget, so the business needed a backup financing plan. When cash got tight, Vicky and Charisse ended up selling their house to keep the business moving.
- Stakeholders. Cofounders Vicky and Charisse Pasche, crowdfunding backers, and early customers whose feedback shaped the product.
- Metrics. Track the number of jeans sold and total sales revenue to measure whether the launch succeeded.
*Based on a 2025 survey of 500 Shopify merchants conducted in English across Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United States. Respondents were established merchants with two or more years on the platform. Results reflect the experiences of this specific sample and may not be representative of all merchants.
**All loans through Shopify Capital Loans are issued by WebBank. Offers are subject to change based on several factors including your store's performance and the review of your financial information. Shopify Capital Loans must be paid in full within 18 months, and two minimum payments apply within the first two six-month periods. Offers to apply do not guarantee funding. Repayments are made based on a percentage of daily sales.
Business case FAQ
What is the difference between a business case and a business plan?
A business plan describes a business strategy, including its goals, target market, marketing strategy, and financial plan. A well-prepared business case is typically a shorter document that makes the case for why an existing business should undertake a new project.
What is another word for business case?
A business case is sometimes called a project proposal or investment proposal. Both terms describe the same core document: a case for why a project deserves time, money, or resources.
What is a business case in project management?
In project management, a business case is the document project sponsors use to justify a proposed project before it gains approval. It lays out the problem, the proposed solution, and the costs, benefits, and risks involved, giving decision-makers the information they need to approve or reject the project.
What is the difference between a business case and a case study?
A business case looks forward, making an argument for a project that hasn’t happened yet. A case study looks backward, examining a project or business strategy that’s already been carried out to show what happened and what can be learned from it.
What is the difference between a business case and a use case?
A business case argues whether a project is worth doing, covering costs, benefits, and risks at the project level. A use case describes how a specific user interacts with a system or product to complete a task, focusing on functionality rather than investment.
