The Importance of Financial and Business Planning - Webinar by The Soltesz Institute with Jade W. Dagher

In our latest webinar, Viktoria Soltesz, the Founder of the Soltesz Institute had a chat with Jade W. Dagher about the most neglected areas of business- planning.

Why Most Businesses Still Don’t Plan

Many companies rush to launch marketing campaigns, hire teams, and build products before asking themselves whether their bank will even open an account for them. Once problems begin to appear they often blame the economy, timing, or unpredictable market shifts, when the actual reason is that none of these issues were assessed during the initial planning stage.

Planning Is the Start, Not the Backup

Most businesses only begin writing business plans when applying for funding, only to discard the plan entirely once the funding arrives. This habit not only blocks long-term thinking but also leads to operational failures, especially when it comes to cash flow. A real business plan sets the foundation for actual execution rather than serving as a decorative document filled with aspirational figures or projections disconnected from reality.

It defines the team setup in a way that matches the goals of the company, outlines exact steps for implementation and scaling, includes scenario-based planning that shows how the business can respond to different market or operational triggers, identifies where the business will hit capacity walls and what needs to be in place before that happens, and maps the technology, finance, and operational systems to ensure everything can work together without chaos or delays.

A real business plan also calculates how much capital is needed at each milestone, includes forecasting of both fixed and variable costs, and sets a clear operational path so management can take decisions in a structured way rather than reacting to each new crisis or opportunity with last-minute patches or improvisation. Without this level of detail, the founders might have a company, but they certainly don’t have control over it.

Payment and Banking Strategy

The most overlooked part of the entire planning process is how money moves in and out of the business. Even now, payment and banking strategy is usually treated as a final administrative step instead of being one of the first priorities. If you don’t know how your clients will pay you, in which country your payments will land, how you’ll convert currency, and how you’ll pay your suppliers or salaries, then your growth projections are fiction.

The Plan Must Be Scalable From the Start

Small businesses often think they don’t need strategy, as they only need a card terminal at a local market or a single payment link from a FinTech. But as soon as they want to scale, partner with wholesalers, take online orders, or expand internationally, the original setup becomes unusable. By then it’s too late to restructure everything from scratch. Planning from the beginning means building something that already includes growth capacity and avoids being caught off guard by success. It also saves time, avoids switching costs, and ensures that systems, teams, providers, and structures can handle bigger volumes without collapse.

A Structured Plan Is Not Just a Pitch Deck

The proper structure of a business plan includes several pillars that every company, no matter the size, should follow. Once these elements are clear, the company can map out cost structures, build realistic forecasting with worst-case and best-case scenarios, and identify the limits that need to be monitored. Without proper cost allocation, businesses tend to severely underestimate expenses. Without realistic revenue expectations, investors are given fictional growth curves. And without the legal and operational plan, companies bring on partners, advisors, or shareholders with the wrong expectations and capabilities.

Selling to Everyone

Across sectors and company sizes, the same mistakes show up in business planning: trying to serve everyone without market segmentation, assuming revenue will grow but not defining how, underestimating costs like logistics, software, tax, and support, relying on weak partners without any accountability, ignoring the legal impact of their structure, and excluding payment and banking conditions from the forecast. These missteps can block investments, trigger disputes between shareholders, increase transaction costs, and delay product launches due to technical gaps. If any of these areas are left out of the plan, they can stall growth entirely or cause serious financial damage.

The Payment Strategy Is No Longer Optional

Payment and banking today impact customer experience, risk management, technology, product development, data security, compliance, finance, and more. It should be considered a standalone function, an essential element of the business strategy, not just a part of finance.

Today, businesses can work with providers across different countries, time zones, and regulatory requirements which means payments and banking can no longer sit in the background. They shape pricing, influence how offers are made, determine whether marketing funnels will convert, and directly affect cash flow and liquidity. A modern plan must therefore include a detailed payment and banking strategy from the beginning. It must address collection methods by country, onboarding requirements by activity type, currency management, fraud risks, chargeback exposure, and technical compatibility with front-end systems.

Without a Plan, You Will Waste Time and Money

Every successful company has to update its plan at least quarterly. Yet, most startups operate without any plan at all, or only check in once a year when the accountant needs numbers. Planning is the foundation for making informed decisions in product launches, hiring, pricing, expansion, and funding. Without a plan, teams chase irrelevant targets, overspend on marketing that doesn’t convert, and waste time fixing problems that could have been prevented with one solid plan built at the start.

You can watch the full recording of this session at The Soltesz Institute: https://solteszinstitute.com/course/importance-of-financial-and-business-planning