FREE Business Roadmap Template
Master business roadmap timelines with our intuitive business roadmap Gantt chart template.
Start with template
Why use our Business Roadmap instead of Excel or Google Sheets?
Get started with our Business Roadmap in seconds while skipping the hassle involved with Excel or Google Sheets.
Build Gantt charts in minutes, not hours.
No project management experience? No problem. Tom's Planner offers a user-friendly, drag-and-drop interface that's intuitive and easy to learn. Creating Gantt charts is a breeze, saving you time and effort. Compare that to the time-consuming, frustrating, manual formatting-intensive process of building a Gantt chart in Excel or Google Sheets.
Move at the pace of modern business with no learning curve or Googling formulas.
Good luck figuring out how to make a Gantt chart work in Excel or Google Sheets. Excel’s user manual weighs in at a hefty 500+ pages. It takes just five minutes with Tom’s Planner to start planning your first real project plan.
Headache-free collaboration and sharing.
Tom's Planner offers powerful options for sharing and collaborating on Gantt charts, including public links, PDF exports, and team access with customizable permission levels. It’s never been easier to communicate or ensure everyone’s on the same page. Compare that to Excel, where sharing and collaboration mean jumping through hoop after hoop and dealing with confusion and chaos.
How to use Tom’s Planner’s business roadmap to build and share your business roadmap.
Getting your project off the ground is as easy as 1-2-3.
Step #1
Click the 'start with template’ button to open the Business Roadmap.
Step #2
Register for a free account and watch a short video on using Tom’s Planner. The account is free forever, with no strings attached.
Step #3
You’re all set to use the Gantt chart template. Need additional help? Our AI assistant can create a custom Gantt chart Business Roadmap based on your project description.
What Is a Business Roadmap?
What is a roadmap in business? It’s an adjustable tool designed to help you create a thriving business. But there’s
so much more it can do.
At its core, a roadmap for business plan is a visual strategy that outlines the
direction of your company over a set period. It serves as both a guide and a communication tool, aligning teams around
shared goals and priorities.
Think of it as a map: the roadmap meaning in business is to show the big
picture—where you’re headed and how you’ll get there. Unlike a rigid business plan, a roadmap is flexible and designed
to adapt as circumstances change, making it a must-have for navigating today’s fast-paced world.
Why Use a Gantt Chart for Your Company Roadmap?
When it comes to creating a business roadmap, you’ll need to use a range of different tools. Some of those might
include Word and Excel. However, there’s a solid argument to be made in favor of adding a Gantt chart to the mix.
Gantt charts offer several key benefits that make planning for your business simpler. It’s a
cinch to
assign tasks, allocate resources to specific teams or team members, and more. You can update it in real time so that
team members and stakeholders are on the same page, too. And because of that, it becomes a living document that can
evolve alongside your business.
When to Use a Business Roadmap
From starting a new business to developing new products, your company roadmap can serve many purposes. If you look at some of the better business roadmap examples out there, you’ll see that this tool is pretty versatile. Here are just a few instances when using a business development roadmap can help:
Starting a Business:
Starting a new business? You’ll need tools that help you plan and develop the idea into a viable business model. A company roadmap helps you chart your new business from ideation through funding and more. Don’t confuse a commercial roadmap with a business plan roadmap, however.
Market Expansion:
Growth is your goal, but you need to handle it correctly. Expanding into new markets gives you access to new customers, and an organization roadmap can help you outline how you’ll reach those customers, nail down sales initiatives, and plan your marketing activities.
New Product Development:
Bringing a new product to market? A business strategy roadmap can help tie it into your overall strategy. However, you’ll also want to use a product roadmap template in addition to your business roadmap. The most effective strategic roadmap examples combine both.
With a better idea of when to use a business roadmap, it’s time to turn our attention to who should be using these tools.
Who Should Use a Strategic Plan Roadmap?
Everyone with a stake in your organization’s success can benefit from a roadmap. That includes leaders, but it also includes managers, IT staff, HR, marketing, and even salespeople. Here’s why:
Executives and Leaders:
A corporate roadmap aligns strategic goals with operational execution. Leaders and execs need that alignment to help them make sure that the business stays on track strategically, while also keeping a close eye on operating costs.
Product and Development Teams:
A business development roadmap clarifies priorities for innovation and growth. It helps identify what products you’ll focus on and when you’ll develop them. Note that this also applies to service-oriented businesses. You don’t have to be a manufacturer or digital product developer to benefit from a business roadmap.
Marketing and Sales Teams:
A business growth roadmap ensures alignment between new product launches and revenue goals. It helps describe how you’ll achieve profitability over time, key milestones along the way, how different initiatives will affect revenue flow, and so much more.
From startups crafting a startup business roadmap to enterprises managing a complex enterprise roadmap, every organization can use this tool to stay focused and accountable.
Start with templateTop Three Pitfalls to Avoid When Planning an Organizational Roadmap
Ready to win that contract? You’ll need to make your proposal as compelling as possible. Avoid these three pitfalls and you’ll be well on your way.
- Failing to Understand the Client’s Problem
If you were looking for a way to make your proposal fail outright, it’s as simple as not understanding the client’s problem.
Solution:Get to know the client and their challenges, but look deeper to get to the real root of their issues.
- It’s Generic
Too often, consultants send out what basically amounts to boilerplate and clients feel unseen.
Solution:There’s nothing wrong with using a consulting project proposal template, but take the time to customize it.
- Setting Unrealistic Timelines
There’s an urge to get the client results as quickly as possible. But if your deadlines are unrealistic, you could damage your reputation and doom the project.
Solution:Make sure that you’re setting realistic deadlines and managing client expectations when it comes to project deliverables.
What Does a Business Roadmap Include?
No two roadmaps are exactly alike, but most include a handful of central components:
- Goals
Think of your business’s goals as your destination. What are the outcomes you’re aiming for?
- Initiatives
These are the big moves you’ll make to achieve those goals, like launching a product or entering a new market.
- Timelines and Milestones
These are hard deadlines and markers that track progress along the way. They help show progress and gauge success.
- Responsibilities
Who’s accountable for what? Clear ownership keeps teams aligned and managers clear on what’s going right and what’s not.
These elements turn a business plan roadmap from a high-level vision into a practical, actionable strategy that helps drive growth and success. A Gantt Chart, like Tom’s Planner’s, can help you organize all those things into an intelligible, navigable format.
Four tips on how to make sure you reach your deadlines
Creating a company roadmap takes time, effort, and intention. Follow these tips to make sure you reach your deadlines:
Plan Clear Goals
Define what success looks like for your organization. It could be anything, and it doesn’t have to be similar to any other business. A business strategy roadmap starts with a solid understanding of your objectives.
Prioritize Initiatives
Not everything can happen at once. Use your roadmap to focus on the most impactful actions and decisions. What needs to happen first? Second? Don’t waste time or energy on anything other than your most important initiatives.
Add Timelines
Accurate planning is the key to success here. Include realistic deadlines for each phase of your roadmap to ensure steady progress. Hard deadlines act as bookends and help ensure that you don’t overshoot things.
Stay Flexible
Your business roadmapping process should allow room for adjustments as circumstances change. Don’t let the unexpected derail your business. Plan for surprises and they’ll be less disruptive.
Gantt charts in Tom's Planner vs in Excel
| Excel | Tom's Planner | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | License required | Free version available |
| Learning curve | Hours | Minutes |
| Create your first Gantt chart | Hours | Minutes |
| Making an update in your chart | Several minutes | Seconds (drag & drop) |
| Sharing charts with others | At some point you will save and email a file titled: version_4_def_usethisversion_reallyfinal.xlsx | Online, one source of truth, always up to date, with no confusion |
| Look & Feel | Messy | Clean, polished and professional |
| Dependencies | 
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| Filtering | 
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| Zoom in/out |
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| Automatic Legend |
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| AI-assist |
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Let our AI assist do the work for you |
| Export to image or pdf | Requires workarounds to export | One mouse click |
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