1. Ten Clichés to Cut

Cliché | Why it's a problem || Innovative | A subjective claim every company makes || AI-powered | Meaningless without an explanation of how the AI actually works || Advanced / upgraded | An abstract label with no specific feature behind it || Going global | A promise made before even winning the home market || Groundbreaking | Unsubstantiated self-praise || 'Many people do X' | A vague subject, with no data behind it || 'We plan to...' | Something you probably should have already started || Overwhelming / dominant | No comparison point or benchmark given || World's first | Unverifiable, a common exaggeration || 'The market grows X% every year' | Market growth isn't evidence that your specific problem is real

3. Dangerous Language Patterns

The pattern is more dangerous than any single word. Check your writing immediately if you spot any of these four patterns. Vague subjects — sentences that open with 'many,' 'most,' or 'generally' / Unsourced comparisons — 'better than competitors' or 'above market average' with no citation / Future-tense promises — nothing but repeated 'we will' and 'we plan to' / Stacked abstract adjectives — three or more of 'innovative,' 'groundbreaking,' 'dominant' in a single paragraph

4. A Cliché Business Plan vs. a Good One

Cliché business plan | Good business plan || 'This service is an innovative, AI-powered healthcare solution that will expand into global markets and secure an overwhelming competitive advantage.' | 'A mobile app that solves the problem of office workers in their 30s spending an average of 7 minutes every week agonizing over what to eat for lunch, by recommending menus based on their diet and exercise data. 62 of our 80 beta users were still active after 4 weeks — a 78% retention rate.' The two passages are nearly the same length, but their credibility is worlds apart. Cutting five abstract adjectives and adding one piece of quantified data is what makes a business plan strong.

5. Self-Check Checklist

Do words like 'innovative,' 'groundbreaking,' 'dominant,' or 'world's first' appear anywhere? / Are there sentences that open with vague subjects like 'many,' 'most,' or 'generally'? / Are 'AI-powered' or 'advanced' used without explaining the specific feature behind them? / Have five or more future-tense promises ('we plan to...') piled up? / Does every comparison cite a source or benchmark? / Is 'going global' only mentioned after home-market traction is established? OpenSeed's evaluation agent automatically detects cliché word frequency, abstract-language patterns, and sentences that lack quantified support. Free during the current beta.

Startup Guide

Business Plan Clichés — 10 Phrases to Cut and What to Write Instead

2026.05.05·6 min·OPENSEED

Evaluators read hundreds of business plans every year. Certain words show up again and again, and the moment they appear, credibility drops instantly — words like 'innovative,' 'AI-powered,' 'advanced,' and 'going global.' This article covers ten clichés to cut from your business plan and what to write in their place.

Intro.

#Ten Clichés to Cut

Cliché	Why it's a problem
Innovative	A subjective claim every company makes
AI-powered	Meaningless without an explanation of how the AI actually works
Advanced / upgraded	An abstract label with no specific feature behind it
Going global	A promise made before even winning the home market
Groundbreaking	Unsubstantiated self-praise
'Many people do X'	A vague subject, with no data behind it
'We plan to...'	Something you probably should have already started
Overwhelming / dominant	No comparison point or benchmark given
World's first	Unverifiable, a common exaggeration
'The market grows X% every year'	Market growth isn't evidence that your specific problem is real

#Rewrites — Turning Clichés into Quantified Language

Cliché	Rewrite (quantified and specific)
'An innovative solution'	'Cuts processing time from 7 minutes to 1, compared to the existing method'
'AI-powered'	Explain the model, the input, and the output — e.g., 'Analyzes the user's input text and returns [specific result]'
'Advanced'	'Changes from v1.2 to v2.0: added [feature], improved [performance metric]'
'Going global'	'Year 2: expansion into Japan and Southeast Asia (local partnership with [company] already confirmed)'
'Many people'	'9 out of 12 office workers in their 30s (based on our own interviews)'
'An overwhelming advantage'	'Half the price of competitors, one-third the processing time, first to prioritize [target-language] support'
'World's first'	'First launch in this category in the Korean market (verifiable source cited)'

TIP

Quantified language creates a verifiable claim. Verifiable claims build trust; unverifiable ones breed doubt.

#Dangerous Language Patterns

The pattern is more dangerous than any single word. Check your writing immediately if you spot any of these four patterns.

Vague subjects — sentences that open with 'many,' 'most,' or 'generally'
Unsourced comparisons — 'better than competitors' or 'above market average' with no citation
Future-tense promises — nothing but repeated 'we will' and 'we plan to'
Stacked abstract adjectives — three or more of 'innovative,' 'groundbreaking,' 'dominant' in a single paragraph

#A Cliché Business Plan vs. a Good One

Cliché business plan	Good business plan
'This service is an innovative, AI-powered healthcare solution that will expand into global markets and secure an overwhelming competitive advantage.'	'A mobile app that solves the problem of office workers in their 30s spending an average of 7 minutes every week agonizing over what to eat for lunch, by recommending menus based on their diet and exercise data. 62 of our 80 beta users were still active after 4 weeks — a 78% retention rate.'

TIP

The two passages are nearly the same length, but their credibility is worlds apart. Cutting five abstract adjectives and adding one piece of quantified data is what makes a business plan strong.

Summary.

#Self-Check Checklist

Do words like 'innovative,' 'groundbreaking,' 'dominant,' or 'world's first' appear anywhere?
Are there sentences that open with vague subjects like 'many,' 'most,' or 'generally'?
Are 'AI-powered' or 'advanced' used without explaining the specific feature behind them?
Have five or more future-tense promises ('we plan to...') piled up?
Does every comparison cite a source or benchmark?
Is 'going global' only mentioned after home-market traction is established?

CTA

OpenSeed's evaluation agent automatically detects cliché word frequency, abstract-language patterns, and sentences that lack quantified support. Free during the current beta.