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