SWOT Analysis Template
Map your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in the four-box grid below. It saves as you type and prints cleanly.
What is a SWOT analysis?
SWOT is a four-box framework for assessing a business or idea: Strengths and Weaknesses are internal (things you control), while Opportunities and Threats are external (things happening around you).
Internal vs. external — the key distinction
Getting this wrong is the most common SWOT mistake. 'Our team is small' is a weakness (internal). 'A big competitor just entered our market' is a threat (external). Keep the two halves separate or the analysis loses its usefulness.
Turning SWOT into action
A SWOT is only useful if it changes what you do. For each box, write one action: use a strength to seize an opportunity, or shore up a weakness before a threat exploits it.
Frequently asked
What does SWOT stand for?+
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Strengths and weaknesses are internal to your business; opportunities and threats come from outside it.
What's an example of a SWOT analysis?+
For a student snack business: Strength — a unique recipe; Weakness — limited time to produce; Opportunity — no healthy options sold on campus; Threat — the school store could add a similar product.
When should you do a SWOT analysis?+
Before launching, when entering a new market, or whenever you're deciding strategy. It's fast enough to redo any time your situation changes.
Students build this inside Playbook
Playbook is an entrepreneurship simulation where frameworks like this are guided, graded, and tied to a business students actually build.