It is critical to write an Executive Summary as a miniature Business Plan.

Business Plan Specialist
for Entrepreneurs

Free Tips to Write a Great Executive Summary

Every plan should start with an executive summary.  This section isn't a warm up, preface, forward, abstract, or a sales brochure to make them feel good about your business.  Rather, it's your entire business plan reduced to its essence.  It needs to be compelling, because if it isn't, investors aren't going to read the rest of your plan or invite you in for a discussion.

The executive summary should be one- to two- pages and usually would not need any pictures or graphics.  Yes, a business plan is a sales document, but sell with facts and stories and not exaggeration or hype.  It's also not a random collection of highlights.  

Rather, the executive summary is the business plan in miniature.  The executive summary should stand alone.  It should be logical, clear, interesting, and exciting.

You need to stick to the facts and be well grounded.  Investors are searching for evidence that justifies the soundness of your opportunity, and that gets them excited about what you intend to achieve.  Your business plan needs to make it explicit just exactly what bets your company is taking, how you have an unfair advantage that mitigates those risks, and what returns can be realistically expected for investing.  Don't erode your credibility with unsupportable claims and hype.

Excellent Recources and Executive Summary Examples

Crafting the Executive Summary, By John O'Halloran (UW Business School, Jan 2003, PowerPoint Slides, 300 KB)

Executive Summaries That Sell, By Suzanne Rowen, Rowen and Company (Entrepreneur University 2001, PDF, 390 KB)

Example Summary Guidelines (from Seraph Capital Forum):

The Company
Where / When / For what purpose

The Products
What problem does product or service solve? What is unique and or different about product and opportunity?

The Market and Marketing Strategy
What is compelling about the market opportunity? What is the size of the market? How fast will the market develop? What are the industry trends? What is your strategy to reach market? (marketing plan) Who are the customers and why they absolutely need product or service?

The Competition /Barriers to Entry
Competitors: features and benefits of competition How does the company differentiate themselves from the competition? Does your company have a competitive advantage?

Accomplishments
List of accomplishments to date (patents/contracts/strategic partners, etc.) Brief company history

Management
Who’s on the team? Have they worked together before? Do you have an advisory board?

Business strategy
How will you use the money? Milestones

Financial Summary
Financials: current + 5 year future projections, Exit Strategy, ROI

Summary of Investment Opportunity
Features and Benefits Importance to investors/marketplace (customers)

Call us today.  Let's discuss how we can help you write a compelling executive summary that will get you an audience of qualified investors to listen to your business plan.

GrowthConnection, LLC
Seattle, Washington
(425) 347-4678