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Killer Executive Summaries. It all begins here. – Part 4 of the 2009 Business Plan Series

February 19, 2009 :: Steve Fisher

Everyone who begins the journey of writing a business plan usually learns about the Executive Summary section early on in the process. An Executive Summary is usually 1-2 pages long and the goal is to summarize the entire business plan into something digestible by new readers and those (read: investors) who want to get to the bottom line (i.e. what do you do, how much do you need, why are you different and who the heck is behind this business) and quickly decide if they want to take the time and read the business plan itself. This might sound depressing because of all the hard work you put into the whole plan and that you want the world to know how cool your idea/business is. Look at this as a good thing. Would you really want people who are tire kickers or sort of interested to waste your time and read the plan only to say no? I thought that might be your answer.

When is the best time to write the Executive Summary?

There are many schools of thought on when to write the Executive Summary, either write it first, write it along the way or write it at the end.

I take a little bit different of an approach in that you should take a try and write it at the beginning and then re-write it again at the end. There are two reasons for this:

Reason #1 – Writing it at the beginning can focus you and force you to answer questions in the shortest way possible. This is an interesting and valuable exercise for many because they work to answer many of the hard questions and because it forces you to get in the habit of getting to the point.

Reason #2 – Writing it at the end is great because you will revisit what you wrote and either be on track with only a little tuning required or most likely will roll your eyes and see how far off you were and really have a much easier time tuning the summary up to make it truly a killer Executive Summary.

What are the overall components of the Executive Summary?
Let me preface that depending on who your audience is and what your strengths are will dictate the order of things. Generally, you need to write 2-3 sentences MAX on each of the following sections:

• Company description of what you are doing
• Problem and opportunity
• Your products and/or services that address the problem and take advantage of the opportunity
• Money You Need and What it will be used for (this is if the summary is targeted at investors)
• The market and your customer
• The Competition and Your Differentiators (how you will kick the competitor’s butt)
• Your current Marketing and Sales (if you have them)
• Your Management Team (If they are an A-Grade team this might be further up)
• Current Business Operations (if you are an existing business)
• 3-5 Year financial projections and plans (How much have you made, how much will you make and if you are looking for investment, how you will use it) – This includes a small table of numbers in addition to the 2-3 sentences

What makes a Killer Executive Summary that stands out from other businesses?
There are many well written Executive Summaries out there that have never been funded or missed the market or for whatever reason never got off the ground. But what makes an Executive Summary “Killer”? Here are six key things to make it “killer”:

1.) BE focused and clearly state what you do - Too many businesses, especially startups try and “boil the ocean” making you look like you are all over the place and will not be able to execute successfully.

2.) BE a business that solves a problem and not be solution in search of one – You might have an awesome “widget” but if people don’t need it or companies can live without it, why are you starting a business?

3.) BE strong and positive with your language – This is not a time to be passive. From potential investors looking to give you money to those people willing to join the team, people must know that you ”are” going to execute, not “may” or “might” do something.

4.) DON’T cut and paste – Read the sections and extract the best and write a new concise section

5.) DON’T use Jargon – Most industries have acronyms or buzz words that are neat and catchy. One or two that make a point are fine but if your engineer is writing the business plan, don’t get all geeky on the solution. Remember, the Executive Summary is about telling someone the time, not how the watch works. The business plan will have plenty of places for that type of content.

6.) Write an “Executive Summary” of the Executive Summary – Most people have very short attention spans and once you are done the Executive Summary you should try and compose a 2-3 sentence summary at the top that gets all the critical elements in so that people really want to read the rest and get excited about reading the entire business plan.

So, what has been your experiences and what advice can you offer to everyone?
I pose this question because there are many of you out there that have been through this and could provide perspective and tips that I might have missed. Please leave your thoughts and advice below in the comments.

Good resources and references for Executive Summary writing
How to Write and Executive Summary
E-Business Plan Tutorial
Writing an Executive Summary
Writing a Business Plan – The Executive Summary

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