what do you think is the purpose of writing an executive summary in business plan brainly

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Why your business plan's executive summary is so important (+ how to write one)

If you plan to launch your own small business , then you'll need to write an executive summary as part of your full business plan. In this article, we'll answer all your pressing questions, including: What the heck is an executive summary, anyway? What’s the purpose of an executive summary? And how do I actually create a well-written executive summary?

Executive summaries are arguably one of the most critical sections of a business plan —and they're also one of the trickiest to write. The executive summary is the first part of your complete business plan that someone will read, so it needs to be compelling in order to convince someone to read the whole thing.

But here’s the catch: 55% of people spend less than 15 seconds actively reading content, based on data published in Time Magazine . This means the limited window of time you have to convince someone your business plan is worth their attention depends on a strong executive summary. No pressure or anything.

For that reason, it’s important to know how to draft a concise executive summary that makes an impact and communicates the goals of your small business. But have no fear, just read on to learn how!

What is an executive summary?

An executive summary is essentially an outline of your business plan. If your full business plan is a roadmap, your executive summary is your roadmap's roadmap. It gives your readers a heads up about what you'll talk about in the rest of your business plan. For all intents and purposes, your business's executive summary is your elevator pitch.

Business Plan Executive Summary Example and Template.

The purpose of an executive summary

If there's one section of your business plan everyone is going to read, it's the executive summary. Your business plan's executive summary exists to give readers an overview of the entire document. It should outline what they can expect to learn and motivate them to keep reading on.

“Investors will read the executive summary to decide if they will even bother reading the rest of the business plan. It’s rare for an investor or lender to read an entire business plan, at least in the initial stages of analysis and consideration for funding,” says Eric Markowitz , Inc.com Staff Writer.

Keep your goals and purpose in mind when writing your executive summary.

If your business is a startup, the purpose of your business plan (and executive summary) will likely be to get banks or investors to provide you with financing. So, when writing your executive summary, highlight the financial requirements of your business and why your business is worthy of funding.

If you're a more established business owner, then your executive summary will talk more about your achievements, evolution, and goals for the future.

How to write an executive summary for a business plan

Your business's executive summary should be as short as possible, ideally only one or two pages long.

Remember that you're vouching for yourself and your business in your executive summary, so make sure your language is confident and positive!

Bad example : We might not be the best or the most established protein powder brand, but we probably have the most passion and love out of all our competitors.

Good example: With some vegan protein powder products on the market currently, we expect mild competition and are confident we will be able to build a strong market position.

It's best practice to avoid talking about more fluffy, subjective points and cliches (like passion, hard work, etc.) so you can focus more on the practical information and facts your readers want to know about (like why they should actually invest or partner with your business). You also want to seem confident in yourself and your business, so avoid words like "might," "maybe," or "could" and opt for more definitive words, like "will"!

Remember that your executive summary should fill in the blanks for your readers. Keep your target audience in mind and try to answer their questions, rather than create new ones, or they may get confused and stop reading. Give them a reason not to go back to checking their current value of Bitcoin.

"Put yourself in the business plan reader's shoes and think about what you would like to know in the report," Marius Thauland, business strategist at Leiekontor, told Business News Daily . "Get their attention by making it simple and brief yet still professional. It should also attract them to read the entire document to understand even the minute details."

There's no specific way to order the different sections of your executive summary, but you'll want to put the most important information or your strongest points first . The first sentence and paragraph of your executive summary is especially important, since these are what will reel your readers in.

We'll give you an idea of how to do this below.

What to include in the executive summary of your business plan

Questions to ask in your executive summary: Who's your competition?; Is there demand?; Who's running your business?; Who's your target audience?; How will you launch your business?

Despite being the first page of your business plan, it’s a good idea to write your executive summary section last. This trick allows you to get a clear picture of what specific material from the full business plan you need to introduce in the executive summary. So if you haven't written the rest of your business plan yet, stop, maybe check out our articles on writing a business plan (wink wink nudge nudge), and come back here once you're done.

Since the goal of a business plan is to persuade the reader to invest in your business, your executive summary needs to demonstrate why this investment would be a smart financial decision. The kicker is: you need to do all of this in 1-2 pages.

To get started, The Balance Small Business suggests including the following eight sections. Choose the topics most relevant to your business and write one or two sentences about each of them. And remember to order them from most important to least important! ‍

1. Business opportunity

What demand or need is there for your business and how will you meet this demand? Talk about a problem or a gap in the market, and why your business alone has all the answers. ‍

2. Target market

What demographic do you intend to reach as your customer base? Who's going to be buying your product? ‍

3. Business model

Use this part to give more juicy details about your business idea. What products or services will your business offer, and what makes them desirable? ‍

4. Marketing/Sales strategy

What will your methods be to create brand recognition for these products or services? You might want to consider marketing techniques like social media, paid media, or email marketing. ‍

‍ 5. Competition

Give your readers the low-down of your industry. What businesses will you compete with for market share, and what does your business offer that your competitors do not? How big and competitive is your industry? How will you stand out against other small businesses? Are there any industry trends you should bring up? ‍

6. Financial analysis

Investors and banks will be especially interested in this part. What is your plan to manage your business finances, and what is your projected revenue for the first three years of your business? You should go into detail about how you will distribute your funding and spell out what your investors will get out of it. ‍

7. Owners/Staff

In this section, you can give a brief overview of your business's history. Who are the owners and lead staff members of your business and what important skills or credentials do they bring? ‍

8. Implementation plan

What is your framework and timeline to move from a concept to launching an actual business?

Effective executive summary examples

Sitting down to start writing an executive summary and putting all the pieces together can be challenging .

To think about it differently, you might consider grouping the above details into a few specific categories: ‍

Mission statement

What are the core values and central purpose of your business? ‍

Executive summary/business plan example: Vegan Protein Blitz

Company: Vegan Protein Blitz: Animal-free protein powder ‍

Our Mission

Vegan Protein Blitz: Animal-Free Protein Powder offers 25 grams of protein per serving without any use of animal protein—similar to, and in many cases, more than, the average amount of protein in similar products. We intend to appeal to those within the fitness community who are looking for a great-tasting protein powder without compromising on the amount of protein per serving. With some vegan protein powder products on the market currently, we expect mild competition and are confident we will be able to build a strong market position.

The Company and Management

Vegan Protein Blitz: Animal-Free Protein Powder was founded in 2018 by Sarah Bailey, a certified personal trainer and former food scientist, who couldn’t find a vegan protein powder that tasted good and provided the amount she needed to fuel her fitness routine. Her kitchen is based in San Diego, California, where she employs two full-time employees and three part-time employees.

Along with Sarah Bailey, Vegan Protein Blitz: Animal-Free Protein Powder has a board of advisors. The advisors are:

Our Product

We offer animal-free protein powder that is made with all-natural sugar sources and no preservatives. Our customers are health-conscious and serious about fueling their bodies with animal-free whole foods. We plan to grow quickly, with an initial goal of building a full-time marketing team of fitness advocates and professionals who understand the industry and our customers’ needs.

Our Competitive Advantages

While there are other vegan protein powders on the national market, there are none that are made with all-natural sugar and with a comparable amount of protein as that of an animal-based powder. With the expertise of our founder Sarah Bailey, we also stand out as a company that truly understands the audience. Please see our market research (Section 3) for more information on why consumers are demanding this expertise.

Financial Considerations

Our sales projections for the first year are $600,000 with a 10% growth rate over the next two years. By year three, we project 55% gross margins and will have ten full-time employees. The salary for each employee will be $60,000 USD.

Startup Financing Requirements

We are seeking to raise $250,000 in startup funds to finance the first year. The owner has invested $40,000 to meet working capital requirements, and will use a loan of $80,000 to supplement the rest.

More executive summary templates

Need more business plan examples, or ready to create your own executive summary with a template? Here are a few we found around the web:

Final tips for writing an executive summary

Earning investor interest in your business is critical to getting access to the things your business will need to succeed, and a solid executive summary can help you do that. Writing your full business plan first can help you get clarity on the strongest key points of your business proposal, which you can use to build out your executive summary.

Most importantly, keep this section of your business plan straightforward and concise, making it easy for the reader to understand what you’re doing and why it matters.

Brush up on your writing skills

You're an entrepreneur, and you probably didn't start your business to write business plans . Free online editing tools and resources like Hemingway and Grammarly can help you punch up and polish your writing. Just copy and paste your executive summary into the software, and it will let you know where your writing needs to be more clear.

Get to the point

Remember what we said about keeping it short? We mean it. Even if there's a really clever sentence that you're super proud of, it's gotta go if it doesn't contribute to your summary. You don't want to give too much detail (that's what the rest of your business plan is for!) or repeat yourself.

Always proofread your work a couple of times before calling it a day! Reading your executive summary out loud can help you identify awkward phrasing and catch any typos you might have missed. Another idea is to copy and paste it into a text-to-speech program to hear what it sounds like out loud. It also helps to print out your executive summary and edit the physical document, which helps you see it from a fresh perspective.

Get feedback

If you have a kind friend, family member, or fellow business owner, you should ask them to take a look at your executive summary/business plan and give their constructive criticism. If they understand your goals and plan and seem excited about your idea, that's a good sign! If they give your business plan back to you with a bunch of red marks and a confused look on their faces, that's probably a sign for you to make sure your executive summary flows more logically.

Once your business is off the ground, Wave will be ready and waiting for you. Send free invoices, get paid, track expenses, pay your team, and balance your books with our beginner-friendly financial management software.

what do you think is the purpose of writing an executive summary in business plan brainly

The information and tips shared on this blog are meant to be used as learning and personal development tools as you launch, run and grow your business. While a good place to start, these articles should not take the place of personalized advice from professionals. As our lawyers would say: “All content on Wave’s blog is intended for informational purposes only. It should not be considered legal or financial advice.” Additionally, Wave is the legal copyright holder of all materials on the blog, and others cannot re-use or publish it without our written consent.

What do you think is the purpose of writing an executive summary in a business plan?

The purpose of writing an executive summary in a business plan is for everyone to understand how important, understanding, needed and educated it is, for your business plan to grow.

New questions in Physical Education

Learning Objectives

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

Unlike the brief or lean formats introduced so far, the business plan is a formal document used for the long-range planning of a company’s operation. It typically includes background information, financial information, and a summary of the business. Investors nearly always request a formal business plan because it is an integral part of their evaluation of whether to invest in a company. Although nothing in business is permanent, a business plan typically has components that are more “set in stone” than a business model canvas , which is more commonly used as a first step in the planning process and throughout the early stages of a nascent business. A business plan is likely to describe the business and industry, market strategies, sales potential, and competitive analysis, as well as the company’s long-term goals and objectives. An in-depth formal business plan would follow at later stages after various iterations to business model canvases. The business plan usually projects financial data over a three-year period and is typically required by banks or other investors to secure funding. The business plan is a roadmap for the company to follow over multiple years.

Some entrepreneurs prefer to use the canvas process instead of the business plan, whereas others use a shorter version of the business plan, submitting it to investors after several iterations. There are also entrepreneurs who use the business plan earlier in the entrepreneurial process, either preceding or concurrently with a canvas. For instance, Chris Guillebeau has a one-page business plan template in his book The $100 Startup . 48 His version is basically an extension of a napkin sketch without the detail of a full business plan. As you progress, you can also consider a brief business plan (about two pages)—if you want to support a rapid business launch—and/or a standard business plan.

As with many aspects of entrepreneurship, there are no clear hard and fast rules to achieving entrepreneurial success. You may encounter different people who want different things (canvas, summary, full business plan), and you also have flexibility in following whatever tool works best for you. Like the canvas, the various versions of the business plan are tools that will aid you in your entrepreneurial endeavor.

Business Plan Overview

Most business plans have several distinct sections ( Figure 11.16 ). The business plan can range from a few pages to twenty-five pages or more, depending on the purpose and the intended audience. For our discussion, we’ll describe a brief business plan and a standard business plan. If you are able to successfully design a business model canvas, then you will have the structure for developing a clear business plan that you can submit for financial consideration.

Business plan that includes an executive summary, business description, market strategies, marketing plan, competitive analysis, operations and management plan, financial analysis, and design and development plan.

Both types of business plans aim at providing a picture and roadmap to follow from conception to creation. If you opt for the brief business plan, you will focus primarily on articulating a big-picture overview of your business concept.

The full business plan is aimed at executing the vision concept, dealing with the proverbial devil in the details. Developing a full business plan will assist those of you who need a more detailed and structured roadmap, or those of you with little to no background in business. The business planning process includes the business model, a feasibility analysis, and a full business plan, which we will discuss later in this section. Next, we explore how a business plan can meet several different needs.

Purposes of a Business Plan

A business plan can serve many different purposes—some internal, others external. As we discussed previously, you can use a business plan as an internal early planning device, an extension of a napkin sketch, and as a follow-up to one of the canvas tools. A business plan can be an organizational roadmap , that is, an internal planning tool and working plan that you can apply to your business in order to reach your desired goals over the course of several years. The business plan should be written by the owners of the venture, since it forces a firsthand examination of the business operations and allows them to focus on areas that need improvement.

Refer to the business venture throughout the document. Generally speaking, a business plan should not be written in the first person.

A major external purpose for the business plan is as an investment tool that outlines financial projections, becoming a document designed to attract investors. In many instances, a business plan can complement a formal investor’s pitch. In this context, the business plan is a presentation plan, intended for an outside audience that may or may not be familiar with your industry, your business, and your competitors.

You can also use your business plan as a contingency plan by outlining some “what-if” scenarios and exploring how you might respond if these scenarios unfold. Pretty Young Professional launched in November 2010 as an online resource to guide an emerging generation of female leaders. The site focused on recent female college graduates and current students searching for professional roles and those in their first professional roles. It was founded by four friends who were coworkers at the global consultancy firm McKinsey. But after positions and equity were decided among them, fundamental differences of opinion about the direction of the business emerged between two factions, according to the cofounder and former CEO Kathryn Minshew . “I think, naively, we assumed that if we kicked the can down the road on some of those things, we’d be able to sort them out,” Minshew said. Minshew went on to found a different professional site, The Muse , and took much of the editorial team of Pretty Young Professional with her. 49 Whereas greater planning potentially could have prevented the early demise of Pretty Young Professional, a change in planning led to overnight success for Joshua Esnard and The Cut Buddy team. Esnard invented and patented the plastic hair template that he was selling online out of his Fort Lauderdale garage while working a full-time job at Broward College and running a side business. Esnard had hundreds of boxes of Cut Buddies sitting in his home when he changed his marketing plan to enlist companies specializing in making videos go viral. It worked so well that a promotional video for the product garnered 8 million views in hours. The Cut Buddy sold over 4,000 products in a few hours when Esnard only had hundreds remaining. Demand greatly exceeded his supply, so Esnard had to scramble to increase manufacturing and offered customers two-for-one deals to make up for delays. This led to selling 55,000 units, generating $700,000 in sales in 2017. 50 After appearing on Shark Tank and landing a deal with Daymond John that gave the “shark” a 20-percent equity stake in return for $300,000, The Cut Buddy has added new distribution channels to include retail sales along with online commerce. Changing one aspect of a business plan—the marketing plan—yielded success for The Cut Buddy.

Link to Learning

Watch this video of Cut Buddy’s founder, Joshua Esnard, telling his company’s story to learn more.

If you opt for the brief business plan, you will focus primarily on articulating a big-picture overview of your business concept. This version is used to interest potential investors, employees, and other stakeholders, and will include a financial summary “box,” but it must have a disclaimer, and the founder/entrepreneur may need to have the people who receive it sign a nondisclosure agreement (NDA) . The full business plan is aimed at executing the vision concept, providing supporting details, and would be required by financial institutions and others as they formally become stakeholders in the venture. Both are aimed at providing a picture and roadmap to go from conception to creation.

Types of Business Plans

The brief business plan is similar to an extended executive summary from the full business plan. This concise document provides a broad overview of your entrepreneurial concept, your team members, how and why you will execute on your plans, and why you are the ones to do so. You can think of a brief business plan as a scene setter or—since we began this chapter with a film reference—as a trailer to the full movie. The brief business plan is the commercial equivalent to a trailer for Field of Dreams , whereas the full plan is the full-length movie equivalent.

Brief Business Plan or Executive Summary

As the name implies, the brief business plan or executive summary summarizes key elements of the entire business plan, such as the business concept, financial features, and current business position. The executive summary version of the business plan is your opportunity to broadly articulate the overall concept and vision of the company for yourself, for prospective investors, and for current and future employees.

A typical executive summary is generally no longer than a page, but because the brief business plan is essentially an extended executive summary, the executive summary section is vital. This is the “ask” to an investor. You should begin by clearly stating what you are asking for in the summary.

In the business concept phase, you’ll describe the business, its product, and its markets. Describe the customer segment it serves and why your company will hold a competitive advantage. This section may align roughly with the customer segments and value-proposition segments of a canvas.

Next, highlight the important financial features, including sales, profits, cash flows, and return on investment. Like the financial portion of a feasibility analysis, the financial analysis component of a business plan may typically include items like a twelve-month profit and loss projection, a three- or four-year profit and loss projection, a cash-flow projection, a projected balance sheet, and a breakeven calculation. You can explore a feasibility study and financial projections in more depth in the formal business plan. Here, you want to focus on the big picture of your numbers and what they mean.

The current business position section can furnish relevant information about you and your team members and the company at large. This is your opportunity to tell the story of how you formed the company, to describe its legal status (form of operation), and to list the principal players. In one part of the extended executive summary, you can cover your reasons for starting the business: Here is an opportunity to clearly define the needs you think you can meet and perhaps get into the pains and gains of customers. You also can provide a summary of the overall strategic direction in which you intend to take the company. Describe the company’s mission, vision, goals and objectives, overall business model, and value proposition.

Rice University’s Student Business Plan Competition, one of the largest and overall best-regarded graduate school business-plan competitions (see Telling Your Entrepreneurial Story and Pitching the Idea ), requires an executive summary of up to five pages to apply. 51 , 52 Its suggested sections are shown in Table 11.2 .

Are You Ready?

Create a brief business plan.

Fill out a canvas of your choosing for a well-known startup: Uber, Netflix, Dropbox, Etsy, Airbnb, Bird/Lime, Warby Parker, or any of the companies featured throughout this chapter or one of your choice. Then create a brief business plan for that business. See if you can find a version of the company’s actual executive summary, business plan, or canvas. Compare and contrast your vision with what the company has articulated.

Full Business Plan

Even full business plans can vary in length, scale, and scope. Rice University sets a ten-page cap on business plans submitted for the full competition. The IndUS Entrepreneurs , one of the largest global networks of entrepreneurs, also holds business plan competitions for students through its Tie Young Entrepreneurs program. In contrast, business plans submitted for that competition can usually be up to twenty-five pages. These are just two examples. Some components may differ slightly; common elements are typically found in a formal business plan outline. The next section will provide sample components of a full business plan for a fictional business.

Executive Summary

The executive summary should provide an overview of your business with key points and issues. Because the summary is intended to summarize the entire document, it is most helpful to write this section last, even though it comes first in sequence. The writing in this section should be especially concise. Readers should be able to understand your needs and capabilities at first glance. The section should tell the reader what you want and your “ask” should be explicitly stated in the summary.

Describe your business, its product or service, and the intended customers. Explain what will be sold, who it will be sold to, and what competitive advantages the business has. Table 11.3 shows a sample executive summary for the fictional company La Vida Lola.

Business Description

This section describes the industry, your product, and the business and success factors. It should provide a current outlook as well as future trends and developments. You also should address your company’s mission, vision, goals, and objectives. Summarize your overall strategic direction, your reasons for starting the business, a description of your products and services, your business model, and your company’s value proposition. Consider including the Standard Industrial Classification/North American Industry Classification System (SIC/NAICS) code to specify the industry and insure correct identification. The industry extends beyond where the business is located and operates, and should include national and global dynamics. Table 11.4 shows a sample business description for La Vida Lola.

Industry Analysis and Market Strategies

Here you should define your market in terms of size, structure, growth prospects, trends, and sales potential. You’ll want to include your TAM and forecast the SAM . (Both these terms are discussed in Conducting a Feasibility Analysis .) This is a place to address market segmentation strategies by geography, customer attributes, or product orientation. Describe your positioning relative to your competitors’ in terms of pricing, distribution, promotion plan, and sales potential. Table 11.5 shows an example industry analysis and market strategy for La Vida Lola.

Competitive Analysis

The competitive analysis is a statement of the business strategy as it relates to the competition. You want to be able to identify who are your major competitors and assess what are their market shares, markets served, strategies employed, and expected response to entry? You likely want to conduct a classic SWOT analysis (Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats) and complete a competitive-strength grid or competitive matrix. Outline your company’s competitive strengths relative to those of the competition in regard to product, distribution, pricing, promotion, and advertising. What are your company’s competitive advantages and their likely impacts on its success? The key is to construct it properly for the relevant features/benefits (by weight, according to customers) and how the startup compares to incumbents. The competitive matrix should show clearly how and why the startup has a clear (if not currently measurable) competitive advantage. Some common features in the example include price, benefits, quality, type of features, locations, and distribution/sales. Sample templates are shown in Figure 11.17 and Figure 11.18 . A competitive analysis helps you create a marketing strategy that will identify assets or skills that your competitors are lacking so you can plan to fill those gaps, giving you a distinct competitive advantage. When creating a competitor analysis, it is important to focus on the key features and elements that matter to customers, rather than focusing too heavily on the entrepreneur’s idea and desires.

Competitor analysis comparing five different restaurants by price, location, quality, and food type. La Vida Lola sells Latin food of mid to high quality at a variety of locations for between six and 13 dollars. Mix’D Up Burgers sells American food/burgers of low quality at both rotating and Smyrna locations for around ten dollars. Mac the Cheese sells American comfort food of mid quality at rotating locations for between ten and thirteen dollars. The Fry Guy sells American food of high quality in Buckhead for at minimum thirteen dollars. The Blaxican sells soul/Mexican fusion food of high quality in Midtown at high prices.

Operations and Management Plan

In this section, outline how you will manage your company. Describe its organizational structure. Here you can address the form of ownership and, if warranted, include an organizational chart/structure. Highlight the backgrounds, experiences, qualifications, areas of expertise, and roles of members of the management team. This is also the place to mention any other stakeholders, such as a board of directors or advisory board(s), and their relevant relationship to the founder, experience and value to help make the venture successful, and professional service firms providing management support, such as accounting services and legal counsel.

Table 11.6 shows a sample operations and management plan for La Vida Lola.

Marketing Plan

Here you should outline and describe an effective overall marketing strategy for your venture, providing details regarding pricing, promotion, advertising, distribution, media usage, public relations, and a digital presence. Fully describe your sales management plan and the composition of your sales force, along with a comprehensive and detailed budget for the marketing plan. Table 11.7 shows a sample marketing plan for La Vida Lola.

Financial Plan

A financial plan seeks to forecast revenue and expenses; project a financial narrative; and estimate project costs, valuations, and cash flow projections. This section should present an accurate, realistic, and achievable financial plan for your venture (see Entrepreneurial Finance and Accounting for detailed discussions about conducting these projections). Include sales forecasts and income projections, pro forma financial statements ( Building the Entrepreneurial Dream Team , a breakeven analysis, and a capital budget. Identify your possible sources of financing (discussed in Conducting a Feasibility Analysis ). Figure 11.19 shows a template of cash-flow needs for La Vida Lola.

Cash flow template that tracks income for every day of the week and expenses. Fixed monthly expenses include facility rental, personal loans, insurance, credit cards, Farmer’s Market overheads, planned savings, and other. Variable monthly expenses include food/beverages, utilities (electricity, gas), uniforms, wages, fuel (vehicle), medical expenses, and other. Fixed infrequent expenses included insurance, annual subscriptions, property rates/taxes, union fees, education, and other. Variable infrequent expenses include gifts, holidays, vehicle repairs and registration, durable goods purchase, donations, and other. The difference between total income and total expenses is the income available.

Entrepreneur In Action

Laughing man coffee.

Hugh Jackman ( Figure 11.20 ) may best be known for portraying a comic-book superhero who used his mutant abilities to protect the world from villains. But the Wolverine actor is also working to make the planet a better place for real, not through adamantium claws but through social entrepreneurship.

A love of java jolted Jackman into action in 2009, when he traveled to Ethiopia with a Christian humanitarian group to shoot a documentary about the impact of fair-trade certification on coffee growers there. He decided to launch a business and follow in the footsteps of the late Paul Newman, another famous actor turned philanthropist via food ventures.

Jackman launched Laughing Man Coffee two years later; he sold the line to Keurig in 2015. One Laughing Man Coffee café in New York continues to operate independently, investing its proceeds into charitable programs that support better housing, health, and educational initiatives within fair-trade farming communities. 55 Although the New York location is the only café, the coffee brand is still distributed, with Keurig donating an undisclosed portion of Laughing Man proceeds to those causes (whereas Jackman donates all his profits). The company initially donated its profits to World Vision, the Christian humanitarian group Jackman accompanied in 2009. In 2017, it created the Laughing Man Foundation to be more active with its money management and distribution.

What Can You Do?

Textbooks for change.

Founded in 2014, Textbooks for Change uses a cross-compensation model, in which one customer segment pays for a product or service, and the profit from that revenue is used to provide the same product or service to another, underserved segment. Textbooks for Change partners with student organizations to collect used college textbooks, some of which are re-sold while others are donated to students in need at underserved universities across the globe. The organization has reused or recycled 250,000 textbooks, providing 220,000 students with access through seven campus partners in East Africa. This B-corp social enterprise tackles a problem and offers a solution that is directly relevant to college students like yourself. Have you observed a problem on your college campus or other campuses that is not being served properly? Could it result in a social enterprise?

Work It Out

Franchisee set out.

A franchisee of East Coast Wings, a chain with dozens of restaurants in the United States, has decided to part ways with the chain. The new store will feature the same basic sports-bar-and-restaurant concept and serve the same basic foods: chicken wings, burgers, sandwiches, and the like. The new restaurant can’t rely on the same distributors and suppliers. A new business plan is needed.

This New York Times video, “An Unlikely Business Plan,” describes entrepreneurial resurgence in Detroit, Michigan.

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How to write an executive summary, with examples

The best way to do that is with an executive summary. If you’ve never written an executive summary, this article has all you need to know to plan, write, and share them with your team.

What is an executive summary?

An executive summary is an overview of a document. The length and scope of your executive summary will differ depending on the document it’s summarizing, but in general an executive summary can be anywhere from one to two pages long. In the document, you’ll want to share all of the information your readers and important stakeholders need to know.

Imagine it this way: if your high-level stakeholders were to only read your executive summary, would they have all of the information they need to succeed? If so, your summary has done its job.

You’ll often find executive summaries of:

Business cases

Project proposals

Research documents

Environmental studies

Market surveys

Project plans

In general, there are four parts to any executive summary:

Start with the problem or need the document is solving.

Outline the recommended solution.

Explain the solution’s value.

Wrap up with a conclusion about the importance of the work.

What is an executive summary in project management?

In project management, an executive summary is a way to bring clarity to cross-functional collaborators, team leadership, and project stakeholders . Think of it like a project’s “ elevator pitch ” for team members who don’t have the time or the need to dive into all of the project’s details.

The main difference between an executive summary in project management and a more traditional executive summary in a business plan is that the former should be created at the beginning of your project—whereas the latter should be created after you’ve written your business plan. For example, to write an executive summary of an environmental study, you would compile a report on the results and findings once your study was over. But for an executive summary in project management, you want to cover what the project is aiming to achieve and why those goals matter.

The same four parts apply to an executive summary in project management:

Start with the problem or need the project is solving. Why is this project happening? What insight, customer feedback, product plan, or other need caused it to come to life?

Outline the recommended solution, or the project’s objectives. How is the project going to solve the problem you established in the first part? What are the project goals and objectives?

Explain the solution’s value. Once you’ve finished your project, what will happen? How will this improve and solve the problem you established in the first part?

Wrap up with a conclusion about the importance of the work. This is another opportunity to reiterate why the problem is important, and why the project matters. It can also be helpful to reference your audience and how your solution will solve their problem. Finally, include any relevant next steps.

If you’ve never written an executive summary before, you might be curious about where it fits into other project management elements. Here’s how executive summaries stack up:

Executive summary vs. project plan

A project plan is a blueprint of the key elements your project will accomplish in order to hit your project goals and objectives. Project plans will include your goals, success metrics, stakeholders and roles, budget, milestones and deliverables, timeline and schedule, and communication plan .

An executive summary is a summary of the most important information in your project plan. Think of the absolutely crucial things your management team needs to know when they land in your project, before they even have a chance to look at the project plan—that’s your executive summary.

Executive summary vs. project overview

Project overviews and executive summaries often have similar elements—they both contain a summary of important project information. However, your project overview should be directly attached to your project. There should be a direct line of sight between your project and your project overview.

While you can include your executive summary in your project depending on what type of project management tool you use, it may also be a stand-alone document.

Executive summary vs. project objectives

Your executive summary should contain and expand upon your project objectives in the second part ( Outline the recommended solution, or the project’s objectives ). In addition to including your project objectives, your executive summary should also include why achieving your project objectives will add value, as well as provide details about how you’re going to get there.

The benefits of an executive summary

You may be asking: why should I write an executive summary for my project? Isn’t the project plan enough?

Well, like we mentioned earlier, not everyone has the time or need to dive into your project and see, from a glance, what the goals are and why they matter. Work management tools like Asana help you capture a lot of crucial information about a project, so you and your team have clarity on who’s doing what by when. Your executive summary is designed less for team members who are actively working on the project and more for stakeholders outside of the project who want quick insight and answers about why your project matters.

An effective executive summary gives stakeholders a big-picture view of the entire project and its important points—without requiring them to dive into all the details. Then, if they want more information, they can access the project plan or navigate through tasks in your work management tool.

How to write a great executive summary, with examples

Every executive summary has four parts. In order to write a great executive summary, follow this template. Then once you’ve written your executive summary, read it again to make sure it includes all of the key information your stakeholders need to know.

1. Start with the problem or need the project is solving

At the beginning of your executive summary, start by explaining why this document (and the project it represents) matter. Take some time to outline what the problem is, including any research or customer feedback you’ve gotten . Clarify how this problem is important and relevant to your customers, and why solving it matters.

For example, let’s imagine you work for a watch manufacturing company. Your project is to devise a simpler, cheaper watch that still appeals to luxury buyers while also targeting a new bracket of customers.

Example executive summary:

In recent customer feedback sessions, 52% of customers have expressed a need for a simpler and cheaper version of our product. In surveys of customers who have chosen competitor watches, price is mentioned 87% of the time. To best serve our existing customers, and to branch into new markets, we need to develop a series of watches that we can sell at an appropriate price point for this market.

2. Outline the recommended solution, or the project’s objectives

Now that you’ve outlined the problem, explain what your solution is. Unlike an abstract or outline, you should be prescriptive in your solution—that is to say, you should work to convince your readers that your solution is the right one. This is less of a brainstorming section and more of a place to support your recommended solution.

Because you’re creating your executive summary at the beginning of your project, it’s ok if you don’t have all of your deliverables and milestones mapped out. But this is your chance to describe, in broad strokes, what will happen during the project. If you need help formulating a high-level overview of your project’s main deliverables and timeline, consider creating a project roadmap before diving into your executive summary.

Continuing our example executive summary:

Our new watch series will begin at 20% cheaper than our current cheapest option, with the potential for 40%+ cheaper options depending on material and movement. In order to offer these prices, we will do the following:

Offer watches in new materials, including potentially silicone or wood

Use high-quality quartz movement instead of in-house automatic movement

Introduce customizable band options, with a focus on choice and flexibility over traditional luxury

Note that every watch will still be rigorously quality controlled in order to maintain the same world-class speed and precision of our current offerings.

3. Explain the solution’s value

At this point, you begin to get into more details about how your solution will impact and improve upon the problem you outlined in the beginning. What, if any, results do you expect? This is the section to include any relevant financial information, project risks, or potential benefits. You should also relate this project back to your company goals or OKRs . How does this work map to your company objectives?

With new offerings that are between 20% and 40% cheaper than our current cheapest option, we expect to be able to break into the casual watch market, while still supporting our luxury brand. That will help us hit FY22’s Objective 3: Expanding the brand. These new offerings have the potential to bring in upwards of three million dollars in profits annually, which will help us hit FY22’s Objective 1: 7 million dollars in annual profit.

Early customer feedback sessions indicate that cheaper options will not impact the value or prestige of the luxury brand, though this is a risk that should be factored in during design. In order to mitigate that risk, the product marketing team will begin working on their go-to-market strategy six months before the launch.

4. Wrap up with a conclusion about the importance of the work

Now that you’ve shared all of this important information with executive stakeholders, this final section is your chance to guide their understanding of the impact and importance of this work on the organization. What, if anything, should they take away from your executive summary?

To round out our example executive summary:

Cheaper and varied offerings not only allow us to break into a new market—it will also expand our brand in a positive way. With the attention from these new offerings, plus the anticipated demand for cheaper watches, we expect to increase market share by 2% annually. For more information, read our go-to-market strategy and customer feedback documentation .

Example of an executive summary

When you put it all together, this is what your executive summary might look like:

[Product UI] Example executive summary in Asana (Project Overview)

Common mistakes people make when writing executive summaries

You’re not going to become an executive summary-writing pro overnight, and that’s ok. As you get started, use the four-part template provided in this article as a guide. Then, as you continue to hone your executive summary writing skills, here are a few common pitfalls to avoid:

Avoid using jargon

Your executive summary is a document that anyone, from project contributors to executive stakeholders, should be able to read and understand. Remember that you’re much closer to the daily work and individual tasks than your stakeholders will be, so read your executive summary once over to make sure there’s no unnecessary jargon. Where you can, explain the jargon, or skip it all together.

Remember: this isn’t a full report

Your executive summary is just that—a summary. If you find yourself getting into the details of specific tasks, due dates, and attachments, try taking a step back and asking yourself if that information really belongs in your executive summary. Some details are important—you want your summary to be actionable and engaging. But keep in mind that the wealth of information in your project will be captured in your work management tool , not your executive summary.

Make sure the summary can stand alone

You know this project inside and out, but your stakeholders won’t. Once you’ve written your executive summary, take a second look to make sure the summary can stand on its own. Is there any context your stakeholders need in order to understand the summary? If so, weave it into your executive summary, or consider linking out to it as additional information.

Always proofread

Your executive summary is a living document, and if you miss a typo you can always go back in and fix it. But it never hurts to proofread or send to a colleague for a fresh set of eyes.

In summary: an executive summary is a must-have

Executive summaries are a great way to get everyone up to date and on the same page about your project. If you have a lot of project stakeholders who need quick insight into what the project is solving and why it matters, an executive summary is the perfect way to give them the information they need.

For more tips about how to connect high-level strategy and plans to daily execution, read our article about strategic planning .

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Executive Summary of the Business Plan

How to write an executive summary that gets your business plan read.

Susan Ward wrote about small businesses for The Balance for 18 years. She has run an IT consulting firm and designed and presented courses on how to promote small businesses.

CP Cheah / Getty Images

An executive summary of a business plan is an overview. Its purpose is to summarize the key points of a document for its readers, saving them time and preparing them for the upcoming content.

Think of the executive summary as an advance organizer for the reader. Above all else, it must be clear and concise. But it also has to entice the reader to read the rest of the business plan .

This is why the executive summary is often called the most important part of the business plan. If it doesn’t capture the reader's attention, the plan will be set aside unread—a disaster if you've written your business plan as part of an attempt to get money to start your new business . (Getting startup money is not the only reason to write a business plan; there are other just-as-important reasons .)

Because it is an overview of the entire plan, it is common to write the executive summary last (and writing it last can make it much easier).

What Information Goes in an Executive Summary?

The information you need to include varies somewhat depending on whether your business is a startup or an established business.

For a startup business typically one of the main goals of the business plan is to convince banks, angel investors , or venture capitalists to invest in your business by providing startup capital in the form of debt or equity financing .

In order to do so you will have to provide a solid case for your business idea which makes your executive summary all the more important. A typical executive summary for a startup company includes the following sections:

For established businesses the executive summary typically includes information about achievements, growth plans , etc. A typical executive summary outline for an established business includes:

How Do I Write an Executive Summary of a Business Plan?

Start by following the list above and writing one to two sentences about each topic (depending on whether your business is a startup or an established business). No more!

The Easy Way of Writing One

Having trouble getting started? The easiest way of writing the executive summary is to review your business plan and take a summary sentence or two from each of the business plan sections you’ve already written.

If you compare the list above to the sections outlined in the Business Plan Outline , you’ll see that this could work very well.

Then finish your business plan’s executive summary with a clinching closing sentence or two that answers the reader’s question, “Why is this a winning business?”

For example, an executive summary for a pet-sitting business might conclude: “The loving on-site professional care that Pet Grandma will provide is sure to appeal to both cat and dog owners throughout the West Vancouver area.”

(You may find it useful to read the entire Pet Grandma executive summary example before you write your own.)

Tips for Writing the Business Plan’s Executive Summary

Remember, the executive summary will be the first thing your readers read. If it's poorly written, it will also be the last thing they read, as they set the rest of your business plan aside unread.

Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. " Business Plan Guidelines ," Page 2.

Corporate Finance Institute. " Executive Summary ."

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. " How to Prepare Your Business Plan ," Page 167.

Iowa State University. " Types and Sources of Financing for Start-up Businesses ."

U.S. Small Business Administration. " Write Your Business Plan ."

Clute Institute. " Using Business Plans for Teaching Entrepreneurship ," Page 733.

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How To Write A Business Plan (2023 Guide)

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Updated: Aug 20, 2022, 2:21am

How To Write A Business Plan (2023 Guide)

Brainstorm an executive summary, create a company description, brainstorm your business goals, describe your services or products, conduct market research, create financial plans, bottom line, frequently asked questions.

Every business starts with a vision, which is distilled and communicated through a business plan. In addition to your high-level hopes and dreams, a strong business plan outlines short-term and long-term goals, budget and whatever else you might need to get started. In this guide, we’ll walk you through how to write a business plan that you can stick to and help guide your operations as you get started.

Drafting the Summary

An executive summary is an extremely important first step in your business. You have to be able to put the basic facts of your business in an elevator pitch-style sentence to grab investors’ attention and keep their interest. This should communicate your business’s name, what the products or services you’re selling are and what marketplace you’re entering.

Ask for Help

When drafting the executive summary, you should have a few different options. Enlist a few thought partners to review your executive summary possibilities to determine which one is best.

After you have the executive summary in place, you can work on the company description, which contains more specific information. In the description, you’ll need to include your business’s registered name , your business address and any key employees involved in the business.

The business description should also include the structure of your business, such as sole proprietorship , limited liability company (LLC) , partnership or corporation. This is the time to specify how much of an ownership stake everyone has in the company. Finally, include a section that outlines the history of the company and how it has evolved over time.

Wherever you are on the business journey, you return to your goals and assess where you are in meeting your in-progress targets and setting new goals to work toward.

Numbers-based Goals

Goals can cover a variety of sections of your business. Financial and profit goals are a given for when you’re establishing your business, but there are other goals to take into account as well with regard to brand awareness and growth. For example, you might want to hit a certain number of followers across social channels or raise your engagement rates.

Another goal could be to attract new investors or find grants if you’re a nonprofit business. If you’re looking to grow, you’ll want to set revenue targets to make that happen as well.

Intangible Goals

The business plan should have a section that explains the services or products that you’re offering. This is the part where you can also describe how they fit in the current market or are providing something necessary or entirely new. If you have any patents or trademarks, this is where you can include those too.

If you have any visual aids, they should be included here as well. This would also be a good place to include pricing strategy and explain your materials.

This is the part of the business plan where you can explain your expertise and different approach in greater depth. Show how what you’re offering is vital to the market and fills an important gap.

You can also situate your business in your industry and compare it to other ones and how you have a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

Other than financial goals, you want to have a budget and set your planned weekly, monthly and annual spending. There are several different costs to consider, such as operational costs.

Business Operations Costs

Rent for your business is the first big cost to factor into your budget. If your business is remote, the cost that replaces rent will be the software that maintains your virtual operations.

Marketing and sales costs should be next on your list. Devoting money to making sure people know about your business is as important as making sure it functions.

Other Costs

Although you can’t anticipate disasters, there are likely to be unanticipated costs that come up at some point in your business’s existence. It’s important to factor these possible costs into your financial plans so you’re not caught totally unaware.

Business plans are important for businesses of all sizes so that you can define where your business is and where you want it to go. Growing your business requires a vision, and giving yourself a roadmap in the form of a business plan will set you up for success.

How do I write a simple business plan?

When you’re working on a business plan, make sure you have as much information as possible so that you can simplify it to the most relevant information. A simple business plan still needs all of the parts included in this article, but you can be very clear and direct.

What are some common mistakes in a business plan?

The most common mistakes in a business plan are common writing issues like grammar errors or misspellings. It’s important to be clear in your sentence structure and proofread your business plan before sending it to any investors or partners.

What basic items should be included in a business plan?

When writing out a business plan, you want to make sure that you cover everything related to your concept for the business, an analysis of the industry―including potential customers and an overview of the market for your goods or services―how you plan to execute your vision for the business, how you plan to grow the business if it becomes successful and all financial data around the business, including current cash on hand, potential investors and budget plans for the next few years.

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Julia is a writer in New York and started covering tech and business during the pandemic. She also covers books and the publishing industry.

Kelly is an SMB Editor specializing in starting and marketing new ventures. Before joining the team, she was a Content Producer at Fit Small Business where she served as an editor and strategist covering small business marketing content. She is a former Google Tech Entrepreneur and she holds an MSc in International Marketing from Edinburgh Napier University. Additionally, she manages a column at Inc. Magazine.

How to Write an Executive Summary: A Quick Guide

Writing an Executive Summary

Here’s the good news: an executive summary is short. It’s part of a larger document like a business plan, business case or project proposal and, as the name implies, summarizes the longer report.

Here’s the bad news: it’s a critical document that can be challenging to write because an executive summary serves several important purposes. On one hand, executive summaries are used to outline each section of your business plan, investment proposal or project proposal. On the other hand, they’re used to introduce your business or project to investors and other stakeholders, so it must be persuasive to spark their interest.

The pressure of writing an executive summary comes from the fact that everyone will pay attention to it, as it sits at the top of that heap of documents. It explains all that follows and can make or break your business plan or project plan . The executive summary must know the needs of the potential clients or investors and zero in on them like a laser. Fortunately, we’ll show you how to write and format your executive summary to do just that.

What Is an Executive Summary?

An executive summary is a short section of a larger document like a business plan , investment proposal or project proposal. It’s mostly used to give investors and stakeholders a quick overview of important information about a business plan like the company description, market analysis and financial information.

It contains a short statement that addresses the problem or proposal detailed in the attached documents, and features background information, a concise analysis and a conclusion. An executive summary is designed to help executives and investors decide whether to go forth with the proposal or not, making it critically important. Pitch decks are often used along with executive summaries to talk about the benefits and main selling points of a business plan or project.

Unlike an abstract, which is a short overview, an executive summary format is a condensed form of the documents contained in the proposal. Abstracts are more commonly used in academic and research-oriented writing, and act as a teaser for the reader to see if they want to read on.

Getting everything organized for your executive summary can be challenging. ProjectManager can help you get your thoughts in order and collaborate with your team. Our powerful, yet intuitive, task management tools make it easy to get everything prioritized and done on time. Try it free today.

How to Write an Executive Summary

Executive summaries vary depending on the document they’re attached to. You can write an executive summary for a business plan, project proposal, research document, business case , among other documents and reports.

However, when writing an executive summary there are guidelines to make sure you hit all the bases.

Executive Summary Length

According to the many books that have been written about executive summaries, as well as training courses, seminars and professional speakers, the agreed upon length for an executive summary format should be about five to 10 percent of the length of the whole report.

Appropriate Language

The language used should be appropriate for the target audience. One of the most important things to know before you write professionally is to understand who you are addressing. If you’re writing for a group of engineers, the language you’ll use will differ greatly from how you would write to a group of financiers.

That includes more than just the words, but the content and depth of explanation. Remember, it’s a summary, and people will be reading it in order to quickly and easily pull out the main points.

Pithy Introduction

You also want to capture a reader’s attention immediately in the opening paragraph. Just like a speech often opens with a joke to break the tension and put people at ease to better hear what’s coming, so a strong introductory paragraph can pull a reader in and make them want to read on. That doesn’t mean you start with a joke. Jokes are hard. Stick to your strengths, but remember, most readers only give you a few sentences to win them over before they move on.

Don’t forget to explain who you are as an organization and why you have the skills, personnel and experience to solve the problem raised in the proposal. This doesn’t have to be a lengthy biography, often just your name, address and contact information will do, though you’ll also want to highlight your strengths as they pertain to the business plan or project proposal .

Relevant Information

The executive summary should not stray from the material that follows it. It’s a summary, not a place to bring up new ideas. To do so would be confusing and would jeopardize your whole proposal.

Establish the need or the problem, and convince the target audience that it must be solved. Once that is set up, then it’s important to recommend the solution and show what the value is. Be clear and firm in your recommendation.

Justify your cause. Be sure to note the key reasons why your organization is the perfect fit for the solution you’re proposing. This is the point where you differentiate yourself from competitors, be that due to methodology, testimonial from satisfied clients or whatever else you offer that is unique. But don’t make this too much about you. Be sure to keep the name of the potential client at the forefront.

Don’t neglect a strong conclusion, where you can wrap things up and once more highlight the main points.

What to Include in an Executive Summary

The content of your executive summary must reflect what’s in the larger document which it is part of. You’ll find many executive summary examples on the web, but to keep things simple, we’ll focus on business plans and project proposals.

How to Write an Executive Summary for a Business Plan

As we’ve learned above, your executive summary must extract the main points of all the sections of your business plan. A business plan is the document that describes all the aspects of a business, such as its business model, products or services, objectives, marketing plan, among other things. They’re commonly used by startups to pitch their ideas to investors.

Here are the most commonly used business plan sections:

Executive summaries are also a great way to outline the elements of a project plan for a project proposal. Let’s learn what those elements are.

How to Write an Executive Summary for a Project Proposal

An executive summary for your project proposal will capture the most important information from your project management plan. Here’s the structure of our executive summary template:

Now that we’ve learned that executive summaries can vary depending on the type of document you’re working on, you’re ready to use our executive summary template.

Executive Summary Template

So, to put all of that information together, here’s the basic format of an executive summary sample. You can find this same information in our free executive summary template :

You can use it as an executive summary example and add or remove some of its elements to adjust it to your needs. Our sample executive summary has the main elements that you’ll need for a business plan or project plan executive summary.

What to Do After Writing an Executive Summary

As with anything you write, you should always start with a draft. The first draft should hit all the marks addressed above, but don’t get yourself bogged down in making the prose perfect. Think of the first draft as an exploratory mission. You’re gathering all the pertinent information.

Next you want to thoroughly review the document to ensure that nothing important has been left out or missed. Make sure the focus is sharp and clear, and that it speaks directly to your potential client’s needs.

Proofread for Style & Grammar

But don’t neglect the writing. Be sure that you’re not repeating words, falling into cliché or other hallmarks of bad writing. No, you’re not seeking the Pulitzer Prize in Literature, but you also don’t want to bore the reader to the point that they miss the reason why you’re the organization that can help them succeed.

You’ve checked the content and the prose, but don’t forget style. You want to write in a way that is natural and not overly formal, but one that speaks in the manner of your target audience . If they’re a conservative firm, well then, maybe formality is called for. But more and more modern companies have a casual corporate culture, and formal writing could mistakenly cause them to think of you as old and outdated.

The last run should be proofing the copy. That means double-checking to make sure that spelling is correct, and there are no typos or grammatical mistakes. Whoever wrote the executive summary is not the best person to edit it, however. They can easily gloss over errors because of their familiarity with the work. Find someone who excels at copy-editing. If you deliver sloppy content it shows a lack of professionalism that will surely color how a reader thinks of your company.

Criticism of Executive Summaries

Every good argument needs a rebuttal, and while we’re advocating for the proper use of an executive summary, it would be neglectful to avoid mentioning some critiques. The most common is that an executive summary by design is too simple to capture the complexity of a large and complicated project.

It’s true that many executives might only read the summary, and in so doing, miss the nuance of the proposal. That is a risk. But if the executive summary follows the guidelines stated above, it should give a full picture of the proposal and create interest for the reader to delve deeper into the documents to get the details.

Remember, executive summaries can be written poorly or well. They can fail to focus on results or the solution to the proposal’s problem, or do so in a vague, general way that has no impact on the reader. You can do a hundred things wrong, but if you follow the rules, then the onus falls on the reader.

ProjectManager Turns an Executive Summary into a Project

Your executive summary got the project approved. Now the real work begins. ProjectManager is an award-winning project management software that helps you organize tasks, projects and teams. We have everything you need to manage each phase of your project, so you can complete your work on time and under budget.

Work How You Want to Work

Because project managers and teams work differently, our software is flexible. We have multiple project views, such as the kanban board, which visualizes workflow. Managers like the transparency it provides into the production cycle, while teams get to focus only on those tasks they have the capacity to complete. Are you more comfortable with tasks lists or Gantt charts? We have those too.

A screenshot of the Kanban board project view

Live Tracking for Better Management

To make sure your project meets time and cost expectations, we have features that monitor and track progress, so you can control any deviations that might occur. Our software is cloud-based, so the data you see on our dashboard is always up-to-date, helping you make better decisions. Make that executive summary a reality with ProjectManager.

ProjectManager’s dashboard view, which shows six key metrics on a project

You’ve now researched and written a persuasive executive summary to lead your proposal. You’ve put the work in and the potential client sees that and contracts you for the project. However, if you don’t have a reliable, easy-to-use and robust set of project management tools like Gantt charts , Kanban boards and project calendars at hand to plan, monitor and report on the work, then all that preparation will be for naught.

ProjectManager is a cloud-based project management software that gives you real-time data and a collaborative platform to work efficiently and productively. But don’t take our word for it: take a free 30-day trial.

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How to Write an Executive Summary in 6 Steps

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When you’re starting a business, one of the first things you need to do is write a business plan. Your business plan is like a roadmap for your business, so you can lay out your goals and a concrete plan for how you’ll reach them.

Not only is a business plan essential for any business owner, but it’s also a requirement if you decide to apply for small business funding or find investors. After all, before a bank or individual hands over any money, they’ll want to be sure your company is on solid ground (so they can get their money back).

A business plan consists of several pieces, from an executive summary and market analysis to a financial plan and projections. The executive summary will be the first part of your business plan.

If wondering how to write an executive summary has kept you from completing your business plan, we’re here to help. In this guide, we’ll explain what an executive summary is and provide tips for writing your own so your business plan can start strong.

What is an executive summary?

An executive summary is a short, informative, and easy-to-read opening statement to your business plan. Even though it’s just one to two pages, the executive summary is incredibly important.

An executive summary tells the story of what your business does, why an investor might be interested in giving funds to your business, why their investment will be well-spent, and why you do what you do. An executive summary should be informative, but it should also capture a busy reader’s attention.

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Why write an executive summary?

Anyone you’re sending your executive summary and business plan to is likely busy—very busy. An entire business plan is long, involved, and deals with a lot of numbers.

Someone busy wants to get an understanding of your business, and they want to do it quickly, which is to say not by diving into a complicated, 80-page business plan. That’s where your executive summary comes in.

An executive summary provides just the opportunity to hook someone’s interest, tell them about your business, and offer a clear selling point as to why they should consider investing in your business.

Your executive summary is your chance to sell your business to potential investors and show them your business is worth not only their money but also their time.

What to include in an executive summary

By its nature, an executive summary is short. You must be able to clearly communicate the idea of your business, what sets you apart, and how you plan to grow into a successful enterprise.

The subsequent sections of your business plan will go into more detail, but your executive summary should include the most critical pieces of your business plan—enough to stand on its own, as it’s often the only thing a prospective investor will read. Here’s what your executive summary should include—consider it an executive summary template from which you can model your own.

1. The hook

The first sentence and paragraph of your executive summary determine whether or not the entire executive summary gets read. That’s why the hook or introduction is so important.

In general, a hook is considered anything that will get a reader’s attention. While an executive summary is a formal business document, you do want your hook to make you stand out from the crowd—without wasting time.

Your hook can be sharing something creative about your company, an interesting fact, or just a very well-crafted description of your business. It’s crucial to craft your hook with the personality of your reader in mind. Give them something that will make your company stand out and be memorable among a sea of other business plans.

Grab their attention in the first paragraph, and you’re much more likely to get your executive summary read, which could lead to an investment.

2. Company description summary

Now that you’ve hooked your reader, it’s time to get into some general information about your business. If an investor is going to give you money, after all, they first need to understand what your company does or what product you sell and who is managing the company.

Your company description should include information about your business, such as when it was formed and where you’re located; your products or services; the founders or executive team, including names and specific roles; and any additional details about the management team or style.

3. Market analysis

Your market analysis in the executive summary is a brief description of what the market for your business looks like. You want to show that you have done your research and proven that there is a need for your specific product or services. Some questions you should answer:

Who are your competitors?

Is there a demand for your products or services?

What advantages do you have that make your business unique in comparison to others?

To reiterate, stick to the highlights of your market analysis in your executive summary. You’ll provide a complete analysis in a separate section of your business plan, but you should be able to communicate enough in the executive summary that a potential investor can gauge whether your business has potential.

4. Products and services

Now that you’ve established a need in the market, it’s time to show just how your business will fill it. This section of your executive summary is all about highlighting the product or service that your company offers. Talk about your current sales, the growth you’ve seen so far, and any other highlights that are a selling point for your company.

This is also a good time to identify what sets your business apart and gives you a competitive advantage. After all, it’s unlikely that your business is the first of its kind. Highlight what you do better than the competition and why potential customers will choose your product or service over the other options on the market.

5. Financial information and projections

In this section of your executive summary, you want to give the reader an overview of your current business financials. Again, you’ll go more in-depth into this section later in your business plan, so just provide some highlights. Include your current sales and profits (if you have any), as well as what funding you’re hoping to acquire and how this will affect your financials in the next few years.

This is also where you can explain what funding, if any, you’ve received in the past. If you paid back your loan on time, this is an especially bright selling point for potential lenders.

6. Future plans

While asking for what funding you need is essential, you’ve also got to make clear what you’re going to use that funding for. If you’re asking for money, you want the person to know you have a plan to put those funds to good use.

Are you hoping to open another location, expand your product line, invest in your marketing efforts? This final section of your executive summary should detail where you want your business to go in the future, as well as drive home how funding can help you get there.

Tips for writing an executive summary

Even if you include each part of a good executive summary, you might not get noticed. What is written can be just as important as how it’s written. An executive summary has to strike a delicate balance between formal, personable, confident, and humble.

1. Be concise

An executive summary should include everything that’s in your business plan, just in a much shorter format. Writing a concise executive summary is no easy task and will require many revisions to get to the final draft. And while this is the first section of your executive summary, you’ll want to write it last, after you’ve put together all the other elements.

To choose your most important points and what should be included in the executive summary, go through your business plan, and pull out single-line bullet points. Go back through those bullet points and eliminate everything unnecessary to understanding your business.

Once you have your list of bullet points narrowed down, you can start writing your executive summary. Once it’s written, go back in and remove any unnecessary information. Remember, you should only be including the highlights—you have the rest of your business plan to go into more detail. The shorter and clearer your executive summary is, the more likely someone is to read it.

2. Use bullet points

One simple way to make your executive summary more readable is to use bullet points. If someone is reading quickly or skimming your executive summary, extra whitespace can make the content faster and easier to read.

Short paragraphs, short sentences, and bullet points all make an executive summary easier to skim—which is likely what the reader is doing. If important numbers and convincing stats jump out at the reader, they’re more likely to keep reading.

3. Speak to your audience

When writing your executive summary, be sure to think about who will be reading it; that’s who you’re speaking to. If you can personalize your executive summary to the personality and interests of the person who will read it, you’re more likely to capture their attention.

Personalizing might come in the form of a name in the salutation, sharing details in a specific way you know that person likes and the tone of your writing. An executive summary deals with business, so it will generally have a formal tone. But, different industries may be comfortable with some creativity of language or using shorthand to refer to certain ideas.

Know who you’re speaking to and use the right tone to speak to them. That might be formal and deferential, expert and clipped, informal and personable, or any other appropriate tone. This may also involve writing different versions of your executive summary for different audiences.

4. Play to your strengths

One of the best ways to catch the attention of your reader is to share why your business is unique. What makes your business unique is also what makes your business strong, which can capture a reader’s interest and show them why your business is worth investing in. Be sure to highlight these strengths from the start of your executive summary.

5. Get a test reader

Once you’ve written and edited your executive summary, you need a test reader. While someone in your industry or another business owner can be a great resource, you should also consider finding a test reader with limited knowledge of your business and industry. Your executive summary should be so clear that anyone can understand it, so having a variety of test readers can help identify any confusing language.

If you don’t have access to a test reader, consider using tools such as Hemingway App and Grammarly to ensure you’ve written something that’s easy to read and uses proper grammar.

How long should an executive summary be?

There’s no firm rule on how long an executive summary should be, as it depends on the length of your business plan and the depth of understanding needed by the reader to fully grasp your ask.

That being said, it should be as short and concise as you can get it. In general, an executive summary should be one to two pages in length.

You can fudge the length slightly by adjusting the margin and font size, but don’t forget readability is just as important as length. You want to leave plenty of white space and have a large enough font that the reader is comfortable while reading your executive summary. If your executive summary is hard to read, it’s less likely your reader will take the time to read your business plan.

What to avoid in an executive summary

While the rules for writing a stellar executive summary can be fuzzy, there are a few clear rules for what to avoid in your executive summary.

Your executive summary should avoid:

Focusing on investment. Instead, focus on getting the reader to be interested enough to continue and read your business plan or at least schedule a meeting with you.

Clichés, superlatives, and claims that aren’t backed up by fact. Your executive summary isn’t marketing material. It should be straightforward and clear.

Avoiding the executive summary no-nos is just as important as striking the right tone and getting in the necessary information for your reader.

Executive summary examples

Sometimes the best way to learn is to see how other people are doing it. The U.S. Small Business Administration has multiple business plan examples; you can flip to the executive summary to help you write your own executive summary. For more inspiration, here is an example from Harvard Business School :

Executive summary template

After all the information we threw your way, you're probably itching to get started. If you're ready to apply what you just learned, download our free business plan template. Our template will not only make it easier to write your executive summary; it will also guide you in writing the rest of your business plan.

The bottom line

While an executive summary is short, it’s challenging to write. Your executive summary condenses your entire introduction, business description, business plan, market analysis, financial projections, and ask into one to two pages. Condensing information down to its most essential form takes time and many drafts. When you’re putting together your business plan’s executive summary, be sure to give yourself plenty of time to write it and to seek the help of friends or colleagues for editing it to perfection.

However, some tools make crafting a business plan, including your executive summary, a simpler process. A business plan template is a great place to start, and business plan software can especially help with the design of your business plan. After all, a well-written executive summary can make all the difference in obtaining funding for your business, so you’ll want all the help you can get.

This article originally appeared on JustBusiness, a subsidiary of NerdWallet.

What Is an Executive Summary? Examples and 101 Guide

All you need to know about writing persuasive and informative executive summaries in one place. Read more for actionable tips and sample executive summaries for different use cases.

John McTale

6 minute read

What is an executive summary?

An executive summary is a short section at the beginning of another document, usually a business plan, proposal, or report. As the name suggests, the executive summary summarizes the rest of the document. Its purpose is to inform readers about all the key points of your document without making them read it in full. Typically, an executive summary consists of the statement of the problem, background information, proposed solutions, abbreviated analysis, and main conclusions. An executive summary is a very important document for your business. It’s the first part of your proposal or business plan that will get read. If it doesn’t convince the stakeholders that reading the whole thing is worth their time, you can kiss that deal or investment goodbye. If you’re creating your summary for a business proposal, read our in-depth guide to writing every part of a deal-landing business proposal here: How to Write a Killer Business Proposal . In this article, you’ll find tips for creating an executive summary that gets the attention your company deserves, plus sample executive summaries for different scenarios and use cases. But first, think about this—

Why you should use interactive business document templates

What you say matters just as much as how you say it. If your business plan or proposal is a plain, boring PDF, investors and customers will forget it in a matter of minutes. At Storydoc, we’ve developed a better way of creating business documents. We transform your static slides into dynamic, interactive web presentations: engaging your audience on a deep level and helping you get your message across more effectively.

Just pick one of the templates below and create a presentation that leaves a lasting impact on your audience:

Why do you need a perfect executive summary?

Executive summaries are aimed at executives . And they are a busy bunch. Most likely, they don’t have the time to read a 100-pages-long project overview or a detailed financial analysis. They need a shortened version to help them understand the most important issues and decide whether or not to do business with you. And this is exactly what you should have in mind when writing the summary: imagine it’s the only part of your whole document that will get read. Make it compelling and comprehensive enough to let people make a decision based solely on it.

Sample executive summaries

Of course, every executive summary is different and there are many factors that determine its ideal shape. For reference, you can refer to these two (very general) examples of executive summaries for two most common use cases. Note that these examples are for fictional businesses and have been abbreviated for better readability. You can’t just copy and paste a sample executive summary or base yours fully on a template.

Executive summary example for a business plan

The problem A vast majority of mass produced dog food is a product of highly-processed food waste which has not been used in the production of food for human consumption. Dry or canned dog food is filled with unidentifiable chemicals such as preservatives, gelling agents, or other food fillers. Because of a poor diet, many of our four-legged friends suffer from various health complications. Our solution At Dog’s Buffet, we believe dogs deserve better. We know that proper nutrition is key to overall health so we decided to challenge the status quo. In cooperation with top veterinary dieticians in the UK, we developed dog meals containing the proper mixture of all the necessary nutrients. We produce our food from fresh ingredients with no artificial additives. We provide dog food to our customers in a subscription model. Every two weeks, they get a new pack from us containing all the food The market Our surveys found that 83% of dog owners would like to feed their pets with meals cooked from fresh ingredients yet only 12% do. When asked why, most people (71%) pointed at their lack of time to cook for their furry friends by themselves. Only 7% of our respondents said they knew about companies providing freshly-cooked dog food. 64% of all dog owners said they would be interested in subscribing to our program at a price of 2.50 GBP per meal. Financial analysis Based on the pricing point of 2.50 GBP per single meal and our production capacity, our sales projections for the upcoming year are at 170,000 GBP. Our projected annual growth rate is at 80% for the first three years.

Executive summary example for a proposal

This proposal outlines a detailed plan of action aimed at maximizing the profits of XYZ Real Estate by boosting your social media presence with the strongest focus on LinkedIn and Facebook. Our market research has shown that between 20% and 25% of leads in real estate in your area come from unpaid (organic) social media marketing efforts. Improving your visibility on two of the key platforms for real estate—LinkedIn and Facebook—will result in an increase of new monthly leads of around 15% in the first three months, boosting your monthly revenue by an estimated $220,000. XYZ Real Estate is lagging behind its key competitors in social media engagement metrics: reactions, clicks, comments, and shares, despite having a similar number of relevant followers. This is mostly due to the irregularity of your updates resulting in penalization of your content by automated algorithms, as well as the lack of appropriate visuals. Improving your posting schedule and creating professionally shot images of your properties will result in a dramatic increase of audience engagement and, as a consequence, viewings of your offer.

Executive summary format and outline

There’s no one template for executive summaries you can just copy and fill out. Depending on what your key selling points are, you’ll need to structure each of your executive summaries differently (much like you’d create different versions of project proposals, case studies, or business reports for different audiences). The main (common) elements of a good executive summary are the following:

Your company’s description. Depending on the case, it could be focused on your history, vision, or mission statement. Think of this part as a semi-formal introduction or an answer to the “so… what do you do” question.

Problem statement. Identify the problem your customer is facing or an overall issue on the market. Explain what makes this problem important and why it’s crucial to fix it.

Your solutions. Once you’ve agitated your reader, time to offer a solution. When writing to a particular customer, make sure to offer a solution 100% tailored to their situation. Make them realize that if they don’t do business with you, their world will burn. If they do, in turn, not only will it not burn but be turned into an ever-blossoming utopia.

Description of your products or services. A more technical explanation of what you do, and how it solves the overall problem. This is a place to talk more about your methodology, timelines, and expected milestones .

Your achievements and social proof. Any milestones that legitimize your business’ success: revenue growth, customer satisfaction , testimonials, awards, or other signs of recognition.

Financial overview. If it’s a business plan, map out how much money you’ll need and what you’re planning to spend it on. If you’re writing a summary for a proposal, explain your pricing here and tell them how much working with you will cost.

Next steps. No matter what the ideal outcome is from your perspective, make the next steps obvious for your reader, whether it’s booking a demo, an in-person meeting with you, signing a deal, or offering you financing.

Executive summary writing tips

For the (almost) final word— If I could only tell you one thing about writing executive summaries it would be this: there’s no single winning approach to writing those.

Every time you sit down to write an executive summary, you have to reinvent the wheel and make it 100% tailored to that one customer, that one investor, or that one board member. That said… There are some general tips you should always have at the back of your mind.

Personalize, personalize, personalize.

Write it last.

Avoid cliche phrases.

Use the right language.

Keep it as short as possible (but not shorter).

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Thanks for reading my executive summary 101. I hope it helped straighten out any doubts or questions you might have had. Good luck writing yours!

Hi, I'm John, Editor-in-chief at Storydoc. As a content marketer and digital writer specializing in B2B SaaS, my main goal is to provide you with up-to-date tips for effective business storytelling and equip you with all the right tools to enable your sales efforts.

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How to write an executive summary

Multi-page documents are commonplace in business environments.

Proposals, research documents, business reports, and other paperwork are critical to achieving buy-in and funding from both clients and internal stakeholders.

Just one problem: Time is a finite resource.

Nobody wants to read a multi-page document without a full understanding of what it is or why it matters.

You need a way to briefly explain what your document is about, what it contains, and why it’s important.

That’s exactly what an executive summary is designed to do.

Let’s take a closer look at how to write one.

What is an executive summary?

An executive summary is a concise overview of a larger document, such as a business plan or report.

It summarizes key points and important information from the document in order to provide decision makers, project stakeholders, and other key readers with a clear understanding of its overall content.

An effective executive summary should be written in an easily digestible form that quickly conveys the main idea and purpose of its larger document.

Think of it as both a summary of what’s inside and a preview of what to expect.

Overall, the goal of the executive summary is to act as a report-in-brief.

But, in proposals and other sales documents, the summary should also work to sell the premise of your document by consolidating the main points of your proposal into a single, streamlined overview.

Where does an executive summary go?

The executive summary goes at the front of your document, usually after a title or cover page.

Many proposals place the document before the table of contents to ensure that it’s the first item someone reads when opening the document.

This is done because the sole purpose of the executive summary is to provide an overview of the document, similar to an abstract in an academic paper.

What should be included in an executive summary?

An executive summary is written to summarize the main points in a document.

The document should distinguish between the most important highlights and leave out less significant information.

Effective executive summaries capture key objectives, outcomes, methodologies and findings in a few sentences or paragraphs.

Here are a few items you might want to include:

Remember : The goal is to provide readers with a clear understanding of why the document what written and what it contains.

From the perspective of sales proposals, executive summaries also need to entice a stakeholder to turn the page and find out more about your intended product, service, or solution.

Here are some do’s and don’ts to keep in mind when writing an effective summary.

You can also use our free template to help you out!

1. Write a compelling intro paragraph

The executive summary should have a brilliant introductory paragraph.

If potential clients only skim your proposal, be sure the first thing they are likely to read is one of the strongest components of your entire proposal.

This intro paragraph should be attention-getting from the start, both in the information it covers and how it addresses the reader.

The content should be specific and targeted.

While potential clients are looking for real evidence of demonstrated skills and unique abilities, your introductory paragraph does more than demonstrate authority.

A strong introductory paragraph should let readers know that they’re in the right place and that the document they are about to commit to reading is intended to solve their specific problem or solution.

As a reminder, the general purpose of any proposal is to sell a product or service.

Your executive summary should sell the main idea, and your introductory paragraph is the starting point.

2. Provide a thoughtful aim to your audience

Proposals and long-form documents should always be targeted to a specific audience .

In business, that audience will be a project stakeholder or review board.

Always keep the goals of the reader in mind while writing your document. In the executive summary, match the solution in your proposal with the interests and goals of your target audience.

Even when using a template , a proposal should be tailored to each client’s unique needs and problems.

Take the time in your summary to identify the issue facing the client — such as a need for a new marketing strategy , loss of sales, importance of a redesigned website, etc. — and point out how your solution addresses those issues.

Once this problem has been identified, offer well-researched, substantiated information about this problem.

Facts, figures, and relevant details are important to the client and will help set you up as an expert who knows a great deal about their company’s specific issues.

After the problem has been named, continue the company-focused aim by showing how your proposed solution will be a success.

An excellent method is to present facts concerning issues, followed quickly by practical yet unique solutions that are designed particularly for the client.

3. Offer up an identifiable goal

A potential client must be able to see just what it is you and your company can do for them.

While solutions and methods are a key part of your executive summary and the proposal in general, what matters most to clients is what the results of these solutions will be.

Demonstrate to your client what great returns they will get from your proposal.

Again, citing figures generated from strong, client-specific research is the key to success here.

Don’t be too general when offering up solutions and results, however.

Simply telling your client that your methods will “increase sales” is not good enough.

Utilize research papers and projections based on realistic market potential as well as examples of past success, and give descriptive and attractive probable outcomes.

Clients love to see what gains your work will bring them, and thorough research is so important in exploring and determining what these gains will be.

4. Pay close attention to detail

Following closely on that last element, attention to detail is paramount throughout the entire executive summary. Nothing ruins the hard work on a proposal more than sloppy writing, grammatical mistakes, or obvious errors.

Most proposals, especially those responding to RFPs and open invitations, are solicited as part of a competitive process. There will be other organizations bidding for the same work and, often, competition will be stiff.

Well-written, polished proposals stand out. Level the playing field by checking and rechecking for any errors. It helps to have a fresh set of eyes to proofread your document for you.

This is a basic element for success. Once this is in place, you can add the elements above to go above and beyond, and hopefully land that next business deal.

5. Use a template to get it done more quickly

PandaDoc offers you many, many free business templates to help you jumpstart your proposal process.

Or you can go ahead and create your own templates to reuse, send online and track easily!

6. Write your executive summary last

Even though an executive summary should be at the front of your document, it’s usually best to save it for last.

Because the contents of your executive summary relies on the information compiled in the rest of your document.

Writing it at the end of the process, once you have all of the other sections completed, allows you to summarize and review all of your key points in one concise document.

This gives you an advantage when presenting your proposal as it can quickly provide decision makers with a comprehensive overview of your full offering.

Additionally, having all other elements complete helps to ensure that nothing relevant has been missed from the executive summary.

1. Steer clear of sweeping generalizations

An easy trap to fall into when creating an executive summary, or any part of a proposal is to speak with sweeping generalizations or cliched statements.

This should be avoided as these repetitive and oft-heard ideas can have the effect of lumping you alongside your competitors.

Standing out involves offering unique and valuable information to your client. Honest appraisals and truthful promises are what sell, not overused, recycled ideas and hollow claims.

It is important to review your summary — and your complete business proposal — repeatedly, rewriting and polishing to produce a creative, professional piece of work that you will be proud and excited to share with potential clients.

2. Don’t get technical

Your executive summary is essentially an elevator pitch: long enough to cover the main points, but far too short to go into the weeds with technical details.

As a rule of thumb, technical or in-depth explanations belong to the main body of your report.

The executive summary of your business plan, proposal, or report is designed to grab your reader’s attention and get them excited about what’s to come in the larger document.

Your pitch, regardless of how technical the longer report is, should be written to a layperson’s understanding of what you’re about to offer.

While you’re at it, ditch the jargon .

Clear, concise, and unequivocal language is what you should be going for.

3. Don’t get carried away

As excited as you might be about the prospect of winning a bid or acquiring funding, remember to go easy on the length.

Many sources suggest that executive summaries should adhere to a specific length — usually one or two pages, at most.

This isn’t necessarily the case.

There is no hard and fast cutoff for an executive summary.

Sometimes, the main points of a proposal can be summarized in a few paragraphs. Other times, especially for lengthier documents, it might take one or two pages.

Consider the overall length of your document and adjust accordingly.

The idea is to make your reader curious about the rest of your business plan, report, or proposal.

Often, a one-page executive summary, that captures the important points highlighted in the longer document, will suffice for a 20-page report.

As a rule, executive summaries should be no more than five percent of the overall document.

4. Don’t only talk about yourself

There is no doubt that your company history, experience, and credentials can plan a major role in how you approach a project.

In many cases, the experience your team brings to a project may be what sets your proposal apart from similar offers by other competitors.

But the executive summary isn’t the place to give the story of your company’s journey from humble beginnings to the shining star it is today.

The reader isn’t interested in all that.

Stay focused on your reader, their problems, and the solutions that you can offer. Define the problem, define the goal, address the issues, and propose a solution.

Curious about how to craft an executive summary for your specific document?

Here are some common use cases and how to approach them.

How to write an executive summary for a business plan

When you’re developing a business plan, potential investors, financiers, or other stakeholders will often want to see an executive summary at the beginning to get the 30,000 foot-overview of the plan.

You’ll want to distill the entire plan down into a few paragraphs of concrete summarization with the main points, supported by contextual information that’s important to understand the proposed idea.

Executive summary for a startup business

For startup businesses, the goal is to acquire capital.

This could be in the form of equity financing, government grants, or business loans from banks, the Small Business Administration (SBA), and other lending institutions.

Regardless of the funding source you choose, you need to make a solid case for your business.

Your executive summary should touch on each of the following items (drawn from the sections of your business plan):

Executive summary for an established business

Both the executive summary and the business plan for an established company takes a slightly different approach.

It is focused on providing information on the firm’s growth plans, achievements, outlook, etc.

Often, business plans for established companies materialize when the company needs to pivot or expand, or when the company changes hands and comes under new leadership.

In this case, your executive summary may need to summarize the present state of the business, what it does, and where it should go by summarizing a different collection of points:

How to write an executive summary for a marketing proposal

The goal of a marketing proposal is to help the prospective client to understand not only what marketing tactics you’ll employ and how much your services will cost but how the bigger picture will work.

This is what you should talk about in your executive summary for a marketing proposal : What outcomes should the client expect and what will it be like to work with you?

In this scenario, the goal of the executive summary is to sell your product or service and compel your reader to move forward.

Draw from the following sections of your proposal to build your summary:

How to write an executive summary for a report

Another common use case for the executive summary is to include it as a preface to a report document . It’ll offer the reader perspective as to how the following report and information impact the larger business case.

So, arm the reader with a summary of the report’s objective, methodology, and key findings so that she doesn’t need to connect the dots as she is reading the full report.

Here’s how to write an executive summary for a report.

That should cover everything you ever needed to know about executive summaries.

If you’re interested in learning more about how PandaDoc can help simplify, streamline, and supercharge your entire document workflow, take a peek at our features right here or get a front-row seat with an expert by signing up for a free demo .

Originally published June 20, 2013, updated February 3, 2023

PandDoc is not a law firm, or a substitute for an attorney or law firm. This page is not intended to and does not provide legal advice. Should you have legal questions on the validity of e-signatures or digital signatures and the enforceability thereof, please consult with an attorney or law firm. Use of PandaDocs services are governed by our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

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The Better Content Center

Executive summary: 5 do’s, 5 don’ts, 5 examples for writing effective ones.

An executive summary is a short recap of what is presented in lengthier reports but still includes all of the necessary facts, figures and content to help him or her make an informed decision.

Though there are plenty of subjects we can disagree on as a community — there is one constant truth for freelancers: there never seems to be enough time. Everyone is busy — our clients, our editors and ourselves — so the ability to read, digest and understand on the fly is essential. This is where executive summaries (and wordsmiths who are masters at writing them) are beneficial. Not to be confused with an executive biography that tells the background of a C-level professional, summaries are often used to explain lengthy documents in a brief, tangible way.

You can think of it as the back cover of a book, the cliff notes of a novel or even as the trailer for a movie: it gives you the information you need to know without hashing out every last detail. They are often used during a company’s proposal process, as part of a business plan or even used to introduce potential investors to an emerging brand.

Writers are hired for their ability to mull over double-digit pages of information and condense it into an executive summary that’s engaging, accurate and most importantly, effective for the goal at stake.

If you’re interested in adding this marketable skill to your portfolio, consider this your 101 guide to the executive summary — complete with do’s and don’ts and examples that really hit the mark.

So what is an executive summary?

The best way to think of an executive summary is to take a step backward before the document is created — and think about the reader. Sure, that’s journalism basics but it’s something that is sometimes forgotten in the hustle-and-bustle of content writing. The purpose of an executive summary is found in the first word: busy, overworked and in-demand leaders often have limited time. Even so, their opinion, expertise and guidance is needed to grow a business or to approve certain investments or funds.

When we are putting together executive summaries, we want to always keep that manager, founder and boss lady or man in mind. What do we need to provide for them that makes their jobs easier, faster and more efficient? How can we provide the data points, the background, the goals and the current state-of-affairs in a way that’s not overwhelming? How can we get to the point — without losing the point of the proposal or the plan?

Basically: How can we summarize in a way that makes sense and holds the attention of our reader? Through an executive summary that follows the best practices, of course.

As defined by industrial-organizational psychology practitioner and workplace expert Amy Cooper Hakim , Ph.D., an executive summary is a short recap of what is presented in lengthier reports but still includes all of the necessary facts, figures and content to help him or her make an informed decision.

Hakim explains:

“It is usually found on the first page of a proposal and is designed to highlight all major aspects of the document. The executive can read the summary and then decide if she wants to ask questions or take a deeper dive into the bigger document.”

Though all executive summaries are approached differently and may include various information, you can expect to find some similarities. It may seem elementary but an executive summary is generally trying to answer the basics of writing 101 : the who, the what, the when, the where, the why and the how. Without going into extreme detail, most executive summaries will briefly touch on all of these buckets, providing a clear, informative perspective into the goal of the document.

Typically, you can expect something along these lines:

How do you write an executive summary?

If you have been a freelance writer and content marketer for a while, you know it’s often the shorter pieces of content that take the most time. After all, finding the most important, intriguing and impactful tidbits from a handful of interviews is no easy task when you’re limited to 500 words in a print publication.

The same can be compared to creating an executive summary. Because these are used for presentations, long-winded proposals and other extensive bodies of work, writers are tasked with reading through every last word, or in some cases, writing the bigger document, all before getting to work on the executive summary. Whew. If you’re new to the process, consider these tips from career coaches and a writer who has been-there, written-that.

Top 5 do’s for writing executive summaries

1. Do use an outline.

If you can think back that far, try to put yourself back into your high school classroom. Without a doubt, English hour was your favorite since tying together paragraphs came easily to you. Do you remember what your teacher demanded before you set down to scribble your essay? An outline.

No matter how long you’ve been in the game, how many books you’ve published or how successful you are, making a game plan before writing is a smart idea. In fact, author, journalist and speaker John-Manuel Andriote begins every writing project — from articles and blog posts to executive summaries — with an outline he calls a skeleton.

Then, he adds the ‘meat’ on the bones by fleshing out the sections, piece-by-piece, using supportive data, research, interviews and more. “Having the outline provides you with the main topics and sections that you will want to highlight in your executive summary and makes it easy to organize and write your executive summary,” he explains.

2. Do use bullets for clarity.

Unless you’re reading a novel on a lazy Saturday afternoon, seeing a page that only has texts is intimidating. Especially in a business environment that capitalizes on speed and efficiency. When writing an executive summary, certified business coach and author Ivy Slater suggests shying away from long paragraphs and use bullets instead.

Because sentences tend to run together when they aren’t organized for clarity and scanning, separating your executive summary into sections will hold the attention of the reader. And as a bonus, this is typically an easier way to write, too. Without having to use long-winded paragraphs, you can cut to the chase and provide a roadmap for the reader.

3. Do provide a call-to-action.

Executive summaries should serve a purpose . And not just any purpose but a very specific, concrete purpose. Without explaining the goal of the attached document, you don’t provide the reader any information on why they need to read the document in front of them. You also don’t instill a sense of urgency or timeline when you forget to list a call-to-action.

As chief brand and engagement officer of EHE Health , Joy Altimare explains, an executive summary should provide the cursory view while highlighting key points and providing an action item:

“Think about the audience reviewing it to ensure you are providing a clear, concise point of view around results, conclusion or recommendations.”

Most of the time, a call-to-action (or a CTA) is to reach out to the sender for more information. Other times, it is a document for additional funds or manpower that needs to be approved. It can also be simply the seal of recognition for where a company is right now, and how the executive will help it to grow even larger. While it depends on the scope of the proposal, project, plan or document, no executive summary is complete without a CTA.

4. Do tell the whole story.

As a journalist, you likely already have your own set of standards and ethics that you follow when bringing on new clients or working for brands. At the heart of an executive summary is accuracy. Since the reader may or may not have time to read the entire document that’s behind the one-pager, fact-checking is required. Or as Slater puts it: an executive summary should tell the whole story, without being misleading. “Get the needed points across and have the next steps outlined so the reader can take the document and use it to formulate action items,” she advises.

When you’re writing the executive summary, look out for any holes that you can alert to your client. They may not even be aware there are mishaps in their stats or missing information that could make a more compelling proposal. Being able to identify if all checkboxes are met will set you apart from other writers hired to write the same task.

Top 5 do’s for writing executive summaries: Do direct the reader’s attention.

5. Do direct the reader’s attention.

For a document that’s particularly clunky and full of hard-to-comprehend information, Hakim suggests going a step further by adding annotations to your executive summary. You can do this by highlighting the most vital bullet points and referencing specific page numbers they can turn to.

Hakim shares:

“The executive should be able to skim the summary and know what’s in the proposal and what is not in the proposal. A well-written executive summary directs the leader to open the discussion or to move past the proposal and on to a more pressing or fitting task.”

Though you don’t want to be misleading or to steer your reader in a specific direction, providing a reference point will keep them focused and make it more likely they’ll read the summary and move forward to next steps.

Top 5 don’ts for writing executive summaries

1. Don’t write it until you’ve read it.

Though this seems simple enough, Andriote says, all too often, writers make the mistake of trying to piece together the executive summary as an outline to work off of, rather than creating a separate blueprint .

Sometimes companies will want a wordsmith to take over the whole project — from proposal to summary — while others will send over the document and pay for the one-pager. Regardless, he says to not even think about writing the executive summary until you have read or written the full report, book or document. If you’ve been contracted to craft it all, Andriote can’t stress the outline enough:

“The time you spend organizing your outline will be time you save writing the executive summary as it will practically write itself from the outline.”

2. Don’t give away too much information.

Have you ever read the back cover or the side sleeve of a book and felt like you already know everything that is going to happen? Or watch a movie trailer and lose interest, since the plotline was obvious?

When you’re piecing together executive summaries, remember to give the necessary info — but not all of it. This is especially true when you’re writing a summary for someone who is applying for a new leadership opportunity. The employer should be intrigued by the executive summary that describes their body of work — but also left wanting more, according to Slater.

3. Don’t include personal opinions.

There’s a time and a place for sharing your two cents — and that’s after the reader has had a chance to digest the executive summary. Say a company is seeking seed funding to move their budding business to the next level. They have created an impressive proposal but chances are slim interested ‘sharks’ will look beyond the executive summary.

This document should be compelling enough to get their attention so they contact the founder for a meeting. Then, the founder can share their opinion, but not before, according to Altimare.

4. Don’t be inconsistent.

If your executive summary states sales grew 30 percent over the past two quarters, but a later page says 20 percent — you have a problem. Because the executive summary is a preview and condensed version of an existing document, it should be a mirror image of other info.

And when at all possible, the executive summary should follow the same format of the presentation or proposal, according to Slater. This means if you have the mission first, the numbers second and the goals last in the big document, the bite-sized one should feature the same order.

Top 5 don’ts for writing executive summaries: Don’t leave your reader with questions.

5. Don’t leave your reader with questions.

Or rather: The reader shouldn’t be scratching their head trying to understand the purpose of your executive summary. This is when your creative writing skill can take a backseat. Lofty language and an impressive vocabulary are great attributes of a talented wordsmith but it’s better to be thorough and basic when writing these documents.

“Even though your focus is on a short and sweet summary, you shouldn’t leave out key points,” Hakim continues. “A good rule of thumb is to cover the material found in each of the major subheadings of your document. You might also look at your table of contents to ensure that you haven’t missed any key highlights.”

Top 5 executive summary examples

There are plenty of ways to utilize executive summaries throughout nearly every industry. You’ve likely even read a few without realizing they had a special name or were part of a unique market of freelancing opportunities. Slater says executive summary examples include business plans, a plan for expansion, a report on finances, and many other instances.

Here, a few examples:

1. Executive summary example for a business plan or pitch for investors

After coming up with what they hope will be a million-dollar idea, the founder of a beauty company that’s disrupting the industry is looking for investors. To earn their interest and eventually, their financial means, they need to create a business plan and pitch.

Slater says this document will include everything from their background and the mission of the company to their sales to date and how they intend to use the funds. The one-page executive summary would serve as the guide for this all-too-important pitching process.

It may include:

2. Executive summary example for a year-end summary for a business

When you were traditionally employed before going freelance full-time, you likely had a year-end meeting to reflect on the past 12 months. Slater says this report is often conducted for public companies and will be used for private companies that have investors.

Often, executives will even ask for information like this quarter-by-quarter from the leadership team so they always have a pulse on every department. “By including an executive summary, the leader gets a quick overview of what is in the report. If interested, he may then go straight to the table of contents to focus in more detail on a specific area of the report,” Hakim shares.

Here’s what it might include:

Top 5 executive summary examples: Executive summary example for a job application.

3. Executive summary example for a job application

Yep, you read that correctly: executive summaries can be used in place of a cover letter! Though this is typically only used once you reach a leadership or expert-level in your career, they can be incredibly helpful when working with recruiters.

Because it’s meant to demonstrate the most impressive skills and information from your background, Altimare says hiring managers and recruiters can easily digest your candidacy. And, they often set you apart from those folks who only provide a resume.

This type of executive summary may include:

4. Executive summary example for a financial or technical report

Though it may not be your cup-of-tea, technical and financial reports are not only an important investment for businesses — but a necessary one. As Altimare explains, these very dense, data-driven documents include tons of information, often teetering over 100 pages in length.

It’s highly unlikely anyone will read every last line, which is where a solid executive summary makes a difference in comprehension. “Executive summaries to keep the reader engaged and excited to read and reference the entire document for future use,” she explains.

5. Executive summary example for a training project

Though it is dependent on industry, Hakim says training projects are often a good case study for an executive summary. Take, for instance, a company offsite for the marketing team. The leader wants to go through every aspect of the business from each team leader. They also want to state their own goals as a collective, save time for feedback and brainstorming, as well as team bonding.

Sure, this information isn’t as cumbersome to understand as other documents but when it’s 50 pages long, an executive summary keeps everyone on task.

Executive summaries are widespread and effective for companies of all sizes and industries. Writers who can condense mega-guides into comprehensive executive summaries are in high demand, especially as more and more companies are founded every day. Take these skills and try them yourself — you never know what client you may land!

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About the author

Lindsay Tigar

Lindsay Tigar is an experienced, established travel and lifestyle journalist, editor, and content strategist. Since uprooting from Asheville, North Carolina in 2010 to Manhattan, Lindsay's work has appeared on several websites, including Travel + Leisure, Vogue, USA Today, Reader's Digest, Self, Refinery29, and countless others. While she is always up for the challenge of any assignment, her main areas of focus include travel, wellness, career, psychology, love and healthy living.

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5 Steps for Writing an Executive Summary

Learn what to include in your executive summary and how to go about writing one.

Anyone starting a new business must create a business plan that clearly outlines the organization’s details and goals. The executive summary is a crucial element of that business plan.

We’ll explore five steps to writing your business plan’s executive summary, including what to include and avoid. We’ll also point you toward executive summary templates to help you get started.

What is an executive summary?

New entrepreneurs or business owners typically use a business plan to present their great business idea to potential stakeholders like angel investors . The purpose of the business plan is to attract financing from investors or convince banking executives to get a bank loan for their business . An executive summary is a business plan overview that succinctly highlights its most essential elements.

It’s not just a general outline; the executive summary might be the only part of your business plan that busy executives and potential investors read.

“The executive summary of a business plan is designed to capture the reader’s attention and briefly explain your business, the problem you are solving, the target audience, and key financial information,” Ross Kimbarovsky, CEO and founder of Crowdspring, told Business News Daily. “If the executive summary lacks specific information or does not capture the attention of the reader, the rest of the plan might not be read.”

While your executive summary should be engaging and comprehensive, it must also be quick and easy to read. These documents average one to four pages – ideally, under two pages – and should comprise less than 10% of your entire business plan.

Along with an executive summary, a business plan will include your business’s legal structure , the products and services you sell, and a financial plan with sales forecasts .

How do you write an executive summary?

Your executive summary will be unique to your organization and business plan. However, most entrepreneurs and business owners take the following five steps when creating their executive summary.

What should you include in an executive summary?

Your executive summary is based on your business plan and should include details relevant to your reader. For example, if your business plan’s goal is pitching a business idea to potential investors , you should emphasize your financial requirements and how you will use the funding.

The type of language you use depends on whether your audience consists of generalists or industry experts.

While executive summary specifics will vary by company, Marius Thauland, business strategist at OMD EMEA, says all executive summaries should include a few critical elements:

When synthesizing each section, highlight the details most relevant to your reader. Include any facts and statistics they must know. In your introduction, present pertinent company information and clearly state the business plan’s objective. To pinpoint key messages for your executive summary, ask yourself the following questions:

“Put yourself in the business plan reader’s shoes, and think about what you would like to know in the report,” Thauland advised. “Get their attention by making it simple and brief yet still professional. It should also attract them to read the entire document to understand even the minute details.”

If securing financing is your priority, read our reviews of the best business loans to compare options.

What should you avoid in an executive summary?

When writing your executive summary, be aware of the following common mistakes:

When you’re starting a new business, the first people you should hire include a product manager, chief technology officer (CTO) , chief marketing officer and chief financial officer.

Executive summary templates and resources

If you’re writing an executive summary for the first time, online templates can help you outline your document. However, your business is unique, and your executive summary should reflect that. An online template probably won’t cover every detail you’ll need in your executive summary. Experts recommend using templates as general guidelines and tailoring them to fit your business plan and executive summary.

To get you started, here are some popular executive summary template resources:

Summing it all up

Your executive summary should preview your business plan in, at most, two pages. Wait until your business plan is complete to write your executive summary, and seek outside help as necessary. A thorough, engaging business plan and executive summary are well worth the time and money you put into them.

Max Freedman contributed to the reporting and writing in this article. Some source interviews were conducted for a previous version of this article.

How To Write an Effective Executive Summary to Yield Results

Smartsheet Contributor Kate Eby

April 3, 2018

In this article, you'll learn how to craft an organized, well written executive summary the next time you have to gain the attention of a time-strapped audience.

Included on this page, you’ll find information on how to write an executive summary that wins the proposal, how to format your executive summary , an executive summary checklist , and more.

What Is the Purpose of the Executive Summary?

An executive summary should be clear and concise (typically one to two pages long) and present the main points in a formal tone. The purpose of an executive summary is to pique the reader’s curiosity by presenting facts from the larger piece of content it is summarizing.

The executive summary can be either a portion of a business document (a business plan, project proposal, or report) or long articles and documents common in research-driven communities and academia. When crafted correctly, the executive summary provides an overview of the information and objectives in the larger document. The executive summary stands alone from the content it summarizes, and should include the essential information, the recommendations, the findings, and the conclusion of the more extensive document.

The Benefits of a Well Written Executive Summary

A well planned, well written executive summary is a valuable tool because it prioritizes the reader’s time and reduces the effort required to learn the critical aspects of the content. The summary can convey the purpose of your business plan, project proposal, product launch presentation, or sales pitch to keep the reader engaged and reading further, or empowered to take action. Even if it is the only thing your audience reads, a strong executive summary creates value for the reader as a first impression. Use the executive summary to make a business case, support a position, or tell a story. The reader should know how the subject of your content impacts them, benefits their work, their company, or their projects after reading the executive summary.

Various industries use executive summaries as a communication tool, including healthcare, education, government, technology, real estate, finance, law, the nonprofit sector, and more. One of the benefits of using an executive summary is that it is not exclusive to one type of communication. Executive summaries show up in a variety of use cases, including the following:

Business plans

Legal briefs

Product launch plans

College campus surveys

Market research reports

Environmental studies

Project proposals

Hospital planning and evaluation

How to Write an Executive Summary

Crafting a useful executive summary requires more than simply cutting and pasting vital information from the body of your report or proposal. The executive summary may be the only part of the report your target audience reads, so you should spend the time to make it valuable.

It doesn’t have to be an intimidating process, but before you begin writing, you should ask the following critical questions:

Who depends on the information? When you write the executive summary, decide who you are targeting and the critical information that audience needs. What do they need to know to make a decision? What would they already know? Do you have a specific customer you want to reach with your message or story? Writing the executive summary with that audience in mind will make it useful because the story you’re telling about your business, project, or proposal will resonate.

What is the objective? While it’s true that an executive summary recaps essential information from the body of the content it summarizes, that is its function, not its purpose. Write the summary to your intended audience and include the crucial information that supports your objective for creating the document. What do you need the reader to understand? Is the aim to recommend change based on the results of your research? What needs to happen for the project plan to succeed based on your proposal? Let your objectives determine the content and context of your summary.

What are you recommending? Use the executive summary to draw conclusions and make recommendations to the reader. If your report presents the need for change, recommend the actions that the body of your document supports in the summary. State the benefits of your product or service, or the solutions you provide more detail on in the proposal. Ultimately, don’t make the reader work to find out what action they need to take: Make your recommendations clear in the executive summary.

How will you make an impression? The “executive” summary earned its name from the need to get the upper management’s attention. Executives did not have the time to read every word of every document. The summary had to make an impression because it might be the only part of the material that would be read. Regardless of its origins, the principle of using the summary to make an impression on the reader is sound, as that impression might encourage the reader to keep reading or take action. Consider how you shape the message, organize the sections of your summary, or present research to stand out in a brief space.

Executive Summary Checklist

After you answer these questions and begin writing your document, refer to the following checklist as you develop the executive summary.

Download Executive Summary Checklist

What Is the Format of an Executive Summary?

Every executive summary intends to distill information to the reader upfront, so it is typically placed first in the document. (Sometimes it is a separate section of a formal business document listed in the table of contents.)

When used in a less formal manner, the executive summary is an opening paragraph, a separate one-page summary memo, or the first page of a report. For example, if your goal is to raise capital, use the executive summary like an investor profile that provides the reader the information necessary to land the meeting or get the funding, without further reading.

The format and length vary based on the purpose of the content that you are summarizing; there is no set structure to follow. Here are some formatting tips that you can use for any executive summary, regardless of the style:

Order of Appearance : Beyond the introduction, decide what sections of the summary are most important to the purpose of the document. Organize your subheadings or sections in that order. Use bullet points and plenty of spacing between the different parts of the summary to make the content more accessible to scanning eyes. By doing so, you naturally discard information better left to the body of the document, and you honor the reader’s time by prioritizing the message, recommendations, conclusions, or solutions in the longer document.

How Much Is Too Much : Executive summaries vary in length based on the type of content they summarize or their purpose. Some recommend keeping the summary to a specific percentage of the overall document, while others advocate a set number of pages. Focus on keeping the summary brief but comprehensive, with the most important information available to the reader.

Audience Aim : The tone and language of the executive summary should match that of the target audience. Avoid using technical jargon that requires definitions, and present the information in an accessible manner based on the knowledge and expertise of your intended audience. Do not include acronyms or highlight data that need an extensive background for context, and avoid using casual, informal tones. That said, an executive summary used in internal communications will have a different tone and style than one used in external communication tools.

One-page Executive Summary Template

This template is designed to fit your executive summary on one page. Take advantage of the short sections and bullet points to keep the document concise and hook the reader with the information that will keep them reading. Organize the key points by customizing the subheadings to emphasize their importance based on your purpose for the document.

Download One-page Executive Summary Template

Excel | Word | PDF

What Are the Common Pitfalls of Executive Summaries?

When formatting and organizing the executive summary, beware of the following pitfalls that plague poorly written and poorly planned summaries:

Fact or Persuasion : Support your motives and the objective of the executive summary with the facts. If the summary is for a sales proposal or pitch deck, persuade your reader up front with data and information, not buzzwords and cliches. If the executive summary includes generalizations or opinions that you don't support within your material with market research, project examples, independent data, testimonials, etc., you risk misleading the reader. Avoid writing a summary that leads clients, policy makers, or management to an unsupported recommendation or conclusion for the sake of persuasion — instead, focus on the facts.

Relevance Over Repetition : By nature, the executive summary is a repetitive summary of content. Therefore, only include the most relevant details — those that summarize the true purpose of the overall content. Use the rest of your business plan, research report, or client proposal to cover topics relevant background information at length. If you try to cut and paste too much information and context from your longer business or research document into the summary, the details might overshadow the impression you want to make on the reader. The background becomes the introduction, and you risk losing a reader’s attention (especially an online audience).

Consistency Is Key : The executive summary highlights the substance of the larger piece of content. Don’t feature information here that is not covered in the body of the proposal. Avoid using different subheadings to organize copy in the body of the report. For example, if you highlight “Project Milestones” in the executive summary, do not list them in a new section for “Project Goals” in the business proposal. Use the tone and language you establish in the summary throughout the material. If you target an audience without expertise in the subject matter, don’t switch to highly technical analysis in the body copy. Finally, if you cover something in the executive summary, cover it again in the report. Don’t make the reader work to learn more about something you highlighted in the summary.

Draw a Clear Conclusion : Write an executive summary that comes to a conclusion and supports your purpose for creating the document. Keep the reader’s interest in mind when you summarize a lengthy project proposal or report. Does the reader have a clear understanding of the solutions you propose? Can they identify the problems you solve? If the executive summary is the only thing they read, can they take action on your recommendations or anticipate a desired outcome based on the information you included?

Executive Summary Outline Template - PowerPoint

Executive Summary Outline Presentation Template

Use this free template to outline your next big presentation, or keep it updated as a live meeting record to keep up with your evolving internal business plans or funding needs. The slides are formatted to outline the important elements of a formal business plan summary. You can customize the slides to fit the order of importance for your content’s purpose or extend each. Use the slides as an outline to keep track of the content you want to summarize after every update or draft of the report.

‌ Download Executive Summary Outline Template - PowerPoint

What to Include in an Executive Summary

You will determine the components of each executive summary you write based on the reason for writing it and your target audience.

For example, a business plan for an external audience includes financial information and details on the size and scale of a company; startups seeking funding and investors will highlight specific financial requirements and how they impact the business strategy. Executive summaries vary in the content they cover, but here is a common framework:

Introduction : This opening statement, paragraph, or section should clearly state the document’s purpose and the content to follow. How you will use this section depends on the desired outcome for the reader or audience, who should immediately find value in the information you present. Therefore, the details included in the introduction should grab and hold the reader’s attention.

Company Information : When writing an executive summary for an external audience, include your company name, a description of your mission or purpose, contact information, location, and the size and scale of your operations. In some cases, the summary introduces the founders, investors, and corporate leadership. It might include background information of each that outlines previous industry or startup experience, or historical context on the current state of the company. When used in a presentation or research report, introduce the team presenting or responsible for the report’s findings.

Products and Services : The executive summary is the place to highlight the problem you solve or the need you fulfill. For a report, this is where you might highlight what you researched and what the reader should know about your findings. For a project proposal, include what you’re planning to accomplish and what you need to make it successful. For marketing plans or product launch presentations, tell the reader why your service or product is relevant at this particular moment in time.

Market Analysis : The executive summary of a business plan might profile the target customer and explain the market opportunity for a product or service. Consider answering questions like: Is there a five year plan for this market? How do you anticipate growing the customer base and improving market share? What stands out from your research about your customers that the reader should know?

Competition Analysis : This section should include answers to the following questions:

What is the competitive advantage of your proposed solution or product and who or what do you compete with in this market?

What are the opportunities now and in the future?

What are the risks in your market and your product or service?

Do you have relevant experience with major competitors?

What are the future plans for growth and what obstacles do you anticipate addressing?

Financials : The executive summary might summarize key financial data that is relevant to the reader or data that supports your research. If the purpose is to secure funding, include the specific amount you are requesting. Be sure to provide context for the financial data or any number you highlight in the executive summary. This section is a great way to highlight growth, or to use metrics to provide perspective on the company.

Conclusions : Recap your findings, the problem and solution discussed, or the project and work proposed. If there is a decision the reader needs to make, be direct about it. Make the outcomes obvious, but leave enough intrigue for the rest of the content to follow.

How Do You End An Executive Summary?

Although the executive summary begins a document, it concludes so that it can stand alone from the rest of the content and still be of value. Use the conclusion to recap your findings, make recommendations, and propose solutions to the problem.

If there is a decision you want the reader to make, ask make a call to action in this section. If you are summarizing a research report, summarize the findings and the research methods used to conclude the work. Make the outcomes or recommendations visible, but leave enough out to incentivize the audience to continue reading. Close the executive summary with a strong statement or transition that sets up the theme or central message to the story you tell in the report or proposal.

What Should Be in the Executive Summary of a Business Plan?

Traditional business plans differ in context and content based on if the audience is internal or external. Both audiences benefit from some of the previously discussed elements of the executive summary (like a substantial introduction).

However, the summary of an internal business plan does not require a section that introduces management or key personnel. An external business plan targets an audience that expects to find crucial financial information in the summary. When you develop the executive summary of the business plan, determine the information to include based on the audience and purpose of the document.

Business Plan Executive Summary Template

This executive summary template is designed to get your business plan noticed and reviewed. In this scenario, you’re presenting to an external audience and therefore should include more attention to detail with a standard business plan document. Use bullet points and clear, formal language to guide the reader to the most important information about your company.

Download Business Plan Executive Summary Template

Excel | Word | PDF | Smartsheet

You can find a variety of templates for various industries and needs by reading “Free Executive Summary Templates.”

What Should Be in an Executive Summary of a Report?

Josh Bernoff spent 20 years writing and editing reports for Forrester Research. He is an advocate of creating actionable reports that tell a story. He believes that the executive summary is crucial.

“If the report is a story, the right executive summary is the same story, written briefly,” writes Bernoff . He recommends imagining that your readers ask you questions like, “What’s the coolest stuff in this report?” and “What did you find out?” while writing the report.

“Your answer, written directly to the reader, is the executive summary,” Bernoff explains in his book.

The executive summary of a report requires vivid details that grab online readers’ attention in a hurry. According to Bernoff, the summary recaps the story you want to tell behind all the words in the report. Using this advice as a guidepost, consider including the following answers to these questions to create your report’s summary:

What is the central plot of your report?

Why is this story important?

What are the most memorable scenes (examples, data, case study results, etc.) from the different sections of the report?

How does your research address the story’s central conflict (the problem solved)?

How does your research support the story’s conclusion?

What actions does the story recommend the reader be aware of?

The executive summary of lengthy research reports — especially those used in academic articles, scientific journals, government studies, or healthcare initiatives — require additional formatting considerations and elements not found in business plans or proposals. Consider the following guidelines when developing the executive summary of a research report:

Present the sections of the executive summary in the same order as in the main report.

Do not include information or research that is not supported and presented in the body of the report.

Draw a conclusion with the executive summary that justifies the research and provides recommendations.

Use a tone and language to describe technical information that readers without advanced knowledge or expertise of the subject matter can understand.

Remember that an executive summary of a report is distinct from an abstract. Abstracts are shorter overviews of a report and are common in academia. They familiarize the reader with a synopsis of the research that is much shorter than an executive summary. You can also think of an abstract as a standalone statement that helps the reader determine if they will read on. The executive summary, by contrast, summarizes the research in a structure that includes the summary, methods, results, conclusions, and recommendations for the reader without necessarily having to read further.

Research Report Executive Summary Template

Use this template to create a synopsis of research results for reports — these will typically be longer than an executive summary for a business plan and proposal. The template is formatted to accommodate in-depth reports that need space for charts and tables to illustrate research data. It is designed to summarize technical information in a concise manner, with clear subheadings that communicate key findings to readers with various expertise and interest.

Download Research Report Executive Summary Template

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Get Funding with Your Executive Summary

Startups seeking capital investment from venture capital funds and angel investors can repurpose the executive summary from a business plan as a more concise, less formal investor profile.

This type of summary memo is stripped down and focused on the specific financial requirements and how the funding makes an impact on the business strategy. It is the perfect template to create a profile on investor platform websites like AngelList and Gust . Use the following tips to transform traditional business plan summaries into the pitch that lands you a meeting or funding:

Include the specific dollar amount you’re requesting, the purpose for the funds raised, and any relevant data such as repayment terms, collateral, equity share information, etc.

Keep the financial data simple and round to the nearest whole dollar amount.

List founders, partners, and key management personnel and highlight specific domain expertise or previous startup experience.

Describe your company’s growth plan and the proposed exit strategy.

Remove any industry buzzwords, meaningless phrases, and cliches (for example “the Uber of…,” “game-changing,” “disruptive,” “next Facebook,” “world-class,” etc.).

Mention noteworthy achievements, intellectual property, important business partnerships, or information on product development stages in test markets.

Describe work in progress and highlight relevant information about customer growth, market demand, and product development.

Startup Executive Summary Template

Transform your executive summary into an investor document with this template. It acts as a one-page pitch that serves as your company profile on investor platforms. You can repurpose this template and save it as a PDF summary memo to land future meetings with investors. For more information on business plans for startups, including free budget templates, read “ Free Startup Plan, Budget & Cost Templates .”

Download Startup Executive Summary Template

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How to Write a Powerful Executive Summary [+4 Top Examples]

Published: September 15, 2022

Whether you're an entrepreneur looking for investors for your small business or the CEO of a large corporation, an executive summary can help you succeed and is a critical component for long-term growth.

A short, attention-grabbing executive summary is an essential part of your business plan . Done correctly, it will ensure your company becomes or remains a key player in your industry. In this post, you’ll learn what an executive summary is and how to write one that engages investors, customers, and general audiences.

Executive Summary

An executive summary is a brief overview of your company that is located at the beginning of your business plan and on the ‘About us’ page of your website. It's a section that grabs readers’ attention and summarizes critical information regarding your company and your upcoming short-term and long-term goals.

Essentially, an executive summary is the front cover of your business plan, convincing readers that it's worth their time to read the whole thing.

A business plan includes a company overview, your company's short-term and long-term goals, information on your product or service, sales targets, expense budgets, your marketing plan, and a list including each member of your management team. However, a CEO or investor might not have the interest or time to read your full business plan without first getting the general gist of your company or goals through an executive summary.

Ultimately, the executive summary is meant to inform readers of the most important information in your business plan, so they don't have to read it all and can get caught up quickly.

To write an impressive executive summary that effectively embodies all the important elements of your business plan, we've cultivated a list of necessary components for an executive summary, as well as an example to get you started.

Follow Along With HubSpot's Executive Summary Template

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How to write an executive summary.

A good executive summary tells your company’s story, contains in-depth research, conveys information with an appropriate tone, is void of clichés, and follows your business plan’s structure. These elements will ensure your executive summary is effective, informative, and impactful.

1. Tell your story.

When investors or CEO's read your executive summary, they should understand what your business is about. This is one of the first elements of your business plan, so it should set the tone.

In your executive summary, be sure to tell your story. What does your company do and why do you do it? Who's involved in your company? Answering these questions will help readers get excited about your company and eager to read the rest of the business plan.

2. Do your research.

An executive summary, while short, should include plenty of research. For example, your summary will include financial considerations and a competitor analysis .

While your business plan will flesh out the details, it's important to include your key findings in your executive summary. Think of this like an elevator pitch . If someone stopped reading and you only had the executive summary to explain your company, what information would you include?

3. Pay attention to your tone.

The tone of your writing tells a story itself. When you're writing anything, but especially a business document, make sure that the tone tells the story of who you are. Are you formal or more informal?

Ultimately, your tone should not only represent who you are as a company, but your target audience as well. What style of writing will represent your audience?

As you write an executive summary, don't forget to consider what your tone and writing says about you and your audience.

4. Avoid cliché language.

With any style of writing, it's best to avoid clichés. Clichés can convey the wrong message or be misunderstood, which is something you want to avoid when someone reads your executive summary.

Additionally, clichés tend to overpromise and under-deliver. For example, including something like "The Best Restaurant in Town" isn't true because you're untested as a business. Your executive summary should reflect the truth and who you are as a company.

5. Write it after completing your business plan.

An executive summary is a summary of your business plan. However, it's hard to write a summary when you haven't written your business plan yet. That's why you should write your executive summary last, so you know what you want to include.

If you don’t have a business plan yet, don’t worry; we have a comprehensive business plan template to help you create one quickly and effectively.

Featured Resource: Business Plan Template

how to write executive summary: use business plan template from hubspot

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Now that you know how to write an executive summary, let's dive into the details of what to include.

What to Include in Your Executive Summary

Your business plan should convey your company's mission, your product, a plan for how you'll stand out from competitors, your financial projections, your company's short and long-term goals, your buyer persona, and your market fit.

An executive summary, then, should be a short, maximum two-page synopsis of the information provided in your business plan.

Ultimately, an executive summary should provide a preview for investors or CEO's, so they know what to expect from the rest of your report. Your executive summary should include:

Feeling at a loss? Download a free template below that will take you through the executive summary creation process.

Executive Summary Template

Download Your Free Executive Summary Template Here

In this free executive summary template, you’ll be able to outline several pieces of information, including:

Ready? Download your free executive summary template .

To understand more tactically how an executive summary should look, let’s review a few examples.

Executive Summary Examples

1. connected.

Try It Yourself

Use the heading of your page to immediately describe what you do, as opposed to using “About Us” or “Executive Summary” as the title. Give readers the opportunity to get what they need above the fold and the option to read more. Note that this would not apply in an executive summary in a business plan.

2. Events Industry Council

Events Industry Council’s executive summary is short and sweet, yet provides plenty of information for readers to understand what the organization does and which products it offers. Note the brevity in the mission, vision, and values sections — that demonstrates that there’s no need to go on at length if it doesn’t suit you. The “Who we are” section has the most emphasis here, which is a powerful technique to draw readers’ attention.

Spend more time in the section that you feel your audience will care most about. If you’re pitching to investors, you might spend more time on the Market Analysis and Financials sections. If you’re writing for a general audience, you might focus on your company background.

3. Company Shop Group

One of the first things you see when visiting Company Shop Group’s About Us page is its subheading: “Company Shop Group is the UK’s leading redistributor of surplus food and household products.” Like Connected, Company Shop Group includes what it does above the fold, so that readers have the option to either keep reading or walk away knowing what the company is about. The organization also includes multimedia to engage visitors and explain its business model in a more digestible format.

Include what you do above the fold and add multimedia elements to provide an alternative way for readers to learn more about you. Videos, images, and headings can make it much easier to scan your executive summary, but be careful to only use this method for the right audience and through the right medium. (You might not include images inside a formal business plan, for instance.)

4. FirstEnergy

FirstEnergy’s executive summary is great inspiration if you’re a more corporate, formal brand. The company’s executive summary covers its mission, subsidiaries, operations, products and services, corporate responsibility values, and strategic plan goals. This is useful information for potential investors, as the company is publicly traded.

While it’s comprehensive, the executive summary remains short, using bullet points and images to break up the information and giving readers the opportunity to explore more with a sidebar menu.

Be conscious of the status of your company when writing your executive summary. If it’s publicly traded, you’ll want to include more information, such as your strategic plan and expansion opportunities. If you’re publishing your executive summary on your website, use a sidebar to allow readers to jump from page to page without leaving their place.

Start Your Executive Summary

An executive summary should be short and concise, but it should still convey who you are as a company. If you're starting a company, remember to tell your story, while also including important background and financial information. A strong executive summary will pave the way for more investors to invest in your business and more customers to trust in your brand.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in December 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

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Use this executive summary template to provide a summary of your report, business plan, or memo.

How to Write an Executive Summary

Written by Dave Lavinsky

Executive Summary of a Business Plan

On this page:, what is a business plan executive summary, why do i need an executive summary, executive summary length, key elements of an executive summary, how do i write an executive summary for a business plan, the dos and don’ts of creating a great executive summary, summary of writing a great executive summary, business plan executive summary example, executive summary frequently asked questions.

Other Helpful Business Plan Articles

An executive summary of a business plan gives the reader an overview of the business opportunity and your entire business plan. It explains the type of business the company operates and summarizes the key facts and strategies supporting the businesses’s growth. If presented for funding, the executive summary provides the lender or investor a quick snapshot which helps them determine their interest level and if they should continue reading the rest of the business plan.

An effective executive summary is a quick version of your complete business plan. You need to keep it simple and succinct in order to grab the reader’s attention and convince them it’s in their best interest to keep reading.

Download our Ultimate Business Plan Template here >

As mentioned above, your business plan is a detailed document that requires time to read. Capturing the reader’s attention with a concise, interesting overview of your plan saves them time and indicates which parts of the business plan may be most important to read in detail. This increases the odds that your business plan will be read and your business idea understood. This is why you need a well-written executive summary.

When structuring your executive summary, the first thing to keep in mind is that it should be short and comprehensive. The length of your business plan executive summary should never exceed 3 pages; the ideal length is 1-2 pages.

— Go to top of page —

The following are the key elements to include in your business plan executive summary:

Your executive summary is the most important part of your business plan since it’s the first thing investors, lenders and/or other readers see. And if they aren’t impressed, they’ll stop reading and you’ll lose them forever. To give yourself the best chances of success, follow these steps to write your executive summary.

1) Complete the rest of your business plan. Your executive summary provides highlights of each section of your business plan. As such, you need to first write those sections. Then, read each section and figure out what information from each must be included in the executive summary. For instance, if your industry analysis section mentioned that your industry’s current size is $100 billion and is projected to grow by 90% per year over the next 5 years, this is an exciting statistic and opportunity that should be mentioned in your executive summary.

2) Start with a one to two line description of your company. Your executive summary must start with a simple description of your company. Readers must be able to quickly and easily understand what your company does so they can decide whether they’re interested in the opportunity. If readers can’t quickly understand what you do, many will stop reading and you’ll lose the ability to get them involved in your company.

3) Create your executive summary structure. Start by creating headers for each section of your business plan. For example, you should have a marketing plan header, a customer analysis header, etc. Then, within each header, summarize the most important point you mentioned in that section. For example, under your marketing plan, you would write your three most important promotional tactics. Under customer analysis, you’d write a detailed one to two line description of your target customers. Then figure out the best way to organize your executive summary. You can either keep the headers, or create new headers like “business overview” and “unique success factors” in which you cut and paste the old sections as appropriate.

4) Make it shorter. Mark Twain once wrote “If I had more time, i would have written a shorter letter.” The more concise your executive summary is, the more successful it will. Read through your executive summary and aggressively edit it so you convey your key messages in the least amount of words possible.

5) Bring in outside readers. Find at least five people to read your executive summary. Ask them to spend no more than five minutes doing so. Then ask them questions about it. Did they understand what your company does? Are they able to recite back to you your company’s value proposition? If the readers are unable to understand and get excited by your executive summary, then you need to keep working on it.

There are certain mistakes often made in writing an executive summary. If these little glitches can be avoided, writing a flawless executive summary for your business plan is not difficult. So here are a few important tips and tricks for you to remember.

Whether you’re a large or small business, your executive summary is the first thing someone reads that forms an opinion of your business. Whether they decide to read your detailed business plan or push it aside depends on how good your executive summary is. We hope your executive summary guide helps you craft an effective and impactful executive summary. That way, readers will be more likely to read your full plan, request an in-person meeting, and give you funding to pursue your business plans.

Looking to get started on your business plan’s executive summary? Take a look at the business plan executive summary example below!

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Shoutmouth.com Executive Summary

Business Overview

Launched late last year, Shoutmouth.com is the most comprehensive music news website on the Internet .

Music is one of the most searched and accessed interests on the Internet. Top music artists like Taylor Swift receive over 5 million searches each month. In addition, over 500 music artists each receive over 25,000 searches a month.

However, music fans are largely unsatisfied when it comes to the news and information they seek on the artists they love. This is because most music websites (e.g., RollingStone.com, MTV.com, Billboard.com, etc.) cover only the top eight to ten music stories each day – the stories with mass appeal. This type of generic coverage does not satisfy the needs of serious music fans. Music fans generally listen to many different artists and genres of music. By publishing over 100 music stories each day, Shoutmouth enables these fans to read news on all their favorite artists.

In addition to publishing comprehensive music news on over 1200 music artists, Shoutmouth is a social network that allows fans to meet and communicate with other fans about music, and allows them to:

Success Factors

Shoutmouth is uniquely qualified to succeed due to the following reasons:

Unique Investment Metrics

The Shoutmouth investment opportunity is very exciting due to the metrics of the business.

To begin, over the past five years, over twenty social networks have been acquired. The value in these networks is their relationships with large numbers of customers, which allow acquirers to effectively sell to this audience.

The sales price of these social networks has ranged from $25 to $137 per member. Shoutmouth has the ability to enroll members at less than $1 each, thus providing an extraordinary return on marketing expenditures. In fact, during a recent test, we were able to sign-up 2,000 members to artist-specific Shoutmouth newsletters at a cost of only 43 cents per member.

While we are building Shoutmouth to last, potential acquirers include many types of companies that seek relationships with music fans such as music media/publishing (e.g., MTV, Rolling Stone), ticketing (e.g., Ticketmaster, LiveNation) and digital music sales firms (e.g., iTunes).

Financial Strategy, Needs and Exit Strategy

While Shoutmouth’s technological, marketing and operational infrastructure has been developed, we currently require $3 million to execute on our marketing and technology plan over the next 24 months until we hit profitability.

Shoutmouth will primarily generate revenues from selling advertising space. As technologies evolve that allow us to seamlessly integrate music sampling and purchasing on our site, sales of downloadable music are also expected to become a significant revenue source. To a lesser extent, we may sell other music-related items such as ringtones, concert tickets, and apparel.

Topline projections over the next three years are as follows:

Other Resources for Writing Your Business Plan

What is the purpose of an executive summary?

An executive summary provides a quick overview of your business plan. It succinctly describes your business. It gives a summary of each of the other sections of your plan (e.g., marketing plan, financial plan, customer analysis, etc.). And it answers the key question that investors and lenders need to know: why is your business uniquely qualified to succeed?

What is included in an executive summary?

Your executive summary should include an overview of your business concept, a summary of each of the key sections of your plan (company overview, industry analysis, customer analysis, competitive analysis, marketing plan, operations plan, management team, financial plan) and answer why your business is uniquely qualified to succeed.

How long is an executive summary?

Your executive summary should be one to two pages. Remember that the goal of the summary is simply to excite the reader into continuing through your full plan. Give them a summary of the key highlights of your business and invite them to learn more by reading the full business plan.

How do you start off a summary?

If the first paragraph of your executive summary isn’t compelling enough, you’ll immediately lose readers. So, start your executive summary by clearly stating what your business does and why your company is unique. Then give a summary of each of the other sections of your plan (e.g., competitive analysis, industry analysis, etc.).

How To Write A Good Business Plan Executive Summary

The executive summary for a business plan is a brief, positive synopsis of the business that goes at the beginning of your business plan. 3 min read

What Is An Executive Summary?

What is an executive summary for a business plan, and how do you create one?

An executive summary is a brief, positive synopsis of the business and goes at the beginning of your business plan. An executive summary is normally about one to two pages long, contains two-sentence overviews of each section within the plan, and covers the most important information about the business.

Ideally, potential investors will be able to quickly grasp the key elements of your business plan from the executive summary alone. They can then read deeper into areas they are particularly interested in.

Finally, the executive summary should be clear, succinct, and engaging while remaining succinct and professional. A dry executive summary will not entice readers to take an interest in your business.

What Goes into an Executive Summary?

The full content of the executive summary will vary depending on if the business is a startup or an established business. However, there are certain elements common to both.

Every executive summary should include:

Startups, or pre-revenue companies, should also include:

For established businesses, be sure to add:

How To Write A Business Plan Executive Summary

The executive summary is the most important part of your business plan, but it need not be the hardest to write. If you've written the plan, you've already done most of the work.

Do you want a lawyer to review your business plan?

There are plenty of examples of executive summaries online to guide you further.

If you need help reviewing your business plan with a legal counsel business plan, you can post your legal need on UpCounsel's marketplace. UpCounsel accepts only the top 5 percent of lawyers to its site. Lawyers on UpCounsel come from law schools such as Harvard Law and Yale Law and average 14 years of legal experience, including work with or on behalf of companies like Google, Menlo Ventures, and Airbnb.

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Executive Summary Format: A Guide to Business Writing

Posted March 24, 2017 | Business

In a fast-paced business environment, entrepreneurs and business leaders must be able to convey their main ideas and persuade decision makers. This idea is illustrated through an executive summary, which prefaces a business plan or an investment proposal. The executive summary can capture and maintain the reader’s attention, ultimately leading to a successful pitch or proposal.

What does an executive summary format look like? And what should it include? The following sections explain how to write an executive summary.

The Doorway to a Business Plan

“The most important reason to include an executive summary is that in many cases, it is the only thing the reader will read ,” Pablo Bonjour, founder and CEO of SMG Business Plans, told Inc. Investors, lenders, executives, managers and CEOs will read the executive summary to determine if the rest of the business plan is worth reading.

An important thing to remember is that an executive summary is not necessarily a summary. Its purpose is not to simply describe the contents within a business plan; it should focus on selling a solution to a stakeholder.

“First and foremost, it should grab the reader’s attention . It has to briefly hit the high points of your plan,” according to Entrepreneur . “It should point readers with questions requiring detailed responses to the full-length sections of your plan where they can get answers. It should ease the task of anybody whose job it is to read it, and it should make that task enjoyable by presenting an interesting and compelling account of your company.”

Executive Summary Format

An intriguing introduction.

The first paragraph should be the strongest part of the executive summary. Similar to an elevator speech, the introduction needs to have a strong hook that explains what the company does. This is where you capture the reader’s attention.

Identify the Issue

A business is founded on solving some type of problem. Identify and explain the issue that will paint your business in a positive light.

Propose a Unique Solution

How does your business solve the problem? And if there are similar companies, how is your organization different? This is where you “explain why your idea has merit and how it can solve a common problem by making things easier, faster, or cheaper for the prospective customer(s),” Entrepreneur says .

Back your claims with evidence. Use stats and research to support how your business will solve the issue.

Ask for What You Need

How much will it cost? Include the amount you’re seeking, along with details like what the return on investment will be and over what period of time.

How to Write an Executive Summary: The Nuts and Bolts

Keep it short.

There is no set length that an executive summary should be. Rules of thumb include making it no longer than 10 percent of the original document or keeping it to one or two pages.

Use Accessible Language

Avoid complicated language, unless your audience is familiar with technical terms. Also leave out business buzzwords and jargon.

Use Bullet Points and Subheadings

Clean formatting practices help readers scan the executive summary and find what they’re looking for.

Avoid the Use of First-Person Pronouns

Write for your audience. Using “I” statements makes the summary less personal and undermines your persuasiveness.

Proofread and Edit

Readers may immediately discard important documents with simple spelling and grammatical errors, as well as unclear or sloppy writing. Seek professional editing services.

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Business Plan

By Entrepreneur Staff

Business Plan Definition:

A written document describing the nature of the business, the sales and marketing strategy, and the financial background, and containing a projected profit and loss statement

A business plan is also a road map that provides directions so a business can plan its future and helps it avoid bumps in the road. The time you spend making your business plan thorough and accurate, and keeping it up-to-date, is an investment that pays big dividends in the long term.

Your business plan should conform to generally accepted guidelines regarding form and content. Each section should include specific elements and address relevant questions that the people who read your plan will most likely ask. Generally, a business plan has the following components:

Title Page and Contents A business plan should be presented in a binder with a cover listing the name of the business, the name(s) of the principal(s), address, phone number, e-mail and website addresses, and the date. You don't have to spend a lot of money on a fancy binder or cover. Your readers want a plan that looks professional, is easy to read and is well-put-together.

Include the same information on the title page. If you have a logo, you can use it, too. A table of contents follows the executive summary or statement of purpose, so that readers can quickly find the information or financial data they need.

Executive Summary The executive summary, or statement of purpose, succinctly encapsulates your reason for writing the business plan. It tells the reader what you want and why, right up front. Are you looking for a $10,000 loan to remodel and refurbish your factory? A loan of $25,000 to expand your product line or buy new equipment? How will you repay your loan, and over what term? Would you like to find a partner to whom you'd sell 25 percent of the business? What's in it for him or her? The questions that pertain to your situation should be addressed here clearly and succinctly.

The summary or statement should be no more than half a page in length and should touch on the following key elements:

Description of the Business The business description usually begins with a short explanation of the industry. When describing the industry, discuss what's going on now as well as the outlook for the future. Do the necessary research so you can provide information on all the various markets within the industry, including references to new products or developments that could benefit or hinder your business. Base your observations on reliable data and be sure to footnote and cite your sources of information when necessary. Remember that bankers and investors want to know hard facts--they won't risk money on assumptions or conjecture.

When describing your business, say which sector it falls into (wholesale, retail, food service, manufacturing, hospitality and so on), and whether the business is new or established. Then say whether the business is a sole proprietorship, partnership, C or Sub chapter S corporation. Next, list the business' principals and state what they bring to the business. Continue with information on who the business' customers are, how big the market is, and how the product or service is distributed and marketed.

Description of the Product or Service The business description can be a few paragraphs to a few pages in length, depending on the complexity of your plan. If your plan isn't too complicated, keep your business description short, describing the industry in one paragraph, the product in another, and the business and its success factors in two or three more paragraphs.

When you describe your product or service, make sure your reader has a clear idea of what you're talking about. Explain how people use your product or service and talk about what makes your product or service different from others available in the market. Be specific about what sets your business apart from those of your competitors.

Then explain how your business will gain a competitive edge and why your business will be profitable. Describe the factors you think will make it successful. If your business plan will be used as a financing proposal, explain why the additional equity or debt will make your business more profitable. Give hard facts, such as "new equipment will create an income stream of $10,000 per year" and briefly describe how.

Other information to address here is a description of the experience of the other key people in the business. Whoever reads your business plan will want to know what suppliers or experts you've spoken to about your business and their response to your idea. They may even ask you to clarify your choice of location or reasons for selling this particular product.

Market Analysis A thorough market analysis will help you define your prospects as well as help you establish pricing, distribution, and promotional strategies that will allow your company to be successful vis-à-vis your competition, both in the short and long term.

Begin your market analysis by defining the market in terms of size, demographics, structure, growth prospects, trends, and sales potential. Next, determine how often your product or service will be purchased by your target market. Then figure out the potential annual purchase. Then figure out what percentage of this annual sum you either have or can attain. Keep in mind that no one gets 100 percent market share, and that a something as small as 25 percent is considered a dominant share. Your market share will be a benchmark that tells you how well you're doing in light of your market-planning projections.

You'll also have to describe your positioning strategy. How you differentiate your product or service from that of your competitors and then determine which market niche to fill is called "positioning." Positioning helps establish your product or service's identity within the eyes of the purchaser. A positioning statement for a business plan doesn't have to be long or elaborate, but it does need to point out who your target market is, how you'll reach them, what they're really buying from you, who your competitors are, and what your USP (unique selling proposition) is.

How you price your product or service is perhaps your most important marketing decision. It's also one of the most difficult to make for most small business owners, because there are no instant formulas. Many methods of establishing prices are available to you, but these are among the most common.

You'll also have to determine distribution, which includes the entire process of moving the product from the factory to the end user. Make sure to analyze your competitors' distribution channels before deciding whether to use the same type of channel or an alternative that may provide you with a strategic advantage.

Finally, your promotion strategy should include all the ways you communicate with your markets to make them aware of your products or services. To be successful, your promotion strategy should address advertising, packaging, public relations, sales promotions and personal sales.

Competitive Analysis The purpose of the competitive analysis is to determine:

The first step in a competitor analysis is to identify both direct and indirect competition for your business, both now and in the future. Once you've grouped your competitors, start analyzing their marketing strategies and identifying their vulnerable areas by examining their strengths and weaknesses. This will help you determine your distinct competitive advantage.

Whoever reads your business plan should be very clear on who your target market is, what your market niche is, exactly how you'll stand apart from your competitors, and why you'll be successful doing so.

Operations and Management The operations and management component of your plan is designed to describe how the business functions on a continuing basis. The operations plan highlights the logistics of the organization, such as the responsibilities of the management team, the tasks assigned to each division within the company, and capital and expense requirements related to the operations of the business.

Financial Components of Your Business Plan After defining the product, market and operations, the next area to turn your attention to are the three financial statements that form the backbone of your business plan: the income statement, cash flow statement, and balance sheet.

The income statement is a simple and straightforward report on the business' cash-generating ability. It is a scorecard on the financial performance of your business that reflects when sales are made and when expenses are incurred. It draws information from the various financial models developed earlier such as revenue, expenses, capital (in the form of depreciation), and cost of goods. By combining these elements, the income statement illustrates just how much your company makes or loses during the year by subtracting cost of goods and expenses from revenue to arrive at a net result, which is either a profit or loss. In addition to the income statements, include a note analyzing the results. The analysis should be very short, emphasizing the key points of the income statement. Your CPA can help you craft this.

The cash flow statement is one of the most critical information tools for your business, since it shows how much cash you'll need to meet obligations, when you'll require it and where it will come from. The result is the profit or loss at the end of each month and year. The cash flow statement carries both profits and losses over to the next month to also show the cumulative amount. Running a loss on your cash flow statement is a major red flag that indicates not having enough cash to meet expenses-something that demands immediate attention and action.

The cash flow statement should be prepared on a monthly basis during the first year, on a quarterly basis for the second year, and annually for the third year. The following 17 items are listed in the order they need to appear on your cash flow statement. As with the income statement, you'll need to analyze the cash flow statement in a short summary in the business plan. Once again, the analysis doesn't have to be long and should cover highlights only. Ask your CPA for help.

The last financial statement you'll need is a balance sheet. Unlike the previous financial statements, the balance sheet is generated annually for the business plan and is, more or less, a summary of all the preceding financial information broken down into three areas: assets, liabilities and equity.

Balance sheets are used to calculate the net worth of a business or individual by measuring assets against liabilities. If your business plan is for an existing business, the balance sheet from your last reporting period should be included. If the business plan is for a new business, try to project what your assets and liabilities will be over the course of the business plan to determine what equity you may accumulate in the business. To obtain financing for a new business, you'll need to include a personal financial statement or balance sheet.

In the business plan, you'll need to create an analysis for the balance sheet just as you need to do for the income and cash flow statements. The analysis of the balance sheet should be kept short and cover key points.

Supporting Documents In this section, include any other documents that are of interest to your reader, such as your resume; contracts with suppliers, customers, or clients, letters of reference, letters of intent, copy of your lease and any other legal documents, tax returns for the previous three years, and anything else relevant to your business plan.

Some people think you don't need a business plan unless you're trying to borrow money. Of course, it's true that you do need a good plan if you intend to approach a lender--whether a banker, a venture capitalist or any number of other sources--for startup capital. But a business plan is more than a pitch for financing; it's a guide to help you define and meet your business goals.

Just as you wouldn't start off on a cross-country drive without a road map, you should not embark on your new business without a business plan to guide you. A business plan won't automatically make you a success, but it will help you avoid some common causes of business failure, such as under-capitalization or lack of an adequate market.

As you research and prepare your business plan, you'll find weak spots in your business idea that you'll be able to repair. You'll also discover areas with potential you may not have thought about before--and ways to profit from them. Only by putting together a business plan can you decide whether your great idea is really worth your time and investment.

More From Business Plans

Financial projections.

Estimates of the future financial performance of a business

Financial Statement

A written report of the financial condition of a firm. Financial statements include the balance sheet, income statement, statement of changes in net worth and statement of cash flow.

Executive Summary

A nontechnical summary statement at the beginning of a business plan that's designed to encapsulate your reason for writing the plan

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COMMENTS

Why the Executive Summary is a Critical Part of Your Business Plan
If your business is a startup, the purpose of your business plan (and executive summary) will likely be to get banks or investors to provide you with financing. So, when writing your executive summary, highlight the financial requirements of your business and why your business is worthy of funding.
what do you think is the purpose of writing an executive summary in a
The purpose of writing an executive summary in a business plan is for everyone to understand how important, understanding, needed and educated it is, for your business plan to grow. Advertisement Still have questions? Find more answers Ask your question What sport that have a ball in it
11.4 The Business Plan
Brief Business Plan or Executive Summary. As the name implies, the brief business plan or executive summary summarizes key elements of the entire business plan, such as the business concept, financial features, and current business position. The executive summary version of the business plan is your opportunity to broadly articulate the overall ...
How to write an executive summary, with examples
In project management, an executive summary is a way to bring clarity to cross-functional collaborators, team leadership, and project stakeholders. Think of it like a project's " elevator pitch " for team members who don't have the time or the need to dive into all of the project's details.
Business Plan Executive Summary Example & Template
A business plan is a document that you create that outlines your company's objectives and how you plan to meet those objectives. Every business plan has key sections such as...
Executive Summary of the Business Plan
An executive summary of a business plan is an overview. Its purpose is to summarize the key points of a document for its readers, saving them time and preparing them for the upcoming content. Think of the executive summary as an advance organizer for the reader. Above all else, it must be clear and concise.
How To Write A Business Plan (2023 Guide)
Brainstorm Your Business Goals Wherever you are on the business journey, you return to your goals and assess where you are in meeting your in-progress targets and setting new goals to...
How to Write an Executive Summary (Best Format)
You can find this same information in our free executive summary template: Introduction, be sure to know your audience. Table of contents in the form of a bulleted list. Explain the company's role and identify strengths. Explain the need, or the problem, and its importance. Recommend a solution and explain its value.
How to Write an Executive Summary in 6 Steps
Once it's written, go back in and remove any unnecessary information. Remember, you should only be including the highlights—you have the rest of your business plan to go into more detail. The ...
What Is an Executive Summary? Examples and 101 Guide
An executive summary is a short section at the beginning of another document, usually a business plan, proposal, or report. As the name suggests, the executive summary summarizes the rest of the document. Its purpose is to inform readers about all the key points of your document without making them read it in full.
How to Write an Executive Summary
A one-page executive summary, that captures the important points highlighted in the longer document, will suffice for a 20-page report. As a rule, executive summaries should be no more than five percent of the overall document. 4. Leave your company history in the past. They don't call it "history" for nothing.
What Is an Executive Summary? Learn How to Write Them for ...
The purpose of an executive summary is found in the first word: busy, overworked and in-demand leaders often have limited time. Even so, their opinion, expertise and guidance is needed to grow a business or to approve certain investments or funds.
How to Write an Executive Summary
"The executive summary of a business plan is designed to capture the reader's attention and briefly explain your business, the problem you are solving, the target audience, and key...
How to Write an Executive Summary
An executive summary should be clear and concise (typically one to two pages long) and present the main points in a formal tone. The purpose of an executive summary is to pique the reader's curiosity by presenting facts from the larger piece of content it is summarizing. The executive summary can be either a portion of a business document (a ...
How to Write a Powerful Executive Summary [+4 Top Examples]
A good executive summary tells your company's story, contains in-depth research, conveys information with an appropriate tone, is void of clichés, and follows your business plan's structure. These elements will ensure your executive summary is effective, informative, and impactful. 1. Tell your story.
How to Write an Executive Summary For a Business Plan ...
1) Complete the rest of your business plan. Your executive summary provides highlights of each section of your business plan. As such, you need to first write those sections. Then, read each section and figure out what information from each must be included in the executive summary.
How To Write A Good Business Plan Executive Summary
How To Write A Business Plan Executive Summary. Write it after - Write the executive summary after you have completed the entire business plan. Create a compelling case - Start the executive summary with a compelling case for why you have a great business idea. No matter how good the rest of the plan looks, no one is going to be interested in a ...
Executive Summary Format: A Guide to Business Writing
An important thing to remember is that an executive summary is not necessarily a summary. Its purpose is not to simply describe the contents within a business plan; it should focus on selling a solution to a stakeholder. "First and foremost, it should grab the reader's attention. It has to briefly hit the high points of your plan ...
First Steps: Writing the Executive Summary of Your Business Plan
The executive summary should be only a page or two. In it, you may include your mission and vision statements, a brief sketch of your plans and goals, a quick look at your company and its ...
Entrepreneur: Business Plan
The executive summary, or statement of purpose, succinctly encapsulates your reason for writing the business plan. It tells the reader what you want and why, right up front.