1 / 14

Writing Your Executive Summary

Writing Your Executive Summary. OR How do you get them to read your business plan?. Agenda. Summary Basics Worksheets Evaluating your summary. What is It?. A chance to tell your story in a way that gets the reader to want more.

blade
Download Presentation

Writing Your Executive Summary

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Writing Your Executive Summary OR How do you get them to read your business plan?

  2. Agenda • Summary Basics • Worksheets • Evaluating your summary

  3. What is It? • A chance to tell your story in a way that gets the reader to want more. • A paragraph or two that conveys a picture of your business that anyone can understand. • The part of your plan that gives the reader a feeling for you. • A logical enough description that makes a reader believe you have a business (not just an idea)

  4. My Usual Approach Elevator Pitch Presentation Business Plan Build/Test/ Measure/ Learn

  5. Format • Up to you, but…. • Please remember the reader • First paragraph is a summary of your summary • Has to address the important components • Positioning • Company facts • Customer/market size and growth • Problem the customer faces and its importance to them • Uniqueness of your solution in solving the problem • Your business model (marketing, sales, how you get paid, partners, key resources, key activities, cost structure) in a couple of sentences • Where you fit in the market (landscape, ecosystem) • Some financial projections (is it bigger than a breadbox?) • What you want • Can’t convey your complete wonderfulness!

  6. From the Reader’s Perspective • I want to be • I usually end up • Because

  7. Executive Summary Building Blocks

  8. Company Facts • NAME is (a) WHAT STAGE, WHERE BASED, TYPE OF COMPANY addressing the needs of MARKET • SKIN IN THE GAME • BloVac is a prototype stage, Huntsville based, LLC addressing consumers and professional cleaners need for a better vacuum. • NAME has X EMPLOYEES/FTEs and we are currently VALIDATIONG STAGE our product. • NAME intends to sell the PRODUCT/SERVICE by DISTRIBUTION TYPE. • NAME is looking for $$$ for USE OF PROCEEDS • BUSINESS MODEL description

  9. Positioning • This can be your story of why/how you got started as long as it is relevant to your customer and need • WHO you are for • WHAT the customer problem is • WHY you have a unique solution • AS OPPOSED TO some big existing way of doing the same thing

  10. Team, Finance, Ask • HOW MANY people • WHY they are the right people • REVENUE projections • WHEN you expect to break even • HOW MUCH money you need and WHAT you are going to do with it

  11. Problem with Most Executive Summaries • They tend to be written about the product and what the company wants and not about what the reader cares about • If you are asking me for money the only way I can make money is if you can sell your product. I already believe you can build it. • Think about doing your first draft without talking about your product! • It is not about you, it is about your business potential

  12. Words are Boring • Add pictures, graphs, infographics • Clip Art, Smart Art • Charts from Excel • Pictures • Infographic • Easel.ly- Free but you have to save to Facebook • Pictochart- Most flexible but most costly, free version saves to Facebook • Infogr.am- Free but you have to share to Facebook and then copy into your plan or you have to pay • Infoactive- in beta but allows free downloads for now

  13. Evaluating Your Summary • Is it short and to the point? (One Page) • Do you address?: • Company basics • Customer/Market • Problem and importance to customers • Why you • Who you are different from • What you want • Pictures, diagrams, infographics? • Conveys your passion? • No acronyms

  14. BlowVac Example Analysis • BlowVac is an existing company and refers to a product class of industrial combo blowers and vacuums • They did: • Team, product, customers, financials • Critique • 3 pages long, one chart, financials are two pages • Not clear if customers really care about differentiation • No sense they have a clue about the consumer market • Would read the plan but with some hesitation

More Related