What is an executive summary? Executive Summary is a summary that is written as the first chapter of any business plan and that which comprehensively describes the contents of the rest of the chapters in the business plan. Important to keep in mind that the executive summary needs to be a maximum of 2 pages only. Here are some elements that I found were important to be written in an executive summary.
Business overview - Inside this section, the customer pains and gains, our value proposition, mission statement and some general details like the logistics of the business are summarized
Market overview - A condensed version of the market analysis is presented under this section, preferably within a quarter page
Financial highlights - This is a very important and vital section of the business plan and needs to contain important financial figures derived from your financial statements. To name a few, it is good to mention the EBITDA, Sales projections in the next 3 or 5 years and the operating cash flow
Our Ask - What do you expect from the investors? The business plan is usually made for investors to view and invest in it. It can be banks/venture capitalists/ Höhle der Löwen and anyone with money. The first question that comes to their mind, what do these people want? So, it is important to be precise, to the point and the ask should be realistic. It is good to mention a round figure in exchange for a % ownership, in the case of investors.
Exit strategy - Any good business plan needs to have a view on exit strategy and it is good to mention this here in a separate section. Some examples of exit strategy include: Mergers and acquisitions, IPO, Bankruptcy and insolvency. But, of course, you would try to be optimistic and go for options 1 and 2 in a business plan.
Well, once you have your executive summary written, have someone who doesnt know XYZ of business or your idea read it. If they are sold, you are sure to win!!
Comments