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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.

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Writing Your Executive Summary

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  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

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