Executive Summary
The executive summary is the most important section of your business plan. It provides a concise overview of the entire plan along with a history of your company. The executive summary tells your reader where your company is and where you want to take it. It's the first part of the plan your readers see; therefore it is the piece that will either grab their interest and make them want to keep reading or make them want to put it down and forget about it. More than anything else, the executive summary is important because it tells the reader why you think your business idea will be successful.
Though it appears at the beginning of the document, the executive summary should be the last section that you write. After you've worked out all the details of your plan, you'll be in a better position to summarize it. As a summary, it should be brief: no more than four pages.
Contents of the executive summary:
- The mission statement, which briefly explains the thrust of your business. It could be two words, two sentences, a paragraph, or even a single image. It should be as direct and focused as possible, and it should leave the reader with a clear picture of what your business is all about.
- The date the business began.
- The names of the founders and the functions they perform.
- The number of employees, both current and projected
- The location of the business's headquarters, as well as any branches or subsidiaries.
- A description of plant or facilities.
- The products manufactured and the services rendered.
- Information on banking relationships and regarding current investors.
- A summary of company growth, including financial or market highlights (for example, your company doubled its worth in 12-month period; you became the first company in your industry to provide a certain service).
- A summary of management's future plans.
With the exception of the mission statement, all of the information in the executive summary should be highlighted in a brief, even bulleted, fashion. Remember, the details are laid out in-depth further along in the plan.
If you're just starting a business, you won't have a lot of information to plug in to the areas mentioned above. Instead, focus on your experience and background as well as the decisions that led you to start this particular enterprise. Include information about the problems in your target market and what solutions you provide. Show how the expertise you have will allow you to make significant inroads into the market. Tell your reader what you're going to do differently or better than what is currently available. Convince the reader that there is a need for your service or product, and then address your (the company's) future plans.
To assist the reader in locating specific sections in your business plan, include a table of contents directly following the executive summary. Make sure that the content titles are very broad. In other words, avoid detailed descriptions in your table of contents.
References:
• Small Business Administration
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