How to make a good executive summary?
These days, some of the Masters in which I teach Digital Marketing are coming to an end and students must present their Master's final projects. These projects can be in the form of research, in the form of a Marketing Plan or in the form of a Business Plan. Most of my students choose the latter option. So the tutorials of these last weeks are to finish finalizing their projects, prepare the executive summaries (which, although they are included at the beginning of a business plan, are written at the end) and to prepare the presentations that must be made before a university tribunal.
During this week's tutorials I realized that for many of these students, doing a executive summary It's not as easy as it seems to me. So for them, I have written this post.
What is an executive summary?
A executive summary It is a document that is delivered as an appendix to a business plan and whose objective is to summarize our business plan in about two pages.
This document is the one we will give to our potential investors at the first meeting. We will never give our business plan directly, for two reasons:
- Because our potential investor does not yet know whether or not he is interested in our business, and therefore, he will not want to read a document that can be more than 100 pages long (he will want to spend at most 5 minutes listening to us).
- Because we don't know our future investor (...it could be a future competitor) and we don't just hand over our business plan to anyone.
How to make an executive summary easily?
The simplest and most effective way (or at least this is my opinion based on my experience) to make a good executive summary is to pose it in the form of FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions), that is, in the form of questions that our potential investors may ask themselves and that we will try to answer in three lines maximum per question.
What questions does a potential investor ask?
These are some of the questions that our executive summaryAt a minimum, you should answer:
- What problem have you detected?
- What is the project about? (How are you going to fix the problem?)
- Where is the business? (How will you make money?)
- How much money does it take to create it?
- How long will it take to reach your break-even point (or your dead point, or your break even,.. depending on where the investor is from)? and what economic results will be obtained?
- What team carries it out?
- Why do we think it will be successful?
These are the same questions that the committee that will hear our Master's final thesis will surely ask themselves, so it is worthwhile for students to be well prepared and able to answer them without hesitation.
In this video I explain how to do it.
To see an example of Executive Summary with the questions included, click here: Executive summary example
To see an example of Executive Summary drafted without the questions included, click here: Executive summary example 2
Both examples are perfectly valid for presenting to a project tribunal or to potential investors.
Come on, cheer up! Here I leave you with this article from Technova, the business incubator of the La Salle Technology Park in which they interview some entrepreneurs. It is titled An entrepreneur always keeps fighting.
I hope I have been helpful.
We talk to each other.
186 responses
Montse, how can I make an executive summary of a kitchen company? Thank you... best regards,,,!!!
Hello, I would like to know what information exactly I can put in an executive summary for my thesis. I have already graduated and I don't know exactly what to put... I'm confused!!!!!!!!
Hi Montse, excuse me, can you help me on how to make an executive summary for a project?
THANKS, EH! YOU'VE HELPED ME A LOT.
Good evening, how do I make an executive report on the gospels of the Bible? Thank you.
Hi, I would like some tips on how to make a summary of a work experience report, thanks.
greetings
Hi Montse, I would like some tips for an executive resume about a shoe brand. Thanks.
THANK YOU FOR THESE TIPS. I HAVE NEVER MADE A REPORT OF THIS NATURE, EVEN THOUGH I ARE WRITING ALL THE TIME, IT IS VERY DIFFICULT FOR ME NOT TO GO ON IN DETAIL, TO HAVE THE POWER OF SYNTHESIS. I REALLY LIKED THAT OF NOT SHOWING BUT WHAT WAS IMPORTANT, ONCE, MY FIRST CLAIM, I LOOKED FOR A COLLEAGUE TO «ADVISE» ME, WHO LATER BECAME THE DEFENDANT’S AGENT -VERY COINCIDENTALLY- AND HE HAD MORE EXPERIENCE AND MY CLIENT HAD TRUSTED ME TOO MUCH AND PUSHED ME INTO A PROCEDURE THAT WAS VERY HARD FOR ME… I would say into the void… this will be my first report of this type in my public law class, and precisely the one who will evaluate me will be my boss…
Thanks for the contribution, many doubts I had have been clarified. I am starting a business plan for a cafeteria and I did not want to copy one, I think it is better to make my own. And since I could not find a start page, thank you for clarifying, may God bless you.
I must make a 3-page executive summary. Who can help me?
Hello, I am working on a subject called quality management in which I am asked to create a dashboard. I would like to ask if you can send me by email exactly as it was sent to Francisco. Thank you very much in advance.
I would like to know if this is good for making an abstract for my company.
thank you
Thank you very much for the information 😀
Thank you very much for sharing this information, it helped me a lot in my work, thank you!!
Hello Monserrat
I need to make an executive summary of a business plan for a clothing boutique.
Can you help me?
Jessica, if you answer the questions I pose in the article from the perspective that interests you, you will have an executive summary tailored to a boutique.
Hello Monserrat, what you do is excellent. I wish I had found you 3 years ago, but it's never too late. I have a small company that sells videos on DVD and on pen drives or USBs through Special Marketing. I was presented with a business opportunity with National Geographic. I contacted them and they asked me for an executive summary of the business plan. Since I didn't know how to do it, I went to an economist's office to have a business plan made for me. (Surprise!) they charged me $ 3,000.00 US dollars and I couldn't pay that amount. I looked for other alternatives and all of them were expensive to make. I started to make it myself with examples from the WEB and the truth is that I didn't complete the time they gave me and I left it half done. Well, I don't regret it because it was a learning experience. Now, I need your help for that business and for another one that I'll detail for you. What would be the basic elements to prepare a summary for a motorcycle import business from China to Venezuela? Thank you.
Very good help regarding the executive report. I am planning to start a small business and it has helped me to guide me in this entrepreneurial business. Congratulations.
Good night:
This is the first time I have been asked to write an executive summary on World Class Warehousing and National Logistics Survey. I am completely confused. Could you help me and give me some guidance on how to do it?
Thank you very much for your collaboration.
Luz Marina, I have no idea how I would apply this to logistics… I don’t know… start by answering the questions I propose here, but adapt them to your project. Above all, the secret is to put yourself in the shoes of the person who is going to read it and ask yourself what things they will wonder about while reading the summary… you must anticipate their questions.
Good luck!
Hello, thank you for the very helpful information for my business plan work. I would like to obtain more information like that presented here on a business plan structure model explaining each part as it is here. Thank you.
Deyby, look at http://www.slideshare.netYou will find many power point presentations with the structure that a business plan should have.
May everything go well.
A big hug
Hi, nice to meet you! I would like to know if you can guide me in preparing an executive summary on ERP.
Hi Salvador, I'm sorry I can't help you. I think you'll find some summarized information about how ERP programs work on any ERP vendor's website. All the best.
A hug.