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
Monserrat, how are you? I love your explanation of the executive summary. I have a question: How do you apply the summary when you have to present research on the population of x cities? It is a kind of market study. How could I do it? I really appreciate your answer.
Viviana, I would use the question and answer technique. Think about what questions your audience will have regarding what you are explaining and create the document based on those questions.
I hope I have been of help to you.
Kisses.
What a beautiful explanation, thank you very much, it has helped me a lot. I like videos as understandable as yours. 🙂
Very good explanation, thanks for the guidance.
Just to add that the video is an excellent reinforcement of the textual explanation… thank you.
Great post… thank you very much, it has clarified a lot for me.
Greetings from Chile.
Hello, good afternoon, how can I make an executive report, but speaking of a presentation?
For example, how to color the tables, how to separate them, etc.
I hope you can help me
Hello Montserrat, I wanted to know how to make an executive summary of a micro-enterprise that involves installing small LCD televisions in cars.
Hi, I'm in a medium-level business degree and we have to do a project for a company and the first point that they have provided us with, one of 16 plus its subpoints, is an executive summary. The idea I had was for a tapas bar with live performances by kids who would sing in the bar with the idea of being able to record a single and monologues, but the truth is that I think the idea is quite difficult for me. Could you suggest something simpler? Thank you for your attention.
ps: the truth is that it seems incredible to us everything we have to do when I have been reading that it is a university assignment.
Hello, I am studying to be a micro-entrepreneur and I have to do a project in which I must write an executive summary of the topic of customer service. I need help, I need it urgently and I don't know how to develop the summary. Please help me. I have to present it next week. Thank you.
Hi Montse, I have to write an executive summary of an integrative social responsibility project. Could you help me? I have never written an executive summary before. Please help.
Gisela, I can't help you in a particular way. Come on... answer the questions I pose in the article. For each question, write a 4-line paragraph with the answer. Then delete all the questions and leave only the answers. You'll have a great executive summary.
A big hug!
Very good contribution, it helped me a lot, thank you!!
Hello Montse, I have to write an executive summary for my thesis. I am considering improving the current system we work with. I have already thought about everything, including the tools and how it will be carried out. However, this is the first time I have been asked for an executive summary, so I am asking you to guide me on how I can start said summary.
HELLO, I WOULD LIKE YOU TO HELP ME WITH AN EXECUTIVE SUMMARY FOR A PROJECT FOR MY INSTITUTE. THE SUMMARY SHOULD BE ABOUT OUR COMPANY THAT WE HAVE CREATED, CALLED "DACORD"
Excuse me, could you give me an executive summary for the implementation of a rewind area?
Hello good morning I would like and would be very grateful if you could help me or mediate. Some tips for making an executive summary for a fishing cooperative please help.
Hello good morning I would like and would be very grateful if you could help me or mediate. Some tips for making an executive summary for a fishing cooperative please help.
Hello, how do you make an executive summary for a research thesis?
Thank you so much!!!!
Hello! I would like to know how to summarize a market research in the hotel sector and characterize the main and specific objectives, put forward a hypothesis and how to test it. Do you know how to do it?
Hello. Can you help me make a report about a micro-business? What questions do I have to ask that person? Please?
Emerly, the questions for a micro-business are the same as those I explain in the article. If you want it to look more like a report, don't put the statements, write each paragraph as if answering the question, but don't include the question itself... it will look like a report. 🙂
Kisses.
Montse.