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
Good morning, thank you very much, it is a good blog since many times it is not clear what is wanted, thank you
Good morning, I liked your presentation. I would like you to help me with an executive summary of service implementation.
Good morning. Could you help me make an executive summary of the physiofamily business project?
Hi Montse, your article has been very helpful to me, thank you ♥
Good afternoon, excuse me, I need to make a summary of a project that I am doing for my thesis. It is about the creation of a company dedicated to the production and marketing of fruit pulp. How could I present my summary?
Hello! I am working on the final project for my university degree. I have to write an executive summary and your explanation cleared up many doubts about it. I wanted to ask you because I have received a new request and I have to write a brief description of the topic to be developed that includes the motivation, foundations, objectives and I feel that what they are asking for is like a mix of an executive summary and an introduction. Is that right?
Hello Montse,
I congratulate you for the article, it is very useful for entrepreneurs. This information is very helpful for those who decide to prepare their business plan to set up a company.
Greetings,
JORDI NAVARRO
Hello 🙂
How would you make an executive summary, with the personal production mode that aims to satisfy the needs of others and family?
Excellent explanation and summary! And the reflection on the passing of the years helped me to clarify my doubts. Greetings!
Team that is part of the executive plan project referred to
Hi, could you please guide me on how to make an executive summary for export promotion? Thanks.
Hello, good day, I have read your article and I like it to have an idea of how to present my report.
thanks for your help.
Hi Montse, that explanation is from 2010. How has it changed to date? Best regards,
Still, it hasn't changed. In these 10 years, perhaps the thing that has changed the most is the way of graphically showing a business model... now it is done with an Osterwalder Business Model Canvas... but I wouldn't include it in the Executive Summary... although it can be given to a court or to investors, as a complement to the executive summary.
Thank you for making me reflect on the passage of time.
A hug
Montse.
Very good explanation, it really helps, I loved your technique in the form of questions
Thank you Montse, excellent information. I appreciate you supporting us and sharing information. Good luck to you.
Thank you Montse for this great information to get a better grade in my school and get a 20
Thank you Montse for this great information to get a good grade at my school.
I loved the tutorial, it is super clear and objective, thanks Montse.
Hello my heart, how are you?
I am very upset because I finished my degree in 2012 and I still haven't had my first job. I know it's because I haven't dedicated myself to looking for a job, but most of them ask for previous experience, 1 year or more of experience. Even though I have taken a lot of technical courses. Sometimes I think it's because I don't have a license to be able to drive. It's probable that the problem lies in this. Can you please advise me? I would be very grateful.
Miriam 🙂
You need a coach, not me…
In any case, I don't think it's a matter of a driver's license... it's more about setting out to be an expert in something and making yourself known to your potential target audience.
Come on, cheer up!!!
Hello, it is for a master's thesis, a comparative study of people with temporary and permanent jobs, how would I do it?