| There are a lot of ways to improve your | | | | squeeze as much information into those two |
| executive summary, and opinions differ all across | | | | pages as they can. This leads to using a |
| the board, but there are a few surefire ways to | | | | paragraph format instead of including bulleted lists, |
| RUIN your Executive Summary. | | | | tables, and graphs. Again you need to remember |
| - Start with your Mission Statement - This sounds | | | | what the purpose of your Executive Summary is. |
| like a reasonable way to start, but often times | | | | It should not be used to include every important |
| mission statements are all the same. You want to | | | | detail of your business plan, rather it should excite |
| create value, or serve your client with excellence, | | | | and entice the reader to continue to read your |
| or build high quality products. Honestly, this is | | | | business plan. If your Executive Summary is |
| boring. Your potential investor wants to know | | | | formatted in a difficult to read paragraph style, |
| what problem you are solving. Maybe you have | | | | regardless of your content a reader may not be |
| developed software that is 50% more effective | | | | interested in reading more. So use lists, tables, and |
| at protecting a computer from viruses than the | | | | graphs to illustrate your main points. |
| leading anti-virus software. Start with something | | | | |
| like this, "Each year X million computers are | | | | - Use the 1% Rule - So often I read business |
| infected with malicious viruses causing X amount | | | | plans that say, "if I could only capture 1% of this |
| of dollars lost in data and time." Everyone can | | | | $3 Billion market I would have an extremely |
| identify with this problem and now that you have | | | | successful business." Don't get me wrong, |
| an interested audience tell them how your | | | | investors like large and growing markets, but if |
| product can solve this problem. | | | | you can't show them how you will capture that |
| | | | | 1% of the market, then that statement is |
| - Write in Paragraph Format - Since the standard | | | | meaningless. Build your revenue estimates from |
| rule of thumb for an executive summary is 1 to 2 | | | | the ground up not a top down approach like the |
| pages, entrepreneurs are often tempted to | | | | example above. |