Saturday, November 14, 2009

Free Executive Summary Advice

Writing Your Executive Summary

If you are starting a company and will be looking to attract banks and investors to your cause; you might want to put a little thought into an Executive Summary.

Basically, an Executive Summary is just that; a synopsis of your Business Plan and goals. A one page summary should be akin to an ‘elevator speech’. This means you could tell a Venture Capitalist (VC) your whole store on the ride from the 1st to 10th floor in an elevator. The concept is that your plan is so clear; it doesn’t take very long to sell its virtue. This is usually very difficult for the new entrepreneur, who would rather ramble at length about every minute detail of their ingenious venture. Unfortunately, no one has the time or interest for all this wisdom; so make it short and sweet.

First, clearly state what you are doing. (Revolutionizing the current awareness of business development into a new paradigm; really doesn’t work and just pisses people off). Try, Wireless email Advertising or Eco-friendly Flooring and you’ll connect with the right people.

Second, declare a reasonable target market. We know there are over 250 million in the USA, so be a little more realistic. For example, if I sold 10 a week to start and 50 a week by the end of year one that would only be 1% of the market in this county.

Third, briefly explain why you have a competitive edge in this market. “I’ve been in this industry for 25 years,” SUCKs as a reason; make it tangible.

Final, explain how much capital you need and where that will take you. With $100,000 in Equity Capital, we are confident that we will be able to manufacture, distribute and begin an aggressive marketing campaign for our lead product, into Pizza restaurants across the state. Our management is confident that this extra capital will allow our company to grow to $500,000 in annual revenues in two years.

If you can’t get your ideas down on one page or you are afraid someone will steal your idea; then you are just not ready to start the business.

BusinessPlanWriterPro