How long executive summary

How Long Should an Executive Summary be. This leaves many with the question: How long should an Executive Summary be? According to Wikipedia : An executive summary , or management summary , is a short document or section of a document, produced for business purposes, that summarizes a longer report or proposal or a group of related reports in such a way that readers can rapidly become acquainted with a large body of material without having to read it all.

With that definition in mind, you can better comprehend how long should an executive summary be. Why do people ask for an Executive Summary? Executive Summary of a Business Plan Take business plans, for example, investors usually want to go through the executive summary of a business plan before going through the entire business plan. Number of pages of an Executive Summary The number of pages of a good executive summary is a good way to answer the question, how long should an executive summary be.

Components of a good Executive Summary A good executive summary should effectively capture the entire business plan or report. In writing your executive summary, you want to make it easier, by using subheading, see example below: Executive Summary Problem Many corporate workers are unable to get good meals or their preferred meal for lunch while at work. Solution With MarkBen restaurant corporate workers can book their choice meal and have it delivered to their respective offices in a few minutes.

Business Model MarkBen restaurant generates revenue from each sale. So, how long should an Executive Summary be? Contact Us Now. Emmanuel author. First, think about your core strengths. Use bullet points to present your ideas, and make sure you always use concise language.

Ask yourself what's unique and exciting about your company. After you've explained what your company does, it's time to sell why you believe you're uniquely qualified to succeed. Depending on your audience, you can also try a more rigid approach to the executive summary. After the first paragraph, Bonjour says one effective structure is to summarize each section in the same order in which the items are presented within the full business plan.

To make the structure as relevant as possible for the reader, typically an investor or a lender, he suggests considering these categories:. The Why Now category is one of the most important questions to answer, because it makes your executive summary timely.

The last thing you want is to leave the reader feeling like there's plenty of time to act. Chances are, if there isn't any urgency to your executive summary, your business plan won't get read.

After describing the elements above, the executive summary should also have a brief financial summary. For your financials, Bonjour suggests including the valuation of the deal, so that the reader knows right away what the risks are, and what the returns can be.

This depends on who your readers are. Do your research. If you're presenting your plan to investors, make sure the language of the executive summary caters to their backgrounds.

For example, if you know your investor has a degree in chemical engineering, your language might be different from that in the executive summary presented to an investor who studied philosophy. In other words, "use language that will resonate with your target audience," says Hirai. Don't be afraid to change your executive summary when you present it to different investors.

However, there are some internal plans ——such as an annual operations plan or a strategic plan —that can use a summary to highlight necessary information and showcase a digestible version of the overall plan. The general rule of thumb is that executive summaries should be as short as possible. Your audience has limited time and attention and they want to get the details of your business plan as quickly as possible. Try to keep your executive summary under 2 pages if possible, although it can be longer if absolutely necessary.

You might even be able to write it on one page using a Lean Plan format. You can learn more about that one-page business plan format and download a template here. Your target market is who you think your customers will be. Assuming your business has competition every business does!

Are you competing on price, quality, or something else? Briefly describe what makes your business different here. For a startup, it might be a brief description of aspirations, such as a sales forecast goal for the next year or three years from now. I often recommend a simple highlights chart, a bar chart with sales and gross margin for the next three years. This is especially important for startup companies. Investors want to know who is behind the business idea and why you and your team are the right people to build the business.

It also may be valuable to highlight any gaps in your team and how you intend to fill them. If you have potential partners or candidates in mind, briefly mention them and expand on their qualifications within your full business plan.

If you are using your business plan to raise money for your business, your executive summary should highlight how much money you are looking for.

Investors will want to know this upfront and not have to dig through a business plan to find this detail. You may also want to discuss future milestones that your business hopes to achieve. This is particularly important for businesses within a highly saturated or complex industry, such as medical device manufacturers and drug companies, for example. They need to explain where they are in the process of getting regulatory approvals and what steps remain. Read on for tips on writing an executive summary for each of those scenarios.

Before you develop your executive summary for seeking investment, understand how it fits into your business plan. The executive summary can be the first section of your business plan, or you might be developing a stand-alone executive summary that you plan on handing out without the rest of the plan.

My views on this are taken from eight years as an active member in an angel investment group, and more than 10 actual angel investments, plus membership in the Angel Capital Association. A well-prepared executive summary is useful for angel investment platforms like Gust, AngelList, and others to gauge interest in candidates.

If you do not write with confidence, your reader will sense this, and will follow suit. Avoid cliches and claims you can't support with evidence. Information from the larger document should instead be synthesized and presented via short paraphrases. Topics Business and Accounting Reading and Writing. FAQ Actions. Was this helpful? Yes 53 No Print Tweet Share on Facebook. Comments 0. Add a public comment to this FAQ Entry.