No matter what stage you are in your business, it is never too early to begin working on an executive summary; The lessons of entrepreneurship have taught many an entrepreneur that creating the first executive summary should be done sooner, rather than later. Your executive summary is your elevator pitch on paper: balance efficient delivery of the most important information, with a persuasive pitch, and exemplify the high ROI you’ll provide for the investor.
Instead of writing this and thinking of it as a chore, consider the process of writing the executive summary as a process that can help one learn more about the company: weaknesses, strengths, and possible improvements. So now that we’ve got you tuned in and sure that you are going to write one, we present a few tips for writing an executive summary.
Before getting into the content of the ES (executive summary), let’s talk basic do’s and don’ts:
- Layout: Should be simple, and the page should be divided into 2 columns.
- Graphics: Should be used in moderation, and only in high quality
- Tone: Should start off with a curious or questioning tone (or anything else) that draws attention. Then be serious.
1. Hook
Heard of content marketing? Well, just like in all of your other past and/or future marketing efforts, you have to be a story teller in your ES, just as George Lucas scripted the classic Star Wars. What is one thing that all entrepreneurs share? Creativity. It doesn’t matter if you are a tech guy/gal or a finance person, try and create a very short intro of 2-3 lines that would force the majority of readers to keep on going. How? Try using rhetorical questions, or rhetoric in general. In addition, you can try adapting famous quotes or movie lines for your story.
2. Why
Start it all off by answering the why. Why is this venture needed? Is a similar venture not solving the entire problem? At this point, in order to grab attention and at the same time not give it all away share your research on the size of the market (not the market capital). Why does the world or your audience need your solution? What effect would it have? Now? Tomorrow?
3. What
What have you created? What will the effect be for all those involved in the business? Don’t get too technical, but give the reader an idea of what you have created so that he/she can visualize it in their head. If you are talking about a physical product adding a small image of it or a certain aspect is not a bad idea. Adding an image is an even better idea if you can present it in a high quality, given its small size, because otherwise you’re just wasting space.
4. Who
This has got to be part of the executive summary. The amount of space and time your summary dedicates to this section depends squarely on how qualified or unqualified your team members are. If you have been part of a previous success story then write more. To the contrary, if this is your first go, and you’re not an MIT graduate consider spending less time on this section. Make sure you can give insights into either prior entrepreneurial success, business experience, and/or know how in your venture’s niche?
What Else?
Remember that you have got to create a “wow” moment – and it should be in the beginning and maybe even add another one somewhere in the second part. Mention any and all benefits or strengths that your venture will bring to the table that will ensure success and a high ROI – without getting extreme or over-exaggerating. This can include patents, strategic partnerships, unique sales or marketing plans, and much more.
Do note that your ES is being written for two different audiences. First you’ve got the investors themselves, which if they do read this, will probably only read the first two paragraphs, and maybe scan the rest of it. Second, there are the assistants to these investors. Their job is to read the executive summary. What does this mean? You cannot just create an action-packed start with details and then lazily finish it. You’ve got to both create a strong start with meaningful details, and also create an entire doc that has value in each paragraph.
One last friendly tip for writing an executive summary: create more than one version and do A/B testing just as you would for a landing page.
