10/28/2005

An Executive Summary of the Executive Summary

"The Executive Summary (or Project Summary) is not only a synopsis of the most important parts of the business plan and project, but it is in fact your plan in miniature form. Brevity is the key word in presenting a summary of your business plan....The Executive Summary should be written in a clear, concise, logical manner and should be viewed as a "stand-alone" document. As such, it must accomplish the following if it is to get the reader's attention:

-Must be easy to read and understand
-Capture and hold the interest and attention of the reader
-Encourage the reader to want to read more of the actual business plan
-Highlight the positive aspects of the business, past, present and future
-Succeed in conveying the substantive nature of the rest of the plan
-Show that you have a competent and experienced management team
-Be market-driven and not product-driven
-Identify sales and distribution channels
-Show that you know and understand your competition
-Addresses future direction and strategies
-Provide historical and current financial information and future projections
-State the amount of funds required, financing structure, and repayment, period of loan, investor exit position"

Read more is this detailed summary from the Cynton Company via Mondaq (free registration required).