Whether you’ve putting together a business plan for your tech business or articulating a stellar proposal to attract funding, you’re going to need to write an effective executive summary to headline your narrative.
While the executive summary should be concise and short, it must be precise enough to include all the major details mentioned in your document.
The idea is to summarize the detailed report and to grab your reader’s attention.
A brilliant executive summary is one that speaks to the reader in a logical manner with the right bits of information; just enough to compel the reader to dive into the rest of the report.
An effective executive summary is an important component of your business plan as it helps you, the entrepreneur, to gauge and determine where your tech business is strong and where it needs to build on its weaknesses.
Why Write An Executive Summary?
While reasons stated above make for a strong case as to why you must include an executive summary as part of your business plan or investment pitch deck, the primary reason is that the people who will give you time to hear you out are always busy.
Several seasoned business owners are of the opinion that in many cases the only thing an investor or CEO is interested in reading is the executive summary.
Investors read the executive summary to decide if they are interested enough to read the entire business plan.
5 Pro Tips To Write An Effective Executive Summary
1. Write It Last
The best way to write an effective executive summary is to write after completing your business plan.
This way you have all the details in place and all you have to focus on is to package it neatly and in a crisp and concise fashion.
2. Focus On The Start
Start your executive summary with a thought-provoking statistic or an intellectual quote that you can use as a hook to tie into the story you are building for why your tech business came into being.
3. Stick To The Positives
Your executive summary should primarily focus only on the positive elements of your business and the solutions it provides and the marketplace where it caters.
Include the challenges and hurdles in the latter part of your business plan.
4. Keep It Short And Concise
The executive summary must be short and succinct. Summarize your plan in such a way that you are able to offer all vital information in one to two pages.
5. Structure It Well
A clearly defined structure will help your executive summary to stand on its own and offer information in a logical manner.
A tight structure will make a stronger impact on your reader.
The 5 Paragraph Technique To Write An Effective Executive Summary?
The formula to write an effective executive summary can be broke into five paragraphs.
Paragraph 1: Give An Overview of Your Tech Business
The first paragraph must get your reader to immediately take a liking or interest in your story.
The best way to do this is, to begin with, an interesting statistic or powerful quote that builds into the reason why you started your tech business.
This paragraph should include information such as the name of your business, the nature of what you do and the products and services you offer.
You can also include relevant insights and about your niche.
Paragraph 2: Give Strategic Information
The second paragraph should include relevant information pertaining to your target market, the problem that your business is looking to solve.
Move on to the next part of the paragraph by highlighting the competitive landscape of your industry, and where your tech solution has an advantage over the rest.
This paragraph should also include a strategic overview of your marketing strategy the compels your reader to get excited about the rest of your plan.
Give a brief idea that outlines the marketing strategies you’ve thought of and how they are unique in comparison to what the competition does.
Also, include a precise reason why your marketing tactics will work wonders for your business.
Paragraph 3: Give Operational Highlights
As part of writing an effective executive summary, your third paragraph should include information on your operational highlights.
Information such as the location of your company offices, which geographic markets you are going to serve, who are the founders or if you plan to bring in more partners, whether you are offering a SaaS product or licensed solution, and so on should be part of this paragraph.
These operational insights play a critical role in giving your reader an understanding of how well you know what you are doing or what you plan to do in the future.
Paragraph 4: Give Projections
The fourth paragraph should be packed with thoroughly calculated sales forecasts and projections for the coming years.
These calculations can either be based on previous sales or on well-calculated projections.
Ideally, these sales forecasts should be for the coming two to three years.
It’s advisable to invest time towards calculating your break-even point and include that information in this section too.
This will inform your reader of when you expect to turn a profit.
Paragraph 5: Give Your Investment Requirements
The fifth paragraph should talk about your investment and fundraising requirements.
Include the details of how much you need, where you plan to use that money, and how you plan to maximize every dollar for the best ROI.
The number you mention here should be based on clear calculations from the previous paragraph and they should align with the needs of your business.
Final Thoughts
An effective executive summary requires attention to detail and a knack to simplify and shorten information in a manner that is consumable by the reader.
While this may seem like an arduous task, the tips and tricks mentioned in this article will surely help to get you there.
