sample of executive summary business plan

Gradvisors The mission of Gradvisors is to empower the next generation of students with the next generation of teachers. Overview Gradvisors began as a campus tutoring service at Henley High School. It was founded by Sarah McKellan and Rogelio Cruz after they completed their teaching credentials at the University of Washington. Gradvisors moved off campus and into their first location at 1874 Andersen Road on September 16 of this year. Here, Gradvisors has been able to serve the greater Santa Fe community. The Problem Although the country’s average high school graduation rate has risen to 84% in the last few years, Sante Fe schools continue to fall. According to USA Today, Santa Fe’s graduation rate is 68.6%, with only 41.7% of adults holding a high school degree. Additionally, the crime rate in Santa Fe has increased by 15.47% in the last year. Currently, there are only two places for middle and high schools to work on their homework after school: the YMCA and the Boys and Girls’ Clubs, neither of which employ full-time tutors. The Solution Gradvisors provides a place for low-performing students to work on their homework after school. The tutors at Gradvisors are students who have graduated from local schools and are currently in their college or post-graduate studies. By placing recent graduates in tutoring positions, Gradvisors aspires to begin a cycle of mentorship that improves Santa Fe’s graduation rates overall. Our Target Market Gradvisors hopes to serve middle and high schoolers who are underperforming in school, particularly those who have had encounters with law enforcement. Ideally, these students will bring their friends to the center as well. The ultimate goal is to tutor these students through graduation and bring them back as mentor tutors. Keys to Success Gradvisors is new to the Santa Fe community, but we have several advantages that are sure to lead to success. Central location to three public high schools and two middle schools Social media marketing campaign Partnership with local school administration for student recommendations Investments from Santa Fe businesses and colleges Tutors earn work experience and professional hours rather than financial compensation, lowering overhead costs Limited competition in the area Steps Forward Thanks to several grants and investments, Gradvisors has been able to serve 56 students in the last school year. We hope to reach more students and expand our tutor base in the coming year. In three years’ time, we plan to meet our costs with additional funding from investments and minimal subscription costs from students. Opportunities for Investment Currently, Gradvisors is looking for investment partners from Santa Fe business owners who care about the future of our city. We expect both a financial and educational return on investment within the calendar year. Investing in the future of a child is, ultimately, the greatest investment of all.

Want to write an executive summary with the same outline? Click below to use a printable template that will format the summary of your business plan. You can also take a look at even more examples of real-world executive summaries .

Executive summary

Tips for writing an executive summary.

Need some pointers for writing your own executive summary? You’re more ready than you think. Use your business expertise and passion as your guide, with the following tips in mind:

An executive summary gets readers to turn the page. However, only a full business plan will get them to invest, partner, or give you a loan. Be sure that the rest of your plan is as thorough as your summary promises.

More Business Resources

Now that your business is ready to show the world, it’s time to get writing! If you’d like more tips on the rest of your plan, check out these strategies for writing a great proposal . You can also view dynamic examples of purpose statements to craft the perfect executive summary.

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How to Write a Powerful Executive Summary [+4 Top Examples]

Published: September 15, 2022

Whether you're an entrepreneur looking for investors for your small business or the CEO of a large corporation, an executive summary can help you succeed and is a critical component for long-term growth.

A short, attention-grabbing executive summary is an essential part of your business plan . Done correctly, it will ensure your company becomes or remains a key player in your industry. In this post, you’ll learn what an executive summary is and how to write one that engages investors, customers, and general audiences.

Executive Summary

An executive summary is a brief overview of your company that is located at the beginning of your business plan and on the ‘About us’ page of your website. It's a section that grabs readers’ attention and summarizes critical information regarding your company and your upcoming short-term and long-term goals.

Essentially, an executive summary is the front cover of your business plan, convincing readers that it's worth their time to read the whole thing.

A business plan includes a company overview, your company's short-term and long-term goals, information on your product or service, sales targets, expense budgets, your marketing plan, and a list including each member of your management team. However, a CEO or investor might not have the interest or time to read your full business plan without first getting the general gist of your company or goals through an executive summary.

Ultimately, the executive summary is meant to inform readers of the most important information in your business plan, so they don't have to read it all and can get caught up quickly.

To write an impressive executive summary that effectively embodies all the important elements of your business plan, we've cultivated a list of necessary components for an executive summary, as well as an example to get you started.

Follow Along With HubSpot's Executive Summary Template

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How to write an executive summary.

A good executive summary tells your company’s story, contains in-depth research, conveys information with an appropriate tone, is void of clichés, and follows your business plan’s structure. These elements will ensure your executive summary is effective, informative, and impactful.

1. Tell your story.

When investors or CEO's read your executive summary, they should understand what your business is about. This is one of the first elements of your business plan, so it should set the tone.

In your executive summary, be sure to tell your story. What does your company do and why do you do it? Who's involved in your company? Answering these questions will help readers get excited about your company and eager to read the rest of the business plan.

2. Do your research.

An executive summary, while short, should include plenty of research. For example, your summary will include financial considerations and a competitor analysis .

While your business plan will flesh out the details, it's important to include your key findings in your executive summary. Think of this like an elevator pitch . If someone stopped reading and you only had the executive summary to explain your company, what information would you include?

3. Pay attention to your tone.

The tone of your writing tells a story itself. When you're writing anything, but especially a business document, make sure that the tone tells the story of who you are. Are you formal or more informal?

Ultimately, your tone should not only represent who you are as a company, but your target audience as well. What style of writing will represent your audience?

As you write an executive summary, don't forget to consider what your tone and writing says about you and your audience.

4. Avoid cliché language.

With any style of writing, it's best to avoid clichés. Clichés can convey the wrong message or be misunderstood, which is something you want to avoid when someone reads your executive summary.

Additionally, clichés tend to overpromise and under-deliver. For example, including something like "The Best Restaurant in Town" isn't true because you're untested as a business. Your executive summary should reflect the truth and who you are as a company.

5. Write it after completing your business plan.

An executive summary is a summary of your business plan. However, it's hard to write a summary when you haven't written your business plan yet. That's why you should write your executive summary last, so you know what you want to include.

If you don’t have a business plan yet, don’t worry; we have a comprehensive business plan template to help you create one quickly and effectively.

Featured Resource: Business Plan Template

how to write executive summary: use business plan template from hubspot

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Now that you know how to write an executive summary, let's dive into the details of what to include.

What to Include in Your Executive Summary

Your business plan should convey your company's mission, your product, a plan for how you'll stand out from competitors, your financial projections, your company's short and long-term goals, your buyer persona, and your market fit.

An executive summary, then, should be a short, maximum two-page synopsis of the information provided in your business plan.

Ultimately, an executive summary should provide a preview for investors or CEO's, so they know what to expect from the rest of your report. Your executive summary should include:

Feeling at a loss? Download a free template below that will take you through the executive summary creation process.

Executive Summary Template

Download Your Free Executive Summary Template Here

In this free executive summary template, you’ll be able to outline several pieces of information, including:

Ready? Download your free executive summary template .

To understand more tactically how an executive summary should look, let’s review a few examples.

Executive Summary Examples

1. connected.

Try It Yourself

Use the heading of your page to immediately describe what you do, as opposed to using “About Us” or “Executive Summary” as the title. Give readers the opportunity to get what they need above the fold and the option to read more. Note that this would not apply in an executive summary in a business plan.

2. Events Industry Council

Events Industry Council’s executive summary is short and sweet, yet provides plenty of information for readers to understand what the organization does and which products it offers. Note the brevity in the mission, vision, and values sections — that demonstrates that there’s no need to go on at length if it doesn’t suit you. The “Who we are” section has the most emphasis here, which is a powerful technique to draw readers’ attention.

Spend more time in the section that you feel your audience will care most about. If you’re pitching to investors, you might spend more time on the Market Analysis and Financials sections. If you’re writing for a general audience, you might focus on your company background.

3. Company Shop Group

One of the first things you see when visiting Company Shop Group’s About Us page is its subheading: “Company Shop Group is the UK’s leading redistributor of surplus food and household products.” Like Connected, Company Shop Group includes what it does above the fold, so that readers have the option to either keep reading or walk away knowing what the company is about. The organization also includes multimedia to engage visitors and explain its business model in a more digestible format.

Include what you do above the fold and add multimedia elements to provide an alternative way for readers to learn more about you. Videos, images, and headings can make it much easier to scan your executive summary, but be careful to only use this method for the right audience and through the right medium. (You might not include images inside a formal business plan, for instance.)

4. FirstEnergy

FirstEnergy’s executive summary is great inspiration if you’re a more corporate, formal brand. The company’s executive summary covers its mission, subsidiaries, operations, products and services, corporate responsibility values, and strategic plan goals. This is useful information for potential investors, as the company is publicly traded.

While it’s comprehensive, the executive summary remains short, using bullet points and images to break up the information and giving readers the opportunity to explore more with a sidebar menu.

Be conscious of the status of your company when writing your executive summary. If it’s publicly traded, you’ll want to include more information, such as your strategic plan and expansion opportunities. If you’re publishing your executive summary on your website, use a sidebar to allow readers to jump from page to page without leaving their place.

Start Your Executive Summary

An executive summary should be short and concise, but it should still convey who you are as a company. If you're starting a company, remember to tell your story, while also including important background and financial information. A strong executive summary will pave the way for more investors to invest in your business and more customers to trust in your brand.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in December 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

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Use this executive summary template to provide a summary of your report, business plan, or memo.

How to Write an Effective Executive Summary

An effective and well defined executive summary can be the key to securing funding from a bank or outside investor. See what needs to be included and what the best way to approach writing your summary is.

What is an executive summary?

An executive summary is a brief introduction and summary of your business plan. It should describe your business, the problem that it solves, your target market, and financial highlights.

A good executive summary grabs your reader’s attention and lets them know what it is you do and why they should read the rest of your business plan or proposal. It’s not unusual for investors to make an initial decision just based on reading an executive summary, so it’s important to get it right. We’ll show you how to write an executive summary that sets your business plan apart from the rest.

Is an executive summary necessary?

Are you writing a business plan to show to investors or bankers? Then you need a good executive summary. Many people will read only the summary, no matter what. Others will read the summary first to decide whether or not they read the rest of the plan. The executive summary is essential in plans that are being written for outsiders.

Now if you’re writing a business plan solely for internal use you may not need to write out an executive summary. 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.

It takes some effort to do a good summary, so if you don’t have a business use for the summary, don’t do it.

How long should an executive summary be?

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 .

1. A description of your product or service and the problem your business solves

Include a brief description of the product or service you offer and why it’s necessary. Your business doesn’t need to serve a larger social problem, but it should address a need for customers or an opportunity in the market.

2. A description of your target market

Your target market is who you think your customers will be. Sometimes the product name itself defines the market, such as “Peoria’s Best Thai food,” or “Mini Cooper Dashboard Accessory.” If not, then a brief description of the target market—your primary audience, or the people you think will spend money on your solution will suffice.

3. Competition

Assuming your business has competition ( every business does !), then briefly describe how your business will differentiate itself. Are you competing on price, quality, or something else? Briefly describe what makes your business different here.

4. Financial Overview

If you’re an existing company, this might be as simple as highlighting recent annual sales and growth over the last year. 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.

5. Your Team

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.

6. Funding Needs

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.

Future Milestones

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.

Evidence of Financial Stability

If you’re seeking a bank loan, bankers will be looking for evidence of your financial stability, including your net worth, assets, and financial history. Read on for tips on writing an executive summary for each of those scenarios.

Tips for writing an executive summary for investors

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.

Investors use executive summaries to screen opportunities

A well-prepared executive summary is useful for angel investment platforms like Gust, AngelList, and others to gauge interest in candidates. Introductions lead to requests for email summaries, not full business plans, so you’ll want to have an executive summary ready to go that causes investors to want to see the full thing.

Investors need the full business plan to complete due diligence when reviewing candidates

We’ve never invested in a business that didn’t have a business plan and your executive summary is the key to having your business plan reviewed. The full reading of the complete business plan comes only later in the process after we’ve screened summaries down to a very few that are interesting enough to do due diligence.

Of the group I work with, for example, three-fourths of us will read every executive summary submitted to us. All of us will read summaries for plans that pique group interest, and half of us will look at the rest of the plan only if we are still interested after reading the summary.

Mention previous startup experience, or specific industry expertise

Let the investors know about any previous startup experience or specializations from the start because this makes a huge difference. Investors often say “bet on the jockey, not just the horse.” Keep it brief, just a reference to more information to come later, but make sure you’re able to back up your claims later on.

Outline how much money you intend to raise and how it will be spent

It’s a summary, so details will come later, but investors want to know quickly whether your startup is in their normal range of interest and the use of funds makes a difference, too. Spending to build inventory for existing orders, for example, is way less risky than spending to develop a product that is in design and prototyping.

Valuation, in this context, is controversial. Valuation is what you say your company is worth, a number that determines how much ownership you give away for investment. Some investors want summaries to specify how much money at what valuation; others want to assign the valuation themselves and don’t like startups pushing their number too early.

Mention your exit strategy

Leave the details for later, but investors want to know that you understand they don’t make money unless you achieve an exit in a few years so they can sell shares to get their return. Too many founders think investors just want them to be successful, when in fact that means very little without an eventual exit.

Be persuasive, but focus on the facts

You want to make your prospective investor want to keep reading; convince them to invest in your startup. But do understand that the persuasion is in the facts, not in the wording. What keeps them interested is the content of the summary, not the tone. Facts that prove traction, potential market, or startup experience are infinitely more powerful than mere assertions of excellence.

Avoid obvious clichés

There are severely obvious pitfalls that you can fall into if you’re not careful. For example, never mention the team’s passion or commitment—they all have that, so it’s irrelevant. If you say that your startup is disruptive, or game-changing, or the next Facebook or whatever, you lose. Instead, show that with facts and let the investors say it, not you.

Tips for writing an executive summary for a bank loan

Contrary to the common misconception, bankers don’t ever take risks on business plans. To get bankers to read on, the executive summary has to cover the six main points suggested in the beginning of this article, plus a few selected other points that highlight stability, assets on the balance sheet, and financial history, showing that the loan is not risky. With one notable exception, banking law forbids banks lending money to businesses that don’t have enough assets to cover the full value of the loan, and then some. That’s against banking regulations.

Good professional bankers ask for a business plan as part of a loan application because they legitimately want to know and understand your business, but they don’t take risks. This summary isn’t about persuading or selling, but rather reassuring and describing.

So what works for the executive summary for bankers is quite different from what works for the summary for investors.

Outline your personal net worth

Where investors want to see management team startup experience, bankers want to see the personal net worth of business owners. The more collateral, savings or other investment you have available, the more likely you are to secure the loan.

Be transparent about your financial history and bankable assets

Where investors want to see future potential growth, bankers want to see past financial history and bankable assets. Try to have every piece of financial information about yourself, current investors and any past businesses available upfront.

Give evidence of your potential stability and longevity

Where investors want to look at possible exits, bankers want their commercial borrowers to offer future stability. You don’t need to have exact numbers, but developing a financial forecast that defines growth, future cash flow, costs and sales over the next 1-3 years can serve as evidence for stability.

Risk exception for bank loans

I mentioned one notable exception to the rule that bankers don’t take risks. In the U.S., the federal Small Business Administration (SBA) has programs that work with local business banks to guarantee some of the riskier small business loans to make borrowed money available to startups and small businesses.

Like traditional bank loans, SBA loans require a solid traditional business plan that includes a good executive summary covering the five main points suggested in the first list above. It will still benefit you to have the financial stability elements laid out as you would for a bank, but the limitations may be less strict and provide more room for riskier businesses to gain funding.

6 Tips for writing an effective executive summary

No matter why you’re writing your executive summary, there are some general rules of thumb that make it easier, and ultimately more effective. Here are a few to keep in mind as you get started:

1. Think of an executive summary as a pitch

Think of an executive summary as being a lot like an elevator pitch , but with constraints. A good summary sells the rest of the plan, but it can’t be just a hard sell—it has to actually summarize the plan. Readers expect it to cover your business, product, market, and financial highlights, at the very least (see below for more detail on this).

Of course, you’ll highlight what will most spark the reader’s interest, to achieve this plan’s immediate business objective. But your readers expect the key points covered. It’s a summary, not just a pitch.

2. Write it last

Don’t start writing your business plan with your summary. Even though the executive summary is at the beginning of a finished business plan, many experienced entrepreneurs (including me) choose to write the executive summary after they’ve written everything else.

Ideally, the executive summary is short—usually just a page or two, five at the outside—and highlights the points you’ve made elsewhere in your business plan, so if you save it for the end, it will be quick and easy.

3. Keep your executive summary short

Be brief and concise. I know experts who recommend a single page, just a page or two, no more than five, and sometimes even longer. I say less is more. Keep it as short as you can without missing any essentials. And—I can’t resist, because I read hundreds of plans every year—one page is better than two, and two is better than five, and longer than five pages (my opinion here) is too long.

4. Keep it simple

Form follows function , so don’t over complicate or over-explain things in your summary. Most executive summaries are short texts, often with bullets, broken into subheadings. Illustrations such as a picture of a product, or a bar chart showing financial highlights, are usually a welcome addition.

5. Prioritize sections based on importance and strengths

Don’t bury the lead. Organize your executive summary so that the most important information appears first. There is no set order of appearance of the different key items included, quite the contrary, in fact— so use the order to show emphasis.

Lead with what you want to get the most attention, and follow with items in the order of importance. I tend to like summaries that start with stating a problem because that can add drama and urgency that tees up the solution in your business.

6. Use it for your summary memo

When it’s finished, repurpose it as a summary memo. It’s the first chapter of a formal plan, but you can also use it as a stand-alone “summary memo.” Investors often ask startups to send a summary memo instead of a full business plan.

It might be a short document, often attached to an email, or simply a summary in an email. You can also use it again to fill in startup profiles on investment platforms such as Gust and AngelList or to apply for an incubator or a business plan competition.

Download a template for your executive summary

If you’d like to start with a template, consider using a Lean Plan for your executive summary. It’s available as a free download here on Bplans, and it covers everything you might want to include.

View hundreds of executive summary examples

Take advantage of Bplans’ more than 500 examples of good business plans —all available online for free—to search for the sample plan that best fits your business’s profile, and then use that plan’s free example executive summary as a guide to help you through the process of writing your own.

More business planning resources

Business planning shouldn't be complicated. Plan, fund and grow your business with a simple, all-in-one platform. Get LivePlan.

Tim Berry is the founder and chairman of Palo Alto Software and Bplans.com. Follow him on Twitter @Timberry .

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You are here: Influencer Marketing Hub » Social Media » Executive Summary Examples & Tips to Write Your Own

Executive Summary Examples & Tips to Write Your Own

If you're an influencer or content creator, you might not think you need to worry about business plans and executive summaries. But having at least an executive summary can go a long way toward showing your professionalism and how seriously you take the work that you do. We've pulled together a few executive summary examples that you can adapt and use for your own business.

Executive summaries can help you convince investors, venture capitalists, and the brands you approach for partnerships and sponsorship agreements that you're worth the investment. And some of the best executive summaries are just a single page long! Even if you've never heard of an executive summary before, you can put one together in less than an afternoon and it will give you more clarity around your business, where you want to go, and what you need to do to get there.

So, what exactly is an executive summary? And do you really need one?

3 Executive Summary Examples + Tips to Write Your Own:

What is an executive summary, 3 executive summary examples, how long should an executive summary be, parts of an executive summary.

Executive Summary Best Practices & Tips

Frequently Asked Questions

An executive summary is an overview of a certain document, often a summary of a full business plan. The length of your executive summary and what you should include will change depending on how you're using it, your industry, and the type of work you do. They're typically no more than 1–2 pages long and will give the reader all the most important information they need to make a decision about whether or not they want to partner with you.

Executive summaries aren't written in stone. Instead, they're living documents, which means that you can — and should — change them as your business grows and changes. For influencers and creators , this might mean keeping your social media metrics up-to-date and updating your competitors, niches you work with, and the services you offer.

Time is a limited and valuable resource. If you want the right people to use their precious time to learn more about you, you need to make it easy for them. Your executive summary should be comprehensive enough to cover all the pertinent information the reader will need to make a decision about you while staying within 1–2 pages (preferably just a single page).

Here are three executive summary examples and executive summary templates you can use to create your own.

Executive Summary Example #1

This executive summary is built around the launch of a new product — a new watch series. The summary starts off with two interesting statistics that are designed to keep the reader engaged and reading. In fact, this summary includes several statistics, showing that they've done their research into the need for a new watch series.

Source: asana.com

Executive Summary Example #2

In this example, the company is seeking funding. As you can see, the purpose of the executive summary has changed the elements that are included and the order in which they're listed on the page.

Source: slideshare.net

Executive Summary Example #3

This executive summary example is a bit longer than the others we've included. This might be overkill for most influencers and content creators, but we've included it here because if you're already running a successful membership site or subscription-based business , you might be looking for funding or a business loan to expand your business.

Your executive summary should be as short and concise as possible. Remember, you're dealing with busy people with limited time to devote to learning about your brand and services. We recommend keeping your executive summary under two pages.

While there are no set guidelines for how your executive summary should be organized, there are certain details about your brand, products, and services that you'll want to be sure to cover. Here's the information we recommend including in your executive summary to ensure that you're including all the pertinent information your potential partners may need.

Details About Your Product or Service

Include details about your product or service along with the problem you solve. Don't worry, you don't need to offer a solution to poverty, you just need to solve a specific problem that your readers might need to solve. For influencers, this could mean sharing the benefits of partnering with you to promote a specific product (overlapping audiences, your engagement, previous influencer marketing campaign results, etc).

Description of Your Target Market

For influencers and content creators, the description of your target market varies slightly from what a brand seeking investors might include in this section. That's because your target market is probably the person who is reading your executive summary but their target audience is the one you should be considering. So, instead of describing your target market as brands in a certain industry seeking influencers, your target market for your executive summary will be whomever you can reach for the brand you're pitching.

Information About Your Competitors

Anybody who has a product or service to offer has competitors. Briefly share what it is that your competitors offer and how you differ from them. This is a great opportunity to really highlight what sets you apart from other influencers or creators.

Financial Overview

Most executive summaries will include a section about the company's finances. For influencers and creators, your readers probably aren't going to care how much money you've earned. Instead, they're going to want to know how much you've been able to bring in for the brands you represent. Here you'll want to highlight any monetary results as well as details about any improvements you've driven for traffic, engagement, referrals, and any other social media metric or other benchmark showing that you get results.

Details About Your Team

If you have a team or regularly partner with other influencers or creators, this is where you'll mention those details. Brands want to know who they're dealing with, so if you outsource any of your content creation, videography, photography, or social media posting, you'll want to share that information here.

Funding Needs

A lot of the time, businesses use their executive summary as a way to win over investors to fund them. For influencers and creators, this section will focus on what type of relationship you're looking for. If you have specific rates, share them here. If you offer packages or trade services for products , mention that too. This section is where you let the reader know how you expect to be compensated for the work you do for them.

Executive Summary Best Practices & Tips

Writing an executive summary can seem overwhelming if you have no experience with business writing or have never created a business plan. Here are some executive summary best practices and tips to help you work through creating a stellar executive summary that will have brands lining up to work with you.

Write Your Business Plan First

An executive summary is just that — a summary. It's the most important piece of your overall business plan. You may think that you don't need a business plan as an influencer or creator, but having one makes you look incredibly polished and professional. That's why we recommend writing your business plan and then using that plan to craft your executive summary.

Write an Engaging Introduction

Just like any content, your executive summary needs to grab the reader's attention and keep them engaged. The introduction to your executive summary should include a hook, something like an interesting statistic about your industry or niche, or maybe a compelling story. The introduction should be relevant to your products or services and industry as well as give readers insight into what they can expect from the rest of the summary.

Define the Problem You Can Solve

Clearly define the problem that you can solve for the brands you're pitching. What is the business need behind your product or services? What are they missing out on by not partnering with you? This is where you let your readers know that you understand their pain and can provide a solution.

Offer a Solution

Now that you've shown your reader that you understand their pain and illustrated how their business is limited without you, it's time to offer a solution. This is the "dream state," what their business can achieve with your help.

Provide Proof

It's time to sell yourself. Let your readers know that you know what you're doing. In this section, you'll include social proof as well as hard results and statistics showing how your previous partners have benefited from your work.

Close With a Call to Action

You should always let people know what their next steps should be. If you don't, they're not going to do anything at all. At the end of your executive summary, tell the reader what to do next. This can be really simple: "If you're ready to drive traffic and increase sales with influencer marketing , let's talk!" along with your contact information.

Set the Tone

The tone you used when writing your executive summary will vary depending on your audience. This requires some research into the brands you're pitching. If you're writing for corporate brands that are more conservative and straightlaced, you'll want to use more professional language. For brands that are more quirky and fun, your executive summary will be more lighthearted. This isn't a terms and conditions page, so be sure to use personal pronouns like "I," "we," and "our" instead of stuffy references to "the Company" and "the Client."

Steer Clear of Jargon and Buzzwords

Use language that is clear, concise, and free from jargon or buzzwords. While you'll be writing for a specific audience, it's important to write in a way that is easy to understand by anyone. Again, research comes into play here. If the brands you're approaching all use the same verbiage, you should absolutely use that language in your executive summary. This sends a signal to the brands that you understand their industry and market. Don't assume that they know the lingo you use as an influencer or creator, however.

Keep It Clear and Concise

As you can see in the executive summary examples we've compiled, your executive summary should be clear and concise while conveying all of the information your reader needs. Don't include more detail than necessary to convey your value and success, and steer clear from listing specific tasks and due dates.

In addition to being clear and concise, your executive summary should be able to exist unsupported. This means that your reader should be able to get all the information they need to make a decision. If they want additional information, they'll ask you for it.

Organize, Edit, and Proofread

Organize your executive summary in a logical manner (take a look at the executive summary examples above for guidance). You'll want to put the most important and salient elements at the beginning of the document. When you're done writing, be sure to edit and proofread your executive summary before sending it off to anyone. We recommend asking a peer or mentor to review it.

Executive Summary: An Important Piece to Any Business Plan

An executive summary is a great way to not only refine your own vision of where you want to go with your business but to share that information with brands you're seeking to partner with. It's a quick and easy way to share the information that matters and with the executive summary examples we've included here, you have everything you need to create your own executive summary that will win you deals.

Why do I need an executive summary?

Executive summaries provide an easy-to-consume snapshot of your products and services that investors or potential partners can review quickly and make a decision. It might be the only information a prospective partner reads about you before they make a decision.

How long should my executive summary be?

Your executive summary should be as short and concise as possible while still conveying all the important information the reader needs to make a decision. There are no universally accepted guidelines, but we recommend keeping your executive summary limited to 1–2 pages.

What should I include in my executive summary?

Your executive summary will likely include: - An introduction - Details about your product or service - A description of your target market - Information about your competitors - A financial overview - Details about your team - Your funding needs

How can I make my executive summary interesting?

Here are tips to keeping readers engaged in your executive summary: 1. Write an engaging introduction 2. Define the problem 3. Offer a solution 4. Provide proof 5. Include a call-to-action

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How To Write A Good Business Plan Executive Summary

The executive summary for a business plan is a brief, positive synopsis of the business that goes at the beginning of your business plan. 3 min read

What Is An Executive Summary?

What is an executive summary for a business plan, and how do you create one?

An executive summary is a brief, positive synopsis of the business and goes at the beginning of your business plan. An executive summary is normally about one to two pages long, contains two-sentence overviews of each section within the plan, and covers the most important information about the business.

Ideally, potential investors will be able to quickly grasp the key elements of your business plan from the executive summary alone. They can then read deeper into areas they are particularly interested in.

Finally, the executive summary should be clear, succinct, and engaging while remaining succinct and professional. A dry executive summary will not entice readers to take an interest in your business.

What Goes into an Executive Summary?

The full content of the executive summary will vary depending on if the business is a startup or an established business. However, there are certain elements common to both.

Every executive summary should include:

Startups, or pre-revenue companies, should also include:

For established businesses, be sure to add:

How To Write A Business Plan Executive Summary

The executive summary is the most important part of your business plan, but it need not be the hardest to write. If you've written the plan, you've already done most of the work.

Do you want a lawyer to review your business plan?

There are plenty of examples of executive summaries online to guide you further.

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Executive Summary Example For A Business Plan

The Executive Summary writing could be overwhelming. Hence we have come up with a detailed business plan executive summary example . We hope that this example explains you well and helps you with an executive summary outline that serves your objection.

Important details about the example:

The following example is explicitly drawn out for people wanting to start child care services in America. The business name/domain and other important details are fictional facts and figures. We, as a company has solely used the details to draw an example for our readers like you. Any relevance in the details and the format of the business plan’s executive summary is completely coincidental.

Executive Summary Example of a Child Care Business Plan:

Executive summary for samantha’s child care services.

Samantha’s Child Care Services is a day child care service center in Seattle, Washington.

The center offers daycare and hands-on learning facilities for children between three to five. The center is headed by Samantha Wheeler, from UCLA University with 15 years of experience working as Principal of CIS of Seattle.

The main objective of presenting this executive summary for child care is to seek investments.

Today’s children need a hands-on learning experience right from the start. They need to learn the lessons that don’t feel like ‘learning’. They should not feel forced to learn. Rather, they must enjoy it. They need a curriculum that allows them to read, write, play, and have fun.

On the contrary, the school system is failing.

Samatha Wheeler, the founder, and director of Samantha’s Child Care Services is trained and has been teaching and looking after children for more than 5 years.

According to her experience, here are the solutions Samantha’s Child Care Services offer:

Vision Statement

Our vision is to offer holistic childcare along with fun and engaging extracurricular activities to children. So that they don’t miss the joy of community.

Mission Statement

Our mission is to offer every child here fun and an international standard daycare center where kids can be groomed and prepared to be leaders of tomorrow.

Target Market

Samantha’s Child Care Services will be offering child care/development for infants aged three to five.

Our services are specifically for families where both parents (or all elders) are working professionals. And due to work obligations, can not manage child care during the day.

Which includes:

We will be targeting parents and guardians who are looking for a daycare center that offers help in the overall development of their child.

Competition and Competitive Advantages:

Direct competition:.

Indirect Competition:

Tertiary competition:, competitive advantages.

Procedure and Implementations

The current procedure at Samantha’s Child Care Services are:

Financial Summary

Samantha’s Child Services has been a side hustle for the last two years. During that time, it’s been quite stable. However, upon the thought of expansion, here are a few financial facts and figures for Samantha’s Child Care Services:

Financing Requirements

We are seeking an operating line of $100,000 to finance our first-year growth. Samantha Wheeler, the founder has invested $47,000 to meet working capital requirements.

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How to write an executive summary, with examples

The best way to do that is with an executive summary. If you’ve never written an executive summary, this article has all you need to know to plan, write, and share them with your team.

What is an executive summary?

An executive summary is an overview of a document. The length and scope of your executive summary will differ depending on the document it’s summarizing, but in general an executive summary can be anywhere from one to two pages long. In the document, you’ll want to share all of the information your readers and important stakeholders need to know.

Imagine it this way: if your high-level stakeholders were to only read your executive summary, would they have all of the information they need to succeed? If so, your summary has done its job.

You’ll often find executive summaries of:

Business cases

Project proposals

Research documents

Environmental studies

Market surveys

Project plans

In general, there are four parts to any executive summary:

Start with the problem or need the document is solving.

Outline the recommended solution.

Explain the solution’s value.

Wrap up with a conclusion about the importance of the work.

What is an executive summary in project management?

In project management, an executive summary is a way to bring clarity to cross-functional collaborators, team leadership, and project stakeholders . Think of it like a project’s “ elevator pitch ” for team members who don’t have the time or the need to dive into all of the project’s details.

The main difference between an executive summary in project management and a more traditional executive summary in a business plan is that the former should be created at the beginning of your project—whereas the latter should be created after you’ve written your business plan. For example, to write an executive summary of an environmental study, you would compile a report on the results and findings once your study was over. But for an executive summary in project management, you want to cover what the project is aiming to achieve and why those goals matter.

The same four parts apply to an executive summary in project management:

Start with the problem or need the project is solving. Why is this project happening? What insight, customer feedback, product plan, or other need caused it to come to life?

Outline the recommended solution, or the project’s objectives. How is the project going to solve the problem you established in the first part? What are the project goals and objectives?

Explain the solution’s value. Once you’ve finished your project, what will happen? How will this improve and solve the problem you established in the first part?

Wrap up with a conclusion about the importance of the work. This is another opportunity to reiterate why the problem is important, and why the project matters. It can also be helpful to reference your audience and how your solution will solve their problem. Finally, include any relevant next steps.

If you’ve never written an executive summary before, you might be curious about where it fits into other project management elements. Here’s how executive summaries stack up:

Executive summary vs. project plan

A project plan is a blueprint of the key elements your project will accomplish in order to hit your project goals and objectives. Project plans will include your goals, success metrics, stakeholders and roles, budget, milestones and deliverables, timeline and schedule, and communication plan .

An executive summary is a summary of the most important information in your project plan. Think of the absolutely crucial things your management team needs to know when they land in your project, before they even have a chance to look at the project plan—that’s your executive summary.

Executive summary vs. project overview

Project overviews and executive summaries often have similar elements—they both contain a summary of important project information. However, your project overview should be directly attached to your project. There should be a direct line of sight between your project and your project overview.

While you can include your executive summary in your project depending on what type of project management tool you use, it may also be a stand-alone document.

Executive summary vs. project objectives

Your executive summary should contain and expand upon your project objectives in the second part ( Outline the recommended solution, or the project’s objectives ). In addition to including your project objectives, your executive summary should also include why achieving your project objectives will add value, as well as provide details about how you’re going to get there.

The benefits of an executive summary

You may be asking: why should I write an executive summary for my project? Isn’t the project plan enough?

Well, like we mentioned earlier, not everyone has the time or need to dive into your project and see, from a glance, what the goals are and why they matter. Work management tools like Asana help you capture a lot of crucial information about a project, so you and your team have clarity on who’s doing what by when. Your executive summary is designed less for team members who are actively working on the project and more for stakeholders outside of the project who want quick insight and answers about why your project matters.

An effective executive summary gives stakeholders a big-picture view of the entire project and its important points—without requiring them to dive into all the details. Then, if they want more information, they can access the project plan or navigate through tasks in your work management tool.

How to write a great executive summary, with examples

Every executive summary has four parts. In order to write a great executive summary, follow this template. Then once you’ve written your executive summary, read it again to make sure it includes all of the key information your stakeholders need to know.

1. Start with the problem or need the project is solving

At the beginning of your executive summary, start by explaining why this document (and the project it represents) matter. Take some time to outline what the problem is, including any research or customer feedback you’ve gotten . Clarify how this problem is important and relevant to your customers, and why solving it matters.

For example, let’s imagine you work for a watch manufacturing company. Your project is to devise a simpler, cheaper watch that still appeals to luxury buyers while also targeting a new bracket of customers.

Example executive summary:

In recent customer feedback sessions, 52% of customers have expressed a need for a simpler and cheaper version of our product. In surveys of customers who have chosen competitor watches, price is mentioned 87% of the time. To best serve our existing customers, and to branch into new markets, we need to develop a series of watches that we can sell at an appropriate price point for this market.

2. Outline the recommended solution, or the project’s objectives

Now that you’ve outlined the problem, explain what your solution is. Unlike an abstract or outline, you should be prescriptive in your solution—that is to say, you should work to convince your readers that your solution is the right one. This is less of a brainstorming section and more of a place to support your recommended solution.

Because you’re creating your executive summary at the beginning of your project, it’s ok if you don’t have all of your deliverables and milestones mapped out. But this is your chance to describe, in broad strokes, what will happen during the project. If you need help formulating a high-level overview of your project’s main deliverables and timeline, consider creating a project roadmap before diving into your executive summary.

Continuing our example executive summary:

Our new watch series will begin at 20% cheaper than our current cheapest option, with the potential for 40%+ cheaper options depending on material and movement. In order to offer these prices, we will do the following:

Offer watches in new materials, including potentially silicone or wood

Use high-quality quartz movement instead of in-house automatic movement

Introduce customizable band options, with a focus on choice and flexibility over traditional luxury

Note that every watch will still be rigorously quality controlled in order to maintain the same world-class speed and precision of our current offerings.

3. Explain the solution’s value

At this point, you begin to get into more details about how your solution will impact and improve upon the problem you outlined in the beginning. What, if any, results do you expect? This is the section to include any relevant financial information, project risks, or potential benefits. You should also relate this project back to your company goals or OKRs . How does this work map to your company objectives?

With new offerings that are between 20% and 40% cheaper than our current cheapest option, we expect to be able to break into the casual watch market, while still supporting our luxury brand. That will help us hit FY22’s Objective 3: Expanding the brand. These new offerings have the potential to bring in upwards of three million dollars in profits annually, which will help us hit FY22’s Objective 1: 7 million dollars in annual profit.

Early customer feedback sessions indicate that cheaper options will not impact the value or prestige of the luxury brand, though this is a risk that should be factored in during design. In order to mitigate that risk, the product marketing team will begin working on their go-to-market strategy six months before the launch.

4. Wrap up with a conclusion about the importance of the work

Now that you’ve shared all of this important information with executive stakeholders, this final section is your chance to guide their understanding of the impact and importance of this work on the organization. What, if anything, should they take away from your executive summary?

To round out our example executive summary:

Cheaper and varied offerings not only allow us to break into a new market—it will also expand our brand in a positive way. With the attention from these new offerings, plus the anticipated demand for cheaper watches, we expect to increase market share by 2% annually. For more information, read our go-to-market strategy and customer feedback documentation .

Example of an executive summary

When you put it all together, this is what your executive summary might look like:

[Product UI] Example executive summary in Asana (Project Overview)

Common mistakes people make when writing executive summaries

You’re not going to become an executive summary-writing pro overnight, and that’s ok. As you get started, use the four-part template provided in this article as a guide. Then, as you continue to hone your executive summary writing skills, here are a few common pitfalls to avoid:

Avoid using jargon

Your executive summary is a document that anyone, from project contributors to executive stakeholders, should be able to read and understand. Remember that you’re much closer to the daily work and individual tasks than your stakeholders will be, so read your executive summary once over to make sure there’s no unnecessary jargon. Where you can, explain the jargon, or skip it all together.

Remember: this isn’t a full report

Your executive summary is just that—a summary. If you find yourself getting into the details of specific tasks, due dates, and attachments, try taking a step back and asking yourself if that information really belongs in your executive summary. Some details are important—you want your summary to be actionable and engaging. But keep in mind that the wealth of information in your project will be captured in your work management tool , not your executive summary.

Make sure the summary can stand alone

You know this project inside and out, but your stakeholders won’t. Once you’ve written your executive summary, take a second look to make sure the summary can stand on its own. Is there any context your stakeholders need in order to understand the summary? If so, weave it into your executive summary, or consider linking out to it as additional information.

Always proofread

Your executive summary is a living document, and if you miss a typo you can always go back in and fix it. But it never hurts to proofread or send to a colleague for a fresh set of eyes.

In summary: an executive summary is a must-have

Executive summaries are a great way to get everyone up to date and on the same page about your project. If you have a lot of project stakeholders who need quick insight into what the project is solving and why it matters, an executive summary is the perfect way to give them the information they need.

For more tips about how to connect high-level strategy and plans to daily execution, read our article about strategic planning .

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COMMENTS

Business Plan Executive Summary Example & Template
Components of an Executive Summary · Mission · Company History and Management · Products or Services · The Market · Competitive Advantages · Financial
How to Write an Executive Summary With Example
Business name · Business location · Your mission as a company · A history of the company · Management and advisors · Services or products offered
How to Write an Executive Summary For a Business Plan [Updated
An executive summary of a business plan gives the reader an overview of the business opportunity and your entire business plan. It explains the type of business
Executive Summary Example for an Effective Business Plan
Elements of an Executive Summary · The company's mission statement and/or vision statement · Information about the company's owners · An outline of your business
How to Write a Powerful Executive Summary [+4 Top Examples]
A short, attention-grabbing executive summary is an essential part of your business plan. Done correctly, it will ensure your company
How to Write an Effective Executive Summary
An executive summary is a brief introduction and summary of your business plan. It should describe your business, the problem that it solves
Executive Summary Examples & Tips to Write Your Own
An executive summary is an overview of a certain document, often a summary of a full business plan. The length of your executive summary and what you should
How To Write A Good Business Plan Executive Summary
Create a compelling case - Start the executive summary with a compelling case for why you have a great business idea. · Keep the tone upbeat, but don't oversell.
Executive Summary Example For A Business Plan
Renovating the center · Management provisions · Recruiting teacher's staff · Recruiting a team of pediatric nurses and counselors · Setting up the
How to write an executive summary, with examples
The main difference between an executive summary in project management and a more traditional executive summary in a business plan is that