02: Executive summary

When you present your business plan, the executive summary should normally come first, but it can actually be easier to write it last, because this first section of the plan needs to encapsulate all key points and to be able to stand on its own as a document of no longer than two pages. The executive summary should touch on all aspects of the plan, including market opportunities and threats, product and service innovations, market and competitor trends and elements of the financial forecasts.

The key to writing a good executive summary is to ensure that it gives an accurate picture of the company overall – both now and in the future – and that it sustains the reader’s interest. The test of a well written executive summary is whether readers want to know more about the company when they have finished reading.