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August 26, 2005
Writing an Executive Summary
One of the most important sections of your business plan is the executive summary.
Columbia University has created a great site to assist with writing the executive summary. You can find this information at this page.
Here are a few tips from the article:
1. Scan your business plan to determine what the content, structure and length of the report would be.
2. Highlight key points.
3. Review your business plan and determine what the key ideas or concepts are.
4. Group ideas in a logical fashion and prepare a point form outline of the summary.
5. Edit the outline to eliminate secondary or minor points; use your judgement to keeping the summary concise.
6. Determine whether subtitles, bullets, selective bolding or some other type of organizational structure will add to the clarity of your summary.
7. Write the summary in your own words, using a professional style.
8. Read it aloud or even tape record yourself reading your summary.
Posted by Jon at August 26, 2005 3:02 PM