Whether you’re a startup or an established company, a carefully crafted business plan is a road map to your firm’s success. But with the internet saturated with good advice it can be confusing and hard to know where to begin. To help you we’re breaking down the business plan into manageable chunks, providing you with expert advice on each main section, starting with the executive summary:

As the business plan is a summary of the business, the executive summary is a distillation of the plan. A great executive summary is the purest little drop that encapsulates the essence of the business. What you are all about in a few short words.
Don’t forget that people who decide on financing applications are, underneath the pinstripes and crisp collars, people. A little psychology goes a long way. The executive summary should follow the same pattern as the plan and highlight the key areas in that order. People like patterns, order. If they see none, they make up their own. They presume that X equals Y as it does in their world and if that doesn’t add up for them, they dislike it and reject it. Above all else, the executive summary should be the perfect hors d’oeuvre – not filling. Just a flash of culinary excitement to whet the appetite ahead of dinner.

Daniel Callaghan is co-founder and chief executive of UK-based SME MBA & Company

At the beginning of your business plan, you need to demonstrate succinctly the validity of your concept and market. You’ll need to show how thorough market research led you to identify a gap in the market, the market opportunity and how the solution or product you are pitching will fill this gap. This is a good time to highlight your target market and put in place the operational foundations for when you later address your future plans and objectives.

As a startup or fledgling business, you may not have the kind of information found in the executive summary of a more established business, such as growth highlights. However, it’s still a great opportunity to talk about your financial projections, and your background and experience, business or otherwise, highlighting all of your personal strengths. You should also mention the key differentiators of your offering and why you have what it takes to succeed.

Danny Waters, CEO of secured loan providers Enterprise Finance

As an established business the executive summary is probably the most vital part of a business plan – it is basically telling potential investors where your company is right now, where you want to take the business in the future, and why the business proposal you’re putting forward will help you reach that goal.
You need to summarise in the business plan every detail an investor might need to make a decision. That includes everything from a mission statement, which tells investors in one short paragraph what your business is about, to general company information such as names and roles of founders, numbers of employees and an overview of what the company actually does. It’s also important to show how the company has performed, so include general financial information with particular emphasis on growth periods when the company has performed particularly well. Lastly, don’t forget to include your future plans – after all, this is why you’re looking for investment.

Matt Connolly is a serial entrepreneur whose latest venture, myLovelyParent, is a site where adults encourage their single mums and dads to meet new people online

With your executive summary you have an opportunity to stand out, to take the reader on a journey through your thinking. Whatever you do, don’t follow the crowd. It’s too crowded. No more templated structures or fretting about formal versus informal. Be yourself. Be different and stay interesting.
Consider the audience – are they a potential investor or a member of your team? What are they looking for? What is their focus? Give time to both your content and presentation and make sure your brand’s personality pours through in everything you do. Playing it safe won’t cut it. And when you re-read what you’ve written, stay brave and don’t change it. Challenge the norm and celebrate doing something different. The result will be a highly readable, engaging executive summary which conveys personality, interest and of course also acquaints the reader at a high level with your business plan.

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