What is an executive summary and why do you need it?

 

An executive summary is a two-page (1 page front and back) summary of the business and the investment opportunity. It’s typically used during fundraising to: 1) serve as a readable version of your pitch that tells the investor the overview of your business and 2) explain why this is a potentially good investment opportunity that could provide a good return on their investment.

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Instructions:

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1. Use this sheet to help you start a draft of your executive summary.

2. Answer the prompt in each text box.

3. Follow the sequence of questions and the sections as laid out.

4. Once you've completed all the boxes, print this page to see a draft of your executive summary. 

 

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Tips: 

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1. To avoid feeling overwhelmed, try completing one text box at a time, one section at a time. 

2. Use Nhi's "COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO WRITING AN EXECUTIVE SUMMARY" as a reference document. It will provide you with a more in-depth analysis of each prompt and section.

3. If you don't know an answer, mark it with "[ASSUMPTION]" and try to answer it with your best guess. Once you've completed the rest of the executive summary, come back to the areas where you've made assumptions and then go do customer/user discovery to test that assumption.

4. Use this guide while you iterate through your business. This is intended to be a short, concise, and easy-to-iterate way to capture the complete opportunity associated with your business idea.