What should be included in a business plan? 9 essential elements of an executive summary

Some specialists think that startup founders shouldn’t worry about creating a business plan. Why? Such a plan can age quite quickly, nobody has time to read it, and it’s time-consuming to prepare it. However, it is sometimes necessary for a startup to have such a document. How to prepare a business plan? Why create it? Read on to find out more.

What should be included in a business plan? – table of contents:

1. Executive summary
2. How to write an effective executive summary?
3. Business description
4. Company’s vision
5. Summary

Executive summary

What should be included in a business plan? Not everyone is aware of that, but the executive summary of the venture is one of the most important parts of a business plan. That’s why it’s worth putting extra effort into creating it. It is best to write this part at the very end when the other elements of the business plan are ready.

Why write the executive summary of the venture at all? Unfortunately, you have to assume that the person who receives your business plan is quite busy, therefore, they will not read the entire document unless something in it intrigues them. After all, the executive summary is to intrigue the reader.

An executive summary is usually placed at the beginning of the document. This part is supposed to provide a brief overview of the most important issues related to the planned business. When you write a business plan for yourself, the executive summary can be omitted. Otherwise, it should be properly prepared. This kind of summary must highlight the key points that appear in the business plan.

The executive summary should not be too extensive. In fact, one page is enough. After all, the point here is to convey the gist of the business plan. It should include the following elements:

• startup idea
• business objectives
• product description
• potential customers
• marketing strategy
• current financial situation
• projected financial status
• funds needed for the development
• information about people involved in a startup

How to write an effective executive summary?

The executive summary is actually a shortened version of the business plan and its essence. This part of the document must be extremely convincing. How to write an effective executive summary of the venture? There is no one-size-fits-all template, but it is worth paying attention to a few key points when writing.

The executive summary should be properly composed. You need to think carefully about what this part of the business plan should be about. The questions of what your brand is and why the audience of the business plan should be interested in it should be answered. It is worth including some surprising information to intrigue the reader.

Another important point is the brevity of the executive summary. The fewer paragraphs, the better. Preferably four, but they also shouldn’t be too extensive. It is a good idea to ask someone to edit the executive summary, and perhaps the entire document.

This should be a person who deals with writing on a daily basis and can convey important information effectively. Also, you can give the abstract to other team members for review. It is best to write several versions of the executive summary and choose the best one, and then polish it.

Business description

The executive summary of the venture should be followed by the business description. In this part, you need to answer the following questions:

• Who are you?
• What are you planning to do?

Answering these questions is about explaining why you are in business in the first place and why you have decided to launch a company. You need to explain what makes you different from other business projects and why you can revolutionize the market. This is, at the same time, a good opportunity to define on paper the intangible aspects of your company, its ethical value, operating philosophy, principles, etc.

You should include the following aspects in your business description:

• the structure of the startup
• basic information about the company
• the chosen business model
• description of the industry
• vision and mission of the company
• company history
• short-term business objectives
• long-term business objectives
• team, and key employees
• employment costs

Company’s vision

It is worth including the company’s vision in your business plan as well. You need to formulate the impact of your startup on the market, and perhaps on the world. Here a sentence or two will be enough. However, it must be a clear and specific statement.

What should be included in a business plan – summary

A business plan is a document that has a certain structure. The individual parts must be prepared carefully and accurately. However, it seems that the most important part is the executive summary placed at the beginning of the business plan. It is its attractiveness that will make the reader want to move on to the next sections.

You’ve just learned what should be included in a business plan. Check out our other articles: Startup marketing strategy.

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