How long executive summary should be

In such cases, the research report and executive summary are often written for policy makers outside of academe, while abstracts are written for the academic community. Professors, therefore, assign the writing of executive summaries so students can practice synthesizing and writing about the contents of comprehensive research studies for external stakeholder groups.

When preparing to write, keep in mind that:. Christensen, Jay. Executive Summaries Complete The Report. Hildebrandt, and Jane P. Effective Business Communications. Writing an Executive Summary. Read the Entire Document This may go without saying, but it is critically important that you read the entire research study thoroughly from start to finish before you begin to write the executive summary.

Take notes as you go along, highlighting important statements of fact, key findings, and recommended courses of action. This will better prepare you for how to organize and summarize the study. Remember this is not a brief abstract of words or less but, essentially, a mini-paper of your paper, with a focus on recommendations.

Isolate the Major Points Within the Original Document Choose which parts of the document are the most important to those who will read it. These points must be included within the executive summary in order to provide a thorough and complete explanation of what the document is trying to convey.

Separate the Main Sections Closely examine each section of the original document and discern the main differences in each. After you have a firm understanding about what each section offers in respect to the other sections, write a few sentences for each section describing the main ideas.

Although the format may vary, the main sections of an executive summary likely will include the following:. Be concise! The purpose is to provide a brief explanation of the entire document with a focus on the recommendations that have emerged from your research. You want to make your prospective investor want to keep reading; convince them to invest in your startup.

But do understand that the persuasion is in the facts, not in the wording. What keeps them interested is the content of the summary, not the tone. Facts that prove traction, potential market, or startup experience are infinitely more powerful than mere assertions of excellence. If you say that your startup is disruptive, or game-changing, or the next Facebook or whatever, you lose.

Instead, show that with facts and let the investors say it, not you. To get bankers to read on, the executive summary has to cover the six main points suggested in the beginning of this article, plus a few selected other points that highlight stability, assets on the balance sheet, and financial history, showing that the loan is not risky. So what works for the executive summary for bankers is quite different from what works for the summary for investors.

Where investors want to see management team startup experience, bankers want to see the personal net worth of business owners. The more collateral, savings or other investment you have available, the more likely you are to secure the loan. Where investors want to see future potential growth, bankers want to see past financial history and bankable assets. Try to have every piece of financial information about yourself, current investors and any past businesses available upfront.

Where investors want to look at possible exits, bankers want their commercial borrowers to offer future stability. In the U. Like traditional bank loans, SBA loans require a solid traditional business plan that includes a good executive summary covering the five main points suggested in the first list above.

It will still benefit you to have the financial stability elements laid out as you would for a bank, but the limitations may be less strict and provide more room for riskier businesses to gain funding. Here are a few to keep in mind as you get started:. Think of an executive summary as being a lot like an elevator pitch , but with constraints. Readers expect it to cover your business, product, market, and financial highlights, at the very least see below for more detail on this.

But your readers expect the key points covered. Be brief and concise. I know experts who recommend a single page, just a page or two, no more than five, and sometimes even longer. I say less is more.

Keep it as short as you can without missing any essentials. Most executive summaries are short texts, often with bullets, broken into subheadings.

Illustrations such as a picture of a product, or a bar chart showing financial highlights, are usually a welcome addition. Experts recommend using bullet-points when possible to present your ideas and keep it concise. Align the order of your executive summary with the order of the main document. Be confident. Believe in yourself and what you are presenting.

If you do not write with confidence, your reader will sense this, and will follow suit. Avoid cliches and claims you can't support with evidence. Information from the larger document should instead be synthesized and presented via short paraphrases. Topics Business and Accounting Reading and Writing. FAQ Actions. Was this helpful?

In this article, you would learn how long should an executive summary be. As a business consultant, I highlight some other key things you need to know beyond the length of an executive summary.

When writing an executive summary one of the things you want to avoid is to have a very long executive summary. But then, having a very short executive summary can also be a problem. This leaves many with the question:. According to Wikipedia :. An executive summary , or management summary , is a short document or section of a document, produced for business purposes, that summarizes a longer report or proposal or a group of related reports in such a way that readers can rapidly become acquainted with a large body of material without having to read it all.

Most times people ask for executive summaries primarily because it helps them save the time of going through a larger report or document.

So by going through the executive summary, they get a sense of what the larger document is about. Think about it, it takes about 5 mins on the average to go through a one-page Executive Summary and it could around hours to go through a complete business plan.

And just by going through the business summary in about 5 mins, the reader gets an overview of what you have in the entire business plan.

Take business plans, for example, investors usually want to go through the executive summary of a business plan before going through the entire business plan. If the introduction of the business summary is not engaging enough, they just turn off! Now, this is not even the business plan, just the executive summary can determine the success or failure in a bid to raise funds from investors.