This Executive Summary Example article offers you a quick glance at writing an executive summary containing all your project's critical information. Here you learn the basics of this relevant document, what section you must include, and some tips you should consider.

An executive summary is a document that contains all the pertinent information about a specific project. This document is a simplified version of the project plan and integrates all the fundamental data that makes the project understandable for team members, executives, and stakeholders.  

A practical executive summary should show all the project's significant points, including the relevant financial information. A powerful executive summary should keep the reader's attention and provide an excellent project overview. 

Some of the most common executive summaries you can find in the business world are the following:

• Case Business;
• Full Business plan executive summary;
• Financial projections;
• Industry and marketing analysis;
• Environmental studios;
• Market surveys;
• Project management.

You may wonder why I need an executive summary for my project. Isn't the project plan enough?

Business plans address a lot of valuable data for potential investors and clients. But all the participants have the time or the need to check all the project details. This way, they prefer to take a quick look at the main points of the project.

A compelling executive summary will help external participants understand the general project goals and get information about the solutions of the proposal. Of course, they can meet the target market to which the solution is directed and the value proposition.

Writing your executive summary involves considering five main sections to promote your projects. Most executive summaries are divided into these. Of course, you can always add other areas, such as crucial milestones, market share, growth, company strategy, profit, revenue, etc. The decisions will depend on your business and specific project.  

In the document's opening paragraph, you should include the essential data, such as the name, location, and a short description. To generate interest, you should integrate management, advisors, and a brief history of the organization.

You can also add a short paragraph about your company's missions. This additional information is an introduction to the following sections, which address the project's specific data.

Start with the problem or the need that the project solves. Why is this project being carried out? What project's needs led to the project being created? Here you explain your product or service, how your product is different from competitors in the industry, and how it fits in the market.

Describe the solution or the project's goal. In a few sentences, describe how the project solves the problem presented in the first point. In this part, you must be descriptive and convince the readers that your proposition and solution are the right ones. You can also describe what will happen in every phase of the project.

Explain the solution value. Value is the startup executive summary section, where you must include all the info about the company's finances and the advantages and risks of the project. In this section, you should try to relate the business proposal with the company description and the general goals of your business. This section is another chance to clarify why the problem is relevant and why the project matters.

End with a conclusion about the relevance of the project. This critical section perfectly explains to the stakeholders the impact of the project proposal. You can also highlight the key findings and explain the importance of the project for the entire organization.

Besides, in this final part, you can also include some financial considerations or startup funding requirements. Also, do not forget to mention what you hope the readers will help your organization accomplish.

Still, executive summary examples should be able to outline some major points of the following in a quick and easy way:

• Company and opportunities. Here you explain your field of competence and your chances to grow. 
• Market and industry analysis. Explain the target audience and the current state of the industry where your company operates. 
• Marketing and implementation. You must explain your business plan to release your product or service.
• Management and operations. Name your key leaders and their roles in the project and organization.
• Finances and financial plan. Explain how your business model gets profits and is sustainable over time.

In order not to fall into repetitive errors, we feel the duty to give you some tips to consider when it comes to writing an executive summary for the first time. Then, with experience, it will become easier to make the intentions of your project known.  

A project plan is a scheme that presents all the key features your company must consider to reach the objectives and goals of the project. This project plan will include metrics, members, roles, and budget. These points will consist of a timeline, program, and communication plan. 

An executive summary is a resume of the most relevant information of your project, a high-level overview that must be able to be read in 5 minutes or less. Just think about the crucial aspects the team members need to know before knowing the project plan.

Both documents, the executive summary and the project summary, have very similar elements. So, what is the difference between both summaries if both integrate essential information?

The main difference is that the project summary is a document that must be attached to the project plan as a constituent part of the entire plan. 

On the other hand, an executive summary is an independent document. This way, you can present this document independently without showing the rest. Of course, you can include it in the product plan and cover all the edges of the project, but this is unnecessary.

Your project plan must contain all the project's goals. This document can even be a stand-alone document that will vary depending on the objectives, the budget baseline, etcetera. But still, since the executive summary must have the most important information about the project, it has comprehensively integrated all the data about the project's objectives. 

The executive summary should include why reaching the goals will value the project, organization, and client. In addition, the project stakeholders expect to read something about how the organization will achieve those objectives.

Creating an executive summary is not a challenging task. Still, having a few examples or templates to do it quickly can be very helpful. 

A Complete Executive Summary Template

Below, you will find a template that achieves all the points mentioned above in a simple way. This template divides the information provided into several categories and sorts them through several bullet points. 

This template adds several categories that you can use or not. The mandatory is that you do not forget to include the types we mentioned above. 

You can download this template from Vertex42.

Basic Executive Summary Template

Now, you can check this one-page basic template. Explaining your product description and objectives through this form will be easier and allows you to summarize your data correctly. 

Of course, you can expand as much as you like and lead the focus where you want. Just remember the outlines we mentioned above and reflect on the strong points of your proposal and how this offers value to your investor or stakeholders. 

You can get this basic executive summary template from template.office.

A More Complete Executive Summary Template

The third executive summary example we bring to this article is a bit more descriptive, as it has several sections to clarify the main aspects of the project.  

This template includes milestones for the current proposed year, the deliverables for the same period, how the project may benefit society, and its limited time.

An Extended Executive Summary Template 

The last example is even more complete. Thanks to this, you can provide a deeper insight into your project and even explain each section in more detail. As you can notice in the image above, this template has multiple pages and large sections to offer an extended explanation of the project's objectives. 

Of course, you can manage the information, reducing it and seeking a straightforward approach to the main goals of the proposal. Keep in mind that the primary idea is to keep the document as short as possible. This practice will help to the success of the reception of the document. 

You can download this executive summary template from Smartsheet.

In this last section, we're giving you tips and tricks so you can write a competent executive summary straight to the point and with a precise length.

Do Your Research

Contrary to your belief, an executive summary involves plenty of research. For instance, it should contain some aspects of direct competitor analysis and financial considerations.

We've explained that the business or project plan will develop the complete strategy and present the essential details. However, the executive summary should still include the key findings and set guidelines for the proposal. 

Do not Use Technical Language

An executive summary is a document that every person should be able to read and understand, from the workers involved to the executives. Since this "entire report" is a brief overview, it should lack technical vocabulary. If you need technical words to explain a market analysis to the venture capitalists, use them, but include explanations.

Pay Attention to the Tone of your Words

This tip is closely related to the previous one. When writing an executive summary, ensure you use the necessary tone to capture the essence of your company and your project, especially the part of the story and your mission.

Be sure to use personal pronouns like "we," "I," and "our" instead of stuffy and cold references such as "the Company" and "the Client." 

Avoid Clichés

Although you can adopt an informal tone, an executive summary is often written in a way that avoids typical clichés that can convey the wrong message. When a new interested party or a participant reads this document, they want to find new ideas about your services, a fresh way of solving their problems.  

Clichés will only pigeonhole you into the common ground! Focus on freshly expressing yourself and your ideas, and expand your repertoire of words. If you're a management team and want to create the best executive summary, maybe you can hire a professional writer to create the executive summary.  

A Executive Summary Is not a Full Report

As its name suggests, it's not a full report but a quick overview of the company description and the specific project. If, at some point in the executive summary, you notice that you're describing details of specific tasks and deadlines, and sending attached files, take a step back and ask yourself if this is necessary.

Your executive summary must be practical and concise and not have over two pages of extension. In other words, it's part of a larger document, such as a complete business plan. Remember that most of the project is included in the project plan, marketing plan, etcetera.

An Executive Summary is an Independent Document

Despite your executive summary being part of a larger organization document, it's an independent document that does not need more key information to work efficiently. If the participants need to know a context or key points, include them in summary. Incorporate any piece of relevant information, but be brief and direct.

Write an Executive Summary Template After Completing the Business Plan

As its name indicates, an executive summary is a "resume" of the entire project or business plan. As such, it is challenging to write an executive summary if you haven't written the whole business plan yet. For this reason, writing this document at the beginning of the project is not recommended. This is the main reason you should write your executive summary last, so you know what to include.

Check it When Finished

Beyond using an executive summary template, it can always have some spelling or syntax errors. To avoid common mistakes, you should come back to the document and check it once more before sending it. You can also send the template to a colleague or other organization member for a second look.  

Keep the Document Limited to Two Pages

Again, regardless of the free executive summary template extension, you shouldn’t go further than two pages. Remember, this is a document designed for clients, customers, and stakeholders to take a quick look at the most relevant points of the project.

Although creating an executive summary is relatively easy, there is nothing wrong with remembering some basic points. This has been the central idea beyond this article, to remind you or let you know the main points to present when you get a meeting with capitalists of a specific brand or stakeholders.

We hope we've helped you professionally succeed in your future projects. Regarding this, to improve the chances of getting new agreements and winning bids,  you can read dozens of other articles in our blog. Here you can also see and download different exciting templates that can help you boost your professional career.