Executive summary example
The executive summary is the only part of a business plan everyone reads. One page, four paragraphs, written last. Here is one for a fictional coffee shop, followed by the pattern and a template.
Ridgeline Coffee is a 28-seat specialty coffee shop opening in a 1,100-square-foot corner unit two blocks from the Maple Street commuter station, where 4,200 riders board on a weekday morning and the nearest specialty coffee is an eleven-minute walk. The founders, a former café manager with nine years in the trade and a bookkeeper, are investing $85,000 of their own money and requesting a $120,000 term loan to cover build-out, equipment, and four months of operating reserve. The plan projects $412,000 in first-year sales at an average ticket of $7.40 and 152 tickets per day, reaching monthly break-even in month seven and a 9% net margin in year two.
The pattern
- Write it last, after the numbers exist. It summarises; it does not promise.
- One page. A reader who wants more will turn the page; one who does not was never going to.
- Paragraph one: what the business is, where, for whom, in two sentences.
- Paragraph two: why you, in specifics: years, roles, the customer book you already have.
- Paragraph three: the money. What you are investing, what you are asking for, what it buys, when it is paid back.
- Paragraph four: three numbers: first-year revenue, break-even month, margin in year two.
- No adjectives about the market being exciting. No "conservative estimates". Just the numbers and the reasons behind them.
Template
[Business name] is a [what it is] in [where], serving [who] with [what]. [One sentence on the gap or reason now.] The founder(s), [names and roles], bring [years, relevant roles, existing customers or contracts]. [One sentence on what they have already done toward opening.] The business requires [total startup cost], funded by [owner investment] and [loan or investment requested], which will pay for [three biggest uses]. [Repayment or return in one sentence.] The plan projects [year-one revenue] from [volume × price in words], break-even in [month], and [margin] in year two. [One sentence on the main risk and the mitigation.]
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