From: www.sba.gov

In this instant-update world we live in, life in 140-character bursts, it’s just a fact of modern life: you have to communicate faster. The whole world has attention deficit syndrome. So that’s as true for business planning as for most other things in business.  Here are 10 lessons I’ve learned about business plan summaries.

1. I’ve never forgotten what they told us decades ago in the resume clinic at business school: “Even the President of the United States can do a one-page resume.” Step back and appreciate the meaning of the word summary.
2. There’s way too much vague and fuzzy vocabulary around summarizing business plans. A one-page business plan is a summary, not a plan. So too, an elevator speech, elevator pitch, business pitch, pitch deck, executive summary, and summary memo.
3. As we use them these days, you can think of the lean canvas and lean business model as summaries. They focus on strategy and in some cases tactics. But they lack the milestones, tasks, performance measurements, budgets, and forecasts of a real business plan.
4. Keep your summary short, cover the highlights, and assume key people will read this summary and nothing else. It’s a front door. Whether it’s an executive summary that comes first in a document, or a summary memo, make that reader want more information.
5. A good summary is a collection of tips of icebergs. Each one has enough information to imply its entire iceberg, but it can’t go too deep, and it has to leave the iceberg somewhere. Don’t promise in the summary anything you can’t back up in the document or following discussions.
6. Real business plans change often. It’s planning, not just a plan. And as your plan changes, rewrite and revise your summary to keep it fresh and keep it aligned with the plan.
7. Different experts have different opinions on the ideal length of a summary. I’ve always recommended a summary of 2-5 pages, which can be used as a stand-alone summary memo where that’s appropriate. For example, in my angel investment group, we don’t read full business plans of all the startups that apply for investment. We eliminate some proposals just from reading the summaries. We read the full business plan only after deciding, from the summary, that we want to know more.
8. A generalized summary will include the obvious information such as essential business details, what you sell, what locations, projected sales growth, profitability, and news you don’t want anybody to miss. It’s a good place to put a highlights chart, a bar chart that shows sales, gross margin, and profits before interest and taxes for the next three years. You should also cite and explain those numbers in the text.
9. However, generalized summaries are as rare as generalized business plan events. Write a new summary for each time you need one. Tailor it to match the requirements of your specific business need. The summary you show angel investors is different than one you show a bank loan manager, and different again from the one you show a potential partner, employee, or attorney. How? How can you tell? Think what’s most important for each audience, in each context. That changes depending on the occasion.
10. What you highlight depends on the context, as in point #8, but also on the specifics of your business. Highlight what serves your purpose best. For example, if you’re looking for investment and have a venture already backed by major brand-name backers, say so early in the summary. If you’ve got a founders team that includes several known entrepreneurs with good track records, then put it up front. If you have a good business track record, like impressive early sales or landmark deals with major channels, corporations or governments, put that first. If you have an amazing new invention or break-through technology, lead with that. Use good judgment. You’re an editor, at this point, looking at things through the audience’s eyes.