Keep your eye on the Executive Summary
The first thing your potential funding audience needs to be reading is your executive summary. There is a saying in the film industry that no great script is written, only rewritten, and in a way that’s how you need to treat your executive summary. It’s the most essential part of your plan because it acts like a shop window to the plan inside, and it needs to draw the potential investor in.
Why use 5 words when you can use 3? Why be vague when you can be direct? It’s got to punch above its weight class and have impact, so don’t be afraid of rewriting it until you know it off by heart.
Start with a paragraph about each important part of the overall plan, and avoid repetition. In the very first paragraphs, spell out what it is that your business does, who does it, and why it does it, and how it makes money doing it, along with the funding requirements and repayment / exit plan.
The more exact you can be, the better.
To Finish first, first you’ve got to Finish.
Knowing when to end your plan is almost an art form in itself, and whilst it’s no bad idea to have a...