The Effective Executive Summary
By
William Cate
[http://home.earthlink.net/~beowulfinvestments/]
Sending an unsolicited business plan to almost anyone is a waste of time and postage. Your risk capital search goal should be to get prospective investors to read your Executive Summary. This means that your Executive Summary must be readable, focused, answer three questions and be credible.
Your Executive Summary is the hook to get the investor to take the time to read your business plan. If you can't set your hook, you'll never catch your fish. Most venture capitalists, angel investors, brokers, fund managers, merchant bankers and others with risk capital will read a short unsolicited Executive Summary. The Effective Executive Summary gets the prospect to request your business plan.
READABLE
Your Executive Summary should be no more than two pages in length. If you are faxing it to prospective investors, use 14-point type. You should avoid industry jargon. The reading level of your copy should not be beyond high school level. It's not that investors are high school dropouts. It's that the lower the reading level the easier the document is to read and understand.
FOCUSED
Not everyone with money will invest in your company. Refine your potential investors to a list of individuals and firms that are interested in your type of venture. If you are seeking a loan, don't send your Executive Summary to a Venture Capitalist. If you are in the food business in Ohio, don't send your Executive Summary to an Angel Investor interested in high tech startups in California. In fact, don't bother to send your Executive Summary to Angel Investors living more than fifty miles from you. If you are a private company, don't send your Executive Summary to a Merchant Banker only willing to fund public companies. Don't seek funding for your non-U.S. company from a source unwilling to invest outside the United States.
You can use the Net and a good business reference library to build your list of prospective investors. The Reference Librarian can be very helpful in suggesting reference books related to your industry and to funding sources. Use every possible combination of words related to your industry and needs in an exact phrase advanced search. Your goal should be to develop a contact list of one hundred potential investors. If you have the right list and the right Executive Summary, you'll get some requests for your business plan.
For example: Beowulf Investments [http://home.earthlink.net/~beowulfinvestments/ ] is a merchant banker that takes public and funds non-US companies that have a M&A growth strategy. I've written an e-book (Venture Capital Profits-VCP) outlining the reasons behind our investment strategy and the benefits of following that strategy. We regularly get 200-page commercial loan packages that I promptly send to the trash can. I assume that the fund seeker hasn't read VCP. I'm sure that some American commercial lenders get investment packages from Non-US Companies seeking funding for non-US business acquisitions. Both business plans were sent to the wrong investors.
The Three Questions
1. What do you have? Your opening paragraph should answer this question. For example: Our company manufactures pianos in Russia. Our last year's gross income was US$672,000 with a pretax profit of US$123,400. We own the real estate upon which our plant is located.
2. What do you want? The second paragraph should tell the investors what you are seeking. For example: Our company has the opportunity to buy a competitor in the Ukraine and to acquire an organ manufacturer and their manufacturing plant in St. Petersburg. The two acquisitions would increase our annual revenues by US$900,000 and the St. Petersburg commercial real estate is valued at US$325,000. We need US$1 million dollars to complete both acquisitions.
3. What are you willing to give up to get what you want? This should be the third paragraph. For example: The resulting company will have gross revenues of US$1,572,000 with an after tax profit of $311,000 and fixed assets (real estate) valued at $735,000. For the US$1 million investment, we are willing to give the investment group half the equity in the resulting manufacturing firm. This means the investor is being offered about a 15% Return on Investment with a risk level of about 6%. In essence the offer is a good investment for the right investor.
Credibility
To be taken seriously, your company must be credible. This is particularly true for startup companies. For example: Our management team has forty-five years combined experience in our industry works, if you prove it in your business plan.
If you cite advanced degrees, include the date they were received and the university that issued the degree. For example: saying that the company's CEO has a PhD is meaningless. However, saying that the CEO received his PhD in biophysics from the Univ. of Michigan in 1989 is credible. Why? It's because the investor can easily verify your claim. Don't make claims that can't be verified.
Avoid cashflow projections. They are never true and will impair your credibility. Only someone living in a cave or working in the medical profession would rely upon them. Be specific and avoid general statements.
If you select your prospects carefully and follow these guidelines, you will have a far better chance to have your business plan read and your company funded.
About the Author
He has been the Managing Director of Beowulf Investments [http://home.earthlink.net/~beowulfinvestments/] since 1981 and is the Executive Director of the Global Village Investment Club [http://home.earthlink.net/~beowulfinvestments/globalvillageinvestmentclubwelcome/]