Writing A Winning Executive Summary 2006

NUS Entrepreneurship Centre

Writing the Winning
Executive Summary

Bernard Leong
Adjunct Assistant Professor
1


We want to achieve by
the end of today...
• Why do you have to do this?
• What not to write...
• How to layout an executive summary
that will not end up in the garbage bin
on the first look.
• What the judges are really looking for.

2


Why do you do this?
• If you cannot summarize your idea to two A4
sheets, you are likely not able to convince
your investors.
• It demonstrates your organizational ability in
putting the most difficult things into a few
paragraphs.
• Investors don’t have time to listen to your
grandmother stories.
• This is not for business plan competitions
only
3


Cannot Make It Entries
• The entries that will end up into the
rubbish bin:
– Starting an internet cafe, a restaurant, a
consultancy, a chicken rice stall and a toy
shop.
– Online stores selling bicycles.
• The judges are looking for innovative
and sustainable business ideas, not
innovative and sustainable scientific
ideas.
4


If you need inspiration....
• If you have no ideas but with good
business sense, you can take a walk to
INTRO and check out their patents. You
will be able to create a win-win
situation.
• If you have ideas but no business, you
can attempt to find someone with that
experience to help you.

5


Criteria for Good
Executive Summary
• The structure is organized and
understandable.
• Use simple language.
• Present a simple and clear idea.
• Tell the truth - Honesty is the best policy.

6


Language
• Avoid phrases like
– “We would like to....”
– “We would make X$ by the end of this year.”
– “We should do this and do that.”
• Use phrases
– “We aim to become the leading provider ..”
– “Our core competency is ...”
– “Based on our financial projections, we
estimate our sales revenue to be $X and our
profit margins to be $Y.”
7


Layout
• Introduction - Type of Business
• Problem and Opportunity
• Technology (Optional)
• Management Team
• Business Strategy and Route to Market
• Financials
• Exit Strategy

8


Name and Logo
• Name of your company
• Logo (Optional)
• Mission Statement
– We want to put a desktop into every
household.
– Don’t be Evil
– Think Different

9


Type of Business
• What is the industry of your business?
– Biotech, Nanotech, Fashion, Digital Media,
Renewable Energies, Information
Technology & Traditional with a twist.
• Is your company product-based or
service-based?
– Make a black box vs Giving a service.
• What is your core competency?
– What are you good at doing?
10


Examples
• MaterialSoft aims to be the best
provider in creating new fabrics that
can withstand harsh conditions.
• RealTime is a Singapore based
company that focuses on new digital
media applications for consumer
markets. It consists of a group of
young and passionate students who....

11


Problem and Opportunity
• You are selling the solution to a
problem.
• You need to explain what is the niche
area that you are exploiting on and how
you can create a “blue ocean”.
• Is there any interest in your business
lately?
• Lies, Damn lies and Statistics....

12


Examples
• Recently, the government has placed
S$13.25B into high technology
research and development, focussing
on three areas: materials science,
biomedical sciences and renewable
energies.
• The digital media market is estimated
to be about US$3B

13


Technology
• You need to make your technology sound
simple.
• The judges don’t like to know whether your
product has sodium hydroxide,
deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), or need you
to explain what light amplification by
stimulated emission of radiation (LASER).
• You just say, “It is a platform technology
that can spill over to...”
14


Examples
• MaterialSoft uses a state of the art
composite ceramic material to build
fibres which can efficently hold
vehicles on muddy grounds.
• RealTime utilizes smart known
heurestic algorithms to resolve
blurred objects of old movies in mp5
format 1000 times better than present
format.
15


Management Team
• Make sure you have a team with
diversified skills and how their skills can
make this business work.
• It’s no use to have 10 engineers in a
team with no one with business
experience.
• If you have grey hairs with experiences,
put them in your advisory board.

16


Examples
• John Ho is the CEO of the company.
Prior to joining MaterialSoft, he was
working in Nippon Materials as a Vice
President in Sales.
• Larry Pang is the founder of the team.
Currently a second year undergraduate
in engineering, he has been interested
in working on RFID technology. He will
act as the CTO of the RealTime.
17


Route to Market &
Business Strategy
• How do you sell your service and
product?
• A market segmentation analysis in
summary - 10% rule, population census.
• What is your competitive advantage?
– What makes you DIFFERENT from the rest?

18


Examples
• MaterialSoft will engage directly with
known industrial partners. It does not
deal directly with the customer base.
The company also makes profit by
licencing their technology.
• Realtime will enter into a partnership
with Sony and Nintendo. It will offer the
customers free downloads with the
basic version of the software.
19


Risk and Barriers to Entry
• How do you stop others from doing what
you do?
• How can you win over your competitors?
• What is the problems that you will face?
• Never say, “We are the only ones who
know how to do it” or “We have the
intellectual property which makes us
invincible.
20


Examples
• MaterialSoft faces the risk of a saturated
and traditional ceramics industry. It
requires to change the business mindset
of traditional materials firm.
• The compression format of RealTime is
not easily replicated but there is a
possibility of other emerging movie
formats which can overtake mp5 format.

21


Financials
• How much do you need? Show me the
money?
• How much stake do you want to give to
the person who put money in your
business?
• How do you raise that amount of money
through grants and funds?
• Can you bootstrap without raising
funds?
22


Fundraising
• How do you get the investment
required for your enterprise?
– Friends, Family & Fools
– Venture Capitalists, Business Angels,
Bankers and Government
– Bootstrapping your finances - the most
recommended approach
• Interest statistic: In Singapore, 3Fs
totals 50% of the investments made.
23


Examples
• MaterialSoft seeks US$300K for its
initial investment to build the proof of
concept and another US$1M to bring
the prototype to market.
• Realtime generates fund by the number
of clicks and downloads for the
software. It will also targets the movie
industry for their movie files
compression.
24


Exit Strategy
• How are you getting out after 5 years if
it becomes successful?
• Standard answers:
– Initial Public Offerings (IPO)
– Leveraged buyout from a big company

25


Examples
• MaterialSoft will exit in 3 years via
leverage buyout from a big MNC such
as Cepheus Ceramics.
• Realtime seeks to go IPO in 3 years as
an exit strategy.

26


Other Suggestions
• Find a good mentor (someone in the
industry) to be in your advisory board.
• Think of new ways on how to market and
sell your product to the marketplace.
• Price the product/service correctly!
• You better know who your clients,
partners and collaborators are.
Namedropping is good but don’t overdo
it.
27

Services

• For legal advice, go to IPOS:
– http://www.ipos.gov.sg/main/index.html
• For NUS Intro:
– http://www.nus.edu.sg/intro/
• For Registering a company and
auditing in Singapore
– http://www.acra.gov.sg/

28


Now make it happen...
Good Luck for the Competition!

http://homepage.mac.com/bleongcw/talks.html
or http://www.sgentrepreneurs.com

Email: bernard@nes.org.sg
29

Writing A Winning Executive Summary 2006

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