Executive Summary 101:
More than Just a Summary
By: Adam Hoeksema
August 2010
www.theexecutiveplan.com
www.theexecutiveplan.com
Welcome! I wanted to start by giving you a little
bit of background on my experience.
As a
freshman in college I entered a business plan
competition. I had no idea what I was doing, but I
read a lot of material about business planning and
I took my amateur idea and made a business plan
out of it. I am not sure if the judges felt sorry for
me, but they sent me forward from the executive
summary round to the business plan round. After
writing and submitting a 40 page business plan, I
ended up being one of five finalists. The finalists
presented and to my surprise I won The Best
Undergraduate Award.
This launched my “career” as a consultant. While I was still a full-time college student, for the
next three years I had the opportunity to write numerous business plans, feasibility studies,
marketing plans, and sales and distribution plans. My clients included:
• Student Owned Businesses – One student that I assisted leveraged his business to be
accepted as an MBA student at Harvard University
• Local Governments – Economic growth council business plan
• Universities – Business plans and feasibility studies for new programs
• Non-profit Organizations – Business plans and feasibility studies for new revenue generating
programs
I had so much fun working with these small and big businesses as we tried to find creative new
ways to do business. After graduation I was able to secure the perfect job at a technology
based business incubator. This allowed me to assist exciting technology-based businesses each
and every day.
Over the years I have become a believer that the Executive Summary is the key to success in so
many areas of business. When you need a loan, investors, a grant, maybe internal funding from
your corporation, or even when you are attracting new clients, a powerful executive summary
of your business is absolutely essential.
So lets get started!
Adam Hoeksema
Founder – ExecutivePlan
www