How to Write A Kick Ass Executive Summary

SECURE YOUR FIRST INVESTOR MEETING:

CRITICAL HOW TO’S

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TODAY’S BIG PROMISES

Nothing Held Back

The Critical Stuff to Get Your First Meeting

One Time Opportunity at The End




Are you in the right place?




If you’re...

Starting or grow your own businessPursuing your passion for a new business

Creating or growing a real businessBuilding a world class business

Finding business funding

...then you are in the right place!




WHO?




It all started with this magic ingredient!

Beginning: Before the key discoveries - Two parts of the puzzle

Great ideaPassion to start my own business

I was working a 18 hour a day job whole I was putting it together




So what did I do?




Created an email surveyWent to the stores to check out the competitors products

Created a prototypeWrote a business plan

Sent emails to everyone who I thought could helpMade calls

Then I waited....




...then sent more emails...

and more....

and....

Well, you get it...




...made more calls....




...and waited some more...

...then the months of coffee shop meetings started...then

emails

emails

emails

Business Plan 1

Business Plan 2

Business Plan 3

Business Plan 4

Calls Calls

Executive Summary 1 Executive Summary 16

CallsCalls

Pitch Deck1

Pitch Deck47

Spent More than 14 months lost in the wilderness,looking for investors....

Waiting for even one investor to see the light...

I was ready to QUIT!

After a critical Mind shift.......and some good advice

I went from no investorsTo raising $250K in a few months

...then another $250K...then $6M

....then Ms more

WHY ARE YOU DOING IT?


Why the Two Jobs?Why The Sacrifice?

Why take the Hard Way?Why Take the Risk?



SOME OF THE REASONS OTHER FOUNDERS HAVE GIVEN ME


You have a Vision For Your FutureTo Create Wealth for You, Your Family and Your Community

To Have Freedom to Live Life Your WayTo Have a Fantastic, Exciting, Contributing Life

To Create JobsBecause You Have a Burning Passion to Do Something



WHY ARE YOU HERE?

Get Your First Investor Meeting...You Want Investors To:

‘Get’ What You Do

Understand How Great Your Opportunity is

Are Compelled to Meet You

SO LETS DO IT TOGETHER

How?You Need A

Kick Ass Executive Summary

To Make Sure InvestorsAre Desperate to Meet You

#1 GOAL

A Kick Ass Executive Summary Should:

Cover the Key Elements of Your Opportunity (And No More)

Help Qualify the Investors (In & Out)

Move You Quickly to the First Meeting with Qualified Investors

#1 Goal: Get You Your First Meeting

WHAT IT IS

A Kick Ass Executive Summary Is:

The ‘Essence’ of Your business in 1-2 pages

The Most Compelling Elements of Your Business

A succinct way to communicate the info investors most often want to read to qualify initial opportunities

WHAT IT ISN’T

A Kick Ass Executive Summary Is NOT:

Your One Chance to ‘Sell’ an Investor

The Opportunity to tell them EVERYTHING about your business

A license to bore them (every word needs to count...)

WHY LEARN THIS?

Why bother?

Executive Summaries are relatively ‘standard’ - learn it once and use it forever

Its a recognized way to get your foot in the door - know the formula and you can engage any investors

Its a No BS doc to help you connect with the Right Investors for You - and securing a life long business partner

NEXT

Executive Summary - Winning Best Practices

Format

Key Elements - Broken Down

Best Practices

CRITICALThere’s a format that works...

Executive Summaries cover JUST the key elements Investors want to know before they’ll take the next step

We’ll cover the key elements of a what a Kick Ass Executive Summary should include

Get It Right - and the Right Investors for You will WANT to meet for your First Meeting

Get it Right - and the Wrong Investors WON’T WANT to meet so you won’t waste your time pursuing them - NB: its better this way...because you either can’t or shouldn’t ‘close’ the wrong investor - its just bad news...




TEST

What’s Your #1 Goal?




#1 GOAL

Get Your First Meeting




KEY ELEMENTS

Company OverviewThe OpportunityThe SolutionThe MarketThe CompetitorsYou Business ModelThe TeamCurrent ProgressCapital RequirementsCall to Action


For a Kick Ass Executive Summary



COMPANY OVERVIEW

This is Your Introduction

Outlines What Your Business Does with Impact

How You Address a Key Demand or Need

Hook the Investor by addressing how Big an idea or Market this could be for the right Company and Team

...with as little hyperbole as possible

....avoid a gazillion dollar market estimates




THE OPPORTUNITYThis Tells Them What and How Big Your Opportunity Is

Key Elements to Communicate:

This is a Huge Opportunity (Size / Gap / Problem / Need)

You Really Understand the Space (Interactions / Experience)

You’ve Done Your Homework (Ref. Customer feedback)

Don’t Get Caught up in the Data or showing your expertise (Entice the Investor)

Don’t Bore The Investors

Succinct but Impactful




THE SOLUTIONThis Tells Them How You and Your Team will Address the Huge

Opportunity


Summary of Your Solution (Sound Bite / Big Idea)

Your Key Elements Addressing Need/Problem/Opportunity

Strong Close and Transition to Market Size

Don’t Get Carried Away with the “HOW”, emphasize the “WHY”

Good to reference Initial Customer or Consumer Feedback / Market Insights




THE MARKETThis Tells Them What Space You Will be Competing in and

Reinforces the Opportunity


How BIG Your Market Is; How You Calculate it

Market trends - Hyper Growth? Growth? Decline?

The Channel Composition: Where’s the Power?

Market Size - Big enough to show upside, not too big to be unrealistic

Overview key Competitors as part of landscape discussion - go into depth on competitors in the next Section




THE COMPETITORSThis Tells Them If The Market Is Worthwhile and The Difficulty

of Penetration


Top 3- 5 Competitors (Size / Longevity / Offerings)

Competitor Weaknesses (Ideally from Customer Feedback)

Barriers to Entry You Can Create After Launch / Growth

Common Mistakes: Telling the Investors there are no real competitors. There are always competitors, even if its just for mind share or share of wallet

Competitors are good - they validate a market.




YOUR BUSINESS MODELThis Tells Them How You Create Value and Extract it from Your

Market


Business Model Overview (Value Proposition Sound Bite)

How You Make Money (Focus on 1, mention others)

Who Will Buy Your Product or Service (Target Consumers / Customers / Partners)

The More Real Proof That People are Prepared to Pay - the better your Valuation (Risk Mitigators Vs. Risk Takers)




THE TEAMThis Tells Them Who Is Going to Achieve Your Vision, Goals and

Milestones


Who They Are (Name, Function, Snapshot of Experience)

Why the Investor Should have Confidence / Why This Team?

Track Record (Esp. in the Space/Market)

Note: Negatives can be positives

Gaps: Show You Are Aware and Have a Plan to Fill




CURRENT PROGRESSThis Tells Them How Far You Have Taken This Business So Far


Progress Overview

Customer Progress: Contract? Commitment? Test? First Meet

Consumer Progress: Paying? Beta Testing? Letters of Intent?

Product Progress: Concept, Prototype, Beta, V1, Finished

Team Building: Key Hires, Outstanding Hires




CAPITAL REQUIREMENTSThis Tells Them How Much You Will Raise and Key Milestones to

be Achieved with Funds


Capital Funding Required

Key Milestones to be achieved with Funds: Customer / Consumer / Product / Team / Infrastructure

Common Mistakes: Including Your Expected Valuation

Common Mistakes: Allocating a significant amount to marketing in an effort to ‘create the market’




CLOSEThis Tells Them You Will Follow Up to Schedule The First

Meeting


When You Will Contact Them (Within the next 7 Days)

How (Call / Email)

If they would like to follow up - Your Contact Details




3 COMMON MISTAKES


Why Some Executive Summaries Aren’t Kick Ass

Try to Cram In Too Much TextCreate your Draft (using our Software if you have it), make sure you meet the format guidelinesPay Yourself $5 for every word you can cut out without changing the meaningThe Pay Someone Else $5 to do the same :)Every word is an excuse to stop reading - cut out BS. If its 8 pt font, this is YOUR problem!

Not Enough ‘Proof ’ i.e. too theoreticalFocus on proof e.g Paying customers, beta testers, experienced team, market expertiseWithout these (Ideas): Customer surveys, strong advisory board, letters of intent, customer verbatim / meetings

You Forget the GoalYour #1 Goal is to Get a Meeting Scheduled! Not To Close!



ENGAGING INVESTORS




WHAT TODAY GAVE YOUThe Critical Elements to Create Your Own Kick Ass Executive

Summary: This is a MUST HAVE!

Once You Know How to Create a Kick Ass Executive Summary:

You can Now get a Face-To-Face meeting with Any Investors - if they’re potentially the ‘Right’ Investors

You Now Can Successfully Start the Fund Raising Process for the Rest of Your Entrepreneurial Career

You Can realize your entrepreneurial Ambitions and Vision for Your Future




CONGRATULATIONS!You’ve Done It!

You Have Covered all the Key Elements:

You know what’s included in a Kick Ass Executive Summary

The Winning Best Practices and Format

3 of the Common Challenges to Avoid

If you have Questions or Follow Up Requirements, we’ll outline a couple of additional options next...




REMEMBER WHY YOU’RE DOING IT...


You have a Vision For Your FutureTo Create Wealth for You, Your Family and Your Community

To Have Freedom to Live Life Your WayTo Have a Fantastic, Exciting, Contributing Life

To Create Jobs



TODAY


Focused on:

Helping Passionate Founders Start, Grow and Get Ideal Investors for their Businesses through:

Coaching & Training

Workshops

Products (Funding Academy)



ADVICEThis Kick Ass Executive Summary Information is the Core of

What You Need

Additional Help is Available

Kick Ass Executive Summary Software

“Done For You” Choices:

Choice 1: We’ll Work with You to Create Your Executive Summary

Choice 2: I’ll Work with You to Create Your Executive Summary

www.TheFundingGuru.com/dfy www.TheFundingGuru.com

http://www.TheFundingGuru.com/dfy




I WANT TO WORK WITH YOU


Create Your Kick Ass Executive Summary Together

www.TheFundingGuru.com/dfy

Kick Ass Executive Summary Software

www.thefundingguru.com/go/kicksoft















http://www.thefundingguru.com/go/kicksoft

http://www.thefundingguru.com/go/kicksoft

THANKS


Funding Academy



How to Write A Kick Ass Executive Summary

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