Executive summaries template: eight slots, cut to one page

If a summary runs past one page, either the business is genuinely complicated or one slot has been allowed to grow into a section. Cutting is the last job in filling the template and the one that takes longest, and it goes faster when you cut by slot rather than by sentence.

The aim is not a shorter page. It is a page in which each of the eight slots still answers its question in the space it has been given. Fill it in only after the rest of the document exists, and take every figure from the model rather than from memory.

What to take away

Cut by slotprotect the eight slots, and shorten the one that has grown.
Share the page between the slots before you write, and hold each to its share.
Material that does not fit a slot almost always belongs in the section it came from.
A slot that will not fill is a task for the plan, not a space to pad.

The skeleton to cut back to

Replace the bracketed text and delete the notes as you go. Eight slots and a contact line fit on one page, and a draft that has outgrown it is cut back to this shape.

[Business name] sells [the unit a customer buys] to [who buys it], through [how it reaches them].

[The strongest evidence that they buy it, stated as something you can demonstrate.]

[What you want from this reader, as a number, and the itemized thing it buys.]

[How the money comes back, and when: the mechanism, not an adjective.]

[Who runs the business day to day, and the one qualification that predicts performance here.]

[The risk you take most seriously, and what you have already done about it.]

[Where the business stands today: trading since a date, or opening on a date.]

[What happens if this reader says yes: the first step, and when it happens.]

[Name, phone, email.]

Protect the eight slots before you cut

Cut by slot, not by sentence. Eight slots and a contact line make a one-page summary, and each slot exists because a reader asks that question whether or not you answer it. Cutting a slot saves words and loses the answer.

Executive summary: eight slots

Trading sentencewhat is this, exactly?
Evidencedoes anyone actually buy it?
The askwhat do you want from me?
Return mechanismhow do I get paid back?
Operatorwho is doing this?
Riskwhat is the catch?
Stagehow far along is this?
Next stepwhat happens if I agree?

Slot	What must survive the cut	What goes first
Trading sentence	A sentence a reader outside your industry can repeat back	Industry background
Evidence	Proof that someone actually buys it	A market size standing in for a customer
The ask	A number, and the itemized thing it buys	Vagueness, and anything that buries it at the end
Return mechanism	How the money comes back, and when	Talk of profit with no cash timing
The operator	The one qualification that predicts performance here	The biography
The risk	The risk you take most seriously, and what you did about it	Claims that everything is managed
Stage	Where the business stands, with a date	Intentions written in the present tense
Next step	What happens if the reader agrees	A closing line that asks for nothing

The risk slot is the one writers delete last thing at night. Keep it. A reader given no risk supplies one from imagination, and the invented version is usually worse than yours and never framed your way.

Slot questions and failure modes

Slot

Trading sentence: What is this, exactly?
Evidence: Does anyone actually buy it?
The ask: What do you want from me?
Return mechanism: How do I get paid back?
Operator: Who is doing this?
Risk: What is the catch?
Stage: How far along is this?
Next step: What happens if I agree?

Question it answers

Trading sentence: Outsider cannot repeat it back
Evidence: Proof is market size, not customer
The ask: Number absent, vague, or buried
Return mechanism: Describes profit, never cash timing
Operator: Reads as biography, not qualification
Risk: Everything described as managed
Stage: Intention written in present tense
Next step: Page ends without asking anything

It has failed when

Trading sentence
Evidence
The ask
Return mechanism
Operator
Risk
Stage
Next step

The eight-slot checklist lists the same slots as questions, which is a quick way to confirm that nothing has been cut that a reader would then have to ask out loud.

Share the page between the slots

Decide before you write how much of the page each slot gets, and hold to it. The share is what turns a description into a summary, because it forces each slot to make its point and stop before it grows into a section of its own.

The SBA's guidance on planning your business asks the executive summary to briefly tell your reader what the company is and why it will be successful. A fixed share per slot is how you keep to that: the ask and the evidence take more room than the stage line.

Word budget per slot

1 sentenceTrading sentence, under thirty words
2 sentencesEvidence
1 sentence + listThe ask
2-3 sentencesReturn mechanism
1 sentence eachOperator, max two people
2 sentencesRisk name it, then what you did
1 clauseStage
1 sentenceNext step

When a slot runs over, the extra material almost always belongs in the section it came from. Move it there and refer to that section by name so the reader knows where to look. Industry context, for instance, belongs in the market work, where it can be sourced properly.

Rebuild in fill order, then cut

If a draft has grown out of shape, rebuild it rather than trim it. Fill the slots again in this order, which is not the order the reader meets them, and make cutting the final step.

The ask first.Everything else on the page is either support for it or an obstacle to it. Written last, it comes out apologetic.
Then the return mechanism, copied from the cash forecast rather than reasoned from the profit line.
Then the evidence, chosen by asking which single fact you would put in front of someone who does not believe you.
Then the trading sentence, which is easier now, because you know which part of the business this reader is buying.
Then stage, operator and risk.These are statements of fact and take ten minutes between them.
Then the next step, which is a date and an action.
Then cut.This is the part that takes longest.

Fill order, not reading order

The ask firsteverything else supports or blocks it
Return mechanismcopy from cash forecast
Evidencethe one fact a sceptic needs
Trading sentencenow you know what is being bought
Stage, operator, riskstatements of fact
Next stepa date and an action
Then cutthe part that takes longest

The order of the document behind the page is a separate question, and the plan template sets out a working sequence for it.

Delete three kinds of sentence

Three kinds of sentence can be deleted on sight, whichever slot they sit in. Each one takes up room that a fact should occupy, and removing them is the quickest way to bring a slot back inside its budget.

Delete on sight

Anything about the industry
Anything describing the document
Adjectives doing a number's job
Strong demand, significant savings, extensive experience

Anything about the industry. The reader either knows it or does not care yet. Industry context belongs in the market section, where it can be sourced.

Anything that describes the document. "This plan sets out our strategy for growth" is a table of contents. The reader is holding the document.

Any adjective doing a number's job. Strong demand, significant savings, extensive experience. Replace each with the fact underneath it, or cut the sentence. If there is no fact underneath, you have found your next research task.

The SEC's Plain English Handbook makes the same point about wording: omit superfluous words, meaning words that can be replaced with fewer words that mean the same thing.

When a slot will not fill, do not pad it

Treat the blank as a diagnostic rather than a writing problem. A slot filled with padding hides the gap from you, while the reader still senses it. A slot you cannot fill tells you something useful: the gap is in the plan, not the wording.

Blank slot diagnosis

No evidence?

Yes

Talk to someone who would buy

Move on

No evidence means you have not spoken to anyone who would buy this; your next job is talking to them.

No return mechanism means the cash forecast either does not exist or does not work; no wording will cover that.

No risk means you have not written down what must go wrong; that takes half an hour with a pen.

A vague ask usually means the sources and uses do not yet total the same, or that you have not settled which of the funding routes you are asking about. The honest move is to go back to the numbers rather than round the request.

That is the point of a tight skeleton. It fails visibly, early, and in the cheapest place to fail.

Common questions

Can I fill the skeleton in before the plan is written?

Do it as a thinking exercise, because it shows you fast which parts of the business you cannot describe. Then throw that version away and refill it from the finished document. The draft is a tool, not the page you send.

Does the slot order on the page have to match the fill order?

No, and it should change with the reader. Keep the trading sentence first. After that, promote whatever that reader cares most about: cash timing for a lender, size of the outcome for an equity reader, stability for a landlord. The summaries overview sets out what each of them is reading for.

What if a slot repeats the plan word for word?

That is correct. The summary is drawn from the plan and should carry the same claims in the same figures. The failure case is a summary that says something the plan does not.

Should each slot get its own heading?

Not on a one-page summary. Headings over eight short blocks make the page look like a form. Use them only where the reader has asked for labeled sections, which some application processes do.