Summary of Management

Your business plan's Summary of Management is the foundation the entire plan rests upon. Your business concept must obviously be viable, but your company will not run itself. It requires a steady hand, patience, critical thinking, and especially the ability to take a risk. A business plan's Management Summary will begin with the founder, followed by the managers who will oversee all day-to-day operations. You should always keep the Management Summary limited to the five or six people who are (or will be) most responsible for the success of your business concept.

Ideally, a start-up business plan's Management Summary will display the owner's experience in the industry s/he wants to enter. A summary is almost always a distillation of a manager/owner's resume, but you don't need to list experiences that are not essential to your business plan. The ideal Management Summary emphasizes your specific responsibilities, positions, and previous successes.

Another key for the Management Summary is how you will structure your company. Your lines of authority can be structured traditionally as "top-down," where information is consolidated into one or two sources, or it can be set up to more horizontal. In the latter case, your employees will have increased authority to manage their daily duties and responsibilities. This can have a dramatically positive effect on work flow, since motivated employees can often pace themselves better when they have unfettered access to information. On the other hand, hierarchies are ideal for smaller companies where the central control of information can keep operations streamlined.

Business Plan Consultants can also help strengthen a company's management structure. They can fulfill the roles that would normally go to full-time employees-without the expense of a full-time employee. Having a "star" with outstanding track records are also welcome additions to any Management Summary and should be featured prominently. Companies that are interested in incorporated (or existing companies that have already done so) need to have a Board of Directors. Though it's little more than a legal entity, a Board of Directors are often venture capitalists who have invested and desire a measure of control over the company's direction. They can also provide valuable insight from their years of experience in the business "trenches."