Executive Summary Criteria for the Business Plan Competition

The executive summary should be no longer than four pages (font size not less than 10pt,) and ideally contains the following recommended sections:

• Opportunity - a brief description of the opportunity, including:  the product/service, the target market, the problem your business solves, and how the business will solve the problem.
  
• Company overview – description of the business model (how venture functions to create and capture value); history, milestones, and future plans. Existing businesses should summarize their performance to date.
  
• Management team – a list of key members of the team, their qualifications, track record, and role in the new venture.
  
• Products or service– description of products/services, including competitive advantages. Include any future product development or expansion plans.
  
• Market analysis – description of the target market, competitive landscape, and reasons customers will purchase your products.
  
• Required funds and uses – summary of the funds required to start (or expand) the business and how they will be used.
  
• Summary of financial projections – summary of the first three years of projections, including statements of - cash flow, P&L, & BS.

Executive Summary Criteria for the Social Entrepreneurship Competition

The executive summary should be no longer than four pages (font size not less than 10pt,) and ideally contains the following recommended sections.  Participants will not only be judged on the viability of their business, but on their impact on elements of the triple bottom line (people, planet and profit).

Social Venture’s Description, Mission and Purpose

• Provide a clearly stated description of the proposed venture’s service, product or offering.
• A clearly stated idea for the new venture that is aligned to the mission statement.

Social Opportunity

• What social need or problem does the venture address?
• What is the value proposition addressing the social need or opportunity?
• Does the plan adequately describe how it will address the social need or opportunity? Is the social impact apparent?
• Who are the intended beneficiaries of this venture? Describe the target market.
• Analysis of the market and the competitive landscape. How is this issue currently being addressed? Tell us about the value chain and value network. Is the proposed venture that much better than what currently exists?

Organizational/Network Information

• How are you structured? Include information on how the team is organized and each individual’s role in the new venture. Who is on the board of the venture?
• What relevant experience do the players bring to this venture?
• With most ventures, especially social focused ones, partnerships are key to funding and ensure that efforts/resources are not duplicated.  What synergies are you planning to exploit? Are there collaborations with others doing similar or complementary activities?
• Does the team have access to people and contacts with experience?

Feasibility Analysis

• What are the feedback mechanisms in place and plans for periodic evaluation of the venture? What are the appropriate measurement dimensions that track the progress of the venture ($$$, hours, people saved, etc)?
• Is there a plan for growth in the future? Is the venture scalable?
• Does the technology exist that makes your venture technically feasible?
• State the competitive sustainable advantage. How is your strategy different from others? How creative is your idea?
• What are the margins in the industry?
• Does the industry structure help support high margins over time? What competitive responses could you expect that might put pressure on your margins?
• How is/are the channels of distribution incented?  Is this sufficient and compelling to assure the venture receives adequate market exposure?
• Within the channels, how is value created and captured by channel members?
• What are the intangibles that make the business so compelling?

Summary of Financial Projections

• How much start up funding is required to start or expand the venture?
• Three year summary table of pro forma financial statements (cash flow, revenues and expenditures, balance sheet) including assumptions and capital requirements.
• Framework by which you assess triple bottom line impact (social, economic and environmental). (An SROI is an acceptable measurement.)