Application for Youth Entrepreneurship Fair
March 2007

Executive Summary

The executive summary portion of a business plan will be used as the application for the Baca County youth entrepreneurship fair. An executive summary is a summary of the key elements of your business plan. The executive summary is sometimes all the potential investor or lender will read, so it must capture his/her attention. An effective summary will properly position your company and help to distinguish your concept from the competition. It should be concise, persuasive and no more than two to three pages in length. If the executive summary fails to move your potential investor into the depths of your plan, it has failed to do its job. The Executive Summary should include:

• A description of your business and its target markets, what differentiates your company's product or service and your company's strategy for success.
• A description of your management team, including their skills, experience and weaknesses.
• A summary of financial data such as how much funding is needed to start-up, when you will break even. A break-even analysis allows you to demonstrate when your business will reach its break-even point - when sales will reach a level to cover expenses. A break-even analysis can tell you quickly if your costs are too high or if the price of your product or service is too low. A basic breakeven formula is: BE = FC/(P-VC). BE = Break-even: The point where total costs equal total revenue FC = Fixed Costs: Costs that remain constant over time such as rent insurance, interest, salaries, etc. P = Price: Money received for a product or service VC = Variable Costs per unit: the per unit costs that vary directly with sales volume such as manufacturing labor, materials, sales costs, etc.
• A summary of funding requirements, when the funds will be needed, where the funding will come from and how it will be spent.

The business project will be judged on the following criteria: