1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Project Name: [Your Project Name]
Owner/Lead: [Your Name]
Start Date: [MM/DD/YYYY]
Target Launch: [MM/DD/YYYY]
Status: [Planning / In Progress / On Hold / Completed]

Project Vision

One-Sentence Vision Statement:
[One compelling sentence capturing what you're building, for whom, and why it matters. Example: "Build [Your Product Name] as a production-ready platform enabling [target users] to [achieve goal] within [timeframe], eliminating [key barrier]."]

Problem Statement

Current State Pain Points

• Pain Point 1: [Specific problem developers/users face today]

  • Impact: [How this affects their business/workflow]
  • Current workarounds: [What they do to cope]
  • Cost of pain: [Time lost, money spent, opportunities missed]

• Pain Point 2: [Specific problem developers/users face today]

  • Impact: [How this affects their business/workflow]
  • Current workarounds: [What they do to cope]
  • Cost of pain: [Time lost, money spent, opportunities missed]

• Pain Point 3: [Specific problem developers/users face today]

  • Impact: [How this affects their business/workflow]
  • Current workarounds: [What they do to cope]
  • Cost of pain: [Time lost, money spent, opportunities missed]

Market Opportunity

• Total Addressable Market (TAM): [Market size in $ or # of potential users]
• Serviceable Addressable Market (SAM): [What you can realistically capture]
• Growth Rate: [Market growth trajectory YoY]
• Competitive Intensity: [How crowded is this space? Who else is building?]

Solution Overview

High-Level Solution

[Clear 2-3 sentence description of how your solution solves the problems above without technical jargon]

Example: "[Your Product Name] provides [key feature 1], [key feature 2], and [key feature 3]. [Target users] can [primary action] through [main interface], which [transforms/automates process]—all without requiring [specialized knowledge/expertise]."

Key Differentiators

1. Differentiator 1: [What makes this different from competitors? e.g., "Open-source and community-driven vs. closed proprietary solutions"]
2. Differentiator 2: [What makes this different from competitors? e.g., "80% faster deployment time vs. manual development"]
3. Differentiator 3: [What makes this different from competitors? e.g., "Integrated security audits vs. developers responsible for their own auditing"]

Why Now?

• Market Signal 1: [What changed in market that makes this timely? e.g., "New regulations require better compliance tracking"]
• Market Signal 2: [Technical capability that now enables this? e.g., "Cloud infrastructure costs decreased enabling scalable solutions"]
• Market Signal 3: [Regulatory or ecosystem development? e.g., "Industry standards matured enabling better integration"]

Expected Outcomes (30-60-90 Days)

By 30 Days (MVP Launch)

• Outcome 1: [Launch outcome. e.g., "Publish [Product Name] v0.1 with core features"]
• Outcome 2: [Adoption outcome. e.g., "50+ developers in Discord community"]
• Outcome 3: [Validation outcome. e.g., "3 beta customers successfully using the system"]

By 60 Days (Early Adoption Phase)

• Outcome 1: [Scale outcome. e.g., "1000+ npm downloads, 200+ GitHub stars"]
• Outcome 2: [Partnership outcome. e.g., "2-3 strategic partnerships with major [industry] companies"]
• Outcome 3: [Revenue/funding outcome. e.g., "Secure $500K seed funding or generate $50K revenue"]

By 90 Days (Product-Market Fit Validation)

• Outcome 1: [Market outcome. e.g., "10,000+ cumulative users, 5000+ monthly active users"]
• Outcome 2: [Revenue/ecosystem outcome. e.g., "Generate $150K+ in partnerships/revenue"]
• Outcome 3: [Sustainability outcome. e.g., "Secure Series A funding or reach profitability"]

Executive Stakeholder View

For Investors/Funding

• Investment Ask: [$ amount and what it funds]
• Use of Funds:
  • Personnel: [%]
  • Infrastructure: [%]
  • Marketing: [%]
  • Other: [%]
• Expected Return: [Revenue multiple or equity upside]

For Product Stakeholders

• Primary Success Metric: [One KPI that determines success or failure]
• Secondary Metrics: [2-3 supporting metrics]
• Definition of Done: [When can we say this project succeeded?]

For Engineering Leadership

• Technical Risk Level: [Low / Medium / High - what's the risk profile?]
• Resource Demand: [# engineers, # months, $ cost]
• Dependencies: [What do we need from other teams/systems?]
• Skills Required: [Expertise gaps that need filling?]

Alignment to Organizational Strategy

Strategic Fit

• Corporate Goal 1: [How this project advances company objective. e.g., "Expand ecosystem presence"]
• Corporate Goal 2: [How this project advances company objective. e.g., "Establish category leadership in [domain]"]
• Corporate Goal 3: [How this project advances company objective. e.g., "Generate sustainable revenue stream"]

Cross-Functional Dependencies

Risk Summary (High-Level)

Critical Risks

1. Risk 1: [The single biggest risk to project success]

   • If this happens: Project timeline slips 2+ months
   • Mitigation: [How you'll prevent or recover]

2. Risk 2: [Second biggest risk]

   • If this happens: Team loses key developer
   • Mitigation: [How you'll prevent or recover]

3. Risk 3: [Third biggest risk]

   • If this happens: Market shifts or competitor launches
   • Mitigation: [How you'll prevent or recover]

[Detailed risk register lives in Section 7: Risk Management]

Success Criteria - The Bottom Line

This project is successful if and only if:

1. ✅ [Quantifiable criterion 1. e.g., "We launch MVP to npm with documented API by end of Q1"]
2. ✅ [Quantifiable criterion 2. e.g., "We acquire 500+ active users within 90 days"]
3. ✅ [Quantifiable criterion 3. e.g., "We achieve 60%+ code test coverage and zero critical security issues"]
4. ✅ [Quantifiable criterion 4. e.g., "We secure $500K in funding or generate $50K+ revenue"]

If any of these criteria is not met by 90 days, the project will be:

• Pivoted (new direction with same resources)
• Extended (additional resources for 90 more days)
• Terminated (resources reallocated)

Quick Reference: By the Numbers

This Executive Summary communicates the "why, what, and how much" to any stakeholder in 5 minutes.

Connected to: Section 2 (Objectives), Section 10 (ROI), Section 11 (Governance)