For reports, proposals and decks
Executive Summary Generator From Your Report
Drop your report or deck, or paste it. Get a one-page summary that leads with the answer, with every number traced to its page.
Free to start. No card needed.
Executive summary: Depot network review
Northwind serves 2,400 stores from six depots, and on-time delivery held at 94% through 2025 (p. 4).
Since March, Dayton and Columbus have run over capacity, and on-time delivery in Ohio fell to 81% (p. 11).
Merge Dayton and Columbus into one site by the third quarter, for a one-off cost of $3.2m (p. 22).
It saves $1.1m a year (p. 24), frees 40 trucks (p. 19) and pays back in under three years (p. 25).
Every figure carries its page, so you can check it.
What you'll get
A one-page summary, answer first, with every number sourced
- One page that opens with the answer, then the reasons behind it
- Every number copied from your report, with its page or section
- A one-slide version and a 100-word email, from the same read
Before and after
Your report in. The answer on page one.
A 38-page depot network review as a PDF, for a regional food distributor: delivery data for 2025, three costed options, site visit notes and a long appendix.
Executive summary: Depot network review Northwind serves 2,400 stores from six depots. On-time delivery held at 94% through 2025 (p. 4), but since March two Ohio depots have run over capacity and on-time delivery there fell to 81% (p. 11). Merge them into one site by the third quarter, for a one-off $3.2m (p. 22). Why The merged site saves $1.1m a year (p. 24) and pays back in under three years (p. 25). It frees 40 trucks for the northern routes (p. 19). One-slide headline: Merge the two Ohio depots by the third quarter to fix late deliveries and save $1.1m a year. To confirm: the Columbus lease exit date, which the report doesn't give.
Each figure carries its page, so you can check the summary against the report in a minute.
Why it works
What is an executive summary, and how do you write one?
An executive summary is a short version of a long document that a busy reader can act on without reading the rest. The USC library guide calls it a stand-alone document, clear enough that the reader can understand the whole report from it. River reads your full report or deck before it writes a word, then puts the answer on page one. Every number in the summary is copied from your file with its page or section, so you can check each one.
Leading with the answer helps because a reader who knows the conclusion reads the evidence as support, not as a puzzle. Barbara Minto's Pyramid Principle says your thinking is easiest to grasp when the ideas are organized as a pyramid under a single point. So the summary opens with the situation, the complication and the answer, then groups the reasons beneath it. If the report has no clear answer, River says so and lists what's missing rather than inventing one.
Use it on a consulting report, a board paper, a business plan, a strategic plan, a proposal or a research study, dropped as a PDF, Word file or PowerPoint deck. Alongside the page, you get a one-slide version with a headline and three points, and a 100-word email for readers who won't open the attachment. Still shaping the argument? The storyline builder turns findings into a pyramid and a slide outline. Before a deck goes out, the consulting deck review gives it a hard read.
What lands in your doc
What's in your executive summary
- A one-page summary that opens with the situation, the complication and the answer, in that order
- Three or four supporting points, each stated as a claim with the figures that back it
- Every number copied exactly from your report, with the page, slide or section it came from
- A one-slide version: a full-sentence headline and three short points you can paste onto a slide
- A 100-word email version that leads with the answer, for readers who skip the attachment
- A figure check table, plus a list of what's missing when the report has no clear answer
How it works
From report to summary
Drop your report
Drop a PDF, Word file or PowerPoint deck, up to ten files, or paste the text.
River reads everything
It reads every page before writing, noting the answer, the key figures and where each one sits.
Get your summary
One page lands in your doc with the answer first, followed by the slide and email versions.
Take it further
Tailor it for a board or a finance lead, cut it shorter, or build the full storyline.
How to write an executive summary by hand
Read the whole document first and mark three things: the recommendation or main finding, the numbers that justify it, and the page each number sits on. Then write the one sentence a busy reader most needs, before anything else. Minto's site describes a Situation, Complication, Question framework for finding the question in your reader's mind. Write one line on what was true, one on what changed, and open the summary with your answer to the question that follows.
Next, group the reasons. Pick the three or four that make the answer hold. Give each a short heading that states a claim, such as "the merged site pays back in under three years" (example), rather than a topic like "financials". Copy every figure exactly as the report gives it, with its page, and never round it again or work out a new one. Leave out the method and any background your reader already knows, and keep the whole thing to one page.
Last, test it. Read the summary on its own and ask whether someone who never opens the report could act on it. Check that it says nothing the report doesn't, and that every number matches its page. If you can't write the answer sentence at all, the report may not have one yet. That is worth finding out before your reader does, and the pyramid principle template is a good place to work the answer out first.
Questions consultants ask
Common questions
What is an executive summary?
An executive summary is a short version of a long report that lets a busy reader understand it and act without reading the rest. It states the main finding or recommendation, the reasons it holds, and what needs to happen next. It sits at the front of the report, but it is easiest to write last, once the report is final.
How long should an executive summary be?
One page is the usual target for a business or consulting report, and River writes to it. The USC library guide suggests keeping a summary to no more than 10% of the original document, so a very long study can justify more. The slide version holds three points, and the email version stays near 100 words.
What should an executive summary include?
The answer first: the recommendation, decision or main finding. Then the situation and complication that make it matter, three or four supporting points with their figures, and what happens next. Leave out method detail, background the reader already knows and any number the report doesn't contain. River follows that order every time, and the executive summary template lays it out with examples.
Will it make up numbers or facts?
No. Every figure in the summary is copied from your report with the page or section it came from, and a figure check table lists them all. If two pages give different numbers for the same thing, both are shown. If the report doesn't reach a clear answer, River says so and lists what's missing instead of writing a recommendation the report never made.
Can it summarize a PowerPoint deck?
Yes. Drop the PowerPoint file or a PDF of the deck, and River cites each figure by slide number instead of page. A deck that is mostly charts carries fewer numbers in its text. Any figure River can't find written on a slide is left out of the summary and listed for you to confirm.
How is this different from other executive summary generators?
Many generators ask for an audience and a tone, then condense your text in the order it was written. River leads with the answer, copies each figure with its page so you can check it, and says plainly when a report has no answer to summarize. You also get the slide and email versions from the same read.
Is my report private?
Files you drop in stay in your own River space unless you share them. Under River's privacy policy, nothing you upload is used to train AI models, and River's AI providers are bound by their agreements with River not to train on it either. If the report belongs to a client, check your agreement with them too.
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Put the answer on page one
Drop your report or paste it. Every number in the summary points to its page, so you can check it before it goes out.