WRITING FOR BUSINESS 1

Writing in a Business Context

1. Writing a business memo, email, or short analysis is not like other writing.
● If you are writing to someone important, they probably have little time and a short
attention span. Use what attention you get wisely.
● Have a firm recommendation and analysis of an issue your reader needs to act on. Do
not ramble, insert extraneous detail, or stray from the point. You do not need to
entertain: a clearly and concisely stated opinion with analysis to back it up is already
interesting.

2. Get to the point quickly.

● Put your bottom-line up front (the military calls this BLUF.)
● Write your conclusion or recommendation immediately, while you still have your
reader’s attention. Then back it up with analysis and facts. Barbara Minto, ex-McKinsey,
calls this The Pyramid Principle.

Source: Barbara Minto: “MECE: I invented it, so I get to say how to pronounce it”

● Order of explication:
o Summary of why you are writing, in 2-3 sentences.
o Your recommendation. Be blunt. This is a call to action.
o Arguments supporting your recommendation.
o Supporting data and analyses.
● If you are writing an email, use a 39-character or fewer subject line that lets the
recipient know what to expect: “YouTube Investment Recommendation”
● Read this for more: The Pyramid Principle - Lessons from McKinsey

3. Make it readable.
● Re-read your writing. Read it out loud: this forces you to read what’s on the page, not
what’s in your head.
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● Use fewer words. Ask yourself about every single word and sentence: can I take this out
without losing meaning? Don’t use three words where one will do: instead of saying
“this is indicative of”, say “this indicates”.
● If you are using a formula, don’t describe it, write it. Math is a universal language.
● If a sentence is more than 20 words, would it be better shorter?
● Keep it simple. If it seems complicated to you, it’s probably incomprehensible to your
reader.
● Don’t use a long word where a short one will do.
● Jargon is fine so long as it is jargon you are sure your reader shares and is not needless.
● Be direct: instead of “consumer-oriented smartphone software that allows
communication between home and restaurant” just write “a food-delivery app.”
● Worth reading: How to Improve Your Business Writing

4. Organize for comprehensibility

● Organize with section headings.
● Use lists or bullet points to organize several points that are related.
● Are you explaining data in a sentence or paragraph? Why not use a table or a chart?
● If you are deriving a number from a formula, such as market size, organize the
calculation into a table or similar so it is easy to read.

The U.S. Venture Capital Information Market in 2018

Number of US VC firms 1,047 (Source: 2018 NVCA Yearbook)
Price per firm per year x $100,000 (Our estimate)
Market size (per year) $105 million

● Tables are also great for comparing features of several options.

● If you want to show change over time, a chart is highly preferable.
● If you want to show interrelationships between entities (companies, activities, ideas,
etc.), a picture often works better.
● Keep charts, figures, tables and data with the text that describes them.

5. Cite third-party data.

● If you use someone else’s data or analysis, you must cite it. Citations should include
author, title, source, date, and URL (if available).
● The purpose of a citation is to:
o Give credit where credit is due.
o Allow the reader to independently verify the data.
o Give an indication of the source so the reader can form an opinion of its validity.
● Citations are much more credible than your own opinion unless you are acknowledged
as an expert on the subject. Citing credible sources makes your writing more credible.
● Don’t let the citation interrupt the flow of the writing. You can use footnotes or short
citations with a bibliography. Ie. “Source: 2018 NVCA Yearbook”.

6. If it’s good enough for Sequoia… Sequoia_Youtube investment memo.pdf

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This document is free (as in beer) to use, share, change, whatever.

It was written by @ganeumann with the help of many people on twitter. See these threads for
contributions:
● https://twitter.com/ganeumann/status/1226621308399751169?s=20
● https://twitter.com/ganeumann/status/1227044247964176384?s=20

Feel free to remove this page before distributing.

Here’s a link to the original Google Doc, in case you’re looking at a copy and want to see if there
were any changes: Writing for business