Resume template · Updated October 2026
Resume template for entrepreneurs and business owners
Short answer
Olivia suits a founder heading back into employment: it prints the business skills an employer hires for above the founder title, and its blue header band makes the page stand out on screen. The fictional sample built a prepared-meal company to 14 staff and sold it in 2026, and now applies for operations and general manager roles, with the sale stated plainly.
Download the entrepreneur sample
Tomas is a fictional operations leader. Replace every detail with your own before you send it.
The files are made in your browser by Resumity's own exporters, from this sample. The builder opens it as your own resume: click any line to replace it. Free plan, no watermark.
Why Olivia suits an entrepreneur resume
Olivia prints skills above work experience, so P&L ownership, food cost control and hiring are read before "Founder and Owner", a title some employers approach with caution. Its full-width blue header band with the name in white makes the page stand out on screen at first glance, which suits someone used to selling their own business.
Second choice: Catalyst. Catalyst opens on the founder role itself with no summary; choose it when the business is known in your industry and speaks for itself.
What goes in each section, in Olivia's order
Olivia prints its sections in a fixed order, the same in the PDF and the Word file. Here is that order for this sample, and what to put in each section.
- Professional Summary. Lead with the function you want to do for an employer (operations, sales, general management) and use the business you built as the evidence. Say how the venture ended or where it stands, so the reader is not left wondering whether you will go back to it.
- Skills. Turn the founder's do-everything job into the skills an employer hires for: P&L ownership, supplier negotiation, hiring. Drop owner tasks the target job will not ask of you, such as bookkeeping for a role with its own finance team.
- Work Experience. Use a plain title such as "Founder and Owner" and give the business the detail you would give an employer: what it did, how big it got and what you personally ran. The last bullet says how it ended: sold, closed or handed over.
- Education. One line. Owner-operators are judged on the business, so the degree stays brief.
- Certifications. A licence or certificate you held as owner, here a food safety manager credential, transfers straight to an employer. It prints near the end, so repeat it in the summary if the posting requires it.
The sample resume as text
The same content as the files above, so you can copy a line or compare it with your own.
Tomas Herrera
Operations Leader, Food Production and Hospitality
San Antonio, TX | tomas.herrera@example.com | (210) 555-0154 | linkedin.com/in/sample-tomas-herrera
Operations leader who founded and ran a prepared-meal company for seven years, growing it to 14 staff and about 1,800 weekly orders before selling it in 2026. Owns a P&L, negotiates with suppliers and builds kitchen teams that run without the founder in the room. Looking for an operations or general manager role in food production or hospitality.
Experience
Founder and Owner, Verde Table Meal Co., San Antonio, TX (03/2019 to 06/2026)
- Started a prepared-meal delivery business from a rented commercial kitchen and grew it to 14 staff and about 1,800 weekly orders.
- Ran operations end to end: menu costing, supplier contracts, health inspections and delivery routes.
- Kept food cost near 30% of revenue by renegotiating produce contracts twice a year.
- Hired, trained and scheduled kitchen and delivery staff; promoted three shift leads from within.
- Sold the business to a regional catering group in 06/2026 and stayed on for a two-month handover.
Kitchen Manager, Lone Oak Bistro, San Antonio, TX (05/2014 to 02/2019)
- Managed a kitchen team of 12 serving about 250 covers a night.
- Cut weekly food waste by moving ordering to par levels.
- Trained two line cooks who later became sous chefs.
Education
Associate of Applied Science, Culinary Arts, Bexar Valley College (05/2013)
Certifications
- ServSafe Food Protection Manager Certification, National Restaurant Association (2024)
Skills
P&L management, Food cost control, Supplier negotiation, Hiring and training, Food safety compliance, QuickBooks Online, Shopify, Toast POS, Excel, Decisive under pressure, Clear with staff and suppliers
How to make the sample yours
Decide which numbers to share
Revenue, margins and sale price are yours to share or keep. Ratios and volumes ("food cost near 30%", "1,800 weekly orders") show business sense without revealing what you would rather keep private.
Find references who are not you
Founders have no manager to call. Ask a long-term client, a supplier, an investor, the buyer of the business or a former senior employee.
Explain the ending in one line
Sold, merged, wound down or still trading under a manager: each is fine, and saying which answers the commitment question before it is asked.
Still running the business?
If it trades while you job hunt, explain in the cover letter how it will be run (by a partner, a manager, or wound down) and expect the question in interviews.
Keep the founder title modest
For a small company, "CEO" sounds like a stretch. "Founder and Owner" or "Owner-operator" is accurate and more believable.
Keywords to keep where they are true
Terms this kind of resume is usually searched for. Use the posting's exact wording, and only for work you have done.
- P&L management
- operations management
- business development
- supplier negotiation
- food cost control
- hiring and training
- scaling a business
- food safety
- budgeting
- customer acquisition
- founder
- general management
Mistakes to avoid
- A title such as "CEO and Visionary" for a small company. Readers discount the whole entry.
- Listing every task you did as owner, from taxes to window cleaning. Keep the ones the job you want will use.
- Leaving the business's status unclear, so the reader wonders whether you plan to keep running it.
- Criticising a partner, an investor or the buyer when describing how the business ended.
How the sample PDF reads in text extractors
We exported this sample with Resumity's PDF exporter in Chrome on 2026-10-29 and read the file back with three open-source text extractors. This shows whether software that turns a PDF into text can recover it; it is not a test of any commercial applicant tracking system. How we test templates.
| Extractor | Name, email, phone | Headings | Bullets intact |
|---|---|---|---|
| pdf.js 4.10.38 | All found | 5 of 5 | 8 of 8 |
| pdftotext (Xpdf) 4.00 | All found | 5 of 5 | 8 of 8 |
| pypdf 6.13.0 | All found | 5 of 5 | 8 of 8 |
Frequently asked questions
How do I put my own business on a resume?
As a job entry: your title (Founder and Owner), the business name, location and dates, with bullets on what it did, how it grew and what you ran yourself. End with how it ended or its current status.
Will employers hire a former business owner?
Yes, especially for roles that need someone who has run things, such as operations or general management. Address the usual worries on the page: show you can work within a team and say the business is sold, closed or in other hands.
Who can I use as a reference if I was self-employed?
Clients, suppliers, investors, an accountant who knew the business, the buyer if you sold it, or senior staff who worked for you. Ask each one before you list them.
Should I mention a business that failed?
Yes, if it lasted long enough to show something. What you built, learned and handled while winding it down is real experience, and a clear end date beats an unexplained gap.
How do I show results without sharing private numbers?
Use ratios, volumes and growth instead of exact revenue: staff numbers, orders a week, customers served, "doubled weekly orders in two years". Include only figures you are happy to discuss.
Will applicant tracking systems read this Olivia PDF?
The sample PDF read back with its contact details, all 5 section headings and all 8 bullets intact in three open-source text extractors (pdf.js, pdftotext and pypdf). Commercial systems such as Workday, Greenhouse or Taleo were not tested, and each employer configures its own.