ASSIGNMENT: Customer Research

Contact at least three potential customers regarding your proposed product or service. At least one of these should be a potential distribution channel for you to reach your target market. Prepare a one to two-page summary of your customer research. Provide a copy of any survey used and a description of the survey methodology. Make sure to obtain quantitative information such as the number of potential customers that exist, the prices they are willing to pay, the economic value of your product or service to the customer. Also collect qualitative facts such as purchasing cycles and decision-makers involved, the likely barriers to adoption of your product or service, and why your product makes sense in the use environment of your target users and customers.

ASSIGNMENT: Competitor Research

Identify your potential competitors and analyze the dimensions of competition in this industry. What are the issues of distribution and what is the likelihood of forming strategic alliances? Who are your potential allies? Prepare a one to two-page summary of your competitor research.

ASSIGNMENT: Market, Goals and Strategy

This is the first major section of your team's business plan. It should draw on the fact base developed through your research on customers and competitors. Use the document from the course packet, "Useful Guidelines for Preparing Business Plans," as a sounding board as you consider the aspects of your market and strategy that need most detail. Hand in a 3 to 5 page document quantifying the market opportunity, what you expect to accomplish in attacking that opportunity and detailing your strategy for achieving your dollar goals. Attach any exhibits such as market projections, customer testimonials, survey data, press clippings, product specifications, or marketing materials for your product or service.

ASSIGNMENT: Operations

Prepare a 3 to 5 page document that presents the workings of this new venture. What are the critical success factors for achieving your goals and how do you reflect these priorities in your plans to execute in all important aspects of building the venture? For example, how will you hire people and what kind of people will you need? How will you develop your products, build a sales force, form distribution partnerships, select locations, generate positive publicity, protect your intellectual property, and manufacture your products? What are the critical risks involved in this process and how does this venture roll out over time? In short, present a detailed picture of the venture's operations as it grows from today to two years out, five years out and into the future. It will be useful to take a first detailed cut at financial projections in order to see how the operations of this venture scale up in terms of revenues, units sold, customers or other drivers of growth. In this process you will conceptualize fully the economics of your venture. A series of generic spreadsheet models that the TA's will provide will help you to think through the sales growth and hiring needs of this venture.

ASSIGNMENT: Team

Hand in a 2 to 3 page summary of the team that spells out qualifications of your team members in pursuing this venture and the job descriptions of the main people you will need to develop your team going forward. It is commonly said that venture capitalists don't invest in ideas but rather in people. On a separate, single sheet, provide a break-down of the percentages of equity in the firm held by each of the members of the founding team. If you need outside equity funding, provide a one paragraph statement of how much ownership the team is willing to give up in exchange for outside capital.

ASSIGNMENT: Financials

Hand in a full set of financial analyses for the venture including a dollar valuation of the venture. Make sure to note all assumptions. The financials quantify the dollar goals and strategy of the venture and require you to think through the specific investments needed to make the venture happen.

ASSIGNMENT: Business Plan (complete)

Hand in your complete business plan with cover page and a final Executive Summary of capturing the highlights of your venture, a schedule of next steps and a brief assessment of the critical risks involved. The complete business plan contains the major sections listed above: Market & Strategy, Operations, Team, and Financials, as well as any other information or exhibits that are a directly relevant to the audiences for your plan: founders, potential investors, advisors, potential customers and partners, employees, and even spouses and family members.

ASSIGNMENT: Business Plan Presentation

Prepare a 15 minute presentation selling the virtues of your venture opportunity. This is intended to be the first (and potentially last) opportunity to sell a group of investors on your venture. The presentation should highlight the critical elements of your venture, but is not simply an elocution of your business plan executive summary. Use visual aids to dazzle your audience. Impress the investors with concise market analysis and solid data. Expect to be questioned by the audience on salient features of your plan.