Business Plan Creation to Investor Project

Your business plan creation to investors should contain all of the elements of Guy Kawasaki framework.  Students will use Guy Kawasaki’s 10-20-30 framework for their written business plan creation paper, PowerPoint Slide Presentation and Oral Presentation.  The grading rubric below will be used for your written portion of the project.  You will have a separate grading rubric for your oral presentation.  Ample discussion will be given to each of the following sections:

Title page—5 points

Grab attention!  Provide a tag line, quote, quick story that is going to peak interest!  
Provide the company name and your name.  Get right to the point and tell us what you do.  E.g. (we protect the environment, we sell computers).

Problem / Opportunity —10 points

Describe the pain that you are alleviating or the pleasure you are providing.  Give an overview of the problem / opportunity.  What is the reason you are pitching this plan?  The goal is to capture your audience’s attention and get everybody “buying in”.

Value Proposition (Solution) —10 points

Explain the value of the pain you are alleviating or the value of the pleasure you provide. Summarize why a consumer should buy a product or use a service. This statement convinces a potential consumer that one particular product or service will add more value or better solve a problem than other similar offerings.  How does your solution create value for the customer? http://www.investopedia.com/terms/v/valueproposition.asp (Links to an external site.)

Underlying Magic —10 points

Describe technology, secret sauce or magic behind your product / service.  Pictures are worth 1000 words – use charts, diagrams, flow charts.  Do not get too “techy”.  Just provide the gist of how you fix the pain.  E.g. (Apple’s secret sauce is in the way it designs its computers). Whole Foods’ secret sauce is its reputation and branding for healthy and organic foods.  In other words, what sets your product or service apart or differentiates your product / service from others? Proof of business concepts are helpful here.

Business Model —5 points

Explain who has your money temporarily in his/her pocket and how you are going to get it into yours.  How will your product or service be delivered?  If you are not going to distribute your product, discuss your distribution plan in this section.

Marketing Plan—15 points

Go-to-Market Plan – Explain how you are going to reach your customers without breaking the bank e.g. (trade shows).  Explain the 4 P’s of marketing here for your product or service.

Competitive Analysis—5 points

Provide complete view of the competitive landscape.  Too much is better than too little.  Perhaps interview owners/managers of services.  Research library databases that give you industry overviews on the service or product you want to sell.  Everyone (investors, customers, employees, etc. want to hear why you are good; not why the competition is bad.

Management Team—10 points

Describe key players of your management team, board of directors, board of advisors, as well as your major investors.  It is ok if you have less than a perfect team.  If your team was perfect you wouldn’t need to be pitching.  What is your plan for staffing your business?  Who needs to be hired and when?  Discussion your team’s marketing, production, and financial expertise?  Do some market research for how much these people will be paid.  The Department of Labor and Bureau of Labor Statistics have excellent information on median salaries of many types of jobs.

Financial Projections—20 points

Prepare proforma financial statements for at least 3 years.  You must prepare an income statement, balance sheet, and statement of cash flows.  Call upon your experience in our financial module and in-class exercises on these statements.  Make sure your numbers are reasonable, well-researched, and tie out.  You should explain at a high level how some of these calculations were made.

Current Status, Accomplishments to Date, Timeline and Use of Funds—10 points

Explain current status of your product / service or industry in this area.  What does your timeline look like for the near future look like?  How will you use the money you are trying to raise.

 
Students will submit a written 5-page paper at a minimum outlining their business venture.  Write your paper in Times New Roman, 12 font, double-spaced with proper APA writing style using subheadings (e.g. Financial Projections).  
 
You may only use one quotation for your paper.  Your paper should be no more than 15% Turnitin Score.  Make sure you include any in-text citations within the paper.  Your sources in your reference page should be on a separate page listed on the last page of your paper and each reference should coincide with your in-text citations.  References need to be in alphabetical order.