Business Plan Preparation Introduction

1. Business Plan PreparationIntroduction Frank MoyesLeeds School of BusinessUniversity of ColoradoBoulder, Colorado

2. Tonight’s Agenda • BIC & TTO concept presentations • Discuss Concepts • Introductions • Course organization & syllabus • Writing a business plan

3. Frank Moyes frank.moyes@colorado.edu Office Hours: Koelbel 440 Tuesday 10:00 to 12:00 noon Wednesday 3:00 to 5:30pm And by appointment George Deriso: geode@usa.net Websitehttp://leeds-faculty.colorado.edu/Moyes 0 Communications

4. 0 Materials • Lawrence and Moyes, Writing a Successful Business Plan, 2008 (download from Resource section of Instructor’s website) • Moyes and Lawrence, Financial Projections Model (download from Resource section of Instructor’s website)

5. Objectives of the Course • Understand what is a business plan & when to write one • Learn to write a viable business plan • Experience the process “Everything is vague to a degree you do not realize till you have tried to make it precise.” Bertrand Russell

6. Course Structure • Weeks 1: Is This a Real Business?, F2F-R • Week 2: Select concept & teams • Weeks 3 & 6: Is This a Real Business? • Week 5 to 12: Introduce sections of the B Plan • Weeks 4 to 12: In the Fire sessions • Week 14: Present business plan & hand in • Jan 2009: Competition

7. Grading • Face to Face Research • In the Fire • Team Assignments • Peer Evaluations • Individual Participation

8. Business Plan Sections • Executive Summary • Company Overview • Product/Service Plan • Market & Industry Analysis • Marketing Plan • Operations Plan • Development Plan • Management • Competitive Advantage • Financial Plan • Funding

9. Why Write a Business Plan? • Road Map • Establish goals to make sure that are on track and heading in the right direction • Action Plan • Small steps lead to large results • Sales Tool • Attract investors, vendors, customers, partners, employees “If we don’t have a plan for ourselves, we will be part of someone else’s.” Joan Lunden

10. A Good Business Plan • Explains how you are going to do it • Provides evidence that customers want to buy • Tells a story - creates excitement • Addresses the critical elements • Should be painful to write

11. Critical Elements of a Business Plan(& You Must Address) Strong market Attractive industry Compelling Need Clear value proposition Sustainable competitive advantage Understanding of profitability & cash flow Management

12. Why Not Write a Business Plan? • Lack experience • Information • Time & cost to get causes too great a delay • Can’t get • Situation changes too quickly • Founder has great experience, successful track record & has a “gut feel” for the business

13. “Writing a business plan is a life changing event.”

14. Is This a Real Business? Objective: set the stage Face to Face research Secondary research Present to entrepreneurs & investors Week 6 Oct 15

15. Discuss Concepts

16. Concept & Team Selection Process • ASAP email Business Concept Description as a Word attachment to Instructors • Must have your name & concept name in file name and on the attachment • One day later instructor to will approve concepts • Sept 17 (Wed) Complete formation of teams

17. Concept Description • Brief description • Why is there an opportunity/need? • What is the product/service? • Who is the target market? • What are the benefits to the target market? • Who is the competition? Your competitive advantage. • Profitability.

18. Assignments for Next Week • Review MBAX 6100 • Download Writing a Successful Business Plan • Decide on a concept & select team, email Instructors for approval • Hand in F2F-R Step 1: Gut Check