Business Informational Report
Lap Zap Innovations: Laptop Charging Case
By: NAMES
Table of Contents
Article I: Company Description
What does LapZap Innovations stand for?
Article II: Executive Summary
What do you need to know about our venture?
Article III: Organization and Management
Who is on our team?
Article IV: Product Line
What does it mean to own a LapZap?
Article V: Market Analysis
Who needs this product and why?
Article VI: Marketing and Sales
Who are our target consumers and why?
Article VII: Funding Request
How can you become a member of the LapZap team?
Article VIII: Financial Projections
What are the numbers?
- Company Description
“The Lap Zap team aims to mobilize the convenience of our innovation to the working world, from college students to CEOs. Your information is powerful, and it deserves to be sustained, depended upon, and protected.” –The LapZap Mission Statement
Campus quads, board meetings, and airports glow and buzz with the whirr of laptops. The beauty of these machines lies in their portability, but we have a love-hate relationship with their lifelines: the chargers. An ambitious team of five college students put their heads together to pinpoint a problem, unite in grievance, and take action to fix it. Lap Zap was born. The Lap Zap line of laptop charging cases was formulated in 2014 to meet the demands of a capable world: a world that shouldn’t be bound by something as trivial as a battery percentage.
Our beliefs are reflective of a business started by ambition and geared toward ambition. We stand by the idea that the same ambition that fuels the pride we have in our company lies within achievers worldwide. We, the Lap Zap team, encourage you to place trust in our product, because we know your mind and your device have the potential to foster greatness.
- Executive Summary
The most important thing we want you to know about our company, our product, and our mission is this: LapZap strives to develop innovatively, produce efficiently, and market broadly. Although we are a startup company, we have evidence that suggests certain materials will best cater to the needs of our target customers. By using lithium-ion batteries, we can ensure the highest-quality product for our customers, while still keeping production costs at under $100 per unit. After much consideration, we decided to market our product at $120 per unit. Although this is a $20 profit margin, we know that by keeping our price down, we can better cater to a huge sector of our target audience: college students. As a startup business, we are asking $350,000 for a 25% stake in our company.
- Organization and Management
(Group member names) are all current first-year students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After recognizing their strong teamwork in class and capabilities to innovate, they decided to combat a collective grievance. They designed a product that they knew would be helpful to college students as well as traveling businesspeople, and created LapZap Innovations. Their establishment of the company in 2014 will not be the pinnacle of their success, however; all five team members are looking to continue their educations in business and entrepreneurship. Since this is their first time creating a product line and developing ways to sell it, the LapZap team brings a fresh perspective on how to attract the attention of fellow classmates and businesspeople. NAME leads and supervises the manufacturing team. NAME is in charge of distribution to stores and customers. NAME manages the advertising and publicity. NAME designs new product styles. NAME is in command of finances and packaging. Ownership of the company is split equally between all five students.
- Product Line
Our product is simple: it is a protective laptop case that serves as a charger. Our product targets high school and college students as well as traveling businessmen. The case encloses the outside of the laptop and prevents scratches, dents, and other surface damage. The case contains an external battery that plugs into the charging port when the case is installed. It is as lightweight as possible, so students and travelers do not have to worry about additional weight on-the-go. We all know that any laptop that weighs around 6.5 pounds is “a pain in the shoulder” (Grobart 2012) and we know that any battery we would add would need to be minimal in weight but maximized in power strength. The case is charged by using the LapZap charging cord to connect your laptop’s normal port into a regular wall socket. The laptop will be charged first, followed by the LapZap case. There is a basic model with a battery that attaches to the bottom of the laptop, and it has a switch to turn on the secondary battery. This model only protects the bottom of the laptop, not the top. Our upscale model is a full case that protects all parts of the laptop. The battery is still underneath the laptop, but there is a separate component of the case that attaches to the top of the laptop. This case guarantees full protection of the outside of the laptop and the LapZap Company will have a warranty with this case. These cases are designed for multiple types of computers, including all types of Macbooks and Thinkpads. The cases can be customized with different colors and designs for a small fee.
We are currently filing for a patent to eliminate all other competition for this product. The patent includes the case design and the charging aspect. Patents in the United States must be filed within a year of public disclosure of design, so we are anxious to get this process underway (Carron 2014). We know the guidance of a shark would assist in this process.
- Market Analysis
In the technological world we live in today, it is almost guaranteed that any workplace, campus, or public setting contains someone working on a laptop. A laptop is a necessity, but these ingenious machines are quickly rendered useless without a battery charge. Although battery-life technology today continues to improve, people are using their computers more than ever and in turn, battery power dwindles throughout the day and night. Also, as time goes on, battery life continually drains over time and the battery life slowly decreases because of the chemicals inside of the battery (Jones, 2013).
College students are on their computers non-stop studying or completing their homework. Picture this: when all the work is done, a student wants to watch a movie on his or her laptop, but at this point, the battery would not be able to survive through the movie. Most college students find it to be a hassle to have to remember to bring a charger along with them everywhere they go, and this bulky apparatus is also just plain cumbersome. In a recent survey, it was found that 67% of college students say that their biggest fear is their technology failing while they work and 81% of students say they can’t imagine doing schoolwork without a laptop (Schoolguides, 2014). The LapZap Laptop Charging Case allows for the student to simplify their priorities as well as the contents of their backpacks for doubly long as before...and for some students, this could extend the lives of their devices for days.
Traveling businessmen and women are always on the go, whether getting to their next flight, meeting, or coffee run. During waiting times they are on their laptops putting a finishing touch on a presentation, or researching news for an upcoming meeting. These activities drain the battery life of a laptop to the point where productivity is limited to the number of percentage points remaining. The last thing any employee wants to happen is for a laptop battery to fail while on a 10-hour plane ride. Today, most planes cannot support the charging of laptops, leaving workers with a battery-life ration that will likely not sustain the full extent of their productive stamina. There will be no outlets added to all airplane seats in the near future because the added weights of the outlets would be too much for the plane to take off (Hannaford, 2010). With the LapZap Laptop Charging Case, no one will have to worry about losing that presentation because their laptop failed on them.
The Lap Zap Laptop Charging Case is the first of its kind to hit the market. The only alternative competition to our innovation is a briefcase-like bag that must contain a closed, disabled device in order to work. This is not efficient for the user because the laptop is not available for the duration of the charging period. These cases are also very bulky and are a problem to store in a backpack or carry around by hand. Speck is the leading protective laptop case company on the market today with their signature clip-on cases (Speck, 2014). Most universities sell this product as a top protective laptop case. Speck offers various colors and designs for users to choose from, and the thin acrylic plastic provides protection from minor dings and scratches (Speck, 2014). However, the Lap Zap Charging Case utilizes both of these accessories—the charging bag as well as the ever-popular clip-on cases— to offer the consumer the best of both worlds. The LapZap Charging Case clips onto your computer, and with a push of a button, the laptop begins to charge and the device is again usable. The strong, premium-grade plastic used for the bottom and sides of the laptop allows for the laptop to take a beating and still remain integrally unaffected. The cases we have developed come in multiple colors and designs so the consumer will be able customize their case to their own personality. Our new product will change the way consumers view the role of a laptop case.
At LapZap, we want to become the most well-known company within the laptop accessories market. Partnering with Apple allows us to get a glimpse into what technology is being developed, so we can innovate new products to stay on top of the market. Please reference Article VI, Marketing and Sales, to learn about our research and development plans to foster these ideas. We are a new company, but we aim to broaden the success of the working world.
- Marketing and Sales
To market the LapZap portable laptop charger case, we have to focus on our target audiences. We have determined two clear demographics that we believe would use our product: college students who are using their laptops all day during class and in the library, and businessmen and women who travel and need to keep a longer charge during long flights and business trips. These two groups of consumers each imply individualized strategies for marketing, yet the underlying idea behind our product is the same. Ultimately, we are selling convenience. We seek to remedy the troubles of carrying around an array of wires and chargers, and ensure confidence that one’s device will function as needed for as long as needed. In addition, having our charging case can allow customers to use the additional power to charge other devices that have USB charging cord. This can be extremely useful for when a customer’s phone or iPad is about to die and they need an extra charge without sacrificing their laptop’s battery. In addition to the daily convenience, buying a laptop charging case is an investment in the future too. As people’s computer batteries begin to die down after years of use, which will eventually happen (Hoffman, 2013), they are left with the decision to either buy another battery, which can be very expensive, or buy a new computer. Having the LapZap portable laptop charging case can save them the time, money, and worry of making that decision by extending the life of the battery by 200% every use.
Marketing our products will be substantially easier if our business plan is successfully implemented and we are able to partner with Apple, much like other laptop and other “iProduct” cases have in the past. "Apple is a company that likes innovation on their devices, and making the devices more accessible,” says Olson in a 2014 Forbes article. Our company ideals align with those of Apple, which lays the foundation for a smart, mutually beneficial business deal. According to a study by Student Monitor, who conducts surveys of students all around the nation, 27% of current college students have an Apple laptop (the highest percent of any brand), and that number is increasing. In fact, the number of incoming college students who said they wanted an Apple computer has increased every year since 2005, rising to as much as 45% in 2010 (Elmer-DeWitt, 2010). Our plan would be to have Apple employees offer our product to the customer after they have decided to buy an Apple laptop in a package deal. In addition, they would let us know the designs and specs of their upcoming products, so we would be able to market the new case right when the newest laptop comes out. This way, the customers would be exposed to the product immediately after buying the laptop, and will be likely to buy the product to protect their computer. We know this partnership would be tough to achieve if Apple wasn’t sure we could sell our product, so setting up a consistent and steady stream of customers is our first priority heading into our business plan.
To build up a steady consumer market for our product, we would need to market our product to all of the customers that already have Apple laptops and people who are looking for laptops for college. Marketing for college students would be run through many different routes to spread the word about our products. One route—social media—would be especially important to marketing the charging cases, as it has taken over the taken over the marketing industry for young adults. Creating Facebook and Twitter profiles would help increase coverage about our product and make knowledge of our product more readily available to current and prospective college students looking for laptops. In addition, we would try to pair with laptop-buying systems already in place in many colleges like CCI at UNC to add our product to their available add-ons for students beginning college. Finally, visiting college campuses and offering our product to be in their student stores is a great way to spread the word about our product and make it easily available to our customers.
Marketing to businessmen and women will take different strategies, as there is not a single time or place that most will be looking to buy a laptop or a case. One method we could use to advertise our product to business travelers is to set up a stand and presentation at business conferences. Usually, businesspeople come from all over the country and the world to attend some conferences and would see how useful our product is after being on the road or in the air for so long. Although social media is less effective in advertising among older people, it is still prevalent among business crowds, especially business-oriented sites like LinkedIn and PartnerUp, a website that connects business owners with entrepreneurs trying to market their product. Offering deals to companies if they buy our product in bulk would also be a mutually beneficial deal for both sides.
- Funding Request
The Bottom Line: Our company is asking for $350,000 for a 25% share.
The $350,000 will be used to purchase materials that are needed to jumpstart manufacturing, as well as to hire employees that specialize in technological accessory design. We decided to offer 25% of equity because we feel that LapZap Innovations will need guidance and support during the first years of business. We have faith that the knowledge the investors contain will be vital to our success. A majority of the capital will be needed to purchase the batteries, plastic, and manufacturing equipment that are needed to bring our vision to life on a large scale. We will also need to hire specialized designers that will allow for LapZap to optimize the design features and functionality of our charging case. A large sum of capital is needed in order to produce a high quality product from the ground up.
- Financial Projections
As outlined above in article VII, our company needs funds from investors in order to begin to fulfill demand and start mass production. The startup costs may be high, but once production is underway, there will be a great decrease in fees. The more capital we receive, the higher quantity of inputs we can purchase at once. This will allow for lower fees and thus a higher profit margin.
The current Macbook Pro laptops offer up to eight hours of battery life, yet this time decreases as the battery ages with use and misuse. The workday for a travelling businessman can be upwards of twelve hours, and a standard laptop cannot make it through a day of this duration. According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, there are currently over twenty-one million college students in the United States as of the fall of 2014. If a mere five percent—which is incidentally the estimated amount that has extra disposable income—decided to purchase our charging case, it is estimated that we would sell about one million units. It is expected that it will take our company some time for college students and businessmen to become aware of our dependable product, yet our estimated profit margins allow for investors to begin to see returns on their loans within the first two years.