SPRING TEAM PROJECT

BUSINESS PLAN OUTLINE

The purpose of this team project is to develop a business plan for a product or service in which a need has been clearly identified. The team business plan will be presented topotential investorsto request financing for starting the business in exchange for equity in the company.

You will be ona team of 4-5 people. Your team will be responsible for a written business plan and also a presentation to a panel of investors at the end of this project.

Teams will be as follows:

Team 1 – Kaitlyn, Kyle, Connor, Rachel, Cameron

Team 2 – Billy, Arman, Ava, T, Kiki

Team 3 – Jake C, Seth, Ryan, Ivan

Team 4 – Jesse, Litzy, Dominque, Brycen

Team 5 – Zach, Charlie, Jake H, Leeah

1) WRITTEN BUSINESS PLAN

Your team needs to develop a detailed business plan that includes the following sections:

  1. ExecutiveSummary
  2. Statement ofNeed
  3. CompanyBackground
  4. Product or ServiceDescription
  5. Market Analysis
  6. FinancialAnalysis
  7. Conclusion

Appendix (if needed)

At the conclusion of the plan, you will need to indicate how much money your company is seeking in order for your product or service to be profitable and successful. In return for the investment, your company will need to determine a percentage of how much of the company profits you are willing to share with your investors.

2) PRESENTATION TO PANEL OF “INVESTORS”

Additionally, each company will be required to explain their business plan on their product or service in a 15-20 minute presentation with a separate 5 minute question and answer period. At the conclusion of the presentation, the amount of money investors are willing and interested in contributing for a certain “percentage” of the business will be determined. The company with the most investment dollars will be determined and will be awarded at the end of all the presentations.

The completed business plan needs to be submitted no later thanFriday, March30, 2018.Powerpoint presentations need to be submitted by Friday, April 20th. Team presentations will be the week of April 23rd.


Your cover page will need to look professional. You may want to put a border around the cover page. Include the name of your product/service with your company logo. The title should indicate that it is a proposal (i.e. BUSINESS PLAN FOR (PRODUCT AND/OR SERVICE). The names of your team and the date (Spring 20XX) will need to be included on the cover page. Do NOT put the class name or teacher’s name on it as it is not important.


THIS IS COMPLETED LAST. The executive summary is the LAST thing you do. The executive summary is the summary of your entire proposal. You will provide the reader with a snapshot of what is to follow. This statement will contain all of the key information and can be considered “a sales document” designed to convince the reader that this business plan proposal should be considered for support. You will need to include in a narrative format:

  • Introduction of the Proposal (Paragraph1)
  • Statement of Need (Paragraph 2)—This paragraph briefly describes the need for your product/service and the benefits it will provide your target audience.(Refer to the Statement of NeedSection)
  • Product/Service Description (Paragraph 3)—This paragraph is a brief introduction to your product/service.Consider that this paragraph offers a solution to the needs and/or desires of your targeted audience. (Refer to the Product/Service DescriptionSection)
  • Market Analysis (Paragraph 4)—This paragraph briefly mentions your company’s research into “WHO” is your market, customer needs, where they are, and how to reach them.(Refer to the Market AnalysisSection)
  • Financial Analysis (Paragraph 5)—This paragraph briefly describes the financial state of your companyandyourneedfor fundingthroughthisinvestment(whatyour companyplansto“do” with the money if THE INVESTOR provides the funding desired. (Refer to the Financial AnalysisSection)
  • Conclusion/Your Team (Paragraph 6)—This paragraph is the final paragraph of this section. Indicatehowyourcompanyisa“good”investmentbasedonresearch,experience,previous sales, etc. Establish your team’s credibility briefly here. (Refer to the Company Background Section).


This section is the first and most importantpart. Developing this section sets the stage for all other aspects of the business plan. This section narratively indicates WHY this product/service is needed and desired by your selected target market(s). Your team will need to provide “EVIDENCE” in the form(s) of statistics, testimony, comparison and/or analogies, recent news in the media, journal articles reinforcing the need, etc. You will need to find or “make up” this evidence.

Think about these questions:

  • Whatis the history of the product/service industry you are proposing when considering the need/desire in themarketplace?
  • What types of benefits does/can your target market(s) expect from aproduct/service?
  • How will your product/service address your target market(s) needs and requirements (basedon the product /service benefits andfeatures)?
  • Why does this product/service matter (or make a difference) in theirindustry?
  • Why is what you propose necessary ordesired?
  • Who benefits? Make sure you consider allstakeholders
  • Why hasn’t this been addressed sufficiently in the past? What are other companies doing to address this need/desire? Are theyeffective?

You will need to include in a narrative format:

  • Paragraph 1: Introduction to this specific section. History of the product/service. Desire and need in themarketplace.
  • Paragraph 2: Why this product/service is beneficial, necessary, or needed (and by who)? Who benefits?
  • Paragraph 3: History of the product/service to show trends, fads, necessity (possibly based on economy, luxury, needs, wants, etc.) Try to find supporting evidence or develop supporting evidence (i.e. surveys, statistics,etc.)
  • Paragraph 4: Why hasn’t this (or how has it) product/service been sufficiently addressed in the past? What are other companies doing to address this need/desire? Are theyeffective?
  • Paragraph 5: Conclusion of this specific section. (Begin with “In summary, “ or “Inconclusion,”)
Use citations in MLA format and include in the REFERENCES section. Plus, any other additions you find to support your proposal.

Example. …at the end of a sentence where you’ve included “cited” information, include a citation such as this (Author, Year, Page #). NOTE: If there isn’t an author, then type the webpage or article title/name and the year. If there is no specific year (which usually there is a date/year indicated,then put an.d. for no date). If there isn’t a particular page number (i.e. webpage), then eliminate the page number and include just the Author then a comma, then date/year.

Again, this section will need an introduction paragraph, which is a few sentences describing the important components of this section. Preparing the reader for what will be included. Also, this section will need a concluding paragraph, which should be a few sentences highlighting the section and the fact that this is a good investment based on the facts presented.


This section helps to describe the background of the company and where your company will need to PROVE your credibility. Your team will need to make up a company name along with some hypothetical background of the company in order to establish credibility. NOTE: You will need to “make up” an address, phone number, and a website address; plus, create company letterhead with a logo or graphic(s) representing your company.

The following aspects must be included in this section:

First Paragraph: Introduction

  • Thisisafewsentencesdescribingtheimportantcomponentsof thissection.Preparingthe reader for what will beincluded.

Separate Subsection: Company Values

  • Where did the idea for the service/product come from? Is there a personal reason for this product/service?
  • Indicatetheowner’sexperienceandcompetenceinthisindustryorwiththesetypesof products/services?
  • Describe the “types” of employees your company consists of (including management)— stylesofcommunication,whatyour companylooksfor inanemployee,etc.).
  • Explain the importance of your company’s ethics and integrity (establishtrustworthiness).
  • How does your company plan to build or maintain its professional image in themarket place.
Additionally, in separate subsections, you will indicate the company’s:
  • MissionStatement
  • VisionStatement

Final Paragraph: Conclusion

  • End the section by indicating “In closing,” “In summary,” “In conclusion,” etc. along with a fewsentenceshighlightingthesectionandthefactthatthisisagoodinvestmentbasedon the factspresented.

To assist you in this section, you may want to go to a company on the internet or think about a company you know (and/or respect) to find out what makes them successful and consider some of their practices and develop them into this proposal.


This section helps to describe the product/service. You will need to include:

First Paragraph: Introduction

  • Thisisafewsentencesdescribingtheimportantcomponentsof thissection.Preparingthe reader for what will beincluded.

Separate Subsection: Features and Benefits

  • Description of benefits and features. You MUST be descriptive. Include photos, feature & benefit chart, any types of “sales literature,”etc.

Separate Subsection: Competition Comparison

  • Youwillneedtocompareyourproductagainstacompetitorbycomparingvariousfeaturesand benefits of the product and/or company. Create a chart/figure to illustratedifferences.

Final Paragraph: Conclusion

  • End the section by indicating “In closing,” “In summary,” “In conclusion,” etc. along with a fewsentenceshighlightingthesectionandthefactthatthisisagoodinvestmentbasedon the factspresented.

As you can imagine, your company/team will need to check out similar organizations with the same product/service, purpose (mission), or targeted audience for comparison purposes. Through this analysis, you will be better able to focus on your product/service’s features/benefits/potential


In this section, you will “analyze” your market in order to determine your market’s needs, trends, growth. You will include:

First Paragraph: Introduction

  • Thisisafewsentencesdescribingtheimportantcomponentsof thissection.Preparingthe reader for what will beincluded.

Separate Subsection: Market Segmentation

  • You will describe your target market basedon:
  • Ages of your targetconsumer
  • Genders of your targetconsumer
  • Prices your consumers willing/able topay
  • Overall interests of your targetconsumers

Separate Subsection: Marketing Mix

  • Product/Service: What it will take to produce product/service? Packaging Information? ProductionInformation?
  • Price: Describe your product/service price points. What does the industry cost structure indicate? Marketprofitability?
  • Place: Where do you plan to locate this product/service? Brick & Mortar, Internet, both? How will it be distributed? What other logisticalconsiderations?
  • Promotion: What are your promotional strategies? Public Relations? Advertising? Word-of-Mouth? Point ofSale?

Separate Subsection: Web Presence/E-Commerce

  • Indicate your website address and how long it has been inexistence.
  • Explain your website traffic or desiredtraffic.
  • Describe what information your target market can find on your websiteregarding your company, product/service, sales,etc.
  • Create a “mock” website to show some of the important links, etc.

Final Paragraph: Conclusion

  • End the section by indicating “In closing,” “In summary,” “In conclusion,” etc. along with a fewsentenceshighlightingthesectionandthefactthatthisisagoodinvestmentbasedon the factspresented.


In this section, you will “analyze” your financial needs and requirements.

NOTE: You do NOT have to get as technical as you would if you were doing this “for real”…in a real business plan, you would provide financial statements such as a break-even analysis, projected profit and loss, projected cash flow, etc. Information will be obviously hypothetical.

**IMPORTANT: THIS SECTION MUST INCLUDE CHARTS INCLUDING BAR CHART(S) AND PIE CHART(S).

For this section, you will include: First Paragraph: Introduction

  • Thisisafewsentencesdescribingtheimportantcomponentsof thissection.Preparingthe reader for what will beincluded.

Separate Subsection: Start-Up Costs

  • You will need to hypothetically indicate your company/consulting team’s start-up costs. Include in this section how much funding will be needed and how much your company team isseekingintermsofaninvestmentforacertainpercentageofyourcompany/consultingteam’s ownership. Consider team member’s contributions to the company (NOTE: This is an example of how you could develop a piechart).

Separate Subsection: Sales Growth

  • You will need to describe (not provide actual financial documents) on your projected profitability. You can describe this information in the form of aparagraph(s).

NOTE: Obviously, this section will be “hypothetical” and will be assuming the results of sales or the loss of sales. You can indicate other factors that will affect the financial status of your company such as inventory, cyclical quarters, etc.

You can create “hypothetical” charts/figures/graphs.

Separate Subsection: Investment Needs

  • Indicatespecifically(directly)yourcompany’sinvestmentneedsandtheamountofequityyour company is willing to share with the investors as aresult.
  • Persuasivelysupportyourcompany’sneedandcredibilitysotheinvestorsfeelcomfortable making the decision to invest in yourproduct/service.

Final Paragraph: Conclusion

  • End the section by indicating “In closing,” “In summary,” “In conclusion,” etc. along with a fewsentenceshighlightingthesectionandthefactthatthisisagoodinvestmentbasedon the facts presented. You may want to reiterate the amount your company is seeking in investment dollars for a certain percentage of yourcompany.


Your team will need to summarize the main points of this business plan proposal. This is very similar to what you will write in your executive summary except from the understanding that your audience has ALREADY read this proposal. Whereas, the executive summary, you must write it with the understanding that the audience has NOT read the proposal. Include:

First Paragraph: Introduction

  • This is a few sentences indicating the end of the proposal and how it is a great investment opportunity.

Second (or more) Paragraphs: Body

  • This needs to focus on some of the important facts indicated in the business plan that may “persuade” the investors to take a “stake” in your company through a financialinvestment. Once again…this section MUST be PERSUASIVE.

Conclusion

  • End the section by indicating “In closing,” “In summary,” “In conclusion,” etc. along with a few sentences highlighting the section and the fact that this is a good investment based on the facts presented. You MUST reiterate the amount your company is seeking in investment dollars for a certain percentage of your company in this concludingparagraph.
IMPORTANT: At the end, you must create a complimentary close with EACH co-owners e-signature.Itwill looklike this:


Respectfully submitted,

(NameofCo-Owner) / (NameofCo-Owner) / (Nameof Co-Owner) / (NameofCo-Owner)
Co-Owner / Co-Owner / Co-Owner / Co-Owner


You will need to include this in MLA format. You will need to include the website and/or pages of your

organization’s website (if you have one) in MLA format along with other organizations you made comparisons to and discussed within the proposal. You will need a minimum of 3 sources(one will be your competitors’ website).