Indiana University Campus Wide Clapp IDEA Competition

Transcription

1 Indiana University Campus Wide Clapp IDEA Competition January 15, 2016 Official Rules, Guidelines, and Submission Requirements & Feasibility Plan Outline Sponsored by Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation Kelley School of Business Indiana University Bloomington & Vern Clapp Clapp Investment, Ltd. Key Dates Registration Due: February 11 th, 11:59pm Business Plans Due: February 25 th, 11:59pm Finalists Notified: March 4 th Final Round Presentations Due: April 7 th, 5:00pm IDEA Plan Competition: April 8 th

2 Contact with any questions. Rules, Guidelines, and Submission Requirements Eligibility Requirements: 1) The feasibility plan must represent the original work of the members of the team. The author(s) shall retain all rights to the plans regarding its use prior to and following the competition. The plans may not contain any fabricated information about (but not limited to) the background, experience, or education of the management team, the stage of product development, product performance claims, or market survey results. 2) Only undergraduate or graduate students of Indiana University may participate in the competition. At least one student must be a member of the management team but non students may be members of the management team and participate in planning the venture but only students may participate in the final presentation. A student may submit only one plan to the competition. Teams are limited to 5 people total. 3) The competition is for students enrolled in the current academic year. Students who graduated in the preceding academic year are not eligible to participate. 4) The competition is for student created, managed, and owned ventures. In other words, students are to have played a major role in conceiving the venture, to have key management roles and to own significant equity. 5) The competition is for new, independent ventures in the seed, start up, or early stage. 6) Ventures with revenues in prior academic years are excluded. The history of a team member working on an idea or new technology in previous academic years or even prior to entering college does not exclude a venture, if there were no revenues prior to the current academic year. 7) The competition is an educational experience. Teams should respect the rights of their opponents. The Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation reserves the right to disqualify teams who act in a less than professional manner. Idea Plan Guidelines 8) Plans are limited to 5 pages (12 point font) of text, excluding cover and title page. Detailed spreadsheets and appropriate appendices can follow the text portion of the plan but will be limited to 5 pages. In total, the plan should not exceed 10 pages. Appendices should be

3 included only when they materially support the findings, statements, and observations of the plan. 9) Official Application Form due Feb 11th, 2016 by 11:59 p.m. via to the registration link. 10) Business plans are due on or before Feb 25th, 2016 by 11:59 p.m. via to Teams selected to qualify for the final competition will be notified via by March 4th, ) For finalists, digital copies of the final presentation are due on or before April 7, 2016 by 5:00 p.m. via to Presentation Guidelines (April 3, 2015): 12) Teams will be given two (2) minute to pitch their business plans. 5 finalists will be selected and then given five (5) minutes to present their business plans followed by a ten (10) minute Q&A. There will be approximately 10 minutes between each presenting team for set up preparation. Teams should bring a copy of their presentation on a memory stick for uploading before the beginning of the event. 13) A team may not observe other presentations in their judging track or question & answer sessions until after they have presented their own plan. 14) All public sessions of the competition, including but not limited to oral presentations and question & answer sessions, are open to the public at large. Any data or information discussed or divulged in public sessions by entrants should be considered information that will likely enter the public realm, and entrants should not assume any right of confidentiality to any data or information discussed, divulged, or presented in these sessions. Business Plan Outline This outline provides the needed aspects of a complete feasibility plan. Each section has some of the key material that needs to be included. Following this outline will help the entrepreneur recognize the actual feasibility of the proposed venture as well as the areas that need to be further developed before the concept could ever be considered for potential funding. Note: Please use this outline as a guideline for the IDEA competition feasibility plan. You are encouraged to create your own feasibility plan document with figures and any relevant appendices.

4 TITLE PAGE Include name of proposed company: Names of the founding team members: The relevant contact information: _

5 TABLE OF CONTENTS Make sure all of the contents in the feasibility plan are page numbered and listed carefully in the table of contents. I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY II. THE BUSINESS CONCEPT III. INDUSTRY/MARKET ANALYSIS IV. MANAGEMENT TEAM V. PRODUCT/SERVICE DEVELOPMENT PLAN VI. FINANCIAL PLAN VII. TIMELINE VIII. BIBLIOGRAPHY

6 Explanations of the Sections EXECUTIVE SUMMARY * Explanation : Include the most important highlights from each section of the feasibility study. Be sure to include a clear and concise description of the venture, whatever proprietary aspects it may possess, the target market, the amount of financing needed, and the type of financing that is being requested. THE BUSINESS CONCEPT * Explanation: Articulate a compelling story for why this is an excellent concept. This section allows the reader to understand what concept is being proposed and why it has true potential in the marketplace. It also provides an opportunity for the entrepreneur to prove that he or she can articulate this concept in understandable terms to people outside of their circle of friends. It demonstrates a clear understanding of the concept by the entrepreneur in being able to clearly describe the concept for others to understand. Key Concepts : *Describe whether the proposed concept is a retail, wholesale, manufacturing, or service business. Identify the current stage of development for the venture (concept stage, start up, initial operations, or expansion). *Include a clear description of the targeted customer, the value proposition (in terms of benefits gained) for that customer, and what the potential growth opportunities. *Summarize any proprietary rights associated with this concept whether that be patents, copyrights, licenses, royalties, distribution rights, or franchise agreements. INDUSTRY/MARKET ANALYSIS * Explanation : The industry/market analysis is critical. Is there a market for the product or service resulting from the venture? What are the current trends in this industry? What are the predicted trends for this industry? Can any of this be substantiated? The market for the product/service may be so obvious yet the feasibility analysis must validate its existence. In the venture

7 feasibility analysis it may enough to prove that a sufficient market exists for the venture and, therefore, further in depth research is warranted. Entrepreneurs should always attempt to learn from the competitors in their marketplace. Valuable information can be obtained for a potential venture by studying the competitors. Lessons learned from competitors provide opportunities for entrepreneurs to find the real unique distinctions in their own concept. Key Concepts: *Explain the industry that this concept is focusing on as well as whatever trends may exist in that particular industry today. *Discuss the target market analysis that has been used and what specific market niche that has produced. In addition, identify the market size, its growth potential, and your plan for market penetration based on research. *Explain the customer profile in terms of who the specific customer is and again what value proposition (in terms of benefits) is being offered the customer. *Finally, be sure to include a competitor analysis that describes thoroughly the competition existing today and how specifically your concept will match up or exceed the competition and why. MANAGEMENT TEAM * Explanation : Keep in mind that all new ventures must stand the scrutiny of whether the founding team can really move this idea to market. The experience of the management team may end up being one of the most critical factors to outside investors. Many times venture capitalists have expressed their belief that they prefer a B idea with an A team as opposed to an A idea with a B team. In other words, there is a real concern as to the implementation phase of a proposed concept. Does this founding team have the background, experience, skills, and networks to operationally the concept successfully? Key Concepts: *Identify the founding team members and the key personnel in place to guide the proposed company. *Explain their qualifications and how the critical tasks are being assigned. Include any board of directors/advisors that are in place. *Finally, outline any gaps in the management team (in terms of skills and abilities) and explain how those will be addressed.

8 PRODUCT/SERVICE DEVELOPMENT ANALYSIS * Explanation : Before going any further with a conceptual idea, the entrepreneur must determine if the concept has any practical feasibility. One of the most important questions in this section of the feasibility analysis would be: What unique features distinguish your product/service? The more unique features of a product or service, the better chance the business concept has of being successful. Key Concepts: *Provide a detailed description of the proposed concept including any unique features that makes it distinctive. *Explain the current status of the project with a clear timeline with the key tasks to completion. *Identify any intellectual property involved with this potential venture and discuss the proprietary protection that exists. Any proposed or completed prototype testing should be included here as well. * Finally identify any anticipated critical risks in terms of potential product liability, governmental regulations, or raw material issues that may hinder this project at any stage. FINANCIAL ANALYSIS * Explanation: Potential investors in your business will want to know how much money you will need, how much you will make, and how quickly you will make it. A pro forma income statement will show how much money you expect to generate and how much money you expect to spend each year. A pro forma cash flow statement will show how much cash you expect to need (from all sources yourself, investors, sales), when you expect to raise it, and how quickly you expect to burn through it. If possible, provide a breakeven analysis to show when you expect the business to start making more money than it spends. Also, summarize the critical assumptions upon which the financial information is based. Key Concepts: Assumptions: Pro Forma Income Statement: Pro Forma Cash Flow Statement: Break Even Analysis:

9 TIMELINE * Explanation: Use a graphic representation of the dates and the related tasks in order of their completion until actual concept launch. BIBLIOGRAPHY * Explanation : Provide any key endnotes, footnotes, sources, or extra information that would be critical for a funding source to see in relation to the work you performed in creating this feasibility study.