Ignite Business Incubator Proposed by: Jennifer Turliuk & Jane Wu

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1 Overall Business Concept Many students within the Queen's community have great ideas for businesses and innovations that they would like to pursue; however, there is a lack of education and resources available for these young entrepreneurs. Being a young entrepreneur in Kingston can be a lonely adventure - most classmates are going to the corporate world, and young entrepreneurs can be shunned for not following the beaten path. Whether intentionally or not, Queen's has created a culture that pushes the best and brightest students from across Canada and the world into corporations where they may not be able to make change and reach their full potentials. Ignite interrupts this cycle by encouraging students to try their hand at entrepreneurship during and after their time at university. Currently, few opportunities exist that serve to nurture the entrepreneurial spirit amongst younger students at Queen s. Ignite will serve as a hub to bring together bright minds from the student population with mentors, venture capitalists and angel investors. Ignite will offer free office space with common areas for group discussion, brainstorming, and learning. Beyond being just a space for connection, Ignite will be a centre for entrepreneurial education, offering classes on pitching, investor relations, and business law, amongst many other topics. This incubator has the opportunity to strengthen Town-Gown relations and will allow QSB to generate partnerships with organizations including Ontario Centres of Excellence, MaRS Discovery, YSEC, CYBF Impact Entrepreneurship Group and Kingston Economic Development Corporation. For example, the Entrepreneurs Organization is interested in increasing engagement with Queen's, building on their successful partnership with the Schulich School of Business. Additionally, numerous preliminary and final round judges from the Queen's Entrepreneurs' Competition are interested providing support to up and coming young entrepreneurs. There is tremendous potential for mentorship opportunities and perhaps even a formalized program, as well as numerous opportunities for engagement between the Queen's and Kingston communities. Entrepreneurs within the centre could, if interested, be involved in development initiatives such as running networking nights or 'outvesting' events. There is a huge potential to draw media attention, as Queen's University would be one of a few academic institutions worldwide to offer such a program. Ignite will solidify Queen's as a forward-thinking institution that nurtures innovative thought amongst students. The Ignite formula is simple: bring together bright minds + the freedom to try + support and mentorship = literally unlimited potential. Ignite will be a launch pad for a diverse range of businesses and social startups. The millennial generation is one that craves to create change. Innovative thinking is a huge asset that will equip students with the ability to have confidence to take action towards their ideas and dreams. Ignite will serve not only as a dynamic hub for learning and discovery, but as a launch-pad for several start-ups and a nurturing ground for tomorrow's leaders and agents of change. Market Analysis The target market will initially consist of undergraduate students from any faculty at Queen's University. Due to the recession, there is a lack of jobs available for graduating students. At the same time, students have recognized that this is a time for change, and have a strong desire to be involved in changing the world. There are 14,111 undergraduate students at Queen's (Wikipedia) spread across a variety of faculties. While business plan classes exist within QSB, very few plans if any at all actually grow into start-ups due to a variety of reasons. First, class restrictions specify that group sizes must be large, which is not conducive to having all group members actually pursue the idea afterwards. Furthermore, these programs are limited to only Commerce students, which stunt the potential of the plans - it is a well-known fact that interdisciplinary collaborations (especially between engineering and commerce) have historically resulted in success. Ignite breaks the silos between various schools. Once Ignite has had proven success with Queen's students, it will open the program to students from other universities and colleges during the summer terms. A few entrepreneurship programs for young entrepreneurs exist within neighboring communities; however, Ignite would be unique in a number of ways. My Summer Company is a government-funded program that allows students to spend summers working on their ideas and provides up to $3,000 for their efforts. Ignite would operate year-round and ideally in the future provide a larger incentive than $3000 for a 4-month summer, in an effort to be closer to matching what students would receive in summer internships in the corporate world. The Dare 2 Dream internships offered by the Queen's Centre for Business Venturing provide $15,000 to graduating students pursuing their own business; however, Ignite will offer opportunities for university students of all ages. Reaching students earlier would help them maintain an entrepreneurial mindset throughout their education and increase the chances of them pursuing their own business upon graduation, rather than taking a corporate job and perhaps later reconsidering it. There is the potential for Ignite to collaborate with aforementioned programs by offering 1

2 education and office space for their program participants. Outside of Queen's, an incubator residence called Velocity at the University of Waterloo offers students $3000, free residence and education for a summer. Ignite will allow students to choose where they live, and is more accessible to Canadian business centers such as Toronto and Ottawa. It will tap into the large amount of resources available at Queen's University. Furthermore, it will not restrict the range of ideas that are worked on within the program - Velocity and other incubator programs require technological innovations. There are also more serious incubators such as YCombinator in Silicon Valley that take equity in companies, but Ignite affords more freedom for students by not requiring any ownership in the companies involved. Ignite will nurture students and prepare them for more serious incubators if they wish to apply to them in the future. Operations The area where the Business Career Centre used to be in Goodes is a perfect environment for Ignite, with a combination of cubicles, open space and private rooms. If this is unavailable, club space in the Queen's Centre could be used. Both of these areas would ideally be free for usage. Ignite will have three four-month terms: fall, winter, and summer. In order to ensure accountability amongst students involved, class credit could be offered during each of the terms. This is an extraordinary opportunity for students to engage in active learning and would afford students a wealth of knowledge and experience quite unlike anything else. Additionally, large interest exists amongst students from faculties beyond QSB to develop a business understanding. Engineers especially are looking to supplement their curriculum with a business degree, and thus, many are defecting to other schools with this option available, such as Western. There is an opportunity to introduce a Certificate of Entrepreneurship program to strengthen Queen's competitive advantage. In terms of incubator governance, a professor could administer the centre and allocate marks to students. Additionally, two students each year will act as voluntary directors to advance the program. Ignite will be self-directed in nature, as each team of students will be actively pursuing a business idea they are passionate about. In essence, minimal faculty support would be needed on a regular basis, with the majority of teams operating with the support of mentors from aforementioned external organizations. Ignite will be an excellent environment for anyone with an interest in entrepreneurship, whether they have an idea, are looking for an idea, are already running their own business, or just have a desire to be their own boss. Professors, business professionals, and entrepreneurs in the Kingston community and beyond will provide education at Ignite. In the future, Ignite could seek to obtain funding from a variety of sources in order to provide its summer term entrepreneurs with grants that are near equivalent to what would be available in a corporate job. This funding would come in the form of installments after students reach certain benchmarks that have been identified, similar to what is done in the Dare 2 Dream program. Marketing Plan To attract students to its program, Ignite has created a great value proposition that will entice and excite students. Advertising will be executed through posters, website postings, classes, clubs, newspapers, magazines and social media (YouTube, Facebook, etc). Ignite will reach out to faculties to let their students know about this exciting opportunity. Furthermore, a list of the contact information for students that are interested in entrepreneurship will be gathered at other entrepreneurial events such as the Impact Innovate Conference at Queen's and the Queen's Entrepreneurs' Competition. Unlike other incubator programs, Ignite will be free to participants so there is no barrier to participation. To attract businesses and professors to become involved with Ignite, program directors will leverage existing networks and conduct sales calls. Economics of the Business Numerous organizations that support entrepreneurship would be willing to fund this program: Comsoc, KEDCO, Ontario Centres of Excellence, QCBV and the Queen's Business School are just a few of the many organizations that have supported entrepreneurial endeavors within and outside of Queen's in the past. Furthermore, there is a large network of Queen's alumni that have a passion for supporting young entrepreneurs and would be willing to provide their time and money to the program. Another great source of funding for this program would be businesses that entrepreneurs typically reach out to. Banks, legal firms, and other related institutions would support the program with hopes of attracting the young entrepreneurs to use their services in the future when they actually start their business. Events could be held where venture capitalists and angel investors come in and hear pitches from program participants, and potentially provide additional funding to the businesses within the program. 2

3 Appendices Appendix 1: Implementation Plan Partnership & Funding Development Now-April 2010 Program & Curriculum Development Now-August 2010 COMSOC, QSB & Queen's University approval Begin developing partnerships with external organizations (i.e. OCE, YSEC, KEDCO, etc.) and leverage existing networks Voluntary Student Directors work with Faculty Director to construct Ignite Strategic Plan Construct program components with partners (i.e. venture capital pitch events, entrepreneur mentoship programs, weekly networking sessions) Seek funding (ongoing basis) from external organizations Program Beta-Test August-October 2010 Market to existing students returning to Queen's in the fall Conduct application and evaluation process for Ignite Beta First intake of approximately 3-4 student start up ideas Program Implementation October 2010-Mar 2011 Implementation of Ignite program with office space, education opportunities and support Constant program evaluation and development Ignite Program Evaluation Mar-Apr 2011 Conduct official feedback from Beta-test Program evaluated by Student & Faculty Directors as well as QSB & Queen's University Appendix 2: Marketing Plan Stage I-Broad Awareness This stage of marketing involves leveraging existing Queen's clubs/conferences and Kingston organizations to spread information about this program. Specifically, the Queen's Entrepreneur's Competition, Impact Innovate 2010, AIESEC and SIFE participants will be utilized as methods of reaching a broad base of potential Ignite participants. Social media and faculty marketing will be heavily utilized in this phase. Stage II -Focused Marketing Stage I will generate interest and a smaller group out of those reached will be interested in receiving further information. This stage involves conducting smaller information sessions in Queen's University faculties to explain the Ignite program. Stage III - Application Drive This builds on Stage II and is the actual push for applications. Interested participants will be guided through the application process, which will be designed to be intuitive and educational. 3

4 Appendix 3: Floor Plan Meeting, socializing and learning area Individual workspaces Appendix 4: Logo Appendix 5: Sustainability Student Directors & Faculty Director 2010 design program First Beta-Test Ignite intake 1 Student Director rotates off, 1 new student director is recruited from Ignite participants Ignite participants work on projects 4

5 Appendix 6: Projected Income Statement Revenue External Organization Sponsorships $30,000 Costs Office Space $0 Office Atmosphere Enhancements $2000 (Decorations, whiteboards, etc.) Salaries Faculty Director $0 Student Directors $0 Mentors $0 Marketing Posters $200 Signage $200 Web Portals $100 Networking/Investing Events (6) Space rental, food & travel costs $6,000 Profit $21,500 Note: Ignite is a unique model, operating with a focus on for-intellectual profit, which means it essentially operates on a break-even level for the first few years. Thus, a projected income statement is not representative of the accomplishments of Ignite. The prepared projection has been created on with the assumption that space and faculty time compensation will be covered by QSB; however, there is leftover profit that is a buffer in the event that this does not occur. Received funding could also be put towards funding Ignite participants in the summer months, and could be managed by investment clubs. The projections for funding donations from external organization are based on that of similar programs such as Velocity at the University of Waterloo. Eventually, Ignite could supplement its income by investing in Ignite start-ups or charging a rate for start-ups wishing to rent incubator space by non-students. Appendix 7: Survey Results Among the 7 student entrepreneurs at Queen s surveyed, 100% of them said that they would be extremely interested in participating in Ignite s programs. 5