Business Plan Preparation Introduction Frank Moyes Leeds School of Business University of Colorado Boulder, Colorado 1
Tonight’s Agenda Introductions Course organization & syllabus Writing a business plan Discuss your ideas 2
Communications Frank Moyes Office Hours: Koelbel 210 B Wednesday 3:00 to 5:30pm Thursday 3:00 to 6:00pm And by appointment Website faculty.colorado.edu/Moyeshttp://leeds- faculty.colorado.edu/Moyes 3
Materials Lawrence and Moyes, “Writing a Successful Business Plan”, 2007 Moyes and Lawrence, “Financial Spreadsheets for the Business Plan” 4
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 5
Course Structure Weeks 1 & 2: Evaluate opportunities Week 3: Select concept & team Weeks 4 & 5: Market & Industry Analysis Week 6 to 13: Instructor to describe a section of the business plan (slides posted on course website) Weeks 5 to 12: In the Fire sessions Week 14: Present business plan & hand in Week 15: Competition 6
Grading Individual Resume Concept Participation Peer evaluation Team Assignments In the Fire sessions Written assignments & Presentations Final Business Plan & Presentation 7
Business Plan Sections 8
Executive Summary Company Overview Product/Service Description 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 to 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.” is a life changing event.” 14
Discuss Ideas 15
“From Student to Entrepreneur” Approach to Generate Ideas Doing what you love What bugs you Use your experience Recycle business concept Steps, pain points & solutions Developed by Neal Lurie, MBA
Concept & Team Selection Process Identify Concept Conduct Idea Exercise (download from website) Sept 5 resume to instructor as Word attachment Must have your name & “Resume” on file name Sept 5 discuss your concept in class Use Business Concept Description as a framework for explaining your concept 17
Concept & Team Selection Process (continued) Sept 7 (Friday) 1:00pm Business Concept Description as a Word attachment to instructor Must have your name & concept name in file name and on the attachment Sept 10 (Monday) Instructor to all students which concepts with the greatest potential that have been selected Sept 12 Students whose idea are selected will form a teams of four on in class 18
Concept Description Brief description Why is there an opportunity/need? What is the product/service? What are the unique benefits? How will it be produced or delivered? Who is the target market? What are the benefits to the target market? Who is the competition? What advantages do you have over the competition? Profitability Revenue model Contribution margins 19
Assignments for Next Week Resume: to instructor Review ESBM 3700 materials on Opportunity Recognition Identify an opportunity to discuss in class 20