1. 1 Business Plan Preparation: Choosing Good Opportunities Business Plan Preparation Introduction Frank Moyes Leeds School of Business University of Colorado Boulder, Colorado

2. 2 Business Plan Preparation: Choosing Good Opportunities Tonight’s Agenda  Choosing a good opportunity  Discuss concepts  Resume was due before class

3. 3 Business Plan Preparation: Choosing Good Opportunities Concept & Team Selection Process  Conduct Idea Exercise (download from website) (http://leeds- faculty.colorado.edu/moyes/html/resourses/Idea%20Ex ercise.pdf) http://leeds- faculty.colorado.edu/moyes/html/resourses/Idea%20Ex ercise.pdfhttp://leeds- faculty.colorado.edu/moyes/html/resourses/Idea%20Ex ercise.pdf  Email resume to instructor before Sept 6 as Word attachment (must have your name & Resume on file name)  Discuss your concept in class Sept 6 (use Concept Summary as a framework for explaining your concept)

4. 4 Business Plan Preparation: Choosing Good Opportunities Concept & Team Selection Process (continued)  Email Concept Summary as a Word attachment to instructor by 1:00pm on Sept 8 (Friday) (must have your name & Concept name in file name)  Instructor to email all students which concepts with the greatest potential that have been selected on Sept 11 (Monday)  Students whose idea are selected will form a teams of 4 on Sept 13 in class

5. 5 Business Plan Preparation: Choosing Good Opportunities Next Week  Framework for writing a business plan  Read Writing a Successful Business Plan from my website  Market research – Gene Hayworth, Leeds School Librarian. Session in lab.  Importance of validation  Interviews and Call Reports

6. 6 Business Plan Preparation: Choosing Good Opportunities Good Opportunity  Market is strong & accessible  Compelling need  Sustainable competitive advantage  Unique/different  High margins  Management

7. 7 Business Plan Preparation: Choosing Good Opportunities Market Demand Is Strong  Favorable trends  Growing market  Size is big enough to be worth the effort  Market share attainable  Favorable window of opportunity Venture Capital Perspective  30%+ per year  $100 million to $1 billion potential  Minimum 20%

8. 8 Business Plan Preparation: Choosing Good Opportunities Market Is Accessible  Market Structure  Fragmented  No dominant player  SOT’s (slow, old or traditional)  Response of competitors to new entrants is indifferent  No proprietary barriers to entry  Access to channels is possible  Forgiving of mistakes

9. 9 Business Plan Preparation: Choosing Good Opportunities Compelling Need  Solves a problem  Unfulfilled niche  Dissatisfaction with current products/services  Poor quality or service  Needs  Physical Physiological  EmotionalSocial  FinancialIntellectual

10. 10 Business Plan Preparation: Choosing Good Opportunities Competitive Advantage  Understand the market  Understand the competition  Sustainable  Innovation  Differentiation  Resources & capabilities  Really understand the market & competition

11. 11 Business Plan Preparation: Choosing Good Opportunities Strong Competitive Advantages  Intellectual property  Agreements with customers or suppliers  Long term contracts

12. 12 Business Plan Preparation: Choosing Good Opportunities Competitive Advantages That Are Often Questionable  First to market  Highest quality  Best service  Lowest cost or overhead  Patent protection

13. 13 Business Plan Preparation: Choosing Good Opportunities Unique/Different  You must differentiate your business – it’s already being done by someone  More than unique product/service design  Marketing – positioning  Operations – process or value chain  Channels – create a new channel  Benefits

14. 14 Business Plan Preparation: Choosing Good Opportunities High Margins  Mind-set of high & low margin thinking  Advantages of high gross profit margins  Funding  Cash flow  Development & marketing  Can solve the screw-up problem

15. 15 Business Plan Preparation: Choosing Good Opportunities Management  Meets your personal interests & objectives  Takes advantage of your experience  Would your potential customers buy from you?  You can put a management team together  You are passionate and commit

16. 16 Business Plan Preparation: Choosing Good Opportunities Concept Description  Brief description  Why is there an opportunity/need?  What is the product/service? How will it be produced or delivered?  Who is the target market?  What are the unique benefits?  Who is the competition? What advantages do you have over the competition?  Profitability  Revenue model  Contribution margins