CONCEPT PROPOSAL TEMPLATE / BUSINESS CASE TEMPLATE

The purpose of the concept proposal/business case is to attract the interest of potential investors, with a view to them encouraging you to conduct more detailed investigation and planning for your idea. Whether you are targeting family, friends or professionals, these investors (in this case, the incubator judges) will need to see some evidence that you have thought through the initial stages of your great new idea! Specific operational and financial details are not required, but you must consider the basics of what makes your product new or different from those already available and why people ill pay money for it. And also, why you are the perfect entrepreneur to manage the idea. Often investors either believe in the jockey (entrepreneur) or the horse (idea.) It is very seldom that investors will believe in both. It is for this reason that you need to convince the incubator judges not only that your idea is worth millions, but also that youre are a dynamic, driven entrepreneur willing to do anything to get the job done. TECHNICAL CARE Please note that your business case should be - 5 and 7 pages. - Arial 12 font - 1.5 lines spacing - Justified - Margins - Left and right: 2.45 cm - Top and bottom: 2 cm. - Main headings should be underlined, bold and capital letters - Sub- headings should be in bold and underlined.

OUTLINE FOR A BUSINESS CASE/ CONCEPT PROPOSAL Cover page 1. Company/Team name 2. Contact details. 3. Product or Service name Document content 4. Concept Overview a. Describe your business concept giving a clear functional definition. Ideally, you should be able to describe your concept in a few clear sentences: i. What is it called? ii. What does it do? iii. How will it benefit my customers? (i.e. What problem does it solve?) 5. Target Market a. Describe your target market. i. To whom are you trying to sell? ii. Why those customers? iii. What do you know about your potential customers? 6. Explain how the customer benefits from your product or service? i. What exists in the market space now? ii. Why/How is your product different? (i.e. What makes your product unique?) iii. What compelling reasons exist for why customers need your product or service? 7. Revenue Model a. Explain your revenue model. i. How will your concept make money? ii. Does the market have potential for growth? iii. Can you produce your product/service at a low enough cost to allow a margin? 8. The fit a. Who are you?

b. What characteristics make you entrepreneurial? c. Why do you fit with this idea? d. What inspired you to come up with this idea?

A concept that didnt work This is an oldie but a goody about a great idea that just didnt sell. The names have been changed to protect the innocent. Build a better mousetrap and the world will come to you! Thats what the entrepreneurs thought. So they did, and the mousetrap worked so much better than anything ever designed before or since. The distributors were excited; the retailers thrilled, but the public just didnt buy it. Why? It turns out that, despite the fact that this trap caught mice better than any other method, it didnt meet the needs of the customerin simple terms, it still required someone to physically remove the deceased rodent to the great mouse house in the sky and the target customers didnt like having to do that! Moralconsider whether your product or service meets the needs of your customers. What problem are you solving for your customer? What problem are you creating?