Business Plan

100 points

● When: Submit by 8am on Monday April 3rd (late submissions will NOT be sent to the Board of
Advisors and will make the team ineligible for the pitch night competition)
● Where: Google Classroom assignment - one person per team

Purpose
● Outline your business concept in an easily digestible and understandable document
● Demonstrates proficiency in course academic content towards your course grade
● Aids Board of Advisors in understanding the viability/investability of your concept and paves the way
for your team to progress to the next competition round

Assessment
● Refer to the rubric on Google Classroom
● Note that all teammates will be surveyed to confirm fair and equal participation from everyone. If you
have not contributed sufficiently, you will be asked to submit your own individual business plan for
assessment

Content and Structure

The business plan should be 6-10 pages, including the title page, executive summary and BMC.
1. Title Page
○ Logo and tagline
○ Website (if you have one)
○ Founder names (first and last names)
○ Date (April 1st 2022)

2. The Executive Summary

These provide a short, concise and optimistic overview of your business that captures the reader's
attention and gives them an interest in learning more about it. Yours will be up to ONE page long, with
brief summaries of the main sections/highlights of the more detailed plan that follows it. I SUGGEST
YOU WRITE THIS LAST!

The executive summary itself should be written in prose with appropriate BLOCK paragraphing (ie. no
indents) that BRIEFLY includes the following:
○ Mission statement (what do you do, and why - you could mention the problem you hope to
address or the opportunity you want to capitalize on)
○ Business Partner Introductions (one sentence bio’s of each team member and their area of
expertise/role in the business)
○ Products/Services Offered - explain who your customers are and list what you offer them
 ○ Market Highlights - such as market value, growth rate/potential
○ Competitive Advantage/UVP - why would customers choose you? What makes you different?
○ Financial Projections - state your sales projections and profit projections for the first 3 years.
State at what point you expect to ‘break even’ and begin making a profit
○ Start-Up Finance Requirements - how much in total do you need to get started, and what are
the main things you will spend this money on?

3. The BMC
This is your one-page business plan that provides the blueprint for your concept. Update, tidy and
display this LANDSCAPE on your 2nd page. Make sure each box has content that is brief and easy to
read.

4. Business Plan
Use the following headings to structure your plan. Use bullet point, short, concise block paragraphs and
small diagrams if appropriate/useful
○ Business/Industry Overview
■ Describe the overall nature of the industry, such as total sales, growth, trends, customer
needs
● You could use data from your market sizing research to help, including TAM and
SAM
■ Describe your business (what do you do/offer?) and the problem you are trying to
solve/the opportunity you have identified - why is there a need?
● Include wireframes, images of prototypes and anything else that SHOWS what it
is that you are!

○ Market Analysis and Competition

■ Define the target market(s)/customers for your product or service in your geographic
locale.
● You could incorporate a brief your customer persona/profile here
■ Describe the competition - what do they offer, and what gap in the market will you fill?
What makes you different (ie. your UVP)?
● You could incorporate a brief version of your competitive analysis here

○ Sales and Marketing Plan

■ Describe your product or service, including any benefits and UVPs
■ Describe your pricing strategy and the different pricing tiers you may have set up
■ Describe your sales and distribution strategy - how will the customer purchase and
receive the product/service?
■ Advertising and promotion - how will you communicate your messaging to customers?
 ○ Financial Plan
■ List/tabulate your price, CoGS and profit margin per unit/service event
■ List/tabulate additional revenue streams (advertising etc.) if applicable
■ List/tabulate your projected sales revenue, gross and net profit forecasts for each of the
first 3 years
■ List/tabulate your expected start-up and SGA costs per year
■ Make sure of the graphs and tables in the ‘Simple Graphs’ worksheet in your Financial
Model spreadsheet
● DO NOT go crazy with details/information/dates here

5. Validation
○ Provide a summary of key findings from customer interviews and MVP testing
■ Charts and diagrams are encouraged here
6. Appendix
○ Everything else!!! Show the sharks and me what you did - screenshots, wireframes, ads,
pictures of prototypes, links to websites and videos and anything else!

REMEMBER to check and double check spelling, punctuation, grammar, formal/business vocabulary and
formatting before you submit