MOOT+Corp+Business+Plans

Business plans
= What I like in particular: =
 * 2 MBA Inc || [[file:2MBA Inc.pdf]] || Alianza || [[file:Alianza.pdf]] || Autoshop || [[file:AutoShop.pdf]] ||
 * KidSmart || [[file:KidSmart.pdf]] || Mi Viejita USA || [[file:Mi Viejita USA.pdf]] || Nudleman || [[file:Nudleman.pdf]] ||
 * Power Prawns || [[file:PowerPrawns.pdf]] || Spark Parking || [[file:Spark Parking.pdf]] || SportsTek || [[file:SportsTek.pdf]] ||
 * StrongData Corp || [[file:Strong Data.pdf]] || Style High ||  ||   ||   ||

Covers
Use the cover of your business plan to convey your value proposition and set a context for your product or service. Here Nudleman provides a vibrant graphic along with its name to engage the reader.

KidSmart's cover conveys a picture of its product, a catch-phrase that sets the tone for communicating the value of their product, and indicates that they have additional IP protection measures in terms of the trademarks for their product name and catch-phrase. In contrast, here is all of the content presented on the cover of the business plan for Spark Parking. How excited are you to read about parking? Does a bland cover motivate you to read the executive summary? Parking? This is a missed opportunity to engage the reader. Don't you wish you could read an issue of Parking Today? Fun fact - the national median parking construction cost //per space// in 2010 was $16,167 IPI Member, Walker Consultants, "Industry Insights," May 2010). See also: Carl Magee.

Other exhibits
Investors want to know how much money you need from them and how you will use it. **Spark Parking** provides answers to these questions with a simple table in its financial section.

GRAPHICS
Graphics in business plans and presentations should be high-information, high-resolution images that communicate //**at least one thousand words**// to the viewer. Most people can read from 300 to 1,000 words per minute, so a dumbed-down graphic actually dilutes the value of how you present your information. **KidSmart** captures arguably at least 1,000 words in its value chain graphic. **Autoshop'**s floor plan layout communicates in one picture what would take several words of text to explain, most likely with out the vividness of the picture. **Autoshop** uses a two-by-two matrix to visualize its points of differentiation from the competition. This allows you to acknowledge and dismiss competitors based on product or service attributes your offering does better.

KidSmart Value Chain graphic
The KidSmart uses a graphic to succinctly communicate all the steps needed to take their product from concept to customer. One caveat: The prototype is already proven, so KidSmart appears to be assuming all the risk in the value chain. This was a major criticism from competition judges.

Autoshop Floor Plan
Probably a flawed business model, but this graphic shows they had at least thought about how customers move through their store. Anyone have a stop watch?

Autoshop Competitive Differentiation
This is a good example of how to use a 2x2 matrix to differentiate your business from competitors along whatever attributes you think emphasize your company's value proposition. Here Autoshop uses the attributes of "extent of entertainment of shopping experience" and price as its points of differentiation.

Nudleman Store Front
This picture from Nudleman's business plan vividly shows the beginning of the customer experience with their product. This photo is much more effective for communications than a drawing of a prototype or textual description.

Using testimonials!
KidSmart's business plan makes ample use of the awards and media attention it's received for its novel smoke detector. Here is an exhibit from their plan that packs a lot of information into a single graphic. KidSmart's management team also incorporated several promotional / testimonial videos into its plan presentation (though the transitions were a bit spotty in terms of audio levels). These testimonials usually lead to questions seeking moire information about a particular media story on the product or service; the answers to these questions will almost always reflect positively on the offering and the management team.

Ad Reinhardt