Business Idea Pitch

Project Description

Introduction
Your first project/major assignment for class is the Business Idea Pitch. Over the course of your time here at Purdue, you have certainly been asked to give a presentation or two in front of your classmates. And, you have surely had the opportunity to develop some ideas for possible businesses you might pursue upon graduation (or, you likely wouldn't be in this class). Project 2 is designed to put those skills and ideas to the test--to allow you to present your ideas in a succinct, cogent, and engaging manner.

Project Summary
For this individual assignment (there will be several group assignments and activities in the course), you are being asked to prepare and present an Elevator Pitch for your unique idea for a business, product, or service that you might consider pursuing upon graduation and entrance into the real world. You will pitch your idea to the entire class, including your instructor, where the audience will vote for the top five ideas/pitches in the class. Your pitches will also be video-taped, so that we (you) can watch them, analyze them, and improve on them (if needed) for future presentation/pitches. In the end, the Five winners of the Business Idea Elevator Pitch Competition will be project managers for the entire semester, up through the Business Plan Pitch, working in groups to develop their business idea. Make no mistake, this is a competition, and the rewards are great, as explicated below. This will be a fun, if not nerve-racking beginning to what I hope to be a great academic experience.

Project Goals

Writing in Context

• writing for a range of defined audiences and stakeholders;
• negotiating the ethical dimensions of workplace and/or business communication;
• representing one's business goals and innovative ideas persuasively, in written and oral forms.

Project Management

• Understand, develop and deploy various strategies for planning, researching, drafting, revising, and editing the important and necessary documents of entrepreneurship, including business plans, marketing materials, white papers, resumes, trademark applications, and grant proposals, both individually and collaboratively
• Select and use appropriate technologies that both effectively and ethically address professional situations and audiences.
• Build professional ethos through documentation and accountability.

Document Design
Make rhetorical design decisions about workplace documents commonly used by entrepreneurs, including

• understanding and adapting to genre conventions and audience expectations;

understanding and implementing design principles of format and layout;

• interpreting and arguing with design;
• drafting, researching, testing, and revising visual designs and information architecture.

Teamwork
Learn and apply strategies for successful teamwork and collaboration, such as

• working online with colleagues;
• determining individual and group roles and responsibilities;
• managing team conflicts constructively;
• responding constructively to peers' work
• soliciting and using peer feedback effectively;
• achieving team and business goals.

Research
Understand and use various research methods to produce professional documents, including

• analyzing professional contexts;
• locating, evaluating, and using print and online information selectively for particular audiences and purposes;
• triangulating sources of evidence;
• selecting appropriate primary research methods, such as interviews, observations, focus groups, and surveys to collect data;
• working ethically with research participants.

Technology
Use and evaluate the writing technologies frequently used in the workplace and for entrepreneurship, such as emailing, instant messaging, image editing, video editing, presentation design and delivery, HTML editing, Web browsing, content management, and desktop publishing technologies.

Deliverables

Your Business Idea Pitch
1. May be in any format you choose.
2. Less than (up to) two minutes.
3. Some areas of discussion include:

• Your product or service;
• Your market and its size;
• How you plan to make money;
• Your leadership team;
• Your competition;
• Your competitive advantage.

Stakes of Business Idea Pitch Competition
1. Five Winners
2. Project Managers for Remainder of Semester.
3. Required to create Job Announcements (needed positions) and hire "Employees"
4. Will lead team to the creation and presentation of a full Business Plan of your Idea

Rules of Business Idea Pitch Competition
1. All aspiring entrepreneurs (class members) must present
2. Must vote for the one best business idea
3. Cannot vote for yourself
4. Top eight vote-getters will present again to determine top five winners
5. Remainder of entrepreneurs will repeat rules 2 and 3, above.
6. You may not use any notes, note cards, etc. when presenting

Grading for Business Idea Pitch

This project is worth a total of 5% of your total course grade. For all students, regardless of making the final round (top eight), the presentations will be graded on 1) how well the idea is researched, 2) how well the presentation is put together and organized, 3) how thorough and convincing the presentation is, 4) and how professionally the information is presented. Remember, your ethos has as much to do with your garnering votes as does your idea.

So, at its heart, this project is a competition and a chance to show what you have to offer the world--or this class--as an aspiring entrepreneur. For Project 1, you are competing, in part, for what your position in the class will be for the remainder of the semester: Will you be a project manager and have the opportunity to develop your business idea? Or, will you be an employee and be asked to work as part of a team to develop another entrepreneur's business idea? Also, this is your first opportunity in the class to illustrate some of your skills as a future business owner and entrepreneur. How well do you research, organize information, utilize your resources, and present your ideas? Those that do the aforementioned the best are destined to win the competition. You will be graded not on whether or not you win the competition, but rather, how well you present your ideas. Finally, this project is an opportunity to improve on your presentation skills, which are very necessary for aspiring entrepreneurs and for this class.

Job Application Project

Project Description

For Project two, you will be asked to complete several tasks and compose several documents, some of which depend upon your "role" in the class—Project Manager or Employee (e.g. resume, cover letter, job ads, business mission statement, etc.). Regardless of your role, the overarching goal of the Job Application Project is to create, develop, or illustrate your professional ethos and relevant skill-sets to your audience(s). In essence, you are advocating for yourself in this project: your skills, your ideas, your experience, and your ability to serve as a productive member of a group (a group conducting relevant entrepreneurial tasks as they relate to the major projects for the course).

Project Goals

Writing in Context

• writing for a range of defined audiences and stakeholders;
• negotiating the ethical dimensions of workplace and/or business communication;
• representing one's business goals and innovative ideas persuasively, in written and oral forms.

Project Management

• Understand, develop and deploy various strategies for planning, researching, drafting, revising, and editing the important and necessary documents of entrepreneurship, including business plans, marketing materials, white papers, resumes, trademark applications, and grant proposals, both individually and collaboratively
• Select and use appropriate technologies that both effectively and ethically address professional situations and audiences.
• Build professional ethos through documentation and accountability.

Document Design
Make rhetorical design decisions about workplace documents commonly used by entrepreneurs, including

• understanding and adapting to genre conventions and audience expectations;

understanding and implementing design principles of format and layout;

• interpreting and arguing with design;
• drafting, researching, testing, and revising visual designs and information architecture.

Teamwork
Learn and apply strategies for successful teamwork and collaboration, such as

• working online with colleagues;
• determining individual and group roles and responsibilities;
• managing team conflicts constructively;
• responding constructively to peers' work
• soliciting and using peer feedback effectively;
• achieving team and business goals.

Research
Understand and use various research methods to produce professional documents, including

• analyzing professional contexts;
• locating, evaluating, and using print and online information selectively for particular audiences and purposes;
• triangulating sources of evidence;
• selecting appropriate primary research methods, such as interviews, observations, focus groups, and surveys to collect data;
• working ethically with research participants.

Technology
Use and evaluate the writing technologies frequently used in the workplace and for entrepreneurship, such as emailing, instant messaging, image editing, video editing, presentation design and delivery, HTML editing, Web browsing, content management, and desktop publishing technologies.

Deliverables

Resume and Cover Letter for Project Managers AND Employees:

Each group member, irrespective of the role in your group, will plan, design, and draft a resume and cover letter, making appropriate rhetorical decisions as they relate to how you want to position yourself for the Job Application Project. In the end you will be responding to a very specific audience, for a very specific purpose for this aspect of the project. You will not be developing a general resume and cover letter (nor will you simply revise documents created for previous courses).

• Project Managers: Your one resume and cover letter will be tailored for inclusion in your business plan and on your job posting with the purpose of positioning you as a successful entrepreneur on this particular project. This resume and cover letter will also be included as part of your dossier as the Project Manager for this entrepreneurial venture.
• Employees: You will plan, design, and draft two separate resumes and cover letters, which will be specifically tailored for and in response to Job Ads created by the Project Managers (see Job Ads, below). Ultimately, the purpose of these documents is to illustrate your professional ethos and ability to perform the tasks specified in the job ads to which you choose to respond.

Job Ads for Project Managers

If you are one of the aspiring entrepreneurs voted into the top Five in the Business Idea Pitch Competition, you will be a Project Manager for the remainder of the semester. For Project 2, in addition to creating a resume and cover letter (as discussed above), you will be asked to advocate for your project / idea and create three job ads for the positions you wish to have filled--positions that will help in the development of a full business plan and presentation of your original business idea.

E-mails and Online Correspondence for Project Managers AND Employees

Each group member, irrespective of the role in your group, will compose, catalogue, compile, and submit (in Word or some other written format) all e-mail or online (forum or blog) correspondence that you have throughout the project. You will need to be aware of organization (e.g. chronology, to/from), document design, and presentation so that your audience, purpose, and professional ethos is easily understandable by me, your instructor.

Your correspondence with group members, regardless of the medium, should add to your rhetorical positioning for the project and assist in building your professional ethos as a potentially successful entrepreneur. Obviously, this type of communication requires rhetorical sophistication, as the audience and purpose for each instance of correspondence is different. Draft, edit, and present selectively and carefully.

Requirements for Project Managers

• Post to Drupal Forum your resume and cover letter, which should endeavor to illustrate that you will be a successful entrepreneur and project manager on this project.
• Post to Drupal Forum a company profile, company mission, etc., which advocates for your business/business idea. Ultimately, this aspect of your job posting should illustrate to your prospective group mates why this idea is the project they should work on for the remainder of the semester. Essentially, this is a written and visual representation of your business idea pitch.
• Post to Drupal Forum three job ads, which detail the jobs for which you are hiring, the requirements of those jobs, the qualifications for applicants, and the application process (resume and cover letter is required of all)—how you would like prospective employees to apply.
• Hire employees to fill the three positions for which you created job ads. You will need to inform them of your decision via the means you articulate in the job ads.
• Catalogue, compile, and submit (to the instructor as a Word document) any and all email or forum correspondence you have with applicants as it relates to the hiring (or rejection) of employees for the project.

Requirements for Employees

• Read Project Manager and company profile, etc., along with the job ads posted on each of the individual forums. Then, select at least two jobs for which you want to apply.
• Apply for jobs via the means articulated in the job ads (required resume and cover letter), illustrating why you are the person the Project Manager should hire. You may be required to develop materials beyond the required resume and cover letter; be sure to respond to the specific requirements given by the Project Managers.
• Accept one position on which you would like to work for the remainder of the semester.
• Catalogue, compile, and submit (to the instructor as a Word document) any and all email or forum correspondence you have with applicants as it relates to the hiring (or rejection) of employees for the project.

Grading for Job Application Project

This project is worth a total of 10 % of your total course grade and breaks down as follows:

Project Managers

• 25% - Resume
• 25% - Cover Letter
• 35% - Job Listing: 3 Job Ads, Company Profile, Company Mission
• 15% - Project Correspondence

Employees

• 40% - Resumes
• 40% - Cover Letters
• 20% - Project Correspondence

 

Documentation Project

Project Description

The ability to document your personal contribution to a group project is an invaluable skill. Not only does careful documentation allow for you to prove what you have done and when you have done it, but also that you have the organizational and necessary rhetorical skills to be a success in the greater business world. Documentation comes in many forms, ranging from the financial to the personal. For this project in English 420E, beginning with your initial group meeting, you will be responsible for documenting—and ultimately presenting—your contribution to your team's progress throughout the semester. This documentation project will be comprised of three major components:

• A weekly record of your contributions to the group;
• A rhetorically-sophisticated, well-designed, well-written, and self-explanatory document that details your individual contribution to the group;
• A collaboration evaluation project.

Project Goals

Writing in Context

• writing for a range of defined audiences and stakeholders;
• negotiating the ethical dimensions of workplace and/or business communication;
• representing one's business goals and innovative ideas persuasively, in written and oral forms.

Project Management

• Understand, develop and deploy various strategies for planning, researching, drafting, revising, and editing the important and necessary documents of entrepreneurship, including business plans, marketing materials, white papers, resumes, trademark applications, and grant proposals, both individually and collaboratively
• Select and use appropriate technologies that both effectively and ethically address professional situations and audiences.
• Build professional ethos through documentation and accountability.

Document Design
Make rhetorical design decisions about workplace documents commonly used by entrepreneurs, including

• understanding and adapting to genre conventions and audience expectations;

understanding and implementing design principles of format and layout;

• interpreting and arguing with design;

 

• drafting, researching, testing, and revising visual designs and information architecture.

Teamwork
Learn and apply strategies for successful teamwork and collaboration, such as

• working online with colleagues;
• determining individual and group roles and responsibilities;
• managing team conflicts constructively;
• responding constructively to peers' work
• soliciting and using peer feedback effectively;
• achieving team and business goals.

Research
Understand and use various research methods to produce professional documents, including

• analyzing professional contexts;
• locating, evaluating, and using print and online information selectively for particular audiences and purposes;
• triangulating sources of evidence;
• selecting appropriate primary research methods, such as interviews, observations, focus groups, and surveys to collect data;
• working ethically with research participants.

Technology
Use and evaluate the writing technologies frequently used in the workplace and for entrepreneurship, such as emailing, instant messaging, image editing, video editing, presentation design and delivery, HTML editing, Web browsing, content management, and desktop publishing technologies.

Deliverables

Weekly Record of Individual Contribution

The first component of the documentation project is your individual record of your contribution. You will devise a system for tracking, recording, and explicating the work you do as it relates to all of the group projects throughout the semester. This record can come in any form (e.g. chart, notes, journal, PowerPoint, website, etc.) and will be turned in at the end of the semester along with the other two components of the project. One portion of this weekly record can be comprised of information also found in the regular meeting minutes that your group will post on the course site. This will be detailed in class, but, at the least, minutes should include

• Date and location of meeting;
• Names of all present
• A brief summary of the meeting's business
• Decisions rendered, actions assigned, etc.

Individual Contribution Documentation

This documentation will be comprised of a single document that illustrates and details your specific contribution to the group, the group’s progress, the group deliverables, and group meetings. Again, this document can be crafted in any format that you choose, drawing on your records of your efforts and accomplishments throughout the project (i.e. weekly record and group minutes). It should, at the least, clearly and accurately illustrate what you did throughout the project--in a rhetorically-sophisticated, well-designed, well-written, and self-explanatory manner. That is to say, it should employ all of the rhetorical strategies we discuss throughout the class to make clear for your audience(s) what you believe your contribution to be.

When completed, you will give one copy of this document to EACH group member for approval, as illustrated by signature. This copy will be turned in to Catherine A Shuler by each group member (e.g. if you have four group members, you will be handing in three signed [or unsigned] individual project assessment documents) which has received [or not received] written approval from all members before submission (thus, you will need to design the document so that there is a space for said approval in the appropriate form--printed name and signature, for example). Further, this copy will be for them to use in completing component three, the collaboration evaluation. In the end, be sure that your document:

• Clearly and accurately illustrates what you did throughout the project;
• Receives written approval [or not] from all group members before said members submit it to Catherine A Shuler;
• Is given to your team members to assist in completing the collaboration;
• Employs strong, logical, and clear rhetorical choices in addressing the audience and purpose of the document.

You will be assessed on how well the document represents your work, ethic, contribution, commitment, success, etcetera to the group. Further, you will be assessed on the document itself—its presentation, design, and appropriate rhetorical choices for its audience and purpose.

Group Collaboration Evaluation

This component of the project assesses the group members and their individual performances and contributions to the group projects. Further, you will have a chance to assign a grade to each individual group member on the business plan and plan presentation projects. Ultimately, this component of the documentation project is meant to give you the opportunity to discuss, detail, and address issues (good or bad) that arose during the course of the semester group work. 

Grading

The Documentation Project will be worth a total of 15% of your total course grade. This is an individual project. The grade breakdown for this project is as follows

• Weekly Record of Individual Contribution = 30%
• Individual Contribution Documentation = 50%
• Collaboration Evaluation = 20%

These documents will be graded on the clarity, rhetorical sophistication, presentation, and attention to audience and purpose.

Market Analysis/Strategy

Project Description

As a prelude to and fundamental component of your Comprehensive Business Plan (Project 4), you will research, draft, and design an all-inclusive Market Analysis and Marketing Strategy for your team Project Manager’s business idea. This analysis and strategy will give you the opportunity to do some extensive research, analysis, and synthesis of your specific market in order to gain a greater understanding of your business or industry, including the potential for positive revenue, your competitive edge within that market, and a comprehensive strategy for marketing your future business. Further, you will need to keep your multiple audiences in mind when doing this research (investors vs. customers). In total, your market analysis should be quite comprehensive (~10-15 pages) and make clear your understanding of where and how you will fit into the market and how you plan to position your company.

The type of research (i.e. five sources, only one of which is “non-academic”) you will need to complete in order to successfully and thoroughly develop project 4 will depend, to a great extent, upon your business and its future location; you may find that you need to do some first-hand, survey-type research of the relevant market to ensure that there is a felt need for your business (product of service).

Project Goals

Writing in Context

• writing for a range of defined audiences and stakeholders;
• negotiating the ethical dimensions of workplace and/or business communication;
• representing one's business goals and innovative ideas persuasively, in written and oral forms.

Project Management

• Understand, develop and deploy various strategies for planning, researching, drafting, revising, and editing the important and necessary documents of entrepreneurship, including business plans, marketing materials, white papers, resumes, trademark applications, and grant proposals, both individually and collaboratively
• Select and use appropriate technologies that both effectively and ethically address professional situations and audiences.
• Build professional ethos through documentation and accountability.

Document Design
Make rhetorical design decisions about workplace documents commonly used by entrepreneurs, including

• understanding and adapting to genre conventions and audience expectations;

understanding and implementing design principles of format and layout;

• interpreting and arguing with design;
• drafting, researching, testing, and revising visual designs and information architecture.

Teamwork
Learn and apply strategies for successful teamwork and collaboration, such as

• working online with colleagues;
• determining individual and group roles and responsibilities;
• managing team conflicts constructively;
• responding constructively to peers' work
• soliciting and using peer feedback effectively;
• achieving team and business goals.

Research
Understand and use various research methods to produce professional documents, including

• analyzing professional contexts;
• locating, evaluating, and using print and online information selectively for particular audiences and purposes;
• triangulating sources of evidence;
• selecting appropriate primary research methods, such as interviews, observations, focus groups, and surveys to collect data;
• working ethically with research participants.

Technology
Use and evaluate the writing technologies frequently used in the workplace and for entrepreneurship, such as emailing, instant messaging, image editing, video editing, presentation design and delivery, HTML editing, Web browsing, content management, and desktop publishing technologies.

Deliverables

What follows is a list of some of the major components of a comprehensive Market Analysis and Strategy that you should consider.

Market Analysis:

• Defining Target Market, Market Size, etc.
• Analyzing your Industry, its participants, your market, and market trends
• History of the industry or market
• What need or demand your company fills
• The current and prospective buyers of your company’s products or services
• What type of buyers of your company’s products or services (“brand-conscious” buyers, impulse buyers, window shoppers, bargain shoppers)?
• What motivates customers to buy?
• Relevant demographic profile: income, gender, occupation, marital status, ethnicity, education?
• Location of target market: live, work, play, etc.
• Unique opportunities for additional differentiation of your business…technology, positioning, or segmentation
• Your value proposition
• Forces, trends, and market potential of your industry that supports your business objectives
• Cite experts, market research firms, trade associations, other credible sources
• Significant statistics for your industry: revenue size, number of businesses, units sold, employment figures
• Principle distribution/sales channels for your business
• Patterns and trends of your industry (growing, leveling off, shrinking)
• Factors that influence growth or decline in your industry
• Changes in demographics, consumer taste, or needs for your industry

Marketing Strategy

• How you plan to make customers aware of your product or service
• What message you are trying to convey to customers about your product, service, or company
• Specific methods you will use to deliver and reinforce that message
• What messages you give customers to motivate them to purchase your product or service:
  • Product: the tangible aspects of the product or service
  • Price: the cost advantage
  • Place: the location’s convenience and décor
  • Promotion: the amount and nature of the marketing activities
• Five F’s of Customer Satisfaction:
  • Functions: how the product or service meets customer needs
  • Finance: how the purchase will affect customer’s overall financial situation
  • Freedom: how convenient it is to purchase and use the product or service; how they will gain TIME and less worry in other aspects of life
  • Feelings: how the product or service makes customers feel about themselves
  • Future: how customers will deal with the product or service and company over time: support service, lives down the road, increased sense of security for future

• What message you are trying to convey (for each of the five f’s)
• Which message is most important to your target market
• How you will express your message to your customer in each of the following:
• How you will disseminate information:
• Fit: your marketing vehicles must reach your actual target and be appropriate for image.
• Mix: use more than on method so customers get exposure to you from a number of sources.
• Repetition: it takes many incidents of exposure to make a customer aware of a message.
• Affordability: is the marketing plan within your budget?

• Professional Assistance:
• Marketing/PR Consultants
• Ad Agencies
• Direct Mail Specialists
• Graphic/Web Designers
• Medium (billboards, displays, tv, radio, online, newspapers, etc.) and ways of marketing/advertising (PR, informal marketing, word of mouth, customer-based, etc.)

• How you will convey your digital presence (if you have one) in your marketing materials: URL, e-mail address, letterhead, business cards, ads, ?
• Where you will allot your advertising dollars (media, Ad Executive, PR, etc.), frequency of ads, size, types, who will create them, cost of each. etc.
• How your message will reach your target market; how much your plan will cost (placement and production)
• How you will describe your unique selling position in a one or two line catchy phrase or slogan
• Are your choices ETHICAL?
• How much money will you dedicate to advertising and promotion in the first, second, third years?

As a whole, this project will function to 1) prepare you for writing the Market Analysis and Marketing Strategy, and 2) give you practice in research, analysis, and synthesis of information gathered in the wild

Grading for Market Analysis/Strategy

The Market Analysis/Strategy Project is worth 15% of your total course grade and breaks down as follows:

• 50% - Market Analysis
• 50% - Marketing Strategy

 

Business Plan

Project Description

For Project 4, which is inextricably linked to Projects 1, 2, and 3, you will be asked to research, draft, design, and polish a comprehensive Business Plan for your Project Manager's business idea. This project will be a collaborative effort with your entrepreneur teams, as formulated through projects 1, 2, and 3. This project will give you the opportunity to work both independently and collaboratively, situations you are bound to encounter in your future entrepreneurial exploits. Further, it allows you to gain, foster, and refine several necessary skills of any entrepreneur or business owner: research, data/information selection, critical thinking, writing, designing, etc.; what you are sure to gain from this project is virtually limitless (or, it could be).

Project Goals

Writing in Context

• writing for a range of defined audiences and stakeholders;
• negotiating the ethical dimensions of workplace and/or business communication;
• representing one's business goals and innovative ideas persuasively, in written and oral forms.

Project Management

• Understand, develop and deploy various strategies for planning, researching, drafting, revising, and editing the important and necessary documents of entrepreneurship, including business plans, marketing materials, white papers, resumes, trademark applications, and grant proposals, both individually and collaboratively
• Select and use appropriate technologies that both effectively and ethically address professional situations and audiences.
• Build professional ethos through documentation and accountability.

Document Design
Make rhetorical design decisions about workplace documents commonly used by entrepreneurs, including

• understanding and adapting to genre conventions and audience expectations;

understanding and implementing design principles of format and layout;

• interpreting and arguing with design;
• drafting, researching, testing, and revising visual designs and information architecture.

Teamwork
Learn and apply strategies for successful teamwork and collaboration, such as

• working online with colleagues;
• determining individual and group roles and responsibilities;
• managing team conflicts constructively;
• responding constructively to peers' work
• soliciting and using peer feedback effectively;
• achieving team and business goals.

Research
Understand and use various research methods to produce professional documents, including

• analyzing professional contexts;
• locating, evaluating, and using print and online information selectively for particular audiences and purposes;
• triangulating sources of evidence;
• selecting appropriate primary research methods, such as interviews, observations, focus groups, and surveys to collect data;
• working ethically with research participants.

Technology
Use and evaluate the writing technologies frequently used in the workplace and for entrepreneurship, such as emailing, instant messaging, image editing, video editing, presentation design and delivery, HTML editing, Web browsing, content management, and desktop publishing technologies.

Deliverables

In line with the Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation's Business Plan Competition, the following parameters are suggested (obviously, the choices are ultimately up to you, the entrepreneur) for the Comprehensive Business Plan.  Ultimately, there are two deliverables for this project:1) the comprehensive business plan and 2) the group meeting minutes.

Basic Guidelines

• Business plan should be no longer than 15 pages, not including the appendices (typically, the financials, etc.)

It should also include

• an executive summary
• technical discussions, and financial information including additional research and development monies
• an appendix of no longer than 15 pages, which includes research results, technical drawings, or other appropriate materials
• In Sum, the business plan and appendix cannot be longer than 30 pages

Burton D. Morgan Suggested Format

• Executive Summary (2 page maximum)
• Your technology or concept
• The target market and size
• The target customers
• Your competitive advantage
• Barriers to entry of competitors
• Estimated technical challenges to overcome
• Estimated time to commercialization/profitability
• Three years of estimated revenues and net income
• Estimate future funding requirements

Business Overview

• Company description and business model
• Value proposition- financial
• Value proposition- technical
• Vision Current status
• Current or committed funding and all funding sources

The Market Opportunity

• Why is this such a great idea? Define the problem.
• Competitive analysis (how the problem is not being solved by competitors)

Market Solution

• Product or service
• Description of a working model or prototype, if appropriate
• How you this fulfill the market opportunity?
• Ability to create barriers to entry

The Market

• Identification of customer(s)
• Market size, analysis and forecast
• Industry analysis and forecast including competing products or companies

Management Team

• Founders and key management
• Industry experience, education
• Board of advisors (Critical-- it can augment team experience if needed)

Technical Analysis

• Outline the technical steps necessary for commercialization: What is the length of time?
• Is commercialization dependent on outside contingencies?
• What types of regulatory approval processes must be navigated?
• What are the risks of failure?

Financial Analysis Outline

• Overall financial model with detailed projections through year 3 including pro forma cash flow and budget analysis
• Other analysis, as appropriate (i.e. break even analysis)
• Discuss assumptions and capital requirements
• Future funding requests

Meeting Minutes

These must be taken during/after each group meeting and will include

• Date and location of meeting
• Names of all present
• A brief summary of the meeting's business
• Decisions rendered, actions assigned, etc.
• All minutes will be posted to the Team Forum

Grading for Project 4

• 55% - Content
• 25% - Aesthetics
• 20% - Execution

 

Business (Plan) Presentation

Project Description

As an opportunity to practice your presentation skills and receive feedback from interested parties, you will be presenting your working business plans (business model) to an audience. You will have a total of 20 minutes to present your business. Essentially, you will be presenting to your classmates as if they were potential supporters or investors--what type of investor (e.g. Angel, VC, bank, etc.) all depends on your business model. Your ultimate purpose of this presentation is to secure funding for your business idea. To be clear, this presentation should endeavor to gain interest in your business, not your business plan. Thus, you are not presenting in a "here is what we did for our business plan" fashion. Rather, you should present your business and all of its merits, asking for financial support to get you off the ground (which will, ultimately, lead to profit for all involved parties).

Project Goals

Writing in Context

• writing for a range of defined audiences and stakeholders;
• negotiating the ethical dimensions of workplace and/or business communication;
• representing one's business goals and innovative ideas persuasively, in written and oral forms.

Project Management

• Understand, develop and deploy various strategies for planning, researching, drafting, revising, and editing the important and necessary documents of entrepreneurship, including business plans, marketing materials, white papers, resumes, trademark applications, and grant proposals, both individually and collaboratively
• Select and use appropriate technologies that both effectively and ethically address professional situations and audiences.
• Build professional ethos through documentation and accountability.

Document Design
Make rhetorical design decisions about workplace documents commonly used by entrepreneurs, including

• understanding and adapting to genre conventions and audience expectations;

understanding and implementing design principles of format and layout;

• interpreting and arguing with design;
• drafting, researching, testing, and revising visual designs and information architecture.

Teamwork
Learn and apply strategies for successful teamwork and collaboration, such as

• working online with colleagues;
• determining individual and group roles and responsibilities;
• managing team conflicts constructively;
• responding constructively to peers' work
• soliciting and using peer feedback effectively;
• achieving team and business goals.

Research
Understand and use various research methods to produce professional documents, including

• analyzing professional contexts;
• locating, evaluating, and using print and online information selectively for particular audiences and purposes;
• triangulating sources of evidence;
• selecting appropriate primary research methods, such as interviews, observations, focus groups, and surveys to collect data;
• working ethically with research participants.

Technology
Use and evaluate the writing technologies frequently used in the workplace and for entrepreneurship, such as emailing, instant messaging, image editing, video editing, presentation design and delivery, HTML editing, Web browsing, content management, and desktop publishing technologies.

Deliverables

While the only deliverable for this project is the actual presentation itself, there are some parameters required as follows:

Media Types:

Your business plan pitch should take advantage of “typical” visual media available to entrepreneurs and business owners. How you choose to present your business plan and concept is, in the end, up to you. But, you are required to use some form of visual assistance, including:

• PowerPoint
• Overheads
• Poster(s) and Easel
• Others

Further, you are required to have handouts of some sort for all of your audience members. Your handout should supplement--not be a copy of--your presentation content. This should be your best work—which means it should be in the format you would be proud to present to potential funders.

Participation:

Each member of the business plan team is required to participate in the Business Plan Presentation. Completely equal participation is, of course, not necessary (or even quantifiable), but each member should have a distinct task during the presentation. Essentially, it should not be obvious that one person or another did more work—either on the business plan, or on the presentation. Your audience should hardly be aware of the transition from one presenter to another. Or one slide to another, for that matter. Practice.

Time:

In alignment with business plan competitions across the nation, your Business Plan Presentation will be no longer than 20 minutes, with a 5-10 minute Question & Answer session to immediately follow. Being this short, it is extremely important that you make decisions about what you will include, what you will exclude, how you will position yourselves rhetorically, how you will present the material (e.g. charts and graphs?), and how you will grab and maintain your audience’s attention. You will need to practice to ensure that you say what you want, how you want in the 20-minute time constraint. Practice more than once.

Professional ethos:

It is my expectation that you will conduct yourselves with utmost professionalism. Your professional ethos, along with that of this class, the program, and Purdue University all rests on how the decisions your groups make regarding professionalism. Although the following is not all inclusive, these are some aspects of professional ethos you might consider:

• Attire
• Polish of Presentation
• Word Choice (level of formality)
• Presentation Materials
• Body Language
• Self Introductions
• Question and Answer Session
• Others

Grading for Business (Plan) Presentation

• 40% - Content
• 15% - Presentation Makeup
• 10% - Business Plan Presentation Handout (presentation aid)
• 15% - Ranking and ethos
• 20% - Media Assistance

 

Elevator Pitch

Project Description

Introduction
On the heels of your recently-completed and presented Business Plans, you will pitch your business to your audience.  In a similar fashion to the Business Idea Pitch, what and how you choose to present is completely up to you.  In this class, you have had opportunities to develop and practice your rhetorical skills (including your presentation skills) and have developed a comprehensive Business Plan containing all of the information necessary for a solid Elevator Pitch. Project 6, then, is designed to put those skills and ideas to the test--to allow you to present your ideas in a succinct, cogent, and engaging manner.

Project Summary
For this individual project, you are being asked to prepare and present an Elevator Pitch for your group's unique idea for a business, product, or service. You will pitch to the entire class, including your instructor, and the audience will rank the pitches from one to eleven (not ranking themselves). Your pitches will also be video-taped and posted to the site, so that you can watch them, analyze them, and improve on them for future pitches. In the end, the results of the competition will have a bearing on the grade of this individual project. Make no mistake, this is a competition, and the stakes are high, as explicated below. This will be a fun, educational, and useful near-culmination of your collaborative efforts this semester.

Project Goals

Writing in Context

• writing for a range of defined audiences and stakeholders;
• negotiating the ethical dimensions of workplace and/or business communication;
• representing one's business goals and innovative ideas persuasively, in written and oral forms.

Project Management

• Understand, develop and deploy various strategies for planning, researching, drafting, revising, and editing the important and necessary documents of entrepreneurship, including business plans, marketing materials, white papers, resumes, trademark applications, and grant proposals, both individually and collaboratively
• Select and use appropriate technologies that both effectively and ethically address professional situations and audiences.
• Build professional ethos through documentation and accountability.

Document Design
Make rhetorical design decisions about workplace documents commonly used by entrepreneurs, including

• understanding and adapting to genre conventions and audience expectations;

understanding and implementing design principles of format and layout;

• interpreting and arguing with design;
• drafting, researching, testing, and revising visual designs and information architecture.

Teamwork
Learn and apply strategies for successful teamwork and collaboration, such as

• working online with colleagues;
• determining individual and group roles and responsibilities;
• managing team conflicts constructively;
• responding constructively to peers' work
• soliciting and using peer feedback effectively;
• achieving team and business goals.

Research
Understand and use various research methods to produce professional documents, including

• analyzing professional contexts;
• locating, evaluating, and using print and online information selectively for particular audiences and purposes;
• triangulating sources of evidence;
• selecting appropriate primary research methods, such as interviews, observations, focus groups, and surveys to collect data;
• working ethically with research participants.

Technology
Use and evaluate the writing technologies frequently used in the workplace and for entrepreneurship, such as emailing, instant messaging, image editing, video editing, presentation design and delivery, HTML editing, Web browsing, content management, and desktop publishing technologies.

Deliverables

Your Individual Elevator Pitch
1. May be in any format you choose.
2. Less than (up to) two minutes.
3. Some areas of discussion include:

• Your product or service;
• Your market and its size;
• How you plan to make money;
• How much money you will make;
• How much money you require at start up/what you are asking for from you investors;
• Your leadership team;
• Your competition;
• Your competitive advantage.

Stakes of Elevator Pitch Competition
1. Rank 1-16 of all presenters.
2. Ranking will be worth 25% of your individual grade on this project.
3. Your instructor will evaluate your pitch and render a grade equalling 75%.

Rules of Elevator Pitch Competition
1. All aspiring entrepreneurs (class members) must present
2. Must rank all presenters
3. Cannot vote for yourself
4. Selected at random on the day of the Pitch
5. In the spirit of a true Elevator pitch, you may not use any notes when pitching. Practice!

Grading for Business Idea Pitch

This project is worth a total of 5% of your total course grade. For all students, the pitches will be graded on 1) the content of the pitch, 2) how well the picth is put together and organized, 3) how thorough and convincing the presentation is (e.g. would we invest the amount of money asked for), 4) and how professionally the information is pitched.

So, at its heart, this project is a competition and a chance to show your audience how you interpret your business idea, what you think is important for them to know in 2 minutes, and how rhetorically-sophisticated you can be while pitching. For Project 6, you are competing, in part, for your grade on the project. Also, this is your last opportunity in the class to illustrate some of your skills as a future business owner and entrepreneur. How well did you research, organize information, utilize your resources, and present your ideas? Those that do the aforementioned the best are destined to garner the best ranking.

Employee Manual Project

Project Description

Every business needs to have an in-house employee manual which explains company policies and serves as a contract between the employer and employees. A well-written, legally sound employee manual provides the documentation necessary to keep a business functioning by creating uniform policies that protect the company and its employees. With this in mind, each group will create a short employee manual for the business described in their business plan. The manual will provide the policies needed to begin hiring employees and start conducting business.

Project Goals

Writing in Context

• writing for a range of defined audiences and stakeholders;
• negotiating the ethical dimensions of workplace and/or business communication;
• representing one's business goals and innovative ideas persuasively, in written and oral forms.

Project Management

• Understand, develop and deploy various strategies for planning, researching, drafting, revising, and editing the important and necessary documents of entrepreneurship, including business plans, marketing materials, white papers, resumes, trademark applications, and grant proposals, both individually and collaboratively
• Select and use appropriate technologies that both effectively and ethically address professional situations and audiences.
• Build professional ethos through documentation and accountability.

Document Design
Make rhetorical design decisions about workplace documents commonly used by entrepreneurs, including

• understanding and adapting to genre conventions and audience expectations;

understanding and implementing design principles of format and layout;

• interpreting and arguing with design;
• drafting, researching, testing, and revising visual designs and information architecture.

Teamwork
Learn and apply strategies for successful teamwork and collaboration, such as

• working online with colleagues;
• determining individual and group roles and responsibilities;
• managing team conflicts constructively;
• responding constructively to peers' work
• soliciting and using peer feedback effectively;
• achieving team and business goals.

Research
Understand and use various research methods to produce professional documents, including

• analyzing professional contexts;
• locating, evaluating, and using print and online information selectively for particular audiences and purposes;
• triangulating sources of evidence;
• selecting appropriate primary research methods, such as interviews, observations, focus groups, and surveys to collect data;
• working ethically with research participants.

Technology
Use and evaluate the writing technologies frequently used in the workplace and for entrepreneurship, such as emailing, instant messaging, image editing, video editing, presentation design and delivery, HTML editing, Web browsing, content management, and desktop publishing technologies.

Deliverables

Employee Manual:

The only deliverable for this project is a professional, complete, and well-designed 10-15 page employee manual. This employee manual will establish policies for workers employed by the business described in your group's business plan. The employee manual must include a cover page, a table of contents, and consistent formatting for all sections. In addition, the employee manual must include the following sections:

• Code of Ethics: The Code of Ethics describes the expectations for ethical behavior at the workplace. This code should address any potential ethical dilemmas employees will face while at the workplace, handling workplace materials, or interacting with other workers and customers. This policy must comply with all local, industry, and federal regulations.
• Equal Opportunity Employment Policy: The Equal Opportunity Employment Policy describes the company's non-discrimination hiring policy. This policy must be in compliance with all local and federal regulations established by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
• Sexual Harrassment Policy: The Sexual Harrassment policy defines and prohibits sexual harrassment in the workplace, and includes information for reporting and arbitrating instances of sexual harrassment. This policy must be in compliance with all local, state, and federal regulations established by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
• Accomodations for Employees with Disabilities: The Accomodations for Employees with Disabilities explains how the company accomodates employees with disabilities. This policy must be in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
• At-Will Employment: An At-Will Employment policy allows both employer and employee to terminate employment at any time provided that termination complies with local, state, and federal law.

In addition, the manual must include at least five other policies determined by the group to be necessary for the business. Potential policies include: dress code, sick leave, vacation days, break policies, benefits, workplace violence policies, promotion policies, employee problem resolution guidelines, intellectual property, confidentiality agreements, alcohol screening, cash handling policies, scheduling procedures, parking, smoking policies, etc. Each policy should be catered to the business, clearly and concisely phrased, and in compliance with all necessary regulations.

The complete employee manual must be professional and usable with consistent formatting for each policy. The manual is due December 1, 2008.

Samples of Employee Manuals can be found at the following links. See also the article on employee manuals attached below.

• University of Denver.
• Technical and Field Engineering Manual.
• Grady Street Pizza Company.
• Burger King.

Grading for Employee Manual Project

The Employee Manual project will be graded on the clarity, research, appropriateness of the included policies, and the professional appearance and usability of the document. The manual will also be graded on how well the policies meet both government and industry regulations as well as the needs of your specific company.