Boot Camp & Resources

This section is for everyone; even those who attended one of our Boot Camps. If you were unable to attend a Boot Camp please visit this page for more information such as PowerPoint Presentations and guides to help you compete. This presentation is from the 2012 Business Plan Competition but contains most of the information necessary to compete in the 2013 Business Plan Competition. By late January or early February we should have video of a Boot Camp to supplement this material. So, please, check back.

What follows is a brief overview of what you should consider when developing a business concept. Most, if not all, of those things covered henceforth should be found in your Business Concept Paper, which is one of the documents you will be turning in if you enter the competition.

There are three basic stages of development:

• The Concept Stage
• The Trial Stage
• The Write-up Stage

Each phase will include (1) guided, open-level exercises that will allow multiple skill levels to benefit – freshman art major to business senior, and (2) think-pair-share rounds to involve all in active learning of key concepts, and to encourage social interaction.

1. The Concept Stage

First a little motivation: This stage is built around the entrepreneurial life path – the challenges, the rewards: Reaching for the gold ring is great, but even snagging the bronze ring gives a sense of achievement, self-respect, and the respect of others.

Key Opening Questions:

• Developing Answers That Are Right For You
• Steps for Selecting the Products and Services You Should Offer
• Define Your Mission
• Three Key Questions to Answer to Help Define Your Mission
  
  
  • Who are Your Stakeholders and What Do They Expect?
  • What is Your Venture’s Environment?
  • What are your Distinctive Competencies?
• Select a Product or Service Idea
• Define Your Opportunities
• Analyze the Competition
• What are your Core Competencies?

2. The Trial Stage:

Selecting To Whom You Should Offer Your Products and Services:

• Divide the Market into Target Markets
• Look for Needs in Common and Unique Needs
• Name Target Markets
  
  
  • Estimate the Size of Each Target Market
• Products and Markets
  
  
  • Determine if Target Markets are Reachable
  • Summarize Your Beliefs About Each Target Market
  • Check Target Market Profitability
• Underlying Assumptions
  
  
  • Specify How to Answer Marketing Questions
  • Do Trials
  • Interpret Results

3. The Write-up Stage

How to Write a Business Concept:

• Problem
• Solution
• Customer
• Business model
• Go to market strategy
• Team

First Cut on your Concept – Quick Think and Write Exercise

• What Distinguishes a Great Business Concept From a Good Business Concept?

Second Cut on your Concept – Good to Great Exercise

• Review of Contest Application – What Will the Judges Look For in your Write-up?

In-Depth Research

Starting with the 2013 Business Plan Competition we will be adding on another segment called “in-depth research.” Without going into too many details at this point, what this extra segment is about is making the teams conduct research with their target market in an effort to discover whether or not actual customers would be interested in the team’s business concept. This entails teams having to ask potential customers questions about the team’s product/service.

Don’t worry; this is easier than it may sound. Teams will receive instruction on this topic well before it is due. Once we have solidified what exactly we will be requiring teams to do we will also post that information on this page.