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Gigot Center for Entrepreneurial Studies

2006-07 McCloskey Notre Dame Business Plan Competition

First Round Entry - Business Overview Instructions

(Preliminary instructions subject to change prior to registration deadline of 10/13/2006)

  
   

The purpose of the Business Overview is to provide a vision for the proposed venture, including the business concept, target customers, industry overview, competitive landscape and revenue potential. This submission is not intended to be as comprehensive as a detailed business plan, but should provide the reader with a summary of the major elements of the proposed venture.

First round submission packets should include a PowerPoint presentation, written document and public summary, with details regarding each component provided below. Please submit packets to the Gigot Center, 234 Mendoza College of Business, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN  46556.
 
PowerPoint Submission Guidelines

This year's McCloskey Notre Dame Business Plan Competition is requiring a PowerPoint element in addition to a written concept overview. The presentation's format should be very straightforward--no animations or effects should be included although graphical elements may be used to the extent that they illustrate key elements about your idea.  The slides will be distributed to judges as a stand-alone document on paper.  Feel free to use more than one slide for a given topic, but presentations must be limited to 9 slides.  Judges will only receive the first 9 slides.

Do not worry if you do not have all of the answers to the questions listed below. This document does, however, serve as a guideline for the types of questions that you should be asking and finding answers to at this stage of the competition. Feel free to refer to the sample presentations for examples of answers.
 
  Slide Key Questions to Answer What Judges Consider "Best" Answer
1

Business Concept

(What is your idea?)

 What is your idea/venture? Give a general non-technical overview of what the idea/venture is and what it does. Why should people be interested in this? Uniqueness/freshness of idea. Is it the logical next step to satisfy customer needs in this market? Plausible new way to address a meaningful market issue.

2

 Current Problem and Proposed Solution (Why is your solution needed now?) What current unmet needs does your idea/venture address? What does the customer want and why do they want it? How do you solve their need? Is the problem real or transitory? Is the proposed solution disruptive or evolutionary? Significant, growing problem that customers have shown a willingness to pay $ to solve.
3
 Target Customer (Who needs it, and why?) Who is the customer that is going to be attracted to your product? How much does your product/service mean to them? What is the size of your customer base? Potential size of market being addressed: niche or mass market? Quick to accept new solutions, or not? Based on what? Sizable market with clear, rational reasons to consider new ways to solve problems.
4
 Go to Market Strategy Is there a channel that can allow this company to get its solution to target customers profitably? What are the channel's requirements and is the company prepared to meet these requirements? What has changed to allow a startup to enter? Does this channel accept startups? How and why? Clear indicators of past channel acceptance of startups.
5
 Business Model (How do you make $$) Financial benefits, how much are people going to be willing to pay for this product/service? Do you save them money or create additional value, or both? How do you capitalize on this added value? Reasonable business growth plans; significant margins that should improve through expansion. Demonstrated commercial traction; customers have already paid for this solution from this company.
6
 Management Credentials and Involvement (Why you?) What experience do you have in this area? Why are you interested in this idea/venture? Is there anything unique about your involvement in this project or can anyone pull this off? Who leads? Past experience or plans to supplement with outside mentors or advisors? A realistic appraisal of team skill set; no oversell -- honest reflection of strengths and weaknesses.
7
 Primary Competitors and Competitive Advantage Discuss your competition:  who is in this market space? What prevents them from blocking your entry into the market? Have you considered the competition? If there is no direct competition, what are target customers doing now in the absence of your product/service? How is the company positioned vis-a'-vis known competition? How can a startup win in this environment? Major competitors are not focused on this opportunity for obvious reasons; underserved market demanding a unique solution.
 
Written Document Guidelines
First round Business Overview documents must be no longer than 1200 words, which equates to a 2 1/2 page Word document with 12pt font and normal margins. Content should be similar to the guidelines outlined in the "Key Questions to Answer" column of the PowerPoint submission template.  The written document should be a stand-alone piece, not reliant on the PowerPoint element of the submission.  The written format should allow you to further detail important elements of your venture that may need more explanation that is impossible in a PowerPoint presentation.
 
Public Summary Guidelines
As part of the first round of the competition, teams must submit a 50-100-word public summary that contains non-confidential information. The Gigot Center may use this summary for promotional purposes and press releases, and will distribute it to IrishAngels network members and competition attendees.  In 2-3 sentences the public summary should provide a brief description of your idea, market and team. This paragraph cannot exceed 100 words. Do not disclose any proprietary information or technology in this portion of your entry. The public summary does not count as part of the 1200 word Business Overview.
 
Entry Submission Instructions

First Round submission packets should include the following:

  • One cover sheet that includes team name and team members.
  • Nine hard copies of the Business Overview PowerPoint presentation, printed in slide format; eight stapled and one attached only by paper clip or binder clip
  • Nine hard copies of the Business Overview written document; eight stapled and one attached only by paper clip or binder clip
  • One hard copy of the Public Summary (do not include the public summary in the Business Overview written document or PowerPoint presentation)
  • One electronic copy of the entire submission packet (document, PowerPoint presentation and public summary), submitted via e-mail to entrep@nd.edu

Please contact the Gigot Center at entrep@nd.edu or 574.631.3042 with any questions or concerns regarding your submission.
 
  Gigot Center for Entrepreneurial Studies
234 Mendoza College of Business • University of Notre Dame • Notre Dame, IN 46556
Telephone: (574) 631-3042 • Fax: (574) 631-3979 • Email: entrep@nd.edu 		 
  © 2007 • University of Notre Dame • Last Updated: October 25, 2007