Below are some caselets describing situations where a focused (pioneering, new entrant, existing, or significant government involved business) or a specialized (screening, informational, invention, key employee/partner, or operational plan, proof-of-concept Website or PPM) might be good ideas. Can you help these entrepreneurs decide which one they might need?
- Charlie is a great salesman but doesn’t know a lot about production. He has this wonderful idea for a new type of computer desk that is not only ergonomically designed, but comfortable as well. He’s decided that maybe it would be a good plan to have his buddy Lloyd, a manufacturing engineer and a woodworking hobbyist, be a part of his business.
- When Tammy was in Tokyo, she had the opportunity to eat at a sushi restaurant. This restaurant had plates with individual pieces of sushi that moved past the customers on mini-conveyors. Customers helped themselves and when finished, took the plates to the cashier. The plates were color-coded by price and this was how the cashier determined the total bill. Tammy would like to try this in Toledo where no one has experienced this before.
Debbie had developed a new Internet-supported computer educational program. Initial feedback showed that the product should have wide acceptance and strong sales, but Debbie needed to hire computer programmers and technicians to support the Internet based portions of the project, office staff and other personnel for around $500,000. Plus, she needed office space, computers, etc. for these people – at least another $70,000. The local SCORE office helped her identify a couple of venture capital clubs and private investors who might be interested in funding this venture. - Gerry’s biofuel senior project intrigued his professor who alerted a high-level venture capitalist specializing in that field.
- Marc has developed a method of converting decomposing vegetation into a fuel source. He knows that there has to be companies, cities or even individuals out there that can validate his findings and that are interested in purchasing such technology, but he doesn’t know exactly who or where.
- Natalie is the manager of the Apple Tree, a produce market. She originally started with just a handmade stand at a rural intersection and the business gradually grew. She finances the growth with personal savings at first and then the profits from her business. Now, for the first time she needs to seek outside financing for a new building she wants to build and needs to have a business plan.
- Phil runs Another Chance Outreach Center in a major Northeast city. The center is fully funded by a religious group and other local philanthropists and has had a business plan since inception. Another Chance has grown steadily through the past fifteen years that Phil has been the director. Phil has learned a lot in these fifteen years – who is likely to hire his clients, who will provide clothing, who will donate meals, who will provide educational support, etc., etc. and Phil has this wealth of knowledge stored in his head. Phil is beginning to experience burnout and the Center is getting just too big for a single person to run. As he trains new staff to assist him, he wants to be sure they know the full scope of the Center’s outreach.
