Project 3: Yu Gu, Suizi Xiao

1.Your team member names

Yu Gu, Suizi Xiao

2.What the business will be doing/selling (be as specific as possible).

The business is to helping people find their ancestors by DNA test. By doing the test we could put all human beings in Human mitochondrial DNA haplogroup and Human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup. A human mitochondrial DNA haplogroup is a group of people sharing a common ancestor of the female lineage. By contrast, a human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup is a group of people sharing a common ancestor of the male lineage. The service we provide is the DNA tests and an optional membership. The membership would offer a customer further information, knowledge and updates about human genetic study if the customer wants.

3.Where will the new business be located (anywhere but the US)?

Beijing, China

China, as one of the four ancient civilizations, has a rich historical and cultural background, and Chinese people have a strong tradition of veneration of the dead. Beijing is the cultural capital of China. It has a large number of famous universities, research institutes, and museums, which can provide abundant resources. Many professional archeology research people gather there.

4.Are there existing businesses like yours already? How will you set yourself apart?

The only existing businesses for the human haplogroup test are proved by the national geography website.

In China Fudan University (locates in Shanghai, China) is the only institution, which provides such kind of DNA haplogroup detection.

However, they are all non-profit seeking institutions. They mainly focus on the technology research, but we are trying to publicize our idea and new technology into the market, and telling more people of the meaning and significance of this program. Our aim is to create a specialized business relating to our realistic lives and carry forward the traditional culture.

5.What do you think is the biggest challenge you will face in getting this business started?

As far as we are concerned, the biggest challenge at the starting point is how to let the public know this program. After all, it’s nearly a brand new technology, which first being invented for about two to three years. Most people never hear about it before.

Meanwhile, our global society is like a commercial community nowadays. What people care about the most it how to make or save money for themselves. The consciousnesses of tradition and history have gradually being spurned by many of us. It is not a good phenomenon for human civilization development. It might be hard for us to make a little change of their minds.

Farah Abdullah - Response 05

If I were to have thousands of dollars to be invested, I will definitely consider investing for Bacon Salt. I feel that the idea is unique and fresh although I myself do not eat bacon and with Bacon Salt, everyone including those who are prohibited from eating bacon and those who are vegetarian can have the taste of bacon without actually eating them. The craziness of this idea, for me, is what will make it attractive and can capture people's attention. I am also fascinated with those two guys who really worked hard to achieve something. They do not waste any time and started doing research, surveys, and contacted people who have the expertise in this area. They might be lucky sometimes along the way but I believe that their hard work was what going to determine whether this new product is marketable or not. They learnt their lesson from the vitamin water idea, and straight away work on this new idea although there are some people who is cynical and doubt they would make it.

[Kwanbin Lim] Response 5

I think the biggest lesson to be learned from this audio is that if you have an idea, no matter how small or big, you must take actions to copyright it. I heard that one of the speaker’s wife came up with the idea of vitamin water and they didn’t do anything about it which cost them billions of dollars. If I had a hundred thousand dollars I probably wouldn’t invest on bacon salt. First of all, not all people like bacons. As we all know America is a big melting pot of many different races. For example, I’m Korean and I’ve never even tasted bacon before I came here, so waking up to the smell of bacon is not a pleasant experience for me. Although the percentages of Americans outnumber other races, it’s also an irrefutable fact that in those percentages of Americans, some don’t like bacons. This bacon salt market is focused on population percentage that I wouldn’t want to invest on. Second thing is that I would prefer real bacon over bacon salt any day. I give that credit that bacon salt is a good seasoning but I wouldn’t carry it around me anywhere I go just so I can taste bacon from every other good meal that I might want to eat. To add criticism, how lazy can a person get? If you want to eat something, you cook it. That’s been the universal truth for as long as human kind existed. If you are so lazy that you want bacons but don’t want to cook it, than they might like this idea of bacon salt. It’s a good idea, but not brilliant. Bacon salt targets not the whole percent of Americans, but the partial percentages of bacon fanatics and I would not invest on this idea.

[Jongyoeb Kim (JK)] Response 5

From listening to this radio program about “Bacon salt,” first thing I realized is that I do not have to be genius to invent something totally new to the world. Hence, personally, the only thing we need is a creative thinking and a bravery to take thinking into action. I do not necessarily think that creation of bacon salt is solely by luck. Most people in the world know the taste of the bacon and many of them like bacon. Personally I believe, most people had enough experience, like those two “bacon salt” inventors, to come up with the idea of bacon salt or such similar kind. Like I said above, the reason why bacon salt was created by them is that they were more creative in thinking and have courage to take thinking into an action. Most of the things we are thinking about are always thought by the others. For example, vitamin water was produced when those two bacon salt inventors were thinking of it, which shows that there are too many brains in this world to come up with innovative idea that no one have ever thought of. The important thing I believe is to be creative in thinking to come up with realistic idea and put that into an action right away.

If I was an investor, I need more information about the company and the product. I would invest on this product as these products are being sold in many well-known stores such as Amazon.com, Meijer, Costco and etc. However, accounting information is needed to know how profitable this product is and its’ future expected earnings. However, I did get interested in this product from this radio program!

Response #5 JunSup Lee

If I have a hundred thousand dollars, I am not going to invest my money in bacon salt. Even if the idea itself is very outstanding and fresh, in my opinion, it has limitation for the future. At the first moment, people might show interests in the product since there was nothing like salt which taste like bacon. However, as time goes by, people are not going to spend their money on unhealthy artificial seasoning. Most of people prefer to eat food itself. People want to eat bacon not bacon taste artificial thing. Instead of having bacon salt, people buy bacon and salt. Another reason is that bacon salt has limited usage. Not all the people want bacon taste in their everyday meal. People will not use this seasoning on their meat. They don’t want to add another taste of meat for their main food. Also, they will not use this bacon salt for their salad since people have salad mainly for their health. The only way people will use is when they really need taste of bacon. Therefore, even if a lot of people like bacon salt, we can’t say they will buy this item frequently. People will need this bacon taste salt in every 6 months due to limited usage. Altogether, it is hard to tell that this item has good potential to have success in the long term. It can have some spotlights at the first moment because of its creativity but interests will diminish as time goes because people prefer food itself and it has limited usage.

[Suizi Xiao] Response 5

1. The idea of bacon salt came from an occasional matter. Those guys went to a bar and ordered a cup a bacon cocktail while they are traveling. They suddenly found that it tasted really good and wondered how they could cook other things like bacon. In the right place at the right time, they got this unique idea and changed their career goal. This could be seen as“luck”. On the contrary, they also thought about vitamin water before. However, this idea had already been applied by other soda company. They had not been so fortunate as this time, so they had to give up.

2. If I have a hundred thousand dollars to invest, I would prefer invest my money in some products that sound more “normal” to me. First for most, although I think bacon tastes good, I’m not a huge fan of it. Their objective, “Everything should taste like bacon”, is pretty weird for Asian people. If someone wants to eat something like bacon, just go and buy some bacon; it’s not a luxury or rare product. Second of all, I don’t think it is good for people’s health. It’s not made by real bacon, but bacon flavor food additive. Nowadays, people pay more and more attention on healthy problems; high intake of salt can lead to high blood pressure. I don’t think this product can make profit for a long time. Last but not least, I want to start my business in my hometown, and I would like to invest in a more meaningful product that would bring me payback. The bacon salt might be popular in US; I would definitely say that not many people would like to try it in China.

Project#3 JunSup Lee , Jing Jiang

Your team member names

JunSup Lee , Jing Jiang

What the business will be doing/selling (be as specific as possible)

Ice cream is a frozen dessert usually made from dairy products, such as milk and cream, and often combined with fruits or other ingredients and flavors. We are going to sell frozen yogurt with fresh and exciting toppings to create a nutritious dessert. Unlike other desserts that be produced with artificial ingredients and excessive calories from fat and sugar, we will use all-natural, nonfat and gluten-free ingredients to make the ice cream, such as calcium, protein and live and active cultures. Besides this, our ice cream will paired with delicious toppings such as fresh fruits, fruity pebbles and chocolates. Our store will be designed as a stylish, comfortable, clean and uplifting destination for consumers. Our ice cream is different from traditional ice cream stores which is product-centered. Consumers can choose whatever they want with different flavors and toppings. The price will be determined by the final weight of the ice cream. Consumers are not only purchasing a cup of delicious ice cream, they are also enjoying a special shopping experience. Our store is customers-centered.

Where will the new business be located (anywhere but the US)?

We plan to open our first ice cream store in Hong Kong and China. However, we will extend our stores in hot countries where sale of cold products is high.

Are there existing businesses like yours already? How will you set yourself apart?

There are many ice cream stores, and there are a lot of ice creams we can buy at supermarkets. We are going to target customers who concern about their health and food they eat. Since our ice creams are all natural and nonfat, our item will get a lot of attention from the customers. Also, customers can only pay the amount of ice creams and toppings as they want. Therefore, customers who want small or large portion of ice creams will love our stores.

What do you think is the biggest challenge you will face in getting this business started?

Our biggest challenge will be advertising our store at the first moment. Since there are a lot of ice cream store, it will be very important to spread word to customers. We are going to have promotion to advertise our company.

Response #5- Ji Hyun

After listening to the radio program, I realized that it is important to take it to an action when you have an idea. As mentioned in the conversation, other people might come up with the product based on a same idea. I think the inventors were lucky that they were the first one to come up with this idea and made it to a product. The idea of bacon salt is brilliant and interesting, however if I had a hundred thousand dollars I probably wouldn’t invest it to bacon salt. The market demand of this bacon salt can be very limited. Not all the people like bacon and especially salt as a seasoning, I think more people would prefer to buy normal salt than bacon salt. In addition to that it is so easy to get bacon from grocery stores and also it is easy to cook. I think there’s no point of having bacon salt.

Response 5 - Seong Taek Kim

The video inspired me with the concept of luck applied to business standard. I completely agree that luck is a central key to success. I strongly believe that even a smartest plan with huge backed up budget is a subject to fail without luck. Luck's got power to control the whole aspect of business. Weather to fail or succedd, luck plays a centrol role in business. A very well reputated restarant will lose its business if a cochroach is found in a served food, such bad luck leads to damage the image of the restaurant that might eventually result in failure. On the other hand, with luck, a small company's stock price will be doubled if a good rumor by mistake, somehow spreads to make the investors believe that it's got the most potential to grow, and with the invested money, the company holds the oppertunity to change the future of company. Highly unlikely but it is still possible with luck. This is how luck controls the future of success or failiure. I believe that luck itself got the power to the success. Speaking of the bacon product, I wouldn't invent because I wouldn't know much about the product plus I personally don't like bacons myself, I would very much like to invest in something that I am very interested in.

Project #3: Seong Taek Kim, Joohyun Kim

Your team name

- Seong Taek Kim, Joohyun Kim

What the business will be doing/selling?

- The businees we present will be an old-fashioned bar. It is small scale, a small bar for the locals in the town. Signers will be hired performing at a certain time, singing songs that's appropriate for the current mood, and taking requests of songs. Stages will be open (when singers are off) for all customers who would like to have fun with it. Recommended food to have with drinks will be on menu but it won't be such luxurious food, not like a full meal, this is because the bar is so much more alcohol than having meals. The bar will be targetting the people who've had thier first round and looking for second shots so that the mood, environment in the bar will be happy flow (customers will sing songs on stages generating exciting, happy energy). This is doable because it is a small bar, if this is done on a bar with big space, it will be highly messy and noisy environment bothering other customers. Upon opening the bar, our friends of frineds of frineds... will be invited, and if successful in building the mood we designed, the words will spread easily because it will be in a small town, the locals will hear it easily. Lastly, what the investors will get upon success of the bar, will be monthly fixed profit, not huge money, but promised free alcohol and fun for lifelong time.

Where will the new business be located?

- It will be located in a city Seoul, but in a small town area (not central area)

Are there businesses like yours? How are you going to apart from them?

- As far as I know, the bars with our planned concept are few, there are some bars with performers, old fashioned but there are all big scale, and we are targetting for small town.

What do you think is the biggest challenge you will face in getting this business started?

- The biggest challenge will be building the mood we hope for. Specific, as detailed plan as possible is needed because the only strategy to success in the bar is mood that promises the happniness and the real fun to throw out all the stress. So we will need to work really hard on it. But we also need a careful plan for customers who've gone out too much with alcohol. Drunk people will ruin the mood. So this is as important as building the mood.

Project #3- Mohammed Zulkernine, Yerzhan Konysbayev

* Your team member names

Yerzhan Konysbayev, Mohammed Zulkernine

* What the business will be doing/selling (be as specific as possible)

We will start doing online business. Specifically, we want to open online store like “Amazon”. It will be a stockless business. That means we don’t have to maintain inventory. So the money involvement will be lower. We will provide all kinds of products like “Amazon” does. The format of the website will be the same, that is, list of products from different manufacturers and traders will be offered.

* Where will the new business be located (anywhere but the US)?

We will start the business in Kazakhstan and Bangladesh. These are developing countries that are experiencing economy growth and the online shopping demand will grow day by day.

* Are there existing businesses like yours already? How will you set yourself apart?

There are existing businesses like ours already. However, they are small and don’t provide varieties of product and they just allow people to upload information and sell their product. On the other hand our plan is to list different kinds of products which are manufactured locally and internationally and sell them online. We will develop our site as if we will be online dealer to sell other traders product easily. So our product variety will be much better.

* What do you think is the biggest challenge you will face in getting this business started?

As these two countries are developing countries online transaction is not that much popular compare to the developed countries. People are sometimes scared to buy online products because they don’t feel safe and don't have much experience buying stuff online. This will be the biggest challenge which will harm our revenue in the beginning. We will probably need to wait some time until people get used to it.

Response 5- Yerzhan Konysbayev

First of all, I would like to say that I liked the radio interview a lot. The reason is that I want to be entrepreneur some day, and this conversation kind of inspired me. I started to realize that anyone can start their own business easily. To be honest, although I like spicy food I never tried their product, but I am pretty sure it is delicious. The inventors of the “Bacon Salt” made the impression as very ordinary youngsters who are very cheerful and joyous.

Of course, as in any other case of people succeeding luck plays a great role here. Many people do the same amount job every day but not all of them succeed, in my mind explanation for that is, what we call “luck”. Even the moment the idea occurred can also be called a “lucky moment”, since not many people get bright ideas. If the new idea hadn’t come up, they wouldn’t be so successful.

What I liked the most about the interview: It may seem funny but I share with the inventors the belief that “Google” is one of the most helpful tools ever. Even though I am just a student, not an entrepreneur, I use it a lot for my classes when I need to do a research.

To be frank, I wouldn’t invest in Bacon Salt if I had hundred thousand dollars. The reason is manifold:

1) I am not familiar with the food industry at all

2) I think their product is not so well known and it is not an essential product , so a lot promotion is required

3) I would invest in some other areas, for example biofuel, developing countries’ markets

response 5 jing jiang

As a vegetarian, I have to say this product is all about customer service. Choose to be vegetarians since we want to take care of other creatures in this world. However, we still want to enjoy our food with meaty flavor. This bacon salt save our gustatory system by making our life becomes more beautiful. I uses this salt every day and have to say it is perfect. Consumers are always looking for new products. Even they are not vegetarian, they will also love this special salt.

With this in mind, the owner David has come up with new products such as bacon flavored chopstick, bacon soda, baby bacon, bacon popcorn, bacon gravy and many more other products. David created products with what consumers already like ‘bacon’ to go to the next step to include bacon in everything. This is a great example of using what consumers already like to create more unique products to catch consumer’s attention. This by far in my opinion is a clever idea and a product that is well liked by consumers.

Project #3 : Jongyoeb Kim; Zhining Hu

• Your team member names:

Jongyoeb Kim; Zhining Hu

• What the business will be doing/selling (be as specific as possible).

Our business plan is to open up a Red Mango franchise. Red Mango mainly sells all natural nonfat frozen yogurts and other yogurts beverages. Red Mango was able to differentiate its products from other competitors not only by its unique taste, but also by providing a yogurt that contains calcium, proteins and other ingredients helpful to our body. Unlike other yogurts that often contains artificial ingredients or excessive calories from fat and sugar, Red Mango frozen yogurt is all natural, nonfat, and gluten-free.

• Where will the new business be located (anywhere but the US)?

We decided to take Red Mango franchise to Shanghai, China.

· Are there existing businesses like yours already? How will you set yourself apart?

There is one all natural frozen yogurt store called “Sunberry Frozen Yogurt” that is a really close substitute to Red Mango in Beijing, but Shanghai has no franchise that is that similar to Red Mango. There are only companies or personnel that sell frozen yogurts with taste unlike RED MANGO and no fresh fruit topping. In addition, as the description above shows, Red Mango itself differentiate with other yogurts competitors by having natural and non-artificial ingredients. Other frozen yogurt stores in Shanghai is incomparable with Red mango. Hence this is our main marketing strategy; let people know how our product/yogurt is better from other competitors’ ones.

• What do you think is the biggest challenge you will face in getting this business started?

The biggest difficulty with our business will be preventing other people from copying our business. Not only to prevent other yogurt industry to change their method of producing but also to prevent other people to open up a business with our idea. We should also prevent “Sunberry Frozen Yogurt” from advancing faster than us, since currently Red mango have more flavors of frozen yogurt and a much popular and profitable pricing strategy. Hence, to prevent this we will have to obtain patent in China so we can protect our products by law.

Ken JEONG Response 5

1.
The inventors talk on several occasions about being lucky at the outset of their venture. Take one example of "luck" and try to imagine what they would have had to do if they had not been so fortunate. What steps would they have had to take if not for being in the right place at the right time, or knowing the right people?
The inventor first got the idea of making the bacon salt from visiting Mitch Morgan, where serves a shot of bourbon whiskey with fried bacon. From the place and with several more experiences about bacon, he imagined that it will be great if everything can taste like bacon. I think his visiting of the unique cocktail bar is the luckiest experience that could make the successful venture possible. If he was not as fortunate to try the cocktail bar, I imagine he never had any mind to think about a business about bacon. During the conversation, he mentioned that he missed a couple of invention, such as the vitamin water because he was not fast enough and he realized that he should take into an action fast to not lose the opportunity. Therefore, even though if he did not have the luck to visit Mitch Morgan, I am sure that he still got success on inventing something.

2.
I think I am not going to invest bacon salt if I have a hundred thousand dollars. There are two reasons why I don’t want to invest my money to bacon salt. First, there is opportunity cost. I think I can earn more money if I invest money to somewhere else. I haven’t thought about it specifically, but there will be more attractive thing I can invest. Second, I don’t like bacon and taste of bacon. It is too greasy and not healthy to eat many times. Even though I have lived America for 5 years, I still don’t like American food especially breakfast. I am seriously still don’t understand how usual American eats bacon, scrambled egg, and sausage for the breakfast. It makes me feel sick and even don’t want to think about those for breakfast. According to the listening, bacon salt takes only flavor from the real bacon, but I’d rather use general sodium for seasoning. So the based on my preference, I chose not to invest bacon salt.

Project #3 - Ken Jeong, Sam Song

• Your team member names
o Ken Jeong, Sam Song

• What the business will be doing/selling (be as specific as possible).
o There is a big korean wave among the nations in Asia and especially in Japan. Due to this korean wave, we were thinking of promoting the advertisement of Korea by opening a Korean restaurant. We will be opening a traditional Korean restaurant that promotes the well being of the customers and also letting the people know about the true traditional korean restaurant. Our targeting customers will be the middle-upper socioeconomic class.

• Where will the new business be located (anywhere but the US)?
o As the korean wave is especially hot in Japan, we were thinking of opening the business in Tokyo, Japan. To be exact, we were thinking of opening it in Shinjuku, Tokyo, which is the center of Tokyo.

• Are there existing businesses like yours already? How will you set yourself apart?
o There are Korean restaurants, but the restaurants that serve real traditional Korean food are rare. The existing restaurants usually adapt the taste to the Japanese people, which loses the traditionality of true korean food. It is our hope to open a traditional korean restaurant that does not adapt to the tastes of the japanese people.

• What do you think is the biggest challenge you will face in getting this business started?
o The biggest challenge is to get a place at Shinjuku, Tokyo. The rents will be extremely expensive and we will need to find investors who are willing to spend their money to our business. Another challenge will be to differentiate our business to other Korean restaurants. The last possible challenge will be that a big group of middle-lower class will be eliminated. This reduces the chance of making profit.

Smart Car selling plan in China ( Zhao Huang, Ji Hyun Byun, Zhaoyi Wang)

• Your team member names

Zhao Huang

Ji Hyun Byun

Zhaoyi Wang

• What the business will be doing/selling (be as specific as possible).

We will sell SMART cars, which are very compact and funnel-saving. Smart cars were released in 1990s in European countries and came to US in 2008. It only has two seats but because of the mini-size of the car, it is easier for people to drive around in crowded cities.

Our top targeting market is women living in city.

• Where will the new business be located (anywhere but the US)?

Beijing, China, because it’s very hard to find a parking space

• Are there existing businesses like yours already? How will you set yourself apart?

In 2008 Beijing Auto Show they started pre-order but it’s still in the starting stage and most of people do not know about this product. In addition, Daimler has already started to sell smart cars from 2009.

However, they do not have 4S shop, which stand for sales, service, sparepart and survey. Therefore, we will have a campaign at big shopping center and let people try our products there. We will do the advertisements and commercial, which can let our customers have more ideas and images about our products.

• What do you think is the biggest challenge you will face in getting this business started?

Since the price of smart car is similar to other big cars, people may choose bigger ones. In addition, since people do not know well about smart cars, the initial cost for promotion will be high.

Team Homework for Tuesday, April 12

First of all, select a partner from the class to work with. With your partner, write a short (250-500 word) blog post presenting your idea for a new business venture (a new product, service, or establishment) in another country. You may describe the idea however you like, but here is some information I will definitely need:

• Your team member names
• What the business will be doing/selling (be as specific as possible).
• Where will the new business be located (anywhere but the US)?
• Are there existing businesses like yours already? How will you set yourself apart?
• What do you think is the biggest challenge you will face in getting this business started?

At this point, you may want to do a little research, but remember that there will be a more detailed research document due the week after next.

Individual Homework for Tuesday, April 12

Please listen to the first 31 minutes or so of this radio program (the half that deals with Bacon Salt):

• Bacon Salt

Now write a response to what you have just heard. The response should run about 250 words. You may write about anything you like, your personal reaction to the product or its inventors, but if you need something to write about, respond to any or all of the following prompts.

1) The inventors talk on several occasions about being lucky at the outset of their venture. Take one example of "luck" and try to imagine what they would have had to do if they had not been so fortunate. (The Funniest Home Videos story is probably the most prominent example). What steps would they have had to take if not for being in the right place at the right time, or knowing the right people?

2) If you had a hundred thousand dollars to invest (and you had to invest it in something), would you invest in Bacon Salt? Whether you say yes or no, try to tell me what you are basing your decision on. What factors do you think go into making that kind of investment decision?

Title this post "[yourname] Response 5."

MSNBC Elevator Pitches

• Elevator Pitch MSNBC Video 1


• Elevator Pitch MSNBC 2


• Elevator Pitch MSNBC Video 3

Project Three: Multimedia Presentation

For this two-person assignment, you are being asked to prepare and present a five-minute presentation for a new business, product, or service that you might launch in another country (anywhere but the US). You will pitch your idea to the entire class, including your instructor, describing your business idea, its potential market, its advantages, projected profits, and your own qualifications as entrepreneurs.

In order to pitch the strongest idea possible, you will be reinforcing your initial business idea with some preliminary market research designed to help you answer tough questions and eventually produce a stronger pitch. The research I will ask you to do falls into two categories: market analysis and advertising strategy, or a description of the existing market, and a plan for your own success in that field.

Initial Pitch (Deliverable One)

This is a 250-300 word blog post detailing your idea for a new business project (product or service). In this post, you should try to answer as many potential questions as you can, while still remaining brief and to the point.Title this post "(your username) Deliverable One"

Preliminary Research Document (Deliverable Two)

This is a 500-750 word memo posted to the blog that asks you to conduct research into the field you are thinking about entering. Looking at your initial pitch, what sorts of questions might potential investors, partners, and employees have before they feel comfortable coming on board? What areas will you need to focus on in order to make your idea successful? What can looking at the competition tell you?

The document should contain both market analysis and marketing strategy. Try thinking about these questions:

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 some experts, market research firms, trade associations, government agencies, or 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

• The EXACT cost of these methods (how much does a magazine ad cost? A tv spot? A radio ad?)

• What messages will you give customers to motivate them to purchase your product or service:

• If you plan on word of mouth, how will it spread?

• How you will describe your unique selling position in a one or two line catchy phrase or slogan

• How much money will you dedicate to advertising and promotion in the first, second, third years?

Multimedia Presentation (Deliverable Three)

May use any presentation technology you choose.


Timer will stop at five minutes.


Some areas of discussion include:
 Your product or service
; Your market and its size
; How you plan to make money
; leadership team
; Your competitive advantage
; Your qualifications
; What you need to get the business started (how much money are you asking for?)

Rules of the Presentation:

• All class members must present,

• Any student not present on the day of the Elevator Pitch competition cannot make up the assignment for any reason.

What I'm Looking For:

• Professionalism: Is the student well-dressed, speaking articulately and professionally, building a strong ethos, and demonstrating an understanding of their chosen business area in the allotted time without too much reliance on distracting notes?

• Enthusiasm: Does the student reflect enthusiasm for their project that attracts attention and creates interest in their proposed business?

• Information: Does the student concisely but comprehensively include all relevant information, including business description, potential market, competitive advantage, profit potential, leadership qualifications, and requests from investors?

Project Breakdown

Deliverable 1) Initial Written Pitch: 25%

Deliverable 2) Preliminary Research Document: 25%

Deliverable 3) Final Presentation to Class: 50%

Deliverable 2: Action Memo

The action memo (for our purposes) is a document written for decision-makers in various fields. In this assignment, you are to recommend that your organization implement collaborative online writing software in response to that organization's handling (or mishandling) of a specific natural disaster (which you will describe). During this disaster, people in the field had difficulty getting information to administrative in Washington who needed to make informed decisions. Reports and memos were not filed in a timely fashion, and were often incomplete. In response, your department has been charged with writing an "action memo" to address these shortcomings.

Your purpose is to recommend new policies and procedures to prevent further mishaps, and identify 3 potential software applications or suites that will help implement these (Such as Google Docs, Basecamp, etc.) You will eventually be selecting one of these three to write your white paper, but for now, pick three that look promising. Focus on solutions that are either free or offer free trials so that you can try out the software before you write about it.

The memo should be formatted so that it contains the most important information first, contains skimmable sections, provides enough information to make a preliminary decision, and should be relatively error-free.

Here are some examples of action memos in other fields:

Request for Council Action (Digital Billboards)

Action Memo for Time-Critical Waste Removal [pdf]

Long Island Flood Insurance [pdf]

The last example (Long Island) is probably the closest in terms of format to the one you will write, but each team's memo will be different, and there is no single correct way to write it. Remember that you are simply providing a decision maker with enough information to make a decision. Focus on describing the problem (this section may be partially recycled into the white paper itself) and how your 3 software solutions might address that problem.

Memo should run 750-1,000 words (2-3 pages, single-spaced). Pay close attention to how you divide the labor and communicate this week. I'll be interested to see how you make use of your time in the weekly memo. This is due Friday, March 11th.

Deliverable 1: Annotated Bibliography

Begin working with your teams on the annotated bibliography. It will be due next Monday at midnight. Here's a description:

The annotated bibliography is a standard research tool for cataloguing sources that are useful for a given project, and for describing or evaluating the usefulness of those sources. Because your projects deal with the difficulties of authoring reports, memos, and other documents during natural disasters, and at great distances, you should find sources that deal with crisis management and communication, collaborative writing software (like Google Docs), and anything else pertinent to the scenario you are working under.

It may be helpful at this point to pick a specific crisis that you want to model your scenario after (the midwest floods, Hurricane Katrina, etc.) in order to steer your research, but you will be describing your own disaster scenario more specifically in a later assignment.

(The Gulf oil spill, while not a 100% "natural" disaster, would certainly be a valid choice for this project, and there will certainly be a wealth of information about it online.)

You should find at least fifteen sources, and your final bibliography (with annotations) should run at least 1000 words (if not more). It is not necessary that you use a particular citation style (MLA, APA, Chicago) but your citations should be clear and consistent.

Here are two sites with explanations and examples of what an annotated bibliography is:

Purdue's Owl

Cornell Library