Guidelines
E-Factor Guidelines 2008/09
Entrants are strongly advised to consult the following guidelines and judging criteria to devise their entries.
Attendance on the various E-Factor Workshops run by Knowledge Dock will help entrants to devise a robust application. Additional advice and guidance is available from the Petchey Centre for Entrepreneurship in the Knowledge Dock Centre.
Stage One
Guidelines for 500 Word Business Summary
1. Clearly identify the business opportunity or market need that your business concept will address.
2. Identify the industry in which the business will compete and identify the existing competitors.
3. Identify the target market, what the size of the market is and the characteristics of the market.
4. Identify the product or service to be offered and explain how this meets the needs of the identified target audience.
5. Identify the competitive advantage that your business will bring to the market.
6. Identify how your business will take the idea into the market.
7. Identify how your business will make money.
8. Identify the critical success factors of your business.
9. Quantify the risks associated with your business opportunity.
Please send your business summary to info@knowledgedock.com.
Stage Two
Guidelines for Written Business Plan
Please note that Business Plans must not exceed ten pages long (excluding appendices) using Verdana font and 1.5 line spacing. Finalists are strongly advised to clearly state within the Business Plan how they intend to utilise the grant if successful.
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Section
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What goes in here?
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Executive Summary
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A one page synopsis of the key points of your business plan. Its purpose is to explain the fundamentals of the business in a way that both informs and excites the reader.
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Business Concept/Product or Service to be offered
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Describe the Business Concept/Product or Service to be offered. Describe the Unique Selling Points. Are there any clear competitive advantages? Does it have any proprietary features that need to be protected? Could this become the market leader? What factors, if any, stand in the way of it being a success?
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Market Analysis
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Define the market in which your business intends to compete. What is the size of the market and future forecasts? Are there any important trends? Who are your competitors and what are their strengths? Is there evidence of demand for your Business Concept/Product or Service?
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Sales & Marketing Strategy
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Explain how you intend to reach the market that you have identified. What is your sales and promotional strategy? What is your potential market share and selling premise? Outline any contingency plans you may have developed to combat unexpected events.
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Management/Human Resources & Operations
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Describe yourself, your team if applicable and/or who you would bring in to help you run the business. What skills do you/they bring to the business? What further skills are needed to run the business? (please note that you are not expected to have a complete management team in place). Explain the processes involved in the production/delivery of the product or service.
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Financials
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Produce an income statement and cash flow analysis on a monthly basis for year one and quarterly for years 2 and 3 of the business. What assumptions are you making in producing the financial forecast? Estimate the time and money you will need to bring your product or service to the market. Estimate the sales growth and when the business might become profitable? How much investment is needed to grow your business? Where do you intend to invest the money?
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Clarity
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Ensure that your plans are written in a clear and concise manner, as well as being free from any grammatical errors.
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Guidelines for Oral Presentation
1. Make sure that your presentation does not last longer than your allotted ten minutes.
2. Ensure that all visual materials are presented in a clear, logical, sequential and informative manner.
3. Ensure that the content presented corresponds to what you have included in your business plan.
4. Make sure that all content included in the presentation supports your business case.
5. Maintain a good rapport with the panel of judges (e.g. eye contact and body language).
6. Speak in a clear, professional and concise manner.
7. Make sure that you understand the questions that the judges pose. If in doubt, ask again.
8. Dress appropriately. Remember, you are presenting to a panel of industry professionals, and first impressions count.
Guidelines for Investment Proposal
The one page investment proposal is intended to provide invited guests to the Grand Finale with an overview of your business idea. The proposal will also help to refresh invited guests' memory when they come to vote for the business idea which they feel has the greatest potential. It is important that you include and highlight key information that will reinforce your case for their support, such as:
- What is the product/service you plan to offer?
- What is the market potential?
- What are your competitive strengths compared to existing competition within the market?
- What are the risks and opportunities of your business model?
- How you will utilise the £10,000 business grant and what will this allow you to achieve?
Guidelines for Elevator Pitch
1. Make sure that your pitch does not last longer than your allotted five minutes.
2. Ensure that all visual materials should you wish to use them are presented in a clear, logical, sequential and informative manner.
3. Maintain a good rapport with the panel of judges and audience (e.g. eye contact and body language).
4. Speak in a clear, professional and concise manner.
5. Make sure that you understand the questions that the judges pose. If in doubt, ask again.
6. Dress appropriately. Remember you are presenting to a panel of industry professionals, and first impressions count. A suit is recommended.
7. Remember the audience members do not have benefit of having read your full business plan. An elevator pitch is a brief overview of an idea for a product, service, or project. The pitch is so called because it can be delivered in the time span of an elevator ride. The term is typically used in the context of an entrepreneur pitching a idea to a venture capitalist (in this case the invited guests) to receive funding. An elevator pitch usually comprises of the following elements:
- Who you are.
- Brief overview your product/service.
- What the product/service does.
- The market driver.
- The reason for developing the product/service.
- What it does for the buyer.
- How are you going to proceed with the business model?
NB - Entrants are strongly urged to familiarise themselves with the competition's judging criteria which can be found on the E-Factor website, to ensure that they fully understand how their entries will be assessed
