DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE
University of Toronto
CSC454/2527S: The Business of Software
January-April 2001
Assignment D: Interim Oral Presentation
Handed Out: 5 February 2001, 6 p.m.
Due In: 26 February 2001, 7 p.m. or 8 p.m.
Marks: 7.5%
26 February
– Plan interim oral presentation: Individuals will make brief oral presentations (4 minutes each) discussing key ideas and challenges in the evolving business plan. Each team will designate 2 members who will make the final presentation on April 2nd or April 9th; all others (that means 1, 2, or 3 people, for groups of size 3, 4, and 5, respectively) will make interim oral presentations on February 26. If you fail to make a presentation on one of these two nights, you will be given a 0 for this assignment. Note that only two individuals per group will be allowed to present on April 2nd or April 9th.Each interim presentation should be in two parts:
• A brief "elevator test" statement describing your business in no more than 60 seconds. Typically this will consist of 2-5 sentences. Imagine you have just entered an elevator with a venture capitalist and she asks you to tell her the key idea of your business, focusing on the problem you are solving and the uniqueness and value proposition of your solution. If you succeed in conveying a compelling concept before the elevator reaches its destination, she may look at your plan. If you do not, she will not. (In fact, she may pull a hidden lever which opens a gaping hole in your corner of the elevator floor, causing you to plummet down the elevator shaft J )
• A presentation of one challenge or dilemma you are facing in developing your plan, and a discussion of issues that need to be solved.
• You will then field one or two questions or suggestions from the audience in response to your presentation. Please remember that the presentation (before the questions) will be stopped by the TA at 4 minutes and the question period at an additional 2 minutes.
• Please note that these presentations will be created and presented by you individually.
2 April or 9 April
– Plan final oral presentation: The two individuals from each team who have not made interim presentations will collaborate on a final oral presentation (8 minutes total per team) presenting the most salient aspects of your business plan. Presentations will be heard by a panel of industry experts. This will hopefully include a venture capitalist who will agree to review "the best plan."The content of these final presentations will be described later in the term.