University of Toronto

DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE

CSC454/2527S: The Business of Software

January-April 2001

Assignment G: Plan v3

Handed Out: 19 March 2000, 6 p.m.

Due In: 12 April 2000, 4 p.m.

Marks: 35%

(23% team grade, 5% team grade for improvement, 7% for individual participation)

Each team will submit a complete "final" business plan. This is to be handed in to Prof. Baecker’s assignment box in SF4306 on paper in 2 copies.

You must also resubmit the marked-up copy of Plan v2 that has your TA’s comments and feedback on it.

Emphasis should be placed on describing clearly and at an appropriate level of detail:

• an Executive Summary for the plan. Note that this cannot be taking most of the information in the plan and tryingtosqueezeitintolessspace. You must be selective, focusing on the key idea, the problem it solves, what’s special about your solution, the strength of the management team, and the financial return to the investors.

• the basic idea, objectives, and mission statement for the new venture

• the product and/or service and/or content and the market to be served. Evidence should be given of understanding the market and its segments both in quantitative and qualitative terms.

• who the customer would be for the product, service, and/or content, what the "user benefit" would be, and what the customer might be willing to pay. Evidence should be given of actual contact with potential customers.

• the skeletal technology definition and development plan. Evidence should be given that you are not likely to drown under lengthy and expensive R&D before you even have a chance to come to market.

• the competitive landscape into which your product, service, and/or content will be introduced, how you will position yourself in this landscape, and how you will differentiate yourself from the competition. A positioning diagram and a competitive matrix are often useful ways of expressing your ideas. Evidence of actual contact with users of competitive products can be very valuable.

• how you will sell and market the product, service, and/or content. Particular attention should be paid to pricing and distribution.

• a financial plan for operating the company, backed up by a financial model expressed as a spreadsheet. It is essential that your assumptions be clearly documented.

• a financing plan for raising seed capital. It is essential that you explain how the money will be used, and how investor objectives for ROI and liquidity can be met.

• the start-up management team, which could include a reasonable number (one, two, or at most three) of additional key personnel to augment the strengths included in your team and to address the weaknesses by filling obvious holes.

The typical submission could be expected to be from 15 to 30 pages on paper not counting the title page, table of contents page, or Appendices. The paper report must be typed and submitted on 8.5"X11" paper. Structure and organization, spelling, grammar, word usage, and document appearance will count for roughly 15% of your total grade. Sketches, diagrams, and tables should be used where appropriate to assist in conveying concepts such as competitive information and product positioning.

Each submission must include a title page with a meaningful title, your names, your student ID#s, your tutor's name, the course name and number, and the date. The second page should contain a table of contents. The second page must also indicate who on each team carried out what part of the work.

As you know, a small but significant part of your grade is based on the overall credibility and persuasiveness of your plan. It is possible, despite your best efforts, that you now no longer believe that your plan is credible or persuasive. Typical reasons for this could include the discovery late in the term of a killer competitor or the realization from financial modelling that the business is not financially viable.

If, for this or any other comparable reason you come to this conclusion, you should do the following:

• complete your plan as best you can and submit it

• attach and sign a cover letter explaining why you feel that the plan is not credible.

Will this hurt your grade? No easy answer is possible. Clearly you would be better off if you had picked a winning idea, but if all groups could do this, the U of T endowment would be much bigger than it is!!!

If your idea proved not to be a winner, it’s far far better if you recognize that now than if you don’t. If in doubt, consult with your TA.

Finally, each individual must return to Prof. Baecker at a lecture or to his mailbox in SF4306 an individual copy of the forms on the next 3 pages. Each individual 3-page submission should be in its own sealed envelope, and must be handed by April 12.

Evaluation of Individual Contributions to Group Work

Assume that you have $100 to pay the group members who have participated in your term project. On the basis of each member's overall contribution over the entire semester, please allocate this money among the members. You should consider quality of ideas, time invested, group participation, personal effort, commitment, and "going beyond the call of duty" in this allocation. Make sure to rate your own contribution as well.

Project Name____________________________________________________________

TA ____________________________________________________________________

Name of Group Member "Pay"

1) ______________________________________________ $ ____

2) ______________________________________________ $ ____

3) ______________________________________________ $ ____

4) ______________________________________________ $ ____

5) ______________________________________________ $ ____

TOTAL $ 100

Additional comments (optional, use additional paper if more space is needed):

_____________________________________________________________________

Your name (optional): __________________________

Approx. number of hours/week (including class) spent on this course (optional): ________

PLEASE ALSO ANSWER QUESTIONS ON THE NEXT TWO PAGES

SO WE CAN DECIDE HOW MUCH TO INCLUDE ON GROUP PROCESS AND DYNAMICS IN FUTURE YEARS, PLEASE ANSWER THE QUESTIONS ON THIS PAGE AND THE NEXT PAGE

1. What were the major interpersonal problems, if any, encountered by your group over the past semester. Circle the letter of any that apply:

a) difficulty contacting group members

b) feeling that your opinions were not considered

c) feeling that you had to take the leadership role to get anything done

d) difficulty taking or receiving feedback from team members

e) insufficient brainstorming

f) inflexible positions on the part of team members

g) defensiveness on the part of team members

h) misunderstandings due to unclear expression of ideas

i) misunderstandings due to poor listening

j) other:

__________________________________________________________________________

2) What were the organizational problems, if any, encountered by your group:

a) difficulty agreeing on a shared vision

b) failure to clearly define responsibilities

c) failure to divide tasks equitably

d) failure of some individuals to carry out what they had promised

e) difficulty adjusting to change when reevaluating plans seemed advisable

f) other:

___________________________________________________________________________

3) How much work should we include in future classes on group process in CSC454:

a) more b) about the same c) less

GROUP WORK SATISFACTION SURVEY
You completed this survey in Week 5. Provide an end-of-course evaluation of your group’s process. Put a "+" in the margin if it is an improvement over week 5.

Put a "—" in the margin if things have deteriorated relative to week 5.

How satisfied are you with amount of face-time you spent together?