10-week Online Internship: Preparing a Business Plan By Academic Founder

Overview

‘Researchers, Prospective Startup Founders, Research Support and Knowledge Exchange Staffs’ intending to ‘draft a business plan for a spinout/startup idea’ after having conducted ‘an exploratory evaluation of customer/market segment for an innovative technology/product’ often miss to conduct appropriate due-diligence exercises on ‘how to identify which specific customer value is of most relevance to the chosen market segment or customer profile’ and ‘how to crosscheck business viability of the proposed commercial product/service (of ‘a minimum viable product – MVP’ status) based on a realistic estimated number of possible unit sales within a timeframe’.

The usual business plan doc prepared by consultants (on behalf of innovators or startup/spinout founders) often mentions the existence of a business opportunity by merely listing ‘the names of competing companies or products similar to the product/solution offered by the Client’ and ‘some market statistics showing how large the market size is’, and an unclear business operation model with unrealistic financial forecasting estimates (by merely informing ‘the likely sales revenue numbers in the forecasted years and some estimated expenses for operating the business activities’). The prepared business plan doc often does not explain ‘how the targeted customer group would prefer your product over existing products in the market’ and ‘how the Target Addressable Market (TAM) number has been realistically arrived, instead of quoting how large the industry’s existing market size (of existing companies) is‘. Also, a simplified explanation is missing in the prepared business plan doc of ‘how the product will be bought by the target customers and how various players in the sales channels will be behaving to contribute to the income and expense forecasting info of the business operation’.

The usual business plan files are ‘professionally prepared’ but of an unrealistic proposal. Moreover, the consultant who writes the business plan of a startup/spinout for company formation is often not the ones to implement the activities/ideas mentioned inside the business plan, thereby, the business plan does not show the real perspectives of the startup/spinout proposition.

This Online Internship is meant to empower the Trainee/Innovator on the market numbers aspect of new product/technology idea (for consideration of a potential licensing or startup company formation opportunity), and then, conduct an income-expense forecasting planning of how the business ought to be operating after the company incorporation.

Hands-on learning approach through this Online Internship will be mainly useful to innovators/researchers, spinout/startup founders and Knowledge Exchange (KE) professionals who wish to conduct an exercise of preparing a draft business plan or business model to introduce an innovative product/service (based on a newly created technology/IP) with a clear understanding of the relevant Target Addressable Market (TAM).

The unique difference of this 10-week Online Internship to the usual business plan doc prepared by various Consultants is the emphasis on ‘detailed diagnosis of the projected market segments and customer groups (currently assumed by the Trainee/Founder)’ for subsequent alignment to ‘a likely business model of a similar product in the market’, and ‘a realistic financial forecasting of a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) sales plan by estimating the minimum expected business operation expenses and a possible batch-manufacturing/preparation plan of product/service unit-numbers that can be viably sold in the forecasted timeline period’.

This Online Internship may be considered as a hands-on training exercise of the Trainee/Founder on the market analysis aspect (instead of a merely obtaining a MR report around the new product/technology) and preparing a workable business plan to make realistic product/service sales (instead of showing a fancy plan, based on theoretical/unverified assumptions, by a Consultant on behalf of the founder).

Note: The Online Course titled “2.5hr Course: Masterclass on Market-Customer Identification & Spinout Business Case” offered by IP2Impact Ltd covers most of the conceptual aspects used in this Online Internship.

What You’ll Learn & Achieve From This Online Internship

• Task-1-Output: Analysing value propositions and customer segments (with Business Model Canvas) – Inward Looking
• Task-2-Output: Identifying the most appropriate industry’s landscape and stakeholder ecosystem – Outward Looking
• Task-3-Output: Identifying few tradeshows (UK/non-UK) to meet target customers, partner organisations and (with online search and LinkedIn search) – Outward Looking
• Task-4-Output: Compiling a list of UK/non-UK sources of grant funding and investment (with online search) – Outward Looking
• Task-5-Output: Sales Number Estimation – Inward Looking
• Task-6-Output: Company Operation Cost – Inward Looking
• Task-7-Output: Sample Financial Statement Excel and Business Plan Doc – Inward Looking
• Task-8-Output: Sample Pitch-Deck Presentation – Outward Looking

Certification

All attendees will be provided an acknowledgement certificate (PDF copy) of having completed this Online Internship.

Pre-Internship Kick-Off Meeting

2 hr max (17:30-19:30)

Weekly Catch up Meeting [for 10-weeks]

2 hr max (17:30-19:30)

Additional Info

A real ‘upcoming/ongoing’ new startup/spinout formation product/idea can be proposed for this Online Internship by the Trainee (esp. Researcher or Prospective Academic Founder or Research Support Staff or Knowledge Exchange Professional). A confidentiality agreement can be signed (if sought by the Trainee) prior to initiating this Online Internship between IP2Impact Ltd and the Trainee/Innovator, for maintaining confidentiality of the Trainee’s proprietary trade secrets during and beyond the Online Internship tenure period. The Outputs from this internship will comprise a business plan DOC/PDF file, few excel file on financial forecast and product sales analysis, and a pitch deck PPT. With the insights and skills acquired through this internship tenure, the Trainee/Founder can easily improve/adapt the business plan files to suit the needs of various target audience of ‘Business Plan Proposition concepts’.