Inventor Boot Camp Lisa Calkins 10 17 2009

Building a Business Model (around your invention, service, idea) By Lisa Calkins CEO Amadeus Consulting

Your Invention, Service, Idea
Why Now
Timing, SBA funding, Competition Weak
Why Not
Traditional Bank Financing
Why You
Passion and Vision for the Idea
No excuses, Own Your Choice

Amadeus Story
15 years ago, I had a vision
Today I have Amadeus Consulting
What I did know
How to listen and talk to clients
How to share my vision and convince others of my ideas
How to manage teams, people, projects
What I didn’t know
Everything else

Business Plan – Yes and No
Do you need one only if seeking funding - NO
Strategic & Tactical Components (“1” pagers)
Overall Vision : What, Why, How
Marketing and Sales Strategy, includes competitive analysis and relevant market data, patents
1-3 yr P&L, Balance Sheet Summary (supporting details), Excel is your best friend
Organization Chart (future roles) – Executive and Leadership Teams
Notice (The “Invention”) is not on this list
20 page plan – Maybe, if this is what YOU need

Your Vision What, Why, How
Sell your idea
First have to “See” your vision (mind, eyes), then “Believe” in your vision (head and heart), then “Share” your vision (words and hands)
Passion, energy, AND facts
Clear, concise, professional
Must be one page: write, then edit, edit and edit – then seek outside opinions, write, edit, edit and edit, repeat.

See, Believe, Share
See your vision – Mind, Eyes
Describe in 1 or 2 sentences your invention, service, or idea
Believe in your vision – Head and Heart
Tell me why it will succeed, define success ($, lifestyle, etc)
Share your vision – Words and Hands
Show me the invention, service, idea

Marketing and Sales Strategy
In the end, what really matters is will your invention, service or idea sell
Most forget there are two equally important factors to the SELL answer both
the HOW : not just build a website and they will come,
how will you attract your customers, how will you close, how much will they pay, how will they pay, how will you retain, how will you service/support, how will (fill in the blank)
the WHO : 1 person, a team, wholesalers, reps
Who will lead: if not you, then who and why

Competitive Analysis
You (almost always) HAVE competitors now and in the future
You always have obstacles, how will you tackle the ones you know about
Market: how big, who owns, now and future
iPhones – what happens when Blackberry leads, etc.
No one will believe you will “own” the market out of the gate
Data, Data, Data : great place to hire an expert and pay for data BUT first, get your Vision and Framework built

Profit and Loss 1 to 3 year “Plans”
Profit and Loss Projections Summary
Income / Revenue (~ 5 line items)
Service lines
Product Categories
Subscriptions
Common Mistakes
Pricing model part of Sales and Marketing Strategy – better be believable otherwise all this work is “unbelievable”
Expenses (~ 5 line items)
Categories
Startup Costs
Sales and Marketing
Cost of Goods Sold
Operations
General Business
Common Mistakes
One time expenses are not one time
Product built, how will it be maintained, shelf life?
Sales and Marketing reasonable % of revenue, prior to sales, first 6 months, ongoing
Underestimating expenses (Legal, HR, marketing materials)

Case Studies
Outdoor ProLink
B-cycle
Specpan
CRUDE
Speedbag – iPhone App

Self Reflection
What are you good and not good at?
Not tasks but behavior
Strategic Thinker, Visionary, Customer Focused, Detailed, Decision Maker by gut or data, Process
STRONGLY recommend you figure this out – you don’t change these types of things
With that said…you will learn and do (legal, hr, accounting)

Everything is Possible
Amadeus Consulting Guiding Principle
So think of all the ways to make something happen…and then evaluate ROI
Funding
Partnering
Consultants
Hiring
ROI of not doing it

Inventor Boot Camp Lisa Calkins 10 17 2009

by dr2tom on Oct 15, 2009

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Inventor Boot Camp Lisa Calkins 10 17 2009 — Presentation Transcript