In the context of "Innovation and Entrepreneurship" course of Health and Exercise MSc of University of Thessaly we gave the following lecture on business planning (http://www.pe-uth.gr/msc/). We adopted a case study approach elaborating on a project that resonates with the background of the majority of the students in the class, originating from medical, coaching and nutritionist backgrounds. In particular we describe a fitness and biorhythms monitoring portal where end users upload their trainings and life-casting behaviors, socializing and getting advices from experts on fitness straining, diets, supplements and apparel!

1. Business Planning in Real
Life part 1
Case Study : OnLine Exercise Portal
Kostas Chrysagis, Yiannis Doxaras

2. There is real magic in enthusiasm.
It spells the difference between mediocrity
and accomplishment.”
Norman Vincent Peale

3. Greek VC’s, same as Greek
Statistics
Early stage investment is purely risk management. High
risk capitals.
Greek Projects have low upside since they target Greek
market and do not have prominent exit strategies. NOTE:
aim globally!
Greek VC’s seek for lower risk and large scale
investments to fix their success ratios!

4. When to Search for VC
Estimated profit >300 K or 10 M $ for the company
Good client database. 100k users or 1 key Account (eg.
Vodafone GR, Nike etc.)
At least one key advantage or one key differentiation to
existing solutions.
My question is always “Does it save some time ?”. Ask
yourself similar questions.
NOTE: Do not search for VC when you are competent enough to develop your
beta by your own, or the initial budget does not succeed 30-40K

5. Common Pitfalls in Early Stages
Execution
Great Idea
Plan
Product End User
Mentality Mentality
One Turn A weighted
Key Person team

6. Celebrated Talk: The most worthy 14:42 minutes of
your business life.
TED::http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/david_s_rose_on_pitching_to_vcs.html

7. How to come up with the Idea
What you do well in life ?
How to make money
What I sell ?
To whom ?
Why would anyone care to buy ?
Innovation *do not reinvent the wheel, just make a better working one
People *Work with the best and make build the circumstances and the environment to
attract the best.
Commitment * stick to your idea until the end

8. After a lot of consideration and thought we
have come up with an idea that exploits the
medical and athletic knowledge
background of various members of our
team.

9. After a lot of consideration and thought we
have come up with an idea that exploits the
medical and athletic knowledge
background of various members of our
team.
The Idea ?
A social network for diet and training
based on users exercise profiles measured
with wearable sensors.

10. Some Figures to Get Started
Athletic Apparel and Shoes Industry is over 15B $ per year.
All Athletic Companies are open to alternative marketing.
(eg. Nike, Adidas, Puma have launched social media, augmented reality and
mobile app campaigns)
Large user bases attract more information.
Good and marketable product since it appeals to modern
lifestyles and beauty/fitness
Supplement industry is over 2.5B $ annually. (currently not
mainstream, but they try to be)

11. Encouraging Investors
Create a good impression
Create a sense of urgency to generate momentum
Frame ideas to make them more appealing
Prepare a good business plan

12. Business Plan A Living
Document
A business plan changes often as a new business
develops.
Do just enough business planning to get the new
company started.
Refine the plan with information gathered from running
the new venture.

13. Business Plan A Living
Document keep in mind that even
without funding your own
startup will definitely need a
business plan
A business plan changes often as a new business
develops.
Do just enough business planning to get the new
company started.
Refine the plan with information gathered from running
the new venture.

14. Model of Successful Business
Planning
Closed Circle
Prepare a Continue to
Start the Refine the
relatively grow the
business business plan
simple plan business

15. Key Aspects
Attractiveness Potential
Capabilities of Potential
of product market,
founding team returns
or service competitors
Decisions about providing funds

16. Components
What is the basic idea?
Why is the new product appealing—and to whom?
How will the idea be realized?
Who are the entrepreneurs?
How will the venture be structured & operate?
How much funding is needed? What type of financing? How
will it be used?
How will you realize a return?

17. Successful Business Plan
Orderly
Cover page | Table of contents | Executive summary |
Various sections | Appendices | Succinct
In proper form
Persuasive
Be prepared to answer all devils advocate questions

18. Executive Summary
An impassioned statement about the wonderful things
going on in the industry involved
Provides a brief, clear, and persuasive overview of the
new venture
Target 2 to 3 pages

19. fit2life portal case
Sensor technology latest developments
Mobile phones and programmable platforms
Existing devices for exercise tracking
Data mining algorithms for trend analysis
Collaborative knowledge algorithms
Supplement industry developments
Apparel and sports wear
Beauty figures and contemporary healthy way of life

20. Business Plan Section
Background, purpose, and opportunity
Marketing
Competition
Development, production, and location
Management
Financial section
Risk factors
Harvest or exit
Scheduling and milestones
Appendices

21. Background, Product, &
Opportunity
What is the nature of the idea driving your company
and how did it arise?
What does the product/service have to offer?
What is the basic nature of the company?
What are the company’s mission & goals?

22. fit2life portal case
Group of medical and fitness post graduate students.
Online exercise monitoring and consulting portal
Networking between members
Customized and self regulating diet programs
Training and goal setting/monitoring
Mission: Provide better quality of life to end users

23. Market Analysis
What have you done to identify the market?
How large is the market?
How will products or services be promoted?
What do you know about competing products and
companies?
How will the product or service be priced?

24. fit2life portal case
Facebook application approach
350 M users
40M 15-35 upper class, income over 60K $ /year
20% of them regular exercise regular (>3 per week)
40% of them regular exercise rarely (1-2 per week)
20% of them seeks motivation to start

25. Market Research 2.0
Google Trends
Google Alerts
Google Searches per month
Alexa page traffic (always look the first 5 top sites of the industry)
[good way to mark saturated markets if number of searches==
number of unique visits]
See supplement industry sales forecasts
See clothes and apparel industry sales forecasts common and
private reports and memos

26. Development, Production, and
Location
Where are the products or services in the development
process?
What are the projected costs and timetable for making
the product or delivering the service?
What steps have been taken to assure quality and
safety?

27. fit2life portal case 1
Home office
Sensor fabrications and development in China (CE)
Quality Control Plan
Training and exercise database. Diet database.
Algorithms for trend analysis
Web portal, facebook application, iphone application

28. fit2life portal case 2 Nike+iPod
WIN Human
Recorder
wii
biorythms
fitbit

29. Management Team
Do team members have the experience, expertise,
skills, and personal characteristics needed?
Do team members having good working relationships,
defined roles, and clear communication?

30. fit2life portal case
Medical background
Statistics
Electronics and embedding programming
Management
Sales people
Fitness trainers

31. Financial Plans and Projections
NOTE: will be closely & carefully examined by potential investors
Pro-formal balance sheet
Pro-formal income statement
Cash flow statement
Break-even analysis

32. Break even analysis with non
linear sales model
Multiproduct break
even analysis with Linear
and non-linear models.
Mathematica files will be uploaded
on the elearning space.

33. Critical Risks
Price cutting by competitors
Unforeseen industry trends
Sales projections not achieved
Costs exceed estimates
Schedules not met
Lack of experience
Difficulties raising required financing
Unforeseen political, economic, social or technological trends

34. Harvest and Exit
Exit Strategies
Managing Strategies

35. Harvest and Exit
Exit Strategies
Managing Strategies
For instance a startup that exploits google
sketch up and google 3D buildings by
developing a product that generates 3D
vector objects with texture from plain images
can have an exit plan a google buy out.

36. fit2life portal case
Buy out from Garmin
Buy out from Poral
Buy out from Nike and their social networking site
Buy out from a large Gym chain

37. Scheduling and Milestones
Formal incorporation
Completion of design
Completion of prototypes
Hiring of initial personnel
Product displays
Agreements
Moving into production
Receipt of orders
First sales
Profitability

38. Marketing
Google Ads.
FB Campaign
Affiliate Marketing
Viral Videos [iphone app Boston Marathon]
Guest Posts to Conventional Media

39. Revenue Streams
Membership Model
Gold Membership [privileges]
Social Networking, Matching Companions
Supplements
Affiliate Marketing
Gym Advertising
Apparel Advertising

40. Competition
Fitbit [simple data collection smart]
Garmin connect.
Polar.
iPhone Runner App.
iPhone Android Running Companion Apps. [GPS, Speed
Data, future Accelometer]
Nike iPhone app.
Nike myTown Social Media Portal

41. Differentiation
Extra Data Collection [temp, humidity, acceleration, inclination,
Rest, Absence of exercise]
Integration with existing devices (polar, garmin, build on top of the competition)
Data mining and collaborative knowledge algorithms for diet,
supplement and exercise suggestions.
Integration with existing training services
Trainees pairing.
similar exercise profiles run together at the central park
people that like to play basketball for instance can form online teams and schedule plays.

42. Competition
http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/english/NEWS_EN/
20100119/179393/
http://www.fitbit.com/product

43. Useful Addresses
Παρατηρητήριο για την Κοινωνία της πληροφορίας. http://www.observe.gr/page/
default.asp?la=1&id=103, http://www.observe.gr/page/default.asp?la=1&id=183
Πρότυπα επιχειρηματικά σχέδια από το πρόγραμμα Δικτυωθείτε για ηλεκτρονικό
εμπόριο σε πολλαπλές θεματικές περιοχές. http://www.go-online.gr/ebusiness/ebps.html
ΕΣΠΑ δράσεις και προκυρήξεις. http://www.espa.gr
Εθνική Στατιστική Υπηρεσία http://www.statistics.gr/portal/page/portal/ESYE/PAGE-database
Οικονομικά και Χρηματοπιστωτικά Δεδομένα από το Υπ. Οικονομικών http://
www3.mnec.gr/sdds/users_gr.asp
Παρουσίαση της Ελληνικής Οικονομίας από το Υπουργείο Οικονομικών http://
www.mnec.gr/el/economics/Greek_economy_at_a_glance/
Δημοσιεύσεις προσχεδίων, νόμων εργασιών της βουλής http://www.parliament.gr/
ergasies/nomosxedia.asp

44. Planning and thinking is human,
acting and creating is divine!

45. references
some thoughts on VC status in Greece are borrowed
from Aristos Doxiadis opencoffee talk http://opencoffee.gr/
2009/01/12/oc-ath-xviii-doxiadis/
the approach on how to come up with the idea was
borrowed from Fanis Rigas opencoffee presentation
http://opencoffee.gr/2009/01/21/oc-ath-xviii-kariera/