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Text:

MaRS ENTREPRENEURSHIP 101
Dec 5, 2012
#ENT101
Veronika Litinski
BUSINESS PLAN AND OTHER COMMUNICATION TOOLS

Announcements:
Dec 12 Meet the Entrepreneurs
Jan 9 Lived It Lecture
Dec 10 Substance of Silicon Valley

idea -> product
(with lots of help!)

Business
profitable
product ideas

idea -> (build) product -> (measure) data -> (learn)

You are building a PROFIT ENGINE
must be SCALABLE
must be PROFITABLE

Work with your customers
1. What do you do?
2. Who cares?
3. How do you make money?

customers ->
strategic partners ->
investors ->
employees ->

Executive summary
Presentation
Whitepaper
Business plan

What are your milestones?

Problem
domain knowledge

Path
investigate, compare, test purchase
Revenue model
Demo/prototype
Marketing equation

Proof
Key members
Scalable solution

CUSTOMER DISCOVERY
Problem -> Solution

What?
What is quality?
Don’t get stuck in jargon!
-> use customer words

Toolkit
presentation
executive summary
Business plan with projections
visual assets are powerful!

Develop the right METAPHOR to help people anchor an idea.

Business plan
You want investors to be EXCITED about YOU.
Be visible online, too.
meet in person!

PLANNING vs SELLING
-> good for dealing with distractions
Understand biases and work with them
availability ->
representative ->
escalation of commitment (handy!) ->
Pick info carefully

Know your audience (not just tech) and BUILD YOUR STORY.

Social media
Become an expert.
When you’re ready for thought-provoking

Value proposition
Discover with your customers

Business planning and communication
These people know their stuff

checklist (see slides)
video: problem and solution, short

CONTEXT
value proposition
brand
profiles
case studies