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| 1 | +Some software Capstone teams have continued to develop their projects after Capstone, and have even |
| 2 | +started businesses related to their Capstones. The business plan extra is for teams who wish to conceive of |
| 3 | +ways to monetize their Capstone project after Capstone ends. A good business plan report should include |
| 4 | +the following, plus any other information the team feels is necessary. Marks will be based on the depth |
| 5 | +of critical thought and justification, plus evidence of research-backed values presented in the document. |
| 6 | +It is not necessary to gather primary information (i.e., your own surveys and focus groups), but all |
| 7 | +information and estimates should be based whenever possible on realistic values from other, properly-cited |
| 8 | +sources. |
| 9 | + |
| 10 | +* **Problem and market need:** Identifies target customer, the specific pain point your software addresses, |
| 11 | + evidence of demand for the product, and why your solution is better than existing ones. For any unknown |
| 12 | + pieces of market need, proposes surveys or focus groups that could be used to gather the missing |
| 13 | + information. |
| 14 | +* **Market size and business model:** Defines the target market. Includes a research-based estimate of the size |
| 15 | + of the addressable market of this product, with projections of the user base size for the first 5 years. |
| 16 | + Describes and justifies revenue model (e.g. SaaS, freemium, etc), the rationale for your pricing, and |
| 17 | + provides basic financial projections. |
| 18 | +* **Cost breakdown:** Includes a detailed breakdown of the initial investment needed to make the project |
| 19 | + into a launchable product (the cost to take it from Capstone Rev1 to a full product). Detailed breakdown |
| 20 | + of ongoing costs of running the service, including salaries to maintain the software, marketing/user |
| 21 | + acquisition costs, ongoing service costs, and any other relevant costs. Identifies realistic uncertainty |
| 22 | + and ranges of costs. States these costs as a proportion of the number of users to show how costs scale as |
| 23 | + the user base grows. Includes projections of costs for several numbers of users spanning many orders of |
| 24 | + magnitude. |
| 25 | +* **Competition and positioning:** Identifies both direct and indirect competitors, comparing your product |
| 26 | + to those other ones on relevant dimensions chosen by the team. Identifies barriers to entry into this space. |
| 27 | + Justifies the “moat” that your product will build to have an ongoing sustainable advantage. |
| 28 | +* **Execution plan and milestones:** Includes a detailed timeline of the work needed to launch the product. |
| 29 | + Includes a clear phased approach with achievable milestones, with details for the time leading up to launch |
| 30 | + as well as plans to continue to improve in the first five years after launch. |
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