ZeeK the Geek

ENT 460 Project 2 Rubrics

Project 2 Developing a business model

· Develop your own business model or find a (potential) startup firm or team around UMKC campus, such as in the class of ENT 327/328; ENT332, or in e-scholar program or in IEI incubator, or in annual Regnier Family Foundations Venture Creation Challenge (VCC) business plan competition/Kickstarter.com .

· Apply lean principle to examine the hypotheses of business model

At least totally 6 pages (single line) + references

Project 2a (Due: Nov. 12, but no presentation, 3-4 pages)

1/ Your hypotheses on business model:

Include all 9 blocks (Weight 10%)

2/ Is this business model solving a significant problem? Is the solution or value position novel and attractive? Use problem/solution canvas (Weight 10%).

3/ Who will be your early customer? Describe a customer profile or story to describe the problem/solution. How many potential customers have you interviewed? What kind of information is useful when you develop your business model? (Weight 10%)

4/ A root-cause analysis and Customer problem presentation (Weight 10%).

5/Did your team clearly state your assumptions/hypotheses? Did your team identify the most crucial assumptions to test first (the ones that will kill their business)? (Weight 10%)

__________________________________________________________________

Project 2b (Due: Dec. 3 and 8, 3-4 pages)

6/ Reversal decisions: Did your team design low cost, rapid, but reliable tests of these hypotheses? Did your team conduct the tests in a reliable manner? For example, did you have solution presentation before potential customers, including the workflow and value equation? What is their feedback? (Weight 10%)

· Number of tests - should be adjusted for industry, product type (web vs physical product), and business type (B2B vs B2C)

· Quality of tests - interviews are high quality, surveys & focus groups are much lower quality (you don’t know which questions to ask) unless interviews have been conducted first

7/What kind of data (metrics) will you collect to validate your hypotheses? (Weight 10%) For example, HubSpot S-1

We use the following key business metrics to evaluate our business, measure our performance, identify trends affecting our business, formulate financial projections and make strategic decisions。

Total Customers . We believe that our ability to increase our customer base is an indicator of our market penetration and growth of our business as we continue to expand our sales force and invest in marketing efforts.

Average Subscription Revenue per Customer.  We believe that our ability to increase the average subscription revenue per customer is an indicator of our ability to grow the long-term value of our existing customer relationships.

Subscription Dollar Retention Rate.  We believe that our ability to retain and expand a customer relationship is an indicator of the stability of our revenue base and the long-term value of our customers.

Customer Acquisition Cost.  We believe that customer acquisition cost, or CAC, is an indicator of the efficiency of our sales and marketing programs in acquiring new customers. We calculate CAC by dividing our total sales and marketing expenses during a particular period.

8/What are your sales roadmap, including acquistion plan and activation plan? Who will be the solution’s earlyvangelist? What will make them tell (refer) your solution to others? How will you make the customer growth? (Weight 10%).

9/ What is your sales channel roadmap? Who will be your most important partner? How will you persuade him/her to join your business model? If you take a try, what is result and feedback? (Weight 10%).

10/ Did your team clearly state what they learned, how it validated an assumption or not, and under what situation, you will have business model changes/pivots? What is your plan B? (Weight 10%).

Extra

1/ Does this business model belong to two-sided market? If yes, how does this model generate network effects? What will be its winner-take-all dynamics? Where will the threat on this platform come from? (Weight extra 10%)

2/ If appropriate, has your team developed a prototype or minimum viable product (MVP)? Does your team understand the assumptions you are testing with a prototype or MVP? Is the prototype or MVP appropriate to answer those assumptions? (Weight extra 10%)

3/ Does your team have significant evidence that the solution is validated (includes letters of intent, purchase contracts, sales, partner agreement, or investment agreement /Term sheet)? (Weight extra 10%).

4/What kind of people will you hire? Put the characteristics and experience which you are looking for? What kind of question will you ask in behavioral interview? What kind of new job title will you create for this business model? Who will be your advisor in the board? What did he said to your business model when you invited him/her in? (Weight extra 10%)

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