Pages: 19

The act of beginning can sometimes be the biggest step to take, especially when the readers have no idea which piece comes first in a sequence of events. The case study will drive the entire process throughout the book and show how these planning tools led to the final decision not to pursue it. BDaaSB will create value for its customers by providing a BigData database storage service that in addition includes analytical processing, prediction and trending reporting, and visualization services, all for multiple small-sized business customers who can gain by access to BigData technology but cannot afford their own individual BigData installations. The size and scope of the opportunity will be localized at the beginning but will eventually have value for customers on a national and even an international scale. Services can be on demand or subscription based, where on-demand pricing charges as customer uses server resources, and subscription-based pricing charges a flat fee regardless of resource amounts used.

Pages: 23

A company mission is a goal for that organization as a whole, which defines the business of the organization and the reason for its existence. BDaaSB plans to reach profitability within three to five years. Services and initial customer base can be in place within one year, depending on the available team, as well as response from early adopters who will be given the product for free to begin with. The business philosophy will be for-profit, where later spin-offs can be both for-profit and not-for-profit (to generate goodwill), and potential spin-offs can be exploited after getting started as a BigData service for small companies. Organizations are lead from the top down, and the values of leaders will determine the culture of an entire organization, from which everything else follows. Sometimes the hardest step is the first one, and sometimes it is the simplest—but do not neglect easy steps at the beginning as they form the foundation of your business opportunity.

Pages: 30

This chapter is the beginning of the journey where the readers start uncovering and detailing real financial numbers and comparing potential incomes or revenues with expenses—the part that really counts because in long term without finance and ability to acquire financial support of one form or another, and without a solidly detailed well-thought-out plan, they will have difficulty finding financial support to bring their business opportunity into existence. The BDaaSB case study business idea is an online cloud-based service that initially begins as a single founder-employee operation, which as it grows will morph into a business that does not require a large head-count labor force; however, most of labor is highly trained technically, and thus their cost for each individual is relatively high. For the BDaaSB case study, initially this business will be an in-the-basement, one-person prototyping operation that will build a framework for a service, find the best way to implement and provide that service while saving on costs.

Pages: 30

This chapter figures out how much revenue your new business idea can generate as a way to create a clear picture of how much your business is worth based on how much money you can bring into the company. This content is important because it allows you to present to investors, a bank, or other lenders just how much money your business can potentially make, which leads to your financial backers’ possibly making money. A STEEP analysis is a form of competitive market industry analysis where you do a simplistic but systematic analysis of where your business fits into an industry and with its competitors—whether known or unknown. BDaaSB competitors are in a new industry, so there may not be a lot of information. For other types of business there may be information online or at a library.

Pages: 27

This chapter digs into building a customer base with a marketing plan that helps one to figure out how much it will cost them to look for and acquire customers. Aligning business plan and marketing creates a brand, awareness, and partnerships—the objective is to acquire customers because without sales there is no business. Figuring out what the business market is and where it fits into a wider economic picture, such as its general industrial segment, can help to define how to market and thus attempt to predict and plan out the marketing costs. However, it is highly appropriate to perform an industry analysis in IT because as a service industry, any type of commercial computer science product or service can often be abstracted to numerous industries, where companies sell easily duplicated and perfected products over and again to many customers and many different industries, generating copious amounts of revenue.

Pages: 39

A startup balance sheet is where to expand on and provide more detail in financial statements on top of what has already been covered in income statements. A proforma financial statement is a type of statement that attempts to project ahead into the future, which for a new business seeking financial support and backing is exactly what is needed; you are making an educated and hopefully calculated guess at future income in order to show that you have a viable business idea. Cloud-based software services is an Information Technology service, and as a result it does not require a large capital investment—it’s a rental model. Accounts receivable is calculated as a percentage of the total sales revenue projection and is thus an estimation of how much revenue you expect to take in on credit. Accounts receivable is an asset because you expect to receive it and also a current asset because you expect to receive it in the short term.