Final Submission

One-Minute Video Pitch

Please create a 1 minute video pitch describing your business (e.g., product and/or service, market, customers, etc.) and the value proposition. The video does not have to “fancy”. A simple video created from your smartphone is perfect. For those teams that need assistance with producing their video, please contact Patrick Flores (pwflores@fortlewis.edu) for assistance. Mr. Flores can assist you with the production of your 1 minute video pitch.

Business Plan

Business plans should be:

  • No longer than 15 pages of text (i.e., for value proposition, customers, competition, revenue streams, key activities, key partnerships, key resources, and cost structure). Please see below for the suggested order of content.
  • Additional 5 pages for appendices
  • Additional 5 pages of text (i.e., for team, progress milestone, marketing plan, and financial projections)

Business plans should also include (required):

  • Cover page
  • Table of contents
  • Executive summary

(Please note that the cover page, table of contents, and executive summary are not included in the total page count.)

Business plan formatting:

  • #12 font
  • Double spaced
  • 1" margins

The summary should include the following subjects, in the order suggested:

Value Proposition: What is the problem or pain you are addressing, or the gain you are providing? What is your solution/product/service?

Customers: Who are your prospective customer segments; what are their attributes or characteristics? What is the relationship you build with them? How do you market to them? What channel do you use to deliver your product or service?

Competition: Who are your primary competitors (or potential competitors)? What are their product and market positionings? What are their strengths and weaknesses?

Revenue Streams: How will you price your product/service? How big is the market? Present a 5 year projection (by year) of unit sales and revenue.

Key Activities: What are the most important things your team needs to do to make this business model a success?

Key Partnerships: Who are the critical suppliers, distributors or product developers you will need to form strong partnerships with?

Key Resources: What are the key resources (intellectual, physical or human) that your company needs to ensure success? What is an estimate of the amount of capital (debt or equity) the company needs to get to market and achieve cash flow break even?

Cost Structure: What are the important cost elements incurred in operating your business model? What are the total costs incurred before generating revenue? Given your cost structure, what level of revenue is required to achieve cash flow break even?

In addition to this submission, additional points will be given for the following (and additional pages):

Team: Provide a summary of your team, their background and experience, and responsibilities in the new venture.

Progress Milestones: Has a minimally viable product been defined and developed? What progress has been made in testing the problem/solution fit and the product/market fit?

Marketing Plan: A detailed description of the marketing plan you will use to create and keep customers, including the steps necessary to identify and engage prospects and turn them into paying customers.

Financial Projections: A five year projection of financial results (by quarter for the first year), including an Income Statement (P&L), Balance Sheet and Cash Flow Statement.

Submit your plan & video

We accept submissions through Canvas, our learning management system.

1. Receive invitation to join the Hawk Tank Canvas Group. Just email notifications@instructure.com with the Subject line “Course Invitation.”

2. Note, this is not linked to an FLC Canvas account. You will be required to register with Canvas and create a new account and password that will be used for your Hawk Tank submissions. The confirmation email will state, “You've been invited to participate in a class at sbdc.fortlewis.edu. The class is called Hawk Tank. Course role: Student”

3. Click on “Get Started

4. Accept invitation to join class.

5. Create new User ID and Password.

6. Submit your one-minute video and business plan under the “Assignments” section.

For questions email Michael Valdez

Scoring

Each team’s submission will be judged and ranked on a scale of 0-100. Points will be earned as follows:

Plan Component Points
Business model strength - how creative and compelling
(Business model strength would include the quality of the value proposition)
25
Business model viability - how achievable given the business challenges, competitors and financing requirements 20
Resource Assessment 5
Team - experience, completeness and commitment 5
Milestone progress - initial product and market development
(What are the key steps needed to take your idea to market?)
15
Marketing plan - specific steps, metrics and timetables 15
Financial projections - completeness and reasonableness 15
Maximum total points 100

If your team is selected for the second round, you will be expected to develop a PowerPoint presentation (max 15 slides and 15 minutes) using the above subject material.