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Business Planning for a Social Enterprise

Zell Lurie Institute

• At the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor • Housed in the Ross School of Business • Mission: – To build the entrepreneurial skillset and develop the entrepreneurial mindset of students – To support the formation, launch, growth and funding of student ventures 2

Zell Lurie Institute

• Skillset and mindset – Classes and symposia • Funding – Two student led funds – Annual grant progam >$100,000 • Business Development – Competitions – Coaching and mentoring – Seminars 3

Entrepreneur

• A person who can indentify an opportunity and create an organization to pursue it • A person who organizes and manages an enterprise usually with considerable initiative and risk • A risk-taker who has the skills and initiative to establish a business • One who starts a venture that promises economic gain but that also entails risks 4

Sustainable

• To keep up or keep going • To keep in existence; maintain • To rely on one's own capabilities or resources • Free from external control and constraint 5

Social Enterprise

Social enterprises trade in goods or services for a social purpose. Delivering on financial, social and environmental performance targets is often referred to as having a triple bottom line. It could be that the profit from the business is used to support related social aims or the business accomplishes the social aim through its operations.

Social Enterprise

• Social enterprises have non-financial missions rather than being driven solely to maximize profit for owners.

• By using business practices and solutions to achieve public good, social enterprises play a distinct role in helping create a strong, sustainable and socially inclusive economy.

Business & Social Enterprise

Non-profit ≠ non-revenue • If social enterprises cannot generate revenue to be self-sustaining – mission = irrelevant – role = negligible • Running a non-profit entity is as challenging as running a for-profit business • Business tools, practices and perspective can enhance value of social enterprises 8

Entrepreneurs & Managers

Third sector managers and entrepreneurs • Need same skills • Use same perspective • Desire to create value • Manage competing demands • Create organizations to pursue opportunities • Focus efforts on generating the greatest return or impact 9

Business Stages Framework

Ideate Business Assess Potential Integrate Launch Grow Exit • • Business development stages are typically illustrated in a linear fashion to articulate the distinct phases Reality: this is a highly non-linear, stochastic, circular and creative process.

Creative Framework

Customer Needs & Product Benefits Business Formats Opportunity Source Opportunity Space Product/Market Definition Business Space Process requires Divergent and Convergent of thinking Business Plan 11

Opportunity Identification

Business Formation

Product Development Ideate Business Assess Business Frameworks Integration Opportunity Source Opportunity Space Business Space Business Launch Product/Market Definition Brainstorming Product/Service Description Business Hypothesis Feasibility Study Business Plan 12

Product/Service Description

• Simple, plain language statement of the product or service that will be sold – What makes this unique – How is this different • Who are the typical users and/or customers?

• What are their needs, pains, desires 13

Product/Service Description

• Becomes starting point for investigation – Low effort – Put words onto thoughts – Highly changeable and fluid • In terms of WHAT is being sold – Focus: “Low interest, micro loans” • Not: poorest 25% have no financial services – Focus: “A battery that can provide light to a household for a week and recharges in hours” • Not: a breakthrough technology to increase battery life 14

Business Hypothesis

• Statement describing the proposed business • Includes the plain language Product/Service description • Focuses on the organization doing the selling – NOT the social mission of the organization – NOT the financial support needed – NOT the management team 15

Business Hypothesis

• Statement describing the proposed business – Includes the plain language Product/Service description – How will the business be built around this product or service?

• What value-added activities will the business conduct?

• How is revenue captured?

Business Hypothesis

• What is the competition already in the market?

– Is the market pain being satisfied already?

• How?

• Why?

– Why will customers pay for your solution?

– How do you know?

– It is NEVER too early to begin talking to potential customers and users 17

Business Hypothesis

• Formulates an organization product or service around the • Allows focus on related ideas • Changeable as understanding deepens • Begins to address which activities to control • Explores value chain relationships • First deep look at competitive landscape 18

Coordinated Message of Your Business

Core Concept Elevator Pitch Executive Summary Business Plan Investor Presentation

You need the right message …for the right audience …at the right time … clearly articulated … and delivered with PASSION!

Coordinated Message of Your Business

Core Concept Elevator Pitch Executive Summary Business Plan Investor Presentation

•30 seconds •Oral, discussion starter •Informal •Highlights:

– What you are – What you sell – Who’s buying, and why?

Coordinated Message of Your Business

Core Concept Elevator Pitch Executive Summary Business Plan

•2 – 3 minutes •Oral, to get next mtg •Informal to formal •Highlights:

– What you are and sell – Market pain and size – What’s unique Investor Presentation

Coordinated Message of Your Business

Core Concept Elevator Pitch Executive Summary Business Plan Investor Presentation

•Written •2 (up to 5) pages •Formal

– often read

instead of

the plan

•Highlights all major points of a full business plan

Coordinated Message of Your Business

Core Concept Elevator Pitch Executive Summary Business Plan Investor Presentation

•Written •20 pages + appendix •Formal •Highlights all aspects of business launch •Precedes formal investing discussion

Coordinated Message of Your Business

Core Concept Elevator Pitch Executive Summary Business Plan Investor Presentation

•Oral •15 – 30 minutes •Formal •Highlights:

– Business launch plan – Investment issues

•Part of investment discussion

Core Concept Purpose: To answer

• What is your product/service ?

• Who are your customers ?

• Why will they use your product?

– Value proposition to the user • What does your company • How does your company do ?

– The company’s value adding activities make money ?

– Company’s value capture mechanism 25

Core Concept

Delivery: • Generally always oral • Typically one or two sentence description – no more than 30 seconds • Can also be the first one or two sentences in your Executive Summary and Business Plan 26

Core Concept

Audience: • Business professionals – Funders e.g., angels, VCs, banks – Lawyers, accountants, P.R. Firms – Key hires • Business professionals in other settings 27

Core Concept is NOT

• Mission statement • The reason you are doing what you are doing • A listing of market needs • A description of the technology 28

General Format for Core Concept

is a that will provide that offers to . will execute and sell via .

Example

• ABC Corp. designs and manufactures a mass produced line of professional dress shirts that are sized for non-standard-sized female bodies to working women and sells them through the internet and establish retail outlets.

Example

• DEF Co. is a consulting firm that services the bio-energy industry by providing unique, high value engineering services as well as biotechnical and engineering talent recruiting services. 31

Example

• GHI Inc. designs and sells a suite of software products that improves the efficiency and management of a distributed network of financial advisors. Our customers are personal investment companies and we sell and service the software and train individuals through the internet.

Example

• JKL Ltd. integrates several remote sensing and spatial technologies to aerially conduct inventory assessments of forestland that currently are performed manually with unreliable accuracy. Our customers are governments, timber companies and other large landholders and we sell using a consulting, fee-for-service model.

Example

• MNO Organization is a franchise of independent health care facilities that will provide superior health care to the 70% of the Indian population currently underserved, or unserved, by the current system. The network of clinics will be supported by centralized operations focused on improving human resource, supply, scheduling and financial functions.

Example

• PQR Partnership provides online solutions via our website for individual consumers to access digital receipts from multiple points of sale with benefits of anytime/anywhere access to convenient paperless receipt management.

Example

• STU Shop will provide a retailer marketplace to allow online retailers to increase selection in their stores.

Example

• XYZ Center is a green building supply wholesale/resale outlet specializing in environmentally friendly products, consumer information and installation services. We support both the individual homeowners as well as contracting firms in their green building endeavors.

Example

• T.H.I.S. Company develops and manufactures implantable micro-scale electrodes based on silicon integrated circuit technology for use in healthcare research and product development to address and treat the symptoms of Parkinson’s and epilepsy. Our initial market is the researchers in these target areas.

Random Thoughts

• Activity for the sake of “doing something” is rarely effective use of resources • Sources of grant funding are subject to political agendas and are outside your control 39

The Feasibility Study

Feasibility Study

• In depth understanding of market – Target – Macro implications • Investigates revenue generation and cost structure • Explores other external constituencies • Frames ambitions, skills and goals of team and managers 41

Purpose of the Feasibility Study

• To increase the likelihood of success • To avoid doomed opportunities • To jumpstart the business planning process 42

Feasibility Study

• Reasons for failure – Market – Industry and competition – Team and management 43

Feasibility Study

• Target market assessment • Pain • Size, and growth rate • Options to grow into other segments • Overall market assessment • Overall market size and growth rate • Macro-trends • Industry assessment • Five forces analysis • Likely changes 44

Feasibility Study

• Firm • Proprietary elements • Competitive advantage, superior performance • Economic viability • Team • Mission, risk, congruence of goals • Ability to execute on Critical Success Factors and manage around Fatal Flaws • Connectedness • Conclusion 45

Feasibility Study

• Executive summary • The Micro-Market • The Macro-Market • The Macro-Industry • The Firm (a.k.a. Micro-Industry) • Team – Mission, Aspirations, and Risks – Can you execute?

– Connectedness • Summary 46

Before you get started

• Any development document – proposal, feasibility study, plan presentation, etc. – needs a statement that identifies what you do and sell.

• The “Core Concept” statement 47

Micro-Market: Offering

• A market is made up of people and firms that PAY you for what you are offering.

– user of a social networking site ≠ customer – patron of a free food program ≠ customer • What customer pain will you resolve? • Do you offer this target market clear and compelling benefits?

• At a price your customers will pay?

• What evidence do you have that customers will pay for your offering?

Micro-Market: Identified

• Who, precisely, are the customers that have the pain? – Describe your customers – Who they are, where they live and do business, how they behave, what they do?

• How large is this segment?

– How many buyers? – How many units? – How many dollars?

• How fast is the segment growing?

Micro-Market: Potential

• What evidence shows that your target market has growth potential?

• What other segments exist that could benefit from this or a related offering?

• Can you develop capabilities that are transferable from one segment to another?

• Is it likely that your entry into this segment will provide an entry into other segments that you may wish to target in the future?

Macro-Market: Now

• Two aspects: now and future • What sort of business do you want? – A huge business – An operation that simply sustains • How large is the market? • How many ways have you measured it?

– # of buyers, units sold, $ spent • Is the market large enough to allow multiple competitors to succeed?

Macro-Market: Future

• What’s the growth rate for last 1, 3, 5 years?

• How quickly will it grow in the next 6 months, 2, 5, or 10 years?

• What economic, demographic, socio-cultural, technological, regulatory, or natural trends can you identify that will affect your market and business?

• Are you seeking venture capital?

– Does this fit with the growth rate of your business?

Macro-Industry: Porter’s 5 Forces

• What is the threat of new entrants to this industry?

• How great is the power of suppliers to set terms and conditions?

• How great is the power of buyers to set terms and conditions?

• Is there a threat of substitution from other products to steal your customers?

• How intense is competitive rivalry ?

Macro-Industry: Top-level Issues

• What industry will you compete in? • Define it carefully • Based on

all five

forces, what is your overall assessment of this industry? • Just how attractive is it?

• If your industry is a poor performer overall, are there

specific

and persuasive reasons why you will fare differently?

• What will likely change in response to the success of your venture?

The Firm: “Proprietary-ness”

• What proprietary elements do you have that other firms cannot duplicate?

• Patents, copyrights, trade secrets, etc.

• Key managerial personnel (see Team) • Can your business develop and employ superior organizational processes, capabilities, or resources that others can’t? 55

The Firm: Financial Issues

• • • • Is your business model economically viable?

Will your revenue be adequate and timed to sustain the “start” that a capital investment will provide?

Does sustainability require periodic infusions of funds from external sources?

• Have you weighed tradeoffs of different funding sources?

Loans, equity investment, grants 56

The Firm: Financial Issues

• • • • • How long before you start generating revenue?

• Revenue is NOT equal grant funding How much and how long will it take acquire and retain customers?

Will your gross margins cover your cost structure?

How quickly will customers pay?

How slowly can suppliers be paid?

The Team

• Mission, Aspirations, and Risks • You must talk with your team members now • Imagine how difficult in 1, 2, 5 years • Can you execute?

• Can your team execute on each and every CSF?

• If not, have you identified how you will complete the team to address the missing CSFs?

• Connectedness • Who do you and your team know within the value chain , at your likely suppliers , with your customers , and at your competitors ?

Summary Information

• Executive summary, set up your audience – What business, business model are you testing?

– What are you selling?

• Summary: only 4 reasonable conclusions – Feasible as proposed and moving forward – Feasible with changes and moving forward – Feasible (with or without changes) but not moving forward – Not feasible (with or without changes) and not moving forward 59

Optimal Conclusion

• Identified a real need, problem for which you have a solution • Opportunity to establish a sustainable advantage • Large “enough” market • Attractive industry and competitive situation • Team has right skills 60

Random thoughts

• New technology/no direct competition MAY work well with early adopters • But “no direct competitors” regardless of technology will be a tough sell to the majority of buyers.

• Time works against all start-ups  make decisions and move 61

Business Plan, Investor Presentation

• Full Plan – Executive summary – Operational plan: how to get there from here – Full financial model: narrative and spreadsheets – Financing and exit issues • Documentation and presentation for target funders – Friends and family – Angel – Institutional – Grantors generally do not receive presentations 62

Assembling The Full Business Plan

Agenda

• Business plan in the context of business development • Purpose • Audience • Contents • Format • Challenges • Pitfalls 64

Opportunity Identification

Business Formation

Coordinated Message of Your Business

Core Concept Elevator Pitch Executive Summary Business Plan Investor Presentation

You need the right message …for the right audience …at the right time … clearly articulated … and delivered with PASSION!

Purpose

• To force the entrepreneur to do thorough an effective analyses • To provide a roadmap for development • To propose a new venture • To raise capital for the company • To benchmark progress • Should evaluate, not promote • Good plans take the emotion out of decisions and focus attention on reality 67

Purpose

• Always a work in progress – About the process NOT the document • Ties all aspects of your business and plan together • Offers clear linkage between Vision and ideas Business Plan Company to make it happen 68

Audience

Business Plan Contents

• Executive Summary • What is the concept?

• Market Need or Pain • Market Size • Value Proposition • Business Model • Competitive Advantage • Competition and Industry • Products and Services • Marketing and Sales • Management • Risk Mitigation • Action Plan, Milestones • Key Financials • Exit Strategies 70

What Is the Concept?

• Core Concept statement that defines product and business • Can include – The “story” behind the business?

– Relationship to current solutions • Linear development or disruptive?

• Improvement or new?

• Evolutionary or revolutionary?

(continued) 71

What Is the Concept?

• Be clear and complete • Be brief and to the point • State the idea for

the company

and what it does – Not simply a cool website or product • Plain language but – Use technical language, schematics

where necessary

• Plain language and – No MBA buzzwords or engineering geek speak – Get your head out of your assets 72

Market Need or Pain

• What is the pain in the market?

• Market need drives business – The product or service fills the need – Products, companies

do not

create a market • What are potential customers doing now?

– A current solution

does

exist • Connect the listener to the problem

Know the difference

• Why now? Connect timeliness of idea to market pain

and users!!

• Staying power and permanence – Fads can be very profitable 73

In Discussion of Market

• You must size the market • You must size the segments • From credible sources – Which databases?

– Summary of primary research • Using three credible measures – Total dollars spent – Number of customers – Number of units sold 74

Market Size

• Quantify “pain” in terms of true market opportunity - just how “big” is this?

• Which market segments are in the initial planning horizon of 3 to 5 years?

• Describe your customers • Quantify the segments:

Know the

– Geographically, demographically, psychographically – Business, economics, SIC codes

between customers and markets!!

• http://www.osha.gov/pls/imis/sicsearch.html

Definition of Market Segment

• Set of potential, actual customers

for

• Your set of products & services

who

• Have a common set of needs, wants

and

• Refer to one another when making buying decisions 76

Relationship of Market Terms

• Total Addressable Market – All microprocessors – or – • Target Market – Electronic device manufacturers – or – • Market Segment – Cell phone manufacturer – or – • Ideal or First Customer – Nokia or Motorola 77

About the Target Customer

• Is there an identifiable buyer?

– Accessible to your channel?

– Able to pay?

• Referring back to the market pain – Does full product address full market pain?

– Are auxiliary features, products, services needed?

• Reason to buy now?

– Can customer wait a year? 78

Value Proposition

• How valuable is your idea to your customers?

– What’s your customer’s ROI?

– Cost avoidance?

– New revenue?

– Cheaper, faster, prettier, better?

• Who else do you need to make this happen?

– Value chain relationships – Be specific • How are you going to extract this value from the marketplace?

Value Chain Players

Examples of value chain partners include: • Suppliers • Technology or logistics partners • Sales partners: dealers, resellers, retail chain • Ultimate customers • Users 80

Business Model

• What is the business model?

• This is really two questions What do you do?

How do you make money?

Bus. Model: What do you do?

Technology Raw Materials Product Design Mfg Marketing Sales Distribution 82

Bus. Model: How do you make money?

Product retail sales: using value chain Product internet sales: direct to customer B2B: commercial purchase on terms Advertising: provide ad space Licensing: per unit revenue, payable Consulting: fee for service or impact Services: per unit charges Transaction fees: per activity Subscription: content over time Affiliate: referrals and partnerships           HP Dell Xerox, BASF Yahoo, ABC IBM, universities McKinsey H&R Block eBay Consumer Reports Amazon 83

Competitive Advantage

• What is your

primary

competitive advantage?

– Intellectual property • Legal protections ≠ advantage – Management team – Exclusive customer relationships • How are you going to act on it?

– Being the “first mover”

is not

a sustainable competitive advantage – What you

with the competitive advantage is important!

– Effective execution is more important than being first 84

Competition and Industry

• Who is your competition?

– Porter’s 5 Forces analysis •Threat of entry •Supplier power •Buyer power •Threat of substitutes •Competitive rivalry – Write about the attractiveness of the industry that analysis uncovers •Do not write about the analysis (continued) 85

Competition and Industry

• Value chain issues – How are you affected by competitors’ relationships with value chain partners?

• How will competition respond?

– Always assume you will be successful •The sincerest form of flattery •Established players are likely to be better resourced •Then there’s the GoogleSoft approach 86

Products and Services

• Detailed description • Intellectual property protection • Where in the product development process?

– Any R&D concerns?

• Where in the product life cycle?

Marketing and Sales

• Product | Price | Place | Promotion • State the price of the product • How are your going to price your product?

– Market-based – Value-based – Cost-based • How are you going to sell your product?

• Be realistic, don’t overpromise or oversimplify 88

Marketing and Sales

• What “beta” relationships exist? Why?

• Who are your first prospective paying customers?

• In discussion of promotion, remember to tie in the relationships between target market and total market 89

Management

• Highlight team’s ability to deliver – Past success is a good indicator of future performance – Has team worked together before?

• Be honest about team’s missing skills • Can use Advisory Board to “bolster” management skills 90

Risk Mitigation

Type of Risk Technology Market Competition Management Execution Regulatory Financing What happens Science does not work repeatedly or in product customers aren’t paying OR adoption rates are lower More competitors exist or they are stronger than anticipated People with misaligned skills are in charge Missing milestones Product won’t pass current or pending regulations Insufficient funds to continue or next round is in question Example of how to address Utilize prototypes extensively Beta products provide early customer feed back opportunities Alter pricing strategy Hire people with right skills for right phase; let others go Emphasize right priorities Move on regulations as early as possible; get “preliminaries” Always stay in fundraising mode 91

Action Plan, Milestones

• Overview of timeline • Demonstrates YOUR understanding of KEY issues for YOUR business • Shows that the team knows what is whose responsibility – Only items that are your responsibility can be a milestone • Include product launch/first sales in ANY discussion of milestones 92

Key Financials

• Sales, revenue forecast is the starting point • Provide credible financial measures Sales | Units | Margins | Customers | Market share • Cash flow is king • KNOW you assumptions • “The Good, The Bad and the Likely” • Be realistic: don’t overpromise or oversimplify (continued) 93

Financials: The Ask

• How much are you seeking?

• What is the money to be used for?

• Most important: where are you now and what will the money get you to?

– Good examples: concept, prototype, beta product, commercial product, first sales, profitability – Bad examples: “through next year”, “while we wait for our patent” • Where will the next round of funding come from?

Key Financials

• What do you need NOW?

• What are your start-up costs?

• Provide a Sources and Uses discussion and appendix – Working capital is a legitimate use of funds – Allowing a percentage of “cushion” is okay • Estimate costs and revenues to the best of your ability 95

Exit Strategy

• Investors don’t invest to get IN • Offer feasible exit strategies • For for-profit concerns: What is “typical” in your industry?

• In the non-profit arena, self-sustainability is a desired outcome – Not investor return – Plan needs to show a “big enough” window that demonstrates independent growth (continued) 96

Business Plan Contents

• Executive Summary • What is the concept?

Format of Document

• Single or 1½ spaced within paragraphs, double spaced between paragraphs • Integrated graphics • 11 or 12-point font with 1-1-1-1 inch margins • Numbered pages • Hard copies of business plans should be professionally bound • Soft copies of business plans should be in a

single

.pdf document (continued) 99

Challenge

Many plans are product/technology-centric or driven by perceived market Focus on the intersection of market need and technology/product benefits

Technology Starter Concepts Community Personas Ideas and Inventions Effects Solutions Needs and Desires

100

Challenge

Many plans are written in an academic style, i.e., dry, boring Put your passion for the business in the plan Think about what story you want to tell There is

no right way

to organize a business plan 101

Challenge

Many entrepreneurs address preparing the plan and giving the pitch as a necessary evil It’s about the

process

, not the document Treat “marketing” your company as essential as “running” your company View opportunities for feedback as invaluable instances that will be difficult to duplicate in the “real world” 102

Challenge

“There’s no way to do this in 20 pages!” Succinct and concise understanding AND presentation of key issues is paramount View assembly of plan and presentation as much a communication challenge as it is a business issue Teams have NO option in competitions 103

Typical Pitfalls

• Product idea not linked to market need • Over-simplification of the issues • Unrealistic goals and/or timelines • No credible go-to-market strategy • The “1% market share” objective • Under-capitalized and/or over-leveraged • Sources and uses of funds • Unclear role for the audience, investor 104

Typical Pitfalls

• One-person show • Team composition and experience • Executive summary does not have a “hook” • Important information is hidden • No contingencies • Document not reviewed • Document not reviewed by “uninterested” parties 105

This is YOUR story

• Develop an engaging narrative • Make document readable – Layout – Graphics – Font and spacing – Table of contents – Headings and emphasis 106

This is YOUR story

• Infuse delivery with personality and passion • Not a “right” way to tell the story • Different aspects of a plan will be emphasized differently for different types of businesses • Don’t give evaluators a reason to mistrust or disbelieve you or the plan 107

This is YOUR story

• Have you demonstrated… – Large potential market?

– Logical go-to-market strategy?

– Captivating idea with growth potential?

– Sustainable competitive advantage?

– Sound financial plan?

– Strong, core team?

108

Miscellaneous Topics

The Critical Success Factors

• Which assumptions are critical to the success of your business? • What are the “big levers”?

– Sensitivity analysis – Typically time (to develop and through the transition) – Market size (total sales) 111

Q&A: “I don’t know”

• It’s okay to not know • SAYING “I don’t know” is a credibility killer • Try: “That’s a very important issue for us, and we’re trying to get our arms around that.” • Use this as an opportunity to demonstrate knowledge of complex and interrelated issues and relationships 112

Q&A: “I don’t know” Alternatives

• That’s an excellent question that raises a lot of key points we are investigating.

• Our research has really been inconclusive so far but we feel this is important data to have.

• That technology may well be a serious threat, we will get back to you on how ours compares.

113

Alternatives to “no competition”

• There are currently no identifiable large players – many small fragmented competitors can be good • Our research has not been able to uncover a direct competitor – Does this statement overlook the possibility of another (100) start-up (s)?

• The closest competitive threat we see is XYZ.

– Acknowledges established players can move into identified markets 114

Where does it all start?

Drucker’s 7 Sources of Innovation 1. Unexpected Occurrences 2. Incongruities 3. Process Needs 4. Industry and Market Changes 5. Demographic Changes 6. Changes in Perception 7. New Knowledge Ref: Drucker, Peter F.

Innovation and Entrepreneurship

(1985) 115

Estimating Startup Costs

Working it backwards from the Steady-state numbers: • Obtain steady state costs (GS&A, etc, as % of sales from industry data) • Make costs constant over transition • Add development costs • Ramp down develop costs while ramping up operating costs Costs Development Transition Time Modest Growth 116

Examples of graphical ways to communicate major points in your Business Plan

Design Mfg Service Sales

Example of operations

Phase I Licensed Contract In-house Contract Phase II In-house Contract In-house Direct Revenue Phase III In-house In-house Direct Direct 118

Suggestion for milestones

$ $ $ 119

CEO CTO VP Sales Board Members

Leadership

Henry Tappan Mary Markley

t.b.d. July ‘06

Julie McCoy Isaac Hayes

t.b.d. Jan. ‘07

• Grass cutting • Ornamental shrubbery • Outdoor ponds • Aqua culture • Door-to-door, in-home marketing • Consumer marketing • Agricultural/chemicals • Environmental protection • Labor negotiations 120

Accomplishments

• Sept ’06 – team formed • Oct ’06 – incorporated • Dec ’06 – prototyped developed, patent filed • Feb to May ’07 – customer testing, design final • June ’07 – Begin manufacturing and sales • July ’07 - Seed funding request • Jan ’08 – recruit CEO from industry 121