Albers-SJIM Virtual Competition

Each team has about a month to formulate a 7-10 page business plan. The time demand for each individual may be up to 1-2 hours a week, over a four week period.

For the first round, the business plan should be submitted in doc/docx/pdf format. All submissions will be passed through anti-plagiarism software. The document should use Times New Roman 12-point font with 1-inch margins all around. The length of the document must be a maximum of 10 pages, excluding any appendices. Judges will read, but not evaluate, any appendices. The required structure of the business plan is below.

• Cover page:  Including the name of the proposed company and the names of the team members.
• The Idea: One page dedicated to explaining the idea (or your solution) in brief.
• The People: The men and women who will be starting and running the venture, their roles, and details about any outside parties providing key services or important resources, etc.
• The Opportunity: A profile of the business itself – what it will sell and to whom, whether the business can grow and how fast, what its economics are, and obstacles standing in the way of success.
• The Context: The bigger picture – the regulatory environment, demographic trends, technological trends and developments, and any other factor that will inevitably change but cannot be controlled by you (the entrepreneur). How will you be prepared to deal with the inevitable change in the environment?
• Risk and Reward: An assessment of everything that can go wrong and right, and a discussion of how the entrepreneurial team can respond.
• Appendices: Optional.

The structure listed above is adapted from an article by William Sahlman, Baker Foundation Professor of Business Administration (Emeritus) at Harvard Business School. All teams are highly encouraged to read this short article about writing a business plan.

For the final round, the business plan should be submitted in a PowerPoint (.ppt/.pptx) format. The structure of the presentation will follow the broad structure of the written plan. Each team will have 15 minutes to present their plan. After all teams have presented their plan, the judges will give each team a set of questions to answer. All teams will get 10 minutes to discuss between themselves, including the overseas team members, via the internet. The last step will be for the teams to give their answers to the judges.

In addition to needing a virtual infrastructure, students will need to be able to commit about 5 hours a week to the completion of the program, and 1-2 of those hours need to be meeting with the team.

We encourage you to establish unified agreements on communication guidelines, internal deadlines, and division of responsibilities with your team. This way you are able to focus on your business plan, not team communication issues!

Remember, Bangalore will be 13.5 hours ahead of Seattle! So, if you email your teammates at 10am PST, it will be 11:30pm IST for them. If they respond the next day at 10am IST, you will receive it at 8:30pm PST. Timely communication and set expectations for response times will be essential for your success!