11.15.11 Business plan workshop

LEXINGTON, KY (Nov. 28, 2011) — Faculty, students and local entrepreneurs attended the second of a four-part commercialization series sponsored by the Von Allmen Center for Entrepreneurship on Nov. 15. Bart van Dissel, a former Harvard Business School professor and McKinsey consultant, covered developing a business plan that works.  Matt Bellis, president of Seikowave, talked about putting together a 15-minute pitch to potential investors.

The next workshop, "Keeping Good Accounting Practices," is Feb. 15 from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Gatton College of Business and Economics.

Presentations  

(click on each presentation to download)

Matt Bellis explained how entrepreneurs should prepare a 15-minute pitch to potential investors. He suggested the following key points:

• Executive summary
  • Tell enough about the technology in layman’s terms to spark interest in your company
• Company history
  • Provide a brief, concise history
• Statement of the problem
  • The problem should be one that people care about
  • Include the amount of money people currently spend trying to solve this problem
• Solution
  • Include pictures
  • Answer why the problem needs a solution
  • Do not include details about the science
• How it works
  • Provide some detail of the science, but only enough to help the audience understand
• Market
  • Answer how much of the market this product will address
• Financial forecast
  • Describe the potential revenue and growth of this product
• Customers
  • Describe who will buy this product, why they will buy and how much they will pay for it
• Product plans
  • Include illustrations
• Competitive analysis
  • To displace the incumbent product, your product must be better, faster and cheaper
• Organization
  • Team should be confident and credible and have an advisory group in place
• Capital requirements
  •  How to use this product?
• Summary
  • Hit the key points, where will you be in a few years and what customers are interested in your product

Speaker bios

Bart van Dissel has more than 25 years of experience as an executive, investor, and consultant for startups and as a consultant to Fortune 500 C-level executives on strategy, operations, sales and marketing, organization, and information technology. His industry experience includes Fortune 500 companies in information technology, telecommunications, steel, and energy. His startup experience includes launching companies, developing business plans, valuations, structuring strategic partner deals, raising capital, and leading selective due diligence reviews as an ongoing member of an angel investor group.

He is currently serving on the board of directors for four startup companies. Van Dissel’s background includes six years with McKinsey & Company and four years as an assistant professor at Harvard Business School. He holds a Ph.D. in strategy and organization, master’s degree in computer science/mathematics, and an M.B.A. from Duke University and a B.A. in English from Harvard University.

Matt Bellis has a B.S.E.E. and B.A. in physics from Northwestern University and an M.S.E.E. from the University of California at Santa Barbara where his studies were focused on semiconductor lasers and optics. Bellis has extensive experience managing in large corporate environments as well as in early stage startups. He has developed and executed product line and division strategies and is experienced in securing funds both within a corporate environment as well as from the venture capital and investment community. Bellis has held positions in corporate strategy, marketing, sales and engineering as a manager and as an individual contributor.  He has worked with most of the major consumer electronics manufacturers and numerous semiconductor fabrication plants in implementing new technologies, new processes and new measurement systems. He has worked and lived extensively in Asia, managed multi-lingual and cross-cultural teams, and is competent in both spoken and written Japanese.