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30 changes: 30 additions & 0 deletions docs/BusinessPlan/Expectations.md
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Some software Capstone teams have continued to develop their projects after Capstone, and have even
started businesses related to their Capstones. The business plan extra is for teams who wish to conceive of
ways to monetize their Capstone project after Capstone ends. A good business plan report should include
the following, plus any other information the team feels is necessary. Marks will be based on the depth
of critical thought and justification, plus evidence of research-backed values presented in the document.
It is not necessary to gather primary information (i.e., your own surveys and focus groups), but all
information and estimates should be based whenever possible on realistic values from other, properly-cited
sources.

* **Problem and market need:** Identifies target customer, the specific pain point your software addresses,
evidence of demand for the product, and why your solution is better than existing ones. For any unknown
pieces of market need, proposes surveys or focus groups that could be used to gather the missing
information.
* **Market size and business model:** Defines the target market. Includes a research-based estimate of the size
of the addressable market of this product, with projections of the user base size for the first 5 years.
Describes and justifies revenue model (e.g. SaaS, freemium, etc), the rationale for your pricing, and
provides basic financial projections.
* **Cost breakdown:** Includes a detailed breakdown of the initial investment needed to make the project
into a launchable product (the cost to take it from Capstone Rev1 to a full product). Detailed breakdown
of ongoing costs of running the service, including salaries to maintain the software, marketing/user
acquisition costs, ongoing service costs, and any other relevant costs. Identifies realistic uncertainty
and ranges of costs. States these costs as a proportion of the number of users to show how costs scale as
the user base grows. Includes projections of costs for several numbers of users spanning many orders of
magnitude.
* **Competition and positioning:** Identifies both direct and indirect competitors, comparing your product
to those other ones on relevant dimensions chosen by the team. Identifies barriers to entry into this space.
Justifies the “moat” that your product will build to have an ongoing sustainable advantage.
* **Execution plan and milestones:** Includes a detailed timeline of the work needed to launch the product.
Includes a clear phased approach with achievable milestones, with details for the time leading up to launch
as well as plans to continue to improve in the first five years after launch.
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