Executive Summary

The name of this project is called STRIKE-UP in which users are provided with an opportunity to program their credit cards and debit cards to pay bills to the nearest highest whole number. An instance here is if a client has a bill of $4.25 then the charges will be $5 since it is the nearest whole number. The excess amount of $0.75 will be put into the saving wallet where the client will be in a position to keep the savings. Investments are means by which individuals and organizations hope to reap profits after some period (Rossi 10). This platform provides unique features since clients will be able to save at least some significant amount. Afterward, customers will be provided with an opportunity to invest their savings with some options such as in Fintech and renewable energy sectors.

Additionally, customers will be provided with information about the sector they are willing to invest. Such information includes the divided price, risk factors, and stock price (Lawton and Dan 40). This idea is based on the concept of venture capital investment with crowdfunding. Furthermore, this platform will provide customers with a technology that is user-friendly. More so, it allows people to save and invest any amount at their convenience. In this context, this platform outsmarts that of Chase Bank and other banks in that it provides an opportunity to invest any amount in any sector the client decides.

 

Proposed Financing

For the purpose of any project to succeed, adequate funding is required. The amount endeavored to start this project is to be sourced externally and internally. Sources of financing include own contributions from members which is expected to yield $500,000, the contribution from inheritances $400,000, borrowing from a bank $600,000, grants from government incubators $300,000 and donations $200,000.

Pros of this Investment Structure

• Enables clients to invest any amount in any sector at any time
• Provides adequate information to customers such as risk factors, share price projections and dividends price before they can spend
• The platform provides user-friendly technology that assists them in decision making on investments
• It unconsciously allows customers to save in that the amount saved is small and so it may not negatively affect their financial budgets

Cons of this Investment Structure

• Competition from well-established investment schemes such as those of Chase Bank
• Winning the loyalty of customers from other investment schemes
• Sourcing for additional external funding in the initial stages of the project may prove difficult

Deal Goals

The proceeds from this investment plans would be used to expand the services of the company such as increasing more saving products in additional to venturing into other financial services. Additionally, the proceeds would be used in research and development so that innovations in the finance sector can be captured. It would be used in exploring new investment areas to provide customers with a variety of investment options (Haber and Arie 126). It would also be used in installing and maintaining a high-tech system that offers for financial services to be streamlined. It would also be used in payment of stationery and electricity and the training of more staffs.

Marketing Opportunity

Since this investment scheme is based on crowd-funding, it becomes the easiest available investment platform. It provides an opportunity to dictate the exact principles of investment, and those who are willing to invest will invest as little or as much as they are like in the services or products of the company. It provides access to readymade markets whether they are new potential markets or investor markets. More so, it provides free marketing opportunities. The increased growth of crowd-funding has been attracting many customers, and there are many sites of crowd-funding campaigns that can help leverage on sales. (Haber and Arie 127)

Problems to be addressed

This investment scheme aims at closing the gap in saving and investment. Many investment projects require chunks of funding (Yazdipour 64).  However, this platform provides the clients with an opportunity to invest any amount, little or as much as the customer desires. In this regard, the investment scheme can provide an adequate investment platform where the clients have no limits to what they can invest. This is in line with Venture Capital’s due diligence in that it fits the investment criteria. To investigate on the viability of this deal, the project team assigned it to a junior and senior team member who concluded on its feasibility. By reviewing the market potential, service and product demonstrate that the problem is in line with the due diligence of Capital Venture.

Value Preposition

To investigate the viability of any investment scheme some customers have to be interviewed (Cumming and Sofia 27). A number of potential customers and even those in other investment schemes have provided their views on this scheme. The project’s value preposition entails innovative thinking and providing leadership through services. These customers have high hopes that this plan will enable them invest in any manner they want; therefore, increasing their freedom of investment.

Competition

The current competition is posed by those financial institutions that provide similar or almost similar services to what this investment scheme will provide. Such competitors include banks such as Chase Bank, hedge funds such as Och-Ziff Capital Management among many other financial institutions. The primary challenge for many businesses is winning the loyalty of customers who have been investing in other investment schemes (Gompers et al. 5). The future competition is likely to come from new venture capital businesses that are trying to penetrate the market. However, to win the loyalty of these clients, this investment platform will provide some unique features such as numerous investment options, timely and reliable saving services and financial techno-services that would enable consumers to make quick and optimal decisions on saving and investment. This way the current and future competition is to be countered.

 

 

 

Product

Product Description and IP Review

The primary product to be offered by the Venture Capital is saving and investment product and services. Clients will be able to save in their saving wallets through a program of rounding off to the next nearest whole number. Customers will also be offered with investment advisory services through a user-friendly platform. The lawyer completed a legal review once the fund had reached a final stage of moving toward a favorable decision of investing. This study is important in establishing legal due diligence of this Venture Capital (Yazdipour 70). It would also affirm the viability of the project.

Product Roadmap

Product development roadmap requires a goal to be established (Engel and Max 157). One way to developing this product roadmap is to define the strategy by defining where the project is headed and what to build on. Point to note is that the focus of this project is to customers. The other way to developing the project’s product roadmap is by customizing the releases by highlighting those features of the investment products that are not provided by other financial providers.

Price Points/Margins/Economies of Scale

The entire organization must keep aligned to this roadmap so as to enjoy economies of scales such as information sharing in a secure manner. Communication and transparency would, therefore, be important in this case in seeing the success of any business during product development (Cumming and Sofia 41). The technology platform for this project allows the members to take any view and even secure it through the web page. This helps in sharing the roadmap of the project and keeping everyone updated. Key costs would include developing user-friendly platform and maintaining web security

Features to be developed from Reference Calls

One of the features in the provision of these products is that there is the provision of secure communication on the available sectors to invest in and on the factors likely to influence the investment. Additionally, clients will be in a position to make an investment of as little or as more amount as they want. An instance is if a customer has a bill of $ 4.25, the client will be made to pay $5 and the excess $0.75 will be put into the savings. This scheme is based on crowd-funding and Venture Capital.

Operational Plans

Any businesses must incur expenses during its existence (Valanciene and Sima 40).The quarterly monthly burn rate is based on the expenses the company is to incur. The company has some expenditure to finance. These costs include research and development, salary and wages to staffs, miscellaneous, rent expenses and buying and maintenance of high technology system. However, as a venture capital in the stages of conception, it has no real historical figures. The estimated monthly burn rate is, therefore, $800,000.

Use of Funds

The funds will be to finance some expenses as shown below

Salary and wages                                                     $150,000

High-tech system maintenance                                $100,000

Miscellaneous                                                            $20,000

Research and development                                        $230,000

Rent expenses                                                           $100,000

Stationery                                                                  $30,000

Electricity                                                                   $20,000

Advertising                                                                $100,000

Revenue Plan

Revenue plan is meant to provide the project with finances. Sources of funding include an own contribution from members which is expected to yield $500,000, the contribution from inheritances $400,000, borrowing from a bank $600,000, grants from government incubators $300,000 and donations $200,000.

 Margin

The revenue to start with is expected to be about $2,000,000.The cost of expenses is expected to be $900,000 which means that there will be an excess of $1,100,000.Part of this will be used to finance the next month expenses before the company can recoup its costs from profits.

 Staff Plans

For any business, staffs are part and parcel of it to perform its activities (Hochberg, Alexander and Yang 255).This project requires about ten employees as a start. The staffs would provide services to clients such as offering information on investment opportunities, financial advisory services and on the factors that would impact upon their investments among many other services. The estimated cost of staffing is estimated to be $150,000 per month in both salary and training.

 

Works Cited

Cumming, Douglas J., and Sofia A. Johan. Venture capital and private equity contracting: An international perspective. Oxford: Elsevier, 2013.

Engel, Dirk, and Max Keilbach. “Firm-level implications of early stage venture capital investment—An empirical investigation.” Journal of Empirical Finance 14.2 (2007): 150-167.

Gompers, Paul, et al. “Venture capital investment cycles: The impact of public markets.” Journal of Financial Economics 87.1 (2008): 1-23.

Haber, Sigal, and Arie Reichel. “The cumulative nature of the entrepreneurial process: The contribution of human capital, planning and environment resources to small venture performance.” Journal of Business Venturing 22.1 (2007): 119-145.

Hochberg, Yael V., Alexander Ljungqvist, and Yang Lu. “Whom you know matters: Venture capital networks and investment performance.” The Journal of Finance 62.1 (2007): 251-301.

Lawton, Kevin, and Dan Marom. The crowdfunding revolution: How to raise venture capital using social media. McGraw Hill Professional, 2012.

Rossi, Matteo. “The new ways to raise capital: an exploratory study of crowdfunding.” International Journal of Financial Research 5.2 (2014): 8-18.

Valanciene, Loreta, and Sima Jegeleviciute. “Valuation of crowdfunding: benefits and drawbacks.” Economics and Management 18.1 (2013): 39-48.

Yazdipour, Rassoul. Advances in Entrepreneurial Finance: With Applications from Behavioral Finance and Economics. New York: Springer, 2011.

 

 

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