Month: December 2013
What we learned in session 11
Hi again guys and thank you for following us!
In session 11:
Interview summaries
We’ve finally got round to providing you with a summary of all the interviews conducted way back! This summary includes all respondents interviewed, both male and female and both professional and student!
Overall we got a good response from the interviews conducted, in general participants were eager to find out more and interested in how the product would work. Most participants claimed that they found it easy to access food during the school/work day; however they often had problems in obtained their preferred choice and bringing food from home usually wasn’t a suitable resolution because they preferred to eat warm food. Many participants mentioned saving money as a potential reason to bring foods from home, however this was never their key reason and they regularly eat out for lunch in the working week. The ability to keep food fresh was another reoccurring answer from the interviews, many participants stressed the importance of being able to keep their food fresh throughout the day if they brought it from home, and therefore we know that the heatable lunch box must use materials that keep the food fresh throughout the day. The final key take-away from the interviews was that participants find it inconvenient to carry a large box around with them all day, especially once the box becomes empty after lunch. They emphasized the need for flexibility so that the box would reshape to fit the ingredients in the box. As a result of these findings we know that we must source flexible, stretchy or bendable materials to make this lunch box convenient for the customers.
In comparison to the female students, the male students seemed much less interested in the ability to bring food from home and heat it. The female students were intrigued and keen to purchase a product similar to this with the same qualities. Professionals and workers on the go also liked the idea of being able to bring food and heat it on the go. The interest in this segment was much more balanced between males and females, with both genders being open to the idea.
Overall we feel that there is a market for this product, mostly because there seems to be a gap between customer needs and solutions available, with the majority of participants wanting to try our product. We will therefore continue to test and evolve it further.
The costing and pricing of the TempBox
As promised in the previous weeks, the costing of the TempBox has now been finalised. It has also now been updated to show the forecast costs for the next five years. These costs are all realistic as they are based on our forecast growth rates, suppliers have been contacted to receive accurate quotations for all quantities required. As you can see, the costs decrease from 10.59e to 9.48e in 5 years (based upon our fairly conservative growth rates). You can also see the lists of prices over the next five years, so download the excel attachment below to see more!
To accurately cost this, we have been in contact with many suppliers (mostly based in China) to receive these quotes. We contacted multiple suppliers for the same products so that the final suppliers could be decided upon based on price, quality an convenience. So if you’re interested, below is a word document summarising most the quotes received from the suppliers and also print screens of the quotes received.
Lessons Learned – Session 10
Lessons learned, session 10.
As usual we started the session with team presentations. We were first up and the presentation is available through slideshare or further down on this page. Our presentation went well and we got some constructive feedback which we can use to improve until next time, for instance we should make our organization chart contain fewer positions. A venture capitalist wants to know if the knowledge is in the team and one way to accomplish that is to present the organizational chart with team members and qualities only.
Theme of the lecture: cost structure and financial statements
What is the cost structure of our startup? This is a question which is challenging to answer. There is several assumptions which needs to be made after having identified the cost drivers in the company.
There are several types of costs where variable and fixed makes up the total. As we can see in the diagram, fixed will stay the same and variable costs varies with production volume.
One important feature for a startup is not having too much fixed costs. With a heavy load of fixed costs the business becomes more risky as fixed costs are much more difficult to do something about if needed.
–> We are going to out-contract most of our business and will not have large fixed costs. Our degree of variable costs will be higher.
Financial statements
To get funded, to gain profits and to be able to measure and monetize plans there is a need to develop a financial plan and forecast.
Financial decisions result from many different actions and choices. To get a future positive income there is a need to invest in assets, inventory, human resources etc. These investments will all influence the financial plan. The financial plan is an instrument to assist. Meaning that it will guide and assist the entrepreneurs to make decisions based on achieving the plan.
GOOD NEWS! The worst part is already done through planning for and making the business model. We can use information we already have researched and tested. Based on our findings we can build FORECASTS based on valid results rather than gut feeling.
Main components:
– Income statement
– Balance Sheet
– Cash Flow Statement
Capital needs
The first source of financing will be our saved capital or capital from family and friends. These amounts are often not sufficient and we need to get Venture Capital. For startups a business angels which is an investor in the near area interested in startup investments.
Angel investors base their investment decision on several criteria, but the MAIN CRITERIA IS THE TEAM and the size of opportunity. Judgment about people is a huge factor and it is made up in seconds à Make a good FIRST IMPRESSION!
This week we are working on our financial statements and pitch, we are improving our internet based tools, and perfecting the business model 2.0.
The Lean Explorers 