BUS 477 - New Venture Planning

By now, you should have received a note from me with the grade for your team project (business plan and pitch.)  The 5 teams that were recommended to the Ken Spencer Business Plan competition by John Jones (ENSC201 instructor) and me should have also received a note from Khosrow inviting them to the competition.

Business Overviews (Pitches)

These were generally very well done.  I assigned a grade out of 100 using the oral presentation grading rubric then assigned a grade out of 10 with one decimal point.   While the feedback from our guest panelists doesn't count toward your grade, I hope it helps you get a feel for how your "deal" is perceived from an independent, outside perspective.

Grade range was 6.1 to 9.5 with a mean of 8.4.

Business Plans

From a high level, I saw some plans that were as good as any I review professionally and others that needed work.  John Jones and I spent a lot of time over the past few days reviewing and grading each plan using the business plan evaluation scorecard I shared with you in class.  We then compared the grades we assigned, debated where there was a difference and agreed on a final grade out of 100.  I then converted to a grade out of 30 with 2 decimal points. 

Grade range was 11.4 to 27.9 with a mean of 21.6.

When grading, we looked more at the process rather than whether your idea was practical.  (Ken Spencer and other business plan competitions will look more at the question of commercial viability.)  Did your business plan address the key issues a business plan should address?  Did it do so convincingly?  Did it show respect for the needs of a typical investor?  Was it neat,  error-free and businesslike in the way it was presented?

Papers and Feedback

Regardless of your grade, you clearly put a lot of time and effort into your assignments over the term. Whether you decide to choose a career path of the entrepreneur or not, I hope you will will take pride in your project and refer to it often in the future.

I provided feedback on your hard copy plans.  I also provided feedback on the oral and written grading rubrics.  John did not have a hard copy, so he will provide his class with grading on the business plan scorecard only. As promised, I will bring all papers and written feedback to the Ken Spencer Competition.  I hope you will attend and encourage your classmates.  I will leave all papers that are not picked up in the undergraduate business office.