The Fischell Fellowship in Biomedical Engineering: How to Write a Research Plan/Executive Summary (First Round)
Executive summaries are due by the end of the business day on Thursday, February 21, 2008.
Need help with your business plan? Contact Karen Thornton, Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute at karent@umd.edu. You may request a a 30 minute, 1-on-1 appointment (on the phone or in person).
An executive summary is usually submitted by an entrepreneur seeking early-stage funding from venture capital firms. (For later stage funding, VC firms expect to see a full business plan). An executive summary is usually brief (3-5 pages, single spaced), but contains enough of the business concept to enable a venture capitalist to make an initial evaluation. Well-written executive summaries are part marketing pitch and part clear business analysis. For the Fischell Business Plan Competition, be sure to include enough detail of the research that both the technology and the business opportunity are highlighted.
For purposes of the preliminary round of the Fischell Fellowship Biomedical Engineering Competition, we recommend that your executive summary address the following important issues and supporting questions. The summary should begin with a paragraph that summarizes very succinctly the product or technology to be commercialized, the value proposition, the competitive advantage, and the magnitude of the target market. The body of the executive summary elaborates these key issues from the viewpoint of the research and includes a description of the
- stage of development
- research group at UM who can assist with the research
- intellectual property/competitive advantage, and
- funding situation.
The executive summaries for the Fischell Competition should describe the opportunity and how your research will be executed to reach that opportunity. We value well-organized, clear, and concise presentations. Acceptable plans include those promoting products in bio-tech scalable markets or high-potential niche markets. In answering the guideline questions, please tailor your submission to your particular research area. The questions provided are broad in nature and may not completely apply to a specific plan at this stage of the competition. However, the full plan will need to address most or all of these areas.
Some questions to ask yourself:
What is the product idea, process, or new invention?
- What is being sold and to whom?
- Is it a new invention, an improvement of a current device, or a new process?
What is the value proposition?
- Why will customers buy this product or service?
- What need(s) do(es) your product/process/new invention satisfy?
- Is it faster, less expensive, or of better quality than other products, or have some other advantage?
What is the competitive advantage?
- What does your product offer that is better than competitors' or substitutes?
What is the stage of development?
- Are you at the conceptual, R&D, prototype, or test market stage?
- Are there existing grants, revenues, or employees?
- Have you considered a sales and marketing plan?
What is the size of the target market?
- What is the expected industry share?
- Who are the existing/expected competitors (direct and lateral)?
- What barriers are there to entry of other competitors?
- Who are the existing/expected customers and suppliers?
- How concentrated are the customers and suppliers?
- What are the switching costs for customers?
- How long will it take to gain the expected market share?
- What assumptions have you made?
What is the revenue and profit model?
- Where will revenues be derived—directly from product sales, licensing, transaction fees, usage fees, or another source?
- How much profit will be earned and when?
Who is your proposed faculty advisor and what does he or she add to the proposed research?
- Can you join a University of Maryland research group? What are their prior accomplishments in your research area?
- What are their skills and areas of expertise?
- Do you have any prior start-up experience?
Does this research have intellectual property or other assets?
- Is there unique and valuable technology?
- Can this technology be protected?
How has the research been funded to date (who and how much)?
- How much capital is needed, and when?
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