Written business plans must be limited to 20 pages of text (typed, double-spaced, minimum 12 pitch font, and 1” margins on all sides), including the executive summary and summary financial data.  Detailed spreadsheets and appropriate appendices should follow the text portion of the plan but will be limited to 10 pages.  Plans with fewer than 10 pages of appendices may not use the remaining pages to increase the size of their business plan beyond 20 pages.  In total, the maximum number of pages is 30.

Contents of the Written Business Plan:  your business plan should include (max 20 pages)

• Executive Summary
• Product or service description (incl. current status of development – beta, prototype, etc.)
• Customer/Market analysis (market size and potential market share)
• Sales and Marketing Plan (how you will go-to-market)
• Intellectual property status (e.g., patents, licenses, etc.)
• Competitor Analysis (competitors and your competitive differentiation)
• Management team and/or advisors, including relevant experience
• Financial highlights (cash flow, income statement, & balance sheet)
• Offering of the company (how much investment you are seeking, uses of funding, possible exits)

Financial Data: Financial data should include a cash flow statement, income statement, and balance sheet.  We recommend projecting annual financials for at least five years along with a monthly plan for year 1.  This data should be included in a summarized fashion in the main section of the business plan.  Include an explanation of the offering to investors indicating how much money is required, how it will be used, and the proposed structure of the deal, (i.e., stock, debentures, etc.) and possible exit strategies.  Detailed financial data and tables should be included in the appendix.

         Please note: The team is not required to reveal the exact desired terms of the deal (i.e., proposed company valuation and percentage of company being offered).  However, teams should expect to be asked about these terms and should be prepared to answer these questions in some fashion (if this information is not already provided in the written plan.)  It is up to the team to assess the BEST way to address this question; however, past experience indicates that some judges will want to know a team’s estimated company valuation. 

Appendices:  Should be included only when they support the findings, statements, and observations in the plan.  Because of the number of teams in the competition, judges may not be able to read all the material in the appendices.  Therefore, the text portion of the plan (20 pages) must contain all pertinent information in a clear and concise manner.  All appendices must fall within the 10 page limit; any pages over this limit will not be posted or otherwise provided to the judges.

Written Plan Submission:  The final written plan from invited teams will be due to rbpc@rice.edu on or before 5:00 pm CST on Friday, March 19, 2010.  Please submit an electronic version via email on Adobe Acrobat PDF, any other form will not be accepted.  Teams not meeting this deadline will not be considered for this year's competition.  The written plans will be posted on a password protected site for immediate review by the judges.

Changes to Your Business Plan: Once your written business plan is submitted on March 19, 2010,  you will not have a chance to modify your written plan.  It will be provided for review by the judges, and you will receive the judges' written feedback on your plan prior to your arrival on campus.  However, if you feel the need to modify your plan, when you make your oral presentations on campus, you can make incorporate these changes into your presentation.