Quality Alchemist (品質煉金術師): HKSTP TecONE Investment Series Seminar and Visit IncuBio “HANDS”

2017年7月5日星期三

HKSTP TecONE Investment Series Seminar and Visit IncuBio “HANDS”

HKSTP TecONE Investment Series seminar named “Making Your Business Plan Investor Ready” was organized by Hong Kong Science & Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) with strategic partner “Hong Kong Business Angel Network” (HKBAN) on 5th July 2017. Since the topic was very useful for startup, I invited CityU Inno-preneurship startup Mr. Marco So (CEO, Hands Life Science) to attend the seminar. I was assigned as CityU Inno-preneurship Mentoring by CityU Knowledge Transfer Office last year. HANDS was funded by CityU Technology Start-up Support Scheme for Universities (TSSSU) and moved into Science Park two months ago. There are four founders (BCH graduates) and we took a photo in front of their office.

(Left: Paul Chi, I, Marco So and Ronald Tse; Ms. Ada Yeung was not here)

We also took a photo inside their laboratory. Since I am also their senior classmate in BCH Dept., CityU, I understood their needs and skill missing. Hopefully, Science Park could provide necessary service to incubate them to be success in near future.

Then I would like to summarize the TecONE Seminar below. Ms. Uyen La Wiget (Rock Bay) was our guest speaker. Her topic included Key Components of a Business Plan and Practical Tips.

Key Components of a Business Plan

i) Audience

She said your audience is investor not customer. So you sell your story (not product) and make your story captivity, as well as, answer the concerns of an investor.

ii) Introduction

Company name and logo is basic. Tagline is very important and it should have high impact (Don’t make it generic.) For example, the tagline of Dropbox is “Securely Share, Sync, and Collaborate”. (Remember to avoid Buzz words!)

iii) Problem(s) identified

What made you think of starting your company? Your problem statement should be clearly list and back up with statistics or research.

iv) Solution offered

How will you solve the problems and for whom will you solve them. She told us to sell your business model with High Level understanding.

v) Product demo & benefit

Show off your product which cover 4 to 5 features or less. Is your product easily copied by others? There is no standard “Yes / No” answer. It depends on how your explanation the situation you handled.

vi) Business Model

It related how to monetize. The market share could be from “Total market place & size” to “Segmented market size” down to “Your market share”. She suggested to use pie chart for presentation revenue %. What is your marketing strategy and how you use funding in each stage (e.g. marketing plan and production plan)?

vii) Team

Team is the driving force of company and investor concerns team’s experience level, commitment level, their mentors and advisors.

viii) Funding Requirement

You need to know your plan to use funding and what the next funding round is. Which type of investor you are looking for?

ix) Summary

You need to prepare a statement that shows “Why Me”, “Why Us” and “Why Now”. Some background research should be performed to support your statement such as marketing trends.

Finally, the guest speaker shared some practical tips below.

- add “Confidential and Proprietary” at the bottom left of the business plan cover page (or. © Name YYYY)

- Don’t make the plan too long, otherwise, use an appendix.

- Business plan could be quick skimming within 15 min (included all main points)

- Don’t use Jargon

- Professional “Look & Feel”

After that our colleague introduced the Elevator Pitch Competition 2017. I encourage Marco to try and train up his pitching skill.