Engineering Entrepreneurship Lab (ME-273L)

Submitted to:
Mr. Muhammad Waqas Rafique
Submitted by:
2022-ME-02 (Ahmad Hassan)
2022-ME-10 (Muhammad Abdullah)

2022-ME-15 (Zaid Zulfiqar)

Department:

Mechanical Engineering

Subject:

Engineering Entrepreneurship Lab-I

Semester:
Fourth (4th)

University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore

 Lab Session-1
Legitimate Business Idea:

It means a real, active, and operating commercial or entrepreneurial undertaking which

produces services or goods for profit, or is a governmental, charitable or other validly
recognized nonprofit entity. The business must meet applicable legal requirements for doing
business in the CNMI. A business will not be considered legitimate if it engages directly or
indirectly in prostitution, trafficking in minors, or any other activity that is illegal under Federal
or CNMI law. DHS will determine whether a business is legitimate.

Methods to develop legitimate business ideas:

1. Find an Unmet Market Need: Identify something that customer’s want that’s not
readily available, or affordable, to them.

2. Create a Differentiated Solution: Develop a solution that meets customers’ needs and
stands out from existing products or services.

3. Play Devil’s Advocate: Critically examine your own idea to identify potential flaws or
areas for improvement.

4. Get Market Feedback: Solicit feedback from potential customers to validate your idea
and make necessary adjustments.

5. Set Short and Long-term Goals: Having a detailed plan is crucial to making any
entrepreneurial endeavor successful. Your long-term plans and your short-term plans
should work together to keep you on track.

6. Room for Growth: Be willing to alter part—or all—of your idea based on new
information or experience.

7. The Right Amount of Motivation: Your business idea should be based on something
you’re motivated to pursue.

Effective Business Plan:

A business plan is a documented strategy for a business that highlights its goals and its plans
for achieving them. It outlines a company's go-to-market plan, financial projections, market
research, business purpose, and mission statement. Key staff who are responsible for achieving
the goals may also be included in the business plan along with a timeline.

Purpose of an Effective Business Plan:

It enables you to validate a business idea, secure funding, set strategic goals, and then take
organized action on those goals by making decisions, managing resources, risk and change,
while effectively communicating with stakeholders.
 It helps you explore business plan examples from real companies and brands, learn how to
write one that gets your business off on the right foot, convinces investors to provide funding,
and confirms your venture is sustainable for the long term.

Standard format of an Effective Business Plan:

The standard format or table of contents of an effective business plan typically includes the
following sections:

1. Executive Summary:
The executive summary is arguably the most important section of the entire business plan.
Essentially, it's the overview or introduction, written in a way to grab readers' attention and
guide them through the rest of the business plan. This is important, because a business plan can
be dozens or hundreds of pages long.

Most executive summaries include:

• Mission statement

• Company history and leadership

• Competitive advantage overview

• Financial projections

• Company goals
Keep in mind you'll cover many of these topics in more detail later on in the business plan. So,
keep the executive summary clear and brief, including only the most important takeaways.
Executive Summary Business Plan Example:
 Tips for Writing Executive Summary:
• Clearly define a problem, and explain how your product solves that problem, and show
why the market needs your business.

• Be sure to highlight your value proposition, market opportunity, and growth potential.

• Keep it concise and support ideas with data.

• Customize your summary to your audience. For example, emphasize finances and return
on investment for venture capitalists.

2. Market Opportunity:
This is where you'll detail the opportunity in the market. Where is the gap in the current
industry, and how will your product fill that gap?

In this section, you might include:

• The size of the market

• Current or potential market share

• Trends in the industry and consumer behavior

• Where the gap is

• What caused the gap

• How you intend to fill it

To get a thorough understanding of the market opportunity, you'll want to conduct a TAM,
SAM, and SOM analysis and perform market research on your industry. You may also benefit
from creating a SWOT analysis to get some of the insights for this section.

Market Opportunity Business Plan Example:

This example uses critical data to underline the size of the potential market and what part of
that market this service hopes to capture.
 Tips for Writing Market Opportunity Section

• Focus on demand and potential for growth.

• Use market research, surveys, and industry trend data to support your market forecast and
projections.
• Add a review of regulation shifts, tech advances, and consumer behavior changes.
• Refer to reliable sources.
• Showcase how your business can make the most of this opportunity.
3. Competitive Landscape:
Speaking of market share, you'll need to create a section that shares details on who the top
competitors are. After all, your customers likely have more than one brand to choose from, and
you'll want to understand exactly why they might choose one over another. Performing a
competitive analysis can help you uncover:

• Industry trends that other brands may not be utilizing

• Strengths in your competition that may be obstacles to handle

• Weaknesses in your competition that may help you develop selling points

• The unique proposition you bring to the market that may resonate with customers

Competitive Landscape Business Plan Example:

The competitive landscape section of the business plan below shows a clear outline of who the
top competitors are. It also highlights specific industry knowledge and the importance of
location, which shows useful experience in this specific industry. This can help build trust in
your ability to execute your business plan.
 Tips for Writing Competitive Landscape:

• Complete in-depth research, then emphasize your most important findings.

• Compare your unique selling proposition (USP) to your direct and indirect competitors.

• Show a clear and realistic plan for product and brand differentiation.
• Look for specific advantages and barriers in the competitive landscape. Then, highlight
how that information could impact your business.

• Outline growth opportunities from a competitive perspective.

• Add customer feedback and insights to support your competitive analysis.

4. Target Audience:
This section will describe who your customer segments are in detail. What is the demographic
and psychographic information of your audience?

If your immediate answer is "everyone," you'll need to dig deeper. Ask yourself:

• What demographics will most likely need/buy your product or service?

• What are the psychographics of this audience? (Desires, triggering events, etc.)

• Why are your offerings valuable to them?

It can be helpful to build a buyer persona to get in the mindset of your ideal customers and be
clear on why you're targeting them.

Target Audience Business Plan Example:

The example below uses in-depth research to draw conclusions about audience priorities. It
also analyzes how to create the right content for this audience.
 Tips for Writing Target Audience Section:

• Include details on the size and growth potential of your target audience.

• Figure out and refine the pain points for your target audience, then show why your product
is a useful solution.

• Describe your targeted customer acquisition strategy in detail.

• Share anticipated challenges your business may face in acquiring customers and how you
plan to address them.

• Add case studies, testimonials, and other data to support your target audience ideas.
• Remember to consider niche audiences and segments of your target audience in your
business plan.

5. Marketing Strategy:
Here, you'll discuss how you'll acquire new customers with your marketing strategy. You might
consider including information on:

• The brand positioning vision and how you'll cultivate it

• The goal targets you aim to achieve

• The metrics you'll use to measure success

• The channels and distribution tactics you'll use

It can help to already have a marketing plan built out to help you with this part of your business
plan.

Marketing Strategy Business Plan Example:

This business plan example includes the marketing strategy for the town of Gawler. It offers a
comprehensive picture of how it plans to use digital marketing to promote the community.
 Tips for Writing Marketing Strategy:

• Include a section about how you believe your brand vision will appeal to customers.

• Add the budget and resources you'll need to put your plan in place.

• Outline strategies for specific marketing segments.

• Connect strategies to earlier sections like target audience and competitive analysis.

• Review how your marketing strategy will scale with the growth of your business.
• Cover a range of channels and tactics to highlight your ability to adapt your plan in the
face of change.

6. Key Features and Benefits:

At some point in your business plan, you'll review the key features and benefits of your
products and/or services. Laying these out can give readers an idea of how you're positioning
yourself in the market and the messaging you're likely to use. It can even help them gain better
insight into your business model.

Key Features and Benefits Business Plan Example:

The example below outlines products and services for this business, along with why these
qualities will attract the audience.

Tips for Writing Key Features and Benefits:

• Emphasize why and how your product or service offers value to customers.

• Use metrics and testimonials to support the ideas in this section.

• Talk about how your products and services have the potential to scale.

• Think about including a product roadmap.

• Focus on customer needs, and how the features and benefits you are sharing meet those
needs.

• Offer proof of concept for your ideas, like case studies or pilot program feedback.
 Proofread this section carefully, and remove any jargon or complex language.

7. Pricing and Revenue:

This is where you'll discuss your cost structure and various revenue streams. Your pricing
strategy must be solid enough to turn a profit while staying competitive in the industry. For
this reason, you might outline:

• The specific pricing breakdowns per product or service

• Why your pricing is higher or lower than your competition's

• (If higher) Why customers would be willing to pay more

• (If lower) How you're able to offer your products or services at a lower cost

• When you expect to break even, what margins do you expect, etc?

Pricing and Revenue Business Plan Example:

This business plan example begins with an overview of the business revenue model, then shows
proposed pricing for key products.

Tips for Writing Pricing and Revenue Section:

• Get specific about your pricing strategy. Specifically, how you connect that strategy to
customer needs and product value.
• If you are asking a premium price, share unique features or innovations that justify that
price point.

• Show how you plan to communicate pricing to customers

 • Share plans to develop new revenue streams in the future.
• Show how and whether pricing will vary by customer segment and how pricing aligns
with marketing strategies.

• Restate your value proposition and explain how it aligns with your revenue model.

8. Financials:
This section is particularly informative for investors and leadership teams to figure out funding
strategies, investment opportunities, and more. According to Forbes, you'll want to include
three main things:

• Profit/Loss Statement - This answers the question of whether your business is currently
profitable.

• Cash Flow Statement - This details exactly how much cash is incoming and outgoing to
give insight into how much cash a business has on hand.

• Balance Sheet - This outlines assets, liabilities, and equity, which gives insight into how
much a business is worth.
While some business plans might include more or less information, these are the key details
you'll want to include.

Financials Business Plan Example:

This balance sheet example shows the level of detail you will need to include in the financials
section of your business plan:

Tips for Writing Financials Section:

Growth potential is important in this section too. Using your data, create a forecast of financial
performance in the next three to five years.
 • Include any data that supports your projections to assure investors of the credibility of
your proposal.
• Add a break-even analysis to show that your business plan is financially practical. This
information can also help you pivot quickly as your business grows.
• Consider adding a section that reviews potential risks and how sensitive your plan is to
changes in the market.

• Triple-check all financial information in your plan for accuracy.

• Show how any proposed funding needs align with your plans for growth.

A standard table of contents for an effective business plan may include the following
sections:

• Title Page
• Executive Summary
• Industry Overview
• Market Analysis and Competition
• Sales and Marketing Plan
• Operational Plan
• Company and Management
• Financial Plan
• Appendix
Effective Business Model:
The model describes the way a business will take its product, offer it to the market, and drive
sales. A business model determines what products make sense for a company to sell, how it
wants to promote its products, what type of people it should try to cater to, and what revenue
streams it may expect.

The purpose of an effective business model:

1. Describe Your Business Venture: It is used as a tool to describe your business venture
in about one page, which can then be developed into a complete business plan1.

2. Summary of Your Company’s Focus: It serves as a summary of your company’s

focus, which can be shared with potential investors, employees, and can even serve as
a reminder for yourself to prevent you from losing sight of your company’s direction
while managing daily tasks1.

3. Profit Making Plan: A business model refers to a company’s plan for making a profit.
It identifies the products or services the business plans to sell, its identified target
expenses.
Now we will discuss the case study of apple to find the role of all these things in a successful
and profitable business.

Case Study: Apple Inc.

Business Idea:
Apple Inc. is a multinational technology company that designs, manufactures, and sells
consumer electronics, software, and online services. Founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak,
and Ronald Wayne in 1976, the company's initial business idea was to develop and sell personal
computers. However, over the years, Apple has evolved its business idea to focus on creating
innovative products with seamless integration between hardware, software, and services. Its
core idea revolves around delivering user-friendly and aesthetically pleasing products that
enhance the digital lifestyle of its customers.

Legitimacy:
Apple's legitimacy is derived from its strong brand reputation, innovative product
development, and commitment to quality. The company has established itself as a leader in the
technology industry, consistently delivering products that set industry standards and capture
the imagination of consumers worldwide. Apple's legitimacy is further bolstered by its financial
performance, market capitalization, and widespread consumer trust.

Apple maintains its legitimacy through various means:

• Ethical business practices: Apple emphasizes ethical sourcing, environmental

sustainability, and fair labor practices throughout its supply chain.
• Regulatory compliance: The Company adheres to local and international regulations
concerning product safety, privacy, and intellectual property rights.
• Customer satisfaction: Apple prioritizes customer experience by offering excellent
customer service, reliable products, and regular software updates.
• Corporate social responsibility: Apple engages in philanthropic activities, such as
charitable donations and community development initiatives, to contribute positively to
society.

Business Plan:
Apple's business plan encompasses several key elements:

• Product Innovation: Apple continuously invests in research and development to create

groundbreaking products that anticipate and meet consumer needs. The company's focus
on innovation drives its product roadmap and differentiation strategy.
• Brand Building: Apple places significant emphasis on brand building and marketing to
create a distinct identity and emotional connection with consumers. The company's
marketing campaigns emphasize product design, user experience, and lifestyle benefits.
• Ecosystem Integration: Apple's business plan revolves around creating a seamless
ecosystem of hardware, software, and services. By integrating its products and services,
such as iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, iOS, macOS, iCloud, and Apple Music, the
company enhances user convenience and loyalty.
• Retail Expansion: Apple's retail strategy involves expanding its physical and online
presence to reach more customers globally. The company operates its retail stores, known
as Apple Stores, and invests in innovative store designs and customer service experiences
to enhance brand engagement and sales.
• Strategic Partnerships: Apple forms strategic partnerships with other companies to
extend its reach and enhance its product offerings. For example, partnerships with app
developers, content providers, and payment processors strengthen Apple's ecosystem and
provide additional value to customers.

Business Model:
Apple's business model is based on a combination of hardware sales, software and services
revenue, and ecosystem lock-in. Key components of Apple's business model include:

• Hardware Sales: Apple generates a significant portion of its revenue from selling premium
hardware products such as iPhones, iPads, Macs, and wearables. The company maintains
high profit margins through product differentiation, brand loyalty, and effective supply
chain management.
• Software and Services: Apple monetizes its ecosystem through software sales,
subscriptions, and digital content purchases. Services such as the App Store, iTunes, Apple
Music, iCloud, AppleCare, and Apple Arcade contribute to recurring revenue streams and
enhance customer retention.
• Ecosystem Lock-in: Apple leverages ecosystem lock-in to drive customer loyalty and
cross-sell opportunities. Once customers invest in Apple products and services, they
become part of the Apple ecosystem, making it more challenging for them to switch to
competing platforms.
• Licensing and Partnerships: Apple licenses its technology to third-party manufacturers
and forms strategic partnerships to expand its ecosystem and generate additional revenue.
For example, licensing iOS to other device manufacturers and collaborating with accessory
makers contribute to ecosystem growth and diversification.

In conclusion, Apple's business idea revolves around delivering innovative and integrated
products, its legitimacy is established through its brand reputation and commitment to
excellence, its business plan emphasizes product innovation, brand building, ecosystem
integration, retail expansion, and strategic partnerships, and its business model is built on
hardware sales, software and services revenue, ecosystem lock-in, and licensing and
partnerships. These elements collectively contribute to Apple's success as one of the world's
most valuable and influential technology companies.
References:
“Legitimate Business Definition.” Law Insider. Accessed January 27, 2024.
https://www.lawinsider.com/dictionary/legitimate-business
Fitzgerald, Brendan. “Building the next Big Thing: A Guide to Business Idea Development:
Toptal®.” Toptal Finance Blog, July 14, 2020.
https://www.toptal.com/finance/business-research/business-idea-development

“How to Create a Good Business Idea.” Mailchimp. Accessed January 27, 2024.
https://mailchimp.com/resources/how-to-create-business-idea/

Beltis, AJ. “What Is a Business Plan? Definition, Tips, and Templates.” HubSpot Blog, June 7,
2023.
https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/what-is-business-plan

“11 Important Business Plan Benefits & Purposes.” Company Plan, November 23, 2020.
https://www.companyplan.com/business-plan-importance/

Chi, Clifford. “24 Best Sample Business Plans & Examples to Help You Write Your Own.”

https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/sample-businessplans

“Business Plan Example and Template.” Corporate Finance Institute, November 29, 2023.
https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/management/business-plan-exampleand-
template/

Kopp, Carol M. “What Is a Business Model with Types and Examples.” Investopedia.

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/businessmodel.asp#:~:text=The%20model%20d
escribes%20the%20way,revenue%20streams%20it%20may%20expect

Weedmark, David. “What Is the Purpose of a Business Model?” Small Business -

Chron.com, December 8, 2020.

https://smallbusiness.chron.com/purpose-businessmodel-3870.html

Kopp, Carol M. “What Is a Business Model with Types and Examples.” Investopedia. Accessed
January 27, 2024.

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/businessmodel.asp

Case study Apple:

https://www.simplilearn.com/tutorials/marketing-case-studies-tutorial/apple-marketing-
strategy