DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE

### University of Toronto

CSC454/2527S: The Business of Software

### January-April 2000

Assignment: Interim Oral Presentation

Handed Out: 31 January 2000, 6 p.m.

Due In: 21 or 28 February 2000, 8 p.m.

Marks: 4%

21 or 28 February — Plan interim oral presentation: Individuals will make brief oral presentations (3 minutes each) discussing key ideas and challenges in the evolving business plan. Each team will designate 2 members who will make the final presentation on April 3rd; all others will make interim oral presentations on one of these two nights. If you fail to make a presentation on one of these two nights, you will be given a 0 for this assignment. Note that only the two individuals per group designated as April 3 presenters in your Plan v1 document handed in on January 31 will be allowed to present on April 3.

Each interim presentation should be in two parts:

• A brief “elevator test” statement describing your business in 2-4 sentences. Imagine you have just entered an elevator with a venture capitalist and she asks you to tell her about the business. If you succeed in conveying a compelling concept before the elevator reaches its destination, she will look at your plan. If you do not, she will not.

• A presentation of one (or at most two) challenges or dilemmas you are facing in developing your plan.

• You will then field two to three questions or suggestions from the audience in response to your presentation. Please remember that the presentation (before the questions) will be stopped by the TA at 3 minutes.

3 April — Plan final oral presentation: The two individuals from each team who have not made interim presentations will collaborate on a final oral presentation (6 minutes total per team) presenting the most salient aspects of your business plan. Presentations will be heard by a panel of industry experts. This will hopefully include a venture capitalist who will agree to review “the best plan.”

The content of these final presentations will be described later in the term.