DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE
CSC454/2527S: The Business of Software
Assignment: Plan v0
Handed Out: 10 January 2000, 6 p.m.
Due In: 17 January 2000, 5 p.m.
Marks: 2%
Each team will submit to the class listserv a one-page description of the idea chosen for the business plan.
Each submission must also include the name, address, phone number, and email address of each team member.
The following hints may be useful in developing your submission:
• Think
about Drucker's Sources of Innovative Opportunity, and new hardware and
software paradigms, and look for an idea that expoits some of these notions.
• Look
for a way to leverage what is currently happening with the Internet.
•
Think about what you know well and who you know. See if there is a way to leverage your
knowledge, your expertise, and your connections, especially the knowledge and
expertise.
• Think
about something you have done that you are proud of, for example, a CSC318
project. See if your project could form
the basis of a business idea.
• Think
about the last few times you were frustrated, and said… "if only…"
See if removing the source of the frustration could form the basis of a
business idea.
• More
generally, test any idea you have in terms of a potential market, in other
words, who the customer would be for the product or service, what the “user
benefit” would be, and what the customer might be willing to pay.
• Put
all the ideas you have on the board. See if you can turn an idea around to form
a better idea. See if there are
connections linking them that improve them.
Your submission should clearly explain the idea and why you have chosen it, making particular reference to how it leverages your knowledge and expertise. It should describe who the customer would be and why the customer would want your product and service. You should also attempt a first formulation of a mission statement for your company.
If you are still considering several ideas, or have variants
of an idea that seem interesting, please mention them briefly in point form at
the end of your submission. You still
have wiggle room to change your idea into a better one.