dare to dream - info
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TRANSCRIPT
Dare to Dream Grant ProgramInformation Session
2007 - 08
Paul Kirsch and Rachel UlrichJanuary 16, 2008
COPYRIGHT © 2006 THE REGENTS OF THEUNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Agenda• Dare to Dream in the context of
business development and ZLI activities
• What are Dare to Dream grants• Three types of grants• Applications: content and review• Moving beyond Dare to Dream• Timeline• Questions
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Dare to Dream encourages
..the thoughtful development of student-led businesses
AND
..the development of student entrepreneurial skills and
understanding
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Dare to Dream Grants are• Unique to Michigan• Sponsored by Eugene Applebaum
– A $100,000 program, no “winner”– $500, $1,500 and up to $10,000 awards– Multiple awardees in each phase in each
round
• Every Fall and Winter semester• Documented by written deliverables of
student progress through the business development activities
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Dare to Dream Grants are• Awarded to businesses or
concepts that demonstrate– Innovation – Value– Motivation
• Relative importance of criteria change from Phase to Phase of the Dare to Dream evaluation process
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Opportunity
Assessment
Integration
Motivation
Value
Innovation
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Dare to Dream Grants areEncouragement for students to
– Take on real business development activities• Execute primary research with customers, users,
partners, technologists• Incorporate• Recruit and build a team
– email [email protected] for more information
– Explore opportunities• Is your solution the right solution for market
need?• Is there a better market for your solution?
– Expend effort and dedicate time• Fit these activities into already busy Michigan
schedule 6
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Dare to Dream Grants are NOT
• A competition: many teams are given the opportunity to receive grants based on the merit of the application
• For academic credit• An endorsement or criticism of the
business or idea• An endorsement or criticism of the
management team
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3 Phases of Dare to Dream• Opportunity grants initiate business
ideation• What would the product be? Who uses this?• Move beyond “this is a cool idea/technology”
• Assessment grants force developmental issues• Is there enough “there” there to move forward?• Does this idea pass a feasibility test?
• Integration grants drive the team to • Build upon the “go” decision• Assemble a full business plan to address all concerns
of launching and growing a business 8
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Deliverables• Opportunity
– Application is Technology/Product Description
– Deliverable is the Business Hypothesis• Assessment
– Application is Business Hypothesis– Deliverable is the Feasibility Study
• Integration – Application is Feasibility Study– Deliverables are the full Business Plan
and Investor Presentation9
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Opportunity Application:Product/Technology Description
• Simple statement of the technology, product, or service
• Plain language description of the technology, product or service• What makes this unique?• How is this different?
• Who are the typical users and/or customers?• Needs, pains, desires
• Discussion of the potential business• What types of activities 10
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Opportunity Deliverable & Assessment Application: Business Hypothesis
• Statement describing the proposed business• Plain language description of the
technology, product or service• What is the competition already in the
market?• Is the market pain being satisfied already? How?• Why will customers pay for your solution?
• Discussion of the proposed business• How will the business be built around this product?• What value-added activities will the business conduct?
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Assessment Deliverable & Integration Application:
Feasibility Study• Target market assessment
• Pain• Size, and growth rate• Options to grow into other segments
• Overall market assessment• Overall market size and growth rate• Macro-trends
• Industry assessment• Five forces analysis• Likely changes
(continued)
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• Firm• Proprietary elements• Competitive advantage, superior performance• Economic viability
• Team• Mission, risk, congruence of goals• Ability to execute Critical Success Factors (CSF),
and manage around Fatal Flaws (FF)• Connectedness
• Conclusion
Assessment Deliverable & Integration Application: Feasibility Study
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Integration Deliverables:Business Plan & Investor Presentation
• Business Plan– Executive summary– Operational plan: how to get there from here– Full financial model: narrative and spreadsheets– Financing and exit issues
• Investor Presentation– Documentation and presentation for target funders– In-person, persuasive appeal to secure funding
• Friends and family• Angel• Institutional• Grantors generally do not receive presentations
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Dare to Dream Applications
• Student-led teams convince ZLI of– Innovation– Value– Motivation
• Application and review criteria– Different requirements and evaluation for
Opportunity, Assessment, and Integration
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Evaluation of Opportunity Applications
• Panelists individually value items• Panel asked to specifically consider:
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– Innovation, uniqueness– Understanding of relationship to users
– Payers vs. non-payers– Technologists vs. general public
Evaluation of Assessment Applications
• Panelists individually value items• Panel asked to specifically consider:
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• Clarity of the proposed business
• Tech/prod/service– Uniqueness– Current solutions– Comparison to
status quo
• Customer identification– Desires, needs,
pains– Currently being
served
• Business model– What company does– How it makes
money
Evaluation of Integration Applications
• Panelists individually value items• Does application convince panel of feasibility• Panel asked to specifically consider:
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• Target market viability
• Addressable market potential
• Industry and competitive situation
• Firm advantages• Economic viability• Team ability,
ambition, connectedness
ApplicationsAvailable on the Institute websitewww.zli.bus.umich.edu/events_programs/dream_details.asp
• Three sections:– WHO:
• Team information
– WHAT: • OP: Technology/product/service description• AS: Business Hypothesis• IN: Feasibility Study
– DELIVERABLES:• Know what you are agreeing to do!
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Grant Recipients• Announced at the Michigan Business
Challenge Awards Ceremony, Feb. 15• At least half the team members must
attend at least the corresponding Business Development Seminar on March 7– Hypothesis at 9:00– Feasibility Study at 12:00– Business Plan at 3:00
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Grant Deliverables• Intermediate
– Opportunity – Hypothesis – not applicable– Assessment - Feasibility Study – 3/28– Integration - Business Plan – 4/25
• Final– Opportunity – Hypothesis – 3/2– Assessment - Feasibility Study – 4/25– Integration - Business Plan – 7/25
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Symposia and EventsMingle ‘n’ Match• Casual, networking events• Foster discussion between students with
business ideas and their colleagues insearch of concepts
• Students with ideas present one-minute overviews• Informal discussions about the presented ideas,
needs and ambitions• AFTER THE EVENT: presenters provided with the
contact information of interested students• Low impact. Only expectation is to continue the
discussionContact: [email protected]
February 7
Ann Arbor SPARK
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Moving Beyond Dare to Dream
Tie in to other entrepreneurial activities– ES electives
• ES615: New Venture Creation• ES715: Innovation
– Michigan Business Challenge• Iterative, multi-cycle tournament for
student-led start-ups• Over $40,000 in prize money
– Marcel Gani self-hosted internships: Student CEOs paid to work on their own start-ups• Applications due on 3/21
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Past Participants• Mobius Microsystems – Winter 2002
– Relocated to CA, raised $8MM
• Style High - Assess Fall 2004– Now Spirit Shop, operating in AA, post-raise
• Incept Biosystems – Integrate Fall 2004– Currently in multimillion fund raise
• Gregory Sports Management – Assess Fall 2005– Operating as a lifestyle business
• MicroNeural Interfaces– Assess Winter 2006– Competing in MBC 2007, currently semifinalist
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Past Participants
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Past Participants
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Questions?
Dare to Dream Grants
Paul Kirsch Rachel UlrichProgram Manager Program
Questions• What kind of businesses are you looking
for? – These are student “Dreams” not ZLI Dreams– Preference for applications that show
• Innovation– innovation does not have to be technology
• High growth potential• Committed teams
– Discourage restaurants and real estate flippers– Applications do not have to be for future
Fortune 100 firms
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Questions• How does this relate to business plan
competitions?– These are separate programs– Mutually supportive– D2D is more developmental, incubator–
ish– BPCs are more competitive, more
personal with more feedback
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Questions• Do you have to have a business
student on the team– Yes, for Assessment and Integration– No, for Opportunity
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Questions• Can I apply for Dare to Dream in my
last semester?– Yes, for Opportunity and Assessment
• Deliverables are due the SAME semester as awards are granted
– No, for Integration• Deliverables are due six months after award
date
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Questions• What if the Feasibility Study shows
the idea is NOT feasible?– Team still receives $$ if the Feasibility
Study is completed properly– Emphasis is learning HOW to evaluate
ideas, WHAT questions to ask, WHEN•Answers are NOT predetermined
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Questions• Can I be on more than one team?• Can I make more than one
submission?– Yes, but….– Instills doubt about commitment, focus
and motivation– Discouraged
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Questions• If someone receives an Assessment
grant, they can still apply later for an Integration grant and receive the $10,000 for the same idea, correct? – Absolutely– The grant applications do not have to be
in sequential terms– However, one business can only get each
grant once
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Questions• Do you have to wait a whole term to
move forward with your idea?– The Dare to Dream grants are awarded
once a semester– You can work independently on your
business to get it started– If means you “leapfrog” from Opportunity
to Integration, that is okay
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Questions• How in depth is the application for
Opportunity? I only have a very vague idea– Opportunity grants are designed to be
very easy to apply for– What you need is a well thought out and
clearly articulated product/technology/service description
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Questions• What is the benefit of applying for
Opportunity instead of Assessment?– Opportunity was originally designed for
non-business students who have an idea but are unsure what to do with it
– If you can comfortably complete the Assessment application, there really is no advantage to applying for Opportunity first
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Questions• Can you add pictures to your
application?– Use them sparingly– You should be able to describe your
product/technology with plain language
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Questions• Do judges prefer huge businesses
with designs to revolutionize the market?– Not at all– The review panels are encouraged to
look for successful ideas of all sizes, not just the next Wal-Mart or Google
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