New Venture Creation Individual Assignment 2024-25 | UoS

Business Case

Overview

This 3000-word individual assignment requires you to develop a comprehensive business case for a new venture using Bill Aulet's Disciplined Entrepreneurship methodology. You will apply the 24-step framework to create a viable business concept, demonstrating your ability to systematically approach entrepreneurship.

Assignment Brief

Develop a 3000-word business case for a new venture of your choice. Your business case must follow the Disciplined Entrepreneurship framework and demonstrate how you have applied key principles from Bill Aulet's methodology to create a viable business concept.

Use of AI software like Co-Pilot is NOT permitted; the work submitted must be the student’s original work.

Requirements

Your business case must include the following components:

Executive Summary (200 words)

• Concise overview of your venture concept
• Clear articulation of the problem solved and value proposition
• Summary of key findings from your analysis

Market Segmentation C Selection (500 words)

• Identification of potential market segments
• Selection of a primary market with justification
• Calculation of Total Addressable Market (TAM)
• Detailed primary customer persona

Value Proposition C Competitive Analysis (500 words)

• Full lifecycle use case for your product/service
• High-level product specification
• Identification of next best alternatives
• Quantified value proposition and competitive positioning

Business Model C Go-to-Market Strategy (700 words)

• Unit economics and pricing strategy
• Customer acquisition process
• Defined sales and distribution channels
• Business model design and key metrics

Product Development C Minimum Viable Business Product (400 words)

• Description of your Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
• Product development approach and timeline
• Key assumptions and validation plan
• Intellectual property considerations

Financial Projections C Resource Requirements (400 words)

• Key financial projections (first 2 years)
• Resource requirements (human, financial, physical)
• Critical milestones and metrics for success
• Funding requirements and strategy

Scaling Strategy C Competitive Advantage (300 words)

• Long-term vision and scaling approach
• Sustainable competitive advantage
• Key challenges and risk mitigation strategies
• Next steps in venture development

Assessment Criteria

Your assignment will be assessed based on the following rubric:

Learning Outcomes Assessed

This assignment assesses your ability to:

• Apply the systematic Disciplined Entrepreneurship approach to new venture creation
• Conduct effective market research and customer development
• Create compelling value propositions and viable business models
• Develop realistic financial projections and implementation plans
• Communicate business concepts clearly and professionally

Support Resources

• Bill Aulet's "Disciplined Entrepreneurship: 24 Steps to a Successful Startup"
• In-class workshop materials and case studies
• Lecture slides and supplementary readings
• Office hours with the instructor (by appointment)

Assignment Guidelines

File format.

• Submit the assignment as a Word document. The assignment should not contain text or tables embedded as jpeg or picture files.
• Do not submit HTML files, web pages, CAD files, Visio (.vsd), PowerPoint (.ppt), PDFS (.pdf), zip files or JPEGs.

Fonts

• Use a clear, readable, ‘sans serif’ font such as Verdana, Calibri, Tahoma or Arial, and be consistent and use the same font throughout.
• Use black text on a white background.
• Use 12-point for the body of your assignment.

Spacing

• Use 1.5 or double spacing.
• Left-justify your work (also known as left-aligned).

Headings C Subheadings

• Use bold for headings and subheadings. Not underlining or italics.
• Number headings and subheadings [e.g., 2, 2.1, 2.1.1 etc.]

Title page

The title page should include the following:

• the title of the assignment
• the course number and name
• the due date
• This information should be centred, starting approximately one-third of the way down the page.

Numbering

• Number all pages except the title page.
• Tables and figures must be numbered and clearly labelled.
• Table captions are placed above the table, while captions for a figure go below the figure.

Word count

• Include a word count (the number of words in your assignment) at the end of the assignment, before the references and appendices.
• Your assignment should not be more than 10% under or over the prescribed word count.
• Remember that the title/title page, contents page, reference list and appendices are not included in the word count.
• Do not embed tables and diagrams as jpeg files or pictures. Words in tables count towards the word count limit.

There is a penalty for going over the word count limit.

• 0-10% over – no penalty
• 11-15% over – 5% penalty
• 16-20% over – 10% penalty
• 21% or greater – the paper will fail.

Reference list

The reference list comes at the end of the assignment, before the appendix and should start on a new page labelled 'References'.
 
Please use the Harvard Referencing format when referencing books, journal articles, blogs, TED Talks, videos, websites, etc.

Appendices

“An appendix contains supplementary material that is not an essential part of the text itself, but which may help provide a more comprehensive understanding of the research problem or it is information that is too cumbersome to be included in the body of the paper. A separate appendix should be used for each distinct topic or set of data, and always have a title descriptive of its contents.”

Late Submissions and Extensions

The university policy on granting extensions will be strictly adhered to.

Examples of Insufficient Grounds for an Extension

The following circumstances would not be acceptable grounds for granting an extension:

• poor planning and time management
• errors made in understanding the published dates of assessment submissions.
• having another assessment due on or around the same date
• minor IT issues such as computer failure
• failure of third parties to deliver the assessment.
• holidays, social events, moving house, or any event planned of the submission deadline.
• failure to make alternative travel plans when disruptions were advised in advance.