Business plan (entrepreneurship) Thesis Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Business plan (entrepreneurship) - Thesis Example GetLaunched! offers the following propositions to its users: 1. Seamless and uncomplicated participation, with most of the technical aspects, such as compliance, ironed out by the company; 2. All-or-nothing scheme where collected money is returned to supporters if the proposal fails to achieve its goal within the given time; 3. No hidden or initial fees as the company implements a flat rate fee only on successful proposals; 4. By special arrangement, the company has access to the proponent’s account for 5 years for the sole of purpose of taking out and delivering the shares of profits of supporters, which are given in proportion to the latter’s investment. 5. Sharing of profits with supporters will be limited to 5 years and structured in such a way as not to unduly burden the proponent because the spirit of crowdfunding is not strict investment but more towards philanthropy. The Opportunity There are more than 2 billion internet users, which can be harnessed to realize the aims and goals of GetLaunched!. According to statistics, internet users number 2,095, 006,005 in 2011 up by about 480.4% from the 360,985,482 users in 2000. Facebook alone has more than 500,000 million users as of 2011 statistics. There is in every person a need for charity because it gives them self-actualization. Fundraising expert and author of â€Å"Grassroots Fundraising† Kim Klein states that every person has an urge to give because it makes them feel powerful and good-like and not merely an onlooker. GetLaunched! will tap into this need and use it to turn somebody’s life around. The gap between economic classes is widening and people on the lower social strata are getting more and more marginalized. The gap between social classes are growing bigger and bigger, and there is a need to try to level the playing field, and crowdfunding is one of the more acceptable means. Business Concept Online crowdfunding is getting popular in social networking sites, but at p resent there are only a handful operating. GetLaunched! is capitalizing on the growing popularity of crowdfunding, not only as a business endeavor, but as a means of helping people from both sides of the spectrum: for proponents to realize their dreams of materializing their business dreams, and; for supporters to channel their inner philanthropic urges. Industry Overview Crowdfunding had its origin in 1997, when American fans raised $60,000, through internet campaign, so that the British Rock band Marillion could do a US tour. French filmmakers Guillaume Colboc and Benjamin Pommeraud used the same strategy in 2004 to fund a film, raising a total of $50,000 within three weeks over the internet. Their counterparts in America Spanner Films raised ?900,000 the same way to finance a documentary film about climate change. Fig. 1 The Crowdfunding Mechanism Today, several crowdfunding societies offer themselves as platforms to raise funds for various ends - to support talent in the arts, t o market original inventions, to initiate charitable events and start small businesses. The present market has still room to grow dramatically because of the millions of internet users, which are ready to invest or donate money for causes that they can emotionally connect to. Figure 1 illustrates how crowdfunding can snowball from a small close circle of family and friends to a number of supporters that can donate and/or investments the right amount needed to launch a project. Target Market GetLaunched! targets two types of users: the proponents, and; the